YA KITTEN ME?
All rise for the (actual) judge Go easy on mob capo, he’s nice to cats, judge told
A BRONX MOBSTER accused of ordering his goons to attack a panhandler isn’t a bad guy — because he once sheltered a “desperate pregnant cat,” a supporter told a judge.
The kind words for Genovese capo Pasquale Parrello come as the 73-year-old is facing a stint in federal prison on Sept. 7.
The hulking septuagenarian — who’s behind popular Arthur Ave. Italian restaurant Pasquale’s Rigoletto — was one of 46 East Coast gangsters hit with racketeering charges in August 2016.
Prosecutors say that in June 2011, Parrello (photo inset) ordered two subordinates to break the knees of a panhandler for bothering several female customers outside Pasquale’s Rigoletto.
He’s also accused of instructing his soldiers to collect a man’s gambling debt with an iron fist, telling them, “Choke him, actually choke the motherf---er . . . and tell him, ‘Listen to me . . . next time, I’m not gonna stop choking . . . I’m gonna kill you.’ ”
The aging capo pleaded guilty in May to three counts of conspiracy to commit extortion and is expected to serve from 51/4 to 61/2 years behind bars. But his family, friends and supporters have nevertheless written more than 40 “character letters” to Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Sullivan, as part of his bid for a lenient sentence, court filings show. Paula De Marta Mastroianni, who co-wrote the book “Little Italy of the Bronx,” was among those who penned a note. The self-described “lifelong friend” of Parrello said she considers him to be “one of the most honest, generous, and thoughtful people in my life.” Mastroianni, 70, said her feelings stem from many events — including a time in the late 1990s when “a desperate pregnant cat made her way into the basement of the restaurant, Pasquale’s Rigoletto, in order to deliver her kittens.” Parrello reached out Mastroianni and asked her what to do. “My first response to was ‘please don’t put her out’ to which he replied ‘I would never do that,’ ” she wrote in her letter, filed Monday.
The feline also had been “viciously attacked” by a stray pit bull and needed a “major operation to repair egregious injuries.”
Mastroianni didn’t have money for surgery but Parrello covered the cat’s medical costs, “saving her life.”
“You could say ‘it was only a cat,’ but we all know the link between people of good hearts and animals, and Mr. Parrello’s heart was too soft and too loving to turn his back on a needy animal,” she wrote.
Parrello’s lawyer didn’t respond to requests for comment. The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.