Attorneys Get Richer, Judge Orders New Trial for Gotti

Friends of ours: Junior Gotti, John Gotti

A judge on Friday rejected John A. "Junior" Gotti's request to be acquitted of a racketeering charge, clearing the way for a new trial. A jury deadlocked on the charge at trial in September, and U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin declared a mistrial and freed Gotti, 41, on $7 million bond. Scheindlin said Friday that the government was entitled to a new trial, which is scheduled for February 13. Gotti's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said he would appeal.

Gotti is charged with ordering a botched 1992 attempt to abduct Curtis Sliwa, a radio show host and founder of the Guardian Angels crime-fighting group, in retaliation for Sliwa's on-air rants against Gotti's father, the late mob boss John Gotti. Sliwa was shot but recovered and resumed his work on the radio.

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Mob Ties to Hired Truck Scandal

Friends of ours: James "Jimmy I" Inendino and Nick "The Stick" LoCocco

A trucking company owner from Lockport was sentenced to six months in prison Wednesday for lying to a federal grand jury about his involvement in the city's scandal-ridden Hired Truck Program. U.S. District Judge John Grady said Salvador Alvarez's decision to pay city employee John "Quarters" Boyle a bribe to join the program and later cover it up was a textbook case of "a decent man participating in a very evil enterprise." But probation, suggested by Alvarez's attorney Russell Green, would be too mild a punishment for the crimes, Grady said.

Although Grady was sorry for the toll that imprisonment would take on Alvarez, he said he needed to set an example for the community and deter others who might be tempted to walk down the same path. "The matter of official corruption, bribery and shakedowns is an endemic problem. The Hired Truck Program was a disgrace to the City of Chicago and to everyone who knew about the dishonest way it was conducted," Grady said. "The public needs to know that paying bribes and lying to a grand jury about paying bribes is conduct that will lead to serious punishment."

Alvarez, the owner of Sarch Hauling Ltd., also was ordered to pay a $30,000 fine. Before he was sentenced, Alvarez, 54, tearfully recalled how he immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1969, earned his GED and worked hard to make a living. Alvarez apologized to city residents, the government and his family, who joined him in court on what he said was a very "black" day. "I did something here that was very wrong," Alvarez said in a wavering voice. "It was a terrible mistake. It was a mistake I'll never make again."

Boyle, the politically connected former city employee at the center of the Hired Truck probe, told Alvarez he needed to pay $30,000 up front to get into the program and $2,000 per truck per season and an additional $1,000 per truck as a bonus every Christmas, according to Alvarez's plea deal with prosecutors, which calls for his cooperation in the investigation. Boyle, who also pleaded guilty, took $4,000 in shakedown money from Alvarez for a trip to Acapulco, Mexico.

There was no discussion of Sarch's ties to reputed mobsters during Wednesday's hearing. The company leased garage space for its trucks from mob loan shark James Inendino, who was recommended to Alvarez by Nick "The Stick" LoCoco, a mob bookie and city employee who also was charged in the Hired Truck investigation. LoCoco died in an accident before going to trial. Sarch also bought a truck from Mayor Daley ally John Cannatello, who also has pleaded guilty to paying bribes for Hired Truck business.

Thanks to Rummana Hussain

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Vegas Mob

A review of some Vegas "mobsters" can be found at Three Wise Guys .

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Harry Aleman pleads for parole

Reputed mob hit man Harry Aleman pleaded for mercy from state parole board members Wednesday by insisting he was set up by government "stool pigeons" for a 1972 murder he didn't commit. Dressed in blue prison-issued garb and his hands curiously manicured for a prison janitor, Aleman told members of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board that he is undeserving of the 100- to 300-year prison term he received for the shotgun murder of a union official once married to his cousin.

"Serial killers get that," Aleman said in disgust, seemingly oblivious to the notion that some officials pin 20 mob killings on him, though he has been convicted of murder only once. "I caused no problems for anybody, and I'm no threat to anybody. And 27 years is a long period," Aleman said. He has spent most of the last 27 years in state or federal custody for various crimes. "That's double for what they give in this state for murder."

Aleman, 66, is locked up for the murder of William Logan, a Teamsters Union steward, on Chicago's West Side. In a 1977 trial, Aleman was acquitted of that crime, but it was later determined that the judge in the case had been bribed with the help of mob lawyer Bob Cooley, who later became a government informant. With Cooley's help, Aleman was retried in 1997 and convicted.

