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Nine Gambino Mobsters Sentenced

Nine reputed Gambino mobsters were sentenced on Wednesday and Thursday to light prison terms ranging from 18 months to 100 months after variously pleading guilty to the usual mob rackets such as sex trafficking, drug distribution, and gambling, loansharking and extortion as reported by Courthouse News Service.  The nine defendants were among the fourteen indicted in April 2010.  The other five defendants, including reputed boss Dan Marino, previously have been sentenced.  Marino was sentenced last January to five years in prison after pleading guilty to green lighting a 1998 hit on his Bonanno associate nephew Frank Hydell whom mobsters feared was cooperating with the feds.  If these boys were a black crew from the Crips or Bloods would the sentences have been as lenient?

FBI Press Release

Related:  Mafia Exploitation Of Kids:  Really A New Low?

Two Defendants In Gambino Case Plead Guilty

Reputed Gambino soldier Thomas Orefice and his alleged top dog Dominick Difiore pleaded guilty this afternoon as reported by Bruce Golding for the New York Post:  Orefice pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge involving extortion, loansharking and gambling, and Difiore pleaded guilty to extortion conspiracy and drug trafficking charges.  Orefice and Difiore were among the fourteen defendants indicted on various charges last April, and they were the last two to reach plea deals.

Read More:  Department of Justice Press Release

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have declined to bring charges against Orefice's defense lawyer Seth Ginsburg after a bag of marijuana was discovered in his brief case last October while entering the Metropolitan Correctional Center to visit his client as reported by Scott Shifrel for the Daily News:  "Ginsberg blamed it all on his brother, who he told authorities had borrowed the bag - and left the narcotics in it."

A Wacky Weed Story

A bag of marijuana was discovered in the brief case of criminal defense lawyer Seth Ginsberg as he tried to enter the Metropolitan Correctional Center in NYC to visit reputed Gambino soldier Thomas Orefice, and the legal eagle now has been barred from the federal lockup as investigators "probe whether he was trying to smuggle the pot inside" as reported by Alison Gendar for the Daily News. Orefice was indicted last April on allegations that he ran a teen prostitution ring for the Gambino crime family which included girls as young as fifteen years old.

Mafia Exploitation Of Kids: Really A New Low?

Accused Mobsters Complain Jail Bad For Health

Several defendants variously indicted last April for their alleged roles in suspected Gambino crime family rackets, including a teen prostitution ring which involved girls as young as 15, have been "whining to the court about their weak hearts, bad backs and other aches and pains" in their bids for bail as reported by Alison Gendar for the Daily News:  "The chief complainer: reputed boss Daniel Marino who insists his bum ticker should be his ticket out of prison. Marino's lawyers argued last week that the 69-year-old needs to be released on bail - or else he risks a stroke." Of course, if any of these guys have a real aversion to an extended jail stay, the feds may be willing to srike a deal with them if they happen to have any dirt on others.

 

Mafia Exploitation Of Kids: Really A New Low?