The Billiken's Bluff

If you don't know who Julia Diaco is by now, you need to educate yourself. Check out the article here. In yesterday's edition of the news, the entire fourth page of the paper was devoted to the lovely and dynamic Diaco, an 18 year-old freshman from Rumson, NJ who was arrested on Tuesday for selling drugs out of her dorm room in Hayden. The headline for that story was "The Princess and the Pot." Today, Diaco made the front page of the News under the headline "Gone to Pot."

According to the police, Miss Diaco had been selling pot, coke, mushrooms and acid since at least November, when they began trailing her. Diaco made many sales to undercover cops and had the balls to stiff them on various occasions, even once selling a cop an eighth-ounce of pot and charging for a half. On Tuesday, undercover cops arrested her on St. Mark's Place as she was carrying over $1,000 worth of herbs.

The Post says that she befriended many homeless men outside of Hayden and also claims that she sold out of Washington Square Park. According to Joseph Duronio, an NYU Junior who is quoted in both the News and the Post, Diaco was "the most inept drug dealer in the world." Each paper is already speculating that Diaco sold drugs for the sole purpose of making friends.

But I'm pretty sure that Julia is gonna be alright. Consider Miss Diaco's criminal defense attorney, one Marvin Schecter. Mr. Schecter is an adjunct professor at Fordham Law, has served as the president of the NYS Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, and speaks bi-weekly to prisoners at Rikers Island. In other words, Schecter is a pretty good defense attorney. If you had a 16-count indictment hanging over your head, you wouldn't mind having Carvin' Marvin on your side. "She's not a major drug dealer, Schechter claimed. "When the facts come out, we will find that a lot of the drugs were for use by herself." Sounds like my kind of girl.

Diaco hails from Rumson, NJ, one of the Garbage State's wealthiest towns. The state's most prolific resident, Bruce Springsteen, currently lives in Rumson. Just this week, Springsteen played a benefit concert at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park for the Rumson Country Day School, the private school that he sends his kids to. Tickets went on sale to the public for the show at no less than $1,000.



That's a picture of the Diaco estate in Rumson. Nice place they got there. Diaco's father owns a $165MM construction company and rubs elbows with New Jersey's elite. Now, I know what you're thinking here. A rich Italian family from New Jersey with connections to state policy-makers. The math is simple: construction mogul = mobster. Papa Diaco didn't make his fortuna by contracting buildings, he made it by contracting killings.

Don't jump to conclusions. The truth is, each of Julia's older brothers went to Ivy League schools and the family has no ties to organized crime. The News and the Post have had two days to dig into the Diaco's family and the juiciest bit of mob info that they've dug up is that a Diaco family member has the same name as someone who was arrested in the '70s. That's pretty weak. The Diacos are a long way off from the Sopranos. Hell, right now little Julia has the longest rap sheet in the family.