Mob Lawyer Bounces From Alex Capasso Child Porn Case

Left: Alex Capasso via an archived version of the Crow & the Pitcher website. Right: Defense attorney Joseph Santaguida in 1999, AP | Chris Gardner.

Center City mob lawyer Joseph Santaguida has withdrawn his appearance as attorney for former Rittenhouse Square chef Alex Capasso, who was arrested for child pornography in July.

Santaguida, whose client list has included “Skinny” Joey Merlino and founders of the notoriously ruthless Junior Black Mafia, first signed on as Capasso’s attorney early in August. But last week, the lawyer asked a federal judge to allow him to remove himself from the case. Why? According to a source close to the case, Capasso is “flat broke,” an assertion that is easy to believe.

Capasso was chef-partner of Rittenhouse Square restaurant Crow & the Pitcher prior to his arrest, and before that, he owned the acclaimed Blackbird Dining Establishment in Collingswood, New Jersey.

But the chef declared bankruptcy in 2014, and a publicist for Crow & the Pitcher told Philadelphia magazine that “Capasso is definitely not getting any funds from Crow & the Pitcher.” His three-bedroom West Collingswood home is on the market for $200,000.

Capasso is in federal custody in Washington D.C. facing one count of distribution of child pornography. Authorities allege that Capasso bragged about abusing his ex-girlfriend’s niece when she was five years old and that he sent child pornography to an undercover agent in D.C.

The ex-girlfriend has been charged with production of child pornography, and prosecutors have indicated that Capasso may face that charge as well. But he appears to be trying to avoid that outcome.

Court records show that Capasso is now being represented by a federal public defender and that both sides are working toward a plea deal. The federal mandatory minimum sentence for distribution of child pornography is five years, while a production conviction can carry a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. There is no mandatory minimum sentence for a charge of possession of child pornography.

“I hope they put him away forever,” says one Philadelphia chef who was well acquainted with Capasso. “He deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

Santaguida did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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