Sofia Vergara used to go out with Chris Paciello and got in fight with her current boyfriend when she took a picture with him the other day. Other than being a murderer and rat he sounds like a fine individual.
Background
Paciello was born in 1971 in
Borough Park, Brooklyn and spent his childhood there. Paciello's father was a
heroin addict and a small time criminal who was arrested for burglary, auto theft, and drug charges in the 1980s. By age 15, Paciello was stealing car radios and then cars.
[3]
When he was 16, his mother left the family
[clarification needed] and they moved to
Staten Island. Three years later, Paciello left home and changed his last name from Ludwigsen to Paciello, the maiden name of his mother, Marguerite.
[1] His elder brother, George Ludwigsen, was convicted of bank robberies in
Hallandale, Florida and
Gulfport, Mississippi in the 1990s.
[4]
New York crimes
Paciello had connections to the New York
Cosa Nostra crime families.
[1] On Staten Island, Paciello joined the New Springville Boys, a youth gang with affiliations with the
Bonanno crime family.
[3] In December 1992, he participated in a $300,000 bank robbery at a
Chemical Bank in the
Staten Island Mall.
[5]
In February 1993, Paciello was charged with murder. He had planned a home invasion on
Staten Island and served as a driver. Paciello had information that the target, Sami Shemtov, who owned several
adult entertainment stores, kept large amounts of cash at his house. An accomplice, Thomas Reynolds, who in 2004 was sentenced to 42 years in prison, shot Sami's wife, Judith, in the head, killing her, when she answered her door.
[6][7] In February 1994, Paciello and his gang robbed a
Westminster Bank in
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, stealing $300,000.
[3]
South Beach
Impressed by the new
techno style nightclubs in New York, Paciello decided to open his own club in in
Miami Beach, Florida. Using money from the Westminster Bank robbery, Paciello opened the nightclub
Risk in the
South Beach section in November 1994. Unknown to his fellow gang members, Paciello had started providing information about them and their Cosa Nostra contacts to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
[3]
In late November 1995, Paciello opened a new nightclub,
Club Liquid in
South Beach, bringing in local celebrity Ingrid Casares as a partner.
Liquid soon became a center of Miami's
South Beach nightlife in the 1990s. The singer
Madonna, a friend of Casares, was a frequent guest at
Liquid.
[8] Paciello was also allegedly linked to celebrities such as
Nikki Taylor,
Jennifer Lopez,
Naomi Campbell,
Daisy Fuentes and
Sofia Vergara.
[citation needed]
In 1996,
William Cutolo, a powerful leader of the Colombo crime family in New York, told Paciello that he needed to start paying tribute to him. However, the New York
Gambino crime family was one of Paciello's early financial backers. In a Brooklyn meeting with acting Colombo boss
Alphonse Persico and Gambino representatives, Paciello was allowed to choose affiliation with the Colombos.
[3] Neither family was aware that Paciello was still working for the FBI.
[citation needed]
Prison
On December 1, 1999, Paciello was charged in New York with the 1993 murder of Judith Shemtov and robbery. In October 2000, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to ten years in prison, a lenient sentence as a government witness.
[9]
Paciello had fingered two made members of the Bonanno family, which led ultimately to the takedown of almost the entire upper echelon of the organization, including family boss
Joseph "Big Joe" Massino. Paciello's cooperation with the federal government was "unprecedented", according to a March 2004 letter by his then-lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, to the court that would sentence Paciello in connection with the murder and robbery charges related to Judith Shemtov. Brafman estimated that "more than 70 people" had been "prosecuted directly and indirectly as a result of [Paciello's] cooperation", which was reportedly confirmed in a letter from the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn.
[3]
In September 2006, he was released after serving six years in prison and placed on
parole.
[5] He moved to
Los Angeles, where he owned two
Cristoni pizzerias, both now out of business. Paciello was arrested over a street fight in 2008, but no charges were filed.
[3]
In October 2008, the British
tabloid paper
Daily Star linked Madonna and Paciello romantically and reported that they were together in
Toronto, Canada. However, the tabloid later retracted the story.
[10]
Current Status
On March 6, 2012, Paciello opened a new restaurant,
Bianca, in the
Delano Hotel in South Beach.
[3] He made the following press statement:
"I regret the mistakes I made in the past. I am working hard to make a positive impact and to build a new life for myself in Miami. I am grateful to the many people here who have welcomed me back with open arms, and look forward to a positive future."
[3]On December 2012, Chris Paciello and LiV/Arkadia owner David Grutman, opened Story Nightclub in South Beach.
[11]

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