STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A reputed Staten Island gangster is aiming to get his racketeering case dismissed because the feds provided a mob snitch from Tottenville “a cheat sheet” for his testimony against alleged Bonanno crime members at an upcoming trial, according to a federal court filing.
John (Porky) Zancocchio, 61, an alleged consigliere in the Bonanno organization, claims Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Swergold handed over pertinent wiretap calls and texts to reputed mobster Peter (Pug) Lovaglio, the government’s cooperating witness in the case against Zancocchio and several other alleged Bonanno defendants, according to court filings.
Zancocchio’s lawyer, John Meringolo, accuses Swergold of prosecutorial misconduct because the recordings were under a protective order. The conversations would allow Lovaglio, an unreliable witness with a checkered past, to tailor his testimony against Zancocchio, said the lawyer.
“The conduct of the United States Attorney’s Office critically annihilated any chance these defendants had at a fair trial by providing the main cooperating witness with what is essentially his own ‘cheat sheet’ for cross examination,” Meringolo wrote in the filing.
“It is beyond defense counsel’s comprehension as to why he flagrantly handed materials to (Lovaglio) that are so critical to the defense and the impeachment of this witness at trial,” Meringolo said.
Swergold said he followed Department of Justice regulations when his office decided to turn over the information.
" (The) defendants’ claim of prosecutorial misconduct is frivolous," Swergold wrote in a court letter. “There is nothing improper about a witness reviewing his own statements before testifying.”
The prosecutor gave Lovaglio the material to use in a $5 million civil suit against the NYPD and his handler, Det. Joshua Vanderpool, in attempt to amend his eight-year state sentence for an assault at a South Shore restaurant.
In 2017, Lovaglio pleaded guilty to slashing a victim with a glass in Takayama Sushi Lounge on Page Avenue in Richmond Valley in November 2015. The defendant, who goes by the moniker “Pug,” struck the owner of the upscale restaurant in the face with a cocktail glass, cutting his cheek and left eye, a law enforcement source said.
The victim was permanently blinded, said the federal court filing.
Lovaglio argued in the civil suit, which was dismissed last year, that his plea was coerced. The suit was meant as a bargaining chip, Meringolo argued.
“Well listen, I’m shooting for two and a half, maybe three (million)," Lovaglio said on a taped call referenced in the filing. "We’ll see. I got a lot of things up my sleeve. Now I just gotta hold their balls to the fire for a little bit, you know what I mean?”
According to court papers, Lovaglio said on wiretap calls that the feds were going help to him “wipe out” his state sentence.
"They’re trying to get my sentence vacated. So we’re working on it,” Lovaglio said.
In another conversation, he told an agent that he wanted money for the information he was providing prosecutors.
“Without the money don’t bother,” Lovaglio told the agent, according to the filing.
Zancocchio is one several alleged Bonanno members, including Joseph (Joe C) Cammarano Jr., charged with racketeering conspiracy involving a wide range of crimes, including extortion, loansharking, wire and mail fraud and narcotics distribution, authorities said.
Last year, a federal judge released Zancocchio from the Metropolitan Correctional Center and placed him on home detention to seek medical attention. He had been out on bail, but his bond was revoked when he was caught breaking bread at borough eateries.
The trial is set for next month.