Sep 21, 2007 1:59 pm US/Central
Jury May Soon Reach Decision On Mob Murders
This Is First Time Jury Has Met On Friday
CBS 2's John Drummond and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Jurors in the Family Secrets mob trial are spending a rare Friday deliberating whether to hold four alleged mobsters individually responsible for 18 murders.
As CBS 2's John Drummond reports, this is the first time the jury has deliberated on a Friday, and experts are speculating that jurors may be close to a decision.
The jury has already convicted the defendants of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy that involved illegal gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 long unsolved mob murders.
They are in their fourth day of deliberating whether the four defendants – James Marcello, 65; Frank Calabrese, 70; Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78; and Paul "The Indian" Schiro, 70 – are guilty of involvement in specific murders listed in the indictment -- something that would boost their maximum sentences for the racketeering conspiracy conviction to life in prison.
Earlier Friday, the jurors requested a transcript of witness testimony, which the judge granted despite objections by the defense. U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel agreed to provide the transcripts because he felt it would refresh the jury's recollections.
Federal prosecutors said they had no problem with granting the request received from jurors on Thursday and sending the transcript to the jury room.
"The request is reasonable given the length of the trial," lead prosecutor Mitchell A. Mars told the judge.
But defense attorneys opposed the request.
"We don't want the transcripts to go back," said Schiro attorney Paul Wagner, speaking for all of the defense lawyers.
Prosecutors accused Schiro, a convicted jewel thief, of taking part in the June 1986 murder of Phoenix, Ariz., businessman Emil Vaci.
But attorneys declined to say whether the fact that Wagner was chosen to speak on behalf of the defense indicated that the portion of the transcript jurors wanted pertains to the Vaci murder.
Witnesses at the 10-week trial told how those who defied Chicago's organized crime family, known as the Outfit, were beaten, strangled and shot to make certain that they would not divulge its secrets to the FBI.
Late Wednesday, the judge said he thought the deliberations could take a considerable amount of time. But on Thursday, Zagel said there was no way to be sure and the decision could come "in 10 minutes or in 10 days."
The murders also include that of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the mob's longtime man in Las Vegas and the model for the Joe Pesci character in the movie "Casino."
A fifth defendant, former Chicago Police Officer Anthony Doyle, 62, was also convicted, but is not accused in any murders.
After the jurors convicted all five defendants on Sept. 10, they met briefly the following day and then began a second round of deliberations in earnest on Sept. 12. But they took a week off starting last Friday and only resumed their deliberations on Thursday.
As of 11 a.m., the defendants were not in court. They were at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where they have been held since before trial. If the jury reaches a decision, it will take a couple of hours before the defendants can be brought to court so the verdict can be read.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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