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Murder Inc Trial/Day 5: Prosecution Says Murder Inc Was Supreme's Travel Agent
Day five of Murder Inc.'s money laundering trial got underway with text messages between Irv and Chris Lorenzo "Gotti" and convicted drug lord Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff being a hot-button topic.
During the morning hearing, the prosecution and defense approached the bench for over 30 minutes to discuss the relevance of text messages involving the Lorenzos and McGriff. One particular text, either sent or received by Chris, read, "I got my man in the office. I got 300." Big John, the individual corresponding with Chris in the text, replied, "Make sure you don't have feds over there waiting for a *****."
The prosecution argued that Big John, whose identity was never revealed, was actually B.J., an associate of McGriff's who was also involved in shady financial transactions with The Inc. However, the defense debated that Big John was most likely a bookie looking to collect a debt. After nearly 45 minutes, the judge decided to rule out one out of six pages of text messages.
On a lighter note, when a text in which Irv tells McGriff to come to some party because "Jay and Russell Simmons will be there," defense attorney Gerald Shargel said, "We must assume that they're talking about Jay-Z and Russell Simmons." In response, Judge Edward Korman said, "Who is Jay-Z and Russell Simmons?" The whole courtroom laughed.
However, the prosecution spent most of the morning attempting to make a connection between the Lorenzos footing the bill for McGriff's expenses and cash deposits made into their bank accounts.
Prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny began the day by examining New York Police Detective William Courtney, their last witness. During his testimony, Courtney read documents he seized from McGriff in Miami. The documents included a series of hotel, airfare and car service bills charged to Universal from McGriff under the alias Ricky Coleman. Including trips in Beverly Hills and Miami, the bills, paid for with Chris' American Express Platinum Business card, totaled $54,396.89.
Pokorny then had Courtney read a chart of cash deposits made into Irv, Chris and Murder Management's Citibank accounts from May to December 2000. The total amounted to $82,000 in cash deposited into The Inc.'s accounts.
The prosecutor then briefly asked Detective Courtney to identify denominations of the cash deposited in the Inc.'s Citibank accounts. Both sides then briefly approached the bench, at which point, Pokorny said that the prosecution would show that Chris had "unexplained" cash that his income wasn't sufficient for him to cover his gambling and needed extra money from McGriff. Shargel then asked for a break to consult his forensic accountant.
Both Irv and Chris Lorenzo wore grey suits and ties with white shirts to court, while Ja Rule, their label's flagship artist, arrived at the court room early to land his support.
With Detective Courtney serving as the prosecution's final witness, at press time, there is no word as to whether or not the defense will call witnesses of their own. As SOHH.com previously reported, defense attorney Shargel was overheard saying that they were looking to present closing arguments as of last Tuesday.
Source: sohh.com
During the morning hearing, the prosecution and defense approached the bench for over 30 minutes to discuss the relevance of text messages involving the Lorenzos and McGriff. One particular text, either sent or received by Chris, read, "I got my man in the office. I got 300." Big John, the individual corresponding with Chris in the text, replied, "Make sure you don't have feds over there waiting for a *****."
The prosecution argued that Big John, whose identity was never revealed, was actually B.J., an associate of McGriff's who was also involved in shady financial transactions with The Inc. However, the defense debated that Big John was most likely a bookie looking to collect a debt. After nearly 45 minutes, the judge decided to rule out one out of six pages of text messages.
On a lighter note, when a text in which Irv tells McGriff to come to some party because "Jay and Russell Simmons will be there," defense attorney Gerald Shargel said, "We must assume that they're talking about Jay-Z and Russell Simmons." In response, Judge Edward Korman said, "Who is Jay-Z and Russell Simmons?" The whole courtroom laughed.
However, the prosecution spent most of the morning attempting to make a connection between the Lorenzos footing the bill for McGriff's expenses and cash deposits made into their bank accounts.
Prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny began the day by examining New York Police Detective William Courtney, their last witness. During his testimony, Courtney read documents he seized from McGriff in Miami. The documents included a series of hotel, airfare and car service bills charged to Universal from McGriff under the alias Ricky Coleman. Including trips in Beverly Hills and Miami, the bills, paid for with Chris' American Express Platinum Business card, totaled $54,396.89.
Pokorny then had Courtney read a chart of cash deposits made into Irv, Chris and Murder Management's Citibank accounts from May to December 2000. The total amounted to $82,000 in cash deposited into The Inc.'s accounts.
The prosecutor then briefly asked Detective Courtney to identify denominations of the cash deposited in the Inc.'s Citibank accounts. Both sides then briefly approached the bench, at which point, Pokorny said that the prosecution would show that Chris had "unexplained" cash that his income wasn't sufficient for him to cover his gambling and needed extra money from McGriff. Shargel then asked for a break to consult his forensic accountant.
Both Irv and Chris Lorenzo wore grey suits and ties with white shirts to court, while Ja Rule, their label's flagship artist, arrived at the court room early to land his support.
With Detective Courtney serving as the prosecution's final witness, at press time, there is no word as to whether or not the defense will call witnesses of their own. As SOHH.com previously reported, defense attorney Shargel was overheard saying that they were looking to present closing arguments as of last Tuesday.
Source: sohh.com