![nialena-caravasos-interviewed-and-quoted-in-philadelphia-inquirer-article-entitled-even-for-skinny-joey-merlino-theres-always-a-first-time nialena-caravasos-interviewed-and-quoted-in-philadelphia-inquirer-article-entitled-even-for-skinny-joey-merlino-theres-always-a-first-time](https://nialena.com/images/2018/05/joey-merlino.jpg)
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.”