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Philip Sellinger

RHONJ Ex-Husband Sentenced For Hiring Mobster To Rough Up Wife’s New Man: Feds RHONJ Ex-Husband Sentenced For Hiring Mobster To Rough Up Wife’s New Man: Feds
Rhonj Ex-Husband Sentenced For Hiring Mobster To Rough Up Wife’s New Man: Feds It sounds like a juicy plotline from "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." Thomas Manzo, a Franklin Lakes resident and the ex-husband of Dina Manzo, one of the former cast members on the hit Bravo reality show, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday, Oct. 15, after being convicted of hiring a mobster to assault Dave Cantin, Dina's now current husband, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. In the spring of 2015, Manzo, 59 and a co-owner of The Brownstone, a Paterson catering hall, hired Lucchese Crime Family member John Perna to assault Cantin, Dina's then-boyfriend, paying for the …
NJ-Based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds NJ-Based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds
Nj-based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds TD Bank has agreed to pay about $3 billion in historic penalties after its relaxed policies allowed criminals to launder their money, authorities said. The Canadian bank with U.S. headquarters in Cherry Hill pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to not maintain an anti-money laundering program that complies with the Bank Secrecy Act, filing inaccurate currency transaction reports, and laundering money, the Justice Department said in a news release on Thursday, Oct. 10. TD Bank will pay more than $1.8 billion to resolve the DOJ's investigation and $1.3 billion in a penalty f…
Middlesex Man Gets 2½ Years For COVID Unemployment Scam Middlesex Man Gets 2½ Years For COVID Unemployment Scam
Middlesex Man Gets 2½ Years For COVID Unemployment Scam A Middlesex County man was sentenced to a plea-bargained 2½ years in prison for conspiring to illegally obtain nearly $450,000 in COVID-19 unemployment benefits, federal authorities said. Christopher Valerio, 33, of Perth Amboy, must serve a little over two years before he can be released because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Valerio and co-conspirators submitted bogus unemployment applications to the New York Department of Labor through "fictitious online profiles that they created using personally identifiable information, including names, dates of birth, and Social…
Paterson Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Using Excessive Force Twice: Prosecutors Paterson Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Using Excessive Force Twice: Prosecutors
Paterson Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Using Excessive Force Twice: Prosecutors A 32-year-old Wayne resident and Paterson police officer pleaded guilty on Thursday, Feb. 8 to using excessive force during two separate arrests in late 2020, the US Attorney's Office announced. On Nov. 26, 2020, Kevin Patino responded to a call for backup from a police officer attempting to disperse a crowd on Main Street in Paterson, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. Patino got into an altercation with a person getting into verbal exchange with the officer, pushing them into the street, Sellinger said. Patino then threw them to the ground and proceeded to repeatedly strike them, Selling…
New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years
New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years UPDATE: A New Hampshire man who recorded himself having sex in the back seat of his car with a 12-year-old child at the Jersey Shore must spend the next 20 years in federal prison. Scott Wilkinson, 39, must serve out the entire plea-bargained sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Twenty years means 20 years. Wilkinson traveled nearly 400 miles from Concord, NH to Egg Harbor Township -- just outside Atlantic City -- to have sex with the child, the FBI said. He recorded it and uploaded the video from his phone to a Google Drive account, which was linked to his home…
New Details Emerge As Feds Take Case Of South Jersey Man Charged With Building Pipe Bombs New Details Emerge As Feds Take Case Of South Jersey Man Charged With Building Pipe Bombs
New Details Emerge As Feds Take Case Of South Jersey Man Charged With Building Pipe Bombs Federal authorities on Tuesday announced that they're now handling the prosecution of a South Jersey man who forced a major evacuation of homes and businesses after local police said they found him driving around with homemade pipe bombs in his car. U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger announced the move on Jan. 23 while sharing new details about last summer's arrest. Jeremy Giliberti, 52, of Mount Laurel, was stopped by Hamilton Township police in the parking lot of a T-Mobile store on South Broad Street shortly before 11 a.m. last July 26. On the floorboard of the front passenge…
Feds: Crooked Bookkeeper Admits Embezzling $900G From Restaurants In NJ, NY, PA (UPDATE) Feds: Crooked Bookkeeper Admits Embezzling $900G From Restaurants In NJ, NY, PA (UPDATE)
