A Brooklyn jury failed to reach verdict in the trial of two court officials accused a conspiracy was afoot in Brooklyn to manipulate divorce and custody cases before state Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson.

As they try again this morning, they find themselves knee-deep in what prosecutors say is a tale of judicial corruption, Brooklyn-style.

There’s a foul-mouthed, clowning judge and his scheming protege, a chubby-cheeked matrimonial lawyer.

There’s a feisty Russian-born mother – described by tabloids as “desperate” and “buxom” – and a dissembling Israeli electronics salesman with a puzzling interest in divorce cases, or “the lonely hearts club” business.

For the past month, prosecutors have delved into this motley crew in the trial of two low-level players in the alleged conspiracy.

The judge’s former court officer, Louis Salerno, and retired court clerk, Paul Sarnell, are accused of taking bribes in a complex plan to bypass the court’s random assignment system and steer cases directly to the judge.

Judge Garson and the electronics dealer, Nissim Elmann, are awaiting trial.

“That courtroom was corrupt from top to bottom,” Assistant District Attorney Noel Downey told jurors Tuesday.

For weeks, jurors peered into a clubby world of small-time operators.

The trial’s most distasteful moments may have been secretly taped conversations between Judge Garson and the matrimonial lawyer, Paul Siminovsky, in which they seem to discuss how to rig a pending divorce case and make offensive remarks about a litany of ethnic groups.

The judge also is caught on video singing about using the bathroom and mugging with a cigar a la Groucho Marx. Prosecutors had given cigars to Mr. Siminovsky to try to bribe the judge.

Mr. Siminovsky, a prosecution witness, told jurors the judge was his mentor. He also said he spent an estimated $10,000 on meals and drinks to buy his favor.

Mr. Siminovsky wasted no time in cooperating with investigators. After his arrest in February 2003, it took him 20 minutes to decide to wear a wire. Mr. Siminovsky often sounded subdued, but another witness, Frieda Hanimov, barely contained herself.

Ms. Hanimov, who launched the Garson investigation by complaining to prosecutors about the judge, cried and cracked jokes, at one point concealing her face behind her dyed-blond hair to avoid a photographer.

Ms. Hanimov testified she wheedled information for investigators from Mr. Elmann by playing dumb, or as she said, “playing small head.”

Although he was not present, Mr. Elmann’s chipper Israeli accent echoed throughout the trial on tapes. Prosecutors say Mr. Elmann took money from divorcing Orthodox Jews and promised to bribe Judge Garson.

Mr. Elmann apparently never knew the judge, but allegedly boasted of being so close to him that one man showed up in Judge Garson’s courtroom asking for Mr. Elmann.

“He’d lie to anybody,” said the defense lawyer for Mr. Sarnell.

By the end of the five-week trial, jurors seemed less surprised by the conspiracy than overwhelmed by its myriad details.