AS PER DI GLEANER

ALLEGED crime lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke has added two more attorneys to his legal team as he prepares to fight charges which could land him in prison for life.

Coke, who appeared in a New York courtroom yesterday, has hired Frank Doddato and Steve Rosen, who join attorneys Steve Zissou and Elizabeth Macedonio in a four-pronged legal attack.

Doddato and Rosen formed part of a trio of lawyers who earlier on were planning to represent Coke, if he could provide proof that the money he would pay them was clean. The other attorney was Nicholas Matassini.

The former Tivoli Gardens strongman is fighting gun and drug-trafficking charges to which he has pleaded not guilty.

During yesterday’s proceedings, prosecutors turned over more material to Coke’s legal team. The material includes statements and other evidence collected by investigators. It is unclear whether the sealed packages that were last week placed in the court’s vault have been given to defence counsel.

The case will again be mentioned on November 16.

Securing counsel

Coke, who was extradited to the United States in June, was initially reported to be having difficulty securing counsel as, under US laws, it has to be proven that the money being used to pay them was not sourced illegally.

Under American law, any money being paid for attorney fees by Coke must meet the strict requirements handed down by a federal judge in the case of the US v Nebbia.

Coke had spent the first month of his detention in the US with a state-appointed attorney but then settled with Macedonio and Zissou.

Zissou has expressed confidence that Coke will be cleared of charges of conspiracy to distribute drugs and firearms trafficking.

“We are very confident,” said Zissou, despite claims by US prosecutors that they have at least nine former cronies of Coke, plus recorded telephone conversations, to make the case against him.

“I think we are going to trial,” Zissou added in response to reports that Coke would seek to strike a plea deal with the prosecutors.

Accused of selling marijuana, crack

According to the superseding indictment filed in a Manhattan federal court, since the early 1990s Coke has led an international criminal organisation known as the Shower Posse, with members in Jamaica, the US and other countries.

US authorities claim that, at Coke’s direction and under his protection, members of his criminal organisation sold marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere, and sent the narcotics proceeds back to Coke and his co-conspirators. Coke and his co-conspirators also armed their organisation with illegally trafficked firearms.

If convicted on the narcotics charge, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, as well as a fine of up to US$4 million, or twice the pecuniary gain from the offence. He also faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the firearms-trafficking charge, and a fine of up to US$250,000, or twice the pecuniary gain.