The so-called ''geriatric trio'' of Chicago mobsters will have to wait a few months for their day in court.
The federal court trial of Jerry Scalise, Art Rachel and Robert Pullia was to start on July 11, and as avid craps players know, that date -- 7/11 -- is considered good luck and a natural win. Now, though, a delay in some evidence tests ordered by the prosecution means the trial for the Outfit's "geriatric trio" will no longer roll on 7/11.
It has been nearly 15 months since the geriatric troika was arrested in its latest Outfit racket: Armed invasions of several suburban banks and a break-in at the home of a deceased mob boss.
The leader of the 70-somethings is Scalise, a long-time Outfit burglar and repeat ex-con who seemed to have been going straight, working as a consultant on Dillinger and other gangster films shot in Chicago. But, according to prosecutors, Scalise was plotting new crimes even as he aided the fictional accounts on film.
In May, FBI agents served warrants on Scalise's head, demanding hair samples for DNA tests to compare with hair strands found on masks that were allegedly to be used in the hold-ups.
Pullia also provided hair samples to the government.
Art Rachel, known as "The Genius," was not required to pluck any samples.
In court Wednesday, the government said that DNA testing of hair samples was still under way. With defense attorneys willing to wait for the results of hair tests that they hope will clear their clients, a new trial date of September 19 was set.
Thirty-one years ago, the case that made Scalise and Rachel famous was the daring theft of the 41-carat Marlborough diamond from a London jeweler. They were convicted and did lengthy prison sentences in the UK in a case that had no DNA sampling because the use of DNA testing was still a few years away in criminal cases.
This time around, with DNA center stage, attorneys for the mobsters contend that U.S. prosecutors shouldn't have waited a year to do the hair tests.
The September trial date is tentative and it may be later than that. There was even talk of a possible December date. Judge Harry Leinenweber said the whole thing was "screwing up my schedule."
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Oscar D'Angelo, "Mayor of Little Italy", on Mob Trial Witness List
Two weeks from now Chicago's latest Outfit trial is scheduled to start in federal court. A trio of aging Chicago mobsters face racketeering/burglary charges.
In this Intelligence Report: We've learned that the government witnesses may include one of the city's most controversial businessmen, the man known as "the Mayor of Little Italy."
He is Oscar D'Angelo, whose Chicago political influence began in the 1950s with Richard J. Daley, yielded him millions as a well-connected developer and rainmaker, and ended in a feud with Richard M. Daley almost 10 years ago. D'Angelo is the flamboyant, self-styled "mayor of Little Italy."
Now, at age 79, D'Angelo finds himself on the prosecution's list of potential witnesses in the city's next big mob trial.
Next month, in the trial of three Chicago hoodlums, D'Angelo may have to speak publicly from the witness stand in federal court.
Jerry Scalise, Art Rachel and Robert Pullia are charged with plotting to hold-up suburban banks and with scheming a break-in at the home of deceased South Side rackets boss Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra.
Scalise and Rachel are best known for stealing the famous 40-carat Marlborough diamond in 1980, a daring daylight robbery from a popular jewelry store in London, England. The men did long prison stretches in the UK and returned to Chicago, authorities say, to resume their careers as Outfit burglars.
While it is not clear why the government would want D'Angelo to testify against them, it would be an unusual and potentially uncomfortable position for him.
First, D'Angelo is a defrocked attorney himself, in 1989 having been disbarred for giving rental cars as gifts to city officials, judges and other politicians. In 2000 he then scarred his three-decade long relationship with the Daley family by loaning money interest to a top Daley official and working as an unregistered lobbyist.
Federal authorities aren't talking about why D'Angelo is on the witness list, although with a park along the Eisenhower Expressway named after him and with his historical perspective of Taylor Street where the gangland thugs operated, perhaps D'Angelo will merely be a foundation witness for the prosecution.
It is not unusual for the government to put people on the witness list who don't end up being called to testify just to cover their bases. But D'Angelo's name certainly attracts attention. And, there is another well-known name on the prosecutor's list, former Chicago police chief of detectives William Hanhardt, who is in prison for his own role in an Outfit jewel theft racket.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
In this Intelligence Report: We've learned that the government witnesses may include one of the city's most controversial businessmen, the man known as "the Mayor of Little Italy."
He is Oscar D'Angelo, whose Chicago political influence began in the 1950s with Richard J. Daley, yielded him millions as a well-connected developer and rainmaker, and ended in a feud with Richard M. Daley almost 10 years ago. D'Angelo is the flamboyant, self-styled "mayor of Little Italy."
Now, at age 79, D'Angelo finds himself on the prosecution's list of potential witnesses in the city's next big mob trial.
Next month, in the trial of three Chicago hoodlums, D'Angelo may have to speak publicly from the witness stand in federal court.
Jerry Scalise, Art Rachel and Robert Pullia are charged with plotting to hold-up suburban banks and with scheming a break-in at the home of deceased South Side rackets boss Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra.
Scalise and Rachel are best known for stealing the famous 40-carat Marlborough diamond in 1980, a daring daylight robbery from a popular jewelry store in London, England. The men did long prison stretches in the UK and returned to Chicago, authorities say, to resume their careers as Outfit burglars.
While it is not clear why the government would want D'Angelo to testify against them, it would be an unusual and potentially uncomfortable position for him.
First, D'Angelo is a defrocked attorney himself, in 1989 having been disbarred for giving rental cars as gifts to city officials, judges and other politicians. In 2000 he then scarred his three-decade long relationship with the Daley family by loaning money interest to a top Daley official and working as an unregistered lobbyist.
Federal authorities aren't talking about why D'Angelo is on the witness list, although with a park along the Eisenhower Expressway named after him and with his historical perspective of Taylor Street where the gangland thugs operated, perhaps D'Angelo will merely be a foundation witness for the prosecution.
It is not unusual for the government to put people on the witness list who don't end up being called to testify just to cover their bases. But D'Angelo's name certainly attracts attention. And, there is another well-known name on the prosecutor's list, former Chicago police chief of detectives William Hanhardt, who is in prison for his own role in an Outfit jewel theft racket.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Chicago Outfit Still Corners the Vice Market
It has been a quarter-century since the two brothers were found, one on top of the other, buried in a shallow grave in a freshly planted Indiana cornfield. The June 1986 slayings of Las Vegas mob chieftain Anthony Spilotro and his brother, Michael, captured national attention and became part of mob lore. The movie "Casino" immortalized their deaths — albeit incorrectly — and the "Family Secrets" trial detailed their final moments of life, including Anthony Spilotro's request to say a prayer before being beaten and strangled in a Bensenville basement.
On the 25th anniversary of the Spilotro slayings, the mob in Chicago has been weakened by dozens of convictions within its hierarchy, but it has not faded away, according to organized-crime experts. It keeps a lower profile, issuing high-interest loans and running illegal betting games but shying away from attention-getting mob hits, they say. "It is safe to say with complete certainty that (the Outfit's) size, scope and sphere of influence is much smaller today than it was 25 years ago," FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.
In fact, the Outfit has become so secretive that mob watchers are no longer sure who the top boss is. Joseph "the Builder" Andriacchi, John "No Nose" DiFronzo and Michael "The Large Guy" Sarno are considered three of the Outfit's top-ranking members, according to the Chicago Crime Commission.
