The public's fascination with traditional organized crime didn't end with the Godfather movies, Casino, Goodfellas or the Sopranos on television.
Even after Chicago and New York crime families were decimated by federal prosecutions, there is a renewed public appetite for the mob. But some people aren't biting.
"It's something that never leaves your mind or your heart," said Bob D'Andrea whose father was killed by the mob.
"It destroys you, it destroys the inside of you, it destroys you as a person," said Joey Seifert whose father was also murdered by the mob.
Decades after their loved ones were murdered by the Chicago mob, sons and daughters and wives and parents say they continue to be victimized. Not by a pistol-whipping or the payment of protection money but by a new book by ex-Chicago Outfit thug Frank Calabrese Jr., who is beginning a promotional tour this week in the city where he turned on his own father and helped put him away for life. And they say they are revictimized by two mob museums opening soon in Las Vegas.
"What you see when you go there? You are going to see the mob guys laughing and holding their kids, like trying to humanize them. And they are not, they are monsters," said Seifert.
At age four, Seifert watched a masked mob hitman kill his father. It was Joey "The Clown" Lombardo.
Anthony Ortiz was 12 years old in 1983 when his father was killed in front of the Cicero tavern he owned, gunned down by the ruthless Outfit boss Frank "The Breeze" Calabrese Sr.
"To me, a mobster is just a glorified gangbanger, am I wrong or am I right? They beat people up, they take their money, they threaten them," said Ortiz.
It was the Calabrese crew that committed a 1981 hit on suburban trucking company owner Michael Cagnoni by a remote-controlled bomb on the Tri-state Tollway after Cagnoni refused to be extorted by Outfit bosses.
In her first ever interview, Cagnoni's widow, Margaret, says hoodlum-turned-author Frank Calabrese Jr. should not be turning a profit off victims' grief. "Frank [Jr.] was not an innocent person...To him, to go out and make money on our loses and our sorrow and profiting from victims' families is disgraceful. We suffered enough," Cagnoni told the I-Team.
"I didn't kill anybody. OK, so if they're mad that I'm going to profit off of my story with my dad, I don't know what to do. I feel bad for them. I feel sorry for their losses. I can relate to them," said Frank Calabrese Jr.
"If he is really sorry from what he did and wants to do good and show that he is making amends for his past. Why don't you show that you're sorry by donating, if you are going to write a book donate the profits to a worthy charity," said Cagnoni.
The I-Team asked Calabrese Jr. if he thought about donating his profits to a victims' fund. "I haven't. That's definitely a possibility. I talked to some of the victims' kids, and I'm trying to form a relationship with them because I want to hear their stories too," he responded.
"It would be nice if he did something nice like donate a part of the proceeds to the families, it's not like he wasn't in the business," said D'Andrea.
"His dad and his uncle are the ones who killed my dad. Why should anyone benefit from that?" said Ortiz.
"We all went through something similar, in different ways...Unfortunately all the mob that put us together," said Seifert.
And now, mob victim and mobster have something else in common; Joey Seifert has written his own book and screenplay. "It's more of a survivors' book, a family survival of this is what happened, how it shredded our family and how it brought us back together," said Seifert.
Relatives of several Chicago mobsters are paid consultants to the mob experience opening this month in Lase Vegas including such names as Spilotro, Giancana and Aiuppa.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Friday, March 18, 2011
Joseph "The Shark" Lopez Back on Mob Case
A new order came out yesterday and Attorney Joseph "The Shark" Lopez is not permanently banned for future appointments. This was after a review of a motion that Lopez and filed on March 15th and includes a letter from Frank Calabrese Sr. that was written to the judge.
Lopez will continue to still represent Calabrese on the SAMS issue.
Lopez will continue to still represent Calabrese on the SAMS issue.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Frank Calabrese Jr to Speak at Arlington Heights Library Tonight, The Union League Club on Friday
Ex-mobster Frank Calabrese Jr. will have the same level of security Thursday night that the Arlington Heights library provided Harry the Humpback Whale last Saturday.
Calabrese, the former organized crime figure turned informant, will speak to 200 people at 7 p.m. Thursday. He and his three co-authors are promoting his book, “Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster’s Son Brought Down Chicago’s Murderous Crime Family.”
And despite threats of violence that caused bookstores in Oak Brook and Chicago to cancel his appearances, the Arlington Heights Memorial Library is going ahead — using the same two security staffers who help with crowd control at all their popular programs, said library spokeswoman Deb Whisler.
Calabrese, however, does travel with a personal bodyguard. Co-authors Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman and Paul Pompian are also expected to be there. And while Harry the Humpback drew more than 700 people, Calabrese’s talk is limited to 200 because of space. All 200 tickets have been handed out, Whisler said, so don’t show up at the door without a ticket.
Calabrese, 50, returned to the Chicago area this week to promote his book about the Chicago Outfit. But two Borders appearances were scrubbed after phoned-in death threats, so Calabrese kicked off his tour Tuesday on a slightly smaller stage at Elmhurst College. About 100 people attended.
Calabrese isn’t worried that his life, or those of his audience, are in danger at the Arlington Heights library.
The library hasn’t been threatened, Whisler said Wednesday, and Calabrese doubts the calls Borders got were really from the mob, anyway.
“If they wanted to do something to harm me they wouldn’t call,” Calabrese said.
“You take everything seriously but in my experience, a phone call is not something those involved in organized crime do,” he said.
Kate Niehoff, the library’s programs manager, booked Calabrese a few months ago because his book is popular with library patrons.
“When I contacted (Calabrese’s) co-authors, I assumed Frank wouldn’t be a part of the program but they followed up a month later and said Frank wanted to come,” Niehoff said. “I guess he’s a big fan of downtown Arlington Heights.”
Calabrese confirmed it’s true — he does like the development in downtown Arlington Heights.
In his book, Calabrese talks about growing up as the son of a violent mobster, his own entrance into the Outfit at 18, and the chain of events as he worked to put his father, Frank “The Breeze” Calabrese Sr., away for good.
Calabrese Sr. is presently in a maximum-security prison for the rest of his life, for murdering at least 13 people. It was through Calabrese Jr. wearing a wire that the convictions were possible, authorities say.
Calabrese is speaking at the Union League Club on Friday before returning home to Arizona this weekend.
Being back in Chicago has been “mentally exhausting” for Calabrese, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002 and walks with a cane today.
“I live a normal life, I work two jobs and like to spend time with my kids,” he said. “I’m a plain Joe now.”
Calabrese may embark on a national book tour later, he said.
Thanks to Shelia Ahern
Calabrese, the former organized crime figure turned informant, will speak to 200 people at 7 p.m. Thursday. He and his three co-authors are promoting his book, “Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster’s Son Brought Down Chicago’s Murderous Crime Family.”
And despite threats of violence that caused bookstores in Oak Brook and Chicago to cancel his appearances, the Arlington Heights Memorial Library is going ahead — using the same two security staffers who help with crowd control at all their popular programs, said library spokeswoman Deb Whisler.
Calabrese, however, does travel with a personal bodyguard. Co-authors Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman and Paul Pompian are also expected to be there. And while Harry the Humpback drew more than 700 people, Calabrese’s talk is limited to 200 because of space. All 200 tickets have been handed out, Whisler said, so don’t show up at the door without a ticket.
Calabrese, 50, returned to the Chicago area this week to promote his book about the Chicago Outfit. But two Borders appearances were scrubbed after phoned-in death threats, so Calabrese kicked off his tour Tuesday on a slightly smaller stage at Elmhurst College. About 100 people attended.
Calabrese isn’t worried that his life, or those of his audience, are in danger at the Arlington Heights library.
The library hasn’t been threatened, Whisler said Wednesday, and Calabrese doubts the calls Borders got were really from the mob, anyway.
“If they wanted to do something to harm me they wouldn’t call,” Calabrese said.
“You take everything seriously but in my experience, a phone call is not something those involved in organized crime do,” he said.
Kate Niehoff, the library’s programs manager, booked Calabrese a few months ago because his book is popular with library patrons.
“When I contacted (Calabrese’s) co-authors, I assumed Frank wouldn’t be a part of the program but they followed up a month later and said Frank wanted to come,” Niehoff said. “I guess he’s a big fan of downtown Arlington Heights.”
Calabrese confirmed it’s true — he does like the development in downtown Arlington Heights.
In his book, Calabrese talks about growing up as the son of a violent mobster, his own entrance into the Outfit at 18, and the chain of events as he worked to put his father, Frank “The Breeze” Calabrese Sr., away for good.
Calabrese Sr. is presently in a maximum-security prison for the rest of his life, for murdering at least 13 people. It was through Calabrese Jr. wearing a wire that the convictions were possible, authorities say.
Calabrese is speaking at the Union League Club on Friday before returning home to Arizona this weekend.
Being back in Chicago has been “mentally exhausting” for Calabrese, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002 and walks with a cane today.
“I live a normal life, I work two jobs and like to spend time with my kids,” he said. “I’m a plain Joe now.”
Calabrese may embark on a national book tour later, he said.
Thanks to Shelia Ahern
Attorney Removed from Family Secrets Trial Appeal by Chief Judge
Update: The Shark is back on the Case.
Chicago mob boss Frank "The Breese" Calabrese Sr., sentenced to life in prison for seven gangland slayings in 2007's Operation Family Secrets, has lost his appeals lawyer.
Attorney Joe Lopez, who represented Calabrese in the landmark mob case, was to handle his appeal. On March 4th, the chief judge for the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Frank Easterbrook, ruled that he will appoint another attorney because Lopez "left his client in a lurch."
After requesting numerous extensions to file his opening brief, Lopez missed the final deadline offered by the court. When the court asked Lopez why he should not be relieved from representing Calabrese, Lopez responded that he had delegated the opening brief to attorney Robert Caplin, who was retained as trial council.
Caplin told the court that due to economic strains, he could not put the brief ahead of paid work. Judge Easterbrook called the men "unprofessional" and as a result relieved Lopez and Calplin as appellate lawyers on the case. Both men will be ineligible for future appointments and will be placed on a list of lawyers who, when handling paid appeals, will not be allowed more than two extensions of time to file openings.
The court will appoint a replacement to represent Calabrese, 74, who is been held in solitary confinement or "special administrative measures" (SAMS) since 2008.
Thanks to Ann Pistone and Chuck Goudie
Chicago mob boss Frank "The Breese" Calabrese Sr., sentenced to life in prison for seven gangland slayings in 2007's Operation Family Secrets, has lost his appeals lawyer.
Attorney Joe Lopez, who represented Calabrese in the landmark mob case, was to handle his appeal. On March 4th, the chief judge for the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Frank Easterbrook, ruled that he will appoint another attorney because Lopez "left his client in a lurch."
After requesting numerous extensions to file his opening brief, Lopez missed the final deadline offered by the court. When the court asked Lopez why he should not be relieved from representing Calabrese, Lopez responded that he had delegated the opening brief to attorney Robert Caplin, who was retained as trial council.
Caplin told the court that due to economic strains, he could not put the brief ahead of paid work. Judge Easterbrook called the men "unprofessional" and as a result relieved Lopez and Calplin as appellate lawyers on the case. Both men will be ineligible for future appointments and will be placed on a list of lawyers who, when handling paid appeals, will not be allowed more than two extensions of time to file openings.
The court will appoint a replacement to represent Calabrese, 74, who is been held in solitary confinement or "special administrative measures" (SAMS) since 2008.
Thanks to Ann Pistone and Chuck Goudie
Politicians Reputed to Have Helped the Mob in Chicago
Chicago’s most famous mob informant is accusing some Illinois politicians of helping the mob thrive in Chicago and get protection from the police.
Frank Calabrese Jr. told CBS 2’s John “Bulldog” Drummond that the mob gets help from some local public officials.
Asked if the Chicago Outfit was getting a pass from some local politicians or protection from police officers
, Calabrese said, “Yeah. The outfit couldn’t survive without politicians.” He admitted that his father, convicted mob hitman Frank Calabrese Sr., used to make payoffs to several politicians.
“There was a lot of politicians. There was a lot of deals done,” Calabrese Jr. said. “One politician that I’ve talked about before was (former state Sen.) Jimmy DeLeo. The reason I talked about him is because I was directly involved with that.”
Calabrese also claimed that former Illinois Department of Transportation worker Ralph Peluso was “our go-to guy with Jimmy DeLeo.”
Calabrese also said he was friends socially with DeLeo and once took a trip to Florida with DeLeo.
“I was down in Florida with him, but we were in a large group. It wasn’t just me and him. And what my father wanted me to do was, you know, get these guys close. You know, find out their weaknesses,” Calabrese said. “Everybody has weaknesses. Whether it’s women, whether it’s drugs, whether it’s gambling; people have weaknesses. Find their weaknesses. It was: they loved to find the bad politicians and find their weaknesses and make them need them.”
Calabrese said he never personally saw DeLeo take part in any illegal activity, but stood by his claim that DeLeo helped out the Outfit.
His allegations are part of his new book, Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family, the story of his decision to cooperate with federal investigators in a prosecution of 18 long-unsolved mob murders that put his father and other mob leaders behind bars for life.
DeLeo stepped down last year as an assistant Democratic floor in the Illinois Senate. Peluso was fired from his state transportation job six months ago.
Peluso got that job after he backed out of testifying at the Family Secrets mob trial, where his name was mentioned many times in testimony.
Neither DeLeo nor Peluso could be reached for comment regarding Calabrese’s statements.
Thanks to John “Bulldog” Drummond
Frank Calabrese Jr. told CBS 2’s John “Bulldog” Drummond that the mob gets help from some local public officials.
Asked if the Chicago Outfit was getting a pass from some local politicians or protection from police officers
, Calabrese said, “Yeah. The outfit couldn’t survive without politicians.” He admitted that his father, convicted mob hitman Frank Calabrese Sr., used to make payoffs to several politicians.“There was a lot of politicians. There was a lot of deals done,” Calabrese Jr. said. “One politician that I’ve talked about before was (former state Sen.) Jimmy DeLeo. The reason I talked about him is because I was directly involved with that.”
Calabrese also claimed that former Illinois Department of Transportation worker Ralph Peluso was “our go-to guy with Jimmy DeLeo.”
Calabrese also said he was friends socially with DeLeo and once took a trip to Florida with DeLeo.
“I was down in Florida with him, but we were in a large group. It wasn’t just me and him. And what my father wanted me to do was, you know, get these guys close. You know, find out their weaknesses,” Calabrese said. “Everybody has weaknesses. Whether it’s women, whether it’s drugs, whether it’s gambling; people have weaknesses. Find their weaknesses. It was: they loved to find the bad politicians and find their weaknesses and make them need them.”
Calabrese said he never personally saw DeLeo take part in any illegal activity, but stood by his claim that DeLeo helped out the Outfit.
His allegations are part of his new book, Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family, the story of his decision to cooperate with federal investigators in a prosecution of 18 long-unsolved mob murders that put his father and other mob leaders behind bars for life.
DeLeo stepped down last year as an assistant Democratic floor in the Illinois Senate. Peluso was fired from his state transportation job six months ago.
Peluso got that job after he backed out of testifying at the Family Secrets mob trial, where his name was mentioned many times in testimony.
Neither DeLeo nor Peluso could be reached for comment regarding Calabrese’s statements.
Thanks to John “Bulldog” Drummond
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Mafia Princess Dethroned in Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Mob Experience is pleased to announce that Carl Manno, grandson of infamous Chicago crime boss, Sam Giancana, and son of the self proclaimed Mafia Princess, Antoinette Giancana, has joined the project as a consultant representing the Giancana family.
Last week, the Las Vegas Mob Experience terminated its consulting agreement with Antoinette Giancana, daughter of Sam Giancana, citing her gross misconduct and breach of contract. Problems with the Princess however, were brewing for months before she was finally given the boot.
Ms. Giancana alienated all of the other "family" members involved in the project, as well as the operational staff, to the point that several months ago, being deemed too difficult to work with, she was instructed not to return to the company's corporate headquarters.
According to Jay Bloom, Managing Partner of the Mob Experience, "Ms. Giancana was always resentful of the fact that The Las Vegas Mob Experience highlighted numerous famous individuals related to the history of organized crime and the role they had in the building of Sin City. She wanted this attraction to be the Sam Giancana show, with her as the spokesperson and shining star."
