Eval for mob ‘lawyer’
A BROOKLYN federal judge on Thursday ordered a psychological exam for a mobster who twice tried to represent himself in court on extortion charges.
Government prosecutors charged Battista (Benny) Geritano, a reputed Gambino crime family associate, with using the mail to commit extortion.
The wiseguy tried to act as his own lawyer during his arraignment last week and he was removed from the courtroom. HE DRINKS your milkshake. He drinks it up.
A cat burglar climbed into the basement to a Bronx home and made off with a tasty haul — a milkshake machine, a chocolate fondue maker and two toy race cars, cops said.
Police on Thursday released video from the odd heist, showing the stickyfingered fiend crawling through the window of a building on Walton Ave. by Rockwood St. in Mt. Eden just before 11:30 p.m. on May 11. He was later caught on tape leaving.
When he tried pulling the same stunt on Thursday, the judge ordered him sent to North Carolina hospital for a mental health check.
Geritano is accused of mailing threatening letters last February.
The 44-year-old is already serving a 12-year sentence in state prison for a 2012 stabbing.
Though Geritano still hasn’t been formally arraigned, the charge carries up to 20 years in prison.