Fraud trial for ‘Skinny Joey’ Merlino nearing end

A notorious Philadelphia mob boss who said he gave up his life of crime instead made money by muscling his way into health insurance and gambling schemes run by organized crime families around the East Coast, a prosecutor said Tuesday at closing arguments at a federal racketeering trial.

After spending 12 years behind bars in another racketeering scheme marked by violence, Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino soon re-emerged as a feared figure in the Mafia, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Schorr told jurors. That meant he could demand a cut of the illicit profits from schemes begun in 2013 by gangsters who were under his protection, Schorr said.

“Being with Merlino did not come for free,” Schorr said in federal court in Manhattan. “You pay tribute.”

Defense attorney Edwin Jacob countered by telling jurors that they were being misled by “compromised” turncoat mobsters who testified against Merlino, including one who made hundreds of hours of secret recordings of him.

“Have you heard anybody say Joseph Merlino is the boss of the Philadelphia mob?” Jacobs asked, referring to tapes played for the jury. “The answer is obvious — not a peep that he’s the boss of (the) Philadelphia mob.”

Merlino, 55, was among nearly four dozen defendants arrested in a 2016 crackdown on an East Coast 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