Bloom went on to explain that the attraction is not about one person, "We are privileged to have the involvement of the family members of many relevant historical figures including Meyer Lansky, Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, Tony 'The Ant' Spilotro, Al Sachs, Jimmy 'Blue Eyes' Alo and Allen Smiley."
Mr. Manno, when asked about his mother's conduct stated "I have spent my life apologizing for my mother's erratic and unpredictable behavior, and I find myself having to do it again here."
Mr. Manno went on to say that he is "Excited to be a part of this extraordinary project at Tropicana Las Vegas, joining the other family members in bringing additional artifacts and personal stories about my grandfather."
They say, that in the Mob, one should never assume their status is secure because there is always someone waiting to take the place of the fallen.
The Las Vegas Mob Experience opened its doors to the public for previews on March 1, 2011, with its formal Grand Opening scheduled for March 29, 2011.
Last week, the Las Vegas Mob Experience terminated its consulting agreement with Antoinette Giancana, daughter of Sam Giancana, citing her gross misconduct and breach of contract. Problems with the Princess however, were brewing for months before she was finally given the boot.
Ms. Giancana alienated all of the other "family" members involved in the project, as well as the operational staff, to the point that several months ago, being deemed too difficult to work with, she was instructed not to return to the company's corporate headquarters.
According to Jay Bloom, Managing Partner of the Mob Experience, "Ms. Giancana was always resentful of the fact that The Las Vegas Mob Experience highlighted numerous famous individuals related to the history of organized crime and the role they had in the building of Sin City. She wanted this attraction to be the Sam Giancana show, with her as the spokesperson and shining star."
Bloom went on to explain that the attraction is not about one person, "We are privileged to have the involvement of the family members of many relevant historical figures including Meyer Lansky, Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, Tony 'The Ant' Spilotro, Al Sachs, Jimmy 'Blue Eyes' Alo and Allen Smiley."
Mr. Manno, when asked about his mother's conduct stated "I have spent my life apologizing for my mother's erratic and unpredictable behavior, and I find myself having to do it again here."
Mr. Manno went on to say that he is "Excited to be a part of this extraordinary project at Tropicana Las Vegas, joining the other family members in bringing additional artifacts and personal stories about my grandfather."
They say, that in the Mob, one should never assume their status is secure because there is always someone waiting to take the place of the fallen.
The Las Vegas Mob Experience opened its doors to the public for previews on March 1, 2011, with its formal Grand Opening scheduled for March 29, 2011.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Anonymous Threat Results in Cancelled Mob Book Signing for Frank Calabrese Jr.
Two Chicago area book signings scheduled at Borders Books involving former Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese Jr. were canceled after an anonymous threat, a Borders official said today.
“We can confirm that our Oak Brook store received a voice mail threatening violence should Mr. Calabrese’s scheduled book signings take place,” said Mary Davis, spokeswoman for Borders. “Given the controversial nature of the content of the book, we viewed this as a legitimate threat. The safety of our employees and our customers is of the utmost importance and that is why we made the decision to cancel Mr. Calabrese’s events.”
Oak Brook Police Chief Thomas Sheahan said that a male caller who disguised his voice threatened anyone responsible for the Frank Calabrese Jr. book signings. According to Sheahan, the unidentified caller said that “no rats can sign books here.”
“We take any threats seriously,” Sheahan said. “This is an ongoing investigation, and we’ll take appropriate action.”
Calabrese is a co-author of “Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family.”
Calabrese volunteered to help the FBI bring down the infamous Chinatown Crew run by his father, Frank Calabrese Sr. The son’s offer to cooperate with federal authorities led to his uncle, admitted Outfit hitman Nicholas Calabrese, becoming the FBI’s main witness in the storied trial that led to life sentences for Outfit bosses and the solving of more than a dozen mob murders.
“My publicist told me that Borders had canceled because they’re concerned about their employees and patrons,” Frank Calabrese Jr. said today. “I want people to know that this stuff still exists. There was a threat that if I did my book signing at the Oak Brook store, that patrons and employees of Borders would be harmed.
“Somebody doesn’t want people to read my book, or somebody doesn’t want me in Chicago talking about this stuff. …People get scared. Even a big corporation like Borders.”
Calabrese Jr. has recently opened up about the relationship between the Outfit and the city’s political class, and has been naming names.
Now living in another state, Calabrese Jr is in Chicago on a publicity tour. The Tuesday book signing was scheduled for the Border’s store at 1500 16th Street in Oak Brook . Wednesday’s scheduled signing was at the store at 150 North State Street in downtown Chicago. Davis said both events have been canceled.
Thanks to John Kass
“We can confirm that our Oak Brook store received a voice mail threatening violence should Mr. Calabrese’s scheduled book signings take place,” said Mary Davis, spokeswoman for Borders. “Given the controversial nature of the content of the book, we viewed this as a legitimate threat. The safety of our employees and our customers is of the utmost importance and that is why we made the decision to cancel Mr. Calabrese’s events.”
Oak Brook Police Chief Thomas Sheahan said that a male caller who disguised his voice threatened anyone responsible for the Frank Calabrese Jr. book signings. According to Sheahan, the unidentified caller said that “no rats can sign books here.”
“We take any threats seriously,” Sheahan said. “This is an ongoing investigation, and we’ll take appropriate action.”
Calabrese is a co-author of “Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family.”
Calabrese volunteered to help the FBI bring down the infamous Chinatown Crew run by his father, Frank Calabrese Sr. The son’s offer to cooperate with federal authorities led to his uncle, admitted Outfit hitman Nicholas Calabrese, becoming the FBI’s main witness in the storied trial that led to life sentences for Outfit bosses and the solving of more than a dozen mob murders.
“My publicist told me that Borders had canceled because they’re concerned about their employees and patrons,” Frank Calabrese Jr. said today. “I want people to know that this stuff still exists. There was a threat that if I did my book signing at the Oak Brook store, that patrons and employees of Borders would be harmed.
“Somebody doesn’t want people to read my book, or somebody doesn’t want me in Chicago talking about this stuff. …People get scared. Even a big corporation like Borders.”
Calabrese Jr. has recently opened up about the relationship between the Outfit and the city’s political class, and has been naming names.
Now living in another state, Calabrese Jr is in Chicago on a publicity tour. The Tuesday book signing was scheduled for the Border’s store at 1500 16th Street in Oak Brook . Wednesday’s scheduled signing was at the store at 150 North State Street in downtown Chicago. Davis said both events have been canceled.
Thanks to John Kass
Excerpt from Frank Calabrese Jr's 'Operation Family Secrets'
I set myself up in the corner of the prison library at the Federal Correctional
Institution in Milan, Michigan, and banged out the letter to FBI Special
Agent Thomas Bourgeois on a cranky old Smith-Corona manual typewriter. My mobster father, Frank Calabrese, Sr. — who was serving time with me in FCI Milan — had taught me to be decisive. So when I typed the letter, my mind was made up.
I didn't touch the paper directly. I used my winter gloves to handle the sheet and held the envelope with a Kleenex so as not to leave any fingerprints. The moment I mailed the letter on July 27, 1998, I knew I had crossed the line. Cooperating with the FBI meant not only that I would give up my father, but that I would have to implicate my uncle Nick for the murder of a Chicago Outfit mobster named John "Big Stoop" Fecarotta. Giving up my uncle was the hardest part.
When I reread the letter one last time, I asked myself, What kind of son puts his father away for life? The Federal Bureau of Prisons had dealt me a cruel blow by sticking me in the same prison as my dad. It had become increasingly clear that his vow to "step away" from the Outfit after we both served our time was an empty promise.
"I feel I have to help you keep this sick man locked up forever," I wrote in my letter.
Due to legal and safety concerns, it was five months before Agent Thomas Bourgeois arranged a visit to meet with me at FCI Milan. He came alone in the early winter of 1998. In 1997 the FBI and Chicago federal prosecutors had convicted the Calabrese crew, netting my father, Uncle Nick, my younger brother Kurt, and me on juice loans. Bourgeois seemed confused and wanted to know what I wanted.
I'm sure Bourgeois also wondered the same thing I had: What kind of son wants to put his father away for life? Maybe he thought I was lying. Perhaps I had gotten into an argument and, like most cons, was looking to get my sentence reduced. Yet in our ensuing conversation, I told Tom that I wasn't asking for much in return.
I just didn't want to lose any of my time served, and I wanted a transfer out of FCI Milan once my mission was accomplished. By imprisoning us on racketeering charges, the Feds thought that they had broken up the notorious Calabrese South Side crew. In reality they had barely scratched the surface. I alerted Bourgeois that I was not looking to break up the mob. I had one purpose: to help the FBI keep my father locked up forever so that he could get the psychological help he needed. The FBI didn't know the half of his issues or his other crimes.
When asked by Bourgeois if I would wear a wire out on the prison yard, I promptly replied no. I would work with the FBI, but I would only give them intelligence, useful information they could use, and with the understanding that nobody would know I was cooperating, and I would not testify in open court. Outfit guys like my dad called that "dry beefing." Frank Calabrese, Sr., was one of the Outfit's most cunning criminals and had been a successful crew chief and solid earner for the Chicago mob for thirty years.
He could smell an FBI informant a mile away. If he hadn't talked about his criminal life in the past, why would he do so now?
I searched my soul to make sure I wasn't doing this out of spite or because Dad had reneged on taking care of me and Kurt financially in exchange for doing time. This couldn't be about money! After Agent Bourgeois's first interview with me at Milan, he reported back to Mitch Mars, an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Chicago Organized Crime Section. Mars wanted to know if there was enough to present the case to a grand jury and gather a bigger, more inclusive case against "the Outfit," Chicago's multitentacled organized crime syndicate, which dated back to the days of "Big Jim" Colosimo and Al Capone.
As I lay in my cell bunk, I thought about my refusal to wear a wire. Suppose I gave the Feds information, but my father got lucky and walked? I'd be screwed, Uncle Nick would be stuck on death row, and after my dad's sentence ran out he would bounce right back out on the streets to continue his juice loan business and murderous ways.
What if what I was doing was wrong? How could I live with myself? I loved my dad dearly, and I love him to this day. But I was repulsed by the violence and his controlling ways. I had to decide between doing nothing and cooperating with the Feds, two choices I hated.
I knew that if I did nothing, my father and I would have to settle our differences out on the street. One of us would end up dead, while the other would rot in prison. I would be incriminating myself, and I didn't want an immunity deal. If I needed to do more time to keep my dad locked up forever, so be it. After I sent the letter, I was determined to finish what I started. I contacted Agent Bourgeois one more time to tell him I had changed my mind. I would wear the wire after all. All the deception my father had taught me I was now going to use on him.
My father's own words would become his worst enemy.
Institution in Milan, Michigan, and banged out the letter to FBI Special
Agent Thomas Bourgeois on a cranky old Smith-Corona manual typewriter. My mobster father, Frank Calabrese, Sr. — who was serving time with me in FCI Milan — had taught me to be decisive. So when I typed the letter, my mind was made up.
I didn't touch the paper directly. I used my winter gloves to handle the sheet and held the envelope with a Kleenex so as not to leave any fingerprints. The moment I mailed the letter on July 27, 1998, I knew I had crossed the line. Cooperating with the FBI meant not only that I would give up my father, but that I would have to implicate my uncle Nick for the murder of a Chicago Outfit mobster named John "Big Stoop" Fecarotta. Giving up my uncle was the hardest part.
When I reread the letter one last time, I asked myself, What kind of son puts his father away for life? The Federal Bureau of Prisons had dealt me a cruel blow by sticking me in the same prison as my dad. It had become increasingly clear that his vow to "step away" from the Outfit after we both served our time was an empty promise.
"I feel I have to help you keep this sick man locked up forever," I wrote in my letter.
Due to legal and safety concerns, it was five months before Agent Thomas Bourgeois arranged a visit to meet with me at FCI Milan. He came alone in the early winter of 1998. In 1997 the FBI and Chicago federal prosecutors had convicted the Calabrese crew, netting my father, Uncle Nick, my younger brother Kurt, and me on juice loans. Bourgeois seemed confused and wanted to know what I wanted.
I'm sure Bourgeois also wondered the same thing I had: What kind of son wants to put his father away for life? Maybe he thought I was lying. Perhaps I had gotten into an argument and, like most cons, was looking to get my sentence reduced. Yet in our ensuing conversation, I told Tom that I wasn't asking for much in return.
I just didn't want to lose any of my time served, and I wanted a transfer out of FCI Milan once my mission was accomplished. By imprisoning us on racketeering charges, the Feds thought that they had broken up the notorious Calabrese South Side crew. In reality they had barely scratched the surface. I alerted Bourgeois that I was not looking to break up the mob. I had one purpose: to help the FBI keep my father locked up forever so that he could get the psychological help he needed. The FBI didn't know the half of his issues or his other crimes.
When asked by Bourgeois if I would wear a wire out on the prison yard, I promptly replied no. I would work with the FBI, but I would only give them intelligence, useful information they could use, and with the understanding that nobody would know I was cooperating, and I would not testify in open court. Outfit guys like my dad called that "dry beefing." Frank Calabrese, Sr., was one of the Outfit's most cunning criminals and had been a successful crew chief and solid earner for the Chicago mob for thirty years.
He could smell an FBI informant a mile away. If he hadn't talked about his criminal life in the past, why would he do so now?
I searched my soul to make sure I wasn't doing this out of spite or because Dad had reneged on taking care of me and Kurt financially in exchange for doing time. This couldn't be about money! After Agent Bourgeois's first interview with me at Milan, he reported back to Mitch Mars, an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Chicago Organized Crime Section. Mars wanted to know if there was enough to present the case to a grand jury and gather a bigger, more inclusive case against "the Outfit," Chicago's multitentacled organized crime syndicate, which dated back to the days of "Big Jim" Colosimo and Al Capone.
As I lay in my cell bunk, I thought about my refusal to wear a wire. Suppose I gave the Feds information, but my father got lucky and walked? I'd be screwed, Uncle Nick would be stuck on death row, and after my dad's sentence ran out he would bounce right back out on the streets to continue his juice loan business and murderous ways.
What if what I was doing was wrong? How could I live with myself? I loved my dad dearly, and I love him to this day. But I was repulsed by the violence and his controlling ways. I had to decide between doing nothing and cooperating with the Feds, two choices I hated.
I knew that if I did nothing, my father and I would have to settle our differences out on the street. One of us would end up dead, while the other would rot in prison. I would be incriminating myself, and I didn't want an immunity deal. If I needed to do more time to keep my dad locked up forever, so be it. After I sent the letter, I was determined to finish what I started. I contacted Agent Bourgeois one more time to tell him I had changed my mind. I would wear the wire after all. All the deception my father had taught me I was now going to use on him.
My father's own words would become his worst enemy.
Monday, March 14, 2011
CRIME BEAT RADIO PROGRAM TO AIR SPECIAL TWO-PART PROGRAM: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH LEWIS KASMAN, CRIME BOSS JOHN GOTTI’S “ADOPTED SON,” AND KASMAN’S COUNSEL, JOEL M. WEISSMAN, NOTED FLORIDA LAWYER
This coming March 17th and 24th, the radio show, CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE, will feature a special two-part program focusing on Lewis Kasman, John Gotti’s so-called 'Adopted Son', and his lawyer, Joel M. Weissman, one of the country’s top divorce lawyers. Kasman, at one time a millionaire garment executive, became one of the closest confidants of the late John Gotti, the notorious Gambino crime boss known as the ‘Dapper Don'. When John Gotti died in prison, Kasman brought the body home in private Lear jet, planned the funeral and gave the eulogy at Gotti’s funeral.
Lewis Kasman’s story is fascinating because he gained unprecedented power within the Gotti Mob. The Dapper Don entrusted Kasman with the authority to pay gambling debts, lawyer fees and assorted bills relating to Gambino crime family matters. After Gotti was sentenced with a life sentence in a federal penitentiary, Lewis Kasman hid millions of illicit dollars in a toy chest in his attic and later became a government witness in 1996. Feeling the heat from the Feds, Kasman agreed to wear a wire and recorded 130 tapes with top mobsters inside the Gambino ranks, as well as Gotti’s own family. The court sentenced Kasman to probation as the reward for his invaluable secret work. Kasman is credited with saving the lives of noted crime reporter Jerry Capeci and a federal worker at Springfield, Missouri.
In reflecting on the years he spent with John Gotti, Lewis Kasman told Crime Beat, “If I was to characterize my relationship with Gotti, I suppose I would say it was blind allegiance. I have many regrets.”
