Trial Ordered Over Beating of a Mob Rival

Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello was ordered to stand trial on assault charges today after a government witness testified that back in July he agreed to pay $2,000 to have mob rival Marty Angelina beaten.

Frank "Frankie the Fixer" DiGiacomo said Monacello paid him the money in two installments and that part of one payment included $700 that DiGiacomo owed Monacello.

Testifying at a preliminary hearing this morning, DiGiacomo, 45, said Monacello originally talked about killing Angelina, but later said he just wanted him "beat up really bad."

Dressed in a tee shirt and work pants and sporting a goatee, DiGiacomo spent about 45 minutes on the stand. The former South Philadelphia plumber began cooperating with the State Police late in 2007.

Deputy Chief State Attorney General Erik Olsen offered testimony from DiGiacomo and from State Trooper Glenn Hopey to support the charges in the case. Olsen also played parts of three conversations secretly recorded by DiGiacomo.

Over the objections of defense attorneys who argued the government had failed to support the charges, Municipal Judge Bradley Moss ruled that the case could move forward to trial.

Monacello, 41, is charged with soliciting an aggravated assault and attempted aggravated assault.

While not part of today's testimony, investigators have said that Monacello had a falling out with Angelina over the collection of gambling debts.

Monacello and 16 others were arrested in July on gambling and loansharking charges related to an organized crime investigation in Delaware County dubbed operation "Delco Nostra."

The alleged plot against Angelina was uncovered during that investigation.

Thanks to George Anastasia

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First Conviction from "Operation Delco Nostra" Organized Crime Investigation

State prosecutors have scored their first conviction stemming from the "Operation Delco Nostra" organized-crime investigation that led to 17 arrests last summer and exposed an alleged plot to attack Philadelphia mobster Martin "Marty" Angelina.

Daniel Diedrich, a former supervisor in the Delaware County Domestic Relations Department, pleaded guilty yesterday in Media to one count of bookmaking. He was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $1,000.

Diedrich, 34, of Clifton Heights, was a low-level member of the sophisticated bookmaking, gambling and loan-sharking organization that authorities say was run by Nicholas "Nicky the Hat" Cimino between 2002 and 2007.

"He was not in a management position. He was a worker," said Chief Deputy Attorney General Erik Olsen.

Olsen said there was no evidence that Diedrich had engaged in any illegal activity while working in the county courthouse.

The other defendants, including reputed Philly mob associate Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello, are scheduled for a hearing in Delaware County court in March on charges that include gambling, bookmaking, criminal conspiracy and corrupt organizations.

Monacello, 42, of South Philadelphia, who authorities say answers to jailed former consigliere George Borgesi, is also charged in Philadelphia with soliciting aggravated assault. According to a grand-jury presentment, Monacello tried to hire someone to have Angelina - allegedly a "made" member of the mob - beaten so badly he'd be hospitalized.

Monacello's preliminary hearing on that charge is set for next week.

Borgesi, imprisoned in West Virginia, was convicted in 2001 during a 14-week racketeering trial along with former Philadelphia crime boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino.

Thanks to William Bender

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