Going forward, the government will be sure to instruct all witnesses that they cannot use the term \u2018organized crime\u2019 in any context, including to describe their own backgrounds,\u201d<\/strong> the motion stated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nPreviously, lawyers for Cassano and Galione accused prosecutors of \u201cattempting to find ways to inject organized crime gloss to this case from the jump.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Just Business\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\nEarlier in the week, the court heard testimony from the victim, Luigi Mucerino, who was assaulted in Galione\u2019s garage on Aug. 1, 2016. That was because he borrowed $10K from Cassano, which he failed to pay back, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Mucerino told jurors he was returning from a business trip on the night he was assaulted. On his way home, he received a call from his terrified wife that someone was banging on the doors and windows.<\/p>\n
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He then got a call from Galione and agreed to meet him. He was driven to the garage where he was knocked unconscious. He awoke on the floor, bleeding. When asked why he had been attacked, Galione replied with a line straight out of Mob central casting, explaining that it was \u201cjust business.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Lawyers for the defendants aren’t denying that Galione roughed up Mucerino. But they do deny the alleged motive for the assault and the allegation of Cassano\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n
Having discharged the jury on Friday, Coleman set a status hearing for Monday to determine the next steps. The trial will have to start over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The case against the owner of a Chicago sweepstakes machine company accused of involvement in shaking down a victim over a loan collapsed last Friday. That’s after somebody mentioned \u201corganized crime.\u201d Gene \u201cGino\u201d Cassano, 55, and his codefendant, Gioacchino \u201cJack\u201d Galione, 47, are both charged with conspiring to collect a debt by extortionate means. Additionally, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":313870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60,86430],"tags":[90180,90181,90178,90179],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Sweepstakes Operator\u2019s Extortion Trial Sinks When \u2018Organized Crime\u2019 Mentioned<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n