Marco Glitta, Brother of Reputed Chicago Porn King, Gets 8 Years On Bomb Charge

Marco Glitta, brother of reputed crime syndicate pornography kingpin Michael Glitta, was sentenced to eight years in prison for purchasing remote-control bombs that investigators suspect were intended for competitors in the pornography business.

U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur branded Marco Glitta, a former Metropolitan Sanitary District employee, as a ``potential bomber-assassin`` who sought to purchase the bombs for a crime that was ``life-threatening and deliberate.``

Michael Mullen, an assistant U.S. attorney, disclosed at the sentencing hearing that federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms suspect that Michael Glitta ordered the bombs to kill Paula Lawrence, another reputed pornography business mogul and a rival of his, or to blow up a building housing Lawrence`s business.

Mullen noted that two of Lawrence`s buildings, in Aurora and Palatine, were damaged by fire last August, about the same time that Marco Glitta began seeking the bombs.

Mullen also said that during a government-administered lie-detector test, Marco Glitta had denied that the bombs were intended to harm anyone and denied that his brother had requested the devices. Both denials registered ``the strongest level of deception,`` Mullen said.

Glitta, 56, of 7926 Courtland St., Elmwood Park, contended that he intended to ``tinker`` with the bombs and never planned to use them for destructive purposes. He also denied that he was obtaining the devices for his brother.

In a plea for leniency, Glitta told Shadur, ``I have the highest regard for the law,`` and he contended that he was just kidding when he indicated to a member of the sanitary district police force that he wanted to use the devices for evil purposes.