World's First Al Capone Birthday Bash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks to Jeff Danna

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Junior Gotti Will Avoid 5th Racketeering Trial

Junior Gotti can stop looking over his shoulder, for the time being. Federal prosecutors decided today that they will not retry the alleged mafia Don on racketeering charges.

If they had pursued prosecution, it would be the fifth time the government went after "Junior."

"In light of the circumstances, the Government has decided not to proceed with the prosecution against John A. Gotti," said Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement.

After his fourth trial ended in a mistrial last month, law-enforcement sources had speculated that the feds would finally quit because the jury pool had been tainted.

"Obviously we're thrilled," said Gotti's defense lawyer Charles Carnesi. "He wants to savor the moment with his family. I'm very pleased, I think they acted appropriately."

Gotti has been free on $2 million bail since a jury deadlocked on Dec. 1 after deliberating for 11 days.

Seth Ginsberg, another one of his lawyers, called it the "right decision."

"I hope that they stick to it this time and let John and his family be at peace," Ginsberg added.

Three trials in 2005 and 2006 also had ended in hung juries, after the government presented evidence accusing Gotti of ordering a kidnapping and attempted murder plot against Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

In the latest trial, prosecutors for the first time attempted to tie Gotti to multiple murders, in addition to the claims about Sliwa.

The repeated hung juries left some comparing Gotti to his father, the late John "Dapper Don" Gotti. The elder Gotti was convicted of racketeering in 1991. He was sentenced to life in prison and died in prison in 2002.

Family members claim "Junior" Gotti has been a government target simply because of his last name. The 45-year-old mobster, born on Valentine's Day in Queens, led the Gambino crime family for much of the 1990s while his father was in prison.

Gotti wants his six children to have something he didn't have while he was growing up – a present father. His dad had already spent nine years behind bars by the time he was 13.

Thanks to Hasani Gittens

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Al Capone Era Murder Mystery To Be Examined by Chicago's Cold Case Unit

The City Council’s resident historian cracked open the history books for another re-write Tuesday, this time involving some of Chicago’s most notorious characters: mob boss Al Capone; Prohibition Agent Eliot Ness and Edward J. O’Hare, father of the city’s most famous war hero.

Thirteen years after absolving Mrs. O’Leary’s cow of responsibility for the Great Chicago Fire, Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) wants to set the record straight about the role O’Hare played in Capone’s conviction — and possibly shed new light on O’Hare’s gangland-style 1939 murder.

At Burke’s behest, the deputy chief of detectives in charge of the Chicago Police Department’s Cold Case Squad agreed to take a fresh look at the 70-year-old murder case, with help from a soon-to-be-released book about Capone that just might provide a few clues.

Asked how much time he expects police to spend on the case, Burke replied, “Very little.” The alderman said he’s more concerned about setting the record straight about the role played by Edward J. O’Hare, Capone’s business partner-turned-federal informant.

“O’Hare was the linchpin in the criminal investigation that led to the conviction of Capone. But for his cooperation, Capone may never have been brought to justice,” Burke told the Police Committee. “If nothing else, O’Hare’s reputation ought to be rehabilitated and the truth ought to be known. ... It was not ‘The Untouchables.’ It was not the role played by Kevin Costner ... that led to the conviction of Al Capone, the most notorious criminal of American history. ... It’s a fiction of Hollywood.”

The story of Edward “Butch” O’Hare, is well-known. He was the World War II fighter pilot who shot down five Japanese bombers, saved the U.S.S. Lexington and was ultimately rewarded by having his name attached to the airport once known as Orchard Field.

Lesser known is the fact that the war hero’s father, Edward J. O’Hare, was a gambler and owner of the Hawthorne Kennel Club racetrack in Cicero who partnered with Capone only to turn on the Chicago mob boss.

The elder O’Hare helped crack Capone’s bookkeeping codes, leading to the mobster’s conviction on tax evasion charges.

On Nov. 8, 1939, the 46-year-old O’Hare was driving his new Lincoln Zephyr near Ogden and Rockwell when he was gunned down by three men wielding shotguns.

The car carrying the gunmen was reportedly traced to a Cicero nightclub owned by Ralph Capone, Al’s older brother.