Weissman represented Kasman in a high profile divorce that the tabloids covered. In addition to discussing his representation of Kasman, Weisman will talk about his successful career as one of the best criminal and divorce lawyers in the United States.
Joel Weissman will appear on the Crime Beat radio program March 17th from 9-10 p.m. EST, while Lewis Kasman’s appearance is scheduled for March 24th from 9-10 p.m. EST. Listeners can access the program by going to www.artistfirst.com, clicking on the “Live Weekly Show Schedule” and then clicking on the “Crime Beat” link. See also artistfirst.com/crimebeat.
CRIME BEAT is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb. Ronald Herd 11, the popular Internet radio host and regular listener of Crime Beat, said Crime Beat “sounds like an organized crime greatest hits collection...I am loving it!
Lewis Kasman’s story is fascinating because he gained unprecedented power within the Gotti Mob. The Dapper Don entrusted Kasman with the authority to pay gambling debts, lawyer fees and assorted bills relating to Gambino crime family matters. After Gotti was sentenced with a life sentence in a federal penitentiary, Lewis Kasman hid millions of illicit dollars in a toy chest in his attic and later became a government witness in 1996. Feeling the heat from the Feds, Kasman agreed to wear a wire and recorded 130 tapes with top mobsters inside the Gambino ranks, as well as Gotti’s own family. The court sentenced Kasman to probation as the reward for his invaluable secret work. Kasman is credited with saving the lives of noted crime reporter Jerry Capeci and a federal worker at Springfield, Missouri.
In reflecting on the years he spent with John Gotti, Lewis Kasman told Crime Beat, “If I was to characterize my relationship with Gotti, I suppose I would say it was blind allegiance. I have many regrets.”
Weissman represented Kasman in a high profile divorce that the tabloids covered. In addition to discussing his representation of Kasman, Weisman will talk about his successful career as one of the best criminal and divorce lawyers in the United States.
Joel Weissman will appear on the Crime Beat radio program March 17th from 9-10 p.m. EST, while Lewis Kasman’s appearance is scheduled for March 24th from 9-10 p.m. EST. Listeners can access the program by going to www.artistfirst.com, clicking on the “Live Weekly Show Schedule” and then clicking on the “Crime Beat” link. See also artistfirst.com/crimebeat.
CRIME BEAT is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb. Ronald Herd 11, the popular Internet radio host and regular listener of Crime Beat, said Crime Beat “sounds like an organized crime greatest hits collection...I am loving it!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Former State Sen. James DeLeo Tied to Chicago Outfit According to Frank Calabrese Jr.
In the Family Secrets Trial, the late prosecutor Mitchell Mars told jurors the Chicago Outfit could not exist without the help of another Chicago institution -- politics. Now, the former gangster who brought down the mob is talking about the intersection of politics and the outfit.
FOX Chicago's Dane Placko sat down with Frank Calabrese Junior, who says the Outfit knew how to get political clout.
"I went out there and tried to corrupt people. With girls, drugs, whatever. I was a bad person. I ain't like that no more," Calabrese Junior said.
Former ganster Frank Calabrese Junior, now living in Phoenix, is spilling mob secrets in his new book, Operation Family Secrets. It's the story of his wrenching decision to cooperate with the government and put his father, Frank Calabrese Senior, and other mob leaders behind bars for life.
Calabrese Junior said his father taught him how to capitalize on politicians' weaknesses. His father showed him early on how the Outfit would seek out and compromise politicians at City Hall and in Springfield with women, gambling or drugs.
According to Calabrese, it was important to "make them want you to protect them. Find out their weaknesses. Find out their vices. And that's what I did."
Calabrese says his dad always told him to avoid being seen in public with politicians. But there was one exception. "He wanted me to strike up friendships with a lot of politicians, and I did. I'll give you an example. Jimmy DeLeo," Frank Junior said.
Former State Sen. James DeLeo resigned his seat after 18 years last summer.
Frank Jr. said his dad told him to get close to DeLeo, and he got close enough that they vacationed and partied together in Florida.
DeLeo has not been reachable for comment.
"Ralph was the go-to guy between us and Jimmy DeLeo," Calabrese added, referring to Ralph Peluso, a top bookmaker and enforcer in the Calabrese crew. He was mentioned more than a dozen times in the Family Secrets trial, and was even scheduled to testify on behalf of the government. Peluso backed out at the last minute.
Months later, Peluso got a management job with the Illinois Department of Transportation. Peluso was fired in August after FOX Chicago News began asking how someone with an Outfit background got that job.
Calabrese said Peluso had long been his family's connection to the northwest side's powerful 36th Ward Democratic Organization. FOX Chicago News was unable to find Peluso for comment.
"I knew Ralph was close with the 36th Ward. Everybody in the 36th Ward. So it didn't shock me when he got a job like that. But it's funny because they waited right till after the trial to put him in that spot," Calabrese said. But getting jobs was never a problem for the Outfit, Calabrese said, especially jobs on the public payroll. He himself worked for Chicago's water department for several years and even used his expertise to fish a gun out of a sewer that had been used by his Uncle Nick during a hit.
While the Chicago mob was badly damaged by the Family Secrets convictions, Calabrese says lawmakers in Springfield just handed gangsters a get out of jail free card with the expansion of video gambling. "I mean, I laughed when I seen that. I mean, really. Why? I could go back there and show you how fast I could get in the middle of it," he said.
Lawmakers approved putting tens of thousand of video poker machines in bars, restaurants and truck stops as part of a $31 billion public works bill. That bill is tied up in the courts, but if it goes through, former FBI organized crime director Tom Bourgeois said it could be the jackpot the Outfit needs to re-organize. "You're just providing an avenue for organized crime to re-root itself and find ways to become more powerful. It's just too easy to do that and of course, the legislation provides opportunity for very little oversight," Bourgeois said.
Calabrese says he's already heard some of his old friends from Chicago are lining up for a "video poker payday."
"It's math 101, okay? I'm not gonna go in there and put my name on a license and buy a bar and ask for three machines. I'm coming to you who's totally legit and say you're gonna buy the machines from this guy, and this is what you'e gonna pay him and that guy's gonna help me in some way," he said.
Thanks to Dane Placko
FOX Chicago's Dane Placko sat down with Frank Calabrese Junior, who says the Outfit knew how to get political clout.
"I went out there and tried to corrupt people. With girls, drugs, whatever. I was a bad person. I ain't like that no more," Calabrese Junior said.
Former ganster Frank Calabrese Junior, now living in Phoenix, is spilling mob secrets in his new book, Operation Family Secrets. It's the story of his wrenching decision to cooperate with the government and put his father, Frank Calabrese Senior, and other mob leaders behind bars for life.
Calabrese Junior said his father taught him how to capitalize on politicians' weaknesses. His father showed him early on how the Outfit would seek out and compromise politicians at City Hall and in Springfield with women, gambling or drugs.
According to Calabrese, it was important to "make them want you to protect them. Find out their weaknesses. Find out their vices. And that's what I did."
Calabrese says his dad always told him to avoid being seen in public with politicians. But there was one exception. "He wanted me to strike up friendships with a lot of politicians, and I did. I'll give you an example. Jimmy DeLeo," Frank Junior said.
Former State Sen. James DeLeo resigned his seat after 18 years last summer.
Frank Jr. said his dad told him to get close to DeLeo, and he got close enough that they vacationed and partied together in Florida.
DeLeo has not been reachable for comment.
"Ralph was the go-to guy between us and Jimmy DeLeo," Calabrese added, referring to Ralph Peluso, a top bookmaker and enforcer in the Calabrese crew. He was mentioned more than a dozen times in the Family Secrets trial, and was even scheduled to testify on behalf of the government. Peluso backed out at the last minute.
Months later, Peluso got a management job with the Illinois Department of Transportation. Peluso was fired in August after FOX Chicago News began asking how someone with an Outfit background got that job.
Calabrese said Peluso had long been his family's connection to the northwest side's powerful 36th Ward Democratic Organization. FOX Chicago News was unable to find Peluso for comment.
"I knew Ralph was close with the 36th Ward. Everybody in the 36th Ward. So it didn't shock me when he got a job like that. But it's funny because they waited right till after the trial to put him in that spot," Calabrese said. But getting jobs was never a problem for the Outfit, Calabrese said, especially jobs on the public payroll. He himself worked for Chicago's water department for several years and even used his expertise to fish a gun out of a sewer that had been used by his Uncle Nick during a hit.
While the Chicago mob was badly damaged by the Family Secrets convictions, Calabrese says lawmakers in Springfield just handed gangsters a get out of jail free card with the expansion of video gambling. "I mean, I laughed when I seen that. I mean, really. Why? I could go back there and show you how fast I could get in the middle of it," he said.
Lawmakers approved putting tens of thousand of video poker machines in bars, restaurants and truck stops as part of a $31 billion public works bill. That bill is tied up in the courts, but if it goes through, former FBI organized crime director Tom Bourgeois said it could be the jackpot the Outfit needs to re-organize. "You're just providing an avenue for organized crime to re-root itself and find ways to become more powerful. It's just too easy to do that and of course, the legislation provides opportunity for very little oversight," Bourgeois said.
Calabrese says he's already heard some of his old friends from Chicago are lining up for a "video poker payday."
"It's math 101, okay? I'm not gonna go in there and put my name on a license and buy a bar and ask for three machines. I'm coming to you who's totally legit and say you're gonna buy the machines from this guy, and this is what you'e gonna pay him and that guy's gonna help me in some way," he said.
Thanks to Dane Placko
Thursday, March 10, 2011
"Kill the Irishman" Movie Chronicles the Mob in Cleveland, AKA Bomb City USA
A quick rundown of well-known Mafia cities brings to mind places like New York, Chicago and Las Vegas. But Cleveland? Fuhgeddaboutit …But there was a time — back in the 1970s — when the Ohio city was a raging mobster battleground. And when it came time to take out a rival, locals did more than bring a gun to a knife fight; they came on big and loud with all manner of explosives, earning Cleveland the moniker Bomb City, USA.
At the center of it all was not an Italian but a charismatic Irish American, Danny Greene, who spent part of his childhood in an orphanage, grew up to be a dockworker, rose to union boss and went head to head with the Mafia for control of the city's underworld economy of gambling, racketeering and loan-sharking. His story is chronicled in the new film "Kill the Irishman," starring Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer and Vincent D'Onofrio, which opens Friday.
"Cleveland would not be on your typical organized crime radar," said Rick Porrello, author of the book on which the film is based and now chief of police in the Cleveland suburb of Lyndhurst, where Greene was killed in 1977 by a car bomb. "But there were some pretty heavy hitters in the Midwest."
"That was a huge draw to me, that it was a mob story very powerfully and very conspicuously not set in Bensonhurst or Little Italy," said Jonathan Hensleigh, director and co-writer of "Kill the Irishman."
Stevenson, also in the upcoming "Thor" and "The Three Musketeers," takes on the title role. Needing to cast actors who could stand up to the 6-foot-4 Stevenson, Hensleigh half-jokingly referred to "Kill the Irishman" as "a movie of big men." Among the supporting players are Kilmer as a cop, Walken as rival mobster Alex "Shondor" Birns and D'Onofrio as Greene ally John Nardi.
Linda Cardellini and Laura Ramsey play Greene's wife and mistress, respectively, and the supporting cast is littered with character actors familiar from mob movies and TV shows such as "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos."
The project got its start when Tommy Reid, a producer on the film, was attending Ohio State University in the mid-'90s. The New Jersey native heard stories from his college buddies about the rough streets of Cleveland but didn't believe them at first. After Reid landed in Los Angeles, a friend sent him a news story about Porrello's book and Reid optioned it even before it was published in 1998. (Reid also directed a documentary, "Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman," slated to be included on the DVD of "Kill the Irishman.")
Hensleigh, who previously directed "The Punisher" and worked as a screenwriter on movies such as "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" and "Armageddon," said Greene's story "was the classic cliché of life being stranger than fiction." After finishing Porrello's book, he recalled, "I said, 'I just have to do this.'"
Greene exhibited a bravado and media savvy that made him irresistible as a movie character. After Greene survived a bombing that essentially leveled his house, he put two mobile homes on the empty lot, one to live in and one to work in. He would then sit on a bench out front, essentially daring anyone to come and get him.
"As screenwriters, we're constantly asked to take characters who are actually quite despicable in real life and make them attractive," Hensleigh said. "But Danny Greene really was. He actually did put orphans through school and would buy 50 turkeys for the poor at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It doesn't get any better than this as a dramatist."
Though all involved would have preferred to film in Cleveland, the movie was ultimately shot in Detroit because of Michigan tax breaks. Said Hensleigh: "If we were to try to film in one city where we could replicate 1970s Cleveland, it would be Detroit."
"The landscape is part of the story," said Stevenson. "It was a slice of Americana, very particular. Without romanticizing it, this was among the last flurries of larger-than-life criminals walking the streets. The cars never got bigger, the mustaches, the lapels never got bigger."
As Hensleigh researched Greene, the sheer volume of newspaper articles and archival news footage he discovered made him realize the Irishman was, for locals at least, already verging on modern folklore. His film may just finally bring this regional antihero to a broader audience.
"For the folks who grew up around here, they all are very aware of it," said Clint O'Connor, film critic at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "What struck me was why wasn't this movie made 30 years ago? It's great stuff, there's so much in this whole saga. I think part of it is the whole Cleveland thing. If it had happened in New York or Vegas or Chicago, Martin Scorsese would have already made the definitive film."
Thanks to Mark Olsen
At the center of it all was not an Italian but a charismatic Irish American, Danny Greene, who spent part of his childhood in an orphanage, grew up to be a dockworker, rose to union boss and went head to head with the Mafia for control of the city's underworld economy of gambling, racketeering and loan-sharking. His story is chronicled in the new film "Kill the Irishman," starring Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer and Vincent D'Onofrio, which opens Friday.
"Cleveland would not be on your typical organized crime radar," said Rick Porrello, author of the book on which the film is based and now chief of police in the Cleveland suburb of Lyndhurst, where Greene was killed in 1977 by a car bomb. "But there were some pretty heavy hitters in the Midwest."
"That was a huge draw to me, that it was a mob story very powerfully and very conspicuously not set in Bensonhurst or Little Italy," said Jonathan Hensleigh, director and co-writer of "Kill the Irishman."
Stevenson, also in the upcoming "Thor" and "The Three Musketeers," takes on the title role. Needing to cast actors who could stand up to the 6-foot-4 Stevenson, Hensleigh half-jokingly referred to "Kill the Irishman" as "a movie of big men." Among the supporting players are Kilmer as a cop, Walken as rival mobster Alex "Shondor" Birns and D'Onofrio as Greene ally John Nardi.
Linda Cardellini and Laura Ramsey play Greene's wife and mistress, respectively, and the supporting cast is littered with character actors familiar from mob movies and TV shows such as "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos."
The project got its start when Tommy Reid, a producer on the film, was attending Ohio State University in the mid-'90s. The New Jersey native heard stories from his college buddies about the rough streets of Cleveland but didn't believe them at first. After Reid landed in Los Angeles, a friend sent him a news story about Porrello's book and Reid optioned it even before it was published in 1998. (Reid also directed a documentary, "Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman," slated to be included on the DVD of "Kill the Irishman.")
Hensleigh, who previously directed "The Punisher" and worked as a screenwriter on movies such as "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" and "Armageddon," said Greene's story "was the classic cliché of life being stranger than fiction." After finishing Porrello's book, he recalled, "I said, 'I just have to do this.'"
Greene exhibited a bravado and media savvy that made him irresistible as a movie character. After Greene survived a bombing that essentially leveled his house, he put two mobile homes on the empty lot, one to live in and one to work in. He would then sit on a bench out front, essentially daring anyone to come and get him.
"As screenwriters, we're constantly asked to take characters who are actually quite despicable in real life and make them attractive," Hensleigh said. "But Danny Greene really was. He actually did put orphans through school and would buy 50 turkeys for the poor at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It doesn't get any better than this as a dramatist."
Though all involved would have preferred to film in Cleveland, the movie was ultimately shot in Detroit because of Michigan tax breaks. Said Hensleigh: "If we were to try to film in one city where we could replicate 1970s Cleveland, it would be Detroit."
