A month before the scheduled start of a high-profile trial, a lawyer has asked to be relieved of the lead role in defending a former federal agent accused of protecting drug dealers he believed were in the local mob.
Defense lawyer James P. Harrington, 78, has a recurring medical issue, and he told a federal judge last week that he is making the request on “the strong medical advice” from his cardiologist.
Defense teams for Joseph Bongiovanni, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent and Peter Gerace Jr., owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga, each sought separate trials. After a district judge’s ruling, the two men are scheduled to be tried together next month.
But a prosecutor called the request a tactic to delay the trial of retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent Joseph Bongiovanni, a bid to give the defense more time to review evidence, obtain witness identities and “orchestrate” other legal maneuvers – and the government warned it could potentially jeopardize the safety of witnesses.
“He’s telling you he can’t try this case,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi told U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. at Thursday’s hearing. “I don’t believe a word of it. This court shouldn’t believe a word of it.”
Tripi told…
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