Former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo used "extortion and strong-arm tactics" to get local institutions—including bars and restaurants, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church, Navistar and Kiddieland amusement park—to use guards from his security firm for protection, a federal prosecutor charged Tuesday. But an attorney for Scavo defended his client's law enforcement record.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen Andersson told a federal jury in his opening arguments in Scavo's racketeering and extortion trial that Scavo ran his private security firm out of the Melrose Park police station. He often used on-duty village police officers who were paid twice, once by the village and once by the client, for their service, Andersson said.
"You don't say no to the police chief," Andersson said.
Andersson asserted that a waste disposal company that was paying another security firm $17 an hour for a security guard was pressured into paying $45 per guard from Scavo's firm.
Andersson said that Scavo used the ill-gotten gain to buy a Florida condominium, lease a $60,000 Cadillac Escalade and pay for an $11,000 big-screen television.
Thomas Breen, Scavo's defense attorney, countered in his opening argument by saying that "police officers aren't terribly well paid, and many have side jobs."
"Melrose Park—Vito Scavo—extortion, sounds scary," Breen said. "But Scavo is a copper's cop and a darn good cop for 30 years."
Breen compared the Melrose Park Police Department to a social club and likened the village to television's fictional small town of Mayberry.
Scavo is on trial with former Deputy Police Chief Gary Montino, 52, and a part-time officer, Michael Wynn, 55, who the government claims assisted Scavo in the fraudulent scheme. The trial, presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Joan Gottschall, is expected to last a month.
Scavo, police chief from 1996 to 2006, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, extortion, obstruction of justice, mail and wire fraud and filing false personal and corporate federal income tax returns. Montino is charged with racketeering and mail fraud, and Wynn is charged with mail fraud.
Thanks to Art Barnum
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Secret Prison Video Highlights Testimony at Mob Leak Trial
Secretly-recorded video of two Chicago Outfit members discussing mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese's cooperation with federal investigators highlighted the first testimony in the trial of Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose in local federal court today.
Grainy footage of James and Michael Marcello, taken from the waiting room of a Michigan federal prison in 2003, showed the brothers using code words, subtle gestures and whispers to discuss what information Calabrese was sharing on dozens of mob murders in the Chicago area.
"He admitted to being involved in 19 of them things," Michael Marcello told his brother in one recording, referring to Calabrese and the number of mob murders he had disclosed to authorities.
FBI Special Agent Michael Maseth said such discussions were the first clue to authorities of a significant leak about Calabrese's cooperation with investigators. "We were shocked," said Maseth, describing the response of agents when they heard specific information about Calabrese's disclosures being discussed by the Marcellos.
Prosecutors say Ambrose, who protected Calabrese during two visits to Chicago in 2002 and 2003 as part of his witness security detail, was the original source of the "highly sensitive" information that eventually made its way to the Marcellos.
Video recordings were also played of the Marcellos, seated side-by-side in a waiting room with their heads almost touching, discussing that the leak's source was the son of a figure arrested in the Marquette 10 police corruption trial in the 1980's. Ambrose's father, Thomas, was convicted on felony bribery charges in 1982.
Earlier, Maseth gave the jury a crash course in the Chicago Outfit, describing the structure of the organization and defining what made particular figures "made members." Maseth also described Calabrese as "the most important organized-crime witness that has ever testified in this district and perhaps in the United States."
Assistant U.S. Atty. Diane MacArthur asked Maseth what consequences Calabrese could face if his cooperation was discovered by members of the Outfit. "The level of risk was the ultimate level of risk. He could be killed," Maseth said.
Thanks to Robert Mitchum
Grainy footage of James and Michael Marcello, taken from the waiting room of a Michigan federal prison in 2003, showed the brothers using code words, subtle gestures and whispers to discuss what information Calabrese was sharing on dozens of mob murders in the Chicago area.
"He admitted to being involved in 19 of them things," Michael Marcello told his brother in one recording, referring to Calabrese and the number of mob murders he had disclosed to authorities.
FBI Special Agent Michael Maseth said such discussions were the first clue to authorities of a significant leak about Calabrese's cooperation with investigators. "We were shocked," said Maseth, describing the response of agents when they heard specific information about Calabrese's disclosures being discussed by the Marcellos.
Prosecutors say Ambrose, who protected Calabrese during two visits to Chicago in 2002 and 2003 as part of his witness security detail, was the original source of the "highly sensitive" information that eventually made its way to the Marcellos.
Video recordings were also played of the Marcellos, seated side-by-side in a waiting room with their heads almost touching, discussing that the leak's source was the son of a figure arrested in the Marquette 10 police corruption trial in the 1980's. Ambrose's father, Thomas, was convicted on felony bribery charges in 1982.
Earlier, Maseth gave the jury a crash course in the Chicago Outfit, describing the structure of the organization and defining what made particular figures "made members." Maseth also described Calabrese as "the most important organized-crime witness that has ever testified in this district and perhaps in the United States."
