High-Profile Chicago Attorney Ed Genson Dies
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago defense attorney Ed Genson has died after a long battle with cancer.
Former associate Vadim Glozman confirmed that Genson died Tuesday.
Genson was involved in many high-profile cases. He defended R. Kelly in the singer's 2008 child pornography trial.
But last year, Genson was quoted by Chicago Sun-Times' Neil Steinberg as saying Kelly was "guilty as hell" of those charges.
While Kelly was acquitted in the 2008 case, he now faces new sex crime charges in four separate jurisdictions in Chicago, New York, and Minnesota.
Genson also represented former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his impeachment hearings following his arrest in 2008. But Genson was not involved in either of Blagojevich's trials, the second of which resulted in a conviction and a 14-year prison sentence that was commuted by President Donald Trump this year.
He also served as defense attorney for many cases involving high-profile politicians and alleged mobsters.
Among those reputed mobsters was Joseph "Jerry" Scalise, 74, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to plotting to rob an armored truck, and break into the Bridgeport home of a dead Outfit boss, the feared Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra, CBS 2's John Drummond reported at the time.
Scalise achieved international notoriety when he and confederate Arthur "The Brain" Rachel robbed a high-end London, jewelry store in 1980. The swag included the 45-carat egg-shaped Marlborough Diamond, considered by experts at the time to be one of the world's most magnificent gems.