"The landscape is part of the story," said Stevenson. "It was a slice of Americana, very particular. Without romanticizing it, this was among the last flurries of larger-than-life criminals walking the streets. The cars never got bigger, the mustaches, the lapels never got bigger."
As Hensleigh researched Greene, the sheer volume of newspaper articles and archival news footage he discovered made him realize the Irishman was, for locals at least, already verging on modern folklore. His film may just finally bring this regional antihero to a broader audience.
"For the folks who grew up around here, they all are very aware of it," said Clint O'Connor, film critic at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "What struck me was why wasn't this movie made 30 years ago? It's great stuff, there's so much in this whole saga. I think part of it is the whole Cleveland thing. If it had happened in New York or Vegas or Chicago, Martin Scorsese would have already made the definitive film."
Thanks to Mark Olsen
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Playboy Show to Have Ties to Mob
Actor Jeff Hephner just got his big break, landing the lead role in NBC's drama pilot Playboy. 
The project, from 20th TV, Imagine TV and writer-executive producer Chad Hodge, is set at the Playboy Club in Chicago in 1963. Hephner went through rigorous auditioning process, beating a number of better known actors for the role, the last major part in the pilot to get cast. And he certainly has the right last name for it that sounds exactly like the moniker of the king of the Playboy empire, Hugh Hefner.
Playboy centers on Nick Dalton (Hephner), described as "the ultimate playboy." He is an attorney in Chicago and a Keyholder at the glamorous, exclusive Playboy Club. A fixer who knows how to make problems disappear, he has mysterious ties to the mob. The pilot, directed by Alan Taylor, co-stars Laura Benanti, Amber Heard, Naturi Naughton, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Leah Renee, David Krumholtz and Wes Ramsey. Hephner, repped by Paradigm and the Group Entertainment, is recurring on CW's Hellcats and has also done arcs on NBC's Mercy and Fox's The O.C.
Thanks to Nellie Andreeva
The project, from 20th TV, Imagine TV and writer-executive producer Chad Hodge, is set at the Playboy Club in Chicago in 1963. Hephner went through rigorous auditioning process, beating a number of better known actors for the role, the last major part in the pilot to get cast. And he certainly has the right last name for it that sounds exactly like the moniker of the king of the Playboy empire, Hugh Hefner.Playboy centers on Nick Dalton (Hephner), described as "the ultimate playboy." He is an attorney in Chicago and a Keyholder at the glamorous, exclusive Playboy Club. A fixer who knows how to make problems disappear, he has mysterious ties to the mob. The pilot, directed by Alan Taylor, co-stars Laura Benanti, Amber Heard, Naturi Naughton, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Leah Renee, David Krumholtz and Wes Ramsey. Hephner, repped by Paradigm and the Group Entertainment, is recurring on CW's Hellcats and has also done arcs on NBC's Mercy and Fox's The O.C.
Thanks to Nellie Andreeva
Sunday, March 06, 2011
FBI to Host Foreign Language Job Fair in Chicago
The Chicago Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will be hosting a foreign language career fair on Saturday, March 12, 2011. The fair will be held at the offices of the Illinois Medical District, located at 2100 W Harrison Street in Chicago. Persons interested in a contract linguist position with the FBI are invited to attend anytime between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Free parking is available at the facility and at the southwest corner of Leavitt and Harrison Streets.
The FBI is looking to add to its foreign language program individuals fluent in Chinese (all dialects), Korean, Turkish, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Somali, Spanish, and Hebrew. However, positions are available for persons with any foreign language fluency. Applicants need to have United States citizenship, as well as a high level of fluency in English along with foreign language(s) ability. Applicants are asked to bring a resume and be prepared for an on-site foreign language assessment interview.
As a vital partner in today’s law enforcement and intelligence communities, the FBI continues its mission to safeguard America and its people. The FBI’s expanding role continues to create many new opportunities for linguists in a growing number of languages.
Contract linguists, through their language expertise, help in the continuing effort against cyber crime, terrorism, foreign counterintelligence, corruption, kidnapping, civil rights violations, and other crimes under FBI jurisdiction.
Contract linguists translate documents or audio into English, serve as interpreters for investigative interviews, and provide translation during visits by foreign dignitaries. The possibilities are as wide as the sense of accomplishment.
The Contract linguist position pays $27.00 to $41.00 per hour. Successful applicants will work for the FBI at its Chicago Field Office. Full-time language analysts, as government employees, come from the ranks of the contract linguists.
The FBI is looking to add to its foreign language program individuals fluent in Chinese (all dialects), Korean, Turkish, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Somali, Spanish, and Hebrew. However, positions are available for persons with any foreign language fluency. Applicants need to have United States citizenship, as well as a high level of fluency in English along with foreign language(s) ability. Applicants are asked to bring a resume and be prepared for an on-site foreign language assessment interview.
As a vital partner in today’s law enforcement and intelligence communities, the FBI continues its mission to safeguard America and its people. The FBI’s expanding role continues to create many new opportunities for linguists in a growing number of languages.
Contract linguists, through their language expertise, help in the continuing effort against cyber crime, terrorism, foreign counterintelligence, corruption, kidnapping, civil rights violations, and other crimes under FBI jurisdiction.
Contract linguists translate documents or audio into English, serve as interpreters for investigative interviews, and provide translation during visits by foreign dignitaries. The possibilities are as wide as the sense of accomplishment.
The Contract linguist position pays $27.00 to $41.00 per hour. Successful applicants will work for the FBI at its Chicago Field Office. Full-time language analysts, as government employees, come from the ranks of the contract linguists.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Nine Gangsters Charged in Operation King Gone Southeast Side Drug Probe
Eight individuals, all suspected members or associates of the Almighty Latin Kings Nation (ALKN) street gang, operating primarily on Chicago’s southeast side and northwest Indiana, were arrested today by agents and officers assigned to the FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs, culminating a nearly two-year investigation which targeted illicit drug sales. One additional defendant remains at-large and is now the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
The arrests were announced today by Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Terry G. Hillard, interim Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD).
Four of those arrested were charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, which was unsealed earlier today and which charged the current Chicago residents with conspiracy and distribution of a controlled substance, both of which are felony offenses. Five others were charged with violating state drug or firearms laws in charges filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
The federal complaint identifies PAUL JASSO, also known as “Guero,” age 42, of 9708 South Ewing in Chicago, as a ranking member of the ALKN who headed up an independent drug distribution operation that distributed user quantities of illegal narcotics, primarily powder cocaine, in various Chicago neighborhoods, including the Bush, Hegewisch, and the East Side, along with Calumet City, Illinois and Hammond and Whiting, Indiana.
PAULINO BOSANKO, age 23, of 13243 South Brandon in Chicago; and SANDRA BARRON, age 38, and DAVID RUIZ, age 52, both of 9832 South Avenue L in Chicago, were also charged along with JASSO, and are identified as confederates in his drug operation.
Those arrested on state charges, all of who are alleged to have worked for JASSO, are identified as JOSEPH BARRON, age 27, of 8357 South Baltimore, Chicago; JOSEF NERI, age 28, of 8357 South Baltimore, Chicago; CHARLES SCHILL, age 20, 10517 South Green Bay Avenue, Chicago; and LORETTA FLORES, age 44, of 787 Buffalo, Calumet City, Illinois.
A fifth state defendant, identified as EDWIN TEVENAL, Jr., age 30, of 10849 South Avenue H, Chicago, avoided capture and remains at-large.
This investigation, which was code named Operation King Gone, was investigated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs, which is comprised of FBI special agents and officers from the Chicago Police Department, Gang Investigations Unit, and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office also assisted with the investigation.
Investigators utilized court authorized electronic surveillance of several telephones, used by the defendants in connection with their drug operation, along with controlled purchases of illegal narcotics, both of which helped lead to the filing of the charges announced today. During the course of the investigation, eight weapons were recovered.
All of those arrested on federal charges are scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow in Chicago, at 3:00 p.m. today, at which time they will be formally charged. If convicted of the charges filed against them, all four face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ incarceration to a maximum of life in prison.
Those arrested on state charges are scheduled to appear in bond court at dates and times to be determined. If convicted, they face possible sentences of up to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
The arrests were announced today by Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Terry G. Hillard, interim Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD).
Four of those arrested were charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, which was unsealed earlier today and which charged the current Chicago residents with conspiracy and distribution of a controlled substance, both of which are felony offenses. Five others were charged with violating state drug or firearms laws in charges filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
The federal complaint identifies PAUL JASSO, also known as “Guero,” age 42, of 9708 South Ewing in Chicago, as a ranking member of the ALKN who headed up an independent drug distribution operation that distributed user quantities of illegal narcotics, primarily powder cocaine, in various Chicago neighborhoods, including the Bush, Hegewisch, and the East Side, along with Calumet City, Illinois and Hammond and Whiting, Indiana.
PAULINO BOSANKO, age 23, of 13243 South Brandon in Chicago; and SANDRA BARRON, age 38, and DAVID RUIZ, age 52, both of 9832 South Avenue L in Chicago, were also charged along with JASSO, and are identified as confederates in his drug operation.
Those arrested on state charges, all of who are alleged to have worked for JASSO, are identified as JOSEPH BARRON, age 27, of 8357 South Baltimore, Chicago; JOSEF NERI, age 28, of 8357 South Baltimore, Chicago; CHARLES SCHILL, age 20, 10517 South Green Bay Avenue, Chicago; and LORETTA FLORES, age 44, of 787 Buffalo, Calumet City, Illinois.
A fifth state defendant, identified as EDWIN TEVENAL, Jr., age 30, of 10849 South Avenue H, Chicago, avoided capture and remains at-large.
This investigation, which was code named Operation King Gone, was investigated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs, which is comprised of FBI special agents and officers from the Chicago Police Department, Gang Investigations Unit, and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office also assisted with the investigation.
Investigators utilized court authorized electronic surveillance of several telephones, used by the defendants in connection with their drug operation, along with controlled purchases of illegal narcotics, both of which helped lead to the filing of the charges announced today. During the course of the investigation, eight weapons were recovered.
All of those arrested on federal charges are scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow in Chicago, at 3:00 p.m. today, at which time they will be formally charged. If convicted of the charges filed against them, all four face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ incarceration to a maximum of life in prison.
Those arrested on state charges are scheduled to appear in bond court at dates and times to be determined. If convicted, they face possible sentences of up to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Using Sulphuric Acid in Mob Murders
Forensic scientists this month cast doubt on the claim by some Mafia members that they’ve used sulphuric acid to dissolve the corpses of their victims in less than a half hour.
Massimo Grillo, of the University of Palermo, in Italy, told fellow attendees at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences that Mafia songbirds had given testimony like the following, reports ScienceNews: “We put the people in acid. In 15, 20 minutes they were no more—they became a liquid.” Indeed, tanks of acid have been found at Mafia hideouts, and they had supposedly been used to dispose of the bodies of victims.
It’s unclear, however, whether prospective targets of the Mafia should take comfort from the work Grillo was reporting on. Lab tests, using pig carcasses, showed that sulfuric acid plus water could dissolve muscle and cartilage within 12 hours. It took an additional two days to turn bone to dust.
The upshot seems to be that it’s more or less true that the mafia can make you literally disappear. But there may be some residual dust left, and it will take longer than you may have heard.
Thanks to Christopher Shea
Massimo Grillo, of the University of Palermo, in Italy, told fellow attendees at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences that Mafia songbirds had given testimony like the following, reports ScienceNews: “We put the people in acid. In 15, 20 minutes they were no more—they became a liquid.” Indeed, tanks of acid have been found at Mafia hideouts, and they had supposedly been used to dispose of the bodies of victims.
It’s unclear, however, whether prospective targets of the Mafia should take comfort from the work Grillo was reporting on. Lab tests, using pig carcasses, showed that sulfuric acid plus water could dissolve muscle and cartilage within 12 hours. It took an additional two days to turn bone to dust.
The upshot seems to be that it’s more or less true that the mafia can make you literally disappear. But there may be some residual dust left, and it will take longer than you may have heard.
Thanks to Christopher Shea
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The Mafia Boss Game Beta 1.0 Now Open to All Players
While 2010 proved to be a stellar year for The Mafia Boss, the longest running online multiplayer mafia game, 2011 promises to be even better. 
Over the next few months, exciting new features will be launched that both diehard fans and newbies will appreciate. The Mafia Boss' brand new Beta version has recently completed its testing phase and is now available to all players; they can log in to play the current ongoing rounds which are both "Public" and "Turbo" rounds. The beta can be easily accessed without having to create a new account or do multiple logins.
Larbi Belrhiti, Founder and Managing Director of Just Fun Softwares Ltd. which produces The Mafia Boss, knows 2011 is going to be the game's best year ever.
"Judging from how well the game did last year and what's in store for our players over the next few months, we know that 2011 will be an amazing year," Belrhiti said. "We ended last year, with 100,000 active players and 34,000 Facebook fans. Collectively, those players and fans have won about 55 million credits, made 16 million attacks, and earned over $94,000 in cash jackpots," he said.
The Mafia Boss Beta 1.0 also features a Protection Program, which was designed to protect new players from experienced looters on the platform. All new players that join the game actually start under the Protection Program.
"The new Protection Program enables players to learn the game quickly and stay protected from other players' attacks," said Santosh Kumar, Marketing Manager, Just Fun Softwares Ltd. "It's a great feature that will help people build up their Mafioso skills and remain in the game longer; this is an essential step on a player's path towards worldwide domination as a mafia don!"
The Protection Program Breakdown
The Mafia Boss Protection Program will buffer new players from the cruel Mafioso underworld so they can get up to speed. Once they've learned the ropes, however, the game's a crime spree free-for-all.
Here are the specifics of the Protection Program:
Over the next few months, exciting new features will be launched that both diehard fans and newbies will appreciate. The Mafia Boss' brand new Beta version has recently completed its testing phase and is now available to all players; they can log in to play the current ongoing rounds which are both "Public" and "Turbo" rounds. The beta can be easily accessed without having to create a new account or do multiple logins.Larbi Belrhiti, Founder and Managing Director of Just Fun Softwares Ltd. which produces The Mafia Boss, knows 2011 is going to be the game's best year ever.
"Judging from how well the game did last year and what's in store for our players over the next few months, we know that 2011 will be an amazing year," Belrhiti said. "We ended last year, with 100,000 active players and 34,000 Facebook fans. Collectively, those players and fans have won about 55 million credits, made 16 million attacks, and earned over $94,000 in cash jackpots," he said.
The Mafia Boss Beta 1.0 also features a Protection Program, which was designed to protect new players from experienced looters on the platform. All new players that join the game actually start under the Protection Program.
"The new Protection Program enables players to learn the game quickly and stay protected from other players' attacks," said Santosh Kumar, Marketing Manager, Just Fun Softwares Ltd. "It's a great feature that will help people build up their Mafioso skills and remain in the game longer; this is an essential step on a player's path towards worldwide domination as a mafia don!"
The Protection Program Breakdown
The Mafia Boss Protection Program will buffer new players from the cruel Mafioso underworld so they can get up to speed. Once they've learned the ropes, however, the game's a crime spree free-for-all.
Here are the specifics of the Protection Program:
- During a hit, players can't get attached or attack other players
- At the bank players can't transfer money or receive transfers
- Players aren't allowed to travel to another city
- Players aren't ranked
- Player can't use more than 5,000 turns in total scouting
- Player can't use more than 5,000 turns in total collecting
- Player can't use more than 5,000 turns in total producing
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Another Soprano's Actor Sent to Prison on Mob Related Charges
The actor who played mafia capo “Larry Boy Barese” on the HBO mob drama “The Sopranos” turns out to be gangster in real life.
Anthony Borgese, who uses the stage name "Tony Darrow," pled guilty in Brooklyn federal court to one count of participating in an extortion conspiracy to collect a debt.
Borgese, who has also appeared in mobster films “Goodfellas” and “Analyze This”, apparently used enforcers connected to the Gambino crime family.
The conspiracy occurred in Monticello in upstate New York in 2004 and Borgese was indicted on the charges two years ago.
Under a plea agreement with the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, the 72-year-old Borgese is expected to serve between 33 and 41 months in a federal prison.
According to press reports, had Darrow gone to trial rather than plead out, he might have faced up to 20 years in the slammer. "It's a difficult time for him," his attorney, Kevin Faga, told reporters. "He's not going to make any comment."
Darrow is hardly the first actor from The Sopranos to get in serious trouble.
