Public Enemies on Mafia Wars

To help promote the Dec. 8 DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of Public Enemies, Universal Studios Home Entertainment teamed with Zynga for a cross-promotion with its online Mafia Wars game.

Mafia Wars is a role-playing game accessed through social media sites such as Facebook that lets users run their own crime family, participate in various crimes and steal loot. In early December Mafia Wars staged “Public Enemies Week,” helping to promote the gangster flick with special jobs and loot objects based on the film’s plot.

The campaign, led by appssavvy, a direct sales team for the social media space, in partnership with the Los Angeles office of Ignited, a marketing innovations agency working on behalf of Universal, was touted as the first such promotion of its kind. Mafia Wars is played by more than 25 million Facebook users.

“Public Enemies on Mafia Wars is the blockbuster social media campaign of 2009,” said Chris Cunningham, co-founder and CEO of appssavvy. “The foundation of every campaign we’re involved with is focused on relevance and delivering something the end user will find valuable. This effort with Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Zynga demonstrated these fundamentals of social media marketing to perfection.”

Zynga reported Public Enemies Loot garnered nearly 55 million interactions during the week-long campaign, and tie-ins to Public Enemies activities within the game were posted to players’ Facebook news feeds more than 7.6 million times, delivering nearly a billion viral impressions. The campaign generated nearly 25,000 ‘Likes’ and more than 26,000 comments on the Mafia Wars Facebook fan page.

“Even John Dillinger would be impressed with the scope and success of this effort,” said Mike Wokosin, VP of digital marketing for USHE. “Mafia Wars was an incredibly dynamic environment to seamlessly integrate our property and to effectively engage a significant and relevant audience.”

Thanks to John Latchem

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Is Ralph DeLeo the Street Boss of the Colombo Crime Family?

In Boston, home to the New England Mafia and a string of legendary former bosses like “The Cheese Man’’ and “Cadillac Frank,’’ Ralph DeLeo was a virtual unknown.

“Here, I’m nothing,’’ DeLeo said within earshot of an FBI bug. But in New York, he said, “Everybody is holding the door for ya, helping on your coat, giving you hugs . . . kissing you, and all this type of stuff. ‘Oh, you gotta sit in front, you gotta do this, are you comfortable? Can I get you coffee?’ ’’

But to the FBI, DeLeo, 66, of Somerville was somebody.

Agents tapped his cellphone from January through November of last year, then he was indicted last month on a federal racketeering conspiracy charge. The indictment filed in US District Court in Boston alleges that he is the “street boss’’ of New York’s Colombo family and runs a small crew based in Greater Boston involved in drug trafficking, extortion, and loansharking.

DeLeo is being held in Arkansas, where he’s also facing charges of cocaine trafficking. An FBI affidavit filed last week in courts in Boston and Arkansas detailed DeLeo’s alleged position in the New York mob and offered snippets of conversations from his bugged telephone calls.

The affidavit alleges that DeLeo is the highest-ranking member of the Colombo family who is not in prison, and ran the family’s business for most of last year. He allegedly reported to its boss, Carmine “The Snake’’ Persico, and acting boss, Alphonse “Allie Boy’’ Persico, who are in prison.

During an FBI-bugged call to his sister from New York last week, DeLeo, who had allegedly presided over a mob induction ceremony, admitted that he found his job “like overwhelming a little bit,’’ the affidavit said.

He described going to the ceremony in different groups and cars to “make sure we weren’t followed,’’ and added, “it was a big deal; people picking us up, taking us somewhere else and all that type of stuff, I wasn’t ready for all that.’’

In October 1989, New England mobsters did the same thing, arriving at a Medford home in different cars and groups. But it didn’t do them much good because the FBI had planted a bug in the house and captured its first-ever recording of a Mafia induction ceremony that led to a takedown of the hierarchy of the local mob.

Before the New England family was weakened by waves of prosecution, it was unheard of for another Mafia family to encroach on its territory.

The indictment alleges that in the past year DeLeo and three other men, Franklin M. Goldman, 66, of Randolph, Edmond Kulesza, 56, of Somerville, and George Wiley Thompson, 54, of Cabot, Ark., plotted to distribute marijuana and cocaine, extort money from victims, including one in Canton, and collect loansharking debts.

