No but the Philly police commission and the mayor can set up areas where the 4th amendment does not apply and if you are in that area you will be stopped and frisked and the state and the city can start prosecuting those found with the illegal weapons and drugs, if you look at the people that are arrested for the murders (which is rare do to no sniching street law and people like kaboni savage)its not their first brush with the law, strengthen the laws and make them stick like they did with the RICO statutes, it can be done but people in charge do not want it to seem like racial profiling and offend people. There is an area in N Philly that is an open air drug market and you can sell and use heroin and otehrs without much hassle for the cops. Heroin is still illegal.
Compating Joe Ligambi and his crew to the people of N Philly is like night and day, the federal government spent 10 years trying to get him and they may have but it seems like a big wate of $$

I doubt more Police on the streets corners of North Philly or West Philly would do anything to stop the wanton violence associated with the city's drug market. The hard thing about Philly for Police is often that most drug gangs are small and usually related by geography or family. Up in the badlands there are some big time Latin American street gangs, however, North and West Philly are made up of a lot of smaller, independent crews. It kind of reminds me of what is happening in Mexico with the cartels but on a much much smaller scale. When the Mexican Navy kills a Cartel leader the group splinters and then those smaller groups start fighting for control of certain territories. When the leaders of those smaller splinter groups get killed they splinter and start fighting again and on and on ad infinitum. That's why there are so many drug murders in Philly because every 16 year old with a gun can pop somebody and there are no real repercussions for them in the criminal underworld because there is no leadership. If there were more cohesive gangs there would probably be FEWER murders. Does that mean I am advocating allowing street gangs to flourish? NO NO NO, but I think the old "Cut off the head and the body dies" attitude is more harmful to society in the long run. Gangs are more like the Lernaean Hydra, you lop off one head and two grow back.

Question:

If acquitted on all charges, what legal recourse does a 73 year old man that just spent 2 years in prison have on the state for damages, punitive and otherwise?

He may want to lay low knowing that Niccodemo is locked up or going to get locked up for life and may decide to start talking

I'm aware of this development, but unsure how that would relate to some sort of civil litigation suit alla

"Ligambi et al vs. US Attorney's Office"

Not much, Frank. I mean, in the past, mob bosses who have been acquitted after being held without bail had no recourse, so why should he?

And you'd never make a "false arrest" claim stick because of his past. When you have a criminal past, your character isn't "unimpeachable." It's already tarnished in the eyes of the court. I don't think that's fair, but that's the way it is.

Don't forget that kind old "Uncle Joe" was once convicted of murder, and if not for a technicality ten years into his sentence, he would have likely died in prison. So that part of his past would probably hurt any type of lawsuit he might bring. But fuck, at this point he'd be THRILLED just to walk on these charges. Fuck the lawsuit.

Totally agree and I beleive you have to be wrongfully imprisoned like you were sent away for a rape or murder for 20 years and then DNA clears you, then you have a hefty lawsuit that you will win from the state. In this case, I mean basically where there is smoke there is fire, like pizzaboy stated he was convicted of murder, so he is 73 should just walk away and move to arizona or the poconos and call it a day and count his money and blessings that he is not in a west virginia federal hotel

It seems that you and I agree on just about everything, Merlino .

man.... you got Norm the pizza delivery guy as your handle on here..aside from the 7 min ab guy who was a serial killer was probably the funniest part in the movie so anyone who likes that part has got to know something!

I still think they will get a lot less than what many think, long deliberations are great for the defendants....

Jurors are required to weigh the credibility of the witnesses and any reasonable person would heavily discount some of the flippers that testified...

Yeah but they deliberated for a week back in 01 and even though they did not get the major charges some guys still did sufficiant time.Borgesi is still in.

22 you are right they got 10 plus back then, I can't see Borgesi getting any time in this one, looks like some type of double jeopardy on him but its not same crimes different victims allegedly but he seems to have the weakest case against him

god point 22

If seven minute abs was shorter, I would have picked him for a username!!!!

