APNewsBreak: Relatives of mobsters allowed to work in Atlantic City, NJ, casino industry

APNewsBreak: NJ allows mob kin to work for casinos

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — For 22 years, Joseph N. Merlino and his mother, Phyllis, have sought permission for their concrete reinforcing company to work in the Atlantic City casino industry.

And for 22 years, state regulators have shot them down, for two main reasons: Joseph Merlino’s late father was mobster Lawrence “Yogi” Merlino and his cousin is Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, a former mob boss who’s now imprisoned.

The younger Merlino insists he, his mother and their company are clean and should not be penalized for the sins of their relatives.

On Wednesday, they got the answer they’ve been seeking for more than two decades when the New Jersey Casino Control Commission granted their company, Bayshore Rebar, a license to do work for casinos. The commission said it found no evidence that the Merlinos associate with known or suspected members of the Philadelphia/South Jersey mob, contrary to what the state Division of Gaming Enforcement has alleged.

Joseph and Phyllis Merlino say they have disassociated themselves from that side of the family. During a break in commission hearings last summer, Joseph Merlino expressed frustration that “there’s no court to go to, to divorce yourself from a family.”

The gaming enforcement division recommended against granting the license. It never alleged Joseph N. Merlino or his mother were mobsters but argued the Merlinos associate with people suspected of being members or associates of organized crime — an assertion both Merlinos vehemently deny.

Their Pleasantville-based company installs rebar, the steel reinforcing rods that strengthen concrete. It has done work for sensitive installations including the Salem and Limerick nuclear power plants in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, a parking garage for a building adjoining the Statehouse in Trenton, and a New Jersey State Police building outside Trenton.

Yet to casinos, Bayshore has remained radioactive. Joseph N. Merlino said Bayshore was about to be hired as a subcontractor on the Sands Bethlehem casino in Pennsylvania in 2008, but was rejected when casino officials saw the firm’s name on the list.

Bayshore had tried twice to get permission to work in the Atlantic City casino industry, having been rejected in 1988 and 1996 over suspected mob ties.

Lawrence Merlino was convicted of racketeering in 1988 and began cooperating with the government in its investigation into organized crime. He died while in the witness protection program in November 2001.

Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, who once ran the Philadelphia/South Jersey mob, is due to be released from prison on Sept. 7, 2011, following a conviction and 14-year sentence for extortion and illegal gambling.