August 22, 2019
This Week in Gang Land
Musical Chairs For Lawyers In Meldish Murder Case; Steve Crea Unseats Another One
In a surprise move just six weeks before the scheduled start of his
trial, Luchese underboss Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea has fired Barry
Levin, the veteran trial lawyer he retained in December to defend him
against racketeering charges and the murder of former Purple Gang leader
Michael Meldish.
Gang Land has learned that the news was delivered Monday by Crea's son Dominick, a paralegal who hired Levin as his dad's lead trial lawyer in December. The reason for the abrupt dismissal, Dominick told attorneys for Crea's four codefendants was allegedly "unprofessional and unproductive statements" that the outspoken lawyer had made to and about his fellow attorneys and co-defendants in the case.
The stunning development had no impact on the scheduled guilty plea of Crea's son, Steven (Stevie Junior) Crea. The mob scion copped a plea deal to several charges that call for up to 13 years in prison. The news of Levin's firing seemed to overshadow the guilty plea but Crea lawyer Anthony DiPietro said the firing wasn't "news worthy," and will have no impact on the elder Crea's defense.
Gambino
Family Odd Couple Are A BOP Bronx Tale
We're not sure what wiseguy Nicholas (Little Nick) Corozzo said when he saw fellow Gambino mobster Alphonse Trucchio a couple weeks ago at the Bronx halfway house where Little Nick's been residing since June. But we're positive he didn't smile and say, "Nice to see you Al, hope all is well with you these days."
Stevie
Junior Rejects 10 Years For Murder; Takes 13 Years For Racketeering
As his dad juggles lawyers, Steven (Stevie Junior) Crea begins a long bid. One that could have been much longer. He has copped a plea deal for 13 years in prison rather than plead guilty to the murder of former Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish and get a better deal of 10 years behind bars. But according to his plea agreement, the mob capo "admits" that his conduct as a member of the racketeering conspiracy that killed Meldish calls for a prison term of 30-years-to-life.
Read this week's column
Unless you get really lucky, and find a copy squirreled away in the
wrong section of your local bookstore, you won't be able to get a
first printing of Mob Boss: The Life Of Little Al
D'Arco, The Man Who Brought Down The Mafia. But there
are still some second print versions of the hardcover available
as gifts or for your own reading pleasure.
Because of the heavy demand, Thomas Dunne Books went to the well again for a second printing of Mob Boss, the book that The New York Times called a "gripping, novelistic biography — a bulls-eye."
The mass market, paperback version was published in 2015. It is available online and at your favorite bookstores for about eight bucks. You still should be able to pick up a copy of the hard cover at your favorite bookstore, or, as Claude Raines might say to Humphrey Bogart, from any number of the usual online suspects: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and BooksAMillion, as well as an independent book seller near you.
See why Mob Boss has been praised by Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin, Nicholas Pileggi, Mister District Attorney Robert Morgenthau — as well as readers everywhere.
Mob Boss is also available in a special BIG PRINT edition. And for those who would rather hear every word of the 406 page book read to them, Mob Boss is also available on an MP3 CD from Tantor Audio.
