'Senior gangster' did not assault victim over gambling debt, jury hears
An elderly accused gangster didn't beat up a Manhattan restaurateur after he tried to extort him over gambling debts.
The alleged Genovese capo and octogenarian Anthony "Roma" Romanello beat Shukri "Bruno" Selima because the restaurant owner Insulted him. Selima owned the now-closed Lincoln Square Steakhouse on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Romanelli, 86, and his co-defendant, famed Genoese soldier Joseph Celso, were tried in Brooklyn federal court on two counts of racketeering.
Prosecutors say they were hired by a Queens bookmaker to collect $86,000 in gambling debts from two of Selimaj's relatives, and Roehm was caught on camera punching the steakhouse owner in the face.
"Touch like a girl"
During opening arguments last week, Romanelli's attorney Jerry McMahon tried to convince jurors that all was not what it seemed, the New York Post reported.
He said his customer was a weekly customer at the steakhouse and that the two old acquaintances had just gotten into an argument because they were drunk.
"He didn't hit Bruno to collect gambling debts," McMahon argued."Bruno told him that he was a broken Italian, that he had no courage, that he was nothing. He beat the 86-year-old man who was sitting there. He beat him because Bruno insulted him to his face.
"People who have seen the video will say my client looks like a girl," McMahon noted.
However, Selimaj told jurors that in March 2017 he was visited by an Irish bookmaker named Mike Regan, who told him that his nephew and nephew's brother-in-law owed money to a Mafia associate $80,000. Reagan told him he had to pay off his debt.
Prosecutors believe the employee was an aspiring Albanian movie star named Luan Bexheti, who had had supporting roles in several independent films, IMDB reported. Ironically, one of Bekskhetti's acting jobs was voicing the "Albanian gangster" in the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV."
Mafia Threat
Selimaj spoke to police after the alleged attack but retracted his statement 24 hours later and paid off relatives' debts, according to prosecutors.
Selimaj said he did so in court last Wednesday because a family member had received threatening messages from Celso.
In 1993, Celso was charged with the murder of Manuel Mai, a Queens College student from the Dominican Republic. However, he was acquitted after the prosecution's key witness left the country.
"I was worried that this mafia was going to do something to me, my nephew," Selimaje testified. "I'm scared because no one jokes with the Mafia... This is not a joke."
The process continues.
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Source: www.casino.org
