U.S. TO ASK DEATH IN MOB TRIAL?

Should Joey Merlino and three pals be put to death?

That's what federal prosecutors are deliberating, should reputed mob boss
Joseph "Skinny Joey," Merlino, underboss Steven Mazzone, consigliere George
Borgesi, and soldier John Ciancaglini be convicted of murder racketeering
charges next year.

Under 1994 law, the U.S. attorney's office is required to undergo a review
process to determine whether murders committed in racketeering or drug
kingpin cases qualify for the death penalty.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Gross would not comment on whether
prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the four mobsters, who, at a
federal hearing yesterday, appeared unfazed by that prospect.

U.S. District Judge Herbert J. Hutton set March 20 as the trial date for
Merlino and eight co-defendants. The trial is expected to last three to
four months.

The nine are charged in a racketeering conspiracy that includes three
murders, three attempted murders, a murder conspiracy, interstate theft
charges and drug, gambling and loansharking charges.

Merlino's is the third potential capital case to be reviewed in the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania. The two other cases involve drug dealers.

In the first case, in 1997, Tyrone Tidwell, who operated a $1 million
"Rico's Corner" drug-and-gun operation, was facing the death penalty for
two murders. He entered a guilty plea expecting a lesser sentence, then
later tried to withdraw it when he was sentenced to life.

In the second case, about to go to trial, three accused cocaine
traffickers, Victor Rodriguez, Wilfredo Martinez-Acosta and Carlos Ivan
Llera-Paza, are charged with two murders in the Fairhill section and one in
Puerto Rico while allegedly operating a cocaine ring that sold 440
kilograms between 1996 and 1998.

Merlino, Mazzone, Borgesi and Ciancaglini were charged with murder in the
aid of racketeering in connection with two gangland slayings during high
profile federal trials in 1995 and 1998.

On Oct. 5, 1995, William "Billy" Veasey was gunned down near his South
Philadelphia home shortly before his brother was to testify for the
government. His brother, John, an ex-mob capo, admitted killing
Ciancaglini's brother, Michael, and wounding Merlino during a 1993 mob war.

In the second case, on Mar. 18, 1998, Anthony Turra, a defendant in a major
drug case, was fatally shot after leaving his South Philadelphia home en
route to federal court where he had been awaiting a verdict in the case.

Turra's disparaging remarks about Merlino and his then girlfriend, and now
wife, Deborah, were widely publicized during the trial.

Merlino and Borgesi are charged in both murders, while Mazzone is charged
in Turra's killing. Ciancaglini is accused in Veasey's death.

Before the trial, however, the government must undergo a lengthy internal
review to certify the case as death-qualified.

The process is so complicated that booklets are published to help attorneys
on both sides follow all the steps.

During the review, Gross said, the four defense attorneys will get two
chances to argue on behalf of their clients: once with U.S. Attorney
Michael Stiles; and the second time, with a U.S. Department of Justice
death penalty committee which recommends its findings to the attorney general.

Regardless what a local U.S. attorney recommends, the attorney general can
take a contrary position.

Gross said the certification should be complete by the end of January.

In the meantime, federal prosecutors are trying to disqualify Mazzone's
second attorney, Stephen Patrizio, who also represents a potential witness,
convicted drug dealer Michael Virelli.

Virelli was an associate of the Louis Turra drug organization. Mazzone is
accused of killing Louis Turra's father, Anthony. Mazzone's first attorney,
Joseph Santaguida, was disqualified on similar grounds.

A hearing was set for Nov. 27 to resolve any conflict of interest.

In a related matter, Ruthann Seccio, the ex-girlfriend of Ralph Natale, the
onetime mob boss who is now cooperating with the feds, said she would not
be a defense witness.

"I don't want any part of it," she said.