U.S. Judge for FIFA Trials is Familiar With Organized Crime Cases

The U.S. judge presiding over the corruption cases of indicted soccer officials knows how to oversee a proceeding that involves organized crime. U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie in Brooklyn has spent some of his nearly three decades on the bench handling mobster trials. Now, 71-year-old Dearie is responsible for presiding over the cases of nine current and former FIFA officials and five corporate sports executives. They are accused of participating in a decades-long criminal enterprise that involved more than $150 million in bribes. The investigation far from over, and the number of defendants could increase.
The start of any trials may be far off, because only one of the 14 defendants is known to be in the United States. The rest are either missing or awaiting possible extradition proceedings.