Jury selection begins in trial of man charged in '07 deaths of 2 guards

Jury selection began yesterday in the capital-murder trial of Mustafa Ali, accused of gunning down two armored-car guards during a robbery in Northeast Philadelphia in 2007.

Ali, 38, formerly of the Franklin Square Townhomes, on Woodhaven Road in the Northeast, is facing the death penalty for the slayings of William Widmaier, 65, and Joseph Alullo, 54 - both retired police officers.

Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart placed a gag order on the trial, forbidding those involved with the case to talk with reporters, said prosecutor Michael Barry.

Mustafa, who was formally named Shawn Steele and served time for a string of Philadelphia bank robberies in the early 1990s, is being represented by three attorneys from the Defender Association of Philadelphia: Marc Bookman, Karl Schwartz and Francis Carmen.

Police said that Mustafa had confessed to pulling the heist and shooting the victims.

The two Loomis guards, along with driver Joseph Walczak, who survived, were ambushed just before 8 a.m. as Widmaier was about to put deposits into an ATM outside the Wachovia bank branch at Bustleton and Bleigh avenues.

As Alullo stood guard and Walczak sat behind the wheel, a man dressed in black emerged, fired eight shots and fled with a canvas bag that contained no money.

In his statement to police, Ali apologized to the victims' families, the Daily News reported at the time of his preliminary hearing in January 2008.

"I'm not this type of man," he said. "I'd like to ask for their forgiveness, not now, but someday."