Chicago mobster Schweihs dies at 78

Frank "the German" Schweihs (left), reputed assassin for the Chicago Outfit, died last night, according to stories by Chuck Goudie of WLS-TV-7 in Chicago and the staff of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Schweihs' poor health did not allow him to be tried with his Family Secrets Case codefendants last summer. He was reportedly suffering from cancer. A separate trial for Schweihs was to begin this October.

During a June court appearance, Schweihs made an impression, with his rude and vulgar comments. Schweihs was transfered recently from Metropolitan Correction Center to Thorek Hospital and Medical Center, where he died.

According to the WLS report, Schweihs was first arrested in 1949 and averaged more than one arrest per year since then.

KC Outfit bigshot 'Tuffy' DeLuna dies at 81

Carl Angelo "Tuffy" DeLuna, former underboss of the Kansas City Mafia organization known as the Outfit, died Monday at the age of 81, according to reports by Meredith Rodriguez of the Kansas City Star and Chuck Goudie and Ann Pistone of Chicago's WLS-TV-7.

DeLuna (right) was repeatedly convicted of racketeering and other crimes and served a total of 12 years in federal prison. He was investigated for skimming from Las Vegas casinos and for squeezing money out of the Teamster union pension fund. Electronic surveillance in 1978 allowed the FBI to listen in on a casino skimming-related conversation between DeLuna and Carl "Cork" Civella, then boss of Kansas City's Outfit. Civella's organization and the Chicago Outfit had an agreement in place for splitting skim drawn from the Tropicana Casino. Agents later discovered DeLuna documentation of underworld skimming. His records implicated mobsters in several cities.

DeLuna had been out of prison since 1998. He was noted at betting parlors in the Kansas City area until Feb. 23, 2005, when the Missouri Gaming Commission banned him.

Born April 30, 1927, law enforcement officials believe DeLuna began his career as a street gangster, armed robber and gunman. Federal agents came to regard him as a "perfect gentleman," according to former FBI supervisor Gart Hart. "He treated everyone with the same respect."

62 years for Chicago's Anthony Calabrese

Reputed Chicago hitman Anthony Calabrese, 47, was sentenced yesterday to 62 years in prison, according to a story by Steve Warmbir of the Chicago Sun-Times. Calabrese was convicted of leading three armed robberies.

Calabrese plans to appeal the sentence.

Unrelated to the two Calabrese brothers involved in last year's Family Secrets case, Anthony Calabrese is suspected by federal authorities of involvement in the 2001 mob killing of Anthony "the Hatch" Chiaramonti. He has not been charged with that killing.

Allie Persico could get new trial

Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico (left), the Colombo Crime Family boss convicted late last year of ordering the death of William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, could be given a new trial, according to a story by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News.

The new trial is under consideration because a key prosecution witness might have lied. Cutolo's widow, Marguerite Cutolo, testified that federal agents allowed her to keep $1.6 million in cash that her husband, the Colombo Family underboss, stashed around their Staten Island NY home.

There appears to be no official documentation supporting her claim about the money. If prosecutors are unable to resolve the discrepancy, a new trial might be ordered.

'Cadillac Frank' sentenced, expects to be out in '09

Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, 74-year-old former boss of the New England Crime Family, was sentenced Tuesday to five years for lying and obstruction of justice, according to a story by Shelley Murphy of the Boston Globe. With credit for time served, he could be released from prison by December or January. After prison, he will be in a supervised release program for three years, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.

In a plea deal, Salemme (right) admitted lying to investigators about the May 1993 disappearance of Steven A. DiSarro, owner of a nightclub in South Boston known as "The Channel." Salemme maintains that he had nothing to do with DiSarro's disappearance. The nightclub owner is presumed to have been murdered. A decade ago, Salemme told investigators that former New England boss Nicholas Bianco wanted DiSarro eliminated.

"I want to categorically deny that I had anything to do with DiSarro, the assault or the murder...," Salemme told the court before hearing his sentence.