Newspaper stories at the time described O’Hare as a “prize moneymaker for the mob” and speculated that he was assassinated, either in retaliation for ratting on Capone or to serve notice that Capone was planning a comeback.

During’s Tuesday’s Police Committee hearing, Jonathan Eig, author of the soon-to-be-published book, “Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster,” offered a different explanation.

Eig noted that, at the time of O’Hare’s murder, Capone was suffering from syphilis that had ravaged his mind and body — so much so that he was “incapable of and uninterested in resuming his career.” And even though O’Hare helped deliver the goods on his former partner, there was “no evidence to suggest that Capone knew it,” the author said.

Instead, Eig pointed fingers at a Capone family struggling to pay medical bills, court fines and a $300,000 debt to the IRS.

“Prohibition was over. The old outfit was earning at a fraction of its peak. But, Eddie O’Hare was still making money at his racetracks, including Sportsman’s Park,” Eig said.

Noting that Al Capone was a “silent partner” in the racetrack, Eig said, “To round up cash, the Capone brothers would likely have turned to O’Hare and demanded Al’s fair share of the profits. O’Hare was a big, strong, tough and stubborn man. If he refused to pay — or if he refused to pay as much as the Capones wanted — he would have understood the consequences. That’s why he was carrying a pistol at the time of the shooting.”

Burke believes the murder investigation was derailed from the outset by Daniel “Tubbo” Aloysius Gilbert, the chief investigator for the Cook County state’s attorney. Gilbert was subsequently described by investigators as Chicago’s “richest cop.”

“If the mob ever had a police chief, it was Gilbert,” Burke said.

Thanks to Fran Spielman

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Blood Oath The Heroic Story of a Gangster Turned Government Agent.

Blood Oath: The Heroic Story of a Gangster Turned Government Agent.

"Organized crime is not a thing of honor," we're reminded by George Fresolone, a former member of the Bruno-Scarfo family, which ran the underworld in Philadelphia, Atlantic City and other parts of New Jersey. As a minor cog in the gambling-loansharking wheel, he went to prison in 1983 with assurances that his fellow mobsters would take care of his family financially. But they did not, and here began Fresolone's disillusionment with organized crime. In 1988, he became an informant for the New Jersey State Police, collecting enough evidence to indict some 39 figures. Ironically, he was inducted into La Cosa Nostra a month before his undercover work ended. With the aid of Wagman (The Nazi Hunters), Fresolone tells a suspenseful story, ending with a chapter on his life in the Witness Protection Program.

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Central European Organized Crime

Central Europe and especially the Czech Republic and Hungary, are used as centers for coordination, communication and conciliation between very powerful international crime syndicates, which have managed to install their HQs of their operations and gain access in the heart of the EU.

Although it has not been a subject of special reporting by the media in Europe, when assessing organized crime activities in Europe, one should take into serious consideration the situation in this region.

Hungary

Hungary has the unique geo-economic advantage of occupying the middle of Europe between the east and the west side of the Continent and in the midst of the important axis of the Danube as well as the Baltic-Aegean one. As an effect, crime syndicates were apt in using this country as a major transit ground for their pan-European operations and as a base for coordinating their cells in other regions.

Similarly, the accumulation of capital in this country as in most former communist countries was made during the '90s, partly due to smuggling and illegal activities, thus the very criminal activity occurred in an institutionalized societal manner along with corrupted practices in the security and the judicial sectors.

The local criminal networks in Hungary and Budapest in particular, are less significant in the hierarchy of than that of the infamous Italian Mafia or the Chinese triangles. They were basically formed by former members of security forces and pre-existing black marketers who maintained contacts with local authorities. The rapid development of the above had as a result the control of up to 20% of local GDP, due to a number of endogenous and exogenous factors.

First, the geo-economic position of the country facilitates to a maximum degree the traffickers to move illicit cargo by road and rail routes. For example from Ukraine tobacco and women are trafficked towards Austria and from Romania illegal immigrants are transferred, whilst from Croatia and Serbia weapons and drugs are being imported.

Hungary has adequate public infrastructure and storage services (Logistics), providing a strong argument for crime syndicates to pursue their activities there. In order for criminal groups to transform themselves into an integrated organized crime structure, there has to be the necessary infrastructure that will enable them to have a continuous and smooth flow of contraband merchandise, which in turn will provide economies of scale for their operations. Under this assumption, Hungary seems as a perfect destination.