DeLeo allegedly paid $50,000 for 2 kilograms of cocaine that were transported from California to Massachusetts in December 2008, according to the indictment.

It’s not DeLeo’s first brush with the law.

He served a 25- to 40-year sentence in state prison at Walpole for kidnapping and armed robbery when he escaped in 1977.

He was convicted of killing an Ohio doctor in 1977 and sentenced to 15 years to life. But the state’s governor granted him clemency in 1991 and he has been free since 1997.

Unaware that his alleged encroachment into New England last year had drawn attention, DeLeo kept talking as the FBI kept listening.

During a March call to his sister from Florida, DeLeo lamented about all of the attention he was getting from other wise guys.

“They gave me too much attention,’’ DeLeo said, according to the affidavit. “You know, too many hugs, too many kisses. You know, holding the car door for me, holding doors for me, you know all that type of stuff. And, um, I’m not into that type of stuff. I’m, uh, you know, I’m . . . at heart I’m a regular guy, you know. Uh, you know to them I’m something else, but I’m really not that something else.’’

When his sister asked if he brought his girlfriend on the Florida trip, DeLeo said he was just “with the guys’’ because he was afraid she would be suspicious if she saw the royal treatment he was getting.

“You know what I mean, cause they definitely act like Sopranos and . . . the way they [pay] attention to me is, you know, they would huh, you know she would suspect something.’

Thanks to Shelley Murphy

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Junior Gotti Contemplates Leaving New York and Becoming a True Crime Author

Now that the government has given up trying to put him in prison, John "Junior" Gotti says he may leave New York and try his hand at writing true crime stories.

The son of notorious Gambino boss John Gotti held a celebration dinner Friday at a restaurant in Westbury on Long Island.

Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that after a series of hung juries they wouldn't seek a fifth retrial against the younger Gotti, who says he quit the mob in 1999.

Gotti told reporters at the dinner that he's thinking about moving south and may write a true crime book.

He says it may be "better for everybody" if he moves away.

Gotti served nine years in prison for racketeering, but prosecutors failed to convict him of charges that he ordered several murders.

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Family Secrets Mob Prosecutor, John J. Sully, Now Serves on the Bench

For John J. Scully, who closed out his 25 years of fighting organized crime as a federal prosecutor in Chicago with the Operation Family Secrets trial before ascending to the bench last year as an associate judge in Lake County, some boasting may be in order. But Scully — a retired U.S. Navy captain who served on a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam in combat operations and later as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve — isn't one to toot his own horn, according to his current and former colleagues.

"He's accomplished a lot in his lifetime, and you wouldn't know it. … He's very humble," said fellow Lake County Associate Judge Jorge L. Ortiz.

Some highlights of Scully's career in the U.S. Department of Justice include the investigation and prosecution of former Chicago Police chief of detectives William Hanhardt, who pleaded guilty to running a Chicago Outfit interstate jewelry theft crew, and the prosecution of the On Leong gambling ring based in South Side Chinatown, a complex case that exposed payoffs to the mob, Chicago police and a Cook County judge.

His achievements were recognized by the U.S. attorney general in 2008, when Scully, along with two fellow prosecutors, was honored with a top national award, the DOJ's John Marshall Award, for his work in the Family Secrets case. The case targeted members of the Chicago Outfit and resulted in convictions involving 18 unsolved organized crime murders dating to 1970.

"He didn't even tell any of his friends about it [the top national award]. I found out about it by reading about it in the newspaper," Ortiz said. "That's just how he is."

Aside from practicing as an in-house attorney for Illinois Bell for three years in the late 1970s and early '80s, Scully, 62, has spent his professional life in public service.

His judicial service began in February 2009, when he was appointed to an associate judgeship in the 19th Judicial Circuit. He started out in the traffic division at Lake County's Park City branch court and is carrying out an assignment in misdemeanor court in the county's main courthouse in Waukegan.

"He's taken an amazing path to get to where he is," said Lake County Associate Judge Michael J. Fusz, a longtime friend. "It's incredible firepower on the bench, having somebody with his experience."

That path was carved out from Chicago's South Side, where Scully grew up in an Irish household as the eldest of seven children. The son of a World War II Navy veteran who worked as a steel estimator in Chicago factories, Scully attended De La Salle High School and became the first member of his family to attend college when he was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy.

