On the seventh day of deliberation the jury in the federal racketeering retrial of reputed Philadelphia mafia boss Joseph Ligambi and his fellow mobster and nephew George Borgesi reached a partial verdict. The jury sent a note to U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno just after 10 am today indicating that they had reached a partial verdict with unanimity of two counts against the defendants. But they also noted they were still firmly deadlocked on the remaining three counts against both mobsters. There was no indication as to which charges they have reached a verdict on or as to if it was a guilty or innocent decision. Judge Robreno then instructed the jury to continue on with deliberations on the remaining undecided charges saying he understood this was a long trial with many complex issues but often jurors are able to work out differences with added time.
“Joseph Ligambi and George Borgesi”
The jury alerted the court on Monday that they had reached an impasse and were stuck on all counts. It seems some progress has been made since then and perhaps a little more time may lead to the a decision on the remaining charges. Prosecutors hoped to have proven their case with out shadow of a doubt that Ligambi and Borgesi were leaders of a mafia family that profited off of loan sharking and illegal gambling. But they have to be worried that the jury is having such a hard time reaching unanimity on most of the charges which made lead to an outcome much like the first trial which ended with a deadlocked jury on most of the counts.
The jury returned to deliberate more today but a sick juror prompted then to be dismissed early by judge Robreno. They jury is not set to resume deliberations until next Tuesday after being off for a long weekend.