Another important factor was the widespread corruption in the local security forces and the coexistence of former and present executives with links to members of the organized crime. The result was poor security controls and in general non-compliance with the law.

Currently Budapest hosts the global epicenters of illegal pornographic material, contraband cigarettes and is also a meeting point and negotiation center between the heads of international crime groups in the sectors of arms, women and drugs trafficking.

Money laundering is also another thriving illegal industry, closely associated with the above.

According to recent information the Hungarian Security Council, a government agency providing guidelines and action against crime in the country, disturbing trends for the foreseeable future, were noted. Indeed confidential reports of the local police, found that the number of criminal organizations has increased considerably after 2007, as well as their, turnover. Also, it is estimated that construction companies and business groups involved in public procurement are now subject of the control of organized crime, and it is also very interesting that groups coming from China and Latin America, have managed to establish their presence there, in order to increase their positions in Western Europe via Budapest.

Furthermore the Hungarian intelligence service (NBH) in a report in 2008, stated that after the accession to the EU in 2004, a great increase was witnessed in the turnover of the organized crime groups, which became more flexible and multifaceted, effectively penetrating more legitimate businesses. Hungarian officials-many of whom have been trained in schools of the FBI in U.S- are actively fighting the flow of black money that tends to lead traces back into, key executives in many respectable businesses, not directly associated with illegal activities.

In general, taking into account that the current global financial crisis creates the need for many legitimate businesses of fresh capital, one can assume that Hungary will have to face more challenges in those issues in the short-term.

So far the security forces of Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden and USA work very closely with the authorities and has made several successful joint operations.

Czech Republic and Slovakia

The Czech Republic is an economically and socially developed country in Central Europe that has been facing for years serious issues relating with the activities of organized crime. Local security authorities relay in their reports, that they are facing some 100 organized groups in the country with at least 3,000 members. Alongside, other 5,000 people have auxiliary roles in these organizations which are also staffed by accounting, legal and other professional functions.

Of all these criminal groups, 30 are integrated and internationalized, reaching the gold standard of the "International Mafia" with diverse activities in many countries around the world.

Local leaders of criminal networks are nationals of the former Soviet Union and especially Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. Also Croats, Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Vietnamese and Chinese make up the majority of the groups. There are also groups from Turkey and Greece specialized in money laundering and managing drug loads moving to Germany as well as, illegal prostitution.

Finally, there is definite presence, of the so-called Italian mafia and various groups from Latin America, Lebanon, Iran and Nigeria. The Czech nationals tend not to create their own organizations but to adhere to foreign and not as heads but as support staff, which both demonstrates the prevalence of foreign organized crime in society and also the difficulty for the authorities to collect information on the important criminal echelons.

On the other hand, Czechs arch-criminals have managed to form groups outside the country and particularly in France, Italy, Croatia and Bulgaria. Occasionally there are reports of activity in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus regarding the above.

The Czech Republic because of its extensive borders with Germany, which is considered as the prime market of smuggled goods and drugs in Europe, facilitates trafficking to there and acts as a coordinating center for groups wishing to enter Germany. Moreover, in recent years several cases have been revealed, of coordination and delivery of drugs original source from the Middle East to the U.S. via Prague and Ostrava.

Further in the borders between the Moravian province and Poland, there is widespread tobacco, alcohol and drug contraband mainly being managed by organized groups of Romany and local kingpins.

Regard illegal migration and trafficking, the Czech Republic is infamous as a place of concentration and transit of Ukrainian and Moldovan nationals sent to Germany and the Scandinavian countries.

In Slovakia also the issue of organized crime is high on the news and the police reports. The country "hosts" 50 groups with over 700 regular members. Most of those are foreigners, Kosovo-Albanians, Ukrainians, Russians and Georgians working with local elements.

Slovakia from the late 90s has been informally divided into zones of influence between these groups in order to avoid unnecessary turf wars that had claimed many victims over the past years. The capital Bratislava has a strong Albanian presence, specializing in the illegal prostitution industry with annual turnover that may exceed 50 million Euros.

