Federal criminal defense and white collar crime lawyer, NiaLena Caravasos, was recently interviewed and quoted in a Philadelphia Inquirer article entitled “Even for ‘Skinny Joey’ Merlino, there’s always a first time.”
Philadelphia Inquirer writer Stu Bykofsky described how longtime criminal defense attorney NiaLena Caravasos represented Merlino’s codefendant, Frank Gambino, in a 2001 federal mob trial in Philadelphia. “Make a deal? No dice.” NiaLena explained that “Mr. Merlino, along with my client and several others, chose to go to trial because we felt that we could win the major counts against us — which indeed we did.”
NiaLena further opined that In Merlino’s latest case, “admitting to the minor gambling count was worth it to make the serious racketeering charge go away.”