They asked to listen to more tapes.

They wanted a pack of post-it notes.

And then they said they would need multi-colored markers, mints and gum.

Those were the requests of the jurors Friday as they rounded out their third full day of deliberations in the racketeering conspiracy case of mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and six co-defendants.

The consensus?

"It looks like they're settling in," said one defense attorney.

In fact, as in all jury deliberations, no one knows exactly what is going on. As a result, everyone tries to interpret and spin.

The longer deliberations take, the better it is for (take your pick) the defense/the prosecution.

The tapes they've asked for support (take your pick) the prosecution's theory/the defense's arguments.

When the jurors enter the room they look at the defendants/the prosecutors and that's who they're favoring.

The bottom line is that no one knows what's going on with the deliberations and until the jury announces that it has reached a verdict or is hopelessly deadlocked, the dozens of family members and friends who have gathered each day in the 15th floor hallway outside the courtroom will continue to worry, wonder and speculate.

And so will the attorneys and prosecutors.

Deliberations are scheduled to resume Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. The jury of seven men and five women recessed at 4 p.m. Friday. The panel has now deliberated for about 21 hours over four days.

Among other things Friday the panel asked for an explanation of the conspiracy charge again, which Judge Eduardo Robreno reread in open court. Part of that question was whether a defendant can be guilty of conspiracy based on actions or words -- a threat for example -- made by a co-conspirator who is not charged if the defendant is not aware of the action.

The answer in its simplest terms is yes, but there are exceptions, which Robreno attempted to expalin by rereading several pages of a 150-page jury instruction he gave prior to the start of deliberations.

The question about conspiracy came after the jury asked to rehear several tapes that focus on co-defendant Anthony Staino, 55, and his interactions with undercover FBI Agent David Sabastiano who was posing as a gambler and rogue financier known as "Dino."

It was the second day in a row that the jury asked to rehear Sebastiano tapes.The FBI agent wore a body wire during many of his meetings with Staino.

On one played Friday, Staino talked about a mob war between two Philadelphia factions and after "Dino" likened it to IBM and GE, Staino said he was with the "good" company that had bested the "bad" company. Ligambi, 73, became the "acting boss" of the crime family, authorities allege, in the aftermath of that war between mob leaders John Stanfa and Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino.

Ligambi and Staino were with the Merlino faction.

Stanfa was convicted of racketeering charges in 1995 after a lengthy trial in the same fedeal courthouse in Philadelphia where the Ligambi trial is now being held. Merlino was jailed for racketeering following a separate racketeering conviction, again in the same courthouse, in 2001.

On the tape, Staino went on to describe himself as a member of the "board of directors of the company," adding, "I'm like the CFO (chief financial officer)."

Snippets of that tape were used in the indictment handed up against Ligambi, Staino and the others as proof, the prosecution alleged, of the existence of a criminal enterprise and the defendants' roles in it.
To find the defendants guilty of the racketeering conspiracy charge at the heart of the case, the jury would have to agree that the defendants knowingly took part in the conspiracy.

The conspiracy is built around separate allegations of gambling, extortion, loansharking and the distribution and operation of illegal video poker machines. Evidence and testimony during the three-month trial focused on those activities, but the defense, in its closing arguments, contended that if they had occurred, they were separate and unrelated acts carried out by individual defendants to line their own pockets.

"We're not who they say we are," Ligambi's lawyer, Edwin Jacobs Jr., has said throughout the trial, indicating that the prosecution has created a mob conspiracy where neither mobsters nor conspiracies existed.

Other defendants in the case include mob boss Joseph "Mouise" Massimino, 62, mob capos Joseph "Scoops" Licata, 71. and George Borgesi (Ligambi's nephew), 49, mob soldier Damion Canalichio, 42, and mob associate Gary Battaglini, 51.

A second tape replayed for the jury Friday focused on the delivered of $25,000 -- cash stuffed in a cereal box-- from Staino to "Dino." The money was delivered by Robert Ranieri, a Staino associate who is not on trial.

