Mafia Wars Gets New VP

More evidence of how lucrative the social gaming space has become: EA digital media exec Brandon Barber has jumped ship to Zynga. Barber will take on the role of VP of marketing at the gaming company, which develops games like Texas Hold 'Em Poker and Mafia Wars for social networks and the iPhone. The S.F.-based startup raised a monster $29 million round in July, and its Scramble game is currently one of the top 25 on Facebook, per Gamezebo.

Barber spent six years with EA, most recently as senior director of global online marketing; he helped broker a number of entertainment and music marketing deals for the publisher, as well as distribution partnerships for TV, VOD and mobile. Barber also spearheaded the design of the EA's digital content delivery business. Prior to EA, he ran the product team at Napster. He will report to Andrew Trader, Zynga's EVP of sales and business development.

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Family Secrets Ex-Chicago Cop Gets 12 Years in Federal Prison

A former Chicago police officer accused of joining forces with the mob and collecting loan shark debts and extortion payments was sentenced today to 12 years in federal prison.

Anthony Doyle, 64, was among five alleged mob bosses and associates convicted of racketeering at the landmark Operation Family Secrets trial.

U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who presided over Chicago's biggest mob trial in decades, said during Doyle's sentencing that he had a decent career as a Chicago police officer, but "picked the wrong people to try to help."

Prosecutors describe Doyle as a "sleeper agent" for the mob who, defying police rules, visited convicted loan shark and hit man Frank Calabrese Sr. in prison and fed him inside police information about a major murder investigation.

It was part of an effort by Calabrese to thwart the investigation, they say.

Even before that, Doyle doubled as a collector of "street tax" payments Calabrese charged to businesses and extortion "juice loan" debts, according to federal investigators.

Unlike three of his four co-defendants including Calabrese, however, Doyle has not been held responsible for any of the 18 mob murders outlined in the indictment. But prosecutors do have secretly made tapes of the husky, broad-shouldered Doyle sitting in a prison visiting room discussing mob business with Calabrese.

Defense attorneys had said the already jailed Doyle has suffered enough and should be sentenced to no more than time served -- in other words, released immediately. Prosecutors dismissed that request as "without merit."

Doyle is the last of the trial defendants to be sentenced. Still to be sentenced, though, is Nicholas Calabrese, Frank's brother, an admitted mob hit man who became the government's star witness in hopes of avoiding a death penalty.

Thanks to Jeff Coen

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Anthony Doyle, Called a Chicago Outfit "Sleeper Agent" by the Feds

Calling him a "sleeper agent" for the Chicago Outfit, federal prosecutors this week will ask that a former Chicago police officer be given a longer than-normal prison sentence for his role in mob-related rackets.

Anthony "Twan" Doyle was convicted in the government's Family Secrets trial and is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday afternoon by Judge James Zagel. In a motion for a stiff upward departure from the sentencing guidelines, Asst. U.S. Attorney Markus Funk is asking that the judge consider Doyle's decades-long role as "an Outfit associate and Outfit juice loan collector."

Doyle, who changed his last name from Passafume so he would appear to be Irish, joined the historically-Irish Chicago Police Department merely as a cover for his role in the mob, according to prosecutors.

"In his role as a 'sleeper agent,' Doyle continued to advance the Outfit's criminal interests by passing Outfit-related messages" from imprisoned mob bosses to their underlings on the outside, according to the court filing.

The government contends that "Doyle ignores his established life-long association with the Outfit claiming instead that he merely engaged in a momentary staggering lapse of judgment.

Doyle's attorneys will ask that he be released immediately for "time served" since being convicted "followed by an extensive period of supervised release."

Doyle claims that he deserves such consideration because of his impoverished upbringing and his "vulnerability to abuse in prison," due to the fact that he was once a police officer. He also cites the loss of his police pension as a reason for supervised release and the impact on his wife in Arizona, who is suffering from cancer. "Its difficult for Ms. Doyle to care for their dog Rocco while she works" states a motion filed on behalf of Doyle, who contends his wife may be set upon by "transients as well as indigenous wildlife like mountain lions" in Arizona.

A separate motion filed by Mr. Doyle's attorneys asked for a delay in Thursday's sentencing so that a psychiatrist could examine him. The motion itself was sealed, but some details were revealed in Judge Zagel's order denying the request.

"The request for a psychiatric examination to determine the possible effect certain mental conditions had upon defendant's conduct is untimely" wrote Judge Zagel."All of the facts cited in support of the motion were known or should have been known months or even years ago. I have consistently delayed the sentencing dates for this and other defendants to allow investigation but the time I have allowed has been ample and this new request should have been made well before the time it was made."

Thanks to Chuck Goudie

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