The Chicago mob once had as many as seven street crews, but is down to two or three, Rice said. It has found a steady source of revenue by controlling video poker machines, but authorities are catching on.
In December, Sarno and four co-defendants were found guilty of running a video poker racket, pulling off a string of armed robberies that spanned three years and four states, and protecting their gambling franchise by planting a bomb in front of a Berwyn business that encroached on their turf.
Furthermore, the landmark Family Secrets mob conspiracy trial in 2007 pulled back the curtain on murder after murder, including the slayings of the Spilotro brothers. Mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese's testimony led to the conviction of five men, including mob bosses James Marcello, Joey "the Clown" Lombardo and his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr.
In 2009, Marcello, Lombardo and Calabrese Sr. were each sentenced to life in prison. But while the Family Secrets case dealt a major blow to organized crime in Chicago, the Outfit has not been eliminated and probably never will be, said James Wagner, former president of the crime commission and former chief of the Chicago FBI's organized-crime section.
Wagner said the Outfit corners a market that will always be in demand — vice. Whether it's providing loans to borrowers who can't get them through banks or taking bets from gamblers who don't have money, the mob provides a service — albeit an illegal one, Wagner said. "There will always be somebody to purchase the goods they sell," said Wagner, now inspector general of the Illinois Tollway. "I don't see us ever eliminating it."
The last suspected instance of foul play within the Chicago mob was in September 2006, when mob boss Anthony Zizzo, 71, disappeared. His Jeep was found two days later in the parking lot of a Melrose Park restaurant. He has never been found.
The proposed expansion of casinos in Illinois could be a golden opportunity for organized crime to make a comeback, said Art Bilek, executive vice president of the crime commission. The state's gambling legislation does not provide additional regulatory personnel, which could allow the Outfit to enrich itself by infiltrating thousands of new gambling positions, Bilek said.
The plan lawmakers approved includes a Chicago casino and four others in Danville, Rockford, Lake County and southern Cook County. Gov. Pat Quinn continues to review the proposal, a spokeswoman said.
It's possible, Bilek said, that the Outfit could regain influence in a business once ruled in Nevada by Anthony Spilotro, one of its most notorious members.
At the time of his murder, Anthony Spilotro, 48, oversaw the Chicago mob's interests in Nevada. He was scheduled to stand trial a second time in Nevada on charges he ran the Hole-in-the-Wall gang, a Las Vegas burglary ring. Meanwhile, Michael Spilotro, 41, was under indictment in Chicago on federal extortion charges.
The brothers were targeted because they were bringing too much heat to the mob's Las Vegas arm, according to Nicholas Calabrese, a made member of the mob and the government's star witness during the Family Secrets trial.
In addition, Anthony Spilotro was rumored to be involved in moving drugs with a motorcycle gang and having an affair with the wife of Chicago bookmaker and reputed mob associate Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Calabrese testified. But in a recent interview, their brother, Patrick Spilotro, 74, a retired dentist who aided federal authorities in the Family Secrets investigation, said he remains unsure why his brothers were targeted. Much of Anthony Spilotro's notoriety was overblown, he said.
"They put (Anthony) in their cross hairs," Patrick Spilotro said of the Outfit. "I don't know why. Jealousy, envy, hate, you name it. Whether it was deserved or not, I can't answer that. But I know a lot of it is made up. I don't say my brother (Anthony) was an angel, but he's not all they depicted him to be."
On June 14, 1986, the Spilotro brothers left Michael's Oak Park home, lured to a Bensenville basement under the ruse they were to be promoted within the Outfit, Calabrese testified.
Instead, they were jumped by a hit team, beaten and strangled.
In February 2009, James Marcello was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of the Spilotro brothers. But Patrick Spilotro said he will never find peace until reputed Outfit boss DiFronzo is also put behind bars. Calabrese testified in 2007 that DiFronzo was among the dozen or more men who fatally beat Anthony and Michael Spilotro in 1986, but he was never charged. "We've tried to heal over the years," Patrick Spilotro said by phone from Arizona, "but there's still one person out there — John DiFronzo — who has not been indicted or convicted."
DiFronzo did not return a call seeking comment.
Calabrese's testimony also dispelled the popular belief — depicted in the 1995 Martin Scorsese movie "Casino" — that the Spilotro brothers were beaten with bats in a farmer's field.
On June 23, 1986, their bodies were found buried in a wildlife preserve in Enos, Ind., about 70 miles southeast of Chicago. The brothers — clad only in undershorts — were identified by dental charts supplied by Patrick Spilotro.
Their discovery was an embarrassment for the Outfit. Three months later, John Fecarotta, a longtime muscleman for the 26th Street Crew, was shot to death in a doorway of a bingo hall on West Belmont Avenue. Informants said he was killed for botching the burials of the Spilotro brothers, according to court documents.
The bodies were found by a farmer who thought the freshly turned earth hid the remains of a deer killed out of season and buried by a poacher.
Deland Szczepanski and Dick Hudson, who both worked at the time for the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, drove to the scene and began digging.
Hudson hit something soft with a shovel, then Szczepanski dug deeper with his hands until he uncovered short hairs that he initially thought belonged to a hog, he said in an interview. But he soon realized they were from a man's abdomen, Szczepanski said. Szczepanski called law enforcement. A few days later, he learned the two men he dug up were no ordinary victims but notorious mobsters.
"We realized we had uncovered somebody who wasn't supposed to be found," said Szczepanski, who is now 46 and a conservation officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "It's one of those instances I'll probably never forget."
In the days that followed, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago denied the Spilotro brothers a public church funeral because of their links to organized crime, and more than 2,000 mourners attended their visitation.
They were buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, where the Spilotros regularly visit to maintain the family plot, Patrick Spilotro said. "We don't forget our relatives," he said. "We're a very close family."
Thanks to Gerry Smith
On the 25th anniversary of the Spilotro slayings, the mob in Chicago has been weakened by dozens of convictions within its hierarchy, but it has not faded away, according to organized-crime experts. It keeps a lower profile, issuing high-interest loans and running illegal betting games but shying away from attention-getting mob hits, they say. "It is safe to say with complete certainty that (the Outfit's) size, scope and sphere of influence is much smaller today than it was 25 years ago," FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.
In fact, the Outfit has become so secretive that mob watchers are no longer sure who the top boss is. Joseph "the Builder" Andriacchi, John "No Nose" DiFronzo and Michael "The Large Guy" Sarno are considered three of the Outfit's top-ranking members, according to the Chicago Crime Commission.
The Chicago mob once had as many as seven street crews, but is down to two or three, Rice said. It has found a steady source of revenue by controlling video poker machines, but authorities are catching on.
In December, Sarno and four co-defendants were found guilty of running a video poker racket, pulling off a string of armed robberies that spanned three years and four states, and protecting their gambling franchise by planting a bomb in front of a Berwyn business that encroached on their turf.
Furthermore, the landmark Family Secrets mob conspiracy trial in 2007 pulled back the curtain on murder after murder, including the slayings of the Spilotro brothers. Mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese's testimony led to the conviction of five men, including mob bosses James Marcello, Joey "the Clown" Lombardo and his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr.
In 2009, Marcello, Lombardo and Calabrese Sr. were each sentenced to life in prison. But while the Family Secrets case dealt a major blow to organized crime in Chicago, the Outfit has not been eliminated and probably never will be, said James Wagner, former president of the crime commission and former chief of the Chicago FBI's organized-crime section.