Salemme took over as New England boss after Bianco was removed by federal prosecution and by his November 1994 death in prison. During a power struggle within the Boston and Providence-based Mafia, Salemme was indicted on racketeering charges in January 1995.

Also indicted at that time were James "Whitey" Bulger (left) and Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi. Bulger and Flemmi were longtime FBI informants. According to Salemme, former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. warned Salemme, Bulger and Flemmi of the indictments. Bulger and Flemmi fled. Bulger remains a fugitive. Salemme became a government witness against Connolly in 1999, helping to convict Connolly of racketeering.

Salemme was released into the witness protection program in 2003. He was back in custody in 2004 after prosecutors accused him of covering up his son Frank Jr.'s alleged involvement in DiSarro's slaying. Salemme denied the charge. Frank Jr. died in 2005 of lymphoma.

Prosecutors noted that DiSarro's disappearance occurred shortly after investigators began looking into the relationship between the Salemmes and The Channel.

Statement links construction firm to the mob

An affidavit filed in Brooklyn federal court links officials of the Schiavone Construction Company with schemes involving organized crime, according to a story by William K. Rashbaum of the New York Times.

The affidavit was part of a 2005 investigation of organized crime. In it, a federal investigator described the methods through which Schiavone officials intended to direct payments to a trucking executive connected with the Mafia. The statement includes a quote attributed to carting company executive Nicholas Calvo, in which Calvo explained Mafia influence over Schiavone. Calvo, arrested in a racketeering case earlier this year and identified by prosecutors as a Genovese Crime Family associate, recently pleaded guilty to extortion conspiracy.

Schiavone ties to the Genovese Crime Family have been rumored since an unsuccessful state fraud prosecution of a company owner in 1987. However, the contracting giant's general counsel Mary Libasi insists Schiavone is operating within the law and is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn on the investigation. No charges related to the affidavit have been filed against the company or its executives.

Two employees of Schiavone Construction Company were among the 62 people charged in a broader racketeering investigation earlier this year.

'Mafia cop' Eppolito gets 18 months on tax charge

Louis Eppolito, a former New York Police detective who aided the Lucchese Crime Family, has been sentenced in Las Vegas to 18 months in prison for filing a false income tax return, according to broadcast reports.

During his July 1 sentencing in U.S. District Court, Eppolito also was ordered to pay $102,000. The imposition of a prison sentence won't mean much to the former detective. In federal custody since 2005, he has been credited for time already served. He pleaded guilty in February to one count of filing a false income tax return. As part of his plea deal, Eppolito acknowledged owing just over $102,000 to the IRS for tax years 2000 through 2002.

Eppolito is expected to be turned over to New York authorities. The state has a detention order against him in connection with a racketeering case.

In 2006, Eppolito and his NYPD partner Stephen Caracappa had been convicted by a federal jury in Brooklyn of participating in mob killings on the behalf of the Lucchese Family. The two former detectives became known in the press as the "Mafia Cops." A federal judge ruled, however, that the statute of limitations on the charges had expired. Prosecutors are appealing that decision.

Former bus union boss gets 4-plus years

Salvatore "Hot Dogs" Battaglia (left), former president of a union of 15,000 New York City school bus drivers, was sentenced yesterday to four years and nine months in prison as a penalty for extortion and receiving bribes, according to a story published by the New York Times.

In January, Battaglia, 61, admitted taking payoffs in exchange for keeping his Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union out of certain bus companies. The payoffs were linked to Matthew Ianniello, former acting boss of the Genovese Crime Family.

Two other union officials earlier pleaded guilty to related charges. Ianniello also acknowledged wrongdoing.

Ianniello acknowledged in 2006 that he had arranged illegal payoffs for the union leadership. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. Ann Chiarovano, who directed the local's pension fund, pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about mob influence in the union local. She was sentenced to five months in prison. Julius "Spike" Bernstein, secretary-treasurer of Local 1181, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and cooperated with the federal investigation.

Galante reaches plea deal on trash racket

Connecticut trash czar James Galante (right) faces between six and seven years in prison when sentenced for racketeering and other offenses in federal court on Aug. 22, according to a story by Dave Altimari of the Hartford Courant.

