Charles "Chuck" Bangle, owner of Manco & Manco Pizza, pleaded guilty in July to a pair of tax-evasion charges, 11 days before he was scheduled to go to trial on a 30-count indictment.
The owners of the Manco & Manco pizza chain won't be sentenced until the new year, as their attorneys work to provide to the court volumes of information that will be used to help determine their sentences.
The sentencings for Charles and Mary Bangle have already been postponed once. The couple was originally scheduled to be sentenced in October, but those hearings were rescheduled to Wednesday, Dec. 9 to give their attorneys more time to gather documents for pre-sentencing reports. Now, the couple is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, March 18, 2016.
Speaking on behalf of his client, Mary Bangle, attorney Rocco C. Cipparone Jr. of Haddon Heights said in an email, "the sentencing was postponed in order to allow more time for thorough preparation for sentencing."
Pre-sentencing reports are documents prepared by the court that provide background on defendants and offer the sentencing judge some guidance in determining punishment.
Given the complexity of the tax case against the Bangles, “it’s not unusual that this happens,” Cipparone said previously.
“There are a lot of documents we have to exchange” between attorneys, he said.
Charles Bangle is represented by attorney Vincent P. Sarubbi of Haddonfield.
The Bangles, both of Somers Point,
admitted in July to hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from their cash-only business to avoid paying income taxes, and then lying to IRS agents investigating their crimes.
Charles Bangle, 55, pleaded guilty to one count of income tax evasion, and one count of structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements. Structuring is an illegal process through which a pattern of cash deposits are made in amounts of less than $10,000 to avoid IRS reporting requirements.
Mary Bangle, 54, pleaded guilty to knowingly making false statements to IRS special agents. She is likely to receive probation, according to Cipparone.
In exchange for their guilty pleas, federal prosecutors agreed to seek the dismissal of additional charges contained in a 30-count indictment issued against the couple in 2014.
The Bangles’ guilty pleas came less than two weeks before they were to stand trial on charges that they hid from the IRS almost $1 million in cash earnings, which the government alleged the couple used for sometimes lavish personal expenses.
Charles Bangle faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for income-tax evasion; the structuring count caries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fines, although he is expected to receive significantly less prison time because he has no prior criminal record.
Mary Bangle faced a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
The couple will be sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden.
Manco & Manco has three locations on the Ocean City Boardwalk and another on the mainland in Somers Point. Anthony Mack and Vincent Manco founded the chain in 1956, and it was known as Mack & Manco until 2011, when the partnership between the two families ended. Charles Bangle, the son-in-law of former co-owners Frank and Kay Manco, bought a controlling interest in the business that year, and changed its name.
Manco & Manco is a cash-only business that does not accept credit cards. The chain’s four locations earn a combined $4.5 million annually.
