Sweeping guilty verdicts in Chicago mob case affirm Spilotro’s adage
September 11, 2007 - 9:00 pm
It turns out Tony Spilotro was right.
Nearly 25 years ago, Spilotro was captured on a court-authorized federal surveillance recording lamenting his gang's lot in the mob life. Spilotro was in the company of his younger brother, Michael Spilotro, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta.
Tough Tony's Las Vegas gang of Chicago Outfit-connected guys was under intense pressure from the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Organized Crime Strike Force, and some rough-and-tumble Metro detectives.
In the middle of talking shop and plotting strategy, Spilotro said, "It's the G. They never sleep. They never stop."
Spilotro was never more correct.
A quarter century later, more than 21 years after the bodies of the Spilotro brothers were unearthed from an Indiana cornfield, the G -- Government, that is -- can relax a minute.
A federal jury in Chicago on Monday returned sweeping guilty verdicts in the Operation Family Secrets trial. Current and former Outfit bosses and one rogue ex-Chicago cop were convicted of conspiracy to commit various felonies, including 18 murders -- among them the demise of the Spilotro brothers.
In street parlance, the defendants were whacked.
All five -- Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, Joseph Marcello, Frank Calabrese Sr., Paul Schiro, and former policeman Anthony Doyle -- caught convictions on conspiracy related to nearly three decades of organized crime activity. The racketeering-conspiracy case heard testimony linking the defendants to the 18 murders stretching back to the dark heart of the Chicago Outfit's heyday. The jury has now been asked whether there is sufficient evidence to convict any or all five defendants on specific murder charges.
"This is big," former Strike Force prosecutor Stan Hunterton said with considerable understatement. A private practice attorney in Las Vegas, he prosecuted mob cases throughout his government career.
Monday's verdict reminded him of the time he was listening to what then must have seemed like a mountain of recordings of Spilotro and his associates. At one point, Tony uttered his street-guy's haiku.
"Spilotro said, 'It's the G. They never sleep. They never stop.' And that's what I thought of when I got the message today," Hunterton recalled.
The 10-week trial conjured ghosts of the Outfit. In addition to the murders of the Spilotros, the mystery behind the killing of former Strip maitre d' Emil "Mal" Vaci also was unraveled. Vaci relocated to Phoenix, where he went into business with Schiro. When a federal grand jury dragged Vaci in for questioning, the Outfit got nervous and the likable half-connected guy wound up shot to death and dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of Phoenix. Schiro, in prison on other charges, is the prime suspect in Vaci's murder.
For retired Chicago cop and longtime Chicago Crime Commission member John J. Flood, Monday's verdict was unprecedented in the Windy City despite its mob roots dating back to the early 1900s.
"I'm saying this is the most major organized crime trial in the history of the United States with the exception of when Tom Dewey prosecuted Murder Inc. in New York City," said Flood, now a Las Vegas resident.
In his days on the street, Flood survived a run-in with Lombardo and his vicious right-hand man, Frank Schweihs. Flood said there was rarely much mystery about who was behind an Outfit murder. The problem was finding reliable witnesses willing to tell a tale that had gotten others bombed, strangled and shotgunned.
That's what made Operation Family Secrets so different. The FBI managed to turn criminals with rare insider access into informants and backed up their cooperation with recordings. The prosecution had a field day with Frank Calabrese Sr.'s own brother, Nicholas, as well as his son, Frank Jr. The level of family betrayal was unprecedented. Calabrese Sr. is a suspect in 13 murders.
The case was helped immensely by the testimony of retired dentist Pat Spilotro, older brother of Tony and Michael, who risked his own life to doggedly pursue his brothers' suspected killers.
The Family Secrets case may be remembered as the final chapter in the bloody history of the Chicago mob. It will certainly become an addendum to Las Vegas' own sordid evolution.
It's the G. They never sleep. They never stop.
But at least when the government puts a hit on you, your family doesn't have to wonder when the body will turn up.
John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.
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