Tony Sirico, who played the murderous, but hilarious, “Paulie Walnuts” on the popular program was a low-level associate of the Colombo crime family in the 1960s and 1970s and served prison time for armed robbery.
In more recent years, Richard Maldone, who played Albert Barese on the show was arrested in connection with a drug-dealing ring that operated out of Howard Beach, Queens, N.Y. Maldone and a crew of about 45 co-horts were nabbed for selling marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and ketamine. Maldone also reportedly served time in the 1990s for assault.
Another actor who had a small part in the Sopranos, Lillo Brancato, was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2009 for first-degree attempted burglary in connection with the murder of a New York City Police officer. Brancato, who played “Matt Bevilacqua” on the show, was cleared of murder charges.
Thanks to IBT
Anthony Borgese, who uses the stage name "Tony Darrow," pled guilty in Brooklyn federal court to one count of participating in an extortion conspiracy to collect a debt.
Borgese, who has also appeared in mobster films “Goodfellas” and “Analyze This”, apparently used enforcers connected to the Gambino crime family.
The conspiracy occurred in Monticello in upstate New York in 2004 and Borgese was indicted on the charges two years ago.
Under a plea agreement with the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, the 72-year-old Borgese is expected to serve between 33 and 41 months in a federal prison.
According to press reports, had Darrow gone to trial rather than plead out, he might have faced up to 20 years in the slammer. "It's a difficult time for him," his attorney, Kevin Faga, told reporters. "He's not going to make any comment."
Darrow is hardly the first actor from The Sopranos to get in serious trouble.
Tony Sirico, who played the murderous, but hilarious, “Paulie Walnuts” on the popular program was a low-level associate of the Colombo crime family in the 1960s and 1970s and served prison time for armed robbery.
In more recent years, Richard Maldone, who played Albert Barese on the show was arrested in connection with a drug-dealing ring that operated out of Howard Beach, Queens, N.Y. Maldone and a crew of about 45 co-horts were nabbed for selling marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and ketamine. Maldone also reportedly served time in the 1990s for assault.
Another actor who had a small part in the Sopranos, Lillo Brancato, was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2009 for first-degree attempted burglary in connection with the murder of a New York City Police officer. Brancato, who played “Matt Bevilacqua” on the show, was cleared of murder charges.
Thanks to IBT
Friday, February 11, 2011
Growing Up the Son of Tony Spilotro
The only son of Tony Spilotro talks about what it was like growing up in the shadow of one of Chicago's most notorious mob bosses.
When Anthony "Ant" Spilotro walked into a room, he caused hearts to race and sometimes stop. At only 5'5", Spilotro's power wasn't from muscle; it was from an ability to intimidate and an unpredictable temper.
Hollywood tried to chronicle Spilotro's life in the movie "Casino." Now, his own family videos and an interview with his son offer a different take on these blood relatives.
Casino Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi.
This is what most people remember about Tony Spilotro's life -- it ended in a midnight grave. It was June 1986. After a horrific beating, vengeful mob bosses drove Spilotro and his brother Michael Spilotro to an Indiana cornfield where they were buried.
"I just want people to understand that he wasn't this monster," Spilotro's only son Vince told the I-Team.
Vince Spilotro knows that rewriting his late father's life story will be difficult. His father was arrested 13 times before age 20; he was initiated as a full Chicago Outfit member at age 25 after authorities believe he committed his trademark torture killing, putting a victim's head in a vice until his eyeballs popped out. From 1971 to 1986, Tony Spilotro ruled Chicago Mob rackets in Las Vegas.
"I just wanted it to come out that he was a man, he did have family, just the human side of him, just tell the truth about it. Even if you're going to tell something bad, tell the truth about it. You know what I mean? You don't have to make up a whole bunch of stuff, " Vince Spilotro said.
It is unclear how many people Spilotro killed during his Outfit career because he was never convicted of murder, but Outfit investigators put the number at between 12 and 20.
"I mean, I take this home with me every night. I mean, I've been taking this home for 20 years," said Vince Spilotro.
Now he is sharing it with the I-Team, and soon Vince Spilotro will be sharing it with the paying public.
Opening next month at the Tropicana Hotel, in the city limits his father once ruled, the interactive Mob Experience will feature Spilotro family memorabilia including baby shoes and pictures -- and guns and bullets.
"I knew what he did," said said Vince Spilotro. "He was just, you know, just a loving father."
And Spilotro family videos that show Tony "Ant" as Tony "Santa." At family parties, including Vincent's birthday's as a boy, where sometimes tony and the boys would play cards off to the side. On family trips to Disneyland, where even a budding Outfit boss waited in line.
GOUDIE: "Do you think your father saw you as someone who would eventually replace him?
SPILOTRO: No, not at all. Here's what happened. In the beginning he didn't, it was all school, you have to do this, you have to do that. In the end he was, he had quadruple bypass, he was getting tired. He was sharing more. I don't know if that's grooming me, but it was still, school, school, school."
When museum plans were unveiled last summer, Tony Spilotro's reclusive widow Nancy was also in attendance. Their family treasures will be on display with some from Chicago boss Sam Giancana and Vegas founder Bugsy Seigel.
GOUDIE: "What would your father think about you selling family memorabilia for a profit.
SPILOTRO: He wouldn't like it. It's a two-way street. I think he'd like that I'm telling the truth, selling it for a profit sounds a little seedy...These people are going to protect it, they're going to display it a little more classy than if someone bought it on eBay."
For the Spilotro family, it is a chance to tell inside stories about the days growing up in their Las Vegas home as the son of a Mob boss.
The Enforcer, Tony Spilotro: The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas.
Spilotro said, "I helped when I was a kid, at 18 years old, helped design this room, at our house, it was a place called the 'Security room.' There was a steel door, which was covered with wallpaper, you never knew it was steel. A solid door with the frame. The walls were all insulated with concrete and stuff. I mean, you couldn't get in that room."
And after almost 25 years, the museum and this interview, are a chance to come to terms with the past.
"I just like to tell everybody that he's just a man that grew up, raised a family and got caught up in some things that maybe he shouldn't have, but he lived it the way he lived it," said Spilotro.
The founder of the Mob Experience museum says he isn't setting out to glorify the Chicago Outfit. He says that showing the living contradictions that were Chicago Mob bosses is aimed at giving the public new insight about a significant American criminal group.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie.
When Anthony "Ant" Spilotro walked into a room, he caused hearts to race and sometimes stop. At only 5'5", Spilotro's power wasn't from muscle; it was from an ability to intimidate and an unpredictable temper.
Hollywood tried to chronicle Spilotro's life in the movie "Casino." Now, his own family videos and an interview with his son offer a different take on these blood relatives.
Casino Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi.
This is what most people remember about Tony Spilotro's life -- it ended in a midnight grave. It was June 1986. After a horrific beating, vengeful mob bosses drove Spilotro and his brother Michael Spilotro to an Indiana cornfield where they were buried.
"I just want people to understand that he wasn't this monster," Spilotro's only son Vince told the I-Team.
Vince Spilotro knows that rewriting his late father's life story will be difficult. His father was arrested 13 times before age 20; he was initiated as a full Chicago Outfit member at age 25 after authorities believe he committed his trademark torture killing, putting a victim's head in a vice until his eyeballs popped out. From 1971 to 1986, Tony Spilotro ruled Chicago Mob rackets in Las Vegas.
"I just wanted it to come out that he was a man, he did have family, just the human side of him, just tell the truth about it. Even if you're going to tell something bad, tell the truth about it. You know what I mean? You don't have to make up a whole bunch of stuff, " Vince Spilotro said.
It is unclear how many people Spilotro killed during his Outfit career because he was never convicted of murder, but Outfit investigators put the number at between 12 and 20.
"I mean, I take this home with me every night. I mean, I've been taking this home for 20 years," said Vince Spilotro.
Now he is sharing it with the I-Team, and soon Vince Spilotro will be sharing it with the paying public.
Opening next month at the Tropicana Hotel, in the city limits his father once ruled, the interactive Mob Experience will feature Spilotro family memorabilia including baby shoes and pictures -- and guns and bullets.
"I knew what he did," said said Vince Spilotro. "He was just, you know, just a loving father."
And Spilotro family videos that show Tony "Ant" as Tony "Santa." At family parties, including Vincent's birthday's as a boy, where sometimes tony and the boys would play cards off to the side. On family trips to Disneyland, where even a budding Outfit boss waited in line.
GOUDIE: "Do you think your father saw you as someone who would eventually replace him?
SPILOTRO: No, not at all. Here's what happened. In the beginning he didn't, it was all school, you have to do this, you have to do that. In the end he was, he had quadruple bypass, he was getting tired. He was sharing more. I don't know if that's grooming me, but it was still, school, school, school."
When museum plans were unveiled last summer, Tony Spilotro's reclusive widow Nancy was also in attendance. Their family treasures will be on display with some from Chicago boss Sam Giancana and Vegas founder Bugsy Seigel.
GOUDIE: "What would your father think about you selling family memorabilia for a profit.
SPILOTRO: He wouldn't like it. It's a two-way street. I think he'd like that I'm telling the truth, selling it for a profit sounds a little seedy...These people are going to protect it, they're going to display it a little more classy than if someone bought it on eBay."
For the Spilotro family, it is a chance to tell inside stories about the days growing up in their Las Vegas home as the son of a Mob boss.
The Enforcer, Tony Spilotro: The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas.
Spilotro said, "I helped when I was a kid, at 18 years old, helped design this room, at our house, it was a place called the 'Security room.' There was a steel door, which was covered with wallpaper, you never knew it was steel. A solid door with the frame. The walls were all insulated with concrete and stuff. I mean, you couldn't get in that room."
And after almost 25 years, the museum and this interview, are a chance to come to terms with the past.
"I just like to tell everybody that he's just a man that grew up, raised a family and got caught up in some things that maybe he shouldn't have, but he lived it the way he lived it," said Spilotro.
The founder of the Mob Experience museum says he isn't setting out to glorify the Chicago Outfit. He says that showing the living contradictions that were Chicago Mob bosses is aimed at giving the public new insight about a significant American criminal group.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Enrico Ponzo, Reputed Mobster Turned Cow Farmer, Arrested in Idaho
For more than a decade, the vast farm fields of rural southwestern Idaho provided Enrico Ponzo the isolation he needed to hide from his past as a former New England mobster accused of trying to whack his boss.
He introduced himself to his neighbors as Jeffrey Shaw, a man who went by the nickname "Jay." He paid for everything in cash. He bought his house in his girlfriend's name. But his past proved a stubborn companion.
Ponzo couldn't hide his vaguely New York accent. He couldn't keep his stories straight. He couldn't hide his expertise with a gun during a trip to the local shooting range. And in a community where Ponzo was surrounded by wide open ranch land, his neighbors could tell he didn't know anything about farming.
The past Ponzo tried to bury finally came calling this week, when federal agents arrived at a subdivision in Marsing and shattered the life he had so carefully crafted.
In a federal courtroom Wednesday, Ponzo pulled the mask off Jeffrey Shaw. "My name is Enrico M. Ponzo," he said, wearing a yellow jumpsuit with his hands cuffed behind his back. After the judge read a long list of charges against him, Ponzo pleaded not guilty. He was appointed a public defender and ordered him held without bail until another hearing Friday.
Meanwhile, a tiny farming and ranching community about 40 miles west of Boise was left to wonder how all of them got duped, and for so long. His neighbors reached back as far as they could into their memories, scouring for signs of an elaborate ruse. Some found vindication. "We always felt that something was a little strange," said Sharie Kinney, a neighbor.
To them, he was Jay Shaw, who worked as a graphic designer from home and was known for fixing computers. He raised about a dozen cows and lived in a light green two-story home on a hilltop with his girlfriend, who moved out of the house several months ago with their two small children.
To the FBI, he was a New England mobster who vanished in 1994 after a botched attempt to kill his boss.
Ponzo now faces charges from a 1997 indictment accusing him and 14 others of racketeering, attempted murder and conspiracy to kill rivals. He is also charged in the 1989 attempted murder of Frank Salemme. nown as "Cadillac Frank," Salemme is the ex-head of the Patriarca Family of La Cosa Nostra.
Authorities declined to say how the FBI discovered him. During his arrest Monday, agents seized 38 firearms, $15,000 and a 100-ounce bar of either gold or silver from the home.
Neighbors say Ponzo moved into the community, which sits at the base of the Owyhee Mountains in southwestern Idaho, about 10 or 11 years ago. He told some he was from New York, and to their ears, he had the accent to prove it. But he told others that he was from New Jersey.
Bodie Clapier, a rancher who lived next door, remembers Ponzo said his parents were killed when he was young, and that he had no other family. "My dad just said, one time (Ponzo) was telling him, `Yeah, I was in the military and 15 of us got blown up and I was the only one that survived,'" Clapier said. "Well, isn't it weird that the number of people that were indicted was 15? ... Isn't that kind of bizarre?"
Some details that once seemed strange now fit together like a puzzle.
"Every time I talked about a gun he'd say `I've got one of those,'" said Clapier, who went out with Ponzo to shoot guns on a hot September day last year. Clapier and his son came away impressed. "After we got in the truck and were leaving, (his son) said: "Man, that guy knows how to handle a gun," Clapier said. "When he go up to shoot it was just: Boom! Boom! Boom!."
Other details now seem chilling.
"We got in a big argument one time about something. I kind of told him `You know what Jay, just get out of my face. I don't want to talk to you.' But then he came right back the next day smiling and said: `It's ok,'" Clapier said. "I feel like I dodged a bullet. Literally."
Ponzo was arrested at the entrance of the subdivision, where he served on the board that regulates the water supply. Federal agents took him into custody on Monday afternoon, just as children were coming off the school bus, neighbors said. Ponzo later called from the Ada County Jail in Boise, Clapier said.
"He said `I've been arrested, it's all a bunch of bulls---, but I'm going to be in here for a long time. Would you please feed my cows?'"
He introduced himself to his neighbors as Jeffrey Shaw, a man who went by the nickname "Jay." He paid for everything in cash. He bought his house in his girlfriend's name. But his past proved a stubborn companion.
Ponzo couldn't hide his vaguely New York accent. He couldn't keep his stories straight. He couldn't hide his expertise with a gun during a trip to the local shooting range. And in a community where Ponzo was surrounded by wide open ranch land, his neighbors could tell he didn't know anything about farming.
The past Ponzo tried to bury finally came calling this week, when federal agents arrived at a subdivision in Marsing and shattered the life he had so carefully crafted.
In a federal courtroom Wednesday, Ponzo pulled the mask off Jeffrey Shaw. "My name is Enrico M. Ponzo," he said, wearing a yellow jumpsuit with his hands cuffed behind his back. After the judge read a long list of charges against him, Ponzo pleaded not guilty. He was appointed a public defender and ordered him held without bail until another hearing Friday.
Meanwhile, a tiny farming and ranching community about 40 miles west of Boise was left to wonder how all of them got duped, and for so long. His neighbors reached back as far as they could into their memories, scouring for signs of an elaborate ruse. Some found vindication. "We always felt that something was a little strange," said Sharie Kinney, a neighbor.
To them, he was Jay Shaw, who worked as a graphic designer from home and was known for fixing computers. He raised about a dozen cows and lived in a light green two-story home on a hilltop with his girlfriend, who moved out of the house several months ago with their two small children.
To the FBI, he was a New England mobster who vanished in 1994 after a botched attempt to kill his boss.
Ponzo now faces charges from a 1997 indictment accusing him and 14 others of racketeering, attempted murder and conspiracy to kill rivals. He is also charged in the 1989 attempted murder of Frank Salemme. nown as "Cadillac Frank," Salemme is the ex-head of the Patriarca Family of La Cosa Nostra.
Authorities declined to say how the FBI discovered him. During his arrest Monday, agents seized 38 firearms, $15,000 and a 100-ounce bar of either gold or silver from the home.
Neighbors say Ponzo moved into the community, which sits at the base of the Owyhee Mountains in southwestern Idaho, about 10 or 11 years ago. He told some he was from New York, and to their ears, he had the accent to prove it. But he told others that he was from New Jersey.
Bodie Clapier, a rancher who lived next door, remembers Ponzo said his parents were killed when he was young, and that he had no other family. "My dad just said, one time (Ponzo) was telling him, `Yeah, I was in the military and 15 of us got blown up and I was the only one that survived,'" Clapier said. "Well, isn't it weird that the number of people that were indicted was 15? ... Isn't that kind of bizarre?"
