City Council aide testifies for the defense during mob trial
The trial of reputed mob boss Joseph Ligambi and six others inched toward an end Tuesday after the judge concluded jurors weren't unduly influenced by reports of a mob killing in South Philadelphia last week.
In private talks with U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno, nine jurors said they heard about Wednesday's fatal shooting of Gino DiPietro, a lawyer told Ligambi supporters outside court.
Anthony Nicodemo, a reputed soldier not related to the Ligambi case, was charged with DiPietro's murder.
Just one juror said it might affect his view of the case, attorney Edwin Jacobs said. Lawyers had not decided if they would seek to remove him.
The issue emerged as the defense began calling witnesses, including a longtime City Council aide who told jurors that his neighbor, Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello - a mob turncoat and star prosecution witness - had once vowed to do "whatever he could" to avoid prison and routinely fumed about how much he despised Ligambi.
"He would say, 'I hate him, you don't understand how much I hate him'," the witness, Jerry Davis, testified.
Prosecutors say that the 73-year-old Ligambi, known as "Uncle Joe," presided over an extensive criminal network that controlled illegal gambling, loan-sharking and extortion across the region.
Over two months, they played scores of recordings and called informants, gamblers, agents and others to describe for jurors how the mob used its well-known reputation for violence to run a crime ring.
Defense lawyers have derided the charges as "racketeering lite," a case built on decade-old recordings and outdated or unproven references to beatings or murders. Tuesday's roster of witnesses was designed to seed doubt or expose cracks in that case.
Chris Warren, the lawyer for Joseph "Scoops" Licata, called the owner of a North Jersey restaurant that prosecutors said hosted a May 2010 meeting of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia mobsters, ostensibly to sort out their mutual interests.
The restaurateur, Chris Tocci, pointed out that the group of reputed criminals feasted and chatted in the busy public dining room at La Griglia that day, instead of the upstairs banquet room usually reserved for sensitive private meetings.
Ligambi's lawyer called Caesar J. DiCrecchio, the president of the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, who said he sometimes saw Ligambi two or three times a week at the market. DiCrecchio said he believed Ligambi was working there for Top Job, a waste-management firm that prosecutors earlier said was forced to pay him for a no-show job.
And Margaret Grasso, lawyer for Damion Canalichio, called private investigator and former state trooper Donald Fredericks, who told jurors that betting slips and secret recordings suggest her client wasn't a bookmaker, but rather an active gambler.
The most colorful testimony came from Davis, the onetime Monacello friend and longtime driver to former Council President Anna C. Verna.
Davis said he and Monacello would socialize two or three times a week, going to dinner or sharing shots of Crown Royal and beer in the basement of Monacello's South 18th Street home.
More than once, Davis said, Monacello ranted about Ligambi and declared that he would be a better leader for the crime family.
"He said he should be running this thing, things would be different, nobody knows what they're doing," Davis said.
After Monacello was arrested with the other defendants in 2011, "Did he ever tell you what he was going to do to get out of this?" Jacobs asked Davis.
"He basically told me he was going to do whatever he could" to save himself, Davis replied.
Earlier this year, after he had become a government informant, Monacello called and persuaded Davis to retrieve a loaded gun stashed in his house, Davis said. But his onetime friend later exploded when Davis refused to turn it over.
"He's definitely vengeful," Davis said. "I have to put cameras on my house now because it's worrying me."
Davis said his wife later gave the weapon to Monacello's mother. (Prosecutors say the gun was a service revolver that Monacello's late father used when he was a Philadelphia police officer.)
But Davis found himself in a bind Tuesday when Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Labor began cross-examination.
"Do you remember telling Lou Monacello that he should cooperate against Joe Ligambi?" Labor asked.
"Absolutely not," Davis quickly shot back.
And despite being asked three times, Davis was reluctant to concede there even was a mob.
"It's an ongoing thing, back and forth," he said. "Is it true? Is it not true? I don't know."
Labor also noted that Davis, who professed to be concerned about Monacello's conduct, chose to talk with defense investigators instead of reporting what he knew to police, the FBI or even his Council bosses.
Ligambi's lawyer, Jacobs, had his own retort: None of them asked.