Feds: Crooked Bookkeeper Admits Embezzling $900G From Restaurants In NJ, NY, PA (Update) A bookkeeper from New Jersey admitted in federal court that he embezzled more than $900,000 from restaurants he worked for in the Garden State, New York and Pennsylvania, authorities said. Richard Winter, 53, of Pompton Lakes authorized bank wire transfers from some of them, pocketed vendor payments to others and issued checks payable to cash that he then deposited into his own bank accounts, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said. Winter serviced the clients' accounts payable through a company he created called Back Office Pro, a complaint on file in federal court in Newark say…
FBI: Sex, Money, Murder Members Nabbed With Guns, Coke, More At Open-Air Brick City Drug Market FBI: Sex, Money, Murder Members Nabbed With Guns, Coke, More At Open-Air Brick City Drug Market
FBI: Sex, Money, Murder Members Nabbed With Guns, Coke, More At Open-Air Brick City Drug Market Five reputed members and associates of the Sex, Money, Murder gang were charged by federal authorities with peddling fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine at an open-air drug market in Newark. Drugs and loaded guns were seized during the arrests early last month of the quintet, who U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said slung the potentially lethal narcotics from the neighborhood at Kent and Brenner streets. He identified them as Fuquan Williams, 33; Dwight Dixon, 52; Nafee Patterson, 41; Jabriel Mason, 20; and Daqwuan Barkley, 29, all of Essex County. A federal magistrate judge in New…
Newark Ex-Con Gets 19 Years, No Parole, On Federal Gun, Drug Convictions Newark Ex-Con Gets 19 Years, No Parole, On Federal Gun, Drug Convictions
Newark Ex-Con Gets 19 Years, No Parole, On Federal Gun, Drug Convictions An ex-con from Newark was sentenced to 228 months in federal prison for trafficking cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl while carrying a loaded gun. Ricky Hubbard, 46, was convicted by jurors in U.S. District Court in March. He'll have to serve out the entire 19-year term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Hubbard was talking on a cellphone when Union Township police stopped him in a 2012 Kia Sedona with tinted windows in the eastbound lanes of Route 22 near Ball Avenue on Nov. 6, 2019, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. They immediately smelled pot while noticing a b…
FBI Seizes Passenger On Newark-Bound Plane For Fondling Female Passenger FBI Seizes Passenger On Newark-Bound Plane For Fondling Female Passenger
FBI Seizes Passenger On Newark-Bound Plane For Fondling Female Passenger An 18-year-old airline passenger was arrested by the FBI for touching a woman's groin and leg after changing his seat to sit next to her during a flight from L.A. to Newark, federal authorities said. A U.S. District Court magistrate judge released Hasan Naser Hussain Alenezi of Kuwait on an unsecured bond -- with home detention and a GPS ankle bracelet -- following an initial appearance in federal court in Newark on Friday, Sept. 1. "While on a Nov. 27, 2022, flight from Los Angeles, California, to Newark, Alenezi sat next to a female passenger, who was seated next to the window, instead of…
3 Brick City Brims Get 100 Years Combined For Murdering Informant, Bystander, Rival Gangster 3 Brick City Brims Get 100 Years Combined For Murdering Informant, Bystander, Rival Gangster
3 Brick City Brims Get 100 Years Combined For Murdering Informant, Bystander, Rival Gangster A trio of ruthless Essex County gang members who admitted gunning down a government informant after killing an innocent bystander they mistook for the snitch were sentenced to nearly 100 years combined in federal prison. There’s no parole in the federal prison system, which means the East Orange trio will all have to serve out their plea-bargained sentences: Thomas Zimmerman, 28, was sentenced to 37 years; Tyquan Daniels, 27, got 35 years; Ali Hill, 30, was sentenced to 25 years. That means Daniels and Zimmerman will both be pushing 65 when either tastes freedom again. Hill would be approa…
GANG WAR: Brick City Teen Seized In Modified Machine-Gun Shooting Of Rival Trio GANG WAR: Brick City Teen Seized In Modified Machine-Gun Shooting Of Rival Trio
Gang WAR: Brick City Teen Seized In Modified Machine-Gun Shooting Of Rival Trio A 19-year-old reputed Newark street gang member wanted for shooting three rivals with a modified machine gun last weekend is in federal custody. Munir “Mu” Muhammad was carrying the converted 9mm handgun when he was arrested on Wednesday, April 12, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. The gun had fired 28 rounds in the April 8 shooting at the Oscar Miles Housing Complex and was fitted with an extended magazine loaded with another 30, Sellinger said Thursday. Three opponents were wounded, one critically, in what the U.S. attorney said is part of a bloody ongoing gun battle between rivals on…
Fake Accountant Admits Stealing $1.5 Million In Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits: Feds Fake Accountant Admits Stealing $1.5 Million In Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits: Feds
Fake Accountant Admits Stealing $1.5 Million In Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits: Feds A Hudson County woman admitted to stealing more than $1.5 million from non-profits, private schools and religious institutions throughout New Jersey by pretending to be an accountant.  Yezenia Castillo, a 46-year-old Hoboken resident, pleaded guilty on Thursday, April 6 to one count of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion in U.S. District Court in Newark, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced. For nine years, Castillo falsely claimed to be an accountant, offering her serves to non-profits throughout the state, Sellinger said. Upon being hired, Castillo would charge…
Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds
Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds A corrections officer and his girlfriend were busted for smuggling tobacco and cellphones into the Essex County Jail from a source who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, federal authorities said. Efrin Wade, 34, and Yairisa Lizardo, 29, both of Jersey City, accepted $14,000 for the illegal acts and apparently were counting on another $30,000 when they were busted, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said following their arrests on Tuesday, March 14. Wade, who’d worked as a corrections officer at the Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF) in Newark since February 2020, be…
GOTCHA! Fugitive Cocaine Dealer Captured In DR, Returned To NJ After 15 Years On Run GOTCHA! Fugitive Cocaine Dealer Captured In DR, Returned To NJ After 15 Years On Run
Gotcha! Fugitive Cocaine Dealer Captured In DR, Returned To NJ After 15 Years On Run A cocaine dealer who fled the country after being sentenced to federal prison time 15 years ago has been returned to New Jersey following her capture in the Dominican Republic, authorities said. Ramona Cruz will have to serve out the entire 3½-year sentence because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Cruz and her brother, Ramon DeJesus, were busted in 2005 with more than 6½ pounds of cocaine that had been flown in through Newark Airport by an unidentified associate from the DR, authorities said. DeJesus took a deal from the government rather than face trial, pleading guilty to…
Worldwide Ransomware Rampage: Iranians Hack NJ Town, PA Domestic Violence Shelter, Feds Charge Worldwide Ransomware Rampage: Iranians Hack NJ Town, PA Domestic Violence Shelter, Feds Charge
Worldwide Ransomware Rampage: Iranians Hack NJ Town, PA Domestic Violence Shelter, Feds Charge Federal authorities are offering a $10 million reward to help locate a trio of Iranian nationals who held the computer systems of a New Jersey town, a domestic violence shelter in Pennsylvania and hundreds of other victims across the U.S. and abroad hostage in a series of hack attacks. Using Microsoft’s BitLocker security tool, the hackers locked up and then stole secure files before sending ransom notes – some of which were spit out on the victims’ printers, the FBI said on Wednesday, Sept. 14. The unidentified shelter ended up paying $13,000 in bitcoin to retrieve its files, according to …
Feds: Major NJ Drug Trio Admits Killing Informant, Innocent Bystander, Among Others Feds: Major NJ Drug Trio Admits Killing Informant, Innocent Bystander, Among Others
Feds: Major NJ Drug Trio Admits Killing Informant, Innocent Bystander, Among Others A trio of ruthless Essex County gang members admitted their roles in a major drug operation responsible for gunning down a government informant -- following the murder of an innocent bystander who was mistakenly believed to be the snitch. In exchange for their pleas, Tyquan Daniels and Thomas Zimmerman, 27, face a minimum of 33 years in federal prison each, while Ali Hill, 29, is looking at a minimum of 20 years. There's no parole in the federal prison system, which means Daniels and Zimmerman would be turning 60 when either tastes freedom again. Hill would be nearing 50. Federal prosecuto…
Career Criminal From Connecticut, 73, Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire Of Jersey City Politico Career Criminal From Connecticut, 73, Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire Of Jersey City Politico
Career Criminal From Connecticut, 73, Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire Of Jersey City Politico A hardened ex-con from Connecticut admitted that he and a longtime criminal pal from Philadelphia stabbed a political consultant to death and then torched his Jersey City apartment in a murder-for-hire attack. George Bratsenis, 73, of Monroe, CT said he and his partner were paid to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics. Bratsenis and the other killer, Bomani Africa, 61, were hired by onetime political operative Sean Caddle, who’d been an aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) a…
Former Rockland Owner Of Failed Nursing Homes In NJ, 11 Other States Charged In $39M Tax Dodge Former Rockland Owner Of Failed Nursing Homes In NJ, 11 Other States Charged In $39M Tax Dodge
Former Rockland Owner Of Failed Nursing Homes In NJ, 11 Other States Charged In $39M Tax Dodge An insurance broker from Rockland County who ran a failed nationwide network of nearly 100 nursing homes from an office over a Bergen County pizzeria ducked nearly $39 million in payroll taxes, a federal indictment unsealed on Monday alleges. Joseph Schwartz, 62, was arrested at his Suffern home last Thursday. A federal judge in Newark released him to home confinement hours later, with conditions, pending trial. Then came the unsealing announcement on Monday, also out of Newark. Schwartz’s Skyline Healthcare LLC amassed 95 nursing homes in 11 states nationwide in less than two years – incl…