Rule 53

Andy Austin has dedicated the past 40 years to a life in crime.

Neither notorious suspect nor mob mole, she has played her part in the era’s highest profile cases—John Wayne Gacy’s among them—as Channel 7’s courtroom artist, with her sketches appearing on the nightly news. Her new book, Rule 53, takes its title from the federal statute that prohibits photography or the broadcasting of courtroom proceedings, and in it, Austin trades in the colored-pencil portraits for a captivating blend of trial transcripts, reporting and personal musings on the war waged daily between right and wrong.

An artist during the helter-skelter ’60s, Austin felt the action was not in painting “rotten oranges and apples in a makeshift [dining room] studio,” she says, but in the streets where momentous political, racial and sexual upheavals were under way. She wanted to exchange her still-life existence for the allure of trials.

When the artist assigned to the Chicago 8 conspiracy trial had another assignment, the young, normally shy Austin sensed her breakout moment and announced her talent to Channel 7 reporter Hugh Hill. She was hired on the spot and learned on the job. She nearly walked away from it, though, after a string of politically charged, occasionally violent cases left her rattled. But an ABC colleague, the late Jim Gibbons, lured her back. It was during one of the biggest cases of her career, the 1980 trial of serial killer Gacy, that she began keeping her courthouse journals.

“What I heard every day was so gruesome,” says Austin, “that I started writing just to preserve my sanity and keep my head together.”

Rule 53 spotlights ten trials and several posttrial proceedings, including the Chicago 8 fiasco, two Chicago mob prosecutions, the gangland El Rukns, corrupt judge Thomas Maloney and infamous mob hit man Harry Aleman. When we spoke with her, she was neck deep, sketching the most notorious case in recent memory: the Tony Rezko trial. While Austin sees courtroom drama as “the great bazaar of American life,” the book reads most clearly as a morality play, with the court holding center stage and hosting a fascinating cast of lawyers, low-lifes and once-high-fliers.

Occasionally, Austin herself plays a role in the show. She drew the attention of several defendants, including Abbie Hoffman, who slipped her a note wondering, “What’s a good-looking girl like you doing in a corrupt society like this?” A henchman of the El Rukns once warned her while she sketched a defendant, “You draw his wife, he breaks your legs.” (She wisely refrained.)

The transcripts’ cinema-verité style makes for a gripping portrayal of courtroom drama. The El Rukns and Maloney trials are particularly vivid page-turners and incisive feats of distillation and narrative drive. Austin continually creates riveting personality portraits of defendants, judges and prosecutors. A dead-on sketch of 1970s style reads: “Those were the days of roaring bad taste…when politicians wore enormous pinky rings and cufflinks, mobsters wore black silk shirts under white ties and a well-known Irish-American defense lawyer sported a bright Kelly green suit.” Austin also has razor-sharp hearing, ever on the snoop for telltale clues, like the repartee between lawyers: “What are you here for?” and the reply, “Just shit, what else?”

True to Austin’s calling, Rule 53 provides a balanced reenactment of a tumultuous period in Chicago’s legal life that seems more faithful to the issues and players involved than the episodic take of daily journalism.

“I don’t feel much moral outrage,” says Austin, of her time spent next to criminals. “I must say that political corruption is beginning to disgust me after having covered the Ryan and now the Rezko case.”

Thanks to Tom Mullaney

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Gambino Mafia Boss Featured on America's Most Wanted

Nick Corozzo: Little Nicky Corozzo was arguably the Gambino crime family's most powerful chieftain -- and perhaps its craftiest. Cops say Corozzo is responsible for at least two murders, as well as extortion schemes, money laundering and illegal gambling operations. But when a phalanx of law enforcement officers converged on dozens of accused mobsters' homes in February 2008, the most coveted target was the one who got away.

Dwight Smith/1000th Capture: After 21 seasons of television crime fighting, America's Most Wanted has announced that accused killer Dwight Smith -- a NYC real estate agent who cops say killed his friend over a deal -- has become the show's 1,000th direct result capture.

Paul Eischeid: The A.T.F. and police in Tempe , Ariz. have charged outlaw biker Paul Eischeid with an act of savagery in the desert. He's one of the U.S. Marshals' Top 15, and John Walsh has added him to his Dirty Dozen list -- the notorious group of fugitives he wants to see taken off the streets the most.

David James Roberts: When AMW aired for the first time in 1988 no one was sure if it would work. The very first fugitive was a big fish -- one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted. He turned out be one of the easiest captures.

John List: John Emil List, one of the most famous captures in the history of America 's Most Wanted, made headlines in 1971 when he brutally and methodically murdered five of his family members. List's 17-year run from the law run ended on June 1, 1989 when he became AMW's 50th direct-result capture; he died on March 21, 2008 at a hospital in New Jersey.