Aleman said his former "partner," William "Butch" Petrocelli, now dead, killed Logan in a dispute over the affections of Logan's ex-wife and allegations that Logan "used to knock Phyllis around and give her black eyes all the time."

During Wednesday's hearing at Western Illinois Correctional Center, Aleman also denied ever being affiliated with the mob, complained about having art supplies withheld from him and feigned ignorance when asked by one Prisoner Review Board member whether he had ever read Cooley's tell-all book on the mob, When Corruption Was King: How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down. Pausing for a moment, Aleman asked, "Bob Cooley, the stool pigeon guy?"

"He's the lawyer who allegedly carried the $10,000 to Frank Wilson, the judge," replied board member David Frier. "Oh, now I know who you mean, yeah. No, I never read his book," Aleman said. "He's a rat. He's going to say anything they want him to say, sir. C'mon. A rat, that's what they do. Give him a script, and he reads it."

Contacted by the Sun-Times afterward, Cooley called Aleman's foggy memory about him "comical," particularly given the role he played in helping bring Aleman down. "Maybe Harry is trying to get out on a medical. He must have Alzheimer's," Cooley cracked.

The board is expected to make its determination on Aleman's parole request at its next meeting on Dec. 15.

Scott Cassidy, the Cook County prosecutor who helped put Aleman behind bars, urged the board not to show any leniency toward him because he evaded prosecution for the crime for so long, prompting Aleman to interrupt. "Look at me and say that. I got 27 years in prison, almost half of my life," Aleman snapped. Staring back into Aleman's penetrating dark eyes, the veteran prosecutor continued to say his piece.

"Harry should be denied parole because the fact he escaped justice for so many years, and he lived the best part of his life while Billy Logan was dead," Cassidy said.

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Lawyer alleges mob-tie affidavit on him is a fake

A well-known Loop attorney has alleged that an affidavit accusing him of having ties to organized crime is a forgery and was not signed by a former FBI agent as his legal opponents claimed. Michael Ficaro of Ungaretti & Harris made the allegation this week as part of a libel suit he filed in August against three Chicago lawyers and a businessman who he says used the affidavit to falsely discredit him. The affidavit--purportedly signed by former FBI agent Francis Marrocco--said a four-year FBI investigation had revealed that Ficaro had relationships with members of organized crime.

Ficaro's lawyer, Robert Clifford, said Tuesday that the affidavit was concocted to try to pressure Ficaro to settle a lawsuit in which his clients were seeking $15 million from the businessman, Nicholas Betzold. "One or more of the [libel case] defendants forged the signature of an ex-FBI agent to a fictitious, created, false and untrue affidavit," Clifford said in a statement. "The affidavit was intended to extort Ficaro and his law firm into settling."

Named as defendants in the case are attorneys Larry Levin, David Missner and William Choslovsky, all of Chicago, and Betzold. Martin O'Hara, an attorney for Missner and Choslovsky, said Wednesday that Ficaro had raised the forgery claim only after his clients filed a motion to dismiss his original complaint. "We're going to investigate these new issues," O'Hara said. "But we don't believe there's any merit" to them.

Ficaro is a former assistant Illinois attorney general and former lawyer for Emerald Casino, a gambling firm that had hoped to build a casino in Rosemont.

The dispute stemmed from an arbitration proceeding in which Betzold was battling with three partners for control of an investment company. Ficaro represented the three partners. The arbitrator ruled in favor of Ficaro's clients in April 2004, clearing the way for an award that could have approached $15 million, Ficaro said. But Betzold filed for bankruptcy. In August 2004, Betzold's attorneys filed documents in Bankruptcy Court alleging Ficaro had ties to organized crime and had improperly influenced the arbitration proceeding.

The filings were accompanied by affidavits from Marrocco and Robert Cooley, a former mob lawyer who became an undercover informant for the FBI.

In the court filing Tuesday, Ficaro alleged that Marrocco had spoken to Levin and gave a short statement about Ficaro. But Marrocco "refused to sign an affidavit [and] never did sign an affidavit," Ficaro said in filings. Marrocco could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Thanks to Michael Higgins

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