Mob attorney ordered to stop blogging

CHICAGO, July 9 (UPI) -- The presiding judge in Chicago's Family Secrets mob trial has ordered one of the defense attorneys to stop contributing to an Internet blog.

U.S. District Judge James Zagel has privately told defense attorney Joseph "The Shark" Lopez he must stop e-mailing his critiques of the trial to the blog, chicagosyndicate.blogspot.com, The Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday.

Lopez, who represents reputed syndicate hit man Frank Calabrese Sr., is one of the more media-friendly lawyers in the case.

In one of his recent postings, he referred to a witness as "boring," a doofus and an ass, using Italian slang for the word.

In another entry, he criticized one of the prosecutors on the government team as "monotone and dry with no emotion."

Sources familiar with the case told the newspaper Zagel discussed the blog matter with Lopez behind closed doors.

In general, during trial attorneys are prohibited from making statements outside the court that could have a prejudicial effect on the case.