Closing Arguments in Latin Kings Trial
By George Anastasia, Inquirer Staff Writer
A federal prosecutor described William "King Homicide" Sosa as a violent and arrogant leader of a Latin Kings street gang who used murder, abductions, and assaults to solidify his hold on the North Philadelphia-based criminal organization.
Sosa espoused the "lofty goals" of advancing the Latino community, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Gross told a federal jury, but the real agenda of the 27-year-old reputed crime boss was "murder, mayhem, maiming, and money."
During a three-hour summation that capped a six-week trial, Gross detailed each of the charges contained in the multicount racketeering indictment in which Sosa and seven co-defendants have been charged.
Sosa could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of the most serious offenses in the case, which included one murder, several murder conspiracies, and allegations of kidnapping, assault, rape, and heroin dealing.
Sosa’s attorney, William DeStefano, is scheduled to make his closing remarks when the trial resumes this morning before District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter.
In addition to Gross, lawyers for the co-defendants addressed the jury yesterday, each attacking the credibility of the government witnesses.
Sounding a defense theme that is expected to be repeated several more times before the jury begins deliberating, defense attorney Louis R. Busico told jurors that the prosecution’s case was built on the “tainted” testimony of criminals who have cut deals with the government in exchange for lenient sentences or a “free pass” and no jail time.
Busico asked the jury to judge his client, Elvis “King Elvis” Ortiz, on his own rather than as part of a group, contending that there was little hard evidence tying Ortiz to the racketeering and firearms crimes with which he is charged.
Prosecutors describe Ortiz as the “Pearl,” or personal bodyguard, for Sosa and contend he was involved in abductions, beatings, murder conspiracies, and heroin trafficking at Sosa’s behest.
Sosa, who had taken the stand in his own defense earlier this week, denied all the charges in the indictment. He said the Latin Kings were an organization designed to foster positive values and overcome negative stereotyping in Latino communities.
“What type of organization needs a personal bodyguard?” Gross asked during his closing remarks. Then, after detailing the alleged beatings and abductions of members who had reputedly crossed Sosa or violated Latin Kings rules of conduct, he added, “This was not the Kiwanis.”
Gross told the jury that kidnappings and beatings were “a way of life” for the Lion Tribe, the name of the Philadelphia chapter that Sosa allegedly headed.
More than a dozen former members of the organization, including several who had been indicted with Sosa and his co-defendants last year, testified during the trial. Cooperating witnesses also included Latin Queens—female members of the group—who said they had been beaten and, in one instance, raped.
The lasting image of the organization, Gross told the jury, was that of a Latin Queen waking up in the basement of a North Philadelphia home lying in her own vomit. She was awakened by the sound of members who had assaulted her laughing and drinking beer and pizza, he said in recounting her testimony.
“So much for the lofty goals,” the prosecutor said sarcastically, adding, “She ends up at a pizza party and they have a beer blast.”
Gross also graphically described the one murder that is part of the case, pointing to testimony that indicated the victim had been shot 12 times in the head.
“This was not a bar fight,” some defense attorneys had alleged, Gross said. “This was clearly an execution … a message that you don’t mess around with the Latin Kings.”
After the murder, Gross said, Sosa boasted that he was going to change the name of the Lion Tribe to the “Assassin Tribe.”
But Busico, in his closing, argued that the group was all sound and fury.
“Everything was high drama,” he said. “It was verbiage, hyperbole … bravado. It was nonsense. Tough talk that resulted in nothing.”
Contact staff writer George Anastasia at 856-779-3846 or ganastasia@phillynews.com
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