Further Slovakia has become a center of negotiation between pan-European criminal groups that regularly meet on mountain vacation hotels in the south of the country and agree into wider activities.

According to occasional news and information, the Romanian teams specializing in car theft "divide" their illegal sales when negotiating in the Slovakian territory and representatives of other groups from Germany and the Netherlands divide the market relating to illegal prostitution. Finally, the narcotics contraband provides the opportunity for contacts between different groups from the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, Turkey, Albania-Kosovo and Germany that agree on promoting substances in specific locations.

In Slovakia there is an extensive weapons smuggling network, which mainly imports weaponry from Moldova, the Caucasus and the Balkans. At times customers have come even from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East looking for explosives and anti-tank rockets and missiles.

Finally one of the fastest growing groups are the Chinese and Vietnamese, who now have formed a well-structured organized crime network that stretches from Athens Greece to Glasgow, Scotland, a development that will most certainly occupy the actions of the European security Authorities in the coming years. The Vietnamese, especially are consider as prime dealers and distributors of contraband cigarettes, clothing and other consumer items.

The Vietnamese network is also specialized in illegal immigration from East Asia to Europe and it is of trans-border nature, since the Vietnamese in Czech (Prague, Brno, Ostrava), are in contact with their fellow compatriots in Germany, Poland and Austria, thus a wider ethnic network emerges that has expanded considerably over the past 15 years.

Lastly, there is a strong trend of "Phony marriages" to be recorded, especially between Vietnamese organized members and locals, in order to facilitate the integration of the former in the society. Similar finding have been found regarding Albania, Russian and nationals from the ex-Yugoslavian countries. Therefore the members of the crime syndicates are able to firmly root themselves in the EU and attain the status of the citizen that protects them from expulsion should their activities become known to the authorities.

In Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, 90% of drugs sold within the territory are being distributed by foreigners. Typically, there is an abundance of hard drugs in Prague and Budapest, and the price of heroin is half than that sold in Berlin and Paris and so are other drugs like ecstasy tablets. This creates what is called "Narco-tourism" which along with "sex tourism" in the same cities creates ideal conditions for the accumulation of large amounts of black capital for the criminal organizations.

It is indicative of the great economic momentum gained by the criminal syndicates that only in Budapest it is roughly be estimated that 1,000 "International escorts" are being illegally employed earning an income of excess of 80 million Euros for organized crime syndicates.

A similar situation occurs in other countries, and if one adds the whole range of illegal sex industry in Central Europe (Clubs, entertainment, movies, brothels, internet-phone appointments, etc), then it could be safely estimated that an annual turnover of over 5 billion Euros is being generated. As it can be seen, the so-called "real economy" is being greatly influenced by the parallel-illegal one, creating a symbiosis that is based in the importation of substantial amounts of capital.

In recent years, Prague has witnessed the establishment of Russian originating criminal groups that have set up perfectly legitimate businesses and in particular hotels, restaurants and real estate companies, in order to launder capital. More than 150 have been made known over the past few year and they also include businesses, mansions and horse riding clubs in the tourist regions of Karlovy Vary and Marianske Lazne.

As far as Karlovy Vary is concerned, it already being named as a "Russian city", due to the sheer amounts of investments made there by Russians, quite a few of those of highly questionable nature.

The ultimate goal of this new strategy is -according to a confidential report by the Czech Ministry of Interior- the penetration by the Mafiosi of the economic and political life of the country and already numerous cases of corruption involving mayors, and local council heads has been recorded

The research on organized crime activities in Central Europe, may gain further notice for the European security architecture, since the countries located in this geographical zone, are being used as stage points for further inclusion of criminal structures in the larger EU countries such as Germany and to a lesser extent France and Italy.

Moreover the European integration process and the lack of border controls, creates a unique opportunity for further empowerment of those criminal networks, that are able to tap into their specialization and acquired experience and further enlarge their illegal activities, as is the case over the past twenty years.

The collapse of Communism in 1989 provided a challenge for the security authorities across the EU that it is becoming vividly clear nowadays and will most certainly be of importance regarding the future of the Continent that has to confront a series of important challenges relating to the security of its citizens.

Thanks to Ioannis Michaletos and Marketa Hanakova.

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