'The things you can't beat are the tapes': Jersey Shore Mafia drug ring busted

CAMDEN - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has broken up a drug pipeline that ran nearly the entire length of the Garden State Parkway, the culmination of an almost two-year investigation.

The suspects have ties to La Cosa Nostra - the Mafia - in Philadelphia, Boston and South Jersey, according to court documents.

In complaints unsealed March 14, federal agents charged 79-year-old Carl Chianese of Point Pleasant, 49-year-old Michael Gallicchio of Garfield and 58-year-old Joseph Servidio of Upper Towsnhip with possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, tramadol and marijuana, according to the complaints.Their enterprise also involved four-figure transactions for stolen cigarettes, according to the complaints.

Servidio "has been identified as a 'made member' or 'soldier' of the Philadelphia LCN (La Cosa Nostra)," FBI Special Agent Mark R. Hindle wrote in an affidavit. Servidio sold opioids, meth, pot and possibly cocaine, Hindle wrote. Servidio, Gallicchio and Chianese shipped drugs up and down the state, Hindle wrote.

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The FBI built its case on recordings and other information gathered by confidential sources and undercover agents.

On Feb. 9, 2017, Servidio discussed how difficult it was to beat just such a case with an informant who was recording him, according to the complaint.

"Eighty percent of eyewitnesses got the wrong person," he allegedly told the informant. "The things you can't beat are the tapes ... with you saying it, that's what you did, you know."

He "went on to discuss not talking about criminal activity with or around certain people," Hindle wrote.

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In July of that year an informant recorded Servidio explaining that he ran a legitimate business as a front for criminal proceeds.

"I'm a criminal, everything I do is criminal, I got to get out of it," Servidio allegedly said. "Last year I robbed an armored car to break even."

Over the course of two years, Chianese, Gallicchio, Servidio, the informants, undercover agents and others met frequently - sometimes at homes, sometimes at restaurants and sometimes at rest stops along the Parkway - swapping cash and drugs and stolen smokes and occasionally bickering over the quality of the drugs they were getting, according to the complaints.

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The men discussed drug deals in coded language and frequently switched cell phones to avoid interdiction, according to the complaints.

At one meeting in July 2017, Servidio told an informant that he and Chianese were planning to shoot a Mafia associate "whom (Servidio) suspected of talking openly and disparagingly about (Servidio's) criminal activity," according to the complaint.

Servidio's attorney, Marco A. Laracca of Orange, said "we're in the very beginning stages of this case and for me to comment on the strengths or weaknesses of the government's case would be irresponsible."

"My client maintains his innocence and we intend to defend this case," Laracca said. "My client denies any involvement in organized crime."

All three men are convicted drug runners. Beginning in 2006 Gallicchio spent seven years in prison for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. Chianese was twice convicted for distributing meth, and spent 16 years in federal prison, getting out at the beginning of 2015. Servidio went to prison in December 2006 and stayed until April 2011 for selling cocaine.

Chianese was on supervised release at the time of his arrest on March 14.

Attorneys for Chianese and Gallicchio were not immediately available for comment Monday. All three remained in federal custody in Philadelphia Monday, according to Bureau of Prisons records.

Read the full complaint below.

Alex N. Gecan: @GeeksterTweets; 732-643-4043; agecan@gannettnj.com