Feds: Merlino met with mob associates soon after release from prison

Former Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino insists he has kept out of trouble since he got out of prison and moved to Florida three years ago.

Federal authorities call that story laughable.

The 52-year-old ex-don, they alleged in a court filing Wednesday, began violating the terms of his probation within weeks of his 2011 release - meeting with members of La Cosa Nostra even as he was living in a federal halfway house meant to ease the transition back to postprison life.

What's more, they said, they have the photos to prove it.

The filing came just days before a probation violation hearing in federal court in Philadelphia that could put Merlino back behind bars.

Specifically, prosecutors have alleged that he enjoyed a night on the town in June with one of his former captains, a relative of a Lucchese crime family capo, and another ex-con at a swank Boca Raton cigar bar.

Merlino's lawyers have said their client either did not know those men were at the bar that night or was not aware of their criminal histories. They have criticized federal officials for seeking to revoke their client's probation just days before it was set to end.

In their filing Wednesday, prosecutors stood by their case.

"Merlino was the leader of the Philadelphia family of La Cosa Nostra," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Troyer wrote in Wednesday's filing. "His suggestion that his meetings with convicted felons and LCN members and associates were mere 'chance encounters' is laughable."

U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick is set to weigh Merlino's case at a hearing Friday.

For Merlino, who some law enforcement officials still believe is leading the Philadelphia family, it will be his first appearance in a courtroom here since he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on racketeering conspiracy charges in 2001.

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