The Hulking Figure Called "Twan"

"Twan" -that is the nickname for Anthony Doyle, a retired Chicago police officer who was convicted this week in the operation Family Secrets mob trial. He's the only one of the five defendants not accused of murder.

One of the Chicago mob's worst-kept secrets is corruption, greasing politicians and police to keep organized crime rackets in operation. Among the five men convicted this week of racketeering: Anthony Doyle, a Chicago cop for 21 years. The man they call Twan was the outfit's man in blue.

Sixty-two-year old Doyle is a hulking figure, whose rigid jaw line helps carve an imposing presence. Doyle is a longtime friend and associate of Chicago Outfit boss Frank Calabrese, who was responsible for at least 13 gangland murders, according to federal prosecutors.

Numerous times in 1999, Calabrese paid for Doyle to come to a federal prison in southeastern Michigan. Doyle discussed Chicago mob business with Calabrese, who is known as Frank "the Breeze." Neither man knew the FBI was secretly taping the meetings.

The visits alone violated Chicago police rules that prohibit associating with felons. And when Doyle gave Calabrese information he'd requested about a police murder investigation, straight from a department evidence computer, that was also criminal.

Investigators believe that Doyle sensed Chicago police were on to his relationship with Calabrese and that Doyle tendered his resignation from the police department in 2001 before a federal grand jury could indict him. That way, Doyle was able to receive his Chicago police pension of $2,800 a month, or $34,000 a year.

Since retiring, Doyle has collected nearly $200,000 in pension payments from the city. The director of the police pension board wrote in a letter to ABC7 that they are aware of Doyle's conviction and plan to address the forfeiture of his pension once he is sentenced. A sentencing date has not been set.

Doyle began his defense last June with a trash bin, his lawyers demonstrating for the jury that he started as a city sanitation worker and made it to the police force.

His birth name is actually Passafume, which is Italian. But when he decided to join the Chicago police force, which is historically Irish, he became Anthony Doyle. His police records list him as "Irish/Italian." But through the ethnic transformation, his nickname stayed the same: Twan.

A twan is a popular Chinese doughnut. Literally translated, it means "rice glog." Of course, police are known to be fond of their doughnuts, and Officer Doyle grew up in a section of Chinatown where twans are sold.

On Wednesday in federal court, Doyle asked to be freed on bond until sentencing, offering to post his home in Arizona; his daughter's home and the homes of two retired Chicago policemen as bond.

Judge James Zagel is considering bond but in court questioned Doyle's judgment and did not seem inclined to let him out until sentencing.

Doyle is the only mob defendant not accused of murder.

Thanks to Chuck Goudie

Criminal Defense Attorney Not Happy with Jury's Vacation

A defense lawyer at Chicago's biggest mob trial in years says he's unhappy about a delay in jury deliberations.

Attorney Rick Halprin represents alleged mob capo Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, and he says he doesn't like surprises. Lombardo and his four co-defendants have already been convicted of taking part in a long-running racketeering conspiracy that included 18 mob murders.

Jurors are now trying to decide if individual defendants are directly responsible for specific murders listed in the indictment. That could boost the maximum sentence to life in federal prison.

After jurors went home last night, U.S. District Judge James Zagel announced that further deliberations would be put off for a week. He didn't give a reason.

Experts suggest the delay's impact on the case is likely to be minimal.

Whitey Bulger Spotted in Italy?

On April 10, 2007, in Taormina, an Italian city on the island of Sicily, an individual observed a couple they believed to be FBI Top Ten fugitive James J. "Whitey" Bulger and his girlfriend Catherine Elizabeth Greig. The individual was able to take a brief video recording of the Bulger look-a-like and his companion.

To date, the coordinated efforts of the FBI, Massachusetts State Police, Massachusetts Department of Correction, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Italian law enforcement authorities have not been able to exclude the two people photographed in Italy as James J. Bulger and Catherine Elizabeth Greig. A facial recognition analysis was conducted and proved to be inconclusive. Additionally, interviews of associates of Bulger and Greig did not resolve the question for law enforcement that these two individuals were "look-a-likes" or are in fact are Bulger and Greig. Therefore, law enforcement is interested in speaking with anyone who was visiting this area of Italy during the months of March, April, and May of 2007 and may have observed or had contact with the two individuals in the photograph and video.

James J. Bulger was indicted for twenty-one (21) counts of RICO-MURDER and has been a fugitive since January of 1995. Bulger, along with Greig, is known to have traveled throughout the United States and Europe since his indictment and flight. Bulger planned for his life on the run by placing large sums of cash in safe deposit boxes domestically and internationally. Safe deposit boxes have been discovered in Clearwater, Florida (2001), Ireland and England (2002), and Montreal, Canada (2003). It is believed that other safe deposit boxes exist in other locations.

A reward of up to $1,000,000 is being offered for any information leading directly to the arrest of James J. Bulger. Individuals with information concerning Bulger should take no action themselves, but instead immediately contact the nearest office of the FBI or local law enforcement agency. Bulger is considered armed and extremely dangerous. For any possible sighting outside the United States, contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Tips may be directed to 800-CALL-FBI or FBI Tips.

The Latest on America's Most Wanted

New York/Florida Serial Rapist Capture: AMW has repeatedly profiled the story of a courageous homeless woman who fought off a man who was raping her and in the process, grabbed the chain that dangled around his neck. The New York Police Department's Manhattan Special Victim's Unit has been just as vigilant - working with the victim and trying to find out who that chain belonged to. Nearly two years later, that chain, and the DNA on it has led to the arrest of 43-year-old Louis Alfonso. Cops have charged him with rape and attempted murder in the New York case, and believe he's responsible for a number of other vicious attacks. This Saturday night, we’ll give you all the details on Alfonzo’s arrest.

William Greer: When America 's Most Wanted aired William Greer's story in July, tips flowed in like the Mississippi River . Tip after tip said the fugitive was in New Orleans , so cops are pounding the pavement in the French Quarter right now -- along with the AMW team.

Helen Hill Killer: In New Orleans , young filmmaker Helen Hill and her physician husband Paul were awakened by an intruder -- cops say the next thing they knew, he opened fire. According to police, Paul did the only thing he could, and acted as a human shield to protect his young son.

Pauley Perrette Update: This Saturday night, we’ll give you an update on AMW’s crime fighting partnership with NCIS star Pauley Perrette. Perrette teamed up with AMW to help investigators solve the murder of two young girls: Shannon Paulk in Prattville , Ala. and Raven Jeffries in Detroit . Perrette was touched by Shannon's story because of her own family ties to the Prattville area, so she donated a $10,000 reward to help catch Shannon 's killer.