Tempe Bank Heist: It sounds like a scene from a Hollywood movie: three savvy bank robbers scheme to hold a bank manager and his wife hostage the night before their big heist. The FBI says the men responsible for the biggest bank robbery payday in Arizona history not only terrorized one Tempe area couple, they tried and failed to do the same thing to a family the night before in Chandler . Now, a manhunt is underway for the cash-rich culprits who got away with nearly $400,000.

Devon Russell: Smuggling of drugs, weapons and illegal aliens is big business along the U.S. shores. In South Florida , federal, state and local law enforcement are taking on smugglers, and their fight is serious business. Since 2005, more than 30 innocent men and women have died at sea near Florida 's coastline as a result of smuggling. Cops are searching for a key player in the ring, Devon Russell.

Jeffrey Stone: Police say on March 24, 2008, 15-year-old Jeffrey Stone left his home on foot and vanished. He was last seen leaving his home on Littleton Cutoff Road in Attalla , Ala.

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Gangster Film "Chicago Overcoat" Wraps 2nd Unit Photography Around the City

The indie gangster film “Chicago Overcoat” just finished shooting 2nd unit photography from the end of April though the first week of May. The production flew stars Frank Vincent ("Raging Bull," “Casino,” “The Sopranos”) and Mike Starr (“Goodfellas,” “Dumb and Dumber,” "Ed Wood") back for some scenes. In addition, Chicago actor Danny Goldring (“The Fugitive,” “Batman: The Dark Knight”) came back for one more day of filming.

FRANK VINCENT plays Lou Marazano, an aging hit man who takes on one last job for the Chicago Outfit to secure his retirement and get a piece of the glory days.

MIKE STARR plays Lorenzo Galante, a loud-mouthed, street boss who will do
whatever it takes to seize power in the family.

DANNY GOLDRING plays Chicago homicide detective Ralph Maloney, a bitter, cantankerous old alcoholic, obsessed with solving a case that's haunted him for 20 years.

The production shot all over Chicago, filming the skyline, establishing shots, and some other extra shots for the film. Some notable locations include: The Italian Village, Franco's Ristorante, Emmett's Irish Pub, and Al Capone's old hang out, The Green Mill. The production also shot in many of Chicago's diverse neighborhoods, including The Loop, Pilsen, Bridgeport, and Logan Square.

Also starring are Armand Assante ("Gotti," "American Gangster"), Stacy Keach ("American History X," "Prison Break") and Kathrine Narducci ("A Bronx Tale," "The Sopranos"). Beverly Ridge Pictures is aiming for a Sundance world premiere for “Chicago Overcoat,” then bringing the film back to Chicago for a local premiere. For more information go to: Beverly Ridge Pictures.

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Martin Scorsese Biopic on Frank Sinatra to Dismiss Mob Rumors

Martin Scorsese will direct a major biopic about the life of Frank Sinatra, according to film producer Tina Sinatra, Sinatra's youngest daughter. But it will not be a Sinatra version of GoodFellas, Scorsese's gangster classic.

Instead, the combative singer-actor, who did socialize with crime figures, will be shown as innocent of any true involvement with the Mafia or other gangsters.

"Marty has always wanted to do this," Sinatra told Sun Media during a phone interview from Los Angeles.

Sinatra, who also produced the 1992 mini-series, Sinatra, said Scorsese is in a reflective period and is willing to present the truth about her father, who died on May 14, 1998.

That means dismissing scurrilous rumours that Sinatra was a stooge for the Mafia, Tina Sinatra said. Borrowing a metaphor from her father's own words, Sinatra said, "He never drove the getaway car." So, in the forthcoming Universal Pictures film, "I don't want him to be driving the getaway car. That would not be fair. But I trust him (Scorsese) implicitly."

Sinatra admitted it is premature to officially announce Scorsese for the biopic. Initially, she referred to the director as "the most prominent Italian-American filmmaker" working today in Hollywood.

When Sun Media guessed Francis Ford Coppola, she said: "We adore him but he didn't step up to it."

When Scorsese's name followed, Sinatra offered this: "I can't tell you yet but you're warmer."

Laughing, Sinatra later confirmed it was Scorsese. "You'll be reading about it very soon ... oh, go ahead and print it, I don't care!"

Thanks to Bruce Kirkland

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Academic Conference - The Sopranos: A Wake

The Sopranos, the hit television series starring James Gandolfini that chronicled the lives of mafia members in New Jersey, is to be the subject of an academic conference for the first time.

Many viewers felt bereft when the last of the six series finished last year, but academics at Brunel University in west London and Fordham University in New York have found a way to commiserate. They will jointly host The Sopranos: A Wake in Manhattan from 22-24 May. Titles of the sessions include: 'Carmela Soprano as Emma Bovary' and 'Body of Evidence: Tony Soprano's Corporeal Struggle'.

The Observer's television critic Kate Flett said the series 'held a mirror up to America. It was not about the mafia, it was about the family and, in fact, it was not really about the family either, it was about America.'

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