The Nation - News from Aug. 2, 1988

A federal appeals court in New York upheld the 1987 conviction of Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-N.Y.) as a jury continued to deliberate racketeering charges against him in the Wedtech corruption trial. U.S. District Judge Constance Baker Motley sequestered the jury in the Wedtech case at the request of Biaggi’s lawyer, who called the appeals court ruling “a great problem for us.” Motley had planned to sequester the jury after jurors were confronted by demonstrators outside the courthouse, chanting: “Down with political corruption” and “Compensate Wedtech workers.” The ruling by the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Biaggi’s Sept. 22, 1987, conviction for obstructing justice and accepting an unlawful gratuity. Biaggi was convicted of accepting free Florida vacations with a female companion from former Brooklyn Democratic leader Meade Esposito.