School Safety: For many youths, going away to college brings about new responsibilities in their lives. Living away from home allows certain freedoms, but also exposes young adults to harsh new realities. This is particularly true when students begin living on their own away from campus. Students for the first time in their lives have to deal with things like paying the phone bill and making sure that rent is in on time. But it also means that they need to be much more aware of the potential dangers that exist once they leave the comfort and security of on-campus living.

Jennifer Birge: Jessica Birge is described as a sweet girl without an enemy in the world. But now, she's nowhere to be found. Police in Texas are looking for new clues in hopes of finding 25-year-old Birge, who went missing on Aug. 11, 2007. This week, join us in the search.

Mob Trial Jurors Decide to Join Judge on Vacation

Jurors at the racketeering conspiracy trial of five alleged Chicago mobsters broke off deliberations after two days Thursday and the judge said they would not return to finish their work for a week.

U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who is presiding over Chicago's biggest mob trial in years, issued a brief written statement through the court clerk's office Thursday afternoon saying the deliberations had ended for the day and would resume again at 9 a.m. next Thursday.

The jury has already convicted the defendants of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy that involved illegal gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 long unsolved mob murders.

For the last two days, the jurors have been deciding whether to hold four of the defendants responsible for specific murders listed in the indictment -- something that would boost their maximum sentences for the racketeering conspiracy conviction to life in prison.

In his statement, Zagel did not explain the unusual move of sending the jurors home for a week after they had already started deliberations. He was not at the courthouse on Thursday -- the first day of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana. Chief Judge James F. Holderman declined to comment and referred a reporter to Zagel's two-sentence written statement.

Those convicted at the 10-week trial were James Marcello, 65; Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78; Frank Calabrese Sr., 70; Paul Schiro, 70, and Anthony Doyle, 62.

All but Doyle are accused in the racketeering conspiracy indictment of responsibility for specific murders -- Calabrese for 13, Marcello for three and Lombardo and Schiro for one each. But they are not charged with murder.

If the jury finds any or all of them responsible for specific murders as charged in the indictment the maximum sentence on the racketeering conspiracy charge will be boosted to life in federal prison.

Otherwise, the maximum for racketeering conspiracy alone is 20 years.

Thanks to Mike Robinson

Thanks to Feds, We Hear the "Lies"

Federal prosecutor Mitchell Mars was telling the jury about a litany of 18 Outfit murders -- solved by federal investigators, not locals -- and he put several corpses at the feet of convicted mobster Frank Calabrese Sr.

"He has left a trail of bodies, literally ..." Mars said Tuesday, as Calabrese began shouting, interrupting him.

"THEM ARE LIES!!" Calabrese shrieked, startling the jury.

It was the real Frank coming out after weeks of suppression in federal court, with that tight little smile of his. It was Chinatown Frank, the scary Frank with the famous thumbs, and federal marshals inched closer lest Frank pop for good.

Mars didn't flinch, and he continued speaking.

" ... during his career with the Outfit."

Then the jury retired to deliberate on the second phase of the landmark Family Secrets trial -- deciding which Outfit figures committed previously unsolved murders -- and my guess is that the jury is ready to be done with this.

What must bother Calabrese, and his co-defendants Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo, Paul "The Indian" Schiro, and James "Little Shamrock" Marcello, is what Mars told that jury.

"This is not a case of guilt by association. It is guilt by participation in a criminal organization that protected itself and its members by homicide," Mars said. "They lived to kill. They lived to have money, and they lived to kill."

The "Them are lies" shriek was the dramatic highlight of the day, but here's one thing that isn't a lie:

Since the Chicago Outfit began controlling select politicians at City Hall, and select businesses and select cops and county judges, there have been hundreds of Outfit hits. And local law enforcement hasn't solved one for more than 40 years. They've only solved a scant few Outfit killings since Paul "The Waiter" Ricca let Al Capone pretend to be boss of Chicago.

I might be wrong. There might be one, or two, solved in the last four decades by local law enforcement, perhaps the real police in blue uniforms, the men and women who don't get promoted because they don't know the secret political passwords. And if I'm wrong, I'm sure that interim Chicago Police Supt. Dana Starks will invite me to Cafe Bionda for lunch and lecture me on my heresy, as legendary Bionda chef and Reserve nightclub fixture Joe Farina whips us up something tasty. But according to a Chicago Tribune investigation in 1989, no Outfit murder had been solved in Cook County in 20 years.

That was 18 years ago.

The report focused on the Cook County sheriff's office, and how high-ranking sheriff's officials "sabotaged investigations of brutal, execution-style murders and covered up evidence of possible crimes of other law enforcement officials, and judges."

Back then, sheriff's officers, the Tribune said, systematically concealed evidence, blocked efforts by other law enforcement agencies to interview witnesses, and hid their own relationships with organized crime suspects in murder investigations.

One of the murders was the 1976 slaying of Michael Curtin, a chemical company executive found facedown in the back of his tan Cadillac in Maywood, strangled, Chinatown-style, and shot twice in the head for good measure.

Curtin's murder was not one of the 18 homicides in the Family Secrets trial.

A tiny black notebook was discovered in Curtin's pocket. In that notebook, the Tribune reported, were the names of Cook County judges and lawyers, with dollar amounts written alongside.

Lt. James Keating seized the evidence, including Curtin's precious little black book, which vanished forever, as did the bullets that were mysteriously removed from Curtin's cold skull. Keating was convicted in 1986 for taking payoffs to protect Outfit vice operations in the suburbs. And in 1989, he was convicted in federal court for racketeering and murder conspiracy.

Since then, he's been in prison. Some literary muse must have whispered to him in the federal pen, because he's written a novel, "All on the Same Side," about the friendships between politicians, local cops and the Outfit.

One of the characters in the book is a so-called Chief William Murphy -- who vaguely resembles former Chicago Police Chief of Detectives William Hanhardt, himself in federal prison for running an Outfit jewelry heist ring with Schiro.

Murphy's buddy is a mob boss named Dominic, who answers to another mob boss named Johnny, who may or may not have been shot in the nose years ago in real life, ruining his looks. And Murphy promises to kill investigations.

The book is fiction, sort of. But here are two facts:

If it weren't for the feds, the Chicago Outfit wouldn't worry about murder cases. And Frank Calabrese wouldn't have to scream "Them are lies" to the jury deciding the rest of his life.

Thanks to John Kass

Judge Profoundly Unimpressed with Retired Cop at Mob Trial

The judge who presided over Chicago's biggest mob trial in years expressed doubts today about setting bail for a retired police officer convicted in the case, saying his testimony was unbelievable.

Defendant Anthony Doyle's testimony on the witness stand was so hard to believe it brought his sound judgment into question, U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel said. "What he was saying was profoundly unimpressive," Zagel said.