Some details that once seemed strange now fit together like a puzzle.
"Every time I talked about a gun he'd say `I've got one of those,'" said Clapier, who went out with Ponzo to shoot guns on a hot September day last year. Clapier and his son came away impressed. "After we got in the truck and were leaving, (his son) said: "Man, that guy knows how to handle a gun," Clapier said. "When he go up to shoot it was just: Boom! Boom! Boom!."
Other details now seem chilling.
"We got in a big argument one time about something. I kind of told him `You know what Jay, just get out of my face. I don't want to talk to you.' But then he came right back the next day smiling and said: `It's ok,'" Clapier said. "I feel like I dodged a bullet. Literally."
Ponzo was arrested at the entrance of the subdivision, where he served on the board that regulates the water supply. Federal agents took him into custody on Monday afternoon, just as children were coming off the school bus, neighbors said. Ponzo later called from the Ada County Jail in Boise, Clapier said.
"He said `I've been arrested, it's all a bunch of bulls---, but I'm going to be in here for a long time. Would you please feed my cows?'"
Mafia Memorabilia War Heats Up
There is a Chicago mob war underway, but it is unlikely to result in bloodshed. But the fight is actually 1,800 miles away from Chicago.
From 1955, when the reign of Mayor Richard J. Daley began, through today with his son, Mayor Richard M. Daley, Chicago has shunned any official recognition of the city's gangland past. But Las Vegas -- for decades controlled by the Chicago Outfit -- is embracing its rich organized crime history.
With not one but two Mob museums planning to open this year, a fight for Chicago Mob memorabilia is now on.
On one end of the famous Las Vegas strip will be the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, also known as the Mob museum. It is Mayor Oscar Goodman's $50 million pet project in a former federal building, much of it funded by tax money. After countless delays, the official Mob museum is set to open late this year.
At the other end of the strip -- and in direct competition -- is the privately owned and operated Mob Experience. It will fire the first shot with preview parties next week and a grand opening in early March, with interactive holograms of Hollywood Mob figures leading tourists through the exhibits.
"We are not setting out to glorify the Mob by any mean, and nobody in Las Vegas is looking to glorify the mob. But at the same time we are not looking to vilify these people either. I think in the process of collecting these artifacts and being exposed to the stories of the family members, we've been given the greatest Mob story never told," said Jay Bloom, Mob Experience partner.
The late Chicago Outfit boss Sam "Momo" Giancana is among those depicted in exhibits. His daughter Antoniette is among the family members of major Mob figures hired as paid contributors to the Mob Experience. And she is happy to deliver her father's glory days in Vegas.
"It was glorious. I wished he were here now. We were treated like kings, queens and princesses and princes. There was nothing that Sam needed or wanted in this town, it was given to him gladly with love and respect," said Antionette Giancana, Mafia princess.
The Mob Experience will feature memorabilia from the Giancana family along with personal mementos from Bugsy Seigel, Meyer Lansky and others, including Chicago's long-time Mob emissary to Las Vegas Anthony "Tony Ant" Spilotro.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
From 1955, when the reign of Mayor Richard J. Daley began, through today with his son, Mayor Richard M. Daley, Chicago has shunned any official recognition of the city's gangland past. But Las Vegas -- for decades controlled by the Chicago Outfit -- is embracing its rich organized crime history.
With not one but two Mob museums planning to open this year, a fight for Chicago Mob memorabilia is now on.
On one end of the famous Las Vegas strip will be the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, also known as the Mob museum. It is Mayor Oscar Goodman's $50 million pet project in a former federal building, much of it funded by tax money. After countless delays, the official Mob museum is set to open late this year.
At the other end of the strip -- and in direct competition -- is the privately owned and operated Mob Experience. It will fire the first shot with preview parties next week and a grand opening in early March, with interactive holograms of Hollywood Mob figures leading tourists through the exhibits.
"We are not setting out to glorify the Mob by any mean, and nobody in Las Vegas is looking to glorify the mob. But at the same time we are not looking to vilify these people either. I think in the process of collecting these artifacts and being exposed to the stories of the family members, we've been given the greatest Mob story never told," said Jay Bloom, Mob Experience partner.
The late Chicago Outfit boss Sam "Momo" Giancana is among those depicted in exhibits. His daughter Antoniette is among the family members of major Mob figures hired as paid contributors to the Mob Experience. And she is happy to deliver her father's glory days in Vegas.
"It was glorious. I wished he were here now. We were treated like kings, queens and princesses and princes. There was nothing that Sam needed or wanted in this town, it was given to him gladly with love and respect," said Antionette Giancana, Mafia princess.
The Mob Experience will feature memorabilia from the Giancana family along with personal mementos from Bugsy Seigel, Meyer Lansky and others, including Chicago's long-time Mob emissary to Las Vegas Anthony "Tony Ant" Spilotro.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Friday, February 04, 2011
The Russian Mafia Code
Like it's American counterpart, the Russian Mafia has a code that all members must follow. They have 18 rules to love by and if you break the rules, the punishment is death.
1. The crime family is your new family. Distance yourself from your real family.
2. Do not have a family of your own. No wives or children allowed. Girlfriends are okay.
3. Have another source of income, a real job.
4. Help other members with support, but material and otherwise.
5. Never reveal anything about your cohorts and associates.
6. If necessary, take the rap for a fellow thief.
7. Hold meetings to settle disputes.
8. Freely participate in these meetings.
9. Punish the guilty parties as determined at these meetings.
10 Do not flinch from performing these unpleasant duties even though the convicted party may be a friend.
11 Learn the "Fehnay" or Russian Mafia Slang
12 Never get in over your head with gambling debts.
13 Coach and mentor younger hoodlums-in-training
14 Always maintain a network of informants among the lower echelon of criminals
15 Be able to handle your liquor, nobody likes a sloppy gangster
16 Do not mingle with the police in social situations or join any social or community clubs. The Elks Club is vertoten
17 Avoid military service, stay out of the draft
18 Always keep your work to another member of the Russian Mafia
1. The crime family is your new family. Distance yourself from your real family.
2. Do not have a family of your own. No wives or children allowed. Girlfriends are okay.
3. Have another source of income, a real job.
4. Help other members with support, but material and otherwise.
5. Never reveal anything about your cohorts and associates.
6. If necessary, take the rap for a fellow thief.
7. Hold meetings to settle disputes.
8. Freely participate in these meetings.
9. Punish the guilty parties as determined at these meetings.
10 Do not flinch from performing these unpleasant duties even though the convicted party may be a friend.
11 Learn the "Fehnay" or Russian Mafia Slang
12 Never get in over your head with gambling debts.
13 Coach and mentor younger hoodlums-in-training
14 Always maintain a network of informants among the lower echelon of criminals
15 Be able to handle your liquor, nobody likes a sloppy gangster
16 Do not mingle with the police in social situations or join any social or community clubs. The Elks Club is vertoten
17 Avoid military service, stay out of the draft
18 Always keep your work to another member of the Russian Mafia
Thursday, February 03, 2011
FBI Expands Use of National Data Exchange to Fight Organized Crime
Colorado law enforcement working an organized crime case identified a “person of interest” during its investigation but couldn’t find a current address or much else on the individual.
So a state trooper searched the FBI's Law Enforcement National Data Exchange, or N-DEx, which revealed the subject as a person of interest in an out-of-state drug case worked by a federal agency. The trooper contacted that agency and learned that this individual had been named in other drug-related cases in California.
Based on that information, the trooper began reaching out to other federal, state, and local agencies in California and beyond…and soon discovered that his subject was a member of a violent gang headquartered in Los Angeles that, up until then, wasn’t known to be operating in Colorado.
This process of connecting the dots between seemingly unrelated pieces of criminal data housed in different places is the backbone of N-DEx. The system enables its law enforcement users to submit certain data to a central repository—located at the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division in West Virginia—where it’s compared against data already on file from local, state, tribal, and federal agencies to identify links and similarities among persons, places, things, and activities across jurisdictional boundaries.
Until now, N-DEx—accessed through a highly secure Internet site—has only been a viable option for a relatively limited number of agencies.
Now, the FBI's about to take N-DEx to the next level: When its final phase is delivered later this month, N-DEx will truly live up to its name…and over time will be available to thousands more law enforcement and criminal justice agencies around the country.
A quick look at how N-DEx has evolved:
Entering information into N-DEx is easy. Agencies participating in state or regional information-sharing systems that “feed” N-DEx don’t have to do anything. For other agencies, once their data is mapped to N-DEx, contributing data will be as easy as a monthly download and submission. And for smaller agencies without automated record management systems or with fewer records, information can be loaded manually.
Bottom line: N-DEx is a powerful investigative tool that will, according to CJIS Assistant Director Dan Roberts, “help keep our communities safer, not only by linking criminal justice data together as never before, but also by enabling investigative partnerships across jurisdictions.”
So a state trooper searched the FBI's Law Enforcement National Data Exchange, or N-DEx, which revealed the subject as a person of interest in an out-of-state drug case worked by a federal agency. The trooper contacted that agency and learned that this individual had been named in other drug-related cases in California.
Based on that information, the trooper began reaching out to other federal, state, and local agencies in California and beyond…and soon discovered that his subject was a member of a violent gang headquartered in Los Angeles that, up until then, wasn’t known to be operating in Colorado.
This process of connecting the dots between seemingly unrelated pieces of criminal data housed in different places is the backbone of N-DEx. The system enables its law enforcement users to submit certain data to a central repository—located at the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division in West Virginia—where it’s compared against data already on file from local, state, tribal, and federal agencies to identify links and similarities among persons, places, things, and activities across jurisdictional boundaries.
Until now, N-DEx—accessed through a highly secure Internet site—has only been a viable option for a relatively limited number of agencies.
Now, the FBI's about to take N-DEx to the next level: When its final phase is delivered later this month, N-DEx will truly live up to its name…and over time will be available to thousands more law enforcement and criminal justice agencies around the country.
A quick look at how N-DEx has evolved:
- 2008: The first phase gave participating agencies basic capabilities, including the ability to create link analysis charts and to search several thousand incident/case report records and arrest data to help determine a person’s true identity.
- 2009: The second phase supported 100 million searchable records and added the capability to do full-text and geospatial searches. It also enabled users to exchange information with each other and to subscribe to automatic notifications concerning people/cases of interest to them.
- This month’s third and final phase will add probation and parole information to the database, as well as enhancements to some of its existing capabilities. And best of all, the N-DEx interface has been completely redone, giving it the look and feel of a commercial search engine, complete with filters and more streamlined result sets. Now, N-DEx will now be able to support 200 million searchable records, and with future modification, that number can readily increase to two billion records.
Entering information into N-DEx is easy. Agencies participating in state or regional information-sharing systems that “feed” N-DEx don’t have to do anything. For other agencies, once their data is mapped to N-DEx, contributing data will be as easy as a monthly download and submission. And for smaller agencies without automated record management systems or with fewer records, information can be loaded manually.
Bottom line: N-DEx is a powerful investigative tool that will, according to CJIS Assistant Director Dan Roberts, “help keep our communities safer, not only by linking criminal justice data together as never before, but also by enabling investigative partnerships across jurisdictions.”
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Anthony “The Saint” St. Laurent Is Scheduled to Plead Guilty
New England Mafia capo Anthony “The Saint” St. Laurent is scheduled to plead guilty in a Rhode Island court Wednesday to a failed murder-for-hire plot to rub out his reputed underworld rival and fellow made mobster Robert “Bobby” DeLuca, according to court papers.
“Shoot him in the (expletive) head. Say, ‘This is from the Saint,’ ” prosecutors allege St. Laurent coached an undercover cop posing as a hit man in 2007 on one of at least three attempts he made to execute DeLuca for control of his rackets, according to court papers.
St. Laurent, 69, faces up to 10 years in the slammer. He has spent the past three years behind bars for extortion.
As part of a plea agreement, the feds will dismiss separate extortion charges in exchange for the aging gangster admitting he was part of the all-in-the-family conspiracy to shake down bookies in Taunton between 1988 and 2009 for between $800,000 and $1.5 million in “protection” fees, court filings state.
St. Laurent’s wife, Dorothy, 71, pleaded guilty last year to helping her hubby collect the money. Sentenced to six months’ home confinement, she yesterday declined comment. Anthony St. Laurent Jr., 44, pleaded guilty to interfering with commerce by threats and violence. He is serving 78 months.
Thanks to Laurel J. Sweet
“Shoot him in the (expletive) head. Say, ‘This is from the Saint,’ ” prosecutors allege St. Laurent coached an undercover cop posing as a hit man in 2007 on one of at least three attempts he made to execute DeLuca for control of his rackets, according to court papers.
St. Laurent, 69, faces up to 10 years in the slammer. He has spent the past three years behind bars for extortion.
As part of a plea agreement, the feds will dismiss separate extortion charges in exchange for the aging gangster admitting he was part of the all-in-the-family conspiracy to shake down bookies in Taunton between 1988 and 2009 for between $800,000 and $1.5 million in “protection” fees, court filings state.
St. Laurent’s wife, Dorothy, 71, pleaded guilty last year to helping her hubby collect the money. Sentenced to six months’ home confinement, she yesterday declined comment. Anthony St. Laurent Jr., 44, pleaded guilty to interfering with commerce by threats and violence. He is serving 78 months.
Thanks to Laurel J. Sweet
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Chicago's O'Hare Field Named for the Son of One of Al Capone's Associates
Times-Union readers want to know:
An e-mail I received contains two stories: one about "Easy Eddie," who was Al Capone's lawyer who lived the high life of the Chicago mob, and the other about war hero Lt. Cmdr. Butch O'Hare. They are great tales, but are they true? They are great tales and, except for a little exaggeration and some speculation, much of the information in the e-mail is true.
The stories are too lengthy to reprint in full, but here's an abridged version:
"Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well and gave him a mansion with all conveniences.
"Eddie gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him, but he did have one soft spot - a son whom he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had nice clothes, cars and a good education. Price was no object. "And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach his son right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.
"One day, Easy Eddie decided to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would testify against the mob and Capone, clean up his tarnished name and offer his son some semblance of integrity. "So he testified. In 1932, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In 1939, Easy Eddie was gunned down on a lonely Chicago street. Most people credited Capone's people for the hit.
"Police removed from Eddie's pockets a gun, a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion and a poem clipped from a magazine. "The poem read: 'The clock of life is wound but once and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour; now is the only time you own, live, love, toil with a will; place no faith in time for the clock may soon be still.'"
The second story
"World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lt. Butch O'Hare, a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.
"On Feb. 20, 1942, his entire squadron was sent on a mission but O'Hare soon realized his fuel tank was too low. He headed back to the fleet and noticed that a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the Lexington.
"Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he engaged the formation of Japanese planes. He fired at the planes until all his ammunition was spent, then dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail. Finally, the Japanese squadron took off in another direction.
"Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. He had destroyed five enemy aircraft and, for that, became the Navy's first ace of World War II and the first naval aviator to win the Medal of Honor.
"A year later, Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His memory is kept alive as Chicago's O'Hare Airport is named for him."
The kicker
So, the e-mail asks, what do these two stories have to do with each other?
Butch O'Hare was Easy Eddie's son.
Numerous historical accounts show that Edward Joseph "Easy Eddie" O'Hare was Capone's lawyer and a partner in some of the gangster's criminal activities. Easy Eddie had a hand in running Capone's horse and dog track operations; in fact, earlier in his career he was a partner with the man who invented the "rabbit" that greyhounds chase around the track. He did help the government imprison Capone on tax evasion charges but accounts differ as to whether he did that after an attack of conscience or because he saw a way to keep himself out of prison.
Eddie also might have made a deal to get his son into the Naval Academy, according to the organized crime section of the Illinois Police and Sheriff's News (IPSN) website. Eddie's son, Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare, did indeed shoot down five Japanese fighters and disable a sixth, according to the historical accounts. The shootout took place within sight of hundreds of Lexington crew members, according to IPSN. O'Hare was being fired on with machine guns and cannons from all angles, but he "just kept moving," one eyewitness report said.
Lt. Butch O'Hare received the Medal of Honor in 1942 for his actions defending the Lexington and was promoted to lieutenant commander. The medal citation calls it "... one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation. ..."
