The so-called ''geriatric trio'' of Chicago mobsters will have to wait a few months for their day in court.
The federal court trial of Jerry Scalise, Art Rachel and Robert Pullia was to start on July 11, and as avid craps players know, that date -- 7/11 -- is considered good luck and a natural win. Now, though, a delay in some evidence tests ordered by the prosecution means the trial for the Outfit's "geriatric trio" will no longer roll on 7/11.
It has been nearly 15 months since the geriatric troika was arrested in its latest Outfit racket: Armed invasions of several suburban banks and a break-in at the home of a deceased mob boss.
The leader of the 70-somethings is Scalise, a long-time Outfit burglar and repeat ex-con who seemed to have been going straight, working as a consultant on Dillinger and other gangster films shot in Chicago. But, according to prosecutors, Scalise was plotting new crimes even as he aided the fictional accounts on film.
In May, FBI agents served warrants on Scalise's head, demanding hair samples for DNA tests to compare with hair strands found on masks that were allegedly to be used in the hold-ups.
Pullia also provided hair samples to the government.
Art Rachel, known as "The Genius," was not required to pluck any samples.
In court Wednesday, the government said that DNA testing of hair samples was still under way. With defense attorneys willing to wait for the results of hair tests that they hope will clear their clients, a new trial date of September 19 was set.
Thirty-one years ago, the case that made Scalise and Rachel famous was the daring theft of the 41-carat Marlborough diamond from a London jeweler. They were convicted and did lengthy prison sentences in the UK in a case that had no DNA sampling because the use of DNA testing was still a few years away in criminal cases.
This time around, with DNA center stage, attorneys for the mobsters contend that U.S. prosecutors shouldn't have waited a year to do the hair tests.
The September trial date is tentative and it may be later than that. There was even talk of a possible December date. Judge Harry Leinenweber said the whole thing was "screwing up my schedule."
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Oscar D'Angelo, "Mayor of Little Italy", on Mob Trial Witness List
Two weeks from now Chicago's latest Outfit trial is scheduled to start in federal court. A trio of aging Chicago mobsters face racketeering/burglary charges.
In this Intelligence Report: We've learned that the government witnesses may include one of the city's most controversial businessmen, the man known as "the Mayor of Little Italy."
He is Oscar D'Angelo, whose Chicago political influence began in the 1950s with Richard J. Daley, yielded him millions as a well-connected developer and rainmaker, and ended in a feud with Richard M. Daley almost 10 years ago. D'Angelo is the flamboyant, self-styled "mayor of Little Italy."
Now, at age 79, D'Angelo finds himself on the prosecution's list of potential witnesses in the city's next big mob trial.
Next month, in the trial of three Chicago hoodlums, D'Angelo may have to speak publicly from the witness stand in federal court.
Jerry Scalise, Art Rachel and Robert Pullia are charged with plotting to hold-up suburban banks and with scheming a break-in at the home of deceased South Side rackets boss Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra.
Scalise and Rachel are best known for stealing the famous 40-carat Marlborough diamond in 1980, a daring daylight robbery from a popular jewelry store in London, England. The men did long prison stretches in the UK and returned to Chicago, authorities say, to resume their careers as Outfit burglars.
While it is not clear why the government would want D'Angelo to testify against them, it would be an unusual and potentially uncomfortable position for him.
First, D'Angelo is a defrocked attorney himself, in 1989 having been disbarred for giving rental cars as gifts to city officials, judges and other politicians. In 2000 he then scarred his three-decade long relationship with the Daley family by loaning money interest to a top Daley official and working as an unregistered lobbyist.
Federal authorities aren't talking about why D'Angelo is on the witness list, although with a park along the Eisenhower Expressway named after him and with his historical perspective of Taylor Street where the gangland thugs operated, perhaps D'Angelo will merely be a foundation witness for the prosecution.
It is not unusual for the government to put people on the witness list who don't end up being called to testify just to cover their bases. But D'Angelo's name certainly attracts attention. And, there is another well-known name on the prosecutor's list, former Chicago police chief of detectives William Hanhardt, who is in prison for his own role in an Outfit jewel theft racket.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
In this Intelligence Report: We've learned that the government witnesses may include one of the city's most controversial businessmen, the man known as "the Mayor of Little Italy."
