PHILADELPHIA — The reputed boss of the Philadelphia mob walked free Tuesday after beating two racketeering trials in a case the Justice Department began pursuing more than a decade ago.
Joseph ‘‘Uncle Joe’’ Ligambi, 74, quietly left the city’s federal courthouse Tuesday morning with his brother and nephew and took the front seat in a waiting black car. He said he planned to ‘‘relax’’ Tuesday night after spending 2½ years in prison.
Justice Department officials decided not to take Ligambi to trial a third time.
‘‘It was a nonviolent case. They were not looking to put away bloodthirsty criminals,’’ defense lawyer Ed Jacobs said. ‘‘These were, at most, economic crimes, if they were crimes.’’
The indictment, described by one defense attorney as ‘‘mob lite,’’ detailed relatively small-scale loansharking and gambling operations, such as efforts to control illegal poker machines inside South Philadelphia bars and collect sports bets in the neighborhood. Defendants could be heard on tape complaining that the mob was broke, and that the spread of legal casinos had taken a toll in their enterprise.
‘‘Reasonable people can disagree on whether this was racketeering conspiracy,’’ Jacobs said. ‘‘Ten of 12 jurors said it was not.’’
Ligambi allegedly took over Philadelphia’s La Cosa Nostra after the younger, flashier Joey Merlino went to prison in 1999. Mob observers said he focused on business, not mayhem, unlike the bloody reigns attributed to Merlino and an earlier boss, the jailed Nicky Scarfo.