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Five found guilty in Chicago mob trial
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/09/10 17:03
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A jury found four aging Chicago mobsters guilty on Monday of operating a decades-long criminal conspiracy that included 18 unsolved gangland murders, including two gruesome slaying depicted in the move "Casino." The two-month "Family Secrets" trial in federal court featured the testimony of several mob turncoats, including the brother and son of one defendant, who described killings, extortion, and other crimes committed by the Chicago successors to Al Capone's murderous empire. Mob bosses James Marcello, Joey "the Clown" Lombardo, and Frank Calabrese Sr., along with Paul "the Indian" Schiro were all found guilty of racketeering conspiracy that included finding them guilty of the murders. Former Chicago policeman Anthony Doyle was also found guilty of racketeering. Calabrese's son Frank Jr. and brother Nicholas testified about his preference for strangling his victims. Nicholas also recounted Calabrese's roles as well as his own in the 1986 slayings of Las Vegas mob figures Anthony and Michael Spilotro that was later depicted in the movie "Casino." Lombardo, 73, who lived up to his nickname "the Clown" with his quips during the trial, testified that he was only a "hustler" and had never been a member of the Chicago mob. Lombardo's lawyer said his client changed his ways while serving time in the 1980s for bribing Nevada Sen. Howard Cannon and later took out a newspaper ad trying to dispel his reputation by asking anyone who saw him commit a crime to call his probation officer or the FBI. A third Spilotro brother, Chicago dentist Pat Spilotro, testified how he helped capture the fugitive Lombardo who had shown up at his office for relief from a toothache. The defendants could face life in prison, as well as millions of dollars in fines. |
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Boston police officer pleads guilty to drug charges
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/09/10 15:03
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1 of 3 Boston police officers facing federal drug charges pleads guilty. Carlos Pizarro was arrested in Miami last year along with two colleagues, Robert Pulido and Nelson Carrasquillo. Prosecutors allege the police officers went to Miami to collect $35,000 from undercover FBI agents. U.S. District Court Judge William Young told Pizarro that under federal sentencing guidelines he could face between 19.5 and 24 years in prison. But because Pizarro accepted responsibility and has no criminal record his sentence could be as low as eleven to 14 years. Sentencing is scheduled for December 12th. Prosecutors say the defendants believed the agents were drug dealers who had hired them to protect a shipment of cocaine in Massachusetts. Pulido and Carrasquillo are scheduled to go to trial in November. |
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Teacher pleads guilty to having sex with student
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/08/29 12:36
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A former Cyprus High School teacher admitted Tuesday to having sex with one of her students. Christy Brown, 33, pleaded guilty as charged to three counts of forcible sexual abuse, all second-degree felonies. Brown faces up to 30 years in prison when she is sentenced Oct. 19 by 3rd District Judge Stephen Henriod. She had sexual relations with the boy - who was 17 and one of her English students - on at least three occasions between April 8 and July 8, according to charging documents.
Brown was arrested early on July 8 after a West Valley City police officer found her and the student parked near 2900 South and 5600 West.
Brown, who taught for two years at the school, quit her job on June 1 because she planned on moving to Houston for a new teaching job, according to school officials. |
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W.Va.: Ex-Senator, Husband Plead Guilty
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/08/08 10:51
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A former West Virginia state senator pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal mail and tax fraud charges. Lisa Smith admitted that she failed to pay the IRS more than $86,000 withheld for taxes from her employees' wages when it was due in 2002. The 43-year-old Putnam County Republican ran two in-home health care companies, Elite Professional Health Associates and Elite Health Care Inc., with her husband. Smith also admitted she mailed a false campaign finance statement to state election officials while running for her Senate seat in 2002. Federal prosecutors allege Smith had given her campaign $15,000 illegally siphoned from her businesses, then concealed it as contributions from various individuals. Smith's husband also pleaded guilty Tuesday. Mark Smith admitted to a tax fraud charge involving $63,000 in withholding taxes due in 2004 from the health care companies. The Smiths had faced a 17-count indictment in the case. The charges also included tax evasion and tax fraud counts against them both, alleging nearly $1 million in unpaid withholding taxes, as well as campaign-related mail fraud counts against the former legislator. Each pleaded guilty as part of separate agreements with prosecutors. Though court officials have yet to calculate the punishment recommended under federal sentencing guidelines, their plea agreements suggest prison terms of up to five years each as well as fines. The couple remains free on bail pending a Nov. 5 sentencing hearing. Lisa Smith had served two terms in the House of Delegates when she challenged and defeated then-Senate Finance Chairman Oshel Craigo, D-Putnam, in a 2002 election upset. She resigned the Senate seat in December 2004, citing an undisclosed illness. The Smiths were indicted in early 2006. The case was delayed after Lisa Smith was found mentally incompetent to stand trial. She received treatment at a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility, and U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers declared her competent in late March. Lisa Smith remains in a doctor's care and relies of various medications for her mental health, Chambers was told Tuesday. |