He is Oscar D'Angelo, whose Chicago political influence began in the 1950s with Richard J. Daley, yielded him millions as a well-connected developer and rainmaker, and ended in a feud with Richard M. Daley almost 10 years ago. D'Angelo is the flamboyant, self-styled "mayor of Little Italy."
Now, at age 79, D'Angelo finds himself on the prosecution's list of potential witnesses in the city's next big mob trial.
Next month, in the trial of three Chicago hoodlums, D'Angelo may have to speak publicly from the witness stand in federal court.
Jerry Scalise, Art Rachel and Robert Pullia are charged with plotting to hold-up suburban banks and with scheming a break-in at the home of deceased South Side rackets boss Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra.
Scalise and Rachel are best known for stealing the famous 40-carat Marlborough diamond in 1980, a daring daylight robbery from a popular jewelry store in London, England. The men did long prison stretches in the UK and returned to Chicago, authorities say, to resume their careers as Outfit burglars.
While it is not clear why the government would want D'Angelo to testify against them, it would be an unusual and potentially uncomfortable position for him.
First, D'Angelo is a defrocked attorney himself, in 1989 having been disbarred for giving rental cars as gifts to city officials, judges and other politicians. In 2000 he then scarred his three-decade long relationship with the Daley family by loaning money interest to a top Daley official and working as an unregistered lobbyist.
Federal authorities aren't talking about why D'Angelo is on the witness list, although with a park along the Eisenhower Expressway named after him and with his historical perspective of Taylor Street where the gangland thugs operated, perhaps D'Angelo will merely be a foundation witness for the prosecution.
It is not unusual for the government to put people on the witness list who don't end up being called to testify just to cover their bases. But D'Angelo's name certainly attracts attention. And, there is another well-known name on the prosecutor's list, former Chicago police chief of detectives William Hanhardt, who is in prison for his own role in an Outfit jewel theft racket.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Chicago Outfit Still Corners the Vice Market
It has been a quarter-century since the two brothers were found, one on top of the other, buried in a shallow grave in a freshly planted Indiana cornfield. The June 1986 slayings of Las Vegas mob chieftain Anthony Spilotro and his brother, Michael, captured national attention and became part of mob lore. The movie "Casino" immortalized their deaths — albeit incorrectly — and the "Family Secrets" trial detailed their final moments of life, including Anthony Spilotro's request to say a prayer before being beaten and strangled in a Bensenville basement.
On the 25th anniversary of the Spilotro slayings, the mob in Chicago has been weakened by dozens of convictions within its hierarchy, but it has not faded away, according to organized-crime experts. It keeps a lower profile, issuing high-interest loans and running illegal betting games but shying away from attention-getting mob hits, they say. "It is safe to say with complete certainty that (the Outfit's) size, scope and sphere of influence is much smaller today than it was 25 years ago," FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.
In fact, the Outfit has become so secretive that mob watchers are no longer sure who the top boss is. Joseph "the Builder" Andriacchi, John "No Nose" DiFronzo and Michael "The Large Guy" Sarno are considered three of the Outfit's top-ranking members, according to the Chicago Crime Commission.
The Chicago mob once had as many as seven street crews, but is down to two or three, Rice said. It has found a steady source of revenue by controlling video poker machines, but authorities are catching on.
In December, Sarno and four co-defendants were found guilty of running a video poker racket, pulling off a string of armed robberies that spanned three years and four states, and protecting their gambling franchise by planting a bomb in front of a Berwyn business that encroached on their turf.
Furthermore, the landmark Family Secrets mob conspiracy trial in 2007 pulled back the curtain on murder after murder, including the slayings of the Spilotro brothers. Mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese's testimony led to the conviction of five men, including mob bosses James Marcello, Joey "the Clown" Lombardo and his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr.
