Reputed Philly mob associate gets four years in ‘astonishingly brazen’ home-buying fraud case

Two decades ago, federal authorities in Philadelphia linked Stephen Sharkey to the top of the local mob hierarchy and suggested he was likely to lead a life of crime even after serving a stint behind bars.

On Tuesday, a federal judge sentenced Sharkey once again to prison, telling him, “I’m not going to give you another chance.”

U.S. District Judge John R. Padova sentenced Sharkey, 51, of Swedesboro, to four years in prison for carrying out mob-connected home-buying schemes the government described in court papers as “astonishingly brazen and predatory frauds on innocent victims.” To do it, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael T. Donovan said, Sharkey engaged in an “absolute Olympic-style performance of lying that went on for months.”

Sharkey, who was ordered to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, pleaded guilty in September to wire fraud, identity theft, and money-laundering charges. He appeared in court with a half-dozen supporters and family members, and he apologized to the victims, saying: “I want to pay my debt to society.”

Investigators surveilled Sharkey and others for years and arrested him in April 2019, alleging he and an associate, Antonio Ambrosio, defrauded two home buyers of more than $200,000.

In one case, investigators said, Sharkey and Ambrosio persuaded Ambrosio’s brother-in-law to wire $208,000 to a bank account controlled by Sharkey. He then cut checks totaling more than $100,000 to ARMM Investments LLC, an account run by reputed ranking Philadelphia mobster George Borgesi.

Borgesi was not charged in connection with the schemes, and authorities said neither Sharkey nor Ambrosio offered an explanation for why they sought to pay him.

Ambrosio also pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November to 17 months in prison.

Sharkey’s sentence was more significant, in part because officials said he separately conned a third victim into signing over the deed to his deceased parents’ home. Sharkey then secretly went to the closing, stole the proceeds of the sale, and lied to the victim about it for months.

First indicted in a federal case in March 2000, Sharkey was once part of a gambling and extortion operation that ensnared 10 others, including onetime mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino. Sharkey pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and in 2001 was sentenced to a five-year prison term.

He was in and out of jail through 2010 after violating his parole with a pair of DUI convictions in 2007.

According to court documents, Sharkey then continued to associate closely with reputed members of the Philadelphia mob, including Borgesi, with whom he was photographed on multiple occasions and had repeated phone contact with.

The government sought a sentence Tuesday of at least five years, and Donovan described Sharkey as “someone who has engaged in criminality from the age of 25.”

But defense attorney Angela Halim said that Sharkey is an alcoholic who had a troubled childhood he is just beginning to grapple with, and that past DUI convictions were “not because he disrespects the law, [but] because he disrespects himself.”

Padova told Sharkey he was giving him “the benefit of the doubt” in returning a sentence of 49 months in prison.

“Your conduct in this case is intolerable. It’s egregious,” the judge said as Sharkey stood before him. “You’re a smart guy. You should know better.”

Sharkey will remain free on bail until he surrenders in mid-August after previously scheduled medical procedures.

Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this report.