Highwaymen lawyers, prosecutors clash in closing arguments

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MCs in the News
Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club racketeering trial disagree on the most fundamental point -- which side of the room has the worst criminals in the case.

In her closing arguments after a trial that spanned close to two months, Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Marion said six alleged Highwaymen leaders oversaw an organization that supported drug dealing and interstate theft and used violence and intimidation to maintain control both inside and outside the organization.

"They take action against rival clubs who invade their turf or their territory," Marion said.

"Belonging to the Highwaymen gave them a sense of power," she said. "It gave them a sense of authority on the street."

But defense attorneys said the worst criminals associated with the Highwaymen are the ones who testified as government witnesses. Their testimony was colored by cash payments and promises of reduced sentences or other deals related to their own crimes, lawyers argued.

"I wish I could pay a witness, but I would be in jail for obstruction of justice," said John Brusstar, the attorney for alleged club godfather Leonard "Dad" Moore.

Though some Highwaymen members may have sold drugs, "Leonard Moore never got any money out of this," he told a jury of eight men and six women, which includes alternates.

Closing arguments are expected to last the rest of the day and could continue into Wednesday. Six alleged leaders of the homegrown Detroit motorcycle club are accused of crimes that include conspiracy to commit murder, assault, drug dealing and interstate transport of stolen goods.

The trial in front of a jury and U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds is the first phase in the government's prosecution of more than 80 alleged Highwaymen members and associates in one of the largest indictments ever brought in the eastern district of Michigan.

The case is the result of a lengthy FBI investigation.

Charged are Aref "Steve" Nagi, 46, of Sterling Heights; Leonard "Dad" Moore, 61, of Lincoln Park; Joseph "Little Joe" Whiting, 56, of Westland; Anthony "Mad Anthony" Clark, 52, of Allen Park; Gary "Junior" Ball Jr., 44, of Dearborn; and Michael "Cocoa" Cicchetti, 55, of Dearborn Heights.

Cicchetti was tried in absentia after he suffered a heart attack a short way into the trial.

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