In 2009, Marcello, Lombardo and Calabrese Sr. were each sentenced to life in prison. But while the Family Secrets case dealt a major blow to organized crime in Chicago, the Outfit has not been eliminated and probably never will be, said James Wagner, former president of the crime commission and former chief of the Chicago FBI's organized-crime section.
Wagner said the Outfit corners a market that will always be in demand — vice. Whether it's providing loans to borrowers who can't get them through banks or taking bets from gamblers who don't have money, the mob provides a service — albeit an illegal one, Wagner said. "There will always be somebody to purchase the goods they sell," said Wagner, now inspector general of the Illinois Tollway. "I don't see us ever eliminating it."
The last suspected instance of foul play within the Chicago mob was in September 2006, when mob boss Anthony Zizzo, 71, disappeared. His Jeep was found two days later in the parking lot of a Melrose Park restaurant. He has never been found.
The proposed expansion of casinos in Illinois could be a golden opportunity for organized crime to make a comeback, said Art Bilek, executive vice president of the crime commission. The state's gambling legislation does not provide additional regulatory personnel, which could allow the Outfit to enrich itself by infiltrating thousands of new gambling positions, Bilek said.
The plan lawmakers approved includes a Chicago casino and four others in Danville, Rockford, Lake County and southern Cook County. Gov. Pat Quinn continues to review the proposal, a spokeswoman said.
It's possible, Bilek said, that the Outfit could regain influence in a business once ruled in Nevada by Anthony Spilotro, one of its most notorious members.
At the time of his murder, Anthony Spilotro, 48, oversaw the Chicago mob's interests in Nevada. He was scheduled to stand trial a second time in Nevada on charges he ran the Hole-in-the-Wall gang, a Las Vegas burglary ring. Meanwhile, Michael Spilotro, 41, was under indictment in Chicago on federal extortion charges.
The brothers were targeted because they were bringing too much heat to the mob's Las Vegas arm, according to Nicholas Calabrese, a made member of the mob and the government's star witness during the Family Secrets trial.
In addition, Anthony Spilotro was rumored to be involved in moving drugs with a motorcycle gang and having an affair with the wife of Chicago bookmaker and reputed mob associate Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Calabrese testified. But in a recent interview, their brother, Patrick Spilotro, 74, a retired dentist who aided federal authorities in the Family Secrets investigation, said he remains unsure why his brothers were targeted. Much of Anthony Spilotro's notoriety was overblown, he said.
"They put (Anthony) in their cross hairs," Patrick Spilotro said of the Outfit. "I don't know why. Jealousy, envy, hate, you name it. Whether it was deserved or not, I can't answer that. But I know a lot of it is made up. I don't say my brother (Anthony) was an angel, but he's not all they depicted him to be."
On June 14, 1986, the Spilotro brothers left Michael's Oak Park home, lured to a Bensenville basement under the ruse they were to be promoted within the Outfit, Calabrese testified.
Instead, they were jumped by a hit team, beaten and strangled.
In February 2009, James Marcello was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of the Spilotro brothers. But Patrick Spilotro said he will never find peace until reputed Outfit boss DiFronzo is also put behind bars. Calabrese testified in 2007 that DiFronzo was among the dozen or more men who fatally beat Anthony and Michael Spilotro in 1986, but he was never charged. "We've tried to heal over the years," Patrick Spilotro said by phone from Arizona, "but there's still one person out there — John DiFronzo — who has not been indicted or convicted."
DiFronzo did not return a call seeking comment.
Calabrese's testimony also dispelled the popular belief — depicted in the 1995 Martin Scorsese movie "Casino" — that the Spilotro brothers were beaten with bats in a farmer's field.
On June 23, 1986, their bodies were found buried in a wildlife preserve in Enos, Ind., about 70 miles southeast of Chicago. The brothers — clad only in undershorts — were identified by dental charts supplied by Patrick Spilotro.
Their discovery was an embarrassment for the Outfit. Three months later, John Fecarotta, a longtime muscleman for the 26th Street Crew, was shot to death in a doorway of a bingo hall on West Belmont Avenue. Informants said he was killed for botching the burials of the Spilotro brothers, according to court documents.
