Reputed Gambino associate and beauty parlor owner Nicola "the Greaseball" Melia pleaded guilty yesterday morning to an extortion charge right before trial was scheduled to begin in a federal courthouse in New Haven, CT, and some of the evidence against him was recorded by a loan shark victim wearing a wire for the FBI as reported by Edmund H. Mahony for the Hartford Courant:
Should the victim fail to pay, Melia said he would be unable to control what he described as an out-of-control crew of the Bonanno crime family that had somehow acquired an interest in the loan. "We're going to have a lot of problems because of the Bonanno family," Melia said on the recording. "They are connected to the Bonanno family. They don't want to wait … they use rough muscle. They got a big crew....they go in the house and they kill people."
The Greaseball previously served 33 months on a 2005 racketeering conviction for his role in a loansharking ring that also brought down Anthony "the Genius" Megale whom federal prosecutors said was a Gambino underboss.
Melia faces up to five years in prison pursuant to yesterday's plea agreement with prosecutors, and is scheduled for sentencing on December 9.
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