The jury went out around 10 a.m. Tuesday and throughout the day asked several questions of U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel
This is an updated version of a story posted at 6:32 this evening.
Western Massachusetts mob figures mentioned in the Emilio Fusco murder trial in New York include, clockwise from top left, Fusco and Anthony Arilllotta, and Adolfo Bruno and Gary Westerman, both deceased.NEW YORK - Jurors in the Emilio Fusco Mafia murder trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan concluded their first day of deliberations without a verdict on Tuesday.
Fusco, 43, of Longmeadow, is accused of a racketeering conspiracy prosecutors say spanned 10 years and included the 2003 murders of Springfield, Mass., organized crime boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno, gunned down in a downtown parking lot, and low-level associate Gary D. Westerman, whose remains were unearthed by law enforcement officials in Agawam, Mass., in 2010.
Fusco has denied involvement in any of the scams in a five-count criminal indictment unsealed in 2009. Other allegations include illegal gaming rings, marijuana trafficking and shakedowns of western Massachusetts business owners including strip bar owner James S. Santaniello.
The jury went out around 10 a.m. and throughout the day asked several questions of U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel including: a clarification of the federal "aiding and abetting" statute - specifically, whether a criminal plan that was initially hatched had to be the plan that came to fruition. The panel also inquired of the date of a 2001 surveillance photo of Fusco, and to see the direct testimony of cooperating witnesses Anthony Arillotta and Felix Tranghese, regarding meetings with Santaniello about stepped-up extortions in 2003.
Fusco faces up to life in prison if convicted of the murders. Jurors are scheduled to resume deliberations Wednesday morning.