The bodies were found by a farmer who thought the freshly turned earth hid the remains of a deer killed out of season and buried by a poacher.
Deland Szczepanski and Dick Hudson, who both worked at the time for the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, drove to the scene and began digging.
Hudson hit something soft with a shovel, then Szczepanski dug deeper with his hands until he uncovered short hairs that he initially thought belonged to a hog, he said in an interview. But he soon realized they were from a man's abdomen, Szczepanski said. Szczepanski called law enforcement. A few days later, he learned the two men he dug up were no ordinary victims but notorious mobsters.
"We realized we had uncovered somebody who wasn't supposed to be found," said Szczepanski, who is now 46 and a conservation officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "It's one of those instances I'll probably never forget."
In the days that followed, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago denied the Spilotro brothers a public church funeral because of their links to organized crime, and more than 2,000 mourners attended their visitation.
They were buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, where the Spilotros regularly visit to maintain the family plot, Patrick Spilotro said. "We don't forget our relatives," he said. "We're a very close family."
Thanks to Gerry Smith
On the 25th anniversary of the Spilotro slayings, the mob in Chicago has been weakened by dozens of convictions within its hierarchy, but it has not faded away, according to organized-crime experts. It keeps a lower profile, issuing high-interest loans and running illegal betting games but shying away from attention-getting mob hits, they say. "It is safe to say with complete certainty that (the Outfit's) size, scope and sphere of influence is much smaller today than it was 25 years ago," FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.
In fact, the Outfit has become so secretive that mob watchers are no longer sure who the top boss is. Joseph "the Builder" Andriacchi, John "No Nose" DiFronzo and Michael "The Large Guy" Sarno are considered three of the Outfit's top-ranking members, according to the Chicago Crime Commission.
The Chicago mob once had as many as seven street crews, but is down to two or three, Rice said. It has found a steady source of revenue by controlling video poker machines, but authorities are catching on.
In December, Sarno and four co-defendants were found guilty of running a video poker racket, pulling off a string of armed robberies that spanned three years and four states, and protecting their gambling franchise by planting a bomb in front of a Berwyn business that encroached on their turf.
Furthermore, the landmark Family Secrets mob conspiracy trial in 2007 pulled back the curtain on murder after murder, including the slayings of the Spilotro brothers. Mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese's testimony led to the conviction of five men, including mob bosses James Marcello, Joey "the Clown" Lombardo and his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr.
In 2009, Marcello, Lombardo and Calabrese Sr. were each sentenced to life in prison. But while the Family Secrets case dealt a major blow to organized crime in Chicago, the Outfit has not been eliminated and probably never will be, said James Wagner, former president of the crime commission and former chief of the Chicago FBI's organized-crime section.
Wagner said the Outfit corners a market that will always be in demand — vice. Whether it's providing loans to borrowers who can't get them through banks or taking bets from gamblers who don't have money, the mob provides a service — albeit an illegal one, Wagner said. "There will always be somebody to purchase the goods they sell," said Wagner, now inspector general of the Illinois Tollway. "I don't see us ever eliminating it."
The last suspected instance of foul play within the Chicago mob was in September 2006, when mob boss Anthony Zizzo, 71, disappeared. His Jeep was found two days later in the parking lot of a Melrose Park restaurant. He has never been found.
The proposed expansion of casinos in Illinois could be a golden opportunity for organized crime to make a comeback, said Art Bilek, executive vice president of the crime commission. The state's gambling legislation does not provide additional regulatory personnel, which could allow the Outfit to enrich itself by infiltrating thousands of new gambling positions, Bilek said.
The plan lawmakers approved includes a Chicago casino and four others in Danville, Rockford, Lake County and southern Cook County. Gov. Pat Quinn continues to review the proposal, a spokeswoman said.
It's possible, Bilek said, that the Outfit could regain influence in a business once ruled in Nevada by Anthony Spilotro, one of its most notorious members.
