Feds indict 46 in mob sweep, including reputed Philly boss

NEW YORK — Declaring that the Mafia is not just the stuff of movie scripts, federal prosecutors charged nearly four dozen people Thursday with being part of an East Coast crime syndicate, including an old-school mobster in New York and a reputed mob chieftain in Philadelphia who has been pursued by the government for decades.

The indictment, unsealed in New York City, accuses the defendants of a litany of classic mafia crimes, including extortion, loansharking, casino-style gambling, sports gambling, credit card fraud and health care fraud. It said the syndicate operated in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida and New Jersey.

Among those charged was Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, the flamboyant alleged head of the Philadelphia mob who has repeatedly beat murder charges in past cases, but served nearly 12 years in prison for racketeering.

Also named in the indictment was Pasquale “Patsy” Parrello, identified as a longtime member of the Genovese organized crime family in New York City.

Merlino’s longtime lawyer, Ed Jacobs, declined to comment on the allegations, saying he hadn’t yet studied the indictment.

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: April 2, 2026

49m ago

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: Kamloops deserves the full story

Apr 01, 2026

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: Supporting small businesses in B.C.

Apr 01, 2026

Prosecutors said 39 of those charged were arrested on Thursday. Alleged members of four New York crime families were among the defendants. During the arrests, agents seized three handguns, a shotgun, gambling paraphernalia and more than $30,000 in cash.

Diego Rodriguez, head of the FBI’s New York office, said the indictment “reads like an old school Mafia novel.”

One count accuses Parrello, 72, of ordering a beatdown in 2011 of a panhandler he believed was harassing female customers outside his Bronx restaurant.

“Break his … knees,” he said, according to prosecutors. The panhandler was “assaulted with glass jars, sharp objects and steel-tipped boots, causing bodily harm,” the court papers said.

Afterward one of his cohorts was recorded saying, “Remember the old days in the neighbourhood when we used to play baseball? … A ballgame like that was done,” the papers said.

Prosecutors also said that in 2013, Parello ordered retaliation against a man who stabbed a member of his crew outside a Bronx bar.

After an associate agreed to “whack” the attacker, Parrello cautioned him to “keep the pipes handy and pipe him, pipe him, over here (gesturing to the knees), not on his head,” court papers said.

Merlino, 54, who has become a restaurateur in Boca Raton, Florida, following his release from prison, was implicated in a health care fraud scheme with Parrello and others. Investigators said the conspirators got corrupt doctors to bill insurers for unnecessary and excessive prescriptions for expensive compound creams in exchange for kickbacks.

In Massachusetts, five alleged associates of the New York-based Genovese crime family were arrested on extortion-related charges as part of the sweep. Four men were arrested in New Jersey.

Tom Hays, The Associated Press