A federal jury in Trenton, N.J., has dismissed the claims of a man who wanted compensation for helping David Chase create hit TV show The Sopranos.

The jury took just two hours to reach a decision Wednesday in the suit brought by Robert Baer, a former prosecutor and judge.

They ruled that Baer was not owed anything for help he provided Chase in writing an early draft of the mobster drama.

Baer had claimed in court that he arranged meetings with police and prosecutors and provided a three-day tour of New Jersey mob sites in 1995 for Chase.

He also consulted with Chase in later conversations, but turned down Chase's offer of compensation.

Chase's attorneys said it was not industry practice to pay advisers for help during the writing of a pilot.

Chase agreed that Baer had introduced him to sources who were knowledgeable about the mafia, but said Baer himself was not an expert.

His first Sopranos pilot was rejected by the networks and he enlisted the help of another expert, Dan Castleman, before he sold the series to Fox, he testified.

Castleman, chief of the Manhattan district attorney's investigations division, testified that he provided free consulting services to Chase.

He was paid $3,000 US for help in filming the pilot, and got $1,000 US for each of the 12 subsequent episodes in the first season.

Castleman also eventually appeared on the show in the role of a federal prosecutor, who prosecuted Tony's uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano.

With files from the Associated Press