Wagner said the Outfit corners a market that will always be in demand — vice. Whether it's providing loans to borrowers who can't get them through banks or taking bets from gamblers who don't have money, the mob provides a service — albeit an illegal one, Wagner said. "There will always be somebody to purchase the goods they sell," said Wagner, now inspector general of the Illinois Tollway. "I don't see us ever eliminating it."
The last suspected instance of foul play within the Chicago mob was in September 2006, when mob boss Anthony Zizzo, 71, disappeared. His Jeep was found two days later in the parking lot of a Melrose Park restaurant. He has never been found.
The proposed expansion of casinos in Illinois could be a golden opportunity for organized crime to make a comeback, said Art Bilek, executive vice president of the crime commission. The state's gambling legislation does not provide additional regulatory personnel, which could allow the Outfit to enrich itself by infiltrating thousands of new gambling positions, Bilek said.
The plan lawmakers approved includes a Chicago casino and four others in Danville, Rockford, Lake County and southern Cook County. Gov. Pat Quinn continues to review the proposal, a spokeswoman said.
It's possible, Bilek said, that the Outfit could regain influence in a business once ruled in Nevada by Anthony Spilotro, one of its most notorious members.
At the time of his murder, Anthony Spilotro, 48, oversaw the Chicago mob's interests in Nevada. He was scheduled to stand trial a second time in Nevada on charges he ran the Hole-in-the-Wall gang, a Las Vegas burglary ring. Meanwhile, Michael Spilotro, 41, was under indictment in Chicago on federal extortion charges.
The brothers were targeted because they were bringing too much heat to the mob's Las Vegas arm, according to Nicholas Calabrese, a made member of the mob and the government's star witness during the Family Secrets trial.
In addition, Anthony Spilotro was rumored to be involved in moving drugs with a motorcycle gang and having an affair with the wife of Chicago bookmaker and reputed mob associate Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Calabrese testified. But in a recent interview, their brother, Patrick Spilotro, 74, a retired dentist who aided federal authorities in the Family Secrets investigation, said he remains unsure why his brothers were targeted. Much of Anthony Spilotro's notoriety was overblown, he said.
"They put (Anthony) in their cross hairs," Patrick Spilotro said of the Outfit. "I don't know why. Jealousy, envy, hate, you name it. Whether it was deserved or not, I can't answer that. But I know a lot of it is made up. I don't say my brother (Anthony) was an angel, but he's not all they depicted him to be."
On June 14, 1986, the Spilotro brothers left Michael's Oak Park home, lured to a Bensenville basement under the ruse they were to be promoted within the Outfit, Calabrese testified.
Instead, they were jumped by a hit team, beaten and strangled.
In February 2009, James Marcello was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of the Spilotro brothers. But Patrick Spilotro said he will never find peace until reputed Outfit boss DiFronzo is also put behind bars. Calabrese testified in 2007 that DiFronzo was among the dozen or more men who fatally beat Anthony and Michael Spilotro in 1986, but he was never charged. "We've tried to heal over the years," Patrick Spilotro said by phone from Arizona, "but there's still one person out there — John DiFronzo — who has not been indicted or convicted."
DiFronzo did not return a call seeking comment.
Calabrese's testimony also dispelled the popular belief — depicted in the 1995 Martin Scorsese movie "Casino" — that the Spilotro brothers were beaten with bats in a farmer's field.
On June 23, 1986, their bodies were found buried in a wildlife preserve in Enos, Ind., about 70 miles southeast of Chicago. The brothers — clad only in undershorts — were identified by dental charts supplied by Patrick Spilotro.
Their discovery was an embarrassment for the Outfit. Three months later, John Fecarotta, a longtime muscleman for the 26th Street Crew, was shot to death in a doorway of a bingo hall on West Belmont Avenue. Informants said he was killed for botching the burials of the Spilotro brothers, according to court documents.
The bodies were found by a farmer who thought the freshly turned earth hid the remains of a deer killed out of season and buried by a poacher.
Deland Szczepanski and Dick Hudson, who both worked at the time for the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, drove to the scene and began digging.
Hudson hit something soft with a shovel, then Szczepanski dug deeper with his hands until he uncovered short hairs that he initially thought belonged to a hog, he said in an interview. But he soon realized they were from a man's abdomen, Szczepanski said. Szczepanski called law enforcement. A few days later, he learned the two men he dug up were no ordinary victims but notorious mobsters.
"We realized we had uncovered somebody who wasn't supposed to be found," said Szczepanski, who is now 46 and a conservation officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "It's one of those instances I'll probably never forget."
In the days that followed, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago denied the Spilotro brothers a public church funeral because of their links to organized crime, and more than 2,000 mourners attended their visitation.
They were buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, where the Spilotros regularly visit to maintain the family plot, Patrick Spilotro said. "We don't forget our relatives," he said. "We're a very close family."
Thanks to Gerry Smith
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Whitey Bulger Captured!
Top Ten fugitive James “Whitey” Bulger was arrested thanks to a tip from the public—just days after a new media campaign was announced to help locate the gangster who had been on the run for 16 years.
Bulger, who once ran South Boston’s violent Winter Hill Gang and was wanted for his role in 19 murders, was arrested with his longtime companion Catherine Greig Wednesday night in Santa Monica, California, by agents on the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force.
“Although there are those who doubted our resolve, it never wavered," said Boston Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers. "We followed every lead, we explored every possibility, and when those leads ran out we did not sit back and wait for the phone to ring. The result is we have captured one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, a man notorious in Boston and around the world for the very serious crimes he is alleged to have committed."
The FBI has always relied on cooperation from the public to help capture fugitives and solve crimes. The new media campaign regarding Bulger was designed to draw attention to Greig, who fled with Bulger in 1995. A 30-second public service announcement (PSA) produced by the Bureau began airing Tuesday in 10 states where it was believed Bulger had resided or still had contacts. California was one of those states.
The PSA focused on the 60-year-old Greig’s physical appearance, habits, and personality traits and was directed specifically at women who might come in contact with her at places such as the beauty parlor or doctor’s office. After the PSA began to air, hundreds of tips flowed into the FBI, and one of them led to the arrest Wednesday night in a residence near Los Angeles.
“We were trying to reach a different audience to produce new leads in the case,” said Richard Teahan, a special agent in our Boston office who leads a task force that has searched for Bulger around the world. “We believed that locating Greig would lead us to Bulger. And that’s exactly what happened.”
The PSA included pictures of Greig after her pre-fugitive plastic surgeries and other details including her love of animals and the reward of up to $100,000 for her capture. Although she was not implicated in Bulger’s crimes, Greig was federally charged in 1997 for harboring a fugitive. The reward for Bulger is up to $2 million—the largest the FBI has ever offered for a Top Ten domestic fugitive.
Bulger, 81, who is known for his violent temper, was arrested without incident and was scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles court later today.
Did Jerry Scalise Target Oscar D'Angelo?
Mobbed-up thief Joseph Jerry “The Monk” Scalise allegedly targeted Daley mayoral pal and controversial lobbyist Oscar D’Angelo for a robbery and corresponded with imprisoned Chicago cop William Hanhardt, writing that “Oft times, defendants forget that they DID do the crime,” according to a federal court document filed Tuesday.