He said Doyle might flee to avoid prison if he was released, mistakenly assuming his daughter and several former police officers would not forfeit the homes they have offered as security for any bond. But Zagel agreed to take the bail request under consideration.

Doyle claims his sick wife needs him to be with her. The decorated former police officer appeared in court today in the bright orange jumpsuit of a federal prisoner for the first time as his attorney, Ralph E. Meczyk, pleaded with the judge to free him on bond.

Doyle, 62, was among five defendants convicted Monday of a racketeering conspiracy involving illegal gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 long-unsolved mob murders.

He was the only defendant not accused of involvement in a murder and the only one free on bond; the others have been in federal custody for more than a year. Doyle was taken into custody only after the jury's verdict was announced.

A major part of the prosecution's case were tapes secretly made by the FBI at a federal prison in Milan, Mich., where Doyle visited Frank Calabrese Sr., a convicted loan shark who also was found guilty Monday. On the tapes, Calabrese allegedly discussed mob business.

Prosecutors maintain the tall, broad-shouldered Doyle was a loan collector for Calabrese while also working as a Chicago police officer.

Doyle testified he went to the prison not to discuss business but merely to visit a friend. He said he didn't understand much of what Calabrese was telling him and considered it "mind-boggling gibberish."

No date has been set for sentencing. A jury was deliberating Wednesday whether the four other defendants should be held responsible for specific murders outlined in the indictment, which would qualify them for life sentences.

Racketeering conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, although prosecutors estimated that the recommended sentence for Doyle under federal sentencing guidelines would be 12 to 15 years.

Thanks to Mike Robinson

Chicago Mob's Family Secrets Told in Rockford

Jurors began deliberating the fate of five defendants Aug. 31 in the 10-week Family Secrets trial in Chicago, and continued Sept. 4. Four of the men are alleged members of the organized crime syndicate known as the Outfit. The defendants are alleged to have been involved in 18 mob murders, according to the federal indictment.

The Chicago Tribune reports: “Federal prosecutors contend that reputed Outfit figures James Marcello, Joey ‘the Clown’ Lombardo, Frank Calabrese Sr. and Paul ‘the Indian’ Schiro as well as former Chicago Police Officer Anthony ‘Twan’ Doyle should be convicted in a racketeering conspiracy spanning four decades.

“All are charged in Count 1, the racketeering conspiracy charge, which takes up 18 pages of the indictment and alleges that an enterprise known as the Outfit collected street tax, operated illegal gambling businesses, made juice loans, obstructed justice and protected itself with violence and murder.”

If convicted, each man is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars. The defendants are in their 60s and 70s.

While this real-life spectacle has captivated fans of crime drama all summer, Chicago is not the extent of the Outfit’s reach. Although outshined by a trial epitomizing Chicago’s rich history of organized crime, nine men were sentenced this summer, between May and June, on federal charges of operating an illegal gambling business in Rockford since the 1980s.

The lead prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney John Scully, said the ring netted in excess of $500,000.

Indictments were handed down last year, and federal warrants were executed for the arrests of eight local men, all of whom later entered guilty pleas after surrendering peacefully.

Rockford Police and the FBI conducted a joint investigation into the bookmaking business, starting in August 2000, including wire taps and surveillance of the ring’s hub of operations in a 17th Avenue apartment building. Bettors were not charged.

U.S. District Court Judge Philip G. Reinhard sentenced Joseph F. “Pep” Fiorenza to three years probation, eight months of which to be served under home confinement while wearing an electronic monitoring device. In addition, Fiorenza was sentenced to 150 hours of community service, and his passport was ordered to be held by Fiorenza’s probation officer. Fiorenza was fined $10,000 and ordered to forfeit an additional $46,000. Feds initially hoped to seize Fiorenza’s Rockford home, but simply held onto it until the forfeiture was made.

Fiorenza’s sons, Nicolas T. and Rick J., were sentenced to 36 months probation, six months of electronic monitoring under home confinement, 100 hours of community service and ordered to forfeit $15,000 each. Nicolas, of Machesney Park, and Rick were fined $2,000 and $350, respectively. Nicolas’ passport was also ordered to be held for the duration of his probationary period.

John P. “Tiger” Frisella, rumored to be the ringleader, was sentenced to three years probation and six months of electronic monitoring under house arrest. Frisella was also ordered to perform 150 hours of community service, pay a $250 fine and forfeit $20,000. Prosecutors originally sought $500,000 from Frisella from funds they said were associated with illegal gambling activities.

Frank C. Giardono, of Loves Park, was ordered to part with $7,500 in illegal gambling proceeds and ordered to pay a $500 fine in addition to his sentence of three years probation and three months of home confinement with electronic monitoring. Giardono will also perform 75 hours of community service.

Nick Provenzano, also of Loves Park, was ordered to surrender $5,000 and pay a $1,000 fine. He will serve two years of probation and 75 hours of community service. Provenzano is not related to the Rockford Provenzanos of Supplycore fame, according to the local daily.

Judge Reinhard sentenced Charles A. Purin to three years probation, three months under house arrest with electronic monitoring and 75 hours of community service. He also agreed to forfeit $5,000 and pay a $1,000 fine.

John F. Salamone will serve three years probation, pay a $100 fine and forfeit $5,000. Salamone’s aliases include Don Finooch, John Finooch and John Franks.

The ninth man, Joseph W. Saladino, was already in federal custody on weapons charges. He was sentenced to an additional six months in prison and three years of supervised release. In addition, Saladino was ordered to part with $20,000 for his role.

As reported in our May 4-10, 2005, issue with regard to Saladino: “According to court records, after a state trooper searched the trunk of Saladino’s vehicle, police found ‘a loaded 0.380 caliber handgun, an unloaded 0.357 magnum handgun, an unloaded 9 mm fully automatic machine pistol with no serial number, and in excess of 400 rounds of ammunition.’

“’In addition, defendant [Saladino] had two books on how to make silencers, a book on machine lathes, a billy club, two ‘slim jims,’ two bolt cutters, a tree trimming saw, one butcher knife, a pipe wrench, a stocking cap, and two face masks.”

Saladino is the cousin of alleged mob enforcer Frank G. “Gumba” Saladino, who was found dead of natural causes April 25, 2005, when federal agents raided his Hampshire, Ill., hotel room as Operation Family Secrets culminated in the simultaneous arrests of numerous reputed Chicago mobsters.

Saladino, formerly of Rockford, was posthumously named a co-conspirator in the Rockford gambling ring.

