Mixed Verdicts for Uncle Joe and the Philadelphia crime family
The jury in the racketeering trial of mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi delivered a split verdict today leaving courtroom observers and attorneys scrambling to make sense of a mixed bag of predominantly not guilty and undecided pronouncements.
Three defendants were convicted of racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charge in the 52-count indictment, by the jury which deliberated a staggering 21 days before declaring that it could go no further.
One defendant was acquitted and the jury announced that it was hopelessly deadlock on the conspiracy charge against Ligambi and two others.
The only other guilty verdicts were two counts of loansharking conspiracy against Anthony Staino, a top Ligambi associate.
"The government's case was gutted," said Edwin Jacobs Jr., Ligambi's lawyer. "We won 90 percent of the counts. The government blew this case out of all sensible proportion."
Jacobs and other defense attorney are expected back in court tomorrow to lobby for bail and to argue other post-trial issues.
The government has not decided if it will retry the counts on which the jury deadlocked, Judge Eduardo Robreno formally declared a mistrial on those counts at the end of a roller coaster day in court that began with the jury announcing that it had reached partial verdicts in the case but deadlocked on others. Robreno urged the panel to continue, but by mid-afternoon the jury declared it was deadlocked and unable to go any further.
The verdicts were read to a packed courtroom at around 3:45 p.m. Mob underboss Joseph "Mousie" Massimino, mob soldier Damion Canalichio and mob associate Gary Battaglini were found guilty of the racketeering conspiracy charge.
The jury said it was "undecided" on similar charges against Ligambi, his nephew George Borgesi and Anthony Staino. Staino, a top Ligambi associate was found guilty of two counts related to loansharking charges. Those were the only other guilty verdicts announced by the jury.
Mobster Joseph "Scoops" Licata was found not guilty. Licata, 71, faced no other charges. He was expected to be released shortly.
The status of the other defendants could be determined at new bail hearings set for tomorrow, Ligambi, 73, and Borgesi, 49, held without bail since their arrests in May 200, are expected to reapply for bail while he government decides whether to retry on the charges that were part of the trial.
Staino 55, and Battaglini, 51, have been free on bail and their lawyers are expected to ask that bail be continued pending sentencing which Robreno set for May. Massimino, 62, and Canalichio, 42, are expected to remain in he federal detention center.
"I'm pleased with the result for my client," said Christopher Warren, Licata's lawyer who called the verdicts tantamount to a "wholesale acquittal."In fact, the jury delivered not guilty verdicts on 45 of 50 counts tied to allegations of gambling, loansharking and extortion and hung of 11 others.
Borgesi, who was finishing a 14-year sentence for an earlier racketeering conviction when he was indicted in this case, was found not guilty on 13 of the 14 counts he faced with the jury hung only on the racketeering conspiracy charge. The jury decision seemed to be a repudiation of mob informant Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello, the key witness against Borgesi.
"The jury is the last bulwark against government over-reaching," said Paul Hetznecker, Borgesi's attorney. Throughout the 10-week trial and in his closing argumens, Hetznecker offered a spirited and pointed defense built around that theme.
Hetznecker said he will seek bail for his client and also continue to argue that, in his client's case at least, he no guilty verdicts appear to undermine and invalidate the racketeering conspiracy charge which is technically still pending.
The jury fund Ligambi not guilty of five charges tied to gambling and
loansharking and was hung on three others, two tied the operation of a
video poke machine business and one count of witness tampering.
Ligambi is the fifth Philadelphia mob boss convicted of
racketeering in the past 25 years to face racketeering charges. The others have been jailed and convicted. Two
of those mob leaders, Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo and John Stanfa, remain in
prison. Another, Joseph “Skinny Joey”
Merlino, was released last year after serving a 14-year sentence . The fifth
mob boss, Ralph Natale, became a cooperating
witness and pleaded guilty to racketeering charges tied to murder, extortion
and drug dealing. He also was sentenced
to 14 years in prison and was recently released.
With Ligambi's status still uncertain, mob watchers had been speculating
on a potential power vacuum and who might fill it. One candidate is
Merlino, 50, who has been living in Florida since his release. He has
indicated to
friends and associates, however, that he has no desire to return to
South Philadelphia.
Several top Merlino
associates who were conivicted with him, are also free and have been identified
by law enforcement authorities as still active in the underworld. That group
includes mob leaders Steven Mazzone and John Ciancaglini. But both have
maintained a low profile, opting according to several sources, to concentrate
on making money rather than making headlines.
Another factor in the Philadelphia underworld is the return
of several members of the Scarfo organization who close to 25 years in jail following their convictions for
racketeering in 1988. Scarfo, 83, is one of the last of 16 defendants convicted
in that case to remain behind bars. His release date, according to prison
records, is 2033. In effect, he is serving a life sentence.
Mob boss John Stanfa, convicted in a 1995 racketeering case,
was literally sentenced to life and has no chance to return to power.
The convictions announced
today capped a tumultuous jury deliberation process that took up 21 days
over a four-week period. Two jurors were replaced by alternates during
deliberations, one became ill and the other admitted to prior negative
knowledge about a defense witness.
Whether that second juror tainted the jury panel could be
one area for defense appeals. The judge denied a defense motion for a mistrial
over that issue during deliberations.
Defense lawyers are expected to appeal on several grounds,
but that process could take several
years and offers no immediate relief for
those convicted.
Several of those defendants may also have more serious
criminal problems connected to the unsolved gangland murder of John “Johnny
Gongs” Casasanto in 2003.
A key suspect in that case, mob soldier Anthony Nicodemo,
was arrested in December for the shooting of a South Philadelphia man. Nicodemo
has been held without bail pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 20
in Common Pleas Court.
Nicodemo is charged with murder conspiracy and related
offenses in connection with the gangland-style slaying of Gino DiPietro, who
was gunned down on a neighborhood street corner on the afternoon of Dec. 13. His arrest has sparked speculation
that law enforcement authorities will pressure him to cooperate and tell what
he knows about the Casasanto murder in order to help himself in the pending
murder case.
No one has been charged with the Johnny Gongs hit, but
authorities believe it was tied to underworld unrest at a time when Merlino and Ligambi were
sharing power. Authorities would like to link both mob leaders to that shooting
and have mentioned several other mob figures, including Canalichio, as individuals who may have knowledge about what
went down and why on the night Casasanto was shot in the back of the head.
He was found sprawled on the floor of his rowhouse kitchen, leading to speculation
that he knew those who killed him and let them into his house.
Philadelphia Police homicide detectives have a substantial
file on the murder case and have interview potential witnesses. Investigators
have a theory about how the murder took place and who was involved, identifying
two shooters and a lookout. But to date they have not had strong enough
evidence to make any arrests.
Sources say, however, that either Nicodemo or Canalichio
could provide that information. The question posed by one law enforcement
source was “Who goes first?”
http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/02/uncle-joe-six-associates-guilty-in-mob.html#XpEiVGxLIykQ5bqo.99
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