The Chicago Sun-Times reports on closing arguments in the Family Secrets trial.Joey Lombardo's attorney Rick Halperin had something interesting things to say :
Lombardo has long retired from any Outfit connections, Halprin said, invoking the so-called withdrawal defense that's unique to Lombardo's case.We thought we've heard it all.The Clown afraid of the jury.
"We are not talking about redemption here," Halprin intoned toward the end of his argument. "We are talking about a decided change in lifestyle."
"Redemption, I dare say, for Mr. Lombardo is in the not-too-distant future," Halprin said. Lombardo, at 78, is the oldest of five defendants on trial.
Prosecutors have tried to tie Lombardo to more recent Outfit activity by the testimony of Pat Spilotro, who was Lombardo's dentist and the brother of slain mobsters Anthony and Michael Spilotro.
Pat Spilotro turned Lombardo in to the FBI when he was on the lam last year.
In court, Spilotro testified that his longtime patient mentioned his troubles, including that the New York mob was trying to muscle into Chicago. Halprin called Spilotro's testimony "not credible."
Outside the courtroom, Spilotro said he was telling the truth. "They're doing what they have to do up there," Spilotro said of the defense attorneys. "But the truth and justice will prevail."
Lombardo didn't always tell the truth on the witness stand, Halprin acknowledged.
"He's frightened to death of you," Halprin told the jury. Lombardo didn't tell the truth when he pretended not to know what certain mobsters were the area bosses of. He is afraid jurors will judge him for his past.