“Frank ‘Gumba’ Saladino was allegedly a very busy Outfit killer,” explained Steve Warmbir, a Chicago Sun-Times reporter who has been covering the Family Secrets trial. “He’s been tied to several murders.”

According to Warmbir, Family Secrets prosecutors say Saladino was involved in the murders of John Mendell, Vincent Moretti, Donald Renno, Paul Haggerty and Henry Cosentino—five of the 18 Family Secrets “hits.”

Frank “Gumba” Saladino was long considered Rockford’s liaison to the Outfit, responsible for, among other things, delivering “tributes” to Chicago bosses from operations in Rockford.

The Chicago Tribune reported April 26, 2005, Saladino’s body was found with $25,000 in cash and $70,000 in checks in his room.

As reported in our Feb. 8-14, 2006, issue: “The Rockford Register Star reported that in the early 1960s, Frank ‘often partnered with his cousin Joe.’ Joseph Saladino’s past includes the following:

u “Rape conviction with his cousin Frank G. Saladino of a Winnebago County woman on Oct. 22, 1964.

“Pled guilty in Winnebago County to battery charges on Jan. 18, 1983, and was sentenced to one year of court supervision and a $90 fine.

“Sentenced to two years probation, 200 hours of community service and $3,500 fine for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon on April 8, 1998.”

Joe was recently seen in Rockford looking very well groomed and healthy.

A former Rockford-area bookie familiar with the illegal sports gambling ring alleged one of the key organizers was a prominent business leader. That leader was not among the individuals indicted.

Thanks to Stuart R. Wahlin

Dem Are Lies!

The day after a jury of seven women and five men found him guilty of racketeering, bookmaking and extortion, Oak Brook mobster Frank Calabrese Sr. hit his boiling point in court Tuesday, shouting out "Dem are lies!" as a prosecutor detailed his alleged murders.

Assistant U.S. attorney Mitchell Mars was making his closing argument before the second phase of jury deliberations, during which jurors will specify which murders, if any, the now-convicted mobsters committed during the course of their racketeering activities.

Calabrese Sr. had managed to remain silent during the first portion of Mars' presentation, when he recounted how Calabrese Sr. was caught on tape apparently telling his son, Frank Calabrese Jr. about the murder of William and Charlotte Dauber in Will County in 1980. The two were cut off in traffic and then shot to death because the mob thought William Dauber was an informant.

When Calabrese Jr. questioned why Charlotte Dauber was killed too, Calabrese Sr. replied, "Well, what was I supposed to do? Tell her to move over?" Mars said. And Mars' voiced cracked when he recalled another tape showing Calabrese Sr. "talking to his son, almost with glee, about how you can cut a man in half with double-ought shotgun shells. That's as cold as it gets."

Through those accusations, Calabrese Sr. remained silent, as he did through his attorney's attempt to persuade jurors not to find he had committed murder. But only when Mars, in his final rebuttal, remarked on how Calabrese Sr. was, even then, sitting "with a very chilling smile on his face" after "he has left a trail of bodies -- literally" did Calabrese erupt.

"Dem are lies," he barked out, sitting up in his seat.

Two U.S. Marshals moved in, prepared to restrain Calabrese, but Mars continued, ignoring the comment as if Calabrese wasn't even in the room.

District Judge James Zagel glanced at Calabrese, but said nothing, apparently unwilling to interrupt Mars any further.

Jurors, for their part, looked unimpressed by Calabrese's attorney's pleas to not believe the testimony of Nick Calabrese -- the hit man and brother of Frank Calabrese Sr. who testified and linked Calabrese Sr. to 13 murders. One woman yawned repeatedly. Another stared at the floor, his head held in both hands. Still another juror's eyes fluttered almost closed.

If the 12 jurors find unanimously that Calabrese Sr., James Marcello of Lombard, Joseph Lombardo of Chicago and Paul Schiro of Phoenix committed murders as part of their racketeering conspiracy, they face sentences of life in prison.

The jury went home Tuesday without reaching a decision. Deliberations continue today.

Thanks to Rob Olmstead

Mob Killings Outlined for Jury

A day after jurors handed down guilty verdicts in Chicago's biggest mob trial in years, a prosecutor asked them yesterday to take the next step toward sending four defendants to prison for life for a series of "brutal and heinous" gangland killings.

"There was no mercy with regard to these murders — they were cruel, they were ruthless," prosecutor Mitchell A. Mars told jurors as he described the slayings of mobsters Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and his brother Michael Spilotro.

The same jury on Monday convicted five men of racketeering conspiracy and other charges involving decades of loan sharking, gambling extortion and 18 unsolved organized crime killings tied to the Chicago mob.

Prosecutors now want the jury to hold four of the defendants responsible for specific killings, qualifying them for life sentences. U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel will make the final decision on each defendant's sentence.

Mr. Mars described the 18 killings outlined in the indictment and what prosecutors see as the role of each defendant.

His voice cracked with emotion as he recalled how a bomb planted in businessman Michael Cagnoni's car almost killed Mr. Cagnoni's wife and child. "I can't think of anything more shockingly evil than the homicide of Michael Cagnoni," Mr. Mars said.

Facing life sentences are purported mob boss James Marcello, 65, purported capo Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78, convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese Sr., 70, and convicted jewel thief Paul Schiro, 70. The fifth defendant convicted Monday, retired Chicago policeman Anthony Doyle, 62, is not accused of taking part in a killing.

Calabrese is accused of the most killings: 13. During the trial, he denied being a mob member and said he did not kill anyone.

Marcello is blamed for the June 1986 killings of Tony Spilotro, long the Chicago mob's man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the movie "Casino." He and his brother were fatally beaten and buried in an Indiana cornfield.

The government's star witness, Nicholas Calabrese, brother of Frank Calabrese Sr., testified that he helped kill Michael Spilotro while other mobsters killed Tony Spilotro in the basement of a suburban home. He testified that Marcello lured the Spilotros to their death.

Marcello defense attorney Thomas Breen appealed to jurors to disregard the testimony of Nicholas Calabrese, saying he was an admitted hit man who would say anything to get a deal from prosecutors that would keep him from the execution chamber.

Mr. Breen said Nicholas Calabrese thought that to cut a plea deal, "the marquee, the five-star case that has to be cleared, is the Spilotro case."

Rudy Giuliani's Mafia Jargon Deters Italian Voters

Just as some firefighters and relatives of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, don't want Rudolph Giuliani giving a reading at today's Ground Zero ceremony, the man who would be Churchill is in danger of becoming persona non grata within his own ethnicity.

Despite a distinguished career as a crime-busting federal prosecutor (in the great Roman classical tradition of jurisprudential excellence), two terms as mayor of the country's most heavily Italian-American city and a lifelong admiration for his predecessor Fiorello LaGuardia, Giuliani has turned his back on his Italian roots. Giuliani plays the dumbed-down-Italian card with gusto.