At the time of his murder, Anthony Spilotro, 48, oversaw the Chicago mob's interests in Nevada. He was scheduled to stand trial a second time in Nevada on charges he ran the Hole-in-the-Wall gang, a Las Vegas burglary ring. Meanwhile, Michael Spilotro, 41, was under indictment in Chicago on federal extortion charges.
The brothers were targeted because they were bringing too much heat to the mob's Las Vegas arm, according to Nicholas Calabrese, a made member of the mob and the government's star witness during the Family Secrets trial.
In addition, Anthony Spilotro was rumored to be involved in moving drugs with a motorcycle gang and having an affair with the wife of Chicago bookmaker and reputed mob associate Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Calabrese testified. But in a recent interview, their brother, Patrick Spilotro, 74, a retired dentist who aided federal authorities in the Family Secrets investigation, said he remains unsure why his brothers were targeted. Much of Anthony Spilotro's notoriety was overblown, he said.
"They put (Anthony) in their cross hairs," Patrick Spilotro said of the Outfit. "I don't know why. Jealousy, envy, hate, you name it. Whether it was deserved or not, I can't answer that. But I know a lot of it is made up. I don't say my brother (Anthony) was an angel, but he's not all they depicted him to be."
On June 14, 1986, the Spilotro brothers left Michael's Oak Park home, lured to a Bensenville basement under the ruse they were to be promoted within the Outfit, Calabrese testified.
Instead, they were jumped by a hit team, beaten and strangled.
In February 2009, James Marcello was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of the Spilotro brothers. But Patrick Spilotro said he will never find peace until reputed Outfit boss DiFronzo is also put behind bars. Calabrese testified in 2007 that DiFronzo was among the dozen or more men who fatally beat Anthony and Michael Spilotro in 1986, but he was never charged. "We've tried to heal over the years," Patrick Spilotro said by phone from Arizona, "but there's still one person out there — John DiFronzo — who has not been indicted or convicted."
DiFronzo did not return a call seeking comment.
Calabrese's testimony also dispelled the popular belief — depicted in the 1995 Martin Scorsese movie "Casino" — that the Spilotro brothers were beaten with bats in a farmer's field.
On June 23, 1986, their bodies were found buried in a wildlife preserve in Enos, Ind., about 70 miles southeast of Chicago. The brothers — clad only in undershorts — were identified by dental charts supplied by Patrick Spilotro.
Their discovery was an embarrassment for the Outfit. Three months later, John Fecarotta, a longtime muscleman for the 26th Street Crew, was shot to death in a doorway of a bingo hall on West Belmont Avenue. Informants said he was killed for botching the burials of the Spilotro brothers, according to court documents.
The bodies were found by a farmer who thought the freshly turned earth hid the remains of a deer killed out of season and buried by a poacher.
Deland Szczepanski and Dick Hudson, who both worked at the time for the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, drove to the scene and began digging.
Hudson hit something soft with a shovel, then Szczepanski dug deeper with his hands until he uncovered short hairs that he initially thought belonged to a hog, he said in an interview. But he soon realized they were from a man's abdomen, Szczepanski said. Szczepanski called law enforcement. A few days later, he learned the two men he dug up were no ordinary victims but notorious mobsters.
"We realized we had uncovered somebody who wasn't supposed to be found," said Szczepanski, who is now 46 and a conservation officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "It's one of those instances I'll probably never forget."
In the days that followed, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago denied the Spilotro brothers a public church funeral because of their links to organized crime, and more than 2,000 mourners attended their visitation.
They were buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, where the Spilotros regularly visit to maintain the family plot, Patrick Spilotro said. "We don't forget our relatives," he said. "We're a very close family."
Thanks to Gerry Smith
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Whitey Bulger Captured!
Top Ten fugitive James “Whitey” Bulger was arrested thanks to a tip from the public—just days after a new media campaign was announced to help locate the gangster who had been on the run for 16 years.
Bulger, who once ran South Boston’s violent Winter Hill Gang and was wanted for his role in 19 murders, was arrested with his longtime companion Catherine Greig Wednesday night in Santa Monica, California, by agents on the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force.
