Philly Mob Boss (Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi) Acquitted

Uncle Joe, the reputed Philadelphia mob boss, beat the rap for a second time Friday at his retrial on gambling and racketeering charges that stem from a long-time FBI investigation.

A jury acquitted 74-year -old Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi of witness tampering, but deadlocked on three other charges. It's not clear if prosecutors will try him a third time on the 2009 indictments.

Mob turncoats and other government witnesses painted Ligambi as the head of a fading La Cosa Nostra crime family in Philadelphia. The FBI has been investigating him for more than a decade, since he allegedly took over when Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino went to prison.

The Ligambi case largely involves the collection of small gambling debts and loans, and the operation of video poker machines at neighborhood bars.

The retrial was a pared-down version of last year's trial, when Ligambi's reputed underboss, enforcer and several associates were convicted. Underboss Joseph "Mousie" Massimino ended up with a 15-year-sentence, while the enforcer got 11 years.

That jury acquitted Ligambi of five counts, while deadlocking on four.

"Now we've won a sixth of nine counts," defense lawyer Ed Jacobs told reporters after Friday's verdict. "Both times the jury was unable or unwilling to accept the government's theories on racketeering conspiracy and gambling."

He's called the case a witch hunt, and pointed out the lack of bloodshed. However, prosecutors pointed to the alleged threats and tough talk heard on FBI tapes to argue that the group remains dangerous.

The jury on Friday also acquitted Ligambi's nephew, 50-year-old George Borgesi, of racketeering conspiracy. He was being released after 13 years in prison from an earlier mob case.

Both juries deliberated for several weeks.

Sourced from ABC News

The "Lufthansa Heist": Five Mobsters Indicted in the 30 Year Old Crime

"Vincent Asaro" Originally the first person to be arrested in the Heist

Vincent Asaro, a high-ranking capo in the Bonnano Crime Family, his son Jerome Asaro, Jack Bonventre, Thomas "Tommy D" Fiore and John "Bazoo" Ragano were all indicted on Thursday in a Federal New York Court.

Charges that make the big news is the link to the 1978 "Lufthansa Hiest".

Famed in the movie "The Goodfellas", the heist was the biggest heist in US history, said to bring in around 6 million dollars or 20 million in todays money.

Jimmy Burke, (played by Robert DeNiro in the Goodfellas) the mastermind behind the heist, was convicted on a parole violation in 1982 and while in prison he was convicted on a murder charge of a drug dealer and sentenced to a much longer term that keep him in prison till 1996 when he died of lung cancer.

FBI descended on Burke's properties in June in New York, including his home where the expected planning of the heist took place and the "Robert's Lounge" that he owned and operated and was said to use it as his own personal cemetery.

The excavating of his Lounge brought up remains of human bones identified as Paul Katz (Burke's associate) and other evidence that gave FBI enough for arrests and indictments of the above mentioned five mobsters. Charges included: racketeering linked to the heist, extortion, consparicy, and murder for the high-ranking Vincent Asaro in connection to Katz's murder.

It will be interesting to see how these charges stick, stature of limitation should already long be over with, outside of the murder charge.

In any event, the crime was more then 30 years ago, the money is gone, the mastermind is dead and the mastermind pretty much murdered all other people involved. Should the FBI really be wasting time on criminal charges linked to this heist?

Murder charges I can see, but giving these old geezers a tax paying free retirement home may not be good money spent by the FBI and the judicial system.