As part of a plea deal, Galante, 55, admitted earlier this month to one count of racketeering conspiracy, one count of conspiring to defraud the IRS and one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. Those crimes stemmed from attempting to fix bids on a garbage transfer station project, coaching witnesses in advance of appearances before a grand jury, arranging payroll kickbacks and improper business expenses, and setting up no-show jobs.

Galante was one of 33 people named in a 98-count indictment back in 2006. Initially he was also charged with making regular payments to Genovese Crime Family bigshot Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello. There was no mention of those payments in the recent plea deal. Ianniello reached an earlier plea arrangement, admitting to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion.

In addition to the expected jail time of between 70 and 87 months, Galante has agreed to a number of forfeitures and to withdrawal from the trash industry. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, he will surrender all of his interests in 25 trash hauling companies in western Connecticut and nearby New York State, he will turn over a Southbury residence and land, six racing cars and a trailer, and he will drop any claim on $448,153.10 and interest on that money, which was seized from his business office and home. He owes an estimated $1.6 million in back taxes to the IRS. At sentencing, he could be fined additional money, up to a total of $750,000.

The Courant reported that federal authorities eventually will return to Galante and his wife $10.75 million they loaned to the trash businesses. That payment is to be made after the companies, estimated to be worth $100 million, are sold.

Investigation of the waste hauling "property rights" racket in western Connecticut led to charges against Connecticut State Senator Louis DeLuca. DeLuca, who admitted to seeking Galante's aid to threaten the husband of DeLuca's granddaughter, later resigned from the state legislature.

Mob-affiliate burglar pleads guilty

John Melicharek, alleged associate of the Genovese Crime Family, pleaded guilty in a White Plains, NY, court last week to robbery, extortion and firearms charges, according to a story published by the Mid-Hudson News Network.

Prosecutors say Melicharek was an associate of the Mafia crew led by Angelo Prisco. Melicharek was accused of leading home invasions in Orange County, NY, and Morris County, NJ, as well as of extorting the owner of a small business in New York City.

He could receive a life prison term when sentenced in September.

Prisco (right), 68, of Brooklyn, is serving time in federal prison, according to a story published a year ago in the Star-Ledger. He reached a plea deal on extortion charges in Newark, NJ, last May and was sentenced to five years. He had been held in New Jersey lockups since a March 2006 arrest. Prisco's 2002 parole from state prison in New Jersey triggered an investigation of a top aide of then-Governor Jim McGreevey.

Another reputed associate of Prisco's crew, Michael Visconti, 39, of Newburgh, NY, pleaded guilty to six criminal counts earlier this month, according to the Star-Ledger. Like Prisco, Visconti was charged in connection with a scheme to eliminate competition for an electrical contracting job.

Italian court upholds Camorra life sentences

An Italian Court last week upheld life sentence penalties imposed on 16 convicted leaders of the Casalesi Camorra clan, according to reports by RTTNews and Malcom Moore of the U.K. Telegraph.

The 16 leaders, including alleged boss Francesco "Sandokan" Schiavone (left) were sentenced to life late in 2005 after the "Spartacus trial" held in Santa Maria Capua Vetere north of Naples. Michele Zagaria and Antonio Iovine, alleged to be leaders of the criminal organization, were among those sentenced to life terms though they remain at large. Ten other defendants were convicted in the trial and sentenced to lesser terms.

The Casalesi clan was primarily involved in toxic waste disposal, extortion and monopolization of the cement market between Naples and Salerno, according to Judge Raffaello Magi. "They control the distribution of essential products. They control elections, and they offer protection and market opportunities to businesses," he said.

Investigators believe the Casalesi clan, based in the town of Casal di Principe, held assets amounting to billions of dollars. The group is believed responsible for numerous murders. During the trial, five people involved in the case were killed. The lives of a judge and two journalists were threatened.

Five hundred witnesses were called in that trial. Twenty former clan members provided evidence against their old underworld colleagues.

Schiavone was apprehended in 1999, as he attempted to escape from police by climbing over a garden wall at his personal villa.

