1. The Ballad of
Gus Cristofi
by
Robert N. Badner
Presented by
WordPaint
in association
with
Sky’s the Limit
&
Sweet Works Creative
Registered with the Writer’s Guild of America East –
2. Reg. #: I245700, Oct. 13, 2012
His name was Costas Cristofi
“Gus” to everyone who knew him
A limo driver who lived a simple life
His wealth measured by friends and family, not dollar signs
Even so, Gus would give you the shirt off his back
After a rough time, Gus got his life back on track
Smooth sailing for Gus or so he thought
‘Til one fateful night in February 2002
A call came to drive the Globetrotters
Gus loved sports so his boss offered him the gig
A no-brainer for Gus, he looked forward to an exciting time
Too bad Gus had no clue that this special night
Was going to be his last one alive
First stop was the Mountain Chalet restaurant on Rt. 78
Wine, sambucca and scotch flowed that night
Gus was invited in to break bread and stay warm
JW tells Gus “to go get his ******* shine box”
JW thinks he’s Billy Batts of Goodfellas fame
Williams asked Gus “What the **** are you doing here?”
Gus was startled, but JW says it’s just a joke
Next stop is a tour of the Williams compound
Someone invites Gus in for a spin
Williams decides to display some shotgun bravado
Out comes a 12 gauge Browning Citori from the rack
Loaded
Turns out 4 of the 6 guns are packing
JW cracks open the shotguns’ breech
A shell as plain as day is in the lower chamber
Just a few feet away is unsuspecting Gus
Who was still on Cloud nine
JW calls Gus a mother******
Then flips the breech closed in Gus’s direction
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3. Some allegedly saw him pull the trigger
The gun fires a powerful blast
All 12 pellets found an unwanted new address
Gus drops to the floor, bleeding to death
Gasping for air, Gus had precious few moments left
The best Williams could say was “My life is over”
JW blew ol’ Gus away just like he did in Zeus, man’s best friend
How could someone be so reckless?
Not give a dam about another human being’s life
Probably more concerned about his blood soaked Persian rug
Then about Gus’s last breath
Next thing Gus saw were two barrels staring right at him
He knew he couldn’t escape
In a flash he was gone
But Williams says it’s an accident, just another joke
JW knows it will be ok; his money is as long as train smoke…
A cover-up begins to unfold
Brother Victor wakes up from the boom
Dials 911 and says come quick, someone killed himself
Disguising the truth became an art form
JW orders the witnesses to say they were downstairs shooting pool
Didn’t see a thing, right
Williams tell his friends
“Not to say a ******* thing until Sal the mouthpiece arrives.
Williams the ringmaster reinvents the crime scene
Anything to avoid even a day in stir
Wipes his fingerprints clean off the shotgun
Aims the deadly barrel directly back at Gus
Places Gus’s finger on the trigger
Suicide, of course
Gus’s first time in this former Nets’ star home
And he decides to shoot himself, right
With a double barrel shotgun, no less
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4. JW removes his bloody clothes and jumps in the pool
Orders someone to dispose of them
After all, Gus’s DNA on the defendant’s clothes
Would make any CSI’s mouth water
Accident became JW’s mantra and best friend
In his mind, this was not about killing an average Joe
It was about saving a rich man’s hide
Next thing Gus saw were two barrels staring right at him
He knew he couldn’t escape
In a flash he was gone
But Williams says it’s an accident, just another joke
JW knows it will be ok; his money is as long as train smoke…
JW’s legal dream team was assembled with a mission
Keep number 55 out of the slammer
Joe Hayden hired as lead defense counsel
His middle name is “dismiss”
They say he’s a Jersey legend
Legend at running interference
He’s a cagey fellow who shows no emotion
So cold on the outside he must have ice in his veins
Hot shot Billy Martin is brought in from D.C.
For a Cochranesque opening argument
Billy’s so slick he may as well be from Hollywood
Jo Ellen Demetrius takes a break from “Larry King Live”
To do her jury selection magic in Jersey
Joe Hayden’s request for a change of venue was granted
Williams will be tried in nearby Somerset County
Not Hunterdon, where Mr. Cristofi took his last breath
Defense says too much publicity in Hunterdon County
A flawed theory, wall-to-wall publicity was broadcast
All over the Garden state, no county was immune
A more favorable jury pool is up the defense’s sleeve
Joe’s team stalls the court for two years
Trying to get all charges dismissed
A new indictment sticks with a bonus – one extra charge
Eight counts in all
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5. Aggravated manslaughter
Reckless manslaughter
Possession of a weapon for a an unlawful purpose
Are the most serious charges
No abracadabra for the dream team this time
Can’t make the charges disappear
For Williams must face the music
Not the kind introducing the players at the Meadowlands Arena
For this music has no rhythm, beat or time
Just the static feel of a nondescript courtroom
Prosecutor Steven Lember lays out the crime and the cover-up
He knew he’d have a tough battle
But he couldn’t shake the image of Gus Cristofi
Lying in his own pool of blood
With a chest full of holes
Lember had to fight hard, real hard for Gus
For he knew no one else would
Billy promises jury that they will hear from JW
Who’s he kidding?
