Chicago Outfit bosses have devised some shrewd excuses to stall justice, from feigning heart attacks and strokes to babbling incoherently as if possessed by an evil spirit.
About the time most people were starting to thaw the Thanksgiving bird last week, Rudolph C. "Rudy" Fratto of Darien was filing a motion to put off his federal court sentencing for a while.
The reason?
His lawyer needs a vacation in a sunny place. And then after the vacation his lawyer needs eye surgery.
Most people would take a break after an operation, but maybe the attorney needs to rest up for the surgery.
Regardless, by syndicate standards Fratto's delay tactic - laying it off on his lawyer - deserves a C at best. But as lame as the motion may be, the occasion allows me to revisit Mr. Fratto, whose well-cleansed and affluent suburban lifestyle has allowed him rapid upward movement in the Outfit, according to mob investigators.
As the omnipotent overseer of Outfit rackets in Elmwood Park, according to mobologists, for years Fratto has flown just below the fed's radar. Then, the lanky and birdlike Fratto committed the same mistake that eventually brings down all crooks: tax charges.
The feds finally got Al Capone that way. They caught Rudy Fratto when he neglected to ante up more than $141,000 in taxes on about $835,000 in income. So, the government got him indicted by a federal grand jury.
Now I know that federal prosecutors could get a hamburger indicted, as Joey "the Clown" Lombardo said recently in the Family Secrets mob murders case. But after they are indicted, nobody makes them plead guilty as Fratto, 65, did last month.
The kindly U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly set sentencing for Jan. 12, which allowed Fratto to spend the holidays with his family.
Last Thursday Mr. Fratto no doubt gave extra thanks for his timely fortunes and took an extra helping of mashed potatoes. And he will be able to enjoy a very merry Christmas and a blissful New Year with his loved ones before the judge considers handing him 12 to 18 months, which is the term called for in his plea bargain.
A year and a half isn't the kind of stay at the Crossbar Hotel that "Scarface" was given for breaking federal tax laws, but it no doubt is an unwelcome cold spell for a late-budding mob boss.
Now though, Mr. Fratto's sentencing may be delayed even further due to his lawyer's vacation plans and untimely cataract surgery.
The Fratto motion, to be heard on Wednesday morning in federal court, asks for a delay in sentencing to Feb. 12 for the convenience and pleasure of Fratto's attorney, Arthur N. Nasser.
"The defendant's attorney had made plans to visit with his family during Thanksgiving weekend in McLean, Va., and Christmas in Charleston, W.V." states the motion. "Thereafter, he has reservations to travel to Palm Springs, Calif., for 12 days departing Dec. 28, 2009 and returning to Chicago on Jan. 9, 2010. Upon his return to Chicago he is scheduled to have a cataract removed from his right eye ... on Jan. 14, 2010."
Such an excuse might have been better suited for Fratto's dearly-departed crime syndicate relative, Luigi Tomaso Giuseppi Fratto, who was a gangland boss and labor racketeer from the 1930s into the '60s.
Fratto was also known as "Cockeyed Louie" due to his off-kilter eyeball. Modern surgery could have fixed the problem.
"Cockeyed" is just one of Fratto's blood relatives who toiled in the trenches of the mob when it was in its infancy during the 1920s.
Rudy's public behavior certainly befits that of a smart-aleck Outfit boss. Federal records first reported by the ABC 7 I-Team revealed that Fratto was considered a major threat to major mob witness Nicholas Calabrese, a reformed hitman.
Calabrese' compelling testimony helped put away top hoodlums during the Family Secrets trial. Fratto was not charged in that case. Also, he was photographed over the years by federal surveillance teams during meetings with mob leaders. In 2001, he was seen at a secret Outfit summit where the takeover of video-poker turf in the suburbs was being hatched.
On another occasion, Fratto was observed meeting with former Chicago Police Chief of Detectives William Hanhardt. The duo was plotting of a proposed gangland hit, according to testimony in 2002 during a sentencing hearing in Hanhardt's jewel theft case. The hit did not occur and Hanhardt is serving a federal prison sentence. But getting a sentencing extension because your lawyer needs a Palm Springs vacation? Wimping out like that surely will not earn Rudy Fratto a place in the Outfit's Hall of Famous Ploys, Tricks and Tactics.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Will 4th Junior Gotti Trial End in Another Stalemate?
John Gotti Jr. sat at the defense table, the weight of his family history and whatever we have learned from countless movies and TV dramas about the Mafia, swirling around him.
This was the fourth time in the last four years that prosecutors have brought a case against him, this time for murder and racketeering, and just like the previous three trials in the ornate federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, a jury of 12 ordinary citizens have not been able to decide if he is guilty of the crimes charged.
"They have exhibited strength, intelligence, compassion and truthfulness and should be doubly commended for standing tall and firm for their beliefs and disbeliefs," Victoria Gotti, John's sister, told Fox News, acknowledging the proceedings have been a "difficult and exhausting trial." That slow journey will continue after the Thanksgiving holiday, with the jurors returning for more deliberations next week.
The jury announced it was deadlocked, just as the last three juries have since 2005, potentially handing federal prosecutions a stalemate. The U.S. government has so far been unable to convince 48 people that Gotti continued to follow his father's line of work. He has said he quit, in 1999, when he plead guilty to racketeering charges and went away for six years. At the time he said he thought that plea, and the sentence, would wipe the slate clean, but he was slapped with new charges when he left prison four years ago.