O'Hare was killed in November 1943 when his plane went down during the battle for the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific, but there's controversy over what led to his death. In the biography of O'Hare, "Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare" co-authors John Lundstrom and Steve Ewing write that he was shot down by a Japanese bomber. Other accounts say he was shot down by friendly fire during a night mission.
A 1947 Collier's magazine article about Easy Eddie O'Hare stated that his work as an informant helped win public favor for him, the fact-finding website Truthorfiction.com reports.
In 1949, Orchard Field Airport was renamed O'Hare to honor Easy Eddie's son, World War II ace Butch O'Hare.
Thanks to Carole Fader
An e-mail I received contains two stories: one about "Easy Eddie," who was Al Capone's lawyer who lived the high life of the Chicago mob, and the other about war hero Lt. Cmdr. Butch O'Hare. They are great tales, but are they true? They are great tales and, except for a little exaggeration and some speculation, much of the information in the e-mail is true.
The stories are too lengthy to reprint in full, but here's an abridged version:
"Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well and gave him a mansion with all conveniences.
"Eddie gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him, but he did have one soft spot - a son whom he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had nice clothes, cars and a good education. Price was no object. "And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach his son right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.
"One day, Easy Eddie decided to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would testify against the mob and Capone, clean up his tarnished name and offer his son some semblance of integrity. "So he testified. In 1932, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In 1939, Easy Eddie was gunned down on a lonely Chicago street. Most people credited Capone's people for the hit.
"Police removed from Eddie's pockets a gun, a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion and a poem clipped from a magazine. "The poem read: 'The clock of life is wound but once and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour; now is the only time you own, live, love, toil with a will; place no faith in time for the clock may soon be still.'"
The second story
"World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lt. Butch O'Hare, a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.
"On Feb. 20, 1942, his entire squadron was sent on a mission but O'Hare soon realized his fuel tank was too low. He headed back to the fleet and noticed that a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the Lexington.
"Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he engaged the formation of Japanese planes. He fired at the planes until all his ammunition was spent, then dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail. Finally, the Japanese squadron took off in another direction.
"Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. He had destroyed five enemy aircraft and, for that, became the Navy's first ace of World War II and the first naval aviator to win the Medal of Honor.
"A year later, Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His memory is kept alive as Chicago's O'Hare Airport is named for him."
The kicker
So, the e-mail asks, what do these two stories have to do with each other?
Butch O'Hare was Easy Eddie's son.
Numerous historical accounts show that Edward Joseph "Easy Eddie" O'Hare was Capone's lawyer and a partner in some of the gangster's criminal activities. Easy Eddie had a hand in running Capone's horse and dog track operations; in fact, earlier in his career he was a partner with the man who invented the "rabbit" that greyhounds chase around the track. He did help the government imprison Capone on tax evasion charges but accounts differ as to whether he did that after an attack of conscience or because he saw a way to keep himself out of prison.
Eddie also might have made a deal to get his son into the Naval Academy, according to the organized crime section of the Illinois Police and Sheriff's News (IPSN) website. Eddie's son, Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare, did indeed shoot down five Japanese fighters and disable a sixth, according to the historical accounts. The shootout took place within sight of hundreds of Lexington crew members, according to IPSN. O'Hare was being fired on with machine guns and cannons from all angles, but he "just kept moving," one eyewitness report said.
Lt. Butch O'Hare received the Medal of Honor in 1942 for his actions defending the Lexington and was promoted to lieutenant commander. The medal citation calls it "... one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation. ..."
O'Hare was killed in November 1943 when his plane went down during the battle for the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific, but there's controversy over what led to his death. In the biography of O'Hare, "Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare" co-authors John Lundstrom and Steve Ewing write that he was shot down by a Japanese bomber. Other accounts say he was shot down by friendly fire during a night mission.
A 1947 Collier's magazine article about Easy Eddie O'Hare stated that his work as an informant helped win public favor for him, the fact-finding website Truthorfiction.com reports.
In 1949, Orchard Field Airport was renamed O'Hare to honor Easy Eddie's son, World War II ace Butch O'Hare.
Thanks to Carole Fader
Monday, January 31, 2011
Why Does It Cost $2 Million to Build a $1 Million Building in New York City?
Until last week, not many people in America had ever heard of Vincenzo Frogiero. But thanks to an FBI indictment, Mr Frogiero has now been immortalised across America by his mobster moniker, 'Vinny Carwash'.
An alleged member of the New York City Gambino crime family, Vinny Carwash was just one of 124 suspected Mafia members rounded up across the north-east US in the biggest one-day mob bust in American history.
Now awaiting trial on racketeering charges, Frogiero is incarcerated in Brooklyn with fellow wise guys whose nicknames seem straight out of a Hollywood casting call for The Sopranos: Johnny Bandana, Junior Lollipops, Johnny Pizza, Jack the Whack and Tony Bagels.
In a pre-dawn raid last week, federal agents in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island swooped on the homes of over 100 alleged mobsters and arrested them on charges that include murder, loan sharking, extortion and labour racketeering.
Among those rounded up were leading members of the five Italian-American families affiliated with 'La Cosa Nostra' -- the Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, Bonnano and Lucchese families. Those arrested included family bosses, underbosses, consiglieri, hit men, soldiers and associates.
By far the biggest coup for the Feds was the arrest of 83-year-old Luigi 'Baby Shacks' Manocchio, the former boss of New England's Patriarca crime family and a 60-year-old Mafia veteran.
"It is a reminder that the Mafia is alive and well and that we ignore organised crime at our own peril," Professor Jay Albanese, a criminologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, told the Weekend Review.
The details contained in the FBI indictments read like plots straight from The Godfather or Goodfellas but federal authorities were quick to point out that, amusing nicknames aside, the Mafia in America today still poses a deadly and persistent threat.
"The notion that today's mob families are more genteel and less violent than in the past is put to lie by the charges contained in the indictments," said Janice Fedarcyk of the FBI's New York field office. "Even more of a myth is the notion that the mob is a thing of the past, that La Cosa Nostra is a shadow of its former self."
Ever since the birth of the American Mafia in the early 1930s, the north-east corridor between New York and Boston has remained the beating heart of the mob enterprise.
Despite a federal crackdown since the 1980s that has weakened the Mafia through mass arrests and stiffer sentences, La Cosa Nostra -- or 'our thing' -- has continued to prosper in the past decade. This is partly due to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 which saw the FBI divert resources and manpower away from the Mafia for the fight against al-Qa'ida and other terrorist threats.
Membership of the mob is still exclusively reserved for those of Italian extraction. Loyal members who meet the approval of their bosses have the opportunity to become 'made men' -- the highest honour that allows captains to shield themselves from direct criminal activity by having their legions of loyal soldiers do all the dirty work.
The lifestyle is fraught, dangerous and at times boring. "They are street people. They live on the street. They work on the street," said Jay Albanese. "They don't get up until late and they hang out at the restaurant all day just thinking of scams to make money."
"There is paranoia. There is distrust," he said. "You have bad guys killing each other because they don't trust each other. They say they have this blood loyalty and yet they turn each other in. It is really a cut-throat sort of an existence."
Just like Mafia bosses of old -- 'Scarface' Al Capone and his successor, Tony Arrcado aka 'Joe Batters' -- today's Mafioso are quick to dole out nicknames, but these aliases serve an important purpose when trying to confuse federal authorities who are inevitably tracking their movements by electronic surveillance.
"The nicknames serve a very utilitarian purpose," Professor Howard Abadinsky of St John's University told the Irish Independent. "It does confuse law enforcement and it does make it -- from a legal point of view -- very hard to specifically identify these individuals for prosecution purposes."
In recent years, federal authorities have boasted that the Mafia's grasp over New York institutions including labour unions, the waterfront, the Fulton fish market and the garment district has waned.
Experts point out that the organisation has been severely weakened through aggressive public prosecutions, a lack of recruitment opportunities and a declining sense of loyalty among the new guard. The FBI has also been successful at recruiting mob turncoats who are brave enough to disregard the Mafia's ancient vow of silence -- the omerta.
"In the old days you might be much more willing to do time for the group," said Prof Albanese. "People are more individual focused and out for their own profit now, and they're just not as willing to sacrifice for their group."
But despite these setbacks, the Mafia's unique ability to infiltrate business in America and to claim a piece of the action remains unrivalled among other organised crime groups, experts say.
Mobsters in New Jersey, New England and Rhode Island continue to profit from the "bread and butter" staples of Mafia enterprises: operating sports bookmakers, strip clubs, loan-sharking, and gambling operations.
Crime families such as the Genovese exert a tight control over New York's ports, using threats and violence to extort money from shippers and obstruct the flow of commerce. They control several key shipping and construction unions, charging kickbacks to unload ships and paying associates for "no show" jobs.
"If you didn't pay, your fish would sit there on the dock and rot," said Albanese. "It wouldn't be moved. If you didn't pay, you would be excluded from the [fish] market."
In a throwback to the kind of extortion and racketeering portrayed in On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, the FBI indictments allege that members of the Genovese even tried to extort Christmastime payments from port workers in New York.
"To be shaking down waterfront workers in the 21st century really seems a throwback to the 1940s or 1950s," said Abadinsky. "You don't make a lot of money by shaking down longshoreman."
And the mob's ability to control key unions has also had a dramatic effect on New York's construction industry and property development.
"People have asked, 'Why does it cost $2m to build a $1m building in New York?'" said Albanese. "Well ... if you were going to pour cement in NYC you had to get union people to do it and you have the mob controlling the unions, so kickbacks had to be paid."
Mafia experts have praised last week's operation but point out that the impact may be short-lived. Exactly two years ago a similar mass arrest of mobsters took place across the northeast but many of them received light prison sentences and soon returned to the streets.
Experts predict that with the top leadership gone, the remaining families will face immediate and perhaps brutal leadership contests. In addition, other organised crime groups -- Russians, Albanians, Asians and Mexicans -- are waiting in the wings, eager to turn a profit on abandoned Mafioso turf.
"For the day to day operations of a crime family, you don't require the boss and the shop management to be there," said Abadinsky. "The people have their assignments and they will carry them out. In the meantime, these people will be replaced."
In time, Vinny Carwash -- and his pals, Meatball, Mush, Hootie and Johnny Bandana -- may well be back on the streets. But if not, there will always be a new crop of eager soldiers to take their places.
"The removal of the current crop of Mafia barons will probably engender a new generation of mobsters," wrote Selwyn Raab in the New York Times. "There have always been, and always will be, ambitious, greedy, wise guys who are willing to risk long prison sentences for the power and riches glittering before them.
"The Mafia is wounded, but not fatally," he said.
Thanks to Caitriona Palmer
An alleged member of the New York City Gambino crime family, Vinny Carwash was just one of 124 suspected Mafia members rounded up across the north-east US in the biggest one-day mob bust in American history.
Now awaiting trial on racketeering charges, Frogiero is incarcerated in Brooklyn with fellow wise guys whose nicknames seem straight out of a Hollywood casting call for The Sopranos: Johnny Bandana, Junior Lollipops, Johnny Pizza, Jack the Whack and Tony Bagels.
In a pre-dawn raid last week, federal agents in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island swooped on the homes of over 100 alleged mobsters and arrested them on charges that include murder, loan sharking, extortion and labour racketeering.
Among those rounded up were leading members of the five Italian-American families affiliated with 'La Cosa Nostra' -- the Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, Bonnano and Lucchese families. Those arrested included family bosses, underbosses, consiglieri, hit men, soldiers and associates.
By far the biggest coup for the Feds was the arrest of 83-year-old Luigi 'Baby Shacks' Manocchio, the former boss of New England's Patriarca crime family and a 60-year-old Mafia veteran.
"It is a reminder that the Mafia is alive and well and that we ignore organised crime at our own peril," Professor Jay Albanese, a criminologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, told the Weekend Review.
The details contained in the FBI indictments read like plots straight from The Godfather or Goodfellas but federal authorities were quick to point out that, amusing nicknames aside, the Mafia in America today still poses a deadly and persistent threat.
"The notion that today's mob families are more genteel and less violent than in the past is put to lie by the charges contained in the indictments," said Janice Fedarcyk of the FBI's New York field office. "Even more of a myth is the notion that the mob is a thing of the past, that La Cosa Nostra is a shadow of its former self."
Ever since the birth of the American Mafia in the early 1930s, the north-east corridor between New York and Boston has remained the beating heart of the mob enterprise.
Despite a federal crackdown since the 1980s that has weakened the Mafia through mass arrests and stiffer sentences, La Cosa Nostra -- or 'our thing' -- has continued to prosper in the past decade. This is partly due to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 which saw the FBI divert resources and manpower away from the Mafia for the fight against al-Qa'ida and other terrorist threats.
Membership of the mob is still exclusively reserved for those of Italian extraction. Loyal members who meet the approval of their bosses have the opportunity to become 'made men' -- the highest honour that allows captains to shield themselves from direct criminal activity by having their legions of loyal soldiers do all the dirty work.
The lifestyle is fraught, dangerous and at times boring. "They are street people. They live on the street. They work on the street," said Jay Albanese. "They don't get up until late and they hang out at the restaurant all day just thinking of scams to make money."
"There is paranoia. There is distrust," he said. "You have bad guys killing each other because they don't trust each other. They say they have this blood loyalty and yet they turn each other in. It is really a cut-throat sort of an existence."
Just like Mafia bosses of old -- 'Scarface' Al Capone and his successor, Tony Arrcado aka 'Joe Batters' -- today's Mafioso are quick to dole out nicknames, but these aliases serve an important purpose when trying to confuse federal authorities who are inevitably tracking their movements by electronic surveillance.
"The nicknames serve a very utilitarian purpose," Professor Howard Abadinsky of St John's University told the Irish Independent. "It does confuse law enforcement and it does make it -- from a legal point of view -- very hard to specifically identify these individuals for prosecution purposes."
In recent years, federal authorities have boasted that the Mafia's grasp over New York institutions including labour unions, the waterfront, the Fulton fish market and the garment district has waned.
Experts point out that the organisation has been severely weakened through aggressive public prosecutions, a lack of recruitment opportunities and a declining sense of loyalty among the new guard. The FBI has also been successful at recruiting mob turncoats who are brave enough to disregard the Mafia's ancient vow of silence -- the omerta.
"In the old days you might be much more willing to do time for the group," said Prof Albanese. "People are more individual focused and out for their own profit now, and they're just not as willing to sacrifice for their group."
But despite these setbacks, the Mafia's unique ability to infiltrate business in America and to claim a piece of the action remains unrivalled among other organised crime groups, experts say.
Mobsters in New Jersey, New England and Rhode Island continue to profit from the "bread and butter" staples of Mafia enterprises: operating sports bookmakers, strip clubs, loan-sharking, and gambling operations.
Crime families such as the Genovese exert a tight control over New York's ports, using threats and violence to extort money from shippers and obstruct the flow of commerce. They control several key shipping and construction unions, charging kickbacks to unload ships and paying associates for "no show" jobs.
"If you didn't pay, your fish would sit there on the dock and rot," said Albanese. "It wouldn't be moved. If you didn't pay, you would be excluded from the [fish] market."
In a throwback to the kind of extortion and racketeering portrayed in On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, the FBI indictments allege that members of the Genovese even tried to extort Christmastime payments from port workers in New York.
"To be shaking down waterfront workers in the 21st century really seems a throwback to the 1940s or 1950s," said Abadinsky. "You don't make a lot of money by shaking down longshoreman."
And the mob's ability to control key unions has also had a dramatic effect on New York's construction industry and property development.
"People have asked, 'Why does it cost $2m to build a $1m building in New York?'" said Albanese. "Well ... if you were going to pour cement in NYC you had to get union people to do it and you have the mob controlling the unions, so kickbacks had to be paid."
Mafia experts have praised last week's operation but point out that the impact may be short-lived. Exactly two years ago a similar mass arrest of mobsters took place across the northeast but many of them received light prison sentences and soon returned to the streets.
Experts predict that with the top leadership gone, the remaining families will face immediate and perhaps brutal leadership contests. In addition, other organised crime groups -- Russians, Albanians, Asians and Mexicans -- are waiting in the wings, eager to turn a profit on abandoned Mafioso turf.
"For the day to day operations of a crime family, you don't require the boss and the shop management to be there," said Abadinsky. "The people have their assignments and they will carry them out. In the meantime, these people will be replaced."
In time, Vinny Carwash -- and his pals, Meatball, Mush, Hootie and Johnny Bandana -- may well be back on the streets. But if not, there will always be a new crop of eager soldiers to take their places.
