Feds Claim Outlaw Biker Ordered by Chicago Outfit to Blow Up Video Gambling Operation

The Chicago Outfit ordered an Outlaw biker to blow up a Berwyn gambling operation because it competed with the mob’s own $13 million video gambling machine business, prosecutors charge in a filing this afternoon.

Mark Polchan, 41, and Samuel Volpendesto, 84, were arrested last week in connection with the 2003 bombing.

No one was injured in the Feb. 25, 2003, explosion, but the device blew out several windows and destroyed the ceiling and wood frame above the doorway of C & S Coin Operated Amusements, 6508 W. 16th St. The business leased coin-operated vending and video machines.

In a filing that seeks to keep the two behind bars pending trial, the feds revealed a series of recordings that allegedly captured Volpendesto on tape talking about the 2003 bombing that took out part of a building. The filing also alleges an extensive and wide-ranging criminal history on the part of Polchan, purportedly a high ranking member of the lawless Outlaws biker gang, from involvement with the mob, to coercing a witness to recant his story in a murder case.

“Disturbingly, the investigation has revealed that Polchan used his connections not only (with) the Outlaws and the Outfit, but also with various corrupt police officers, to advance his and his associates’ criminal objectives,” prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors say despite his age, Volpendesto is a risk of flight and a danger to the community. They describe him as knowledgeable about bomb-making and say he admitted on recordings he took part in previous bombings. In 1990, Volpendesto was charged after beating a suspected stool pigeon at a Cicero strip club. In 2006, he was arrested for assaulting his wife,” according to the filing.

“And a mere five years ago, (Volpendesto) set off a bomb that could have very easily killed or maimed innocent individuals,” prosecutors wrote. In a series of recorded conversations with a cooperating individual, Volpendesto was captured saying: “we blew part of that away.”

If convicted of the three counts against them, the two would face a sentence of 35 years to life in prison.

Thanks to Natasha Korecki