The lawyer for reputed Philadelphia mob boss Joseph Ligambi urged jurors Monday to acquit Ligambi and six others, arguing that prosecutors failed to prove racketeering despite more than a decade of investigation and nearly three months of trial.
"They had 13 years - we got to the truth in 10 weeks," Edwin Jacobs Jr. said. "Half of these things we didn't even do. The other half of those things were orchestrated by clever criminal cooperating witnesses and the FBI."
After Jacobs, Assistant U.S. Attorney John S. Han delivered a rebuttal argument to jurors. Prosecutors say Ligambi and his codefendants used threats and the mob's reputation for violence to control illegal sport betting, loan-sharking and gambling operations across the region.