“Although there are those who doubted our resolve, it never wavered," said Boston Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers. "We followed every lead, we explored every possibility, and when those leads ran out we did not sit back and wait for the phone to ring. The result is we have captured one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, a man notorious in Boston and around the world for the very serious crimes he is alleged to have committed."
The FBI has always relied on cooperation from the public to help capture fugitives and solve crimes. The new media campaign regarding Bulger was designed to draw attention to Greig, who fled with Bulger in 1995. A 30-second public service announcement (PSA) produced by the Bureau began airing Tuesday in 10 states where it was believed Bulger had resided or still had contacts. California was one of those states.
The PSA focused on the 60-year-old Greig’s physical appearance, habits, and personality traits and was directed specifically at women who might come in contact with her at places such as the beauty parlor or doctor’s office. After the PSA began to air, hundreds of tips flowed into the FBI, and one of them led to the arrest Wednesday night in a residence near Los Angeles.
“We were trying to reach a different audience to produce new leads in the case,” said Richard Teahan, a special agent in our Boston office who leads a task force that has searched for Bulger around the world. “We believed that locating Greig would lead us to Bulger. And that’s exactly what happened.”
The PSA included pictures of Greig after her pre-fugitive plastic surgeries and other details including her love of animals and the reward of up to $100,000 for her capture. Although she was not implicated in Bulger’s crimes, Greig was federally charged in 1997 for harboring a fugitive. The reward for Bulger is up to $2 million—the largest the FBI has ever offered for a Top Ten domestic fugitive.
Bulger, 81, who is known for his violent temper, was arrested without incident and was scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles court later today.
Did Jerry Scalise Target Oscar D'Angelo?
Mobbed-up thief Joseph Jerry “The Monk” Scalise allegedly targeted Daley mayoral pal and controversial lobbyist Oscar D’Angelo for a robbery and corresponded with imprisoned Chicago cop William Hanhardt, writing that “Oft times, defendants forget that they DID do the crime,” according to a federal court document filed Tuesday.
Scalise, who is in his early 70s, has a storied criminal career that most recently found him charged last year with two alleged accomplices with conspiring to knock off an armored car at a La Grange bank and rob the home of the late, brutal Chicago mob boss Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra.
The court document, filed by federal prosecutors, lays out the case against Scalise and two other senior citizens, Arthur “The Genius” Rachel and Robert Pullia. The men go to trial next month.
Scalise stole the 45-carat Marlborough diamond in London in 1980, was a reputed member of an Outfit crew of killers called “The Wild Bunch” and more recently was a consultant to famed Hollywood director Michael Mann on his film “Public Enemies.”
The court document is heavily redacted in parts and does not reveal any detail about the men allegedly conspiring to rob D’Angelo, but the criminal deed was never done. D’Angelo, who was involved in scandals in the Richard M. Daley administration, is expected to be called as a prosecution witness at trial against the three men.
The court document does quote at length a letter that Scalise allegedly sent to Hanhardt after Scalise was arrested last year. Federal prosecutor Amarjeet Bhachu contends in the government filing that Scalise admits his guilt in the letter.
Hanhardt, a former Chicago chief of detectives, was sentenced to nearly 12 years behind bars after pleading guilty in 2001 to running a sophisticated theft ring that stole more than $5 million in diamonds and gems from jewelry salesmen across the country. The FBI has contended that Hanhardt was on the take from the mob early in his police career.
“Since I am soon to be out of time (but with, maybe a lot of ‘time’) I am getting as much done . . . while I am out (on bond),” Scalise writes in one letter to Hanhardt, according to the court filing.
“I am finally going through everything with a fine tooth comb and conferring with Eddie G. on a plan of attack,” Scalise wrote, apparently referring to his legendary defense attorney, Edward Genson.
“Oft times, defendants forget that they DID do the crime. So, what do we do to mitigate the charges? The only approach I can see is to attempt to move the goal posts — to make something else the issue. My contention is that the ‘evidence’ is just not good enough. Yes, these culprits were up to something, but the ‘problem’ is in the technological evidence.”
Hanhardt is listed as a prosecution witness. Genson could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Thanks to Steve Warmbir
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