Alicia DiMichele resigns from ‘Mob Wives’ and takes back guilty plea for embezzling funds from union: sources
DiMichele, 40, withdrew from the VH1 reality show, where she earned $8,000-per-episode, so she can improve her image before a Brooklyn Federal Court judge who is overseeing her criminal case, sources told the Daily News.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 12:30 PM
MIKE PONT/WIREIMAGEAlicia DiMichele also withdrew her guilty plea for stealing union funds, the sources said.
Sexy “Mob Wives” star Alicia DiMichele resigned from the reality TV show, the Daily News has learned.
The wife of reputed Colombo enforcer Edward (Tall Guy) Garofalo, Jr., was mum on the subject Wednesday in Brooklyn Federal Court where she announced another shocker — DiMichele withdrew her guilty plea to embezzling union funds from the trucking company owned by her hubby.
DiMichele submitted a resignation letter to the VH1 cable channel three weeks ago, sources said.
“I can’t talk about that,” the tanned, raven-haired beauty said outside the courthouse.
DiMichele, who also owns the Addiction Boutique in Cherry Hill, N.J., was pulling in $8,000 per episode from the women-behaving badly show prompting prosecutors to argue that she was able to pay a $96,000 fine.
“The word is that she trying to present a better image to the judge,” said a source.
“She’s trying to fix her image.”
AARON SHOWALTER/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Alicia DiMichele, heading into Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday, has resigned from 'Mob Wives,' sources told the Daily News.
AARON SHOWALTER/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Alicia DiMichele withdrew her guilty plea to embezzling union funds from the trucking company owned by her husband.
But Federal Judge Sandra Townes is focusing for now on the amount of restitution DiMichele, 40, owes Teamsters Local 282. DiMichele’s lawyer and the government had agreed the figure is $20,000, but the general counsel for the union’s benefits fund pegged the amount at $2.8 million including 18% interest.
Townes said she could not accept the lower figure and offered DiMichele the opportunity to take back her guilty plea.
“I’m relieved and as always I'm staying positive,” DiMichele told The News.
“We expect there will be a new plea that satisfies the government and the defense without having her potentially liable for $2 million in restitution,” predicted defense lawyer John Wallenstein.
“We expect there will be a new plea that satisfies the government and the defense without having her potentially liable for $2 million in restitution,” predicted defense lawyer John Wallenstein.
Under the plea deal, she faced up to six months in prison.
DiMichele’s husband pleaded guilty to a murder conspiracy — not the embezzlement charge — so she is on the hook for the full amount of restitution.
Garofalo, 46, was sentenced last December to seven years in prison.
He had agreed to testify during Wednesday’s hearing but prison officials couldn’t get him to Brooklyn from his out of state lockup.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/alicia-dimichele-resigns-mob-wives-article-1.1766161#ixzz2znnne1Kt