Prosecutors have ridiculed the claim that he quit.
"This defendant has lived the Mafia life," declared Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Trezevant, "and he never, never quit that life." They say the claim was concocted as a legal strategy and tried to show you just can't give the mob walking papers.
They presented the testimony of Bonanno Family Capo Dominick Cicale, who said you can only leave the Mafia by cooperating with the federal government or by dying. But others have walked away and lived to tell about it.
The most noted examples were the founder of the Bonanno crime family, the late Joseph Bonanno, and his son, Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno. Bill told Fox News in 2006 that he thought John Gotti Jr. had indeed left what they call "the life," in 1999, seeing what the world glamorized by "The Godfather" had really become.
In his book, "A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno," Bonanno wrote: "The world I grew up in is gone and what is left is in ruins. The Mafia stories continue, however, regardless of the emptiness behind them."
Bonanno wrote those words in 1999, not only the same year Gotti, Jr. claims he dropped out, but the year that the "The Sopranos" debuted on HBO, giving America a new, fictional mob fascination.
"The Sopranos" ended with the famous, and controversial, black-out scene. No Tony in handcuffs, no Tony walking away. Just Tony eating with his family. We think he's still out hustling in New Jersey and then dining at the Vesuvio with Carm. But in real life, organized crime careers have voluntarily ended with the finality viewers were denied by "The Sopranos" nebulous ending.
"You can quit the mob, I've done it," former Columbo crime family Capo Michael Franzese told Fox News.
The 58-year-old Franzese is the son of John "Sonny" Franzese, "a kingpin of the Columbo crime family," as Michael's Web site, MichaelFranzese.com, puts it. But after being released from prison, he became a born-again Christian, motivational speaker, producer and author. His latest book, "I'll Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse," applies what he learned in the mob to the business world - legally.
"You've got to be crazy to stay in the life," says Franzese. "Like me, John wasn't destined for this life and neither was I. I was going to school to become a doctor. I question my own self at times. I did this for my dad. At one point I wanted him to be proud of me, and I think John shares a similar feeling like that. So we got into it for one reason and realized what it was all about, and maybe had second thoughts."
The most intriguing, and surprising evidence of precedent for departing the ranks of wise-guys and not being stuffed in a barrel and dumped in the ocean, was a 1985 F.B.I. wiretap of Aniello Dellacroce. The then 71-year-old mob patriarch suffered from terminal cancer, and as the reputed underboss of the Gambino Crime Family at the time, he actually explained how the Gambinos had kicked someone out.
Dellacroce, who was the mentor of John Gotti Jr.'s father, was secretly recorded talking about a dismissed crime family member on June 9, 1985, in his home on Staten Island, New York, six months before he died.
"We threw him out of the Family," Dellacroce explained.
"So, youse knocked him down," responded a listener, meaning the man in question was demoted.
"No,"responded Delleacroce. "He's out of the family."
"He's out?" asked his friend, incredulously.
"Yeah," said Dellacroce. "We threw him out. Out."
"You threw him out?"
"Out. He don't belong in the Family no more. Any friend of yours, any, any friend of ours in the street...that you see...you tell them. This guy, he ain't in the family no more. You don't have nothin' to do with him. That's it."
Four days later, another FBI wiretap heard the group discussing their lawyers, and their visit to one lawyer's office.
"My God, what a layout he's got. They got more customers... Michael Franzese was there," noted one speaker, impressively.
During that tape, they resumed discussing the banished former Gambino.
"This guy is out, We threw him out," the group was reminded and then they start arguing about that possibility.
"I heard (this guy) was just taken down, he wasn't thrown out." said one.
"This guy was thrown out. Ya understand?" Dellacroce snapped. "Nobody's gonna bother with him...I wouldn't bother with him and nobody else would...I'll explain to him a little better this time…Maybe he didn't get the message right... Threw him out, that's, that's right. We threw him out...They don't understand English," said Dellacroce, trying to finally get his message through.
Even Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, who later served as the Gambino Underboss, quit by agreeing to testify against the senior Gotti in 1992. Gravano wrote in his book, "Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia," that he when he walked in to meet Gotti's prosecutor, he declared: "I want to switch governments," meaning from the Gambinos to Uncle Sam. He later was caught running a drug ring in Phoenix after he served five years for 19 murders, and is now back in prison.
The current, active members of Cosa Nostra may not agree, but history shows that even their leaders, at the highest levels -- including the bosses of two crime families- have walked away. And now a jury, once again, is trying to determine if John Gotti, Jr. did just that.
"I can tell you, unmistakably, that he has left that life," John's sister, Victoria, told Fox News. "We're not talking about a guy that is being paraded out there and there are videotapes or audio tapes of John with present day mob members," she notes, indirectly alluding to the avalanche of wiretaps and surveillance videos the Feds used as evidence against her father.
"John is no part of that life anymore," she adds. "I believe they know that deep in their hearts and in their brains."
Meanwhile, John Gotti, Jr. waits for a verdict -- if there is one.
Thanks to Eric Shawn
This was the fourth time in the last four years that prosecutors have brought a case against him, this time for murder and racketeering, and just like the previous three trials in the ornate federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, a jury of 12 ordinary citizens have not been able to decide if he is guilty of the crimes charged.