Defense lawyers are poised to rest sometime Wednesday. Robreno is expected to dismiss jurors for the rest of the month and have them return for closing arguments Jan. 3.
In private talks with U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno, nine jurors said they heard about Wednesday's fatal shooting of Gino DiPietro, a lawyer told Ligambi supporters outside court.
Anthony Nicodemo, a reputed soldier not related to the Ligambi case, was charged with DiPietro's murder.
Just one juror said it might affect his view of the case, attorney Edwin Jacobs said. Lawyers had not decided if they would seek to remove him.
The issue emerged as the defense began calling witnesses, including a longtime City Council aide who told jurors that his neighbor, Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello - a mob turncoat and star prosecution witness - had once vowed to do "whatever he could" to avoid prison and routinely fumed about how much he despised Ligambi.
"He would say, 'I hate him, you don't understand how much I hate him'," the witness, Jerry Davis, testified.
Prosecutors say that the 73-year-old Ligambi, known as "Uncle Joe," presided over an extensive criminal network that controlled illegal gambling, loan-sharking and extortion across the region.
Over two months, they played scores of recordings and called informants, gamblers, agents and others to describe for jurors how the mob used its well-known reputation for violence to run a crime ring.
Defense lawyers have derided the charges as "racketeering lite," a case built on decade-old recordings and outdated or unproven references to beatings or murders. Tuesday's roster of witnesses was designed to seed doubt or expose cracks in that case.
Chris Warren, the lawyer for Joseph "Scoops" Licata, called the owner of a North Jersey restaurant that prosecutors said hosted a May 2010 meeting of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia mobsters, ostensibly to sort out their mutual interests.
The restaurateur, Chris Tocci, pointed out that the group of reputed criminals feasted and chatted in the busy public dining room at La Griglia that day, instead of the upstairs banquet room usually reserved for sensitive private meetings.
Ligambi's lawyer called Caesar J. DiCrecchio, the president of the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, who said he sometimes saw Ligambi two or three times a week at the market. DiCrecchio said he believed Ligambi was working there for Top Job, a waste-management firm that prosecutors earlier said was forced to pay him for a no-show job.
And Margaret Grasso, lawyer for Damion Canalichio, called private investigator and former state trooper Donald Fredericks, who told jurors that betting slips and secret recordings suggest her client wasn't a bookmaker, but rather an active gambler.
The most colorful testimony came from Davis, the onetime Monacello friend and longtime driver to former Council President Anna C. Verna.
Davis said he and Monacello would socialize two or three times a week, going to dinner or sharing shots of Crown Royal and beer in the basement of Monacello's South 18th Street home.
More than once, Davis said, Monacello ranted about Ligambi and declared that he would be a better leader for the crime family.
"He said he should be running this thing, things would be different, nobody knows what they're doing," Davis said.
After Monacello was arrested with the other defendants in 2011, "Did he ever tell you what he was going to do to get out of this?" Jacobs asked Davis.
"He basically told me he was going to do whatever he could" to save himself, Davis replied.
Earlier this year, after he had become a government informant, Monacello called and persuaded Davis to retrieve a loaded gun stashed in his house, Davis said. But his onetime friend later exploded when Davis refused to turn it over.
"He's definitely vengeful," Davis said. "I have to put cameras on my house now because it's worrying me."
Davis said his wife later gave the weapon to Monacello's mother. (Prosecutors say the gun was a service revolver that Monacello's late father used when he was a Philadelphia police officer.)
But Davis found himself in a bind Tuesday when Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Labor began cross-examination.
"Do you remember telling Lou Monacello that he should cooperate against Joe Ligambi?" Labor asked.
"Absolutely not," Davis quickly shot back.
And despite being asked three times, Davis was reluctant to concede there even was a mob.
"It's an ongoing thing, back and forth," he said. "Is it true? Is it not true? I don't know."
Labor also noted that Davis, who professed to be concerned about Monacello's conduct, chose to talk with defense investigators instead of reporting what he knew to police, the FBI or even his Council bosses.
Ligambi's lawyer, Jacobs, had his own retort: None of them asked.
Defense lawyers are poised to rest sometime Wednesday. Robreno is expected to dismiss jurors for the rest of the month and have them return for closing arguments Jan. 3.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20121218_Former_Council_aide_testfies_in_mob_trial.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment