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Who is 'Skinny Joey' Merlino? Trump supporters say Joe Biden hired Philly mob boss to fabricate 300,000 ballots

Trump supporters are claiming that the Biden campaign paid $3 million to Skinny Joey, a Philadelphia mafia veteran, to fabricate 300,000 ballots

In what seems to be a plotline out of a Martin Scorsese movie, rumors started swirling across the Internet that a Philidephia mob boss named "Skinny Joey" Merlino, who now resides in South Florida, is one of the masterminds behind the "voting fraud" and "rigged election" being alleged by President Donald Trump ever since Joe Biden was declared the winner and, subsequently, the president-elect.

The source of the allegation is the Buffalo Chronicle that published an article relying on anonymous sources to claim that the Biden campaign paid $3 million to Skinny Joey, a reputed mafia veteran in Philadelphia, and his associates to fabricate 300,000 ballots in the battleground state. The site claims that on election night Merlino and his team created 6,000 fraudulent ballots per hour.

About these fraudulent votes, the article reads, "They were then packaged into non-descript cardboard boxes and dropped off outside the Philadelphia Convention Center. The ballots were purchased in cash." This shaky claim gained more traction online after being shared on Twitter by attorney Jordan Sekulow, who, along with his father Jay Sekulow, is a member of Trump’s legal team and has helped the president mount legal challenges in battleground states over the election results.

Excerpts from the news were shared by many Twitter users, mostly ironically and in jest and disbelief, like this one user who wrote, "It’s alleged that Skinny Joey Merlino the Mob boss of Philadelphia manufactured more than 300,000 ballots for Joe Biden, and had them transported in nondescript cardboard boxes to a backroom at the Philadelphia Conv Center. From there, the ballots were scanned into ballot boxes."

Another said, "'The feat is drawing praise from far-flung corners of the Italian American business community, which sees the thanks of a grateful administration as key to the revival of the community’s political influence.' If this is true I will never stop laughing."

The Buffalo Chronicle article also wrote that Merlino "might just be willing to flip on Biden" if Trump expunges his criminal record as he would "really like a job with the National Parks Service."

Source of allegations

Apart from the Buffalo Chronicle article, this theory of mob boss Skinny Joey's involvement in the 2020 US elections first grabbed attention online after a Facebook post by Jeremy Herrell, a Trump supporter and hip-hop artiste who runs the popular conservative page 'The Hip-Hop Patriot'. He said Biden hired the mob to "create fake ballots by the thousands."

During his Facebook Live session, he also said, "We have breaking news of how the mob, reportedly at this point, has helped Joe Biden get thousands and thousands and thousands of fraudulent votes. You cannot make this stuff up, ladies and gentlemen."

He also cited Sekulow's tweet and said, "This is being reported by the Buffalo Chronicle and it is verified by Jordan Sekulow." Herrell’s video has been flagged by Facebook as false news and misinformation but has garnered more than 176,000 views.

According to PolitiFact, these allegations are completely baseless and absolutely false. Its official Twitter handle wrote, "NEW: Joe Biden did not hire a reputed Philadelphia mob boss named 'Skinny Joey' Merlino to fabricate hundreds of thousands of ballots."

The Palmer Report handle tweeted, "Trump apologists are now claiming that Joe Biden hired a mob boss named Skinny Joey to fabricate election ballots. PolitiFact rates this claim 'pants on fire' false. At this rate, we should just assume Skinny Joey works for Donald Trump and move on."

Another Twitter user said, "I used to live in the Italian Market district. Skinny Joey Merlino was always at a local mob restaurant with his entourage. Merlino has a retinue of business dealings. Fixing elections has never been one of them. Folks who have never been here love to make stuff up about #Philly."

Even Skinny Joey's lawyer vehemently denied all such claims saying, "My client categorically denies all the allegations and Joey would rather die than ever be a snitch." Merlino, according to reports, himself told his attorney "These people are crazy!" after reading the story. Even Rudy Giuliani, Trump's lawyer, said in an interview with Fox Business, "There is an allegation about a mobster, but I think it’s a far-fetched one."

Who is "Skinny Joey" Merlino?

Real name Joseph Salvatore Merlino, Skinny Joey is a mobster believed to be the boss of the Philadelphia crime family. Rising to power in the '90s after fighting an alleged gang war, he led the crime family in gambling, loan sharking and extortion. Unlike other traditional mob bosses who shunned the limelight, Skinny Joey interacted with the media and the public.

He is the son of the deceased Philadelphia crime family underboss, Chuckie Merlino. Skinny Joey, with the help of Ralph Natale, the first American Mafia boss to turn state's evidence, was convicted of several RICO charges including racketeering, illegal gambling and extortion. In 2001, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Since his release in 2011, the FBI and organized crime reporters believe he continues to run the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia. Skinny Joey disputes these claims saying he retired from a life of crime and divides his time between South Florida and Philadelphia.

In a 2013 interview, he denied any current involvement in the Philadelphia Mafia saying "I want no part of that" as there were "too many rats." In 2014, he opened a restaurant in Boca Raton named Merlino's and worked there as a maître d' as he's forbidden from owning an establishment that serves alcohol. In 2016, he was banned from all casinos in Pennsylvania by the state's Gaming Control Board.