YOUNGSTOWN Gun charge for Saadey

The Austintown man could get a 10-year prison term and be ordered to pay a $250,000 fine.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Already serving a 55-month federal prison sentence for his involvement in fixing criminal cases in Mahoning County, Russell J. Saadey Jr. of Austintown was indicted Tuesday on a weapons charge.
A federal grand jury in Cleveland indicted Saadey, 47, of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition Tuesday. If convicted, Saadey, who is in a federal penitentiary in Michigan, could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine.
The indictment is related to his arrest April 21 by Austintown police at his home on a domestic violence charge.
The arrest came two days after Saadey was sentenced in federal court for case-fixing.
Bond revoked
Before the domestic violence case could be prosecuted in Mahoning County Court in Austintown, U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley revoked Saadey's bond and ordered him to immediately start serving his federal sentence.
He had been free while the U.S. Bureau of Prisons decided where he should report to serve his sentence.
Police said Saadey got into a fight with his wife, Joy, 42, in the living room of their Benton Avenue home. The fight got physical and Saadey got a loaded .38-caliber revolver from his bedroom, police said.
Saadey returned downstairs with the handgun and was restrained by several family members, who were able to get the gun from him after a struggle, police said.
Saadey's 19-year-old son, Russell III, who helped restrain his father during the argument, told police he believed his father was going to use the gun on himself. His wife told police that Saadey had shown signs of wanting to take his life.
Felons are prohibited from possessing guns, thus the firearm possession charge, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Conviction
Saadey was convicted in October -- and sentenced in April -- of racketeering conspiracy, extortion, filing three false income tax returns and submitting five false credit-card applications.
The charges related to case-fixing in the mid-1990s when Saadey served as an investigator for then-county Prosecutor James A. Philomena, who is in a federal prison for his involvement in the scheme.
skolnick@vindy.com