Gossiped Girls

Despite an apparent mob fetish, Alycia isn't the only local TV gal to (allegedly) go wild.

by Gabriele Valentine

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Published: Jan 9, 2008

Deposed local-TV-news babe Alycia Lane has some newfound friends and fans in the mafia. "Tell Alycia, welcome to the criminal enterprise. She doesn't want to cover us; she wants to be one of us," says Ruth Ann Seccio, former mistress of mob-boss-turned-rat Ralph Natale. In fact, Seccio thinks more highly of Lane since she was arrested last month for allegedly slugging a female New York City police officer.

Charged with second-degree assault, a felony, she faces one to seven years in prison if convicted. And if that wasn't bad enough, the CBS-affiliate anchorwoman learned Monday that the station terminated her contract even though her attorney says the whole "I'm a reporter, you fucking dyke" incident never happened. (As of press time, a lawsuit by Lane was reportedly in the works.) The mob, however, would prefer to fantasize that it did happen.

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"Who knew Alycia had it in her? I like her better now!" one mob associate of reputed crime leader Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi tells City Paper. But this same gangster is disappointed in Alycia's date, local radio host Chris Booker. "What kind of man lets his girl take a pinch? Alycia's got bigger balls than her boyfriend. A real man would've gotten locked up, maybe cracked the cop hisself. What's she doing wit' such a pussy?"

The latest news may have the local underworld abuzz, but they've long been fans. One associate claims he met Lane several years ago as she pursued an interview with Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino. "Alycia was nice," he says. "She was serious about getting Baba [Merlino] to talk to her on TV."

Lane visited Merlino at the Hudson County prison in South Kearny, N.J., in December 2003. There, the charismatic 40-year-old mob boss was awaiting trial for the 1996 murder of Joseph Sodano, a member of the local mob's North Jersey faction. Merlino told friends that Lane's arrival at the prison was the highlight of visiting day. She had to go through a metal detector and into a large waiting room where 70 prisoners sat in cubicles behind thick Plexiglas windows. As would be expected, the head-turner stopped prisoners' conversations midsentence as they paused to stare. Merlino and Lane had a friendly chat and he promised to consider doing an interview with her after the trial. (Merlino was eventually found not guilty of ordering the Sodano hit; he'll remain in federal custody in Marion, Ill. on other charges until 2011, according to the inmate locator on the Bureau of Prison's Web site.)

Some of Lane's male TV colleagues supposedly felt a little slighted by Merlino's willingness to sit down because he had turned down more than a half-dozen similar requests. Many figured the mobster's willingness to meet had something to do with a schoolboy crush rather than an interest in appearing on the local news.

Lane also lunched with Merlino attorney Chris Warren at Brasserie Perrier in an effort to nail down the Merlino interview. Sources claim Lane met with several associates for drinks at Buddakan to discuss Merlino, and that she corresponded with him in prison. But Lane finally abandoned her efforts when it became clear that Merlino and pals were more interested in opportunities to eyeball her than be interviewed. Merlino didn't walk away empty-handed, though. Rumor has it he keeps an autographed photo of Lane, and letters she sent, in his cell.

Although Lane came closest to scoring the interview — Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser, Action News and the CBS Evening News all got him on camera prior to his 1999 arrest — media sources claim that four years later,local news stations continue to besiege the imprisoned mobster with interview requests.

While Lane's alleged antics — i.e. e-mailing bikini pics to a married sportscaster — remain front-page material, they're not nearly as shocking as some of her TV colleagues' more scandalous behavior that tends to remain industry secrets. When the cameras go off, sex scandals, drugs and dates with thugs start going on. (Names have been withheld to protect the kinky.)

Like, for instance, another sexy local anchor who used to love partying with a member of the Warlocks motorcycle gang. The couple openly used drugs and got hot and heavy in Headhouse Square. Bikers are bad news when they are the subject of TV reports, but a female reporter's decision to do some bar-top dirty dancing at a local Pagans hangout never made the air. (The dark-haired vixen broke up with her boyfriend and stopped coming by the bar when concerned colleagues pointed out that partying after hours with drug dealers and roughneck bikers was not a good career move.)

Until the city padlocked Club Kama Sutra in November 2005, the illegal sex club on South Street was a favorite haunt for one bold-and-beautiful on-air personality who had a thing for orgies and nude pole dancing. A female reporter shacked up with a South Philly drug dealer and wannabe rapper after covering a hip-hop event. The reporter, who no longer works in the market, continued palling around with the thug even after learning he was a suspect in a drug murder. Yes, rappers and news readers seem to have a thing for each other. Back in 2003, a part-time news anchor started sipping Cristal with Tommy Hill after interviewing him about his music and former life of crime. Hill, a one-time leader of the local rap group RAM SQUAD, was also a reputed member of North Philly's Richard Allen Mob, named for the housing project where he grew up.In his brief career, Hill allegedly got help from Merlino to get a recording contract and dated the daughter of Muslim cleric Shamsud-din Ali, a central figure in the FBI corruption probe of City Hall. The female newsie told friends that she was tutoring Hill in how to be less "ghetto" and to not treat her like "an around-the-way girl."She claimed that Hill had sworn off his old ways. But after several dates out and about in Old City, Hill was arrested for selling 51 grams of crack cocaine to a government informant in a fast-food restaurant's parking lot. He pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the feds.

Perhaps the most titillating example of TV girls going wild is the case of a buxom bottle blond who worked behind the scenes in a City Line Avenue news department. Prettier than her colleagues but bored with local TV news, this kinky exhibitionist quit her job to get naked at a very popular gentlemen's club. Named the club's headliner of the year, she attracted all kinds of potential suitors, from mobsters to CEO moguls, but turned them all down to take up with a South Jersey club owner. Alas, her new career didn't last long after she was allegedly caught using and selling drugs to other strippers.

Such tales are not limited to the underworld. During the last decade, several pretty and very single on-air types have crossed the thin blue line to have affairs with married police officers. Some of the torrid trysts have wreaked havoc on the personal lives of the policemen, but others have been able to have their cake and eat it, too. So, what's the payoff? Insider information and the chance to break big stories for the fillies, and bragging rights for the boys in blue.

(editorial@citypaper.net)

 

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