Volatile gangster admits threatening to kill former lawyer's son
An unpredictable wiseguy pleaded guilty — just barely — to mailing a threatening letter to his ex-lawyer.
Brooklyn
federal prosecutors said while Battista "Benny" Geritano was locked up
on a state sentence for a 2013 stabbing, he wrote a foul-mouthed screed
to force his onetime lawyer into saying he blew the case. The
unidentified lawyer wouldn’t sign such an affidavit, prosecutors said,
so Geritano’s menacing February 2017 missive said: “If you and your son
don’t get me the f--- out of jail very soon — your son’s head is going
to come off his f----n shoulders ...”
On
Thursday, the reputed Gambino associate admitted to mailing a
threatening communication, even though he once seemed bent on fighting
the case.
Judge Ann Donnelly asked Geritano, 45, if he meant to threaten the attorney.
“Though
I had no intent of carrying it out, yes I did,” Geritano replied. He
also said he was dealing with “bad news pertaining to a heart doctor’s
analogy” and “going through a breakdown. I was told I wasn’t going to
live through the remainder of my sentence.”
Donnelly pressed Geritano on whether he meant to threaten the lawyer.
It took the judge a couple times to hear Geritano give a straight “yes” to her question.
Geritano’s
daughter watched the proceeding and stormed out of court when the plea
was over. Her father faces up to 20 years on the federal offense, and
his plea deal makes no promises on whether the sentence will run
concurrently with the state term, or start after it. Geritano was
sentenced to 12 years on his state conviction in 2014.
“He
very well could get consecutive time,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsay
Gerdes told Donnelly. Part of the plea deal lets prosecutors seek any
sentence up to 20 years.
Geritano burned through three attorneys in the federal case before getting his latest lawyer, Jeremy Iandolo.
He also mouthed off to one magistrate judge at his arraignment and got forced out of court. Another judge sent him for a mental health check. Later, Geritano even cursed out one of his defense lawyers.
Donnelly wasn’t having any of Geritano’s bizarre act Thursday. He identified himself as a “secured party creditor” at one point.
“Whatever, all right,” the judge said, waving her hand and moving on.
Iandolo declined to elaborate on the plea.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-metro-reputed-mobster-admits-mailing-threat-to-ex-lawyer-20180712-story.html
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