"They have exhibited strength, intelligence, compassion and truthfulness and should be doubly commended for standing tall and firm for their beliefs and disbeliefs," Victoria Gotti, John's sister, told Fox News, acknowledging the proceedings have been a "difficult and exhausting trial." That slow journey will continue after the Thanksgiving holiday, with the jurors returning for more deliberations next week.
The jury announced it was deadlocked, just as the last three juries have since 2005, potentially handing federal prosecutions a stalemate. The U.S. government has so far been unable to convince 48 people that Gotti continued to follow his father's line of work. He has said he quit, in 1999, when he plead guilty to racketeering charges and went away for six years. At the time he said he thought that plea, and the sentence, would wipe the slate clean, but he was slapped with new charges when he left prison four years ago.
Prosecutors have ridiculed the claim that he quit.
"This defendant has lived the Mafia life," declared Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Trezevant, "and he never, never quit that life." They say the claim was concocted as a legal strategy and tried to show you just can't give the mob walking papers.
They presented the testimony of Bonanno Family Capo Dominick Cicale, who said you can only leave the Mafia by cooperating with the federal government or by dying. But others have walked away and lived to tell about it.
The most noted examples were the founder of the Bonanno crime family, the late Joseph Bonanno, and his son, Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno. Bill told Fox News in 2006 that he thought John Gotti Jr. had indeed left what they call "the life," in 1999, seeing what the world glamorized by "The Godfather" had really become.
In his book, "A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno," Bonanno wrote: "The world I grew up in is gone and what is left is in ruins. The Mafia stories continue, however, regardless of the emptiness behind them."
Bonanno wrote those words in 1999, not only the same year Gotti, Jr. claims he dropped out, but the year that the "The Sopranos" debuted on HBO, giving America a new, fictional mob fascination.
"The Sopranos" ended with the famous, and controversial, black-out scene. No Tony in handcuffs, no Tony walking away. Just Tony eating with his family. We think he's still out hustling in New Jersey and then dining at the Vesuvio with Carm. But in real life, organized crime careers have voluntarily ended with the finality viewers were denied by "The Sopranos" nebulous ending.
"You can quit the mob, I've done it," former Columbo crime family Capo Michael Franzese told Fox News.
The 58-year-old Franzese is the son of John "Sonny" Franzese, "a kingpin of the Columbo crime family," as Michael's Web site, MichaelFranzese.com, puts it. But after being released from prison, he became a born-again Christian, motivational speaker, producer and author. His latest book, "I'll Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse," applies what he learned in the mob to the business world - legally.
"You've got to be crazy to stay in the life," says Franzese. "Like me, John wasn't destined for this life and neither was I. I was going to school to become a doctor. I question my own self at times. I did this for my dad. At one point I wanted him to be proud of me, and I think John shares a similar feeling like that. So we got into it for one reason and realized what it was all about, and maybe had second thoughts."
The most intriguing, and surprising evidence of precedent for departing the ranks of wise-guys and not being stuffed in a barrel and dumped in the ocean, was a 1985 F.B.I. wiretap of Aniello Dellacroce. The then 71-year-old mob patriarch suffered from terminal cancer, and as the reputed underboss of the Gambino Crime Family at the time, he actually explained how the Gambinos had kicked someone out.
Dellacroce, who was the mentor of John Gotti Jr.'s father, was secretly recorded talking about a dismissed crime family member on June 9, 1985, in his home on Staten Island, New York, six months before he died.
"We threw him out of the Family," Dellacroce explained.
"So, youse knocked him down," responded a listener, meaning the man in question was demoted.
"No,"responded Delleacroce. "He's out of the family."
"He's out?" asked his friend, incredulously.
"Yeah," said Dellacroce. "We threw him out. Out."
"You threw him out?"
"Out. He don't belong in the Family no more. Any friend of yours, any, any friend of ours in the street...that you see...you tell them. This guy, he ain't in the family no more. You don't have nothin' to do with him. That's it."
Four days later, another FBI wiretap heard the group discussing their lawyers, and their visit to one lawyer's office.
"My God, what a layout he's got. They got more customers... Michael Franzese was there," noted one speaker, impressively.
During that tape, they resumed discussing the banished former Gambino.
"This guy is out, We threw him out," the group was reminded and then they start arguing about that possibility.
"I heard (this guy) was just taken down, he wasn't thrown out." said one.
"This guy was thrown out. Ya understand?" Dellacroce snapped. "Nobody's gonna bother with him...I wouldn't bother with him and nobody else would...I'll explain to him a little better this time…Maybe he didn't get the message right... Threw him out, that's, that's right. We threw him out...They don't understand English," said Dellacroce, trying to finally get his message through.
Even Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, who later served as the Gambino Underboss, quit by agreeing to testify against the senior Gotti in 1992. Gravano wrote in his book, "Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia," that he when he walked in to meet Gotti's prosecutor, he declared: "I want to switch governments," meaning from the Gambinos to Uncle Sam. He later was caught running a drug ring in Phoenix after he served five years for 19 murders, and is now back in prison.
The current, active members of Cosa Nostra may not agree, but history shows that even their leaders, at the highest levels -- including the bosses of two crime families- have walked away. And now a jury, once again, is trying to determine if John Gotti, Jr. did just that.