"I always assumed, when I was in high school, that I would, one way or another, be in the service. It's something that one should do if you can — serve your country," Scully said.

If the military or college weren't an option, Scully said, he had thought that "maybe I'd be a police officer or a firefighter."

"I figured I was going to go into the service and try to get an education," he said.

After graduating from the academy in 1969, he married his high school prom date, Pat, whom he had met when the two were teenagers working at a National Tea grocery store on the city's Southwest Side. He was a stock boy; she was a cashier.

As a newly commissioned naval officer, Scully asked to be assigned to a destroyer out of San Diego. He served on the USS Hull, off the coast of Vietnam from May 1970 to August 1971, providing assistance to carriers in the South China Sea, and providing naval gunfire support in close proximity to the shore, assisting either Army or Marine Corps spotters.

After his Western Pacific deployment, he headed for law school at the University of San Diego School of Law.

"I had always been the kind that read the paper, front page to the last page, and realized that so much of what was part of American life dealt in one way or another with the law," Scully said.

After nine years of active duty, which included prosecuting and defending sailors and Marines as an officer in the JAG Corps, Scully served an additional 20 years in the Navy Reserve, most of that time as an intelligence officer. He was ultimately in charge of about 170 intelligence officers and specialists in the Midwest.

Scully's career as a civilian prosecutor began in Lake County, as an assistant state's attorney prosecuting felonies for 14 months in the early 1980s. By 1982, he joined the Department of Justice as a special attorney with the U.S. Organized Crime Strike Force, which merged with the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1990.

"Growing up in Chicago, I think I had a fair sense of how much influence the Chicago Outfit had on various aspects of life in and around Chicago, and I felt I wanted to assist in investigating and prosecuting," Scully said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney T. Markus Funk worked alongside Scully as part of the three-prosecutor trial team in the Family Secrets case.

Funk described his former colleague as "unflappable," and "comfortable in his own skin," with a strong sense of empathy and a knack for gaining the trust of people from all walks of life — from the victims of violent crimes to a "murdering mobster."

"I've never seen him come unraveled, never seen him lose his cool," Funk said.

"He's not a guy who needs to talk tough or get accolades from other people," Funk said. "He's not a political being; he doesn't strive for some sort of public acclaim. He just wants to do the right thing. That seems to be what has been guiding him, and that's a great thing for a judge."

Criminal defense attorney Edward M. Genson opposed Scully in numerous cases during the judge's years with the DOJ.

"He was an extraordinarily good lawyer, an extraordinarily principled lawyer," Genson said. "His word was his bond.

"A fair prosecutor is going to be a fair judge," he said. "I'm sure he'll be fair."

Scully's colleagues on the bench say the judge's life experience, coupled with his personality traits, make for an "ideal" judge.

"He's a person of compassion, humility, industriousness, patience. And he is a grinder, someone who just keeps working at it," Ortiz said. "I think he's a perfect combination for a judge."

After 25 years of making the long commute from his home in Lake County to the federal courthouse in Chicago, Scully retired from the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2007.

"I had done most aspects of what I set out to do — to combat the Chicago Outfit," he said.

Around Christmas 2008, he submitted his bid for a judgeship.

"I've always enjoyed being in court, and I missed being in court from '07," Scully said.

For Scully, a father of four grown children and the grandfather of four whose name has followed the titles of captain, assistant U.S. attorney and now judge, "I'm a husband, dad and a grandpa first."

Looking back on the path that led him to the bench, Scully is quick to mention his high school sweetheart and wife of 40 years.

"I've had experiences that a lot of other people are not able to have, and that's mainly been made as a result of going to the Naval Academy. A lot of it flowed from there," Scully said. "But so much of it is as a result of having a wife who was supportive."

Thanks to Maria Kantzavelos

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World's First Al Capone Birthday Bash

In the 1920s and ’30s, when Al Capone ruled the Chicago underworld, a party thrown by the infamous gangster was a major event.

His celebrations were massive, attracting city officials, celebrities and other dignitaries.

Now, 63 years after Capone’s death, Prospect Heights resident Richard Larsen is looking to make Capone’s 111th birthday an extravaganza Chicago area residents will not forget. On Jan. 17, Larsen will host his first Al Capone birthday bash at the Executive Plaza Hotel in Wheeling.

