‘The word that comes to mind when I look at you is miscreant’
A Brooklyn drug dealer known as “Mr. Pickles” has avoided a lengthy prison sentence by testifying against several co-conspirators.
Christopher Kelly, the owner of a nail salon in the Mill Basin section of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in May 2022 to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. He faced up to 10-12 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
However, Times Union reports that Kelly was only sentenced to three years and five months in prison, in large part thanks to his testimony in the case against three accused co-conspirators: Schenectady businessman Jeffrey Civitello Sr., owner of Focus Construction, his son, Jeffrey Civitello Jr., and Richard Sinde, a Bonanno crime family associate from New Jersey.
The Civitellos and Sinde were convicted of all charges of conspiring to move $600,000 worth of cocaine between New York City and Schenectady. They have not yet been sentenced.
While Kelly’s sentence may have been light, District Judge Mae D’Agostino made sure to offer a brutal assessment of his character.
“The word that comes to mind when I look at you is ‘miscreant,'” Judge D’Agostino told Kelly. “I think you are a poster child for moral perversion and moral decay — and that’s probably an understatement.”