"I can tell you, unmistakably, that he has left that life," John's sister, Victoria, told Fox News. "We're not talking about a guy that is being paraded out there and there are videotapes or audio tapes of John with present day mob members," she notes, indirectly alluding to the avalanche of wiretaps and surveillance videos the Feds used as evidence against her father.
"John is no part of that life anymore," she adds. "I believe they know that deep in their hearts and in their brains."
Meanwhile, John Gotti, Jr. waits for a verdict -- if there is one.
Thanks to Eric Shawn
The Other Chicago Mob: The True Story of Gary Cohen Man in Blue
The Other Chicago Mob the story of Officer Gary Cohen, a cop from 1966 to 1988. He and his brother officers were almost universally opportunists, crooks, and in some way on the take in a police department set up to facilitate dishonest activity. This is the story of a crooked cop in a dishonest system that is part of a dysfunctional city government. It describes a forty-year cover-up as Gary crosses the thin blue line and breaks the code of silence to set history right. The Other Chicago Mob is the police department, and the story explains how it works, names individuals, takes you on the streets and down in the subways in this never before told true police story. Walk the streets and alleys of Chicago and see what being a cop was really about.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Gomorrah DVD
Matteo Garrone's GOMORRAH is a dense, sprawling exposé of the corruption plaguing the communities of Naples and Caserta in modern-day Italy. all-powerful Camorra syndicate influences the lives of even the most innocent citizens. In a manner similar to THE WIRE, Garrone tells his story from many different angles, resulting in a complicated narrative that often feels novelistic. In many cases, the revolving stories never overlap or intersect. While that may be jarring to those viewers who are used to having their strings tied neatly for them by a film's conclusion, Garrone's decision results in an experience that feels much more honest and true. We witness the syndicate's impact from the top down and from the inside out, following a cavalcade of characters who are all trying in their own ways to escape the deadly world in which they live.
Based on the book by Roberto Saviano, Garrone's crime epic is a powerful indictment of the corruption that is running rampant in Italy. His decision to present such a wide spectrum of characters enables him to show just how deeply everyone is impacted by this terrifying, unchecked display of criminal power. Cinematically, he employs a dizzying array of styles in order to further establish the frighteningly ungoverned atmosphere that pervades this community. GOMORRAH succeeds as both visceral entertainment and thoughtful social commentary. (2 hrs. 17 min.)
Based on the book by Roberto Saviano, Garrone's crime epic is a powerful indictment of the corruption that is running rampant in Italy. His decision to present such a wide spectrum of characters enables him to show just how deeply everyone is impacted by this terrifying, unchecked display of criminal power. Cinematically, he employs a dizzying array of styles in order to further establish the frighteningly ungoverned atmosphere that pervades this community. GOMORRAH succeeds as both visceral entertainment and thoughtful social commentary. (2 hrs. 17 min.)
Friday, November 20, 2009
Mario Rainone, Reputed Chicago Mobster, Pleads Guilty to Residential Burglary
A reputed member of the Chicago mob was sentenced to 71/2 years in prison Monday when he pleaded guilty to burglarizing a Lincolnshire house.
Mario Rainone, 54, pleaded guilty to residential burglary during a hearing before Lake County Associate Judge George Bridges.
At the time of the Feb. 12 burglary, Rainone was on parole for a racketeering and conspiracy conviction in federal court for his activities as a member of the Leonard Patrick Street Crew.
Assistant State's Attorney Marykay Foy said Rainone, of Addison, and Vincent Forliano, 39, of Bloomingdale, were under surveillance by a task force of police from several jurisdictions in northern Illinois.
Police watched as the pair drove from Bloomingdale to Trafalgar Square in Lincolnshire, walked into a condominium complex and emerged a few minutes later with property under their coats.
Officers followed them to an intersection in Addison, where their car was stopped and they were arrested after a purse, cash and jewelry taken from the Lincolnshire house was found in the vehicle.
Both were charged with residential burglary, which Foy said carries a mandatory prison sentence of four to 15 years upon conviction.
Foy said Rainone was convicted of residential burglary in 1972, and in 1992 pleaded guilty to the federal racketeering charge in exchange for a sentence of 171/2 years in prison.
He is currently charged with violating his parole in that case and faces another federal charge of possession of a weapon by a felon based on a handgun that was discovered in his house after his arrest in the Lincolnshire case.
In addition, Foy said Rainone faces federal charges of bribery in Wisconsin for having contraband food smuggled into the prison where he was serving time.
Forliano has pleaded not guilty to charges in the Lincolnshire case and is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 27.
Thanks to Tony Gordon
Mario Rainone, 54, pleaded guilty to residential burglary during a hearing before Lake County Associate Judge George Bridges.
At the time of the Feb. 12 burglary, Rainone was on parole for a racketeering and conspiracy conviction in federal court for his activities as a member of the Leonard Patrick Street Crew.
Assistant State's Attorney Marykay Foy said Rainone, of Addison, and Vincent Forliano, 39, of Bloomingdale, were under surveillance by a task force of police from several jurisdictions in northern Illinois.
Police watched as the pair drove from Bloomingdale to Trafalgar Square in Lincolnshire, walked into a condominium complex and emerged a few minutes later with property under their coats.