Scalise, who is in his early 70s, has a storied criminal career that most recently found him charged last year with two alleged accomplices with conspiring to knock off an armored car at a La Grange bank and rob the home of the late, brutal Chicago mob boss Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra.
The court document, filed by federal prosecutors, lays out the case against Scalise and two other senior citizens, Arthur “The Genius” Rachel and Robert Pullia. The men go to trial next month.
Scalise stole the 45-carat Marlborough diamond in London in 1980, was a reputed member of an Outfit crew of killers called “The Wild Bunch” and more recently was a consultant to famed Hollywood director Michael Mann on his film “Public Enemies.”
The court document is heavily redacted in parts and does not reveal any detail about the men allegedly conspiring to rob D’Angelo, but the criminal deed was never done. D’Angelo, who was involved in scandals in the Richard M. Daley administration, is expected to be called as a prosecution witness at trial against the three men.
The court document does quote at length a letter that Scalise allegedly sent to Hanhardt after Scalise was arrested last year. Federal prosecutor Amarjeet Bhachu contends in the government filing that Scalise admits his guilt in the letter.
Hanhardt, a former Chicago chief of detectives, was sentenced to nearly 12 years behind bars after pleading guilty in 2001 to running a sophisticated theft ring that stole more than $5 million in diamonds and gems from jewelry salesmen across the country. The FBI has contended that Hanhardt was on the take from the mob early in his police career.
“Since I am soon to be out of time (but with, maybe a lot of ‘time’) I am getting as much done . . . while I am out (on bond),” Scalise writes in one letter to Hanhardt, according to the court filing.
“I am finally going through everything with a fine tooth comb and conferring with Eddie G. on a plan of attack,” Scalise wrote, apparently referring to his legendary defense attorney, Edward Genson.
“Oft times, defendants forget that they DID do the crime. So, what do we do to mitigate the charges? The only approach I can see is to attempt to move the goal posts — to make something else the issue. My contention is that the ‘evidence’ is just not good enough. Yes, these culprits were up to something, but the ‘problem’ is in the technological evidence.”
Hanhardt is listed as a prosecution witness. Genson could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Thanks to Steve Warmbir
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Father Eugene Klein Pleads Not Guilty
Former prison chaplain Eugene Klein has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he plotted with convicted Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese Sr. to recover a violin reportedly hidden in a hit man's Wisconsin house.
Authorities say Klein, 62, of Springfield, Mo., was released on $20,000 bond after he appeared in a federal courtroom in Chicago on Wednesday.
Klein administered daily communion to Calabrese at the Missouri prison where he's serving a life sentence for 13 murders. He's accused of passing messages with Calabrese and conspiring with two others to try to steal the violin the mobster believed was a Stradivarius worth millions of dollars.
Defense attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin says the case against his client is "preposterous."
Monday, June 20, 2011
Chicago's Violent Crime Task Force - Partnerships Key to Success
As a chilly spring drizzle fell in one of Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods, FBI agents and Chicago Police Department officers on the joint Violent Crimes Task Force gathered on a rooftop parking garage for a last-minute briefing before executing a search warrant nearby involving a recently paroled felon.
Members of the task force donned bullet-proof vests and finalized their operational plan. The felon in question was believed to be violating his parole by carrying a sawed-off shotgun, and every safety precaution needed to be taken.
Established in 1989, Chicago’s Violent Crimes Task Force is one of the oldest continuing task force operations in the FBI. The squad, known as VC1, consists of agents and members of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Cook County Sheriff’s Office who work side by side and are on call around the clock.
“If something happens,” said Special Agent Mark Quinn, who joined the squad in 1994 and has supervised it since 2006, “we respond. Our first priority is public safety.”
The task force handles a variety of violent crimes such as extortion and murder for hire, but the “big three” offenses it investigates are kidnappings, bank robberies, and fugitive matters.
VC1 is staffed by seasoned investigators like Quinn and CPD’s Sgt. Warren Richards—who was leading the search warrant operation—and young agents learning the ropes and getting valuable street experience.
Special Agent Joe Raschke, an 11-year veteran of the squad, remembers that when he first came to the Chicago Field Office, “VC1 was the squad to be on."
"As a young agent you get great experience,” Raschke said, “not just making arrests but interviewing subjects and victims and learning how to deal with a variety of people and situations.”
Sgt. Richards, CPD’s commanding officer on the task force, added, “I like bringing fugitives to justice and locking up bad guys. On this squad I get to do that almost every day.”
On this particular day, however, there would be no arrest. The team moved into place in unmarked vehicles, setting up to cover the front and back of the house where the felon was living. But when the search warrant was executed, the only people in the residence were a woman and her young daughter. The search did turn up the shotgun, under the felon’s mattress. He was now a fugitive, and would eventually be arrested.
Quinn noted that despite the different law enforcement organizations they belong to, there is a strong bond among VC1 members. “The task force setting breaks down barriers between agencies,” he said. “Everyone works together as a team.”
That teamwork pays dividends beyond the task force, too. Relationships have expanded over time so that agents and detectives working all kinds of cases can pick up the phone and get help from their local and federal partners. “Agents and detectives all over the city have each other on speed dial,” Sgt. Richards said.
And members of the task force are always ready to respond, Quinn said. “Whenever there is a murder, kidnapping, or multiple bank robberies and a call goes out for volunteers, even on weekends and evenings, we always get more people than we need.” He added, “If someone is looking for a 9-to-5 type of job in law enforcement, VC1 is definitely not for them.”
Sunday, June 19, 2011
America's Most Wanted Signs Off Due to Cost Cutting by Fox, John Walsh Vows to be Backing Fighting Injustice
John Walsh has said goodbye and thanked viewers of "America's Most Wanted"
for helping bring almost 1,200 fugitives to justice over more than two decades.Walsh told his audience in brief farewell remarks: "You've saved lives and gotten people justice."
The series aired its last weekly episode on Fox on Saturday. Fox has cited high production costs for pulling the plug on the series, which premiered in 1988. But Walsh vows he'll return to television.
He said earlier this week he has heard from other networks, including Fox News Channel. A decision on a new TV home could be announced within two weeks, he said.
Walsh, 65, launched his crime-busting crusade in the aftermath of the abduction and murder of his 6-year-old son Adam in 1981.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Chicago Police to Reassign 150 More Officers to Its Neighborhoods
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced the deployment of 150 police officers to districts throughout the city as part of a continued effort to improve safety in Chicago’s neighborhoods.
“We are putting them where they can have the best immediate impact on our communities, working with residents – on the beat,” said Mayor Emanuel at a press conference at the Illinois Centennial Monument in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood.
Districts scheduled to receive the additional police officers include 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25.
The officers will begin their new assignments next Sunday, June 19th. These assignments are permanent.
At the press conference, Mayor Emanuel praised the “exceptional police work” that went into finding and filing charges against the offender involved in the shooting of two young girls last week. He also noted that 33 arrests have already been made in connection with recent group attacks downtown.
“The identification and apprehension of the offender was a team effort – our officers worked tirelessly across districts and divisions and intimately with the community, which provided solid information to generate leads¸” added Mayor Emanuel. “This type of community partnership is exactly what we want to see happen in Chicago.”