The prosecution contends the money was a loansharking transaction. Staino's defense has been that the money was given to Dino to "invest" in a buisness deal.

On that tape, Ranieri tells Dino the dates on which he will have to make $3,000 payments and urged him not to miss the dates because, he said, Staino can turn into "the devil." Most observers linked the jury question about threats by a co-conspirator who has not been charged to that conversation. The supposition is that the jury is attempting to deteremine whether Staino can be held accountable for threatening Dino even though he was not there and whether that threat was part of a conspiracy.

Ironically, while the jury doesn't know it, Ranieri is one of three defendants named in the original indictment who are scheduled to be tried at a later date on the same charges.


Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/01/tapes-post-its-markers-and-gum-is-jury.html#yz1F6mqwF7FYpIHw.99

they're gonna get off IMO

You really think so? I think some of them might beat a couple charges but i'm not so sure they're all going to walk. But i guess you never know with a jury.

(Starts twitching)

"No! Not 6! I said 7! Nobody's coming up with 6! Who works out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart going, not even a mouse on a wheel! 7's the key number, you hear? Think about it. 7-11's. 7 dwarfs. 7, man, that's the number! 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lot's of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch! You know that old children's tale from the sea! It's like you're dreaming about Gorgon's Ola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby!"

http://www.viddler.com/v/c8809791

never know but they are taking quite a while...if anything the top 3 go but rest walk

classic!!!!!! and then ted gets his arese beat in jail by the detectives....good shit thanks

The best was when that dog flew out the window and when they went to the store he left him on top of the roof and then casually took him out of the back-seat like he was there all along.

Not to step on anyone's toes but lol, In my opinion as everyone has said before I believe that the charges are in fact bullshit, Ten years building a RICO case for bookmaking and a few other lower level activities, but from all that I have read and my basic knowledge of the criminal justice system I think the government at least hass enough evidence to convict everyone on trial of at least some of the charges, with the possible exceptions of Joseph Licata and mayb Borgesi becouse they really dont have much on them spare the Stefanelli tapes for Scoops which proves nothing and I think Frankie the Fixer actually did George a favor by ripping Lou monacello a new one more than anyone imagined he would,well know soon enough I suppose

The top 3 guys are found guilty IMO. The others may walk, however, this will all be peanuts when the Nicodemo thing hits the fan. You know the feds are just sitting around laughing and waiting to serve up the next round when Nicodemo flips. The next set of indictments is going to be soon and will really shake things up. Canalichio will probably flip then.......waiting for it

Shits hitting the fan, but does it reach Joey ?

George had mentioned in his article that the jury wasn't aware of that raneri being charged in the indictment while working for staino..I guess they got the superseding indictment ..Well from them taking their time I dont see a gulity across the board here ..Staino had the most charges of anyone in the beginning..Ligambi being charged in the second indictment I think those charges will stick.. As far as the poker machine company they'll be found guilty on that..I think Bent Lou Mocking them backfired for the prosecution ..

I'm pretty sure they can't.

They do that all over stop and frisk areas and you are kidding yourself is the police in crime ridden urban areas don't already do that without approval from a commission

I seem to agree with most the main guys[Mousie,Staino,and Ligambi] are getting something.Damion and Battaglini I think a little something and Licata and Borgesi may walk.I agree that Monacello's attitude probably hurt more than it helped.Now there's a guy without too much of a criminal past except for the Delco Gambling charge.If he had just kept his mouth shut he probably would have gotten off lightley,but the fact that he couldn't do no time at all he panics and co-operates.Now he's a marked man,not that he's in physical danger but what's he going to do with the rest of his life now.South Philly and the Jersey shore are only so big.He could have maned up,did his time and he probably would have been made when he got out.I mean that was his dream at one time according to him.He blew it.

22 he's not even 100% I doubt anyone's making him

doesnt matter, like some of the skins talked about on the skins tapes, guys were getting made who werent 100%, not exactly tons of picking in terms of potential members out there