Officers followed them to an intersection in Addison, where their car was stopped and they were arrested after a purse, cash and jewelry taken from the Lincolnshire house was found in the vehicle.
Both were charged with residential burglary, which Foy said carries a mandatory prison sentence of four to 15 years upon conviction.
Foy said Rainone was convicted of residential burglary in 1972, and in 1992 pleaded guilty to the federal racketeering charge in exchange for a sentence of 171/2 years in prison.
He is currently charged with violating his parole in that case and faces another federal charge of possession of a weapon by a felon based on a handgun that was discovered in his house after his arrest in the Lincolnshire case.
In addition, Foy said Rainone faces federal charges of bribery in Wisconsin for having contraband food smuggled into the prison where he was serving time.
Forliano has pleaded not guilty to charges in the Lincolnshire case and is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 27.
Thanks to Tony Gordon
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Patrick Tuite Settles Lawsuit Over Double Deal
The Reader received the other day a nearly blank sheet of paper passing itself off as a press release. At the top of the sheet PRESS RELEASE had been typed, and beneath that heading this message:
"The case of Tuite vs. harper Collins, Michael Corbitt and Sam Giancana has been resolved. All terms of the settlement are confidential. The reference to Patrick Tuite was removed from the paperback edition of the book Double Deal prior to its publication in 2003."
There was a cover letter, equally terse.
"Dear Sir or Madam: In that your publication previously reported on the litigation for defamation brought by Patrick Tuite, the enclosed Press Release may be of interest to your readers. The release is self-explanatory and no additional information is available."
It was signed by Paul M. Levy of the Loop law firm Deutsch, Levy & Engel.
The press release was self-explanatory in the sense that it said why it said nothing. Because the terms are confidential, that's why. I called Levy and, chancing an immediate hang-up, asked who he was. He said he represented Tuite. Why are the terms confidential? I asked. He did not have to answer such a prying question, but he did.
"By agreement of the parties," he said. "We felt it was an appropriate element of the settlement."
The Tuite suit was major litigation. I wrote about it frequently for the Reader, and at some length. Tuite is a prominent criminal defense attorney who believed he was slandered in Double Deal, a 2003 book written by a mobbed-up ex-cop, now dead, and by the godson of the former Chicago mob godfather. In the book, Corbitt, the cop, told a story about making a run out to Salt Lake City to pick up $1 million stuffed into a couple of duffel bags. Corbitt said he understood the money was needed to hire a "big-shot lawyer" — Tuite — to defend mob boss Joey Aiuppa against federal charges.
"After Tuite was on the case, all the guys were sort of semijubilant. Everybody figured Tuite had it all handled..." Corbitt wrote. "So you can imagine their reaction when they were all found guilty the following January...
"And what about Tuite? What kind of explanation could he possibly have given for this result? I can't think of one that would've satisfied me--not after advancing him a million bucks for his legal fees. And I guess that's why, for the life of me, I've never understood why Pat Tuite didn't get whacked. Go figure."
The theory Tuite advanced in his lawsuit for why he didn't get whacked was that there was no million dollars and he didn't even represent Aiuppa. His suit failed at the circuit court and appellate levels on the grounds that Illinois' "innocent construction rule" required the courts to measure arguably slanderous language by its most benign interpretation, which in this case was simply that the mob thought Tuite was one crackerjack attorney. Tuite appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. He went beyond arguing that the lower courts had misapplied the innocent construction rule. He called the rule an "anachronism" and asked the supreme court to abolish it.
First Amendment attorneys leaped to the rule's defense. The Reader, the Tribune, the Sun-Times, ABC, CBS, WLS, Crain Communications, the Copley Press, the Illinois Broadcasters Association, and Simon & Schuster joined in an amicus brief that called Tuite's request "profoundly ill-advised." The brief argued that the innocent construction rule "preserves writers, publishers and broadcasters from the chilling effect of having to mount a lengthy and expensive defense of marginal and abusive cases." If, occasionally, it's misapplied, "that...does not mean you throw it out; that is what appellate review is for."
I first wrote about Tuite's suit in 2006, when Tuite took his suit to the supreme court. A few months later I examined what was to me the tortured logic by which that court both ruled for Tuite but managed to keep the innocent construction rule alive. When defense attorneys asked the court for a rehearing, I wrote about the Tuite suit a third time. And that was that. A rehearing wasn't granted and Tuite's suit returned to circuit court for trial. But in the end — I was able to find this out — the two sides agreed to let a mediator work out terms everyone could live with.
Those are the terms that are none of our business.
The note from Levy wasn't quite as succinct or dramatic a message as a dead fish dropped on your doorstep. But it came close. The message: It's over; Fuhgeddaboutit!
Which I'm afraid I and the various parties to the amicus brief had begun to do as soon as the innocent construction rule was saved. It was unpleasant of Levy to tell us so little. But it was nice of him to remember that we once cared.
Thanks to Michael Miner
"The case of Tuite vs. harper Collins, Michael Corbitt and Sam Giancana has been resolved. All terms of the settlement are confidential. The reference to Patrick Tuite was removed from the paperback edition of the book Double Deal prior to its publication in 2003."
There was a cover letter, equally terse.
"Dear Sir or Madam: In that your publication previously reported on the litigation for defamation brought by Patrick Tuite, the enclosed Press Release may be of interest to your readers. The release is self-explanatory and no additional information is available."