On May 24th, Mayor Emanuel announced that 500 police officers primarily from the Department’s Mobile Strike Force and Targeted Response Unit would be redeployed to districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 15.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Roman Catholic Priest Reputed to Assist Mobster in Hiding Violin from Federal Repossession
There are new developments in the case of a ruthless Chicago mobster, a Roman Catholic priest and a priceless violin. That unusual combination is the focus of this Intelligence Report.
Chicago Outfit boss Frank Calabrese Sr. enlisted the help of a prison chaplain to get around jailhouse security rules intended to stop him from communicating with associates on the outside. Now the Roman Catholic priest is facing federal indictment in Chicago and has been suspended by the church.
The purpose of Calabrese's mission from God wasn't to put out a murder contract, according to federal authorities; it was to retrieve an expensive violin.
"It was suppose to have been a Stradivarius violin, and at one time it was supposed to have been owned by Liberace," said ex-Calabrese lawyer Joe "The Shark" Lopez. Probably not the flamboyant Lee Liberace, because he played the piano, more likely his brother George who frequently accompanied on the violin.
It was such a million-dollar instrument that Frank "the Breeze" Calabrese somehow obtained on a trip to Las Vegas-- not that the gruff Outfit enforcer is thought to have been particularly musical, but the violin was an item of value that Calabrese did not want federal authorities to seize and apply to his $4 million forfeiture bill.
So, as Calabrese serves a life sentence in Springfield, Missouri, in solitary confinement for his role in mob murders and racketeering, he was allowed face-to-face meetings only with doctors, social workers and the prison chaplain, Catholic priest Father Eugene Klein.
According to the federal indictment, Father Klein agreed to help Calabrese retrieve the valuable violin from a secret hiding place inside a summer home that Calabrese owned in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
But there was no unholy alliance between Father Klein and Calabrese as the feds have charged, according to Lopez, the attorney who represented Calabrese during Operation Family Secrets.
"I think Frank wasn't conning the priest, I think Frank was just asking the priest to help him," Lopez said. "I think it's kind of an unholy thing, but I'm not the federal government, and if I were I wouldn't indict the priest... I would give him a pass. He really didn't do anything wrong."
Nevertheless, the priest charged in Chicago has now been suspended by his home diocese. Winona, Minnesota, Bishop John Quinn on Friday afternoon issued a statement ordering Father Klein onto administrative leave, suspending his priestly faculties while asking that Klein be kept in prayer.
Father Klein is accused of traveling to north suburban Barrington, where he met with a friend of Frank Calabrese, a 72-year-old, former Italian restaurant owner, and wanted him to help get the violin back. It is believed that Barrington resident ended up cooperatingwith the FBI.
Attempts by the I-Team to contact the Barrington resident have been unsuccessful.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Chicago Outfit boss Frank Calabrese Sr. enlisted the help of a prison chaplain to get around jailhouse security rules intended to stop him from communicating with associates on the outside. Now the Roman Catholic priest is facing federal indictment in Chicago and has been suspended by the church.
The purpose of Calabrese's mission from God wasn't to put out a murder contract, according to federal authorities; it was to retrieve an expensive violin.
"It was suppose to have been a Stradivarius violin, and at one time it was supposed to have been owned by Liberace," said ex-Calabrese lawyer Joe "The Shark" Lopez. Probably not the flamboyant Lee Liberace, because he played the piano, more likely his brother George who frequently accompanied on the violin.
It was such a million-dollar instrument that Frank "the Breeze" Calabrese somehow obtained on a trip to Las Vegas-- not that the gruff Outfit enforcer is thought to have been particularly musical, but the violin was an item of value that Calabrese did not want federal authorities to seize and apply to his $4 million forfeiture bill.
So, as Calabrese serves a life sentence in Springfield, Missouri, in solitary confinement for his role in mob murders and racketeering, he was allowed face-to-face meetings only with doctors, social workers and the prison chaplain, Catholic priest Father Eugene Klein.
According to the federal indictment, Father Klein agreed to help Calabrese retrieve the valuable violin from a secret hiding place inside a summer home that Calabrese owned in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
But there was no unholy alliance between Father Klein and Calabrese as the feds have charged, according to Lopez, the attorney who represented Calabrese during Operation Family Secrets.
"I think Frank wasn't conning the priest, I think Frank was just asking the priest to help him," Lopez said. "I think it's kind of an unholy thing, but I'm not the federal government, and if I were I wouldn't indict the priest... I would give him a pass. He really didn't do anything wrong."
Nevertheless, the priest charged in Chicago has now been suspended by his home diocese. Winona, Minnesota, Bishop John Quinn on Friday afternoon issued a statement ordering Father Klein onto administrative leave, suspending his priestly faculties while asking that Klein be kept in prayer.
Father Klein is accused of traveling to north suburban Barrington, where he met with a friend of Frank Calabrese, a 72-year-old, former Italian restaurant owner, and wanted him to help get the violin back. It is believed that Barrington resident ended up cooperatingwith the FBI.
Attempts by the I-Team to contact the Barrington resident have been unsuccessful.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Frank Calabrese Assisted in Prison by Catholic Priest, Father Eugene Klein
A prison chaplain has been charged in an alleged scheme to help imprisoned Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese, who is serving a life sentence for 13 murders, recover a valuable violin reportedly hidden in a Wisconsin house to keep the government from selling it, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Catholic priest Eugene Klein, 62, of Springfield, Mo., was indicted late Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and attempting to prevent seizure of Calabrese's personal property, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said.
Prosecutors said Klein ministered to Calabrese at a federal prison in Springfield, Mo., where he allegedly agreed to illegally pass messages to people outside of the prison and then participate in a scheme to recover the violin, which Calabrese claimed was a Stradivarius worth millions of dollars, from a home Calabrese once owned in Williams Bay, Wis.
A spokeswoman with the Springfield Diocese says Klein is a priest of the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota and under contract with the federal prison system as a chaplain in Springfield. She said he served as an assistant pastor within the Springfield Diocese from 2004-2005.
It was not clear whether Klein had an attorney. An arraignment date has not yet been set. Each of the two counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to the indictment, Calabrese told Klein in March that he had hidden the violin in the house and passed notes to Klein through the food slot in his cell with questions that Klein was to ask an unnamed third person, called Individual A in the indictment, and disclosing the location of the violin.
Klein drove to Barrington, Ill., in April to meet with Individual A, who told Klein the government was selling the house as part of an attempt to recover $4.4 million in restitution that Calabrese owed to his victims' families, according to the indictment. Klein then allegedly met with Individual A and a second person, called Individual B in the indictment, to plot a way to get the violin.
Klein allegedly called the real estate agent posing as a potential buyer, with the plan that one person would distract the agent while Klein and the other person looked for the violin.
Prosecutors say the government has since searched the Wisconsin residence but found no violin. They also say that during a March 2010 search of Calabrese's home in Oak Brook, Ill., a suburb west of Chicago, they found a certificate for a violin made in 1764 by Giuseppe Antonio Artalli, not Antonius Stradivarius.
It was during that same search that federal agents found loaded guns, nearly $730,000 in cash and tape recordings that officials said could contain "criminal conversations" hidden in a basement wall behind a large family portrait. The stash also included jewelry, recording devices and handwritten notes.
