Daley Refuses to Answer Questions on Pal's Mob Connections

Friends of mine: Fred Barbara

'Journalists don't carry guns . . . no, they carry the ink, the ink,'' railed Daley last Thursday at a City Hall news conference.

Hizzoner has been on a tear, ripping the local news media with the fury of a hurricane hitting the coast.

The mayor can be a bully at times.

Nobody wants to say it in so many words, but every department head at City Hall, certainly his 10 previous chiefs of staff who have been put through the mayoral wringer and spun out City Hall's revolving door, know what it's like to be in the woodshed. When they leave, their tongues have been torn out. Not one has ever publicly spoken of what it's like to work for Daley, understanding that it is best never to talk of he-who-shall-not-be-named.

The mayor's wrath was on full display last week. Part Jack Nicholson, part Richard Nixon, Daley roared like a blast furnace, lashed out like a wounded lion, fulminating when reporters dared to inquire about his relationship to Fred Barbara.

''I think it's ridiculous,'' fumed the mayor, refusing to answer, barking back at reporters, ''Any other questions?''

Barbara is a millionaire many times over thanks to lucrative connections to city waste hauling contracts, his wife's now-defunct trucking firm tied to the city's scandal-scarred Hired Truck program, and his ongoing banking business in partnership with well-connected politicians. But many years ago, long before he ever golfed or dined with the mayor or contributed thousands of dollars to Daley-backed candidates, Barbara had caught the eye of the feds. They believed he was mobbed up and indicted him in 1982 in a gambling and juice operation. Barbara was acquitted, never convicted of that or any other crime.

Suddenly, last Tuesday, Barbara's name was vaulted back into public view thanks to the massive Family Secrets mob trial playing out at the federal building. Nick Calabrese, aging hit man-turned-government-witness, told a spellbound courtroom about all manner of mob horrors, including how the Chicago Outfit blew up or burned down certain unlucky suburban restaurants. Fred Barbara, according to Calabrese, was a member of one of the mob's bombing crews back in the 1980s. Barbara didn't respond to my phone calls.

The front page Sun-Times headline the next day read, "Hit man: Daley pal in on mob bombing.''

For Daley, the ink hit the fan. The mayor was apoplectic. For two days, he lashed out at reporters.

''You have the power of the pen, you have a lot of power,'' he declared. ''We don't even know who you are.''

And yet he seems to know where we grew up.

''Most of you never grew up in Chicago,'' said the Baron of Bridgeport.

The problem is the mayor thinks everything is unfair these days. Just about any question, let alone criticism, rankles him. City Hall reporters take the brunt of the mayoral battering as the mayor castigates some of them for living in the suburbs, suggesting they don't really know or care about the city he loves.

He wags his finger, reminding the press of its own dirty laundry, like recently convicted Sun-Times press boss Conrad Black and his creepy, crooked right-hand man, David Radler.

''Look at all the scandals you have received as journalists, every day there is another article, I mean, c'mon, every day there's an article,'' said Daley. ''Every day there's someone, you know, doing some misconduct."

And then he lectures us on our cold hearts and callousness.

''You report a gun killing on Page 25," the mayor jabs triumphantly. ''How about that one? Because it's not your son or daughter. They're not poor. You have a lot of power, don't you realize that?''

We do.

Then again, so does the 19-year occupant of the City Hall's fifth floor.

Mayor Daley has a difficult job that he performs with passion and skill. And we in the press are no shrinking violets. We can take the bullying and the bluster. But at the end of the day, it wouldn't hurt, along with the journalism lecture, to just answer the question.

Thanks to Carol Marin

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Material Girl, Madonna, to Make Movie on Mafia World?

It seems that Madonna is getting increasingly fascinated with the mafia and the gangster world.

After working with Timbaland on hip-hop tracks, the pop diva is now planning to make a film about her jailbird former lover, Chris Paciello, who was once a New York mobster.

Madonna dated Paciello for two years in the nineties, but the pair parted ways after he was jailed for murder following a theft in which a woman was shot dead by an accomplice. But now that the one-time nightclub investor is free, Madge is seriously thinking about making a movie on his life and has even met him three times in the past six months to discuss the project.

A shortlist of stars has been put together for the movie including Mark Wahlberg, John Cusack and star of massive American sci-fi series Heroes Milo Ventimiglia.

"Recording with Timbaland must have given Madonna a taste for gangsters. She's back in touch with her old flame Chris. She has met him three times to thrash out a deal - first when she went to LA for the Academy Awards, then twice in New York, including her most recent trip there last month," The Sun quoted a source, as saying.

"There's no romance. She is desperately keen to produce a film based on the book Mob Over Miami about him. She has always been fascinated by tough guys and loves his story," the source added.

However, the source adds that Madge's hubby Guy Ritchie has made it very clear that he won't be involved in the movie, as he thinks that the whole project is a bad idea.

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Book Review: Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia

Contrary to popular belief, New York City was not the birthplace of the American Mafia. As students of organized crime history know, the real birthplace was New Orleans; but while the prevailing literature about the mob in the Big Easy has concentrated on the late 19th century, Deep Water takes the origin back to the Civil War. As such, this is one of the more foundational organized crime books ever written. The book wraps the definitive era of American history in with the emergence of a new kind of criminal. Deep Water is ostensibly the story of the origins of the Mafia in America told through the trials of the Macheca family, fruit merchants in New Orleans. The main character is J.P. Macheca, stepson of the Macheca patriarch and an intriguing figure from both a business and political sense - he spent nine months in the Confederate Army.

Thomas Hunt brings the story alive through his rich attention to details. You can practically smell the fetid air of the New Orleans waterfront. The one thread that ties the elements together is the rich familial history intertwined with the background history. I think in teaming with Martha Macheca Sheldon, Hunt made a smart move. Anecdotal family stories brings a dimension to the Macheca saga that you rarely get from a general Mafia book. Not wanting to lavish too much praise on the author, but it’s always exciting to find a new way to approach a subject.

The opening half of the book takes the reader through mid 19th century New Orleans. The Civil War, as seen through the eyes of this Southern melting pot, comes alive. From there, Hunt expertly parses out the Reconstruction policies and the ensuing political fallout in post-war New Orleans. The last part of the book deals with the assassination of Police Chief David Hennessey and the ensuing legal proceedings and eventual vigilante killings of a number of Sicilians, including J.P. Macheca. This section, having been written about before, takes a new life here, with an explanation that makes the lynching of the Sicilians more a calculated hit than a random act of mob violence.

If there is any criticism, it’s the lack of notes. It’s evident from the references that Hunt dug deep for the story. I would have liked to have seen where some specific pieces came from.

Deep Water is a worthy addition to the organized crime canon and the greater body of books on Civil War-era America.

Thanks to Blog Critic's Scott Deitche.
Scott M. Deitche is an environmental scientist by profession. He also writes on the Mafia, including the books Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld, and The Silent Don: The Criminal Underworld of Santo Trafficante Jr.

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