Three face federal murder charges

Thomas Dono, 34, Letterio "Lenny" DeCarlo, 47, and Edmund "Eddie" Boyle, 43, were charged Wednesday with the 1998 killing of a suspected informant, according to reports in the New York Daily News and Newsday.

According to prosecutors, the three men killed Frank Hydell outside a Staten Island, NY, strip club because they feared he would reveal what he knew of the 1997 slaying of construction foreman Frank Parasole at a Brooklyn social club. The prosecutors say Dono, DeCarlo and Boyle are associates of the Gambino Crime Family.

Hydell was shot in the head and chest at midnight April 27, 1998, outside of Scarlet's club.

Dono was arrested early Tuesday. DeCarlo and Boyle are in federal prison on unrelated charges.

JoJo Corozzo reaches plea deal

Federal prosecutors on June 6 dropped drug-trafficking charges against the reputed consigliere of the Gambino Crime Family and permitted him to plead guilty instead to an extortion charge, according to a story by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News.

Joseph "JoJo" Corozzo (right), 66, reached the plea deal in New York shortly after his brother, Nicholas Corozzo, turned himself in to authorities at the end of May. Authorities believe Nicholas is a leader of the Gambino clan. He is charged with extorting money from construction companies, running illegal gambling and ordering a 1996 mob hit in which an innocent bystander was killed. Prosecutors labeled Nicholas a fugitive from justice after February raids against suspected Gambino members and associates.

Joseph Corozzo admitted extorting money from a Staten Island cement company. He could be sentenced to as little as 37 months in prison for the offense. The dismissed drug-trafficking charges carried the possibility of life in prison.

Spain breaks up Tambov Mafiya ring

Spanish authorities say they have broken up the Tambov "family" of the Russian Mafiya, according to reports from the St. Petersburg (Russia) Times, UPI and RIA Novosti.

Twenty people were arrested across the country June 14 on money laundering, tax fraud and criminal association charges. Four hundred law enforcement officers participated in raids conducted in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. In addition to the 20 suspects, the raids netted 23 luxury cars, a yacht, weapons and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash. Police also froze an estimated $18 million in bank accounts believed linked to the Tambov organization.

Over the weekend, five suspects were freed after promising not to leave the country. Two were released on bail. The other 13 suspects remain in custody. Gennady Petrov (left), a reputed leader of the gang, is among those still held by Spanish authorities. Petrov and his wife were arrested at their home in the Sol de Mallorca region of the island of Mallorca. Police also nabbed alleged Petrov deputy Yuri Salikov.

Alexander Malyshev, another reputed leader of the criminal organization, was also arrested, along with his wife and a friend. They were arrested at a luxury estate in Frigiliana, province of Malaga.

The Tambov organization - based in St. Petersburg, Russia, but named for a southwestern Russian city - is believed to have hundreds of members. Russian, U.S., German and Swiss authorities assisted in the Spanish law enforcement action.

Last August, Tambov boss Vladimir Basukov was arrested at his home outside of St. Petersburg. He remains in custody in Moscow.

Court ignores Schweihs' antagonism

U.S. District Judge James Zagel and federal prosecutors said nothing in response to antagonistic remarks by reputed Chicago mobster Frank "German" Schweihs (right) last week, according to reports by Steve Warmbir of the Chicago Sun Times, and the staffs of the Chicago Tribune and the Chicagoist.

The Chicagoist, which reported how Schweihs' vulgar remarks were handled in the press accounts of the Sun-Times, Tribune and Associated Press, announced in its headline that Schweihs "has a potty mouth."

During a court appearance on June 10, Schweihs, 78, asked one male assistant U.S. attorney, "Are you makin' eyes at me?" After noting that another prosecutor wore a turban, he asked his attorneys if they were in a foreign country. Later, he called another prosecutor a vulgar name.

The court went ahead with its business, setting an Oct. 28 date for Schweihs' racketeering trial. Schweihs initially was charged in the Family Secrets case, but he was separated from the other five defendants because he was afflicted with cancer.