Agents also found about $26,000 in bundled cash in a locked desk drawer in the bedroom of his wife, Diane, according to court documents.
Calabrese, 74, was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 after being convicted with several other reputed members of the Chicago Outfit in a racketeering conspiracy that included 18 murders that had gone unsolved for decades; Calabrese himself was found responsible for 13 mob murders.
Calabrese's brother, Nicholas Calabrese, was the government's star witness. He testified that his brother carried out mob hits, sometimes strangling his victims with a rope and then slashing their throats to make sure they were dead. Two victims were killed in a darkened Cicero restaurant while the Frank Sinatra record of "Strangers in the Night" was playing on the jukebox, he said.
Thanks to Forbes
Catholic priest Eugene Klein, 62, of Springfield, Mo., was indicted late Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and attempting to prevent seizure of Calabrese's personal property, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said.
Prosecutors said Klein ministered to Calabrese at a federal prison in Springfield, Mo., where he allegedly agreed to illegally pass messages to people outside of the prison and then participate in a scheme to recover the violin, which Calabrese claimed was a Stradivarius worth millions of dollars, from a home Calabrese once owned in Williams Bay, Wis.
A spokeswoman with the Springfield Diocese says Klein is a priest of the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota and under contract with the federal prison system as a chaplain in Springfield. She said he served as an assistant pastor within the Springfield Diocese from 2004-2005.
It was not clear whether Klein had an attorney. An arraignment date has not yet been set. Each of the two counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to the indictment, Calabrese told Klein in March that he had hidden the violin in the house and passed notes to Klein through the food slot in his cell with questions that Klein was to ask an unnamed third person, called Individual A in the indictment, and disclosing the location of the violin.
Klein drove to Barrington, Ill., in April to meet with Individual A, who told Klein the government was selling the house as part of an attempt to recover $4.4 million in restitution that Calabrese owed to his victims' families, according to the indictment. Klein then allegedly met with Individual A and a second person, called Individual B in the indictment, to plot a way to get the violin.
Klein allegedly called the real estate agent posing as a potential buyer, with the plan that one person would distract the agent while Klein and the other person looked for the violin.
Prosecutors say the government has since searched the Wisconsin residence but found no violin. They also say that during a March 2010 search of Calabrese's home in Oak Brook, Ill., a suburb west of Chicago, they found a certificate for a violin made in 1764 by Giuseppe Antonio Artalli, not Antonius Stradivarius.
It was during that same search that federal agents found loaded guns, nearly $730,000 in cash and tape recordings that officials said could contain "criminal conversations" hidden in a basement wall behind a large family portrait. The stash also included jewelry, recording devices and handwritten notes.
Agents also found about $26,000 in bundled cash in a locked desk drawer in the bedroom of his wife, Diane, according to court documents.
Calabrese, 74, was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 after being convicted with several other reputed members of the Chicago Outfit in a racketeering conspiracy that included 18 murders that had gone unsolved for decades; Calabrese himself was found responsible for 13 mob murders.
Calabrese's brother, Nicholas Calabrese, was the government's star witness. He testified that his brother carried out mob hits, sometimes strangling his victims with a rope and then slashing their throats to make sure they were dead. Two victims were killed in a darkened Cicero restaurant while the Frank Sinatra record of "Strangers in the Night" was playing on the jukebox, he said.
Thanks to Forbes
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Closure of OTB Parlors in New York City Boom for the Mob at the Belmont Stakes
Looking for a sure thing at Saturday's 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes?
Bet on organized crime and illegal bookies to win, place and show a bigger profit at the first Belmont since Off Track Betting shuttered its 54 New York City betting parlors in December.
"Where there is money to be made, the mob is most certainly there," one veteran Bonanno family soldier said of the chance to cash in on the Triple Crown race. "They were taking bets when OTB was operating," he continued. "And I'd bet — no pun intended — that they have been taking bets on this race for weeks now."
There's a lot of money to be made: NYC OTB handled nearly $2.4 million in Belmont bets last year — a lucrative one-day windfall. A good portion of those wagers will wind up as illegal action.
Gamblers "are going to go with a bookmaker, sure," said Arnie Wexler, former head of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling. "Not all these people are going to run to the track."
A city rackets prosecutor agreed: "This has got to increase business for organized crime-controlled horse parlors."
Mob gambling rings offer other short-term benefits — no taxes taken out of your winnings, credit terms available. The latter inevitably leads to a long-term problem: loan-sharking.
"It's the constant circle of the mob," said ex-FBI undercover Jack Garcia, who spent three years inside the Gambino family. "They keep on ticking like Timex."
Last month's bust of a Staten Island sports betting operation showed how much gambling money is out there. Officials said the ring handled $100,000 a week in wagers, including bets on horse racing.
Its reputed boss even bragged that his operation, in contrast with New York's politicians, would have saved OTB from becoming the only local bookie bathing in red ink.
Jerry Stentella "was confident of his ability to run OTB well" after the success of his storefront betting parlor, prosecutors said.
He might be right.
The Bonanno soldier recalls a mob buddy pulling in about $10,000 a week from an offshore gambling operation — "and he wasn't nearly as big as most."
Garcia said the Belmont betting pool offers too great an opportunity for the mob to ignore.
"The mob is all about making money," Garcia said. "If there's an opportunity there, they'll be there like white on rice. So if you want to put some money down on the Belmont, who do you see? It's Joey Pots and Pans! He'll take that bet for you."
Thanks to Larry McShane
Bet on organized crime and illegal bookies to win, place and show a bigger profit at the first Belmont since Off Track Betting shuttered its 54 New York City betting parlors in December.
"Where there is money to be made, the mob is most certainly there," one veteran Bonanno family soldier said of the chance to cash in on the Triple Crown race. "They were taking bets when OTB was operating," he continued. "And I'd bet — no pun intended — that they have been taking bets on this race for weeks now."
There's a lot of money to be made: NYC OTB handled nearly $2.4 million in Belmont bets last year — a lucrative one-day windfall. A good portion of those wagers will wind up as illegal action.
Gamblers "are going to go with a bookmaker, sure," said Arnie Wexler, former head of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling. "Not all these people are going to run to the track."
A city rackets prosecutor agreed: "This has got to increase business for organized crime-controlled horse parlors."
Mob gambling rings offer other short-term benefits — no taxes taken out of your winnings, credit terms available. The latter inevitably leads to a long-term problem: loan-sharking.
"It's the constant circle of the mob," said ex-FBI undercover Jack Garcia, who spent three years inside the Gambino family. "They keep on ticking like Timex."
Last month's bust of a Staten Island sports betting operation showed how much gambling money is out there. Officials said the ring handled $100,000 a week in wagers, including bets on horse racing.
Its reputed boss even bragged that his operation, in contrast with New York's politicians, would have saved OTB from becoming the only local bookie bathing in red ink.
Jerry Stentella "was confident of his ability to run OTB well" after the success of his storefront betting parlor, prosecutors said.
He might be right.
The Bonanno soldier recalls a mob buddy pulling in about $10,000 a week from an offshore gambling operation — "and he wasn't nearly as big as most."
Garcia said the Belmont betting pool offers too great an opportunity for the mob to ignore.
"The mob is all about making money," Garcia said. "If there's an opportunity there, they'll be there like white on rice. So if you want to put some money down on the Belmont, who do you see? It's Joey Pots and Pans! He'll take that bet for you."
