Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See: Model Mobster?

June 18th, 2014. By LucyC

You never know what you’ll hear in court when it comes to trying to finagle a defendant’s way out of jail…so here we go…

Defend This:  A reputed/alleged New York mobster, Thomas Gelardo, has filed a civil suit claiming that a Manhattan criminal judge is holding him in jail unfairly. Gelardo is awaiting trial on charges of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, porn star Trista Geyer.

According to attorney Bruno Gioffre Jr., Gelardo should not be in jail, telling Justice Charles H. Solomon that “despite having a prior criminal record” his client was basically a model citizen who has “lifelong ties to the community” and “always returned to court” for past offenses. (Huh?) Ties to the community—believable—always returned to court—believable—a model citizen—uhhh….

In addition to violating the restraining order brought by Geyer, whom Gelardo reportedly called 60 times in one day (jeez—that could get tiring), Gelardo’s list of offenses include an arrest for ”roughing up” (what does that mean?) Geyer in November 2013, and charges for burglary, assault, strangulation (is that “roughing up”?), aggravated criminal contempt and tampering with a witness. Model citizen indeed. Oh yeah baby—that’s the kind of neighbor I want.

So lawyer Gioffre, trying to put a warm and fuzzy lustre on his less than stellar client, asked Justice Solomon that Gelardo be released on $250,000 bail, supported by a piece of property co-owned by the 31-year old “model citizen” and his sister. No surprise, Justice Solomon wasn’t having any of it—ordering Gelardo to stay in jail because he repeatedly violated a restraining order by obsessively contacting his former girlfriend, as we’ve heard. (Thank you Justice Solomon—this is why we pay you the big bucks.)

Gelardo’s attorney filed the civil suit against the Department of Correction claiming Solomon’s decision to keep his client in jail instead of setting bail is “arbitrary and capricious.” Gioffre, in his client’s defense, gave the court a tape of the ex-girlfriend (whose resume includes photo-spreads in Hustler and Playboy) giving “conflicting statements as to how she was injured.”

He also told Justice Solomon that Geyer “was uncooperative, living in Florida” and “had sent a letter to the court indicating that she did not want to pursue this matter.” Living in Florida could be many things–but uncooperative? That’s a new one.

Hey—you have to give Gioffre his due—Gelardo is reportedly connected to the Luchese “crime family.”

So far, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is keeping quiet on this one.

Tags: Crazy sh*t lawyers see

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