A pivotal witness in the Joseph Bongiovanni corruption trial said he was “swimming in debt” in 2008 when he reached out to a childhood friend who he believed was a member of Italian organized crime.
Louis Selva testified Wednesday that he asked Michael Masecchia if he could become part of Masecchia’s marijuana grow operation in the Southern Tier.
Prosecutors have described “a bad situation” at Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga, where cocaine and other drugs were being distributed and dancers were overdosing on heroin.
“I wanted to get involved,” said Selva, 59. “I needed to keep up on child support.”
When Masecchia brought him into the enterprise, Selva helped prepare, plant and water the marijuana plants and would then transport the harvest in his SUV to Buffalo.
Prosecutors say Selva accomplished an even bigger task for Masecchia: recruiting Bongiovanni, a North Buffalo childhood friend of both Selva and Masecchia’s who had gone on to become a special agent in the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Bongiovanni accepted at least a quarter of a million dollars in bribes to protect the drug-trafficking organization, prosecutors say. Bongiovanni, 59, faces 15 federal charges, many related to his dealings with Masecchia, the former teacher who…
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