The boss of the Bonanno crime family will plead guilty Monday to a felony charge, preventing his former mob associate from testifying against him — and likely killing a key plotline on the reality show “Mob Wives.”
Vincent (Vinny TV) Badalamenti and many of his Bonanno cohorts were indicted for racketeering earlier this year, largely due to secret recordings made by turncoat Hector Pagan, the ex-husband of “Mob Wives” star Rene Graziano.
Badalamenti’s lawyer pushed for a trial, but the government made a plea offer he couldn’t refuse.
Prosecutors will drop the racketeering and extortion charges, leaving Badalamenti to plead guilty to the nonviolent collection of an unlawful debt, lawyer Ronald Fischetti confirmed to the Daily News.
Pagan’s turn on the stand would have fueled this season’s drama on “Mob Wives.”
He appeared on the show last summer around the time he began wearing a wire, and characters have yakked about his treachery.
In the mother of all betrayals, Pagan even taped incriminating conversations with his father-in-law, capo Anthony (TG) Graziano, who is also expected to plead guilty tomorrow.
Badalamenti faces about two years in prison, far less than the 10 years he could have gotten if convicted after a trial. When he’s sprung, he can return to running his Brooklyn bagel shop.
The feds had already cut generous deals with other co-defendants, signaling they weren’t thrilled with the prospect of putting Pagan on the witness stand.
Pagan may have cut the best deal of all with the feds because he committed at least one murder — the fatal robbery of Luchese associate James Donovan — and may never have to play the role of rat.
Badalamenti’s decision not to fight the charges will also benefit his co-defendants — they will all earn additional time off on their sentencing guidelines because everyone listed in the indictment opted for a plea deal.
