Reputed Pagan denied bail in drug case

A reputed member of the Pagans outlaw motorcycle club charged with the illegal distribution of the prescription drug oxycodone was ordered held without bail Wednesday pending trial.

Federal prosecutors argued that Joseph Fareri, 51, of South Philadelphia, was both a danger to the community and a risk of flight if released. He has been held at the Federal Detention Center since his arrest two weeks ago.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Labor cited Fareri's "phenomenal criminal history," including convictions for witness intimidation, voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated assault, in arguing that he should be denied bail.

Labor also referred to a pretrial services report that raised concerns about Fareri's "serious propensity toward violence."

Defense attorney Joseph Capone had asked for some form of monitored house arrest that would allow Fareri to continue to work at a beauty salon/barbershop in South Philadelphia. Fareri, he said, lives in an apartment above the shop.

The shop is owned by the wife of reputed mob leader Anthony Staino, under indictment on racketeering charges.

In denying bail, U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Caracappa said Fareri's criminal record, including a series of arrests in what Capone described as domestic-violence disputes, bolstered the government's claim that he would be a danger to the community.

Fareri, who faces 13 to 15 years in prison if convicted, is accused of being part of a drug operation headed by reputed South Philadelphia mob associate William "Billy" Andrews.

The case, developed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, includes allegations that Andrews, 51, and Fareri sold more than 7,000 oxycodone pills between March 2009 and April 2011.

The pills were sold for $20 to $30 each, authorities said.

Andrews, who served a 12-year sentence for dealing methamphetamine, began dealing in oxycodone in March 2009, just months after being released from prison and while still on court-ordered supervised release for the meth conviction. Like Fareri, he has been denied bail.

A third defendant, John Marshall, was released this month on $15,000 bail.