While campaigning on the West Coast earlier this year, "America's mayor" began a speech in the raspy cadence of don Vito Corleone: "Thank youse all very much for invitin' me here tuh-day, to this meeting of the families from different parts'a California."

Is this political theater, ethnic self-loathing or both?

Whatever the reason - his heart or his handlers - it is self-defeating. In a nation with nearly 25 million Americans of Italian descent - many of whom are swing voters in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Illinois and California - why risk alienating such a pivotal constituency?

In the Northeastern states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, the scions of Italy comprise 15 percent of the population.

Perhaps Giuliani feels he can take Italian-American voters for granted by virtue of the tell-tale vowel at the end of his surname. But why trifle with the country's fourth-largest white ethnic group? On what position paper is it written that Giuliani must wallow in the muck and mire of Mafia mythos?

Why can't he identify himself as a proud Italian in the same manner that Ronald W. Reagan and John F. Kennedy jauntily called themselves Irishmen? Michael Dukakis invoked the ideals of ancient Athens throughout his presidential campaign.

Why can't Giuliani speak of his Italian origins, and of America's debt to his noble ancestors in the Roman republic that is the basis of our own? Or of Caesar Augustus' pax romana, an unparelled 200-year period of peace and prosperity?

There was a glimmer of hope when he journeyed to Calabria in January to inaugurate the first direct flight from Kennedy Airport to the southern Italian airport of Lamezia Terme. But it was quickly dashed with the failure of Giuliani's staff to ballyhoo the trip or underscore its significance.

Instead, we hear this: When asked about his wife Judith's role in a Giuliani administration, he couldn't resist reverting to form: "I am a candidate. She's a civilian, to use the old Mafia distinction." When queried about Hillary Clinton's vile Internet spoof of the "Sopranos" finale, he responded with a question of his own: "Think she's trying to get the Mafia vote?"

Peggy Noonan, one of President Ronald Reagan's favorite speechwriters and a New Yorker to the bone, has a wry take on these tawdry proceedings: "Can't have enough candidates for president who whimsically employ the language of mobsters."

Mario Cuomo, a man who surely missed his rendezvous with destiny, knows full well the dangers posed by anti-Italian intolerance. He witnessed Geraldine Ferraro's trials as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984. And the New York former governor was famously smeared as likely having "mafioso connections" by Gennifer Flowers (Bill Clinton's trailer-park paramour).

Italo-Americans should not support Giuliani simply on the basis of ethnic pride. The best advice for both candidate and voter in 2008 can be found in the words of the ancient Roman statesman, Marcus Aurelius:

"Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason. It enables you to learn from experience, to live in harmony with others, and to walk in the way of the gods."

Thanks to Rosario A. Iaconis, the vice chairman of The Italic Institute of America, which promotes Italian culture and is based in Floral Park.

Appeal Heard for FBI Agent Convicted of Aiding Whitey Bulger

A lawyer for retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. urged a federal appeals court today to overturn his 2002 racketeering conviction because one of the government's key witnesses, former New England Mafia boss Francis "Cadillac Frank'' Salemme, allegedly boasted to a fellow mobster that he lied on the stand.

Judge Bruce M. Selya questioned the events described by Connolly's lawyer, suggesting that Salemme may have told the truth in court and then lied to Philadelphia mobster Roger Vella when the two of them were imprisoned together later.

"We have a Mafia don who is committing the worst crime a Mafia don can ... he rats out and cooperates with the feds,'' said Selya, one of three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit considering Connolly's case. "Why isn't it the most natural thing for him to try to explain away his cooperation?''

Braintree attorney Terrance J. McCarthy, who represents Connolly, argued that Salemme "had every reason to tell Vella the truth'' when he claimed prosecutors helped him shape his story to win a conviction because he didn't know Vella was a confidential informant and would later report the boasts to the FBI.

Connolly is serving 10 years in prison. He was convicted of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and lying to an FBI agent for protecting longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman'' Flemmi from prosecution and leaking them information. He's also scheduled to stand trial in Miami in March for a 1982 gangland slaying.

Salemme, who had been granted immunity for his testimony at Connolly's trial, was indicted in 2004 on a charge of lying to investigators by withholding information about the 1993 disappearance of South Boston nightclub manager Steven DiSarro. Federal prosecutors allege Salemme witnessed DiSarro's slaying and helped bury his body, and he is awaiting trial in that case.

"Doesn't that cloud the picture a bit?" said Circuit Judge Kermit V. Lipez, questioning the government today about why any of Salemme's testimony at Connolly's trial should be believed, given that he's now awaiting trial for lying.

US Special Attorney William J. Nardini said Salemme allegedly lied about his involvement in DiSarro's slaying to protect other organized-crime figures. He argued that Salemme's statements to Vella -- including claims that the government promised him $500,000 for his testimony and a condo on a golf course -- were "pretty absurd.''

Thanks to Shelley Murphy

Will Family Secrets Mob Trial Convictions Doom Chicago Mob?

Does Monday's conviction of four top mobsters mean the end of the Chicago Outfit?

Hardly.

The Outfit long has controlled illegal gambling operations -- from sports betting to video poker -- and has financed Chicago-area drug dealing, said Chicago Crime Commission President James Wagner, a former top FBI mob fighter. Money from those ventures often is invested in law-abiding businesses because "you've got to have somewhere to send that cash in order to legitimize it," Wagner said.

History has shown that when Outfit members get sent to prison, others take over. The most recent transfers of power happened long before the Family Secrets trial began, Wagner said. "This will solidify the positions of the people already out there," he said. The trial "hasn't eliminated anything."

Who runs the Chicago mob isn't clear. Reputed mobsters not charged in the Family Secrets case who are still powerful in the Outfit include John "No Nose" DiFronzo, Joe "The Builder" Andriacchi, Al Tornabene, Frank "Tootsie Babe" Caruso, Marco D'Amico and Michael Sarno, law enforcement sources said.

Al Egan, a former Chicago Police detective who investigated organized crime here for three decades, said the verdict wounded the Outfit but won't kill it.

"This put an extremely huge dent in it," said Egan, who worked on the federal Organized Crime Task Force. However, "It's not going to be stopped."

Thanks to Steve Warmbir and Chris Fusco

Mum's the Word

Aheavy-set, gray-haired fellow stepped outside the Old Neighborhood Italian-American Club Monday afternoon, sat down at a picnic table and started trimming his fingernails with a set of pocket clippers just as I walked up.

I told him who I was and what I was doing, which was looking for reaction to Monday's across-the-board guilty verdicts in the big Family Secrets mob trial.

