Article on FMG from Newark Star Ledger

bre2hot · Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:06 pm

From Newark Star Ledger Real-life goodfellas Two decades later, Jersey's last big mob trial comes to the big screen Wednesday, March 15, 2006 BY GUY STERLING Star-Ledger Staff HOLLYWOOD has finally gotten around to noticing one of the longest and most remarkable criminal cases in U.S. history, a racketeering trial held in Newark in the late '80s that lasted almost two years. The trial of the Lucchese crime family's New Jersey faction was meant to take down in unprecedented fashion an entire wing of one of the Mafia's major syndicates, top to bottom. It mattered not how many defendants there were, they were all targeted for prosecution in one fell swoop. In the end, there were 21 who went to trial, making for a case marked by tumult and turmoil, if not outright chaos. It was the last mammoth mob-busting case of its kind. "Find Me Guilty," opening in theaters Friday and starring Vin Diesel, is Hollywood's take on the trial, as recalled by defendant Giacomo "Jackie" DiNorscio. But the film is one thing, reality is something else. Unlike the lean and well-tailored Diesel in the movie, DiNorscio was a stumpy mob soldier who tipped the scales at 300 pounds and favored flesh-friendly running outfits to suits. In another oddity, the key defense lawyer in the film is a dwarf who needs a special podium wheeled to the jury box so the jurors can see him. "I don't suspect the movie looks like anything close to the truth," said V. Grady O'Malley, an assistant U.S. attorney in Newark who was the lead prosecutor in the case and has seen the film's trailer. Defense attorneys in the case voiced reservations as well. "All they (the filmmakers) had to do was be true to the facts and it will be a terrific movie," said Alfred Gellene, legal adviser to DiNorscio, who represented himself. "Anything else would be unfortunate because the trial was so dramatic." The R-rated film was directed by the famed Sidney Lumet ("Network," "Dog Day Afternoon"). DiNorscio's remembrances, along with trial transcripts, form the basis of the movie, filmmakers say. DiNorscio negotiated the deal for his story with the aid of lawyer Darren Del Sardo and, though ill, made it to the set during filming in Essex County before he died of kidney failure on Nov. 14, 2004. He was 64. Del Sardo declined to say what DiNorscio was paid. "This is Jackie's version of the trial, not to take away from what anyone else did," Del Sardo said. "He sold them his memoirs, most of which were oral. He talked a lot about the trial, and they picked his brain. It was the biggest event of his life." The movie gets its title from a pitch DiNorscio made to jurors in his closing, asking them to convict him and let his co-defendants go free if they were of a mind to return any guilty verdicts. According to authorities, the Lucchese crew in New Jersey was involved in gambling, loansharking, drug trafficking and infiltrating a variety of legitimate businesses. No other indictment against the mob in New Jersey ever contained as many charges. The trial came in an era when state and federal prosecutors in New Jersey were busy trying to deliver a lethal blow to organized crime. Few cases had the notoriety or the scope of the Lucchese trial, however. But the proceedings in Newark weren't as glamorous as they might seem, or as Hollywood portrays them. The trial was bogged almost daily with motions, as well as lengthy questioning of witnesses. One witness alone was on the stand for four months, said O'Malley. As played by Diesel, DiNorscio gets convicted in a drug sting, rejects a deal to sell out his co-defendants in the mob case, and then wins over the jury with a coarse but earthy legal defense. According to O'Malley, DiNorscio was nothing but a disruptive force throughout the trial, which began in November 1986 and didn't end until July 1988. DiNorscio sometimes slept through the proceedings, always maintained a keen interest in what was for lunch and spent considerable time dreaming up novel ways to make his points. There was a time he wanted to hum the theme to "The Godfather" to a witness but was talked out of it, Gellene said. Another time, DiNorscio thought about rigging his clothing so that when he cross-examined a witness who'd shot him, he could pump a stream of water out of his jacket to emphasize he had a bullet hole in his body. "He didn't do anything of consequence other than provide a few laughs," O'Malley said. "His opening statement included a crude joke, and it went downhill from there. His role was that of a class clown." Since he was already serving a 30-year prison term on the drug conviction, DiNorscio had nothing to lose by turning the trial on its ear, O'Malley said. The case ended in the acquittal of all of the defendants on all charges after not even two full days of deliberation. The movie does not mention that several years after the verdict was rendered, two other defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe one of the jurors for a not-guilty vote. In essence, the fix was in from the outset, O'Malley charged. Gellene and defense attorneys Thomas Ashley and David Ruhnke differ with O'Malley over DiNorscio's role in the trial. Despite some initial misgivings, defense lawyers soon realized DiNorscio wasn't going to hurt them, said Ashley, who represented Gerald Cohen, a co-defendant of DiNorscio's in the drug case as well. "When he got up to speak, the jurors didn't view him in a negative way," Ashley recalled. "Instead, they accepted him as someone legitimately trying to defend himself and who presented a layman's perspective. They appreciated that. And at some point, they began to like him." Ruhnke said the trial was won by the hard work of the defense attorneys in convincing the jury the charges amounted to nothing more than a gambling case. But DiNorscio played a definite part in the victory, he added. "Jackie showed that a defendant, instead of being a member of organized crime, might be part bumbler and part con man, but also could be human and sincere," said Ruhnke, who represented Martin Taccetta. "The government doesn't want a jury to see that in a defendant." It wouldn't matter to him if the movie makes DiNorscio out to be a hero, because no one should expect a true story, Ruhnke added. But he would be offended if the film were to depict the attorneys as "mob lawyers or sleazy guys," he said. Gellene recalled spending months during the trial sitting next to DiNorscio and writing out many of his questions in advance, making sure there was but one to a page so as not to confuse his client. "Jackie was one of those unique personalities," Gellene said. "The guy was virtually fearless. ... If you ask me, he tilted the case in favor of the defense."

Article on FMG from Newark Star Ledger

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