Scalito, The Mob, And Why Chris Matthews Is A Right-Wing Shill 
Matthews: "In Other Words, They Nail Him On Not Putting Some Italian Mobsters In Jail From The [Lucchese] Family. Why Would They Bring Up This Ethnically Charged Issue As The First Item They Raise Against Judge Alito?" (MSNBC's "MSNBC Live," 10/31/05)
Matthews: "This Is Either A Very Bad Coincidence Or Very Bad Politics. Either Way Its Gonna Hurt Them. This Document: Not Abortion Rights, Not Civil Rights But That He Failed To Nail Some Mobsters In 1988. This Is The Top Of Their List Of What They've Got Against This Guy. Amazingly Bad Politics." (MSNBC's "MSNBC Live," 10/31/05) (RNC link)
Maybe Tweety was blinded by the "glittering nobility" of Bush, but the document itself does no such racial baiting. The right-wing has its talking point down: paint the Democrats as anti-Italian. No surprise there, is there? If it has been a women, we would be wife-beaters. If it was a Hispanic, we would be anti-hispanic. What the Democrats need to do is emulate Fitzgerald on this: "that talking point won't fly.'
And here's is why the "so, Alito let off some mobsters 20 years ago" talking point sinks like a ton of lead.
The reason why the case was first on that document is because, contrary to Matthews assertion, the fact that the criminals walked free here is a very big deal.
ALITO REPEATEDLY SCREWED UP ONE OF THE BIGGEST MOB CASE IN HISTORY
The case was United States v. Accetturo. And, to be blunt, Alito let it slip away:
Then US Attorney for New Jersey, Mr. Alito watched in shock as a jury foreman read 77 separate "not guilty" verdicts in a trial of several men accused of constituting the Lucchese organized crime family in the state.The trial had been too long and too complicated, jurors said later. Testimony transcripts alone ran to 40,000 pages. Alito's team of attorneys were the "prosecutors who couldn't shoot straight," one newspaper opined.
Alito and his prosecution team called 85 witnesses. They gave the jury 400 audio cassettes. There were 850 of exhibits. The case file was 5 1/2 feet tall. The jury was so confused, that after two years, they deliberated for only 14 hours.
And Alito was stunned when the jury returned a not guilty? There is no other word for it than prosecutorial incompetence.
So yes, this case matters. And not because Alito is Italian, but because he was stupid. Stupid in thinking that if he threw everything but the kitchen sink at the jury, the jury would have to find the 20 defendants guilty.
Alito lost the longest criminal trial in American history. Against one of the most dangerous crime families of the time. And he shouldn't have lost it. As much as Alito would like to run from record, and as much as Matthews wants to cloud it with baseless allegations of ethnic discrimination, the fact remains Alito's incompetence let 20 mobsters free that August in 1988.
(image via Law Offices of Saykanic)
KEYWORDS: Scalito, Chris Matthews, mob
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