He glanced up without actually lifting his chin, shook his head, grunted and shook his head again.

I took it for a no comment.

The next guy out the door was friendlier. He laid his cane on the picnic table as he sat down, smiled when I made my introduction and said he reads the Sun-Times regularly. He even said he likes my column and mentioned another columnist here he doesn't like. I told him the other columnist was great.

"I'm just telling you the truth," he said. I told him that's all we can ask.

While this was going on, a big guy came to the door and asked the guy with the fingernail clippers if he could come inside a minute, which was just about the time I was asking the friendly guy about the verdict in the mob trial.

The friendly guy suddenly grew hard of hearing, a blank faraway expression crossing his face. I repeated my question. His look grew more pained. Words seemed to fail him.

Then the guy with fingernail clippers opened the door and told the friendly guy (he might have called him John) that he had a phone call. John asked me what the other guy had said, his mind having tried so hard not to hear me that it seemed to have blocked out all other sound as well. I told him he had a phone call -- and that he should assure them he hadn't told me anything.

By then, of course, the word was spread to everybody else inside the modern brick and stone structure at 30th Place and Shields that there was a reporter out front.

After that, most of them either slipped out the side door to get to the ONIAC members only parking lot surrounded by one of those black wrought iron fences favored by the mayor -- who after all grew up just down this very street -- or they marched past me without so much as a sideways glance as I tried to talk to them.

The reaction to my presence was only slightly different for those entering the club. They at least paused to hear me out before scurrying off.

"I no speak English. I no speak English," said one, not too convincingly.

It reminded me a little of the way defendants flee the Dirksen Federal Building, which was unfortunate, because I considered the Old Neighborhood Italian-American Club a good place to look for the opinion of older Italians, not older mobsters, and I do not consider one to be synonymous with the other. But the club also played a cameo role in the trial. Its founder was said to be Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra, the onetime boss of the mob's 26th Street crew. Defendant Frank Calabrese Sr., a LaPietra lieutenant, was a club member. The current club president, Dominic "Captain D" DiFazio, was a prosecution witness who testified about being the go-between for extortion payments to Calabrese from the owner of Connie's Pizza.

This gave me time to contemplate the significance of the silent treatment, which obviously hadn't come as a complete surprise. Whether you call this Bridgeport or Armour Square, this is not a neighborhood known to be welcoming to outsiders. It's also an area where there historically has been a nexus between the mob and Chicago politics. And what struck me is that, as important and valuable as this prosecution was, it doesn't really change the fundamentals. This is still a town where in certain places they know you don't talk about certain people because they still have power and influence.

A young man across the street in a city General Services Department T-shirt was walking a basset hound puppy. Between the puppy, his job and working on a double major at DePaul, he said he didn't have time to think -- about the mob trial or anything else. But he said, "It's everywhere."

He wouldn't give his name, but said the dog's name was Dolce.

"That's sweet in Italian," he explained.

Finally, a guy arrived who was happy to talk. I told him about the verdicts.

"That's life," he said, mentioning that he knew Frank "The German" Schweihs, one of the original co-defendants.

"What disappointed me is that they were hurting legitimate people, their own people, Italians," he said of the accused.

Just then, the door opened and the big guy stuck out his head again.

"Larry!" he shouted. "You got a phone call."

Dolce.

Thanks to Mark Brown

Brother of Murder Victim Cheers Mob Trial's Guilty Verdicts

A relative of a mob murder victim wasted no time applauding the guilty verdicts in the Family Secrets case.

As CBS 2's Mike Parker reports, prosecutors asked everyone involved in the trial not to talk to the media yet, but one man decided to speak out.

Ron Seifert seemed eager to talk about the guilty verdicts after a federal jury convicted five men Monday in a racketeering conspiracy that involved decades of extortion, loan sharking and 18 murders aimed at rubbing out anyone who stood in the way of the ruthless Chicago mob. "It makes you feel good. Anybody would feel good," Seifert said.

His brother Danny was one of the victims of the Chicago mob. Danny Seifert was just 29 years old and the owner of a Bensenville plastics factory. The feds say Joey "The Clown" Lombardo muscled in on the business, and then helped kill Seifert when it looked like he'd testify against the outfit guy in a fraud trial.

"I'm just glad they convicted Joey, that's all. Why? Because I think he was involved with my brother, killing my brother," Ron Seifert said.

Emma Seifert and her son Joe had little to say after the convictions were handed down by the jury. But in July, the widow of Danny Seifert told CBS 2 News about the murder, at a time when son Joseph was only four years old.

"… And then when the other one was struggling with my husband and he took Joseph and I into the bathroom and held a gun to my head and just told me to be quiet. The next thing I remember hearing was a gunshot," Emma Seifert said.

A known associate of convicted mobster James Marcello was distraught, and seen in tears after hearing the verdict. Prosecutors say Marcello was involved in the murders of rogue mobsters, the Spilotro brothers.

Thanks to Mike Parker

GUILTY for All 5 Family Secrets Mob Defendants

In a verdict announced this afternoon, a federal jury in Chicago convicted four reputed Outfit figures and a former Chicago police officer on all counts in the landmark Family Secrets mob conspiracy case.

Convicted on the most serious charge--racketeering conspiracy--were:

• James Marcello, 65, identified by authorities as Chicago's top mob boss two years ago when the indictment was handed down.
• Joey "the Clown" Lombardo, 78, a legendary reputed mob figure for decades who was convicted in the 1980s of bribing a U.S. senator.
• Frank Calabrese Sr., 70, whose brother and son provided crucial testimony for the prosecution.
• Paul "the Indian" Schiro, 69, the reputed Outfit member from Phoenix who is already serving a prison sentence for his role in a mob-connected jewelry theft ring.
• Anthony "Twan" Doyle, 62, the former Chicago cop accused of passing on confidential information about the federal probe to a mob friend.

Marcello also was convicted of conducting an illegal video gambling business, bribing Calabrese's brother in hopes of discouraging him from cooperating with authorities and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

Calabrese also was convicted of running a sports bookmaking operation and extorting "street taxes" from the Connie's Pizza restaurant chain.

Lombardo also was convicted of obstructing justice by fleeing from authorities after his indictment in the case. The jury deliberated four days last week and an hour this morning before reaching its verdict.

The riveting trial, which played out over 10 weeks this summer before overflow crowds in the largest courtroom in Chicago's federal courthouse, marks the most significant prosecution of the Chicago mob in decades.

According to the racketeering conspiracy charge, the defendants extorted protection payoffs from businesses, made high-interest "juice" loans and protected its interests through violence and murder.

