Jailed Lucchese mobster seeks to withdraw guilty plea
A former underboss with the Lucchese crime family told a Morris County judge on Thursday he wanted to withdraw the guilty plea he entered in June to racketeering, the Daily Record reported.
Martin Taccetta, 64, formerly of East Hanover, was charged in December 2007 along with at least 32 others in connection with a $2.2 billion gambling ring that relied on violence to collect debts, the newspaper reported.
Taccetta pleaded guilty on June 17 to racketeering, admitting to being a part of the illegal sports betting enterprise between 2005 and 2007, the newspaper reported. He did not admit to committing any acts of violence in connection with the gambling operation, the newspaper reported.As reported by NJ Advance Media, Taccetta was originally convicted of racketeering and theft charges in 1993, in a case surrounding the golf-club beating death of Ocean County businessman Vincent "Jimmy Sinatra" Craparotta in 1984.
Taccetta was acquitted on the murder charge against him, but convicted on the other counts. A judge, however, sentenced him to life in prison under state law since the first-degree racketeering charge involved violent crimes.
This past February, Taccetta lost his most recent appeal—22 years after his racketeering conviction. Taccetta's appeal sought to have him plead guilty to the homicide, which would have likely yielded a shorter prison stay, but the state Supreme Court, ruled that Taccetta made an offhand remark about being innocent in court in 2005. Because of that remark, the court held that Taccetta was barred from pleading guilty to the original charges because his changed testimony would constitute perjury, his defense attorney previously told NJ Advance Media.
Taccetta's attorney has said he may appeal his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2015/09/mafia_underboss_wants_to_withdraw_guilty_plea_repo.html
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