Robert Mueller/Screengrab
President Donald Trump has been on a pardon spree as of late, freeing a number of drug-trafficking criminals, fraudsters and is now taking aim at some of those involved in the Robert Mueller investigation who received life sentences.
Writing for The Free Press, Gabe Kaminsky explained that Trump's continued resentment of the Mueller probe may mean letting a number of people go home.
So far, Trump's pardons are at 1,600 in his first year, and the one thing they have in common is fidelity to Trump.
One lawyer, "David Schoen, is representing Michael Sessa and Vic Orena, who were convicted in 1992 and then sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the Mafia."
Trump received a letter on Christmas Eve asking that he commute their sentences, the Free Press reported.
If Schoen's name sounds familiar, it might be because he worked for sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Roger Stone and also for Trump on his second impeachment over the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. With the former, Schoen secured the sweetheart plea deal that allowed Epstein to come and go from prison during his short sentence.
The Colombo Mob was the topic of a book by Craig McGuire in 2022. In "Carmine and the 13th Avenue Boys: Surviving Brooklyn's Colombo Mob,"
"Sessa assembled a hit team that included Joseph 'Joey Brains' Ambrosino and another associate, and headed to Staten Island," the book describes. "The hit crew arrived at Carmine’s home early evening, but not late, with passersby floating by. They circled the block a couple times before rolling into the driveway. Sessa sat in the car as Ambrosino approached, gun ready in pocket, and rang the bell. The plan was to lure Carmine outside on the false pretense Carmine Sessa had emerged from hiding and called a sit-down for the crew. Then, get Carmine Imbriale in the car, shoot him to death, then dump him in a hole in Great Kills. Michael Sessa would plant the seed that Carmine had been whacked by the Orena faction" under Victor Orena's leadership.
It didn't work. Carmine wouldn't leave his home and there was a major rule not to involve families in violence. Worse, Sessa never got permission from his brother for the hit. Carmine’s wife blocked the shot. The next night they tried again and again the wife blocked the shot. The third night was more successful.
The way Schoen is getting Trump to consider the pardon, other than his connections to the president, is by telling the president that the men were put behind bars thanks to former special counsel Robert Mueller and former prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, both of whom Trump hates with a fiery passion.
Schoen is claiming that the Sessa and Orena case has “the most outrageous government misconduct I ever have encountered in 40 years of practicing law."
The movement is being promoted by ex-mobster Michael Franzese, who has started a YouTube series boasting 1.85 million subscribers. He did an interview with Sessa's lawyer where the men bashed Weissmann for nearly 40 minutes.
“Without a grant of clemency, Mr. President, these two men will remain in prison for the rest of their lives as a direct consequence of Andrew Weissmann’s outrageous misconduct,” Schoen's letter to Trump said about Sessa and Orena.
Orena is now 91, terminally ill and “does not know who he is or where he is,” Schoen told Trump
Sessa, however, is just 67 and perfectly functional.
The report explained that the pardon request is just part of an ongoing effort by "lawyers, lobbyists, and others with connections to the president, especially those who can persuade him that his clients were victims of Democratic persecution."