Highwaymen defendant suffers heart attack; mistrial declared

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Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- A federal judge on Monday declared a mistrial for one of six defendants in the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club trial after the man suffered a heart attack on Sunday.

Michael "Cocoa" Cicchetti is in the hospital awaiting open heart surgery on Wednesday, his attorney Sanford Plotkin told U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds.

Plotkin asked for a four-week delay in the racketeering trial to give Cicchetti time to recuperate. But Edmunds said there is no guarantee Cicchetti would be well enough to return in four weeks and the delay would have too great an impact on co-defendants, jurors and the government.

"I'm going to declare a mistrial with respect to Mr. Cicchetti," Edmunds said.

That means he will be severed from the trial, which will resume Tuesday morning for five other alleged Highwaymen leaders.

Cicchetti, 55, of Dearborn Heights, is charged with racketeering, drug dealing conspiracy, assault, transporting stolen vehicles and a weapons offense.

The trial began April 1 and is expected to continue another two to three weeks.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Marion said the government will retry Cicchetti, health permitting.

In another development, Edmunds agreed to release on bond Joseph "Little Joe" Whiting, one of the other five defendants. Whiting was the last defendant remaining in custody and his attorney Henry Scharg had argued he should be released.

Edmunds agreed to release Whiting under a form of house arrest, with monitoring.

The trial is the first phase of a government prosecution involving more than 80 alleged club members and associates. The case stems from a long-running investigation by the FBI.

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