Jurors hear closings at Philadelphia crime boss trial
After spending 12 years behind bars in another racketeering scheme marked by violence, Joseph "Skinny
"Being with Merlino did not come for free," Schorr said in federal court in
Defense attorney
"Have you heard anybody say
Merlino, 55, was among nearly four dozen defendants arrested in a 2016 crackdown on an
Most of the defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Merlino is the only one so far to go to trial on conspiracy charges.
In her closing, Schorr highlighted testimony by a cooperator who testified that Merlino had full knowledge of a scheme to collect thousands of dollars of insurance claims by bribing doctors to write phony pain cream prescriptions for people who had no ailments. She cited a recording of Merlino that captured him telling cohorts, "We do the right thing, make 20,000."
Merlino's bookmaker underlings got away with brazenly withholding winnings from betters, knowing their affiliation with the defendant sent the message "they were part of La
The defense has claimed that at the time of the alleged conspiracy, Merlino was a gambling addict and fledgling restaurateur who took money from a cooperator because he was always broke. There also was testimony from government witnesses, heard by his wife in the audience, that he drank heavily and that he had an affair with a pharmaceutical saleswoman.
After the testimony about the fling, Merlino approached a
Merlino "just said, 'Hi, Sylvia,' and I just turned my head, like, 'Some nerve,'" the juror told U.S. District Judge
Sullivan responded by telling the defendant, "
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