EDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 22 –
Goran Gogic, a Montenegrin citizen, was arrested on Oct
30, 2022 as he boarded a flight from Miami to Zurich. He
was indicted in the Eastern District of New York on one
count of conspiracy to violate the Maritime Drug Law
Enforcement Act and three substantive counts.
Jump cut to October 21, 2026, when
Gogic was awaited in the EDNY courtroom of Judge Joan M.
Azrack. Inner City Press was there - but Gogic wasn't. The
U.S. Marshal looked in from the holding cell. Sorry, he
said, our door got stuck.
After a time Gogic came in, in MDC
tan. His Serbo-Croatian interpretation headphones were put
on. He was told that this time he will have an anonymous,
semi-sequestered jury.
His lawyer said he will be
submitting some after arising European cases, which Inner
City Press will be covering.
The underlying counts concern cocaine
seized from the MSC Carlotta (about 1,437 kilograms, Feb
2019), the MSC Desiree (about 537 kilograms, March 2019)
and the MSC Gayane (about 17,956 kilograms, June 2019, one
of the largest cocaine seizures in U.S. history).
Prosecutors say he oversaw logistics for Balkan cartels,
coordinating ship crews, Colombian suppliers and European
dockworkers. Each count carries a ten-year mandatory
minimum and a possible life sentence, and he has been
detained since his arrest. He pleaded not guilty in
January 2023. The case was assigned to Judge Allyne
Ross and, in March 2025, to Judge Joan Azrack. Much of the
pretrial fight concerned the government’s use of encrypted
Sky ECC messages obtained through European investigators.
In January 2025, Judge Ross denied suppression of the
intercepted communications provided by foreign
intelligence officers, and in March 2025 she denied
suppression of evidence from his phone.
On Oct 31, 2025, Judge Azrack largely
rejected defense bids to exclude the Sky evidence and
barred testimony on the legality of the European
investigation. Jury selection took place before Magistrate
Judge Clay Kaminsky on Nov 3 and 5, 2025, and twelve
jurors and six alternates were chosen but not sworn.
On Nov 17, 2025, the morning trial was to
begin, Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro asked
Judge Azrack to dismiss the entire panel. He said a group
of individuals had approached a juror and offered $100,000
for a not guilty verdict, and that the FBI had arrested
three people that morning on jury tampering charges. He
said the plotters “may have obtained a copy of the jury
list and/or jury information from individuals connected to
this trial,†and asked for an adjournment and for “an
anonymous and partially sequestered jury at a future
date.†Defense counsel Joseph Corozzo, Jr. did not oppose,
and Mr. Gogic agreed to waive speedy trial time. Judge
Azrack discharged the jury without bringing them into the
courtroom. The fallout followed. Those charged in
United States v. Krasniqi, 25-CR-385 (JMA), were accused
of circulating the juror’s photograph and finding someone
who knew him to deliver the bribe. Krasniqi pleaded guilty
on March 9, 2026 to obstruction of justice, as did a
co-conspirator, Fteja, on Feb 19, 2026. The government
told the court that Mr. Gogic and Mr. Corozzo are subjects
of its ongoing investigation. On Jan 9, 2026, it moved to
disqualify Corozzo and his firm, Rubinstein & Corozzo
LLP. It also cited prohibited discovery materials found in
Mr. Gogic’s cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center. On
Apr 23, 2026, Judge Azrack granted the motion. She found
that Corozzo and Mr. Gogic are both subjects of the
government’s investigation into an attempt to bribe a
juror in this very case, and that this was an actual
conflict “so severe that no rational defendant would
knowingly and intelligently desire†his representation.
She noted that neither man has been charged in connection
with the bribery scheme.
New defense counsel, including Alan
Futerfas, have since appeared. And Inner City Press, now
covering EDNY, is on the case.
On October 22, Futerfas wrote in: "While we
generally endeavor to accommodate our colleagues’
schedules, we are constrained to respectfully request that
the Court keep the start of jury selection on January 25,
2027." Watch this site.
