Nobody told Bellomo to not take a plea deal. Remember that Bellomo was Acting Boss at the time and Ida was Consigliere. It was Ida who made the mistake of not taking one and deciding to take his case to trial. He'd be out right now, like Bellomo, if he had taken a plea. But he was convicted and is doing life. In fact, Ida going away like that was a big part of what started Genovese members taking plea deals on a regular basis. They cut their time dramatically in cases they will probably lose anyhow. Other families followed this, though the Gambinos under Gotti were slower to do so.mayugastank wrote:Is Barney Bellomo a cooperator>? is he on the outs with the Genovese? Seems like he deliberately took a plea when told not to and took a polygraph denying any part in a few murders. This may be why he enraged Ida. Surely questions were asked to his involvement in the murder and his knowledge of anyone who participated in it. It doesnt look good for him that he would answer questions on a murder his co-defendant( James Ida) was convicted in.
Bellomo is not a cooperator by any stretch of the imagination. If he was, he wouldn't have spent about a decade in prison and would have likely been used to testify against other members. He took his first plea deal and, as his time would come close to running out, the feds would indict him on something else. Maybe they were trying to pressure him to flip but they never cracked him. A judge allowed his release around a year or two ago, if I remember right.