The surprise move of a plea deal with federal prosecutors came just a day after a judge determined Giorgianni was fit to stand trial in the corruption case against Mack and his brother Ralphiel Mack set for next month
TRENTON – In an unexpected turn of events less than a month before his corruption trial was to start, Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting handing $8,000 in bribe money to Mayor Tony Mack in the spring of 2012.
Giorgianni, who supported Mack during his two runs for mayor and was a longtime friend of the mayor, pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion in the public corruption case where he and Mack are charged alongside Mack’s brother Ralphiel. While Giorgianni also pleaded guilty to one drug and one weapons charge in a separate narcotics case against him, the remaining nine counts of federal indictment against him in both matters will be dismissed.
Giorgianni’s lawyer Jerome Ballarotto would not say whether Giorgianni would testify for the government in the Macks’ upcoming trial, but said he is no longer preparing his client to participate in the case.
Giorgianni, who once said “going to jail’s my business,” according to the FBI, said in court today he served as one of Mack’s “buffers,” intermediaries who would handle bribe money and accept cash from the FBI’s two cooperating witnesses. Under oath, Giorgianni answered questions about cash that came from Lemuel Blackburn and Harry Seymour, two federal witnesses who posed as parking garage developers in the FBI sting.
Today, Giorgianni testified to a single instance of giving Mack a cash bribe, which Giorgianni said happened in JoJo’s Steak House in the spring of 2012.
“While in the back, non-public area of JoJo’s Steak House, and in the presence of another witness, did you give Tony F. Mack approximately $8,000 in cash that you had received from Blackburn and Seymour?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Moran asked.
“Yes, sir,” Giorgianni answered.
Mayor Mack’s attorney Mark Davis said Giorgianni’s turn was not unexpected.
“I can’t even tell you I’m surprised,” Davis said this evening. “The only thing that surprised me is that it didn’t happen sooner. The evidence against JoJo has always been overwhelming.”
But the court hearing itself – on Friday the 13th no less – was sudden, with Davis saying he received no alert from the U.S. Attorney’s Office or Ballarotto. Davis was expecting a status conference this afternoon but was told it was canceled for another matter. Then he received a phone call from the defense investigator on the case, who happened to be inside the federal courthouse, asking him why reporters were waiting outside a courtroom, Davis said.
Giorgianni’s plea deal was signed Dec. 5, but not formally entered into the record until today – the day after Judge Michael A. Shipp declared Giorgianni was competent to stand trial.
The deal carries the possibility of between 10 years, one month, and 12 years, seven months, behind bars for Giorgianni, and would be followed by three years of supervised release. At sentencing, scheduled for March 19, Ballarotto could argue for a sentence much lower than the one calculated by federal guidelines, which would need to be approved by the judge. The U.S. Attorney’s Office reserves the right to object to a lighter sentence, Moran said in court today.
Any violation of the agreement means that all charges can be reinstated against Giorgianni regardless of the statute of limitations, Moran said. Giorgianni’s house arrest will not immediately change.
Pleading guilty immediately after Giorgianni was his decades-long companion Mary Manfredo. The 66-year-old Lawrence resident operates JoJo’s Steak House, but did not say in court whether she was the person who allegedly witnessed Giorgianni give Mack $8,000.
Manfredo was indicted on four counts in the drug distribution case, which alleged Giorgianni ran a prescription pill ring out of the steak shop. Today, she admitted in court to holding pills for admitted members of the pill-dealing group, and sometimes holding onto money from those sales for Giorgianni and others.
Anthony Simonetti, Manfredo’s lawyer, would not say whether Manfredo would testify against Mack as a condition of her plea deal. Manfredo faces between four years, three months and five years, 11 months in prison, but like Giorgianni her sentence could be a great deal shorter.
Davis pointed out that Tony and Ralphiel Mack wanted Giorgianni separated from their trial anyway.
“In effect, he did us a favor,” Davis said of Giorgianni.
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