Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 3

"TFJE PHILADELPHIA DAILY. NEWS" PAGE 3 wm ODD Informant's tale of rivalries raises hackles at Stanfa trial by Kitty Caparella Daily News Staff Writer Philip Colletti was a marked man in the summer of 1993, after he and John Veasey killed Michael Ciancag-lini and wounded Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, leaders of a rival, upstart mob gang. I', dr ffr i 1J Judge caught in crossfire Contribution leads to conflict question by Mark McDonald Daily News Staff Writer Common Pleas Judge Russell Ni-gro, a Democratic candidate for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, finds himself between a rock and a hard place. The rock is Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police, which has endorsed him for the high court The hard place is the Philadelphia law firm of Montgomery McCracken Walker Rhoads, which recently gave Nigro a $5,000 campaign contribution. The problem is that the FOP and the law firm are on opposite sides of a legal battle over the fate of the Police Advisory Commission.

Nigro is the judge in the case. The police commission's attorney is Richard L. Scheff, a member of the Montgomery firm, who works without pay for the commission. On Thursday, Scheff sent a letter to Nigro asking him to remove himself from the case because of the "potential appearance of impropriety." And yesterday, Jane Dalton, the commission chairwoman, said she was suspending any hearings until Nigro decides whether the commission has the authority to call police officers to testify before its hearing panels. The battle between the police union and the commission erupted over the hearings into the case of Moises DeJesus, the tow-truck operator who died after his arrest by Philadelphia police.

Nigro was campaigning in western Pennsylvania yesterday and could not be reached for comment, but his law clerk, Lori Flickstein, said Nigro would hear arguments from both sides at a hearing Monday on the issue of removing himself from the case. "While we do not suggest in any fashion that your honor is prejudiced or biased towards either party," Scheff wrote, "we are concerned about the appearance to the public of your honor remaining on this case and deciding the issues at hand." Asked whether the supposed conflicts don't simply cancel each other out, Dalton, who is a lawyer, said, "I don't think you cancel the two conflicts; it just makes it twice as complicated." But Jeffrey Kolansky, attorney for the police officers who are fight-' ing the commission's order to testify, said the real conflict lies with the Montgomery firm that chose to give Nigro money when it had a case in front of him. "I think the real conflict is with Scheff. The commission needs to retain another counsel because the contribution is the height of impro- priety," Kolansky said. BV- INQUIRER FILE PHOTO Philip Colletti: FBI confirmed suspicions about where he stood Wlom shifts story about missing tot Colletti, a hit man-turned-informant, admitted he was looking over his shoulder constantly, was carrying a gun and didn't know whom to trust after the FBI confirmed what he already knew: He was a target on a mob hit list.

"You never know who's stalking you," Colletti, 36, testified under cross-examination by attorney Robert Welsh in federal court. "It could come from one of your friends over there," he said, nodding in the direction of crime boss John Stanfa and seven co-defendants. "It could come from any place." "Usually, it's your best friend who's going to kill you," he added. Suddenly, an angry voice rose from the defense table. "John Veasey was never my best friend," said acting under-boss Frank Martines, 41, who stood up to make his statement.

Colletti struck a raw nerve. If there was ever any doubt about the animosity between Martines and Veasey, that notion was dispelled with Martines' outburst. Veasey testified against Martines, crime boss John Stanfa and six co-defendants for 2Vi days earlier in this murder-racketeering trial in U.S. District Court. Veasey said Martines shot him in the head three times and once in the chest in a 1994 assassination attempt.

Martines' family has claimed that Veasey was the aggressor in the fight that left Martines with a bloody eye At one time, Veasey, Colletti and Martines were all on the same side under crime boss John Stanfa, fighting rival upstarts. Colletti and Veasey admitted being the triggermen in the spur-of-the-moment Ciancaglini-Merlino hit on Aug. 5, 1993. After the Martines' outburst, defense attorneys Welsh, Howard Popper, Jack Myers and Harvey Weissbard repeatedly questioned Colletti about statements implicating their clients in crimes not listed in the FBI reports, called As each incident was asked about, lawyers would repeat the1" a You never know who's stalking you Philip Colletti, testifying for feds phrase "but it's not in the 302" as if it were a mantra, causing the jury to burst out laughing a couple times. "I've been in jail for 21 months.

That's a long time to think and reflect," Colletti said. Colletti, a gun-toting bodyguard and driver for jailed mobster Harry Riccobene, apparently was annoyed with the inexperience of young mob associates stalking Merlino, such as Herbert Keller. One night, the would-be assassins found Merlino "drunk with his head leaning against the windshield" in a car near 2nd and Callowhill streets near the Delaware River Waterfront nightclub section. It was Keller's turn to kill, and Merlino was in a perfect spot. "Pull up, pull up, this will be over real quick," Colletti ordered Keller at the time.

"But something spooked him," Colletti never pulled up. He never gave me a reason." Weissbard, who represents con-sigliere Anthony "Tony Buck" Piccolo, wanted to know whether Salavatore Avena, a co-defendant to be tried next year, gave Colletti good legal advice when he explained the legal options about testifying before a grand jury. Colletti said Avena's law office prepared a card so he could invoke constitutional amendments so that he wouldn't have to testify before a grand jury shortly after the Ciancaglini-Merlino hit. Avena gave his unspoken advice as well. "He put his finger to his lips and waved his hand in the said; warning him to keepliis mouth'stihf.

and so, Vanderhorst told detectives, she turned the boy over to the woman, who disappeared. Police said Vanderhorst described the woman as about 5-foot-5, 30 to 35 years old, black with a medium complexion and medium build. She was wearing a cream jacket and maroon skirt, and driving a light-blue four-door car with a license plate beginning with the letters "AL." Sources said police were very skeptical of Vanderhorst's new story, but were searching the neighborhood around her apartment at 17th and Master, looking for the mystery woman. On Monday, Vanderhorst told detectives DHS had taken the Ke'shaun, though a DHS spokeswoman said the agency did not have the boy in custody. Detectives also continued to look into the 1980s deaths of three other children of Vanderhorst.

by Joe O'Dowd Daily News Staff Writer Tina Vanderhorst, whose 2-year-old son is missing, has given detectives a second version of what happened to the child. Earlier this week, Vanderhorst told police that the boy, Ke'shaun, had been taken by the Department of Human Services. But on Thursday, she said she gave the child to a woman she didn't know more than a month ago. Ke'shaun was reported missing last week. Vanderhorst, questioned at homicide headquarters on Thursday, told detectives a woman came to her home at about 4:30 p.m.

on Sept 25. Police said that, according to Vanderhorst the woman whom she didn't know told her she understood Vanderhorst was having difficulty caring for Ke'shaun. woman told Vanderhorst she 'would provide a home for the child.