Son of Colombo family boss is slammed with five year sentence for loansharking and links to murder during mafia war
The son of a mob boss will be getting an extended prison stay after a Brooklyn federal judge went beyond the sentence length that even prosecutors were seeking.
Federal guidelines said Michael Persico, the son of Colombo boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico, deserved about three years for his 2012 loansharking plea, but Judge Dora Irizarry slammed the scion Friday with a five-year sentence.
Irizarry also factored in uncharged acts, like Persico’s link to the 1993 murder of Joseph Scopo during a power struggle inside the Colombo family.
An acting Colombo capo-turned-informant said Persico helped with weapons for the hit and told him someone knew where to find Scopo.
Scopo’s murder was “part of protecting your family and your family’s role with the Colombo crime family,” Irizarry told Persico, sitting stoically in the courtroom.
Irizarry said prosecutors proved Persico’s role in the rubout by “more than a preponderance of the evidence” as well as other criminal acts, like buying and selling stolen handheld video games.
Persico had a chance to address the court before sentencing, but he chose not to.
It’ll be a family affair behind bars.
Carmine Persico, 83, is serving 139-year sentence.
Carmine Persico, 83, was convicted in the famous mid-’80s Manhattan federal “commission” trial, which convicted three of the five crime family bosses in one fell swoop. Papa Persico’s serving a 139-year-old sentence.
Persico, 60, will also join his 63-year-old brother, Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico, the onetime acting boss who’s serving a life sentence.
Persico’s friends and family submitted almost 200 letters in support. One of those missives came from Persico’s 80-year-old mother, Joyce, who wrote, “I am getting older and need my son around.”
The letters “speak volumes” about Persico’s family life, help to the community and ability to stay on the straight and narrow, said lawyer Maurice Sercarz.
Irizarry said said she didn’t doubt the sincerity of Persico’s family and friends who spoke up for him. Some wiped away tears when they heard the stiff sentence.
Still, Irizarry said she’d seen people come through the courthouse living two lives — “like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” There was the upstanding side and then there was “criminal conduct the family can’t even fathom.”
Sercarz declined to comment outside the courtroom.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/son-mob-boss-extended-prison-stay-loansharking-plea-article-1.3346316
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