In April of 2010 federal prosecutors filed an indictment against 14 Gambino defendants, which included accusations that some had run a trafficking ring involving women under the age of 20. Mr. McMahon, an attorney for the defense claimed in court papers that the witness, Jude Buoneto, who assisted in the trafficking, was a convicted sex abuser who in the 90s raped one girl and sexually abused another, and who also once ran a brothel with his mother in Brooklyn.
McMahon, asked judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court, to dismiss an indictment on the ground of “outrageous government misconduct.”While Mr. Buoneto was involved in the trafficking ring, he acted as a pimp for the 15-year-old girl, Mr. McMahon claimed.
Prosecutor, Elie Honig, wrote that Mr. McMahon’s motion was “completely meritless” and asked that it be denied. He said the description of Mr. Buoneto’s background was “wildly inaccurate” and that the accusations of rape and operating a brothel were “completely false.”
The “only grain of truth,” he said, was that Mr. Buoneto pleaded guilty in 1998 at age 19 to misdemeanor offenses related to sexual abuse of a child under 17, as the government had disclosed. But, Mr. Honig said, the girl later admitted she had “fabricated the charges against Buoneto” to get back at him for beating up her brother.
Mr. Buoneto cooperated with the F.B.I. from about October 2008 though September 2009, and consistent with standard procedure, the bureau authorized him to participate in certain crimes as part of the investigation, Mr. Honig wrote. Around June 2009, various defendants began planning and running the sex-trafficking operation, which Mr. Buoneto reported to the F.B.I., Mr. Honig said. The bureau authorized his role.
“There is nothing unusual or improper about the F.B.I. authorizing a cooperating witness to participate in criminal conduct for investigative purposes,” Mr. Honig noted.
The operation quickly ended after the witness and the bureau learned of the girl’s age, he added. Last week, an F.B.I. spokesman in New York said, “This office would not and did not approve of any criminal activity involving a minor, much less the sexual exploitation of a minor.”
Source: New York Times
UPDATE
Judge Will Not Dismiss Charges
Judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court, ruled in a case that received widespread attention in April, when prosecutors announced charges against 14 members and associates of the Gambino crime family in what one official called “a new low” for the organization.
The judge said Friday that the old abuse allegation was of “no moment whatsoever.”
“The F.B.I.’s use of convicted criminals as confidential informants or cooperators, while perhaps distasteful, is necessary and appropriate,” he said.
The judge also said Mr. Buoneto’s role in the trafficking while serving as a cooperating witness did not warrant dismissal of the charges.
Prosecutors had no comment; Mr. McMahon said he was disappointed in the ruling.
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