Thanks to Larry McShane
Monday, June 06, 2011
Chicago Mob Resurgence to Accompany Casinos in Chicago?
The way Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel sees it, thousands of craps players and slot machine pullers would flock to his cash-strapped city if it gets into the gambling business. It's a safe bet a seedier element will be right behind them.
This is Chicago, after all, where the shadow of Al Capone still looms, federal corruption trials appear like television reruns, and the remnants of the mob are sure to try for a piece of the action.
Illinois lawmakers voted this week to allow legal gambling for the first time in Chicago. Backers envision a new casino and video poker machines across the nation's third-largest city, from its two international airports to corner bars. It's part of an ambitious statewide expansion of gambling lawmakers have sent to Gov. Pat Quinn.
None of it sits well with the Chicago Crime Commission, whose public enemies list once included Scarface and other gangsters who based their bootlegging and other criminal enterprises out of Chicago. "If the gaming legislation that passed becomes law, political corruption and crime syndicate infiltration will follow," said J.R. Davis, president and chairman of the 92-year-old nonprofit organization that studies and promotes crime prevention in the city.
At least one former mobster agrees: Millions of dollars would be too enticing for the corrupt and the criminal. "It's a lifeline that whatever outfit guys are left are going to use," said Frank Calabrese Jr., who wore an FBI wiretap to help convict his mobster father and later wrote a book about it. "As an outfit guy ... I am going to get a piece of something somewhere."
Lobbying by Emanuel, Chicago's first new mayor in two decades, is credited for facilitating the plan's approval. But neither he nor lawmakers who sponsored the legislation are talking specifics about how the city would thwart Davis' prediction.
Emanuel said this week that there would be a "blue ribbon group" appointed if Quinn signs the legislation into law. Quinn has opposed an ambitious expansion of gambling in the state but supports the idea of a casino in Chicago, which is facing a budget shortfall of between $500 million and $700 million. Proponents say gambling will mean the state will collect $1.6 billion in upfront fees to those who what to set up shop in Illinois and then another $500 million a year. Emanuel said the casino also would keep gamblers and their money from crossing the state line to casinos in Indiana. "We lose $20 million, around, a month to Hammond, Ind.," he said.
A leading proponent, Chicago Democratic Rep. Lou Lang, said there have been "zero scandals" with the state's existing casinos. Lang argued that if the mob tried to move in, regulators would clamp down, like they did a few years ago when the state nixed a planned casino in suburban Rosemont after getting word investors may have had mob ties. "To automatically link casinos with organized crime when there is no hint of that in Illinois to date ... is a stretch," said Lang, who has worked for years to expand gambling in Illinois. But this is Chicago, where Capone based his bootlegging empire during Prohibition and Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo ran the show after that with, according to one estimate, 10,000 gambling spots. Chicago was Sam Giancana's base of operations until his mob career ended in 1975 when he was gunned down as he fried up sausages at home. So notorious is the city's history of organized crime that tour guides offer specific routes to show off mob bosses' former hangouts.
While the outfit is a shadow of its former self, it's still here, and it has an interest in gambling.
Just last year, reputed mobster Michael "The Large Guy" Sarno was convicted of orchestrating the 2003 bombing of the suburban Chicago office of a rival video gaming company. The bombing, federal prosecutors said, was designed as a message to the company to stop horning in on a lucrative mob business.
Gambling expert William Thompson of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas said the mob would have a tough time gaining a foothold in Chicago casinos because investors wouldn't shell out millions of dollars if there were even a hint of organized crime involvement. "They're wary of having criminal elements involved where they might lose their (gaming) license," he said.
Regulation could be pricey, with some predicting it could cost millions to fund the small army that would be needed to monitor casinos, bars, restaurants, race tracks and other locations where thousands of slot and video poker machines could be set up.
"The way the Illinois Gaming Board operates, where people are able to gamble, we have agents present," board spokesman Gene O'Shea said.
Still, Thompson believes mobsters would be lurking around the edges — many, many edges since the legislation calls for tripling the number of gaming tables, slot and video poker machines in Illinois to more than 39,000, including 4,000 in Chicago. "The mob is going to come in on the side, run the loan shark businesses, have the prostitutes," he said, adding that a loan shark could be someone sitting at a corner table or the bartender, pulling money out of the till. "There's no way to police it."
Even a weakened mob is strong enough to take advantage of a whole new revenue stream, said Gus Russo, author of a book about the Chicago mob called "The Outfit." The mob's history has been one of turning what people want — be it alcohol or gambling, drugs or prostitutes — into money.
"They're like cockroaches. If they see a scam they will be a part of it," Russo said. "And if they're not a part of it, it will be the first time in history."
Thanks to Don Babwin
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Auction for Al Capone's Gun
Hoping to own a little piece of Chicago history?
A gun belonging to Al Capone, Windy City’s most infamous mob boss, is expected to sell for up to $115,000 when it is auctioned online on June 22.
The Colt .38 was made in 1929 after Capone had ordered the murder of seven of his rivals in the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. The revolver comes with a letter signed by the gangster’s sister-in-law confirming its authenticity.
Capone led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate until he was arrested in 1931 for tax evasion. He died in 1947 from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.
A gun belonging to outlaw Thomas Coleman “Cole” Younger, a member of the James gang with brothers Frank and Jesse, will also go under the hammer this month.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Reward Offered in Search for Chicago Gang Fugitive Corey Griffen
Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was joined today by Garry F. McCarthy, Acting Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), in asking for the public’s help in locating COREY GRIFFIN, age 40, whose last known address was 12 South Mayfield Avenue in Chicago. In making this appeal for assistance, Mr. Grant noted that a reward of up to $10,000 was being offered for information leading to Griffin’s arrest.
GRIFFIN has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt, coordinated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs (JTFG), since November of last year, when he was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of federal drug laws.
GRIFFIN and 95 others, all known or suspected members of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang, were charged with drug violations in a combined federal and state investigation, code named Operation Blue Knight, which culminated with the arrest of 70 individuals. GRIFFIN, however, was one of nearly two dozen defendants in this case who avoided capture and is still at-large.
GRIFFIN, also known as “Fat Rat,” is described as a black male, 40 years of age, 5’9” tall, weighing approximately 200 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes with a short beard and mustache and a tattoo on his left arm of crossed paths with angels. Due to his criminal record and the nature of the charges filed against him, GRIFFIN should be considered ARMED and DANGEROUS.
Anyone recognizing GRIFFIN or having any information as to his current whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
The Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs is comprised of FBI special agents and officers from the Chicago Police Department.
The public is reminded that a 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.
GRIFFIN and 95 others, all known or suspected members of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang, were charged with drug violations in a combined federal and state investigation, code named Operation Blue Knight, which culminated with the arrest of 70 individuals. GRIFFIN, however, was one of nearly two dozen defendants in this case who avoided capture and is still at-large.
GRIFFIN, also known as “Fat Rat,” is described as a black male, 40 years of age, 5’9” tall, weighing approximately 200 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes with a short beard and mustache and a tattoo on his left arm of crossed paths with angels. Due to his criminal record and the nature of the charges filed against him, GRIFFIN should be considered ARMED and DANGEROUS.
