Loansharking Conviction Upheld

United States v. Madori, Docket No. 03-1526 (2d Cir. August 19, 2005) (Op. by B.D. Parker): No new ground is broken in this fact-intensive opinion, which principally affirms a loan-sharking conviction against sufficiency and Brady/Giglio challenges. It is worth reading only for the richness of the background story: A Mob-connected lender; a loan made at 150% interest; meetings at the Diamond Club, a local strip joint; a co-defendant clandestinly cooperating with the FBI on an unrelated case (thus generating the Brady dispute); and threats involving the “twist[ing]” of the late-paying borrower’s “nuts”. Who needs “The Sopranos”! (But does anyone know when the new season starts?)