It was signed by Paul M. Levy of the Loop law firm Deutsch, Levy & Engel.
The press release was self-explanatory in the sense that it said why it said nothing. Because the terms are confidential, that's why. I called Levy and, chancing an immediate hang-up, asked who he was. He said he represented Tuite. Why are the terms confidential? I asked. He did not have to answer such a prying question, but he did.
"By agreement of the parties," he said. "We felt it was an appropriate element of the settlement."
The Tuite suit was major litigation. I wrote about it frequently for the Reader, and at some length. Tuite is a prominent criminal defense attorney who believed he was slandered in Double Deal, a 2003 book written by a mobbed-up ex-cop, now dead, and by the godson of the former Chicago mob godfather. In the book, Corbitt, the cop, told a story about making a run out to Salt Lake City to pick up $1 million stuffed into a couple of duffel bags. Corbitt said he understood the money was needed to hire a "big-shot lawyer" — Tuite — to defend mob boss Joey Aiuppa against federal charges.
"After Tuite was on the case, all the guys were sort of semijubilant. Everybody figured Tuite had it all handled..." Corbitt wrote. "So you can imagine their reaction when they were all found guilty the following January...
"And what about Tuite? What kind of explanation could he possibly have given for this result? I can't think of one that would've satisfied me--not after advancing him a million bucks for his legal fees. And I guess that's why, for the life of me, I've never understood why Pat Tuite didn't get whacked. Go figure."
The theory Tuite advanced in his lawsuit for why he didn't get whacked was that there was no million dollars and he didn't even represent Aiuppa. His suit failed at the circuit court and appellate levels on the grounds that Illinois' "innocent construction rule" required the courts to measure arguably slanderous language by its most benign interpretation, which in this case was simply that the mob thought Tuite was one crackerjack attorney. Tuite appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. He went beyond arguing that the lower courts had misapplied the innocent construction rule. He called the rule an "anachronism" and asked the supreme court to abolish it.
First Amendment attorneys leaped to the rule's defense. The Reader, the Tribune, the Sun-Times, ABC, CBS, WLS, Crain Communications, the Copley Press, the Illinois Broadcasters Association, and Simon & Schuster joined in an amicus brief that called Tuite's request "profoundly ill-advised." The brief argued that the innocent construction rule "preserves writers, publishers and broadcasters from the chilling effect of having to mount a lengthy and expensive defense of marginal and abusive cases." If, occasionally, it's misapplied, "that...does not mean you throw it out; that is what appellate review is for."
I first wrote about Tuite's suit in 2006, when Tuite took his suit to the supreme court. A few months later I examined what was to me the tortured logic by which that court both ruled for Tuite but managed to keep the innocent construction rule alive. When defense attorneys asked the court for a rehearing, I wrote about the Tuite suit a third time. And that was that. A rehearing wasn't granted and Tuite's suit returned to circuit court for trial. But in the end — I was able to find this out — the two sides agreed to let a mediator work out terms everyone could live with.
Those are the terms that are none of our business.
The note from Levy wasn't quite as succinct or dramatic a message as a dead fish dropped on your doorstep. But it came close. The message: It's over; Fuhgeddaboutit!
Which I'm afraid I and the various parties to the amicus brief had begun to do as soon as the innocent construction rule was saved. It was unpleasant of Levy to tell us so little. But it was nice of him to remember that we once cared.
Thanks to Michael Miner
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Chicago's Bloody Gang War of the 1920's
On this day in 1924, Dion O'Banion, the Irish-American leader of North Side Gang is assassinated in his flower shop by members of Johnny Torrio's gang, sparking the bloody gang war of the 1920s in Chicago.
O'Banion, who had a thriving bootlegging and floral business, was the main rival of the Chicago outfit, led by Torrio and his henchman, Al Capone.
When O'Banion learned there was going to be a raid on his brewery, he offered to retire to Colorado if Torrio bought out the business. Torrio wound up in jail and O'Banion kept the $500,000 for the padlocked brewery.
O'Banion was in his floral shop fixing flowers when three gangsters came in. When O'Banion reached out with a handshake, one of the men held it in a death gripe, while the other two shot O'Banion twice each in the chest, cheeks and throat.
The O'Banion killing sparked a five-year war that culminated in the killing of seven North Side gang members in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929.
Thanks to Scott McCabe
O'Banion, who had a thriving bootlegging and floral business, was the main rival of the Chicago outfit, led by Torrio and his henchman, Al Capone.
When O'Banion learned there was going to be a raid on his brewery, he offered to retire to Colorado if Torrio bought out the business. Torrio wound up in jail and O'Banion kept the $500,000 for the padlocked brewery.
O'Banion was in his floral shop fixing flowers when three gangsters came in. When O'Banion reached out with a handshake, one of the men held it in a death gripe, while the other two shot O'Banion twice each in the chest, cheeks and throat.
The O'Banion killing sparked a five-year war that culminated in the killing of seven North Side gang members in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929.
Thanks to Scott McCabe
Monday, November 09, 2009
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Chicago Gangster Arrested in Wisconsin
Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrest of DANIEL BONILLA, age 26, whose last known address was 2544 North Harding in Chicago. BONILLA was arrested on November 2, 2009, by members of the Milwaukee U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. BONILLA had been the subject of a nationwide manhunt, coordinated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs (JTFG) since October of 2008, when he was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of Federal drug laws.
