Mob snitch hits get-out-of-jail jackpot

Roger Vella Jr.'s "encyclopedic memory" of mob murders and other crimes from here to California helped the ex-mobster-turned-informant hit the get-out-of jail jackpot.

At his sentencing yesterday, Vella, who wore a black suit and a silver and black tie, apologized for "all the pain" he caused his family and the families of three gangland-slaying victims: demoted mob capo Ronald Turchi Sr.; William "Billy" Veasey, and Ralph Mazzuca.

"I have nobody to blame but myself," said Vella, haltingly. "Nobody put a gun to my head to join the mob and become a gangster and commit murders for the mob."

U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell then sentenced Vella, a onetime bodyguard of jailed mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, to 140 months in prison for racketeering conspiracy. He had faced life behind bars.

Dalzell then ordered Vella, 37, of South Philadelphia, to pay $25 every three months on a $2,500 fine while imprisoned and the balance while under supervised release for five years.

"You have put your life on the line and coooperated in an absolute extraordinary way," Dalzell told Vella. "You have hugely helped the public in four other states where mass murderers are still on the lam."

Calling Vella's cooperation "substantive," U.S. Attorney Frank Labor said it was a "Faustian bargain" needed to investigate "secret" criminal organizations.

Defense attorney Nicholas Nastasi characterized his client's dealings with the feds here, in Boston, Chicago and California as on a par with ex-mobsters Thomas DelGiorno and Nicholas "The Crow" Caramandi.

In the late 1980s, their testimony helped to end the violent reign of mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo's crime family.

"But I don't think they gave as broad or as detailed information as Vella," said Nastasi. Boston mob boss "Cadillac Frank" Salleme pleaded guilty "because Roger was going to testify."

Based on time served and good behavior, Vella could be released from federal prison by late April 2011 - four months before Merlino, whose release date is Sept. 7 of that year.

Merlino, 46, is serving a 14-year racketeering sentence at the feds' highest-security prison, in Merion, Ill.

But there's a catch: Vella must also complete an 11-to-20 year sentence in state prison for the third-degree retaliation murder of Mazzuca in 1995.

Vella will be eligible for state parole in October 2011. But attorney Joseph Santaguida, who has represented Merlino, said Vella "is not guaranteed to get out then. The Mazzuca family will be yelling and screaming at the parole board" not to let him out.

Vella had lured Mazzuca to his home on Tree Street, where Mazzuca was shot in the head and back, hog-tied and set on fire near the Food Distribution Center.

Mazzuca was blamed for getting associates to tie up Vella's parents and sister and to steal two kilograms of cocaine from their home in 1994.

Vella admitted supplying the pistol and stolen car used in the murder of Veasey hours before his brother, ex-mob capo John Veasey, was to testify against the John Stanfa crime family on Oct. 5, 1995.

Vella also confessed to luring the demoted mob capo Turchi, Sr., to his Oct. 26, 1999, shooting death. *