Assistant U.S. Atty. Diane MacArthur asked Maseth what consequences Calabrese could face if his cooperation was discovered by members of the Outfit. "The level of risk was the ultimate level of risk. He could be killed," Maseth said.
Thanks to Robert Mitchum
Chicago Mob History 101 from the FBI
An FBI agent gave jurors a lesson in the history of the Chicago mob during the trial of a former deputy U.S. Marshal accused of blabbing secrets to alleged mobsters.
Special agent Michael Maseth was the first witness in the trial of John Ambrose, 42.
Ambrose is accused of leaking information about Nicholas Calabrese, the government's star witness at the Family Secrets trial that targeted top members of the Chicago mob. He's denied the allegations.
Maseth's testimony Tuesday underscored how Calabrese put his life at risk by cooperating with the government and how significant his information was.
Maseth called Calabrese the most important organized crime figure to ever testify in the district and "perhaps the entire United States."
Thanks to CBS2Chicago
Special agent Michael Maseth was the first witness in the trial of John Ambrose, 42.
Ambrose is accused of leaking information about Nicholas Calabrese, the government's star witness at the Family Secrets trial that targeted top members of the Chicago mob. He's denied the allegations.
Maseth's testimony Tuesday underscored how Calabrese put his life at risk by cooperating with the government and how significant his information was.
Maseth called Calabrese the most important organized crime figure to ever testify in the district and "perhaps the entire United States."
Thanks to CBS2Chicago
Monday, April 13, 2009
CHICAGO GANG FUGITIVE SOUGHT
Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is asking for the public’s help in locating a suspected Chicago gang member, who is wanted for violation of Federal drug laws.
GEORGE BROWN, age 26, whose last known address was 2100 South Kildare in Chicago, has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt coordinated by the Chicago FBI since December of 2008, when he was charged by a Federal Grand Jury in Chicago with distributing both wholesale and personal user quantities of crack cocaine.
According to the indictment, BROWN was part of a drug-trafficking organization centered on the west side of Chicago, which distributed illicit drugs on behalf of the Conservative Vice Lords street gang. The operation was centered in the vicinity of 18th Street and Pulaski Road, an area known as the “Spot”. BROWN was one of fourteen suspected gang members and associates charged in connection with this investigation and is one of only two defendants in the case who is still at-large.
BROWN, who is also known as “GB”, is described as a black/male, 26 years of age, 6’ 2” tall, medium build, with black hair, brown eyes and was last known to be wearing a full beard. BROWN has an extensive criminal history, including firearms and weapons charges. As such, BROWN should be considered Armed and Dangerous.
Anyone recognizing BROWN or having any information about his current whereabouts is asked to call either the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700 or any law enforcement agency.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
GEORGE BROWN, age 26, whose last known address was 2100 South Kildare in Chicago, has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt coordinated by the Chicago FBI since December of 2008, when he was charged by a Federal Grand Jury in Chicago with distributing both wholesale and personal user quantities of crack cocaine.
According to the indictment, BROWN was part of a drug-trafficking organization centered on the west side of Chicago, which distributed illicit drugs on behalf of the Conservative Vice Lords street gang. The operation was centered in the vicinity of 18th Street and Pulaski Road, an area known as the “Spot”. BROWN was one of fourteen suspected gang members and associates charged in connection with this investigation and is one of only two defendants in the case who is still at-large.
BROWN, who is also known as “GB”, is described as a black/male, 26 years of age, 6’ 2” tall, medium build, with black hair, brown eyes and was last known to be wearing a full beard. BROWN has an extensive criminal history, including firearms and weapons charges. As such, BROWN should be considered Armed and Dangerous.
Anyone recognizing BROWN or having any information about his current whereabouts is asked to call either the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700 or any law enforcement agency.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Mafia Turf War Breaks Out in Brooklyn
There's a new Mafia turf war in Brooklyn - but this time, it's the prosecutors who are doing battle.
Michael Vecchione
, the rackets bureau chief in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, has rankled the feds by claiming in a new book that they swiped the celebrated Mafia cops case and then hogged all the glory.
Vecchione complains in "Friends of the Family: The Inside Story of the Mafia Cops Case" that federal prosecutors claimed most of the credit for nailing crooked NYPD Detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa.
While turf battles between local and federal law enforcement agencies are common, Vecchione's stinging criticism is unusual because he still works for the district attorney and is supposed to cooperate with the feds on ongoing cases.
"I don't see how anybody can deal with him after he's violated the sanctity of confidential conversations for mercenary reasons," a federal law enforcement source said.
The feds agreed to let Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes' office announce arrests and prosecute one of the murders linked to the Mafia cops, the book claims. But they went back on their word, according to the book, which Vecchione wrote with retired NYPD Detective Thomas Dades and author David Fisher.
