Alex Rodriguez is breaking out the big guns in his defense against Major League Baseball's historic 211-game suspension levied against him. The Yankees third baseman has enlisted the help of a legal shark, Joe Tacopino, according to Yahoo! Sports. Tacopino has a list of clientele that some might find stomach churning.
Tacopino, who is alleged to be "the most hated lawyer in New York" by Yahoo!, has defended an accused rapist named Kenneth Moreno, Sopranos and A Bronx Tale actor Lillo Brancato against charges of killing a police officer, and Joran Van Der Sloot, accused of murdering Natalie Holloway in Aruba.
Whether Rodriguez is guilty of using performance enhancing drugs after his first admission or not, Tacopino won't blink. In fact, Rodriguez's transgressions pale in comparison to the unsavory characters previously mentioned.
A source close to A-Rod said of Tacopino, "Joe is a fighter, and that is what Alex needs right now. He has been brought on to reinforce the trial team, there's a possibility this could go all the way to federal court."
The New York Post did a profile of Rodriguez's controversial new lawyer in 2011, offering up an interesting description of the man.
"To his critics, Tacopina is the devil's advocate, an Italian-American version of Johnnie Cochran, down to the flashy style. He wears window-pane suits and a $6,500 Panerai watch. He's on TV more than Jeff Probst. He loves Italian soccer. He drives a Maserati. He sails his own 49-foot yacht.
And why not? To the victor go the spoils.
"If you look at the scorecard, I don't think anyone's had as many wins as I've had over the last three years," said Tacopina, who charges $750 an hour. "I don't ever quit."
For months it has been reported that MLB has significant amounts of evidence that A-Rod repeatedly violated the Joint Drug Agreement and impeded their investigation. If that's true then Rodriguez may have found the right man for the job.
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