Gambino associate ordered to get mental health check
When a wiseguy tried acting as his own lawyer last week in an arraignment on federal extortion charges, he was removed from the courtroom.
When he tried pulling the same schtick Thursday, a Brooklyn federal judge ordered his removal — this time to a North Carolina hospital for a mental health check.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors charged Battista "Benny" Geritano, a reputed Gambino crime family associate, for using the mail to commit extortion.
Geritano, 44, is already serving a 12-year sentence in state prison for a 2012 stabbing.
The new federal indictment says Geritano used the mail in February to commit the extortion. But little more is known about the allegedly threatening letters because prosecutors haven't been able to get through an arraignment yet.
During last Thursday's attempt, Geritano fired his appointed lawyer on the spot, demanded to know the names of clerks and told a magistrate judge he was running the show in the courtroom. Marshals ended up putting Geritano back into the holding pen.
On Thursday, Judge Sterling Johnson signed a force order to get Geritano in front of him.
When Geritano came to court, he started in talk about accepting a "proof of claim," among other jargon. Geritano said he also wanted to know "what roles each of you play here today."
Johnson wasn't having it. He decided to send Geritano to a federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina.
"I do not consent and do not accept your offer," Geritano told the judge.
Johnson said he wasn't looking for Geritano's consent and wasn't "offering anything."
Though Geritano still hasn't been formally arraigned, the charge carries up to 20 years in prison.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/judge-orders-mental-health-check-mobster-accused-extortion-article-1.3195738
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