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Suspect Pleads Guilty in Ohio Mall Plot
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/08/01 14:18
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A Somali immigrant the government says plotted to blow up an Ohio shopping mall pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Nuradin Abdi, 35, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley a week before his trial had been expected to start Aug. 6. The Justice Department accused Abdi of suggesting the plan to attack a Columbus shopping mall during an August 2002 meeting at a coffee shop with now-convicted terrorist Iyman Faris and a third suspect, Christopher Paul. Faris is serving 20 years in a maximum-security federal prison in Florence, Colo., for his role in an al-Qaida plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. Faris scouted the bridge and told al-Qaida its plans wouldn't work, court papers have said. Federal agents arrested Abdi the morning of Nov. 28, 2003, the day after Thanksgiving, out of fear the attack would be carried out on the heavy shopping day. He was arrested at 6 a.m. while leaving his Columbus home for morning prayers. Prosecutors say Abdi gave stolen credit card numbers to a man accused of buying gear for al-Qaida, and lied on immigration documents to visit a jihadist training camp. Abdi's attorneys said he was merely upset at the war in Afghanistan and reports of civilians killed in bombings by the U.S.-led invasion. They have said that the stolen numbers were never used and that the Justice Department never alleged what organization they believed was running the camp, what Abdi intended to do with the training, or whether he ever actually went. Prosecutors accused Paul, who was arrested in April, of joining al-Qaida and plotting to bomb European tourist resorts and U.S. government facilities and military bases overseas. Under a plea deal, Abdi is expected to receive a 10-year sentence on the one conspiracy count, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years. Three additional charges were dropped in exchange for the plea. He was to remain at the Franklin County jail until his sentencing date, which was not set. |
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Doctor's wife guilty of murder-for-hire
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/07/06 16:18
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A woman accused of offering her younger lover a share of her doctor husband's multimillion-dollar estate to entice him to kill the 69-year-old was convicted Friday of murder-for-hire and other charges. Donna Moonda, 48, could now face the death penalty. The defense had argued that her 25-year-old lover, Damian Bradford, had acted alone and that Moonda had tried to revive her husband after Bradford shot him along the Ohio turnpike. Federal prosecutors argued the two were in it together and portrayed Moonda as a perpetual liar, thief and drug user. "Two minds were set on murder," assistant U.S. attorney Linda Barr told jurors Thursday in closing arguments. "Two fingers were on the trigger of that gun on May 13, 2005, and two people must be held accountable." Bradford has admitted shooting the doctor in the side of the head after his wife pulled over on the turnpike south of Cleveland, supposedly to let her husband take the wheel. The federal jury also convicted Moonda of interstate stalking and two counts of using or carrying a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. As U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. read the four guilty verdicts, Moonda went from holding back tears, to shaking her head to quietly sobbing, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Jurors deliberated for eight hours over two days after more than two weeks of testimony. Moonda's defense was that Bradford, a convicted drug dealer, robbed and killed the doctor in a steroid-fueled rage. Defense attorney Roger Synenberg told jurors that if they believed Bradford, then his client came up with the worst plan to murder a husband. Bradford testified that on the day of the shooting, he followed the couple as they left their home in Hermitage, Pa., near the Ohio state line, and pulled in behind them when Donna Moonda stopped their Jaguar along the turnpike. He said he ran to the passenger side of the car and shot the doctor. Other key evidence cited by prosecutors were a series of phone calls and text messages between Bradford and Moonda the day of the killing, up until she and her husband left on their trip. Prosecutors pointed to Moonda's description of the shooter being the same height as her husband, 5-foot-3, as more evidence of her deceit. But Synenberg explained that the 5-foot-10 Bradford may have appeared shorter because he was leaning down looking into the car when he shot the doctor in the temple. Moonda's attorney said in his closing argument that the doctor still had a pulse when paramedics arrived because his wife, a nurse anesthetist, had performed CPR. Synenberg said that action was proof of her innocence. Bradford, of Monaca, Pa., met Donna Moonda in drug rehab, according to court records. He has pleaded guilty to interstate stalking and a gun charge and is expected to receive a 17 1/2-year sentence.
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