Reputed Colombo crime family mobster Angelo “Little Angelo” Spata is facing up to 21 months in prison on illegal gambling and money laundering charges after his 2011 arrest during a major mafia sweep. Now the wiseguy is looking for a little divine intervention in hopes of a more lenient sentence by submitting letters from an NYPD Chaplain and almost a dozen other priests on his behalf. The letters praised Spata for many charitable donations and call him a good friend of the church and his community at large. They point to several occasions including aftermath from Hurricane Sandy in which Spata and his company which operates local feasts and carnivals donated items such as food and even generators to power a local high school gym.

“Angelo Spata (center)”

But federal prosecutors have a much different opinion of Spata and paint a much darker picture. Spata holds a unique position in the New York Mafia being the son-in-law of Colombo family boss Carmine Persico and brother-in-law to acting Colombo family boss Alphonse “Allie Boy” Persico. According to prosecutors Spata was proposed for membership into the Colombo family in 2010 but for unknown reasons the ceremony was called off. But even though he was not a made man in La Cosa Nostra his family ties to the Persico’s allowed him to have much more power and influence with in the Colombo family then any other associates. He used this reputation and his standing as mob royalty at the Brooklyn festival called Figli di Santa Rosalia to extort fees from festival vendors.

The feds told sentencing judge Kiyo Matsumoto that all of Spata’s charity should be dismissed because he was simply donating free services from his company so he could reap the public relations benefit. These letters from the “Godfellas” on behalf of mobsters are not exactly uncommon so its unclear as to if they will have any effect on Spata’s sentencing.