The heart of the charges involved 18 gangland slayings dating back decades. Among them was the infamous 1986 murders of Anthony and Michael Spilotro, whose bodies were found buried in an Indiana cornfield.

The prosecution case hinged on the testimony of Calabrese's brother, Nicholas, one of the highest-ranking mob turncoats in Chicago history who linked his brother to many of the murders. Calabrese's son, Frank Jr., also secretly tape-recorded conversations with his imprisoned father. The unprecedented cooperation by relatives of a target prompted federal authorities to code-name the probe Operation Family Secrets.

Even with the guilty verdicts, the jury's duties are not yet concluded. After hearing another round of argument by lawyers and prosecutors that could take part of a day, jurors will have to decide if any of the reputed Outfit figures are guilty of any of the 18 murders. If found guilty in this second round, the defendants could face sentences of life in prison.

Frank Calabrese Sr. has been accused of taking part in 13 murders, Marcello three and Lombardo and Schiro one each. Doyle was not charged with a murder.

Thanks to Jeff Coen

US Attorney General and the Director of the FBI Battle over the Mob

In Washington, turf warfare can be blood sport. Colin Powell versus Dick Cheney in the W years. Nancy Reagan versus Don Regan in the 1980s. Henry Kissinger versus everyone in the Nixon and Ford days. But eclipsing these power feuds is the titanic clash between Robert Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover. This grudge match entailed much more than personality or policy. It was, in a way, a fight over the meaning of justice in America.

In “Bobby and J. Edgar: The Historic Face-Off Between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoover That Transformed America,” Burton Hersh, a journalist and historian, chronicles a struggle that began years before Bobby Kennedy became attorney general in his brother’s administration and — in nominal terms — Hoover’s superior. The story is familiar. While Jack Kennedy thrived in the 1950s as a sex-crazed, drug-dependent, ailment-ridden party-boy politician, Bobby, the family’s complicated sourpuss, hooked up with the redbaiting Joe McCarthy, then spun off as a crusading and corners-cutting scourge of labor corruption. He pursued mobsters and was obsessed with Jimmy Hoffa. But there was a problem. Bobby’s father had built a fortune the old-fashioned way — by hook and by crook. As a banker and bootlegger, Joseph Kennedy had nuzzled with the not-so-good fellas Bobby wanted to hammer.

There was another problem as well. Hoover, the entrenched F.B.I. chieftain and pal of McCarthy, was not so keen on catching mobsters. He even denied the existence of organized crime and kept his agents far from its tracks, partly because, Hersh contends, Hoover knew too well that the mob had infiltrated the worlds of politics and business. Hunting the thugs could have placed Hoover and the F.B.I. on a collision course with the powerful. Communists were easier prey. So when Jack became president and appointed his ferocious brother attorney general, combat was unavoidable.

As Hersh describes it, this duel of leaks, blackmail and power plays occurred against the backdrop of Kennedy excess and pathos. The stakes were higher than the individual fortunes of Hoover and Bobby Kennedy. America was racked with crisis: the civil rights movement was challenging the nation’s conscience, a war was growing in Vietnam and an arms race was threatening nuclear war. Bobby may have had presidential prerogative on his side, but Hoover could wield files full of allegations about Jack and others. How this pas de deux played out helped define the nation at this transformational moment.

It was quite a story, with a supporting cast that was A-list — Martin Luther King Jr., Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Sam Giancana, Gloria Swanson, Lyndon Johnson, Roy Cohn — history as a Don DeLillo novel. But sad to say, Hersh, who years ago wrote a much-regarded book on the origins of the C.I.A., fails his material.

“Bobby and J. Edgar” is little more than a recycling of previously published books. Hersh lists 54 people he interviewed, but about a quarter of them are authors and journalists who have tilled the overworked Kennedy field. The rest offer little that is new. Worse, Hersh appears to regard all sources as equal. If an assertion, particularly a sleazy one, has ever appeared in a book, that’s apparently good enough for him. Some eye-popping tales of Kennedy sex and corruption have indeed been confirmed by reputable authors. (Yes, Jack shared a mistress with Sinatra and the mob man Giancana. Yes, Bobby bent to Hoover’s request to wiretap King.)

But mounds of Kennedy garbage have also been peddled over the years, and Hersh does not distinguish between the proven and the alleged (or the discredited). Did Bobby really tag along on drug busts in the 1950s and engage in sex with apprehended hookers? Well, one book said he did. Covering the death of Marilyn Monroe, Hersh maintains that she and Bobby were lovers and that the Mafia had Monroe killed hours after Bobby was in her company in order to frame him. For this, Hersh relies on two unreliable books, one written by Giancana’s brother and nephew, the other by a deceased Los Angeles private investigator. Monroe’s death remains an official suicide, and as Evan Thomas notes in his biography of Bobby, “all that is certain” regarding his interactions with Monroe is that he “saw her on four occasions, probably never alone.”

But it’s when the book reaches Nov. 22, 1963, that it truly jumps the rails. The assassination of John Kennedy is the black hole of contemporary American history, and Hersh doesn’t escape its pull. He repeats the well-worn claims of the it-wasn’t-just-Oswald partisans and brings nothing fresh to the autopsy table. Citing one book of uncertain credibility, he claims former President Gerald Ford publicly confessed he had covered up F.B.I. and C.I.A. evidence indicating that Kennedy “had been caught in a crossfire in Dallas” and that two Mafia notables “had orchestrated the assassination plot.” An Internet search I conducted turned up no confirmation of such a momentous confession.

Hersh fares better when it comes to the bigger picture. Hoover and Kennedy, he notes, possessed profoundly contrasting views of midcentury America. For Hoover, Hersh writes, “America amounted to a kind of Christian-pageant fantasy of the System” that was threatened by “Commies and beatniks and race-mixers ... hell-bent to eradicate this utopia.” Kennedy saw “gangsters” undermining unions, corporate America and, yes, even politics. Here was the nub of their quarrel: subversion versus corruption. Though Hersh goes soft on Hoover toward the end, his book renders a clear judgment: Bobby Kennedy was closer to the mark than his rival. That he did not live long enough to better Hoover and, more important, prove the point compounds the tragedy of his sad death.

Thanks to David Corn

Bus Union Under Mafia Control Concludes Independent Counsel

An independent counsel appointed to investigate the union representing 15,000 New York City school bus drivers has concluded that there is substantial evidence that “organized crime has infiltrated and controlled” it.

The counsel’s report, written in January and made public yesterday by dissident union members, said that top officers of the union, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, were involved in what it called racketeering activity that included extortion, kickbacks and bribes.

Salvatore Battaglia, the local’s former president, is facing trial on federal charges accusing him of extortion, receiving bribes and hiding Mafia involvement in the union. He has pleaded not guilty. The local’s secretary-treasurer, Julius Bernstein, was forced to resign by federal prosecutors and has pleaded guilty to obstructing justice.