"The removal of the current crop of Mafia barons will probably engender a new generation of mobsters," wrote Selwyn Raab in the New York Times. "There have always been, and always will be, ambitious, greedy, wise guys who are willing to risk long prison sentences for the power and riches glittering before them.
"The Mafia is wounded, but not fatally," he said.
Thanks to Caitriona Palmer
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Mob Month Panel & Book Signing: From Medellin to the Mob: Meet Ronin of the Underworld Kenny “Kenji” Gallo
Mob Month: From Medellin to the Mob: Meet Ronin of the Underworld Kenny “Kenji” Gallo
1/31/2012 • 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Clark County Library
Room: Main Theater
Our final event features a panel discussion with Breakshot author Kenny “Kenji” Gallo about his life growing up as a mixed-race teenage dealer/distributor for South American drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, becoming a leading porn director/producer in California, partnering with West & East Coast mob families, and switching sides to become one of the most successful and notorious undercover operatives for the FBI. Joining the panel are Kenji’s former crime associate-turned-lawyer Ramon and Kenji’s ex-wife and adult film superstar Tabitha Stevens. Moderated by national TV crime commentator/author
Vito Colucci.
Book sales/signing will be available at each event. All seating will be on a first come, first served basis. Entry wristbands will be issued starting at 6 p.m. from the Theater box office on day of event only. For more information about any of our Mob Month events, please call 702-507-3458.
1/31/2012 • 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Clark County Library
Room: Main Theater
Our final event features a panel discussion with Breakshot author Kenny “Kenji” Gallo about his life growing up as a mixed-race teenage dealer/distributor for South American drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, becoming a leading porn director/producer in California, partnering with West & East Coast mob families, and switching sides to become one of the most successful and notorious undercover operatives for the FBI. Joining the panel are Kenji’s former crime associate-turned-lawyer Ramon and Kenji’s ex-wife and adult film superstar Tabitha Stevens. Moderated by national TV crime commentator/author
Vito Colucci.
Book sales/signing will be available at each event. All seating will be on a first come, first served basis. Entry wristbands will be issued starting at 6 p.m. from the Theater box office on day of event only. For more information about any of our Mob Month events, please call 702-507-3458.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
John Travolta to Play John Gotti?
It's awesome casting ... John Travolta playing John Gotti in a new movie.
Travolta was at Amici restaurant (Italian, of course) in Brentwood last night, where he was coy about taking the role. But Marty Ingels -- the Executive Producer of the movie who dined with John -- was more direct, saying Travolta will play the lead role in the movie, titled "Gotti."
Sources tell us Travolta has not signed on the dotted line yet.
We're also told James Franco has been approached to play John Gotti, Jr. Awesome.
Our sources say Nick Cassavetes -- of "Alpha Dog" and "Notebook" fame -- is currently rewriting the script and will be the director.
Marc Fiore -- who purchased the rights to Gotti's story back in September -- was also at the last night's meeting and is Executive Producer on the film.
Thanks to TMZ
Travolta was at Amici restaurant (Italian, of course) in Brentwood last night, where he was coy about taking the role. But Marty Ingels -- the Executive Producer of the movie who dined with John -- was more direct, saying Travolta will play the lead role in the movie, titled "Gotti."
Sources tell us Travolta has not signed on the dotted line yet.
We're also told James Franco has been approached to play John Gotti, Jr. Awesome.
Our sources say Nick Cassavetes -- of "Alpha Dog" and "Notebook" fame -- is currently rewriting the script and will be the director.
Marc Fiore -- who purchased the rights to Gotti's story back in September -- was also at the last night's meeting and is Executive Producer on the film.
Thanks to TMZ
Convicted Reputed Mob Boss Won $250,000 Worker's Comp Claim
An alleged Illinois mob boss convicted of racketeering once filed a worker's compensation claim and was awarded $250,000, testimony in his trial revealed.
Prosecutors say reputed Cicero mob boss Michael Sarno, 52, while running his criminal operations, presented himself in the claim as a trade show carpenter injured while working at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center, Chicago's SouthtownStar newspaper reported Tuesday.
The injury claim was mentioned in Sarno's December trial where he was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and faces 25 years in prison.
"He was certainly mobile enough to threaten people and conduct his mob-related business with considerable vigor," former federal prosecutor T. Markus Funk, who investigated Sarno, said.
"While having two jobs is, of course, not unheard of, it would not be unfair to raise a skeptic's eyebrow about a claim that Sarno, on the one hand, worked as a brutal mob boss running a multifaceted criminal enterprise, and at the same time punched his union carpenter ticket, banging in nails and whittling wood," Funk said.
"Not to be uncharitable, but that, frankly, is a level of multi-tasking few on the street would -- for a variety of reasons -- credit him with possessing."
Thanks to UPI
Prosecutors say reputed Cicero mob boss Michael Sarno, 52, while running his criminal operations, presented himself in the claim as a trade show carpenter injured while working at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center, Chicago's SouthtownStar newspaper reported Tuesday.
The injury claim was mentioned in Sarno's December trial where he was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and faces 25 years in prison.
"He was certainly mobile enough to threaten people and conduct his mob-related business with considerable vigor," former federal prosecutor T. Markus Funk, who investigated Sarno, said.
"While having two jobs is, of course, not unheard of, it would not be unfair to raise a skeptic's eyebrow about a claim that Sarno, on the one hand, worked as a brutal mob boss running a multifaceted criminal enterprise, and at the same time punched his union carpenter ticket, banging in nails and whittling wood," Funk said.
"Not to be uncharitable, but that, frankly, is a level of multi-tasking few on the street would -- for a variety of reasons -- credit him with possessing."
Thanks to UPI
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Former Chicago Police Officer Jon Burge Sentenced for Lying about Police Torture
The Justice Department announced last week that former Chicago Police Department Commander Jon Burge, 63, of Apollo Beach, Fla., was sentenced to 54 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for lying in a deposition in a civil case about torture and abuse of suspects by Chicago Police Department officers. Burge’s sentence was an upward departure from the recommended Guidelines’ sentence.
Burge was convicted last June of two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury stemming from false answers he gave in a civil case in 2003. In those answers, Burge denied ever using, or being aware of other officers using, any type of improper coercion, physical abuse or torture with suspects who were in custody at Chicago Police Department’s Area Two. However, evidence at trial showed that Burge abused multiple victims in Area Two, suffocating them with plastic bags; shocking them with electrical devices; and placing a loaded gun to their heads.
In a 23-year career with the Chicago Police Department, Burge rose through the ranks to commander before being fired in 1993 over allegations of abuse. Special prosecutors were appointed in 2002 to investigate claims of abuse by Burge and others. A four-year investigation concluded that the abuse was outside the statute of limitations. It was a pending civil suit that was the basis for the federal charges in this case.
“Burge abused his power and betrayed the public trust by abusing suspects in his custody, and then by lying under oath to cover up what he and other officers had done,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The department will aggressively prosecute any officer who violates the Constitution.”
“Today, we put to rest the decades of denials that torture of suspects in police custody occurred,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “This sentence delivers a measure of justice, which Burge obstructed for so long.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Weisman and April Perry from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and Trial Attorney Betsy Biffl from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Burge was convicted last June of two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury stemming from false answers he gave in a civil case in 2003. In those answers, Burge denied ever using, or being aware of other officers using, any type of improper coercion, physical abuse or torture with suspects who were in custody at Chicago Police Department’s Area Two. However, evidence at trial showed that Burge abused multiple victims in Area Two, suffocating them with plastic bags; shocking them with electrical devices; and placing a loaded gun to their heads.
In a 23-year career with the Chicago Police Department, Burge rose through the ranks to commander before being fired in 1993 over allegations of abuse. Special prosecutors were appointed in 2002 to investigate claims of abuse by Burge and others. A four-year investigation concluded that the abuse was outside the statute of limitations. It was a pending civil suit that was the basis for the federal charges in this case.
“Burge abused his power and betrayed the public trust by abusing suspects in his custody, and then by lying under oath to cover up what he and other officers had done,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The department will aggressively prosecute any officer who violates the Constitution.”
“Today, we put to rest the decades of denials that torture of suspects in police custody occurred,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “This sentence delivers a measure of justice, which Burge obstructed for so long.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Weisman and April Perry from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and Trial Attorney Betsy Biffl from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Largest Coordinated Mafia Arrest Takedown in FBI History
Early on morning of January 20th, FBI agents and partner law enforcement officers began arresting nearly 130 members of the Mafia in New York City and other East Coast cities charged in the largest nationally coordinated organized crime takedown in the Bureau’s history.
Members of New York’s infamous Five Families—the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Luchese crime organizations—were rounded up along with members of the New Jersery-based DeCavalcante family and New England Mafia to face charges including murder, drug trafficking, arson, loan sharking, illegal gambling, witness tampering, labor racketeering, and extortion. In one case involving the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) at the Ports of New York and New Jersey, the alleged extortion has been going on for years.
More than 30 of the subjects indicted were “made” members of the Mafia, including several high-ranking family members. The arrests, predominantly in New York, are expected to seriously disrupt some of the crime families’ operations.
"The notion that today's mob families are more genteel and less violent than in the past is put to lie by the charges contained in the indictments unsealed today,” said Janice Fedarcyk, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York Field Office. “Even more of a myth is the notion that the mob is a thing of the past; that La Cosa Nostra is a shadow of its former self.”
The Mafia—also known as La Cosa Nostra (LCN)—may have taken on a diminished criminal role in some areas of the country, but in New York, the Five Families are still “extremely strong and viable,” said Dave Shafer, an assistant special agent in charge who supervises FBI organized crime investigations in New York.
The operation began before dawn. Some 500 FBI personnel—along with about 200 local, state, and other federal law enforcement officers—took part, including key agencies such as the New York Police Department and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. By 11 a.m., more than 110 of the 127 subjects charged had been taken into custody.
The idea for a nationally coordinated LCN takedown originated at the Department of Justice last summer, said Shafer, a veteran organized crime investigator. “We have done big LCN takedowns before, but never one this big.”
Among those charged:
The LCN operates in many U.S. cities and routinely engages in threats and violence to extort victims, eliminate rivals, and obstruct justice. In the union case involving the ILA, court documents allege that the Genovese family has engaged in a multi-decade conspiracy to influence and control the unions and businesses on the New York-area piers.
“If there’s money to be made,” said Diego Rodriguez, special agent in charge of the FBI’s New York criminal division, “LCN will do it.” He noted that today’s Mafia has adapted to the times. “They are still involved in gambling and loan sharking, for example, but in the old days the local shoemaker took the betting slips. Now it’s offshore online gambling and money laundering. If you investigate LCN in New York,” Rodriguez added, “it’s a target-rich environment.”
Members of New York’s infamous Five Families—the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Luchese crime organizations—were rounded up along with members of the New Jersery-based DeCavalcante family and New England Mafia to face charges including murder, drug trafficking, arson, loan sharking, illegal gambling, witness tampering, labor racketeering, and extortion. In one case involving the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) at the Ports of New York and New Jersey, the alleged extortion has been going on for years.
More than 30 of the subjects indicted were “made” members of the Mafia, including several high-ranking family members. The arrests, predominantly in New York, are expected to seriously disrupt some of the crime families’ operations.
"The notion that today's mob families are more genteel and less violent than in the past is put to lie by the charges contained in the indictments unsealed today,” said Janice Fedarcyk, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York Field Office. “Even more of a myth is the notion that the mob is a thing of the past; that La Cosa Nostra is a shadow of its former self.”
The Mafia—also known as La Cosa Nostra (LCN)—may have taken on a diminished criminal role in some areas of the country, but in New York, the Five Families are still “extremely strong and viable,” said Dave Shafer, an assistant special agent in charge who supervises FBI organized crime investigations in New York.
The operation began before dawn. Some 500 FBI personnel—along with about 200 local, state, and other federal law enforcement officers—took part, including key agencies such as the New York Police Department and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. By 11 a.m., more than 110 of the 127 subjects charged had been taken into custody.
The idea for a nationally coordinated LCN takedown originated at the Department of Justice last summer, said Shafer, a veteran organized crime investigator. “We have done big LCN takedowns before, but never one this big.”
Among those charged:
- Luigi Manocchio, 83, the former boss of the New England LCN;
- Andrew Russo, 76, street boss of the Colombo family;
- Benjamin Castellazzo, 73, acting underboss of the Colombo family;
- Richard Fusco, 74, consigliere of the Colombo family;
- Joseph Corozzo, 69, consigliere of the Gambino family; and
- Bartolomeo Vernace, 61, a member of the Gambino family administration.
The LCN operates in many U.S. cities and routinely engages in threats and violence to extort victims, eliminate rivals, and obstruct justice. In the union case involving the ILA, court documents allege that the Genovese family has engaged in a multi-decade conspiracy to influence and control the unions and businesses on the New York-area piers.
“If there’s money to be made,” said Diego Rodriguez, special agent in charge of the FBI’s New York criminal division, “LCN will do it.” He noted that today’s Mafia has adapted to the times. “They are still involved in gambling and loan sharking, for example, but in the old days the local shoemaker took the betting slips. Now it’s offshore online gambling and money laundering. If you investigate LCN in New York,” Rodriguez added, “it’s a target-rich environment.”
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Historic Mafia Crackdown Today
Federal authorities orchestrated one of the biggest Mafia takedowns in FBI history Thursday, charging 127 suspected mobsters and associates in the Northeast with murders, extortion and other crimes spanning decades.
Past investigations have resulted in strategic strikes aimed at crippling individual crime families. This time, authorities used a shotgun approach, with some 800 federal agents and police officers making scores of simultaneous arrests stemming from different mob investigations in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
They also used fanfare: Attorney General Eric Holder made a trip to New York to announce the operation at a news conference with the city's top law enforcement officials.
Holder called the arrests "an important and encouraging step forward in disrupting La Cosa Nostra's operations." But he and others also cautioned that the mob, while having lost some of the swagger of the John Gotti era, is known for adapting to adversity and finding new ways of making money and spreading violence.
"Members and associates of La Cosa Nostra are among the most dangerous criminals in our country," Holder said. "The very oath of allegiance sworn by these Mafia members during their initiation ceremony binds them to a life of crime."
In the past, the FBI has aggressively pursued and imprisoned the leadership of the city's five Italian mob families, only to see ambitious underlings fill the vacancies, said Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI's New York office. "We deal in reality, and the reality is that the mob, like nature, abhors a vacuum," she said.
However, the FBI has gained a recent advantage by cultivating a crop of mob figures willing to wear wires and testify against gangsters in exchange for leniency in their own cases. "The vow of silence that is part of the oath of omerta is more myth than reality today," she said.
In the latest cases, authorities say turncoats recorded thousands of conversations of suspected mobsters. Investigators also tapped their phones.
In sheer numbers, the takedown eclipsed those from a highly publicized assault on the Gambino Crime Family in 2008, when authorities rounded up 62 suspects. All but one of the arrests resulted in guilty pleas.
Among those arrested Thursday were union officials, two former police officers and a suspect in Italy. High-ranking members of the Gambino and Colombo crime families and the reputed former boss of organized crime in New England also were named in 16 federal indictments unsealed Thursday.
The indictments listed colorful nicknames — Bobby Glasses, Vinny Carwash, Jack the Whack, Johnny Cash, Junior Lollipops — and catalogued murders, extortion, arson and other crimes dating back 30 years.
One of the indictments charges a reputed Gambino boss, Bartolomeo Vernace, in a double murder in the Shamrock Bar in Queens in a dispute over a spilled drink. Another charges an alleged Colombo captain, Anthony Russo, in the 1993 hit on an underboss during the family's bloody civil war.
Luigi Manocchio, 83, the reputed former head of New England's Patriarca crime family, was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He has long denied having mob ties. An indictment accuses him of collecting protection payments from strip-club owners. lso arrested was Thomas Iafrate, who worked as a bookkeeper for strip clubs and set aside money for Manocchio, prosecutors said. Iafrate pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court in Providence, R.I.
Other charges include corruption among dockworkers in New York and New Jersey who were forced to kick back a portion of their holiday bonuses to the crime families. Members of the Colombo family also were charged with extortion and fraud in connection with their control of a cement and concrete workers union.
Most of the defendant were awaiting arraignment on Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn. If convicted, they face a wide range of maximum sentences, including life in prison.
Thanks to Tom Hays
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