Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The former U.S. Attorney who spearheaded the failed prosecution of former Sen. John Edwards expressed no regrets, the News and Observer reports. George Holding said political corruption cases are the most difficult to prosecute, and any decision to halt the prosecution would have been a “derliction of duty,” according to the News…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com What’s a little exaggeration among friends? The Newark Star-Ledger and PolitiFact called ex-U.S. Attorney turned N.J. Gov. Chris Christie on his exaggeration the other day. Christie said at a town hall meeting that as Newark U.S. Attorney he put behind bars 10 percent of the state legislature for various crimes. The…
Shoshanna Utchenik ticklethewire.com Reid J. Schar, lead prosecutor in the Rod Blagojevich corruption retrial in 2011, may have cinched the convictions that sent Blago to prison with the question: “Mr. Blagojevich, you are a convicted liar, correct?” Now Schar, 40, is taking his show on the road. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Schar is leaving…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A former official for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was sentenced Friday in Los Angeles to two years in prison and ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution for obstruction of justice, giving false information to a federal prosecutor and a federal judge in Florida, and devising a scheme to…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Some federal cases are too complicated for jurors. Some may be borderline illegal. And some may end up being a waste of taxpayer money. The trial against ex-presidential hopeful John Edwards was probably all of the above. A jury on Thursday acquitted him on one count and deadlocked on five others…
Shoshanna Utchenik ticklethewire.com Sometimes being a ‘friend of Israel’ means sharing criminals. Three Israeli mobsters were extradited to the U.S. in January 2011 in the first extradition of its kind under Israel’s racketeering law, which parallels RICO, the U.S. law targeting organized crime. Two of the three pled guilty to a host of drug and…
Shoshanna Utchenik ticklethewire.com Racketeering, narcotics trafficking, assault, extortion, murder? Just another day-in-the-life of a Gambino mobster. Five Gambino wise guys pled guilty this week to a range of nefarious charges, announced Preet Bharara, NY U.S Attorney in Manhattan. Working as “soldiers” and “associates” of the Gambino crime family, Vincenzo Frogiero, Todd Labarca, John Brancaccio, Christopher…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com DETROIT — Former interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg, who lost out in his bid to become the permanent U.S. Attorney in Detroit under the Obama administration, has gotten a nice consolation prize. On Wednesday, President Obama nominated Berg, 52, for a federal judgeship, the Detroit News reported. The nomination was first…