Anyone recognizing GRIFFIN or having any information as to his current whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
The Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs is comprised of FBI special agents and officers from the Chicago Police Department.
The public is reminded that a 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, June 01, 2011
"The Family" Mob Musical to Open on Thursday
Is it just a silly trifle about a bunch of wise guys, or is Arlene Violet’s musical about the Rhode Island mob the real deal? Thursday will tell, when “The Family,” which has been four years in the making, opens for a month-long run at the Lederer Theater Center in Providence, the Washington Street home of Trinity Rep.
The show, based on some of the more colorful characters Violet encountered as Rhode Island attorney general in the mid-1980s, has got to be the most anticipated event of the summer. After all, who can resist Mafia lore, especially in Rhode Island, where organized crime has had such deep roots? And who isn’t curious about anything touched by Violet, the former nun and prosecutor, and now a controversial radio talk show host?
Only a musical about Buddy Cianci might top it.
Violet doesn’t want to say too much about the plot of her baby, except that it’s “gritty but also funny, because wise guys are funny.” But South County composer Enrico Garzilli, who wrote the musical’s 20-plus songs and lyrics, said the show packs an unexpected punch. “It’s going to surprise a lot of people,” said Garzilli, who has written the music and books for four other musicals. “It’s extremely powerful.”
The cast moved into the rented upstairs space at the Lederer Theater last week, where it will perform on a set that at times resembles the Italian neighborhood of Federal Hill, with its pine-nut arch and unassuming vending machine company that for years served as headquarters for the late Raymond L.S. Patriarca, longtime head of the New England rackets.
Meanwhile, Violet is busy raising money, doing publicity and making sure New York movers and shakers come to town to see the show. She has hopes of taking “The Family” to New York, but said that will cost $8 million.
“I am extremely busy,” she said, “just not creatively.”
This is not Violet’s first crack at writing. Her 200-page autobiography “Convictions” came out in 1988, the year after she left elective office as state Attorney General. Last year, Simon & Schuster published “The Mob and Me,” her tribute to her friend, the late John Partington, who started the federal witness-protection program. But this is her first theatrical venture, one that had its beginnings in a casual conversation with Garzilli after the premiere at the Providence Performing Arts Center of his coming-of-age musical “Michelangelo.” Garzilli, a former priest who received much of his musical training in Rome, suggested a future collaboration and Violet jumped at the chance, turning to what she knew best, the mobsters she encountered as attorney general.
She once joked that she and Garzilli decided to stay away from lampooning the Catholic Church, given their backgrounds.
Violet met once a week with Garzilli, who gave her pointers on how to write for a musical and helped flesh out an outline she had written. They started work in July of 2007, and by December of that year the project was finished, save for some tweaking.
“The Family” follows the exploits of a certain crime boss named Don Marco, who bears a striking resemblance to Patriarca. Don Marco wants his son, Renaldo, to take over the family business. But the sensitive Renaldo, who is into opera and other guys, wants no part of that life.
Meanwhile, the godfather has more family problems to deal with when two of his lieutenants rat him out. The show’s two snitches, Joe Barros and Vinny the Capo, are based on murderer and government informant Joseph “The Animal” Barboza, and Vincent “Fat Vinny” Teresa, who wrote a book about his years in the Mafia. Both men testified against Patriarca.
The Don’s troubles come to a head in the potent second act.
The characters are essentially composites with real-life roots. The song “What a Saint Is He” tells how the godfather gives money to a desperate woman for an eye operation for her son, something Patriarca once did. The woman sings how Don Marco does more for the neighborhood than politicians, the police and even, God forgive me, the priests.
The song, said Violet, shows that even bad guys have a good side, a recurrent theme in the show. When snitch Joe Barros goes into witness protection at the end of act one, he gives his daughter a string of pearls, albeit stolen pearls, to ease her pain of having to give up the life she knew, echoing a practice of Barboza, who in real life used to give his daughter a doll each time he killed someone.
At the same time, the tough U. S. Marshal in the show has his bad side, said Violet. In other words, no one in the show is all black or white, except perhaps the son, Renaldo, the aspiring opera singer who is gay. Garzilli called him the show’s “moral barometer,” the son every mother would love to have.
In most musicals in which there is a gay character, like “La Cage aux Folles,” audiences have to contend with what Violet called the “swish factor.” She finds that stereotype “counterproductive.”
“Maybe if people see a character like the son,” said Violet, “it will change the Rhode Island debate over same-sex marriage.”
The show also features a Mafia induction ceremony using the transcript from an actual FBI wiretap. Violet said the godfather and the inductee, the “made man,” speak at times in Italian, just like on the FBI tape, but then the rest of the gang chimes in and repeats the lines in English, like a chorus.
The story of “The Family” is not told by crooks alone. Violet wanted to include a tribute to Partington, and show what federal marshals had to deal with when it came to the families of mobsters, people whose lives were often thrown into chaos when they entered the witness-protection program. In the moving song “What’s Going to Become of Us,” Barros’ wife, Claire, laments her fate, finding out that the guy she married isn’t who she thought he was.
“I wanted to show the human element that the marshals had to deal with,” said Violet. She said it’s her “tip of the hat” to Partington, who served for a while as Providence public safety commissioner under Cianci.
The music for the show, for the most part, has a big band flavor, the kind of Vegas-inspired sounds mobsters might have danced to in the 1970s and ’80s. But composer Garzilli, who has an eclectic musical background, said he just as often took his inspiration from Stravinsky, especially the composer’s use of poly-rhythms. There is even a homage to Puccini, in a scene where Renaldo sings at the Providence Performing Arts Center, while his father is on the phone with a Chicago mob boss and another character is being beaten senseless in a corner.
The show opens with the song “Family Values,” with its code of, “see nuttin’, know nuttin’, say nuttin’ at all.” It’s a tune that pops up in various guises every time this code comes into play, and provides something of a unifying thread to the musical.
“My writing leads up to the emotion of the song,” said Violet. “It’s not enough to say these words; we have to sing them to get the emotion of the scene.”
The cast is pretty much made up of local talent, including five Rhode Island College theater students. Tom Gleadow, who has done a lot of work at the Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, plays Don Marco, the godfather. Mark Colozzi, head of music in the Cranston public schools, who has sung as a tenor soloist throughout the Diocese of Providence, is Barros, the snitch. Colin Earyes, who is from Scranton, Pa, and getting his musical theater degree from West Chester University this month, plays the gay son Renaldo.
“All things being considered, we gave preference to Rhode Islanders,” said Violet. “We wanted to showcase the talent here to out-of-towners.”
Violet said she likes the touches director Peter Sampieri has brought to rehearsals so far. In one scene, he has Joe Barros doing push-ups to stay in shape. That rings true, she said, because in real life, Barboza was a former boxer who liked to work out. One thing she is looking for in the show, she said, is authenticity.
Whether that’s enough to make “The Family” the hit of the summer remains to be seen. But even if the show is not the greatest thing since sliced prosciutto, it won’t be for lack of trying.
“Arlene worked very hard on the show,” said Garzilli, “and I tried to do the same. We were never satisfied.”
“The Family” opens Thursday and runs through July 1 at the Lederer Theater Center, 201 Washington St., Providence. The show is renting the theater; it is not a Trinity Rep production. Tickets are $60. Call (401) 351-4242.
Thanks to Channing Gray
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)