The $25,000 dinner paid for by the FBI was revealed at racketeering trial of reputed Philadelphia mob boss Joseph ‘Skinny Joey’ Merlino, pictured
The FBI spent $25,000 to lure 20 members of the mob to a gangland ‘Last Supper’ where their conversations about the mafiosi were all caught on tape.
FBI Special Agent William Inzerillo revealed the so-called ‘spaghetti setup’ at the racketeering trial of reputed Philadelphia mob boss Joseph ‘Skinny Joey’ Merlino.
‘We supplied the money. We paid for the party. Over 20 people attended the party, and we paid for all of them,’ Inzerillo testified in Manhattan federal court.
The mobsters stuffed their faces at Pasquale’s Rigoletto restaurant on Arthur Avenue – The Bronx’s Little Italy.
Among those present were the eatery’s owner Pasquale ‘Patsy’ Parrello, Josephe ‘Skinny Joey’ Merlino and Eugene ‘Rooster’ O’Nofrio.
Eugene O’Nofrio (left to right) and Joey Merlino snapped outside Pasquale’s Rigoletto
The December 2014 dinner was the only time the trio, who feds say were key figures in a massive, multi-crime-family racketeering scheme – were together.
Merlino, 55, was among nearly four dozen defendants arrested in a 2016 crackdown on the syndicate that prosecutors say committed crimes including extortion, loan-sharking, casino-style gambling, sports gambling, credit card fraud and health care fraud.
It operated in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida and New Jersey. Most of the defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges, with Merlino the only one so far to go to trial on conspiracy charges.
He was among nearly four dozen reputed members of an East Coast crime syndicate arrested in a 2016 sweep.
Merlino has repeatedly beaten murder charges in past cases but served nearly 12 years in prison for racketeering before being released in 2011. He has claimed he retired from the mob for good.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges he was part of a health care scheme to bill insurers for unnecessary and excessive prescriptions.
Charges against Eugene ‘Rooster’ O’Nofrio, left, are pending while Pasquale ‘Patsy’ Parrello, right, pleaded guilty to extortion charges and has been jailed for seven years
Parrello allegedly ran his crew out of his red-sauce joint Pasquale’s Rigoletto on Arthur Avenue in The Bronx which was where the dinner for the reputed mobsters was held
A mural inside of Pasquale’s Rigoletto Restaurant in the Little Italy section of The Bronx
John Rubeo, 42, turned into a mob rat and collected evidence on the mobsters to curry favor with authorities in his own trial
While at the dinner in 2014 the group gorged themselves on gnocchi Bolognese and fettuccine amatriciana, according to the New York Post.
At one point, the group even posed for a snapshot and ‘joked that the photo was going to get them arrested,’ Gangland News reported.
The FBI paid for the meal and even transport to fly Merlino up to New York from Florida so that they would have jurisdiction to charge him.
The cash was given to mob rat John Rubeo, 42, who in turn gave the money to restaurant-owner Perrello.
‘We gave Rubeo $5,000 for the flight and transportation for Merlino and his wife,’ Inzerillo said. ‘We gave $20,000 for the party, approximately $1,000 a head.’
When asked why the feds had agreed to underwrite the huge cost of the ‘Cosa Nostra Christmas party,’ Inzerillo said, ‘We didn’t want to pay for it, but that was what Rubeo needed.’
Rubeo then spent more than six hours on the stand revealing everything he knew about the mobsters he associated with.
The meal at Pasquale’s Rigoletto in The Bronx cost $20,000 for the December 2014 Christmas party and cost approximately $1,000 a head – and all at the expense of the FBI
He became a rat in a bid to avoid life-in-jail for drug dealing and other crimes.
Rubeo managed to create up to 20 secret recordings which were all played in court.
In one he even insisted to a fellow mobster, ‘Hey, listen. I’m not a scumbag.’
Meanwhile, Parrello, 73, pleaded guilty last year to extortion charges and has been sentenced to seven years in jail.
Judge Richard Sullivan told him that he had the option to straight after getting out of jail seven years earlier.
‘There’s a long history of capos who have died in prison,’ Sullivan said to the mobster. ‘You must have understood this, you had 88 months to think about it before.’