Salami-smuggling mob enforcer gets 15 years for gun rap
Aging mob enforcer Mario Rainone was handed what may prove to be a life sentence Wednesday morning when a federal judge sent him to prison for 15 years.
Rainone, 60, has previously served hard time for extortion, burglary and even for bribing a prison guard to smuggle Italian sausage and pasta into his jail cell.
But Rainones long criminal history meant an otherwise humdrum gun conviction came with a mandatory 15 year sentence.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber told the balding, gray-haired Rainone, who may have prostate cancer and suffers from temporary bouts of blindness, normally youd think a 60-year-old person would be thinking about other things than committing crimes.
But the judge also noted that hed previously sentenced Outfit connected robbers in their 70s, adding that Rainones background meant he probably felt he needed the stolen .357 Smith & Wesson revolver that was found on his nightstand by Addison Police in 2009.
During his colorful criminal career, Rainone once allegedly threatened to chop off the heads of a restaurateurs children if he wasnt paid $200,000. On another occasion, fearing his Outfit pals were about to kill him, he entered the federal witness protection program, only to think better of cooperating when his mothers porch was bombed.
His attorney, Joe The Shark Lopez, said after Wednesdays hearing that Rainone is not a beefer.
And a woman who Lopez identified as Rainones sister exclaimed that the case wasnt about the gun.
It was about he wasnt a beefer! the woman exclaimed.
Rainone showed little emotion as the sentence was announced, but flashed a smile and gave Lopez an old-fashioned Italian kiss on the cheek before he was led back to his cell.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amar Bhachu had argued that Rainones violent recidivism and bust for bribing guards to smuggle contraband into prison should be held against him, arguing for a sentence of up to 24 years.
But Lopez said the smuggled goods were only salami and some other Italian food products, not drugs, adding these incidents involved Mr. Rainones hunger for food!
Speaking outside court he happily added, you cant do better than the 15-year minimum.
And Lopez said that even if Rainone had agreed to cooperate with the feds, the people he knows are either dead or in jail, so unless they want to write a history book...
This should be a fun one!
When I saw the headline, I thought that they may be smuggling mimi Doxies....Wiki was pissed.
the title of this article is just begging for some one to tell a joke about hiding the salami in prison.....just sayin....
uh oh! I hope she has calmed down...get out the Doggie Downers!!
Go for it !!
I'm sure for the next 15 years hiding the salami will be on his mid,...I'm just not very good at hiding the salami jokes....