“God only knows” where the idea came from, said Larsen, a Capone historian, whose work on the subject includes a film titled “The Other Side of Capone,” which aims to show the softer, less notorious side of the man. “I was just sitting around, thinking of the next Capone promotion I could come up with.”

Larsen, who runs the Web site www.caponefanclub.com, said he is hoping to throw the type of party Capone himself would have thrown, with guests dressed to the nines, music and dancing.

The festivities will include numerous contests, including a Capone look-alike contest, Capone trivia and a best-dressed gangster contest. Winners will receive prizes like $50 gift certificates to Salerno’s Pizza in Glenview and packages from Sybaris Romantic Getaways.

Larsen said Richard Crowe, a Chicago historian well-known for his haunted Chicago tours, will serve as master of ceremonies, and Antoinette Giancana, the daughter of former Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana and author of books on the Chicago mob, has said she will attend. But the party also will be a promotional event, Larsen said. Guests will have a chance to view clips of “The Other Side of Capone,” which Larsen made with director Ron Karpman of Buffalo Grove, and listen to “Madonna Mia,” a love song Capone wrote for his wife while imprisoned at Alcatraz.

Larsen and Karpman have produced and released a CD of “Madonna Mia” as recorded in English and Italian by two vocalists backed by mandolin, accordion, violin, piano and upright bass.

The recording has served as a sort of lead-in to the duo’s next project. Larsen and Karpmen also are hoping to find actors willing to appear in a scene for their next film, “Capone the Music Man,” which they will be shooting at the party.

The scene will be a re-enactment of a banquet Capone threw in September 1927 in Chicago after the famous boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. Karpman explained that Dempsey lost the fight and Capone lost thousands of dollars he had wagered, but Capone decided to throw a lavish party anyway.

During the party, Capone asked the bandleader if Capone himself could conduct the orchestra through “Rhapsody in Blue,” Karpman said. When the song ended, Capone turned around and had tears in his eyes.

“Here’s this brutal murderer crying,” Karpman said. “It underscores the saying that music soothes the savage beast.”

Larsen said he and Karpman recently found a band, the Glenview-based Ralph Wilder Orchestra, to perform “Rhapsody in Blue” at their party.

Both Larsen and Karpman said they realize that throwing a party in the name of a gangster could be considered unusual—controversial, even. They are aware that past Capone-related events in Chicago have been met with criticism and scorn by the likes of law enforcers and municipal officials.

When the subject came up, Larsen produced a laminated Chicago newspaper article in which a city of Chicago spokesperson declined to comment on an event that perpetuated Chicago’s image as a city of gangsters.

Larsen said he chose not to hold his event in Chicago, because he didn’t want to deal with the potential backlash—or the parking constraints.

Even though the party is to be held in Wheeling, Wheeling police asked that questions about the event be directed to Prospect Heights police, whose jurisdiction includes the Executive Plaza Hotel. Calls to the Prospect Heights Police Department were not returned. But Karpman said he and Larsen are not trying to deny the crimes Capone committed, and they “aren’t trying to put a halo over his head.”

“On the surface, it sounds very strange, and I think that’s the reason Rich decided to do this,” Karpman said.

Larsen said he hoped the prospect of a birthday bash for a dead gangster would draw attention. Perhaps, he said, people would attend and learn about the lesser-known side of Capone—the man that he said established soup kitchens during the Great Depression and gave money to a fund to support widows of police officers killed in gang warfare.

“Do we always have to focus on the negative?” Larsen said. “Have we not seen enough films on Capone as this horrible person?”

Larsen said with the event, he hopes to reflect Capone’s more generous acts by donating portions of proceeds from ticket sales to local charities, including Greater Wheeling Area Youth Outreach and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

For that reason, Todd Hoffman, assistant general manager at the Executive Plaza Hotel, said he and the other hotel administrators were looking forward to the Capone birthday bash.

“We're hoping it's going to be a great event,” Hoffman said. “We're hoping the community supports it because a lot of the proceeds are going back into the community.”

Those involved with the event also anticipate a bash that reminds people of the how significant Capone was to Chicago.

“Chicago should get used to the idea that Capone is iconic in its history,” Larsen said.

Thanks to Jeff Danna

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