After listening to about 15 minutes of taped conversation this morning, the jury in the racketeering conspiracy retrial of mob boss Joe Ligambi and his nephew George Borgesi hunkered down for a sixth day of deliberations.
The panel of 11 women and one man called it quits around 4 p.m. and headed home. They will be back at it tomorrow at 9:30. Looming is a three-day weekend (Monday is a federal holiday -- Martin Luther King Day), meaning that if there is no decision tomorrow, the case will go into next week.
While the group sent a note to Judge Eduardo Robreno Monday afternoon saying there was an "impasse" in deliberations, there has been no indication that the panel has bogged down since then.
Ligambi, 74, and Borgesi, 50, are both charged with racketeering conspiracy linked to what authorities say was an organized crime gambling and loansharking operation that ran from 1999 through 2011. Ligambi also faces two gambling charges and one count of witness intimidation.
Over the past two days the jury has asked to hear nearly two dozens secretly recorded conversations that were introduced as evidence during the eight-week. The panel has also asked about some specific pieces of evidence.
In the note it sent on Monday, the jury said it had voted twice on all five counts and had failed to reach a unanimous decision on any of them. Whether they have taken subsequent votes could not be determined.
The process continues tomorrow.
The jury in the first trial that ended in February deliberated for 21 days before coming back with a split decision. That case involved seven defendants and 62 counts. Four defendants were convicted, one was acquitted and the jury hung on the charges that Ligambi and Borgesi are again fighting.
