Federal Case for Sopranos Sequel

Tony Soprano never had to sing in court. But the brains behind the mobster is ready to take the stand.

David Chase turned up Wednesday in a federal courtroom Trenton, New Jersey, for a trial that will determine whether the Sopranos mastermind got help dreaming up the series from a former gavel-banger.

The outcome, or any financial award, will be decided by a jury of seven women and one man, who were seated during the morning session. Two would-be jurors were given the boot after they admitted to being huge fans of the HBO hit, which, literally, went black earlier this season.

Chase sat at the defense table, flanked by his wife and his legal team.

Robert Baer, who toiled as a municipal court judge in Prospect Park, New Jersey, filed suit in 2002, claiming he's due some serious clams for coming up with key elements of The Sopranos.

A federal judge twice dismissed the complaint on the grounds that the deal between him and Chase was too vague to be binding.

Both times, however, an appeals court overturned the decisions by U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano and reinstated the complaint. The appellate panel did agree with several of Pisano's points, though, and allowed the lower court judge to limit the case's scope.

Per his breach-of-contract suit, Baer claims he and Chase met for lunch in California in 1995 and discussed the idea for The Sopranos. During their conversation, Baer says he gave a thorough debriefing about his days as an assistant DA targeting Mafia types and suggested colorful locales to set the show.

"He proposed the idea about doing the show about the north Jersey Mafia," Baer's lawyer, Harley Breite, told the Asbury Park Press. "He's looking to be compensated for the value of what he did, the services and assistance he provided to Mr. Chase."

Breite says Chase kept in touch with Baer and frequently used him as an expert consultant on questions about organized crime. Chase even sent Baer a draft of The Sopranos pilot to weigh in on, the attorney claims.

Baer also claims to have introduced Chase to detectives on the mob beat. Among his most significant suggestions, Baer alleges, were that Tony and his crew hang out a local pork store and have an older Jewish character as an adviser.

Breite says that when Baer tried to contact Chase after The Sopranos was picked up by HBO, the producer never returned his calls.

According to Chase though, Baer can fuhgeddaboud trying to claim credit for the most honored drama in cable TV history.

Calling Baer's lawsuit "grossly distorted, petulant and self-aggrandizing," Chase says the former judge provided only a "modest service." And while he admits sending the ex-judge a copy of The Sopranos episode in court papers, Chase says the former judge didn't submit "a single suggestion for improvement of [his] script."

The producer has also stated that he had come up with the concept five years prior to his lunch date with Baer and was "keenly aware" of the subject, having spent his childhood in the Garden State.

The plot-poaching trial is expected to last five days.

Thanks to Josh Grossberg

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Would the Mob Control a City of Chicago Casino?

Cities across the country have looked to casinos as a way to generate money, but Chicago is going a step further. There's a movement in Illinois to allow Chicago to actually go into the casino business. Under the deal, Chicago would own and operate a casino, making it the first municipality in the country to do so. Given Chicago's history with the mob, gambling and corruption, the plan is raising more than a few eyebrows.

Ben Calhoun's audio report provides more details and includes comments from Mayor Daley, Chicago Crime Commission President Jim Wagner and author Richard Wagner, who has written several books about Chicago.

Once you listen to the report, you can vote in a Chicago Crime Commission poll on the topic.

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Mob Trial Ends in Aquittal for Pizza Maker

In a stunning reversal of fortune, a Brooklyn jury Thursday night acquitted a pizza maker of cooking up a plan to gun down a mob loanshark and his cousin.

Carmine Polito, 48, whose 2003 federal conviction in the case was overturned on a technicality, is free and clear after a five-week trial in Brooklyn Supreme Court - where one of the victims and two accomplices testified against him.

"Obviously there is no justice," said Assunta Rozza, whose brother Sabato (Tino) Lombardi was killed and cousin Michael (Cookie) D'Urso wounded in the 1994 attack at a Williamsburg social club. "This mother------ is going to have Christmas with his family - and my brother never will," she said, adding that she thought jurors were afraid because the case involved mobsters.

She also said she thought Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Joel Goldberg disallowed too much evidence.

The judge will decide the fate of Polito's co-defendant, Mario Fortunato, 60, whose federal conviction also was overturned.

"This is a big win. It's a huge upset," said Polito's gleeful lawyer, Gerald McMahon, who fought a contentious battle and very nearly came to blows with prosecutor Christopher Blank during a break in the action last week. "These guys were so confident they wouldn't even offer a serious plea" deal, said McMahon, who had blasted the three main witnesses.

D'Urso joined the main shooter and the getaway driver in testifying against Polito and Fortunato.

Prosecutors said the pair organized the hit because Polito owed money to the Genovese-connected Lombardi and Fortunato wanted to settle an old score with D'Urso.

The evidence was considered stronger against Polito than Fortunato, who chose a bench trial before Goldberg.

"These three guys were two crackheads and a wanna-be [mobster]," McMahon said. "Juries are looking at these types of cases [based on accomplice testimony] a little more carefully now."

