NYC drug dealer nicknamed ‘Mr. Pickles’ dodges hefty prison term by ratting on mob-connected cohort
A Brooklyn drug dealer and nail salon owner who called himself “Mr. Pickles” and sold coke in Minnie Mouse wrapping dodged a hefty federal prison term by ratting on his mob-connected cohorts.
Christopher Kelly, 56, faced more than 12 years behind bars on federal drug conspiracy charges — but was instead hit with just over three years in federal court Monday for testifying against his associates, the Albany Times Union reported.
But his cooperation with the feds didn’t spare Kelly a brutal tongue-lashing from the judge.
“The word that comes to mind when I look at you is ‘miscreant,’” Judge Mae Avila D’Agostino scolded him in Albany federal court.
“I think you are a poster child for moral perversion and moral decay — and that’s probably an understatement,” she said.
“All that mattered to you was lining your pockets. Apparently, money is your god.”
The gravel-voiced Kelly, who referred to himself as “Mr. Pickles” and owned a nail salon in the Mill Basin neighborhood in Brooklyn, was already behind bars after pleading guilty to drug conspiracy last year.
His final sentencing was pending his testimony in the case against three accused co-conspirators — Jeffrey Civitello Sr., owner of Focus Construction, his son Jeffrey Civitello Jr. and Richard Sinde, a Bonanno crime family associate from New Jersey.
At one point during his testimony, Kelly recalled getting pulled over by New York state troopers on April 2, 2021, while transporting 20 pounds of cocaine to Schenectady — unaware that the US Drug Enforcement Administration had planted a GPS device in the vehicle.
“What was your reaction?” federal prosecutor Michael Barnett asked Kelly.
“Holy s–t!” he replied.
Sinde, 58, and the Civitellos, who are 51 and 23, were convicted in April of peddling $600,000 worth of cocaine between New York City and Schenectady and are awaiting sentencing.
Kelly had already been convicted in state court for an unrelated Big Apple drug case stemming from a 2018 bust when he was indicted by the feds in 2021.
In the state case, New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said Kelly and two other men, including an MTA bus driver, made a $74,000 cocaine deal outside Kelly’s nail salon.
The drugs were found stashed in a box covered in Minnie Mouse wrapping paper.
Kelly was sentenced to up to 2 1/2 years in state prison in July 2021, according to records.
He was released in July this year — only to be locked up by the feds pending his trial and testimony against the Civitellos and Sinde in the drug conspiracy case.
“I tried my best to stay out of trouble and I did,” Kelly insisted at his sentencing Monday, according to the Times-Union.
