Reputed Mobster Petti to Serve as Own Lawyer

Chris Petti, a reputed San Diego mob figure allegedly tied to organized crime in Chicago, has opted to be his own lawyer at an upcoming racketeering trial.

Petti, 64, chose to represent himself at a hearing Monday before Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Enright Jr., saying he could no longer afford his longtime attorney, Las Vegas lawyer Oscar Goodman.

Enright, however, refused to appoint Goodman to the case as a government-paid, $75-per-hour attorney, saying only local lawyers qualify for such an appointment. So Petti, who never went to high school and who admitted Monday he has no knowledge of courtroom procedure, said he would go it alone.

“I guess I took all of his money and he doesn’t have any left,” Goodman said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Las Vegas.

Declining to say just how much money Petti has paid him over the years, Goodman added, “I guess he’s going to bone up on his legal points. You’ll see him down at the law library from now on.”

The 15-count indictment in the case, returned two months ago, involves charges that Petti and nine other men, including the reputed bosses of the Chicago mob, tried to infiltrate a gaming hall planned for the Rincon Indian reservation in northern San Diego County.

Prosecutors claim the Chicago mob viewed the hall as both a source of revenue and a means of laundering money from other illegal activities. The purported gaming hall deal never went through.

No trial date has yet been set in the case. The maximum penalties range from five to 20 years in prison for each count, with fines of up to $250,000.

The U.S. Constitution permits anyone to act as his own lawyer, but Enright warned Petti that he was putting himself at “a substantial disadvantage.”

The judge ordered San Diego attorney Cynthia G. Aaron to be at Petti’s side during the trial as “standby” counsel. “We’re getting along just great, and I think we’re going to have a good working relationship,” Aaron said Tuesday

Petti, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, has been a target of San Diego police and prosecutors for years. He was convicted in 1990 of taking part with San Diego financier Richard T. Silberman in a money-laundering plot.