"For them to tell us that they didn't say exactly what they said to me was such an act of cowardice and betrayal that I couldn't find words to explain it," Vecchione said.
Eppolito, 60, and Caracappa, 67, were convicted in 2006 of participating in eight murders for Luchese crime boss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso and leaking confidential information to the gangster.
Casso revealed in 1994 the cops had been on his payroll for years. But the feds couldn't make a case against the rogue detectives until a decade later when Dades and the district attorney's office helped expose their involvement in the murder of a mob associate.
Vecchione unleashed his harshest attack on Greg Andres, the current criminal division chief of the U.S. attorney's office.
"As far as Vecchione was concerned, Andres was a typically arrogant poker-up-his-ass, know-it-all fed," the book states. "His animosity toward Andres went back to a wiseguy case ... in which Andres [credited] the FBI for work it hadn't done."
Hynes, who approved Vecchione's book deal, insisted there's no feud. "Our working relationships with the U.S. attorney's office are excellent and any bump in the road that might have occurred was just that. There are no problems between us and I don't expect any," Hynes said.
Andres and U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell declined comment. But former top federal prosecutors panned the book.
"Public confidence in the integrity of the Brooklyn DA's office is only eroded when a rackets bureau chief writes and shops a book about a murder case he is investigating and preparng for trial," said George Stamboulidis, managing partner of the law firm Baker Hostetler.
Thomas Seigel, the former chief of the U.S. attorney's organized crime section - who was not involved in the Mafia cops case - said: "The incredibly dedicated members of state and federal law enforcement typically and laudably refrain from criticizing their colleagues in the press, let alone a book, over internal squabbles. It is hard to see how law enforcement as a whole benefits from such personal and public criticism."
Vecchione and Dades wrote the book three years ago but held off its publication until the defendants had exhausted their appeals.
The 2006 jury verdict was thrown out by Judge Jack Weinstein on a legal technicality but reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The cops were recently sentenced to life in prison.
Thanks to John Marzulli
Michael Vecchione
, the rackets bureau chief in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, has rankled the feds by claiming in a new book that they swiped the celebrated Mafia cops case and then hogged all the glory.Vecchione complains in "Friends of the Family: The Inside Story of the Mafia Cops Case" that federal prosecutors claimed most of the credit for nailing crooked NYPD Detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa.
While turf battles between local and federal law enforcement agencies are common, Vecchione's stinging criticism is unusual because he still works for the district attorney and is supposed to cooperate with the feds on ongoing cases.
"I don't see how anybody can deal with him after he's violated the sanctity of confidential conversations for mercenary reasons," a federal law enforcement source said.
The feds agreed to let Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes' office announce arrests and prosecute one of the murders linked to the Mafia cops, the book claims. But they went back on their word, according to the book, which Vecchione wrote with retired NYPD Detective Thomas Dades and author David Fisher.
"For them to tell us that they didn't say exactly what they said to me was such an act of cowardice and betrayal that I couldn't find words to explain it," Vecchione said.
Eppolito, 60, and Caracappa, 67, were convicted in 2006 of participating in eight murders for Luchese crime boss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso and leaking confidential information to the gangster.
Casso revealed in 1994 the cops had been on his payroll for years. But the feds couldn't make a case against the rogue detectives until a decade later when Dades and the district attorney's office helped expose their involvement in the murder of a mob associate.
Vecchione unleashed his harshest attack on Greg Andres, the current criminal division chief of the U.S. attorney's office.
"As far as Vecchione was concerned, Andres was a typically arrogant poker-up-his-ass, know-it-all fed," the book states. "His animosity toward Andres went back to a wiseguy case ... in which Andres [credited] the FBI for work it hadn't done."
Hynes, who approved Vecchione's book deal, insisted there's no feud. "Our working relationships with the U.S. attorney's office are excellent and any bump in the road that might have occurred was just that. There are no problems between us and I don't expect any," Hynes said.
Andres and U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell declined comment. But former top federal prosecutors panned the book.
"Public confidence in the integrity of the Brooklyn DA's office is only eroded when a rackets bureau chief writes and shops a book about a murder case he is investigating and preparng for trial," said George Stamboulidis, managing partner of the law firm Baker Hostetler.
Thomas Seigel, the former chief of the U.S. attorney's organized crime section - who was not involved in the Mafia cops case - said: "The incredibly dedicated members of state and federal law enforcement typically and laudably refrain from criticizing their colleagues in the press, let alone a book, over internal squabbles. It is hard to see how law enforcement as a whole benefits from such personal and public criticism."
Vecchione and Dades wrote the book three years ago but held off its publication until the defendants had exhausted their appeals.
The 2006 jury verdict was thrown out by Judge Jack Weinstein on a legal technicality but reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The cops were recently sentenced to life in prison.
Thanks to John Marzulli
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