A long-time, violent criminal who faces federal racketeering charges was ordered detained today after failing multiple drug tests while he was free awaiting trial.
US District Court Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein told Joseph “JoJo” Burhoe that she had given him too many chances to address a drug addiction, and he had manipulated his pre-trial services counselors too many times.
“I think the level of manipulation, and the inability to accept responsibility, I don’t think you’re there yet,” Dein told Burhoe, who was living in Braintree before his arrest in September 2012. “You’ve had all the opportunities you’re going to have.”
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Burhoe, who was 44 at the time of his arrest, asked to be sent to an inpatient drug treatment center for an addiction that, his lawyer said, resurfaced after he underwent surgery on his mouth and was prescribed oxycodone. He had been sober for 12 years before that, his attorney, Miriam Conrad, said.
“I am ready to take full responsibility,” Burhoe said today. Dein denied his request for treatment and ordered him incarcerated instead. He was taken away by the US Marshals Service.
Burhoe has a criminal record dating back to his teenage years. He was released from prison in 2007 after he was convicted of the 2001 armed holdup of a Citizens Bank branch in the Shaw’s Supermarket in Medford.
Authorities allege he then obtained a job as a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 82, and engaged in threats, intimidation and violence, against other members and against companies that were doing business in Boston. The local chapter of the union has since been disbanded and merged with another local.
Burhoe was one of four men accused in the September 2012 racketeering indictment of extortion and mail fraud in shaking down businesses to get jobs for the four of them, for friends, and for family members — and intimidating anyone who wanted to get in their way. He had been expelled from the union before his arrest.
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Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.