- Philadelphia mobster Joseph Merlino was heard in an audio recording played in court describing how easy it is to kill someone by shooting them in the head
- The 55-year-old mob boss, also known as ‘Skinny Joey’, is accused of running a health care scam which involved bribing doctors to prescribe a opioid cream
- In the recording, Merlino was at an unidentified restaurant with Genovese family capo Eugene ‘Rooster’ O’Nofrio and Genovese associate-turned-rat John Rubeo
- Rubeo started working with the government and recorded the conversation after he busted on cocaine charges
Philadelphia mobster Joseph Merlino was heard in an audio recording describing how easy it is to kill someone. Merlino is pictured above outside a federal court in Philadelphia on October 10, 2014
A Manhattan Federal Court heard on Thursday a Philadelphia mob boss describe in chilling detail how it easy it was for him to kill someone.
The sinister remarks were made during a recorded February 2014 conversation between 55-year-old gangster Joseph Merlino, Genovese crime family capo Eugene ‘Rooster’ O’Nofrio and Genovese associate-turned-rat John Rubeo.
Rubeo secretly recorded the conversation, which was played Thursday in court during Merlino’s racketeering trial.
‘Listen, it’s easy to kill somebody,’ Merlino says matter-of-factly, according to the New York Post. ‘It’s simple. Get in the car and shoot you in the f***ing head and you’re dead.’
In the recording the trio continued to talk about a number of topics, only pausing to shout the occasional ‘salute’ as Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ played in the background of the unidentified restaurant they were at.
John Rubeo (left) and Eugene ‘Rooster’ O’Nofrio (right) were with Merlino when the conversations were recorded. Rubeo, who was working for the government as an informant, secretly recorded the conversation
Merlino, aka Skinny Joey, is accused of running a health care scam which involved bribing doctors
Jurors also heard a recording of O’Nofrio telling Rubeo that his brother-in-law would be in big trouble if he didn’t pay him a missed $600 interest payment on a $30,000 mob loan.
‘What do I got to do with him?’ O’Nofrio says. ‘Do you have to take his eyes out? I don’t want you to get upset because he’s your brother-in-law.’
‘I don’t know what the f*** he thinks he is. Who does he think he f***ing with? Straighten it out. I want my six Monday.’
Rubeo became an informant for the government and started recording conversations between mob bosses after he was busted on cocaine dealing charges in 2011.
Merlino, also known as ‘Skinny Joey’, was arrested in August 2016 and is currently on trial for allegedly running a massive health care scam which involved him bribing doctors to prescribe a narcotic opioid cream.