A federal judge has eased the house arrest restrictions placed on Joseph 'JoJo' Giorgianni, a one-time cohort of convicted former Trenton Mayor Tony Mack.
TRENTON — A federal judge has eased the house arrest restrictions placed on Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni, a one-time cohort of convicted former Trenton Mayor Tony Mack.
Giorgianni, who has been under house arrest for 19 months, will be allowed to leave his Ewing home during the day, but faces a curfew from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m., an order signed by U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Arpert said.
Jerome Ballarotto, Giorgianni’s attorney who applied for the modified conditions, said that his client was pleased with the judge’s decision.
“I think that they have confidence that he’s not going to violate the conditions of his bail,” Ballarotto said.
The court heard arguments on the application yesterday, where Ballarotto said he argued that Giorgianni should be granted some relief on the terms of his house arrest.
Giorgianni has been under house arrest since he was arrested in September 2012 alongside Mack and Mack’s brother Ralphiel for conspiring to extort bribes from parking garage developers.
Giorgianni then pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme last December. The Mack brothers were convicted at a trial that ended this February.
The judge also ordered that the GPS monitoring device placed on Giorgianni’s ankle be removed.
During the hours where Giorgianni is allowed out of the house, he must remain in New Jersey and he must be able to account for his time with pretrial services.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Ballarotto said. “He’s not a flight risk; he’s not any kind of risk.”
Giorgianni will also be allowed to visit his Trenton steak house for “legitimate business purposes,” but will not be allowed to loiter there, the judge ordered.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
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