EX-COP'S LAWYER DERIDES PROSECUTION'S CASE

Officer's Lawyer Derides Witnesses, Evidence In Closing

The lawyer for Joseph Miedzianowski on Monday ridiculed the government's
charges that the ex-cop led a dual life as a Chicago police officer and a
drug kingpin, calling prosecutors' evidence non-existent and their
witnesses liars.

Thomas Breen told jurors the gang leaders and violent drug dealers who
testified against Miedzianowski did so to get shorter prison sentences.

"They're felons. Their loyalty is only to the mob and themselves, to the
Maniac Latin Disciples and the Imperial Gangsters, and all the trash that
ruins our parks and schools," Breen said in his closing argument.

Breen told jurors that Miedzianowski was an honorable cop and was being
taken down by gang leaders who have no "moral compass or soul."

Three other defense lawyers also gave their closing arguments Monday, as
Miedzianowski's nearly 3-month-old drug conspiracy trial winds down.

Miedzianowski, 48, was a Chicago officer specializing in gang crimes
investigations when he was arrested in December 1998. He and four others,
including his former girlfriend, face charges they sold drugs from 1994
through 1998.

Shortly after Breen rose from his chair to give his closing argument, he
sought to soften two issues with jurors: that Miedzianowski cheated on his
wife and that FBI wiretaps captured him using racially offensive language.

Motioning to Miedzianowski's wife, seated between their two children, Breen
told jurors not to hold any prejudices against the former officer because
of the affair or because of his language, saying that was not why he was on
trial.

"In the tapes," Breen said, "were some of the worst racial slurs I have
ever heard. On behalf of myself [and] Joseph Miedzianowski . . . I apologize."

Breen also attacked the testimony of prosecution witnesses who said
Miedzianowski was paid as much as $10,000 a month to protect the drug
organization.

"Where is that money? Where did that go?" Breen asked. "Is it in a big
coffee can in the back yard? It's not a matter of finding it. It's just not
there."

George Spataro said the government had no proof his client, Mohamed Omar
Jr., supplied drugs to the alleged conspiracy.

Spataro said of the 8,000 recorded telephone conversations in the case,
from July to December 1998, Omar is heard talking in only two. Omar, he
said, was an honest man who helps run his family's restaurant.

"Is he part of this conspiracy?" Spataro asked. "No, he's making hamburgers
in the restaurant."

Donald Young, the lawyer for accused drug courier Lissett Rivera, also
portrayed the government's witnesses as liars, saving his most venomous
attacks for their key witness, Juan Martir, a leader of the Imperial Gangsters.