In the charged world of organized crime, this is a particularly damaging label.

Springfield attorney Daniel Hagan on Wednesday filed a letter in the public docket of a pending extortion case against Anthony J. Scibelli on behalf of his own client, David Cecchetelli, identified as “witness #5.″

Cecchetelli, 52, is a defendant in an unrelated illegal gun possession case pending in U.S. District Court. He has historical ties to the local faction of the Genovese crime family and a previous bookmaking conviction.

“Placing in public filings, information which can be used to derive Mr. Cecchetelli’s identity, and where the context could lead the public to conclude that Mr. Cecchetelli is a government informant or cooperating government witness, these filings have the potential to subject Mr. Cecchetelli and his family to serious harm,” Hagan wrote in an Aug. 19 letter to federal prosecutors and Scibelli’s defense attorney.

“What is especially alarming here is that Mr. Cecchetelli is not a government informant or cooperating government witness and never has been,” the letter continues.

Scibelli, 51, was charged last year with collecting on a $5,000 extortionate debt. Investigators say Scibelli beat the unnamed informant in a parking lot in June of 2019, and threatened to pummel another of the informant’s relatives with his wife’s walker.

Scibelli has pleaded not guilty to the charge. His attorney, Nikolas Andreopoulos, has argued in court hearings and written pleadings that the alleged victim in the Scibelli case, “Victim 1,” was not a victim at all but a compulsive gambler who tired of paying local loan sharks. The alleged victim told investigators he paid up to $36,000 in interest but could never get out from under the debt.

He began wearing a body wire at the behest of the FBI and state police to several meetings with Scibelli over six weeks in the spring of 2019, according to court records. In one unfortunate instance, someone forgot to shut the microphone off and the informant wore a “hot mic” for more than 24 hours, lawyers have said during hearings and in court filings.

In a recent motion, Andreopoulos quoted the unnamed informant as saying he and his brother would take control of Springfield’s rackets once his rivals went to prison.

Hagan has lobbied the government to publicly confirm Cecchetelli is not the informant and is merely on its witness list as a coincidental bystander.

“I don’t represent rats. So if there was something to it, I wouldn’t be representing Mr. Cecchetelli,” Hagan said when contacted for comment.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston declined comment, citing the ongoing nature of the case.

Scibelli was released to house arrest after spending weeks behind bars in 2019. His pretrial restrictions have since been relaxed. No trial date has yet been set.





https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/08/i-dont-represent-rats-attorney-for-springfield-mob-associate-asks-for-unusual-redress.html

An attorney for a Springfield mob associate has made an unusual request of the federal government: Tell the public his client is not an informant.