The federal case came after D'Urso entered the witness protection program and helped convict about 40 Genovese crime family members, including the late boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante, then Polito and Fortunato.

Goldberg is expected to render his opinion in the Fortunato case Friday.

Thanks to Scott Shifrel

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Big Pussy is Not Dead, He's in Chicago

When you play a guy on TV named Big Pussy, you have big problems. People yell that name in the most inconvenient places -- in quiet bookstores, in churches, in restaurants. Actor Vincent Pastore, one of the most popular members of Tony's crew on "The Sopranos" before being whacked at the end of the second season, puts it like this: "Big Pussy is my nickname for the rest of my life. My friends even made up a T-shirt. Big Pussy is not dead. He's in Chicago."

That means he's in the musical "Chicago" on Broadway alongside Aida Turturro, who played Tony Soprano's sister Janice in the HBO mob series. Pastore's latest role is in Guy Ritchie's new film "Revolver," where he plays a con man. He's also doing a stint on the new "Celebrity Apprentice," debuting in January on NBC, and he has his own Sirius radio show.

1. What was it like to work with Guy Ritchie in "Revolver"?

It was unbelievably great. Now Guy, [co-star] Jason [Statham] and I are friends. We're like the Three Musketeers now. When we did the movie, I really listened to Guy. The script was a different type of script for me -- something to bite into and work on. I liked my character because he was different. Not to give too much away, but he's a con man and something beyond that.

2. Were you nervous singing and dancing on stage the first time on Broadway in "Chicago"?

The acting I love. I'll act with a grapefruit. That doesn't bother me. Thank God I got my friends here in New York helping me with the singing and dancing for the show. I get more and more confident with each show. As the shows go along, I improve. Now it's like "Sopranos" go to Broadway with Aida and me on that stage. People are loving it. We come out and there are cheers and people waiting backstage with "Sopranos" stuff for us to sign. I think my friends from the show will come soon. I know Jim Gandolfini is coming. Lorraine [Bracco] is coming.

3. Tell us about your role on "Celebrity Apprentice." How was it being hired or fired by Donald Trump?

Donald is the boss. That's all I can say. ... We signed some crazy contract. If I tell you what happened they take my thumbs off. I can say that one day we sold hot dogs on a New York street corner. Me and Gene Simmons selling dogs. We sold a lot of hot dogs.

4. What did you think of the controversial, fade-to-black "Sopranos" finale?

I talked to ["Sopranos" creator] David Chase about the ending and he said he didn't want Tony to die. People talk about that ending with me now all the time. I figure it this way: If Tony would have went into witness protection, people wouldn't be talking about it that much. David did a good job.

5. We know your Big Pussy is swimming with the fishes, but can't he come back in dream sequences in a "Sopranos" movie? By the way, any news on that front?

To tell you the truth, I think David did that ending to keep it open. David can do what he wants to do now. A lot of the characters are still alive. I don't think Silvio Dante [Steven Van Zandt, who was shot and in a coma] died, either. He can wake up. The movie could be flashbacks of Tony and the guys sitting at the meat store. You could pick it up from Tony's childhood. I'm hopeful. I love those guys.

Thanks to Cindy Pearlman

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Mob Influence on Tennis Worries John McEnroe

US tennis legend John McEnroe expressed his concern on Friday that organised crime, such as the Russian mafia, could be infiltrating tennis.

The former world number one believes that threats to tennis players or their families could be forcing them into throwing matches. "The thing that worries me is that mafia types, like the Russian mafia, could be involved. That's potentially pretty dark and scary," McEnroe told The Daily Telegraph. "I think that's the side that people aren't really looking at with these match-fixing stories. Someone may have threatened the players, and they are put in a situation. I'm guessing that could happen. That would make more sense to me than top players throwing a match for money.

"Throwing a match for money would be stupid, as you would be risking losing what you've worked for your whole life. It seems crazy that players would take that risk for money. It would make more sense that they've been threatened in some way and that's why they're doing it."

Russian Nikolay Davydenko, the world number four, is being investigated by the ATP after a defeat in Poland in August while Italian Alessio di Mauro was suspended for nine months for betting on matches and Philipp Kohlschreiber has had to defend himself of accusations of match-fixing in the German press.

"With a high-ranked guy like Davydenko, he's making so much money to begin with that he'd be risking so much by doing it, as if you get caught you should be banned for life," McEnroe said. "But it's pretty tough to prove that someone has thrown a match unless you're tapping the guy's phone or something."

But some of the lower-ranked players in men's tennis could be tempted by bribe money, McEnroe said.

"I think this issue has to be closely looked at, because it's very conceivable that it's happening. There are guys out there who are 100 in the world, 200 in the world, and they're making 50,000 pounds a year.

"And if someone says that they'll give you 50,000 pounds, so your entire year's money, I think there's a strong possibility that they have taken the money, without a doubt," McEnroe said.

"There is definitely temptation for people. It's becoming more of a drama because there's more money in sports."

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