The independent counsel, Richard W. Mark, called on the parent union to bring internal charges against Mr. Battaglia and Mr. Bernstein and to conduct a further investigation “to determine the extent of criminal activity.”

Leo Wetzel, the general counsel of the parent union, said the union had decided against bringing charges against those officials because they had both retired and cannot run again for union office. “It was the judgment of the union,” Mr. Wetzel said, “that the resources and attention of the international and local union were better directed to putting the local on the right course and to leave those matters to federal prosecutors.” Mr. Wetzel said the parent union assigned auditors to review Local 1181’s books for financial wrongdoing.

At a news conference yesterday, a dozen bus drivers complained that the two trustees whom the parent union had named to oversee the local had hired 11 of the local’s executive board members who had worked under Mr. Battaglia.

The drivers said those people had helped perpetuate an intimidating atmosphere that discourages criticism of union leaders. They also complained that not enough was being done to recoup the more than $2.7 million that federal officials say Mr. Battaglia obtained improperly.

“The international didn’t bring in any new faces,” said Simon Jean-Baptiste, who belongs to a dissident faction called Members for Change. “The same people are there who stopped people from talking. It’s a bad situation.”

Another bus driver, Clifford Magloire, said that in May, when he was distributing leaflets criticizing the local’s leaders, one union official pushed him against a fence and started screaming at him as others surrounded him.

Defending the decision to hire the 11, Mr. Wetzel said: “It is essential that you have experienced personnel to represent the union members. If you sweep house and bring in a bunch of people who have no experience, that is not a good idea.”

Mr. Wetzel said the 11 executive board members were hired for staff positions only after they passed a background check by the parent union. He said one executive board member was not hired because of questions about his integrity.

The independent counsel’s report criticized several officials from the parent union who knew for decades about mob involvement in Local 1181 but did nothing.

Last September, Matthew Ianniello, the acting boss of the Genovese crime family, admitted that he had helped arrange for bus companies to make payoffs to Local 1181 officials. Some payoffs, prosecutors say, went to Mr. Battaglia, who in exchange agreed not to attempt to unionize certain bus companies.

Mr. Ianniello also said he shared kickbacks and extorted money with Local 1181’s leaders. He made those admissions when he pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Manhattan to obstructing justice.

Mr. Wetzel said that union officials planned to enact a stronger ethics code at their convention this month that would, among other things, require union officials to notify headquarters if they know of any union official mishandling funds or involved in corruption.

Thanks to Steven Greenhouse

Restaurant Impresario Fails to Disclose Connection to Mobster

High-flying restaurant impresario Giuseppe Cipriani repeatedly omitted in his state liquor-license applications the involvement of a convicted Colombo crime-family associate in his hotspots, documents obtained by The Post show.

He also failed to list his father, Arrigo Cipriani, on numerous license applications, omissions that could lead to new criminal charges against the son.

The State Liquor Authority is examining Cipriani's failure to put down ex-con Dennis Pappas as a top executive on applications for any of the family's five famed New York restaurants, as it determines whether to yank Cipriani's licenses to sell booze. Not disclosing a senior manager, particularly one with a criminal past, "would be a very serious violation," said SLA spokesman Bill Crowley.

On the applications, reviewed by The Post, Giuseppe Cipriani, 42, president of Cipriani USA, claims to be the only owner and executive at the firm's opulent eateries and banquet halls.

In papers submitted to the SLA in 2004 for the restaurant at 200 Fifth Ave., for example, Cipriani says he has 100 percent ownership and adds, "Giuseppe Cipriani is the sole officer, director and shareholder."

But the application doesn't square with an April 2003 lease agreement Pappas signed with the restaurant in which Pappas describes himself as "CEO."

Nor does it match testimony Pappas gave in May, when at his sentencing for insurance fraud, he told a judge he had managerial control over the Ciprianis' New York operations between 2000 and 2006, reported only to Giuseppe Cipriani, hired workers, oversaw construction projects and got paid $900,000.

A reputed mob moneyman now doing time for duping insurance companies out of $1.5 million in fake disability claims, Pappas was convicted by the feds of RICO charges in 1998 for his legal work for the Colombos. He was also charged in 2006 with falsifying an application for a cabaret license for the Ciprianis' Rainbow Room by not disclosing his criminal past to the city's Department of Consumer Affairs.

The SLA is already looking to pull the Cipriani licenses after the felony conviction of patriarch Arrigo Cipriani, 75, who admitted in July he and Cipriani USA dodged $10 million in taxes.

Convicted felons are barred from holding liquor licenses unless they get a rare special permission from the court or Probation Department.

On the license applications, Giuseppe Cipriani also fails to mention the involvement of Arrigo, who heads a parent company that controls the family's New York operation.

The new documents could mean further legal trouble for Giuseppe, who also copped to helping the firm evade the taxes.

Thanks to Brad Hamilton and Susan Edelman

Petey Cap Hits a 7 and Craps Out as He Heads Up the River

It's snake eyes for Hudson County gambling racketeer Peter "Petey Cap" Caporino, who is on his way up the river after being sentenced to an unlucky seven years in prison today, officials said.

Caporino ran illegal numbers and sports betting rackets for more than 40 years and was an FBI informant for two decades.

Helping the feds got him off the hook but he just couldn't give up the business he operated out of the Character Club, on Monroe Street in Hoboken. A portion of his take was passed up the chain to Genovese crime family bosses, law enforcement officials said.

"We are gratified that this book has reached it's final chapter," said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

In 2002, Caporino pleaded guilty to money laundering involving illegal gambling proceeds and was sentenced to five years in prison. That sentence was suspended when he agreed to wear a wire for the FBI and help prosecute 15 reputed Genovese associates.

Caporino could have walked away but he didn't -- and things spiraled from there.
In June, he was arrested at his Hasbrouck Heights home and charged with leading an organized crime network, promoting gambling and possession of gambling records.

On Aug. 16 last year, he was arrested in Hoboken by Jersey City police and charged with promoting gambling and possession of gambling records, officials said. Following this arrest, the feds washed their hands of Caporino and DeFazio reinstated the five year suspended sentence.

Caporino was given seven years today by state Superior Judge Peter Vazquez, sitting in Jersey City, for leading an organized crime network, and five years for promoting gambling. Under the terms of the plea deal, the terms will run concurrently.

The sweep that netted Caporino in June also resulted in the arrest of his wife, Ann Caporino, 68, on the charge of possession of gambling records. The charge against her was dropped as part of his plea deal.

Thanks to Michaelangelo Conte