Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering both the federal trial of South Philadelphia's Cosa Nostra "gangsters" and the federal trial of North Philadelphia drug kingpin "Gangsta" Kaboni Savage for Bigtrial.net.
Judge Eduardo Robreno has set April 16 as the date for the retrial of mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and three co-defendants.
But most courtroom observers say you'd be would be wise to hold off on putting that notice in your "save the date" calendar.
"He's just trying to push the process along," said one veteran of the criminal justice system. "I doubt the trial will go off that quickly."
In fact, the prosecution hasn't formally announced that it intends to retry Ligambi and the others on the 11 charges that a jury left "undecided" when it delivered its verdicts earlier this month. That decision is now in the hands of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington.
Not unexpectedly, Robreno also denied motions by lawyers for six of the defendants seeking to have all the charges against them dismissed. The judge also set sentencing dates in May for four defendants who were found guilty by the jury in a split verdict that still has defendants, their attorneys and many courtroom observers scratching their heads.
Meanwhile, seven floors below Robreno 15th floor courtroom, another big trial continued to play out as prosecutors laid out the case against drug kingpin Kaboni Savage and three co-defendants. FBI Agent Kevin Lewis, the lead investigator in the case, finished his fifth day on the witness stand early this afternoon.
Two other prosecution witnesses were called later in the day. The first of several cooperating witness who worked the drug underworld with Savage is expected to take the stand when the trial resumes this morning.
The two cases offer different and changing views of the Philadelphia underworld.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/02/new-date-for-mob-trial-savage-drug-case.html#more
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