BONILLA, an alleged member of the Spanish Cobras street gang, was among 30 gang members and associates charged last year as the result of an investigation, codenamed “Operation Snake Charmer”. His arrest earlier this week was the result of an anonymous tip to the Chicago Office of the FBI. The tipster indicated that he/she had seen BONILLA’s wanted flyer on the internet and knew of his whereabouts in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He was arrested without incident.
BONILLA was transported back to Chicago, where he appeared in U.S. District Court to face charges. He is being held without bond until his next scheduled court appearance.
The Milwaukee U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force is comprised of Special Agents from the FBI; U.S. Marshals; Officers of the Milwaukee Police Department; and Deputies from the Milwaukee and Waukesha County Sheriff’s Departments.
The public is reminded that a criminal complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law
BONILLA, an alleged member of the Spanish Cobras street gang, was among 30 gang members and associates charged last year as the result of an investigation, codenamed “Operation Snake Charmer”. His arrest earlier this week was the result of an anonymous tip to the Chicago Office of the FBI. The tipster indicated that he/she had seen BONILLA’s wanted flyer on the internet and knew of his whereabouts in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He was arrested without incident.
BONILLA was transported back to Chicago, where he appeared in U.S. District Court to face charges. He is being held without bond until his next scheduled court appearance.
The Milwaukee U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force is comprised of Special Agents from the FBI; U.S. Marshals; Officers of the Milwaukee Police Department; and Deputies from the Milwaukee and Waukesha County Sheriff’s Departments.
The public is reminded that a criminal complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Muslim Mafia Authors Barred From Publishing Documents
A federal judge yesterday granted a request by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to block the authors of Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America from publishing any of the documents taken by Chris Gaubatz while he was posing as an intern during a "counterintelligence operation" for the book.
Separately, Muslim Mafia author Dave Gaubatz and his son Chris are now being represented by the lawyer who represented shock jock Michael Savage in his 2007 copyright infringement suit against CAIR. We'll have more on this soon.
Besides barring publication of the docs, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered in her opinion yesterday that the authors return to CAIR any of the files that contain donor, attorney-client, or confidential employee information. She ruled CAIR is likely to succeed in its claim that Gaubatz violated the confidentiality agreement that CAIR alleges he signed when he became an intern at the group's Washington office.
"This is the first step," CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper tells TPMmuckraker. "This is going to be a long legal battle and we won the first skirmish." He adds that CAIR has not yet received the documents, and that it is mulling further legal action on issues including defamation.
Kollar-Kotelly writes in her opinion:
Of course Muslim Mafia, published last month by WorldNetDaily, makes use of those documents and sparked a request by four House Republicans for an investigation into alleged Muslim intern spying on Capitol Hill. And it's worth noting that at least a few of the documents are already in wide circulation, including a CAIR "strategy" memo released by the members of Congress.
Kollar-Kotelly also writes in her ruling that the information she has seen suggests Gaubatz took information from CAIR -- including, they say, 12,000 pages of internal files -- unlawfully:
Gaubatz told WND that research for the book "was conducted professionally and legally."
Thanks to Justin Elliot
Separately, Muslim Mafia author Dave Gaubatz and his son Chris are now being represented by the lawyer who represented shock jock Michael Savage in his 2007 copyright infringement suit against CAIR. We'll have more on this soon.
Besides barring publication of the docs, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered in her opinion yesterday that the authors return to CAIR any of the files that contain donor, attorney-client, or confidential employee information. She ruled CAIR is likely to succeed in its claim that Gaubatz violated the confidentiality agreement that CAIR alleges he signed when he became an intern at the group's Washington office.
"This is the first step," CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper tells TPMmuckraker. "This is going to be a long legal battle and we won the first skirmish." He adds that CAIR has not yet received the documents, and that it is mulling further legal action on issues including defamation.
Kollar-Kotelly writes in her opinion:
The Court shall therefore GRANT CAIR's request for a temporary restraining order enjoining Defendants from making any use, disclosure or publication of any (a) document (including emails and other electronic documents) or copy thereof obtained by Defendant Chris Gaubatz from CAIR's offices or facilities, or (b) recording (or copy thereof), whether audio or video, of meetings or of conversations involving CAIR officials or employees.
Of course Muslim Mafia, published last month by WorldNetDaily, makes use of those documents and sparked a request by four House Republicans for an investigation into alleged Muslim intern spying on Capitol Hill. And it's worth noting that at least a few of the documents are already in wide circulation, including a CAIR "strategy" memo released by the members of Congress.
Kollar-Kotelly also writes in her ruling that the information she has seen suggests Gaubatz took information from CAIR -- including, they say, 12,000 pages of internal files -- unlawfully:
[T]he record now before the Court supports a finding that Defendants have unlawfully obtained access to, and have already caused repeated public disclosure of, material containing CAIR's proprietary, confidential and privileged information. Although Defendants have not yet appeared before the Court in person, CAIR has provided sworn declarations detailing apparent admissions made by Defendant Paul David Gaubatz in his book, Muslim Mafia, in which he admits that his son, Defendant Chris Gaubatz, obtained an internship with CAIR under the "nom de guerre" of "David Marshall," and "routinely load[ed] the trunk of his car with boxes of sensitive [CAIR] documents and deliver[ed] them into the custody of investigative project P. David Gaubatz who in turn stockpiled them at his office in Richmond, Virginia."