He put the bamboozle on the jury
Never had any intention of putting Williams on the stand
For he knew his client would implode
‘Cause telling the truth isn’t exactly one of JW’s strong suits
Billy’s one hundred percent snake oil
But who could have predicted that Judge Edward Coleman
Would have ambushed the State’s case from day one
By not allowing
JW’s prior gun offenses to come in
Too prejudicial this jurist says
His idea of justice
Doesn’t agree with the theory that prior offenses
Show a propensity to commit in the future
Judge Coleman became this defendant’s dream
By cutting the legs off the State
Stacking the deck in favor of the defense
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6. No one knew that Judge Coleman
Was saving his biggest blow to the state’s case
With a highly questionable jury charge
That would allow the jury to vote for an acquittal
On the most serious charges
Billy knows the only way priors are coming in
Is if his client testifies
Then they’re fair game
Williams would be crucified by the State
So Billy dangled a carrot for the jurors
One he no intention of delivering
Next thing Gus saw were two barrels staring right at him
He knew he couldn’t escape
In a flash he was gone
But Williams says it’s an accident, just another joke
JW knows it will be ok; his money is as long as train smoke…
Defense called Richard Ernst to the stand
A gun expert who makes his living testifying
Under oath he says it’s an accident waiting to happen
Except this hired “gun” never mentioned
Anything like that in any of his three written reports
The state was outraged
Prosecutor Lember strongly objected
Judge Coleman had the remark stricken
All that mattered to Hollywood Billy
Was that the jury heard the magic word “accident”
Another time bomb was awaiting the State
A defense computer animation of the gun’s firing mechanism
Would be allowed by Judge Coleman on one condition
Under no circumstance show the portion that depicted
A stray wood chip interfering with the gun’s firing operation
Defense agreed
Major snag, when the animation played in court
It showed the exact portion that the judge ruled “off-limits”
Creating an uproar in the courtroom
Judge Coleman immediately struck the video
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7. But that prejudicial image flashed across the jurors’eyeballs
And you couldn’t make it disappear
No matter what the judge told the jurors
Defense displayed its own abracadabra after all
Hotshot Billy was licking his chops
Damage done
Hollywood Billy and icy Joe were now on Cloud nine
A far different Cloud nine from Gus Cristofi’s
Next thing Gus saw were two barrels staring right at him
He knew he couldn’t escape
In a flash he was gone
But Williams says it’s an accident, just another joke
JW knows it will be ok; his money is as long as train smoke…
After errors and mistakes on both sides, closing arguments began
Defense tells the jury that it was an “accident”, not a crime
Prosecutor Lember says that Williams was acting recklessly
Just by having four loaded guns in the room where Gus was killed
Lember reinforced that the state
Had met the legal requirements for the manslaughter charges
With three loaded shotguns and one loaded rifle
Steven Lember said JW was reckless before the shotgun went off
Reckless by opening the shotgun’s barrels and snapping them closed
With Gus staring down the barrels just a few feet away.
Judge Coleman instructs the jury to find the defendant “not guilty”
If they feel it was an accident
Some prominent NJ legal minds determined
Judge Coleman misinterpreted the law
The defense had their “ace in the hole”
Abracadabra, after all
Nets season ticket holders’ ended up financing the defense
After signing an $86 million contract with the Nets
Injuries forced number 55 to retire with all his dollars guaranteed
Easy to see why JW so crassly said
His money was “as long as train smoke”
However, with Judge Coleman’s jury charge
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8. He didn’t even need all that train smoke cash
Hot shot Billy and icy Joe knew they had beat the odds
The jury found Williams
Not guilty on aggravated manslaughter – the most serious
Not guilty on aggravated assault
Not guilty on possession of weapon for an unlawful purpose
Avoiding up to 40 years in prison
Guilty on hindering apprehension
Guilty on tampering with a witness
Guilty on tampering with evidence
Guilty on fabricating physical evidence
Carrying up to 13 years in prison
Jury was deadlocked on second most serious charge
Reckless manslaughter
NJ Court of Appeals ruled that Williams can be retried
On this second degree charge carrying up to 10 years in prison
New trial is scheduled to begin in May 2008
With a new prosecutor taking over
The State still has the same huge hurdle to overcome
Judge Coleman charging the jury with those eight pesky words
“If you find it to be an accident…”
Try telling that to Gus Cristofi’s family
Thing is, they’ve heard that same song and dance before
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