The attorney who represented “We Build the Wall” member Tim Shea in a New York court has suddenly died.
The Daily News reports:
John Meringolo, a longtime Manhattan defense attorney who earned a reputation for besting federal prosecutors in high-profile cases, died Thursday. He was 48.
The veteran litigator’s father, Richard Meringolo, confirmed his death to the Daily News. His cause of death was not immediately apparent, though his father said it was unexpected. Meringolo is survived by his twin 1-year-old sons, his wife, and his parents.
“It’s horrifying,” his heartbroken father said. “It’s a very sad day.”
Meringolo became a thorn in the side of federal prosecutors after winning streaks defending notorious clients in several prominent mafia, RICO, and large-scale narcotics cases.
In 2018, he scored a mistrial in the racketeering case of Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, the reputed head of the Philadelphia crime family.
He convinced a Manhattan jury to acquit former NYPD deputy inspector James “Jimmy” Grant of charges alleging he took bribes from corrupt Brooklyn businessman Jeremy Reichberg in January 2019.
A couple months later, he scored an acquittal for John “Porky” Zancocchio, the alleged lieutenant of the reputed head of the Bonanno crime family. Meringolo argued his client was a victim of ethnic profiling by the NYPD based on his Italian heritage.
He notched another win in the form of a mistrial earlier this year of Steve Bannon associate Timothy Shea in the federal “We Build the Wall” crowdfunding case. He also represented Shea at his second trial, which ended in a conviction last month.
The We Build the Wall case in New York was a total sham by the DOJ. The government claimed the individuals who built miles of wall on the Southern Border abused those who gave donations by spending a very small percent of the donations on their expenses.
Unfortunately, the case against them was in New York, a northern state, miles from the Southern Border. Despite having no chance of a fair verdict, Meringolo defended Shea and in the trial, at least one member of the jury believed that the DOJ was on a witch hunt resulting in a mistrial.
But the DOJ wasn’t about to give up. They went back to court and were refused to provide evidence in the first trial that helped exonerate Shea. He was then found guilty.
Shea never had a chance in the second trial with an Obama judge overseeing the case in a New York City courtroom.
After being so successful in multiple cases against the government, attorney Meringolo is dead at age 48.