As court proceedings began Monday for alleged “crime lord” Michael J. Miske Jr. in U.S. District Court, he stood alone. All of Miske’s alleged co-conspirators have now pleaded guilty to federal charges, with Miske’s half-brother, John B. Stancil, making a last-minute agreement Saturday to plead guilty to federal racketeering violations.

Members of the “Miske Enterprise” had been charged with murder for hire and use of chemical weapons as well as racketeering, extortion, drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering (among other federal crimes), and the trial was expected to last months. With only one defendant remaining, it may go more quickly than that.