Gaubatz told WND that research for the book "was conducted professionally and legally."
Thanks to Justin Elliot
Victoria Gotti Explodes in Court with Profane Tirade
She's one bad mother.
Mob matriarch Victoria Gotti unleashed a foul-mouthed fusillade at a federal judge Wednesday, exploding in fury as he booted a purportedly pro-defense juror.
"F----- animals!" screamed the seething mother of defendant John A. (Junior) Gotti. "They're railroading you! They're doing to you what they did to your father!"
Junior Gotti turned from the defense table to soothe his mother, but the wife of late mobster John (Dapper Don) Gotti ignored her 45-year-old son - and escalated her profane tirade.
"They're doing to you what they did to your father," the volatile Mafia mom ranted. "You f------ liar! You bastard!"
Junior interrupted: "I can deal with it. I'm okay. Don't worry about it. I'm fine." But his mother kept blasting with both barrels.
"They're the gangsters, right there!" she yelled. "The f------ gangsters! You son of a bitches! Put your own sons in there. You bastards!"
Federal Judge Kevin Castel was in the middle of dismissing contentious juror No. 7 when Victoria Gotti - who has a history of histrionics - sprung from her seat in full maternal meltdown.
She was hustled from the courtroom by three of her children before a scowling Castel continued, cutting loose the pro-defense juror. Prosecutors had sought her dismissal.
He also dismissed No. 7's nemesis, juror No. 11. The jury was out of the courtroom when Castel made his ruling - and when Victoria Gotti erupted.
"I don't know the source of the friction between the two jurors," Castel concluded after Victoria Gotti left. "It may be that one is a difficult personality or that both are difficult.
"Accordingly, I am striking both jurors."
The blowup came as the defense was wrapping up its case in Gotti's fourth racketeering trial in five years. The first three ended with hung juries and mistrials.
The jury rift opened last week, after a letter to the judge from an anonymous fellow panelist.
The juror ratted out No. 7, a 34-year-old mail carrier, as sweet on defense lawyer Charles Carnesi and giving her "undivided attention" to the defense case.
The letter raised hopes in the Gotti camp of a fourth mistrial. Then more problems emerged this week, with juror No. 11 accusing No. 7 of taunting her.
Castel attempted to calm the divided jury with sweet talk and sweets - a jar of Twizzlers. Neither worked. And nothing could calm Victoria Gotti, who had verbally assaulted Castel after a hearing in May.
"Why don't you hang him now?" she asked sarcastically at the time. "These are the good guys? God help us!"
Three years ago, in another Junior trial, she shouted at a federal prosecutor. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" she snapped.
Thanks to Alison Gendar and Larry McShane.
Mob matriarch Victoria Gotti unleashed a foul-mouthed fusillade at a federal judge Wednesday, exploding in fury as he booted a purportedly pro-defense juror.
"F----- animals!" screamed the seething mother of defendant John A. (Junior) Gotti. "They're railroading you! They're doing to you what they did to your father!"
Junior Gotti turned from the defense table to soothe his mother, but the wife of late mobster John (Dapper Don) Gotti ignored her 45-year-old son - and escalated her profane tirade.
"They're doing to you what they did to your father," the volatile Mafia mom ranted. "You f------ liar! You bastard!"
Junior interrupted: "I can deal with it. I'm okay. Don't worry about it. I'm fine." But his mother kept blasting with both barrels.
"They're the gangsters, right there!" she yelled. "The f------ gangsters! You son of a bitches! Put your own sons in there. You bastards!"
Federal Judge Kevin Castel was in the middle of dismissing contentious juror No. 7 when Victoria Gotti - who has a history of histrionics - sprung from her seat in full maternal meltdown.
She was hustled from the courtroom by three of her children before a scowling Castel continued, cutting loose the pro-defense juror. Prosecutors had sought her dismissal.
He also dismissed No. 7's nemesis, juror No. 11. The jury was out of the courtroom when Castel made his ruling - and when Victoria Gotti erupted.
"I don't know the source of the friction between the two jurors," Castel concluded after Victoria Gotti left. "It may be that one is a difficult personality or that both are difficult.
"Accordingly, I am striking both jurors."
The blowup came as the defense was wrapping up its case in Gotti's fourth racketeering trial in five years. The first three ended with hung juries and mistrials.
The jury rift opened last week, after a letter to the judge from an anonymous fellow panelist.
The juror ratted out No. 7, a 34-year-old mail carrier, as sweet on defense lawyer Charles Carnesi and giving her "undivided attention" to the defense case.
The letter raised hopes in the Gotti camp of a fourth mistrial. Then more problems emerged this week, with juror No. 11 accusing No. 7 of taunting her.
Castel attempted to calm the divided jury with sweet talk and sweets - a jar of Twizzlers. Neither worked. And nothing could calm Victoria Gotti, who had verbally assaulted Castel after a hearing in May.
"Why don't you hang him now?" she asked sarcastically at the time. "These are the good guys? God help us!"
Three years ago, in another Junior trial, she shouted at a federal prosecutor. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" she snapped.
Thanks to Alison Gendar and Larry McShane.
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