Juror Rap Sheets, Tax Audits Requested by Lawyers in Mob Case

Friends of ours: James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, Tony "The Ant" Spilotro

Attorneys for a reputed mob boss asked a federal judge Monday to require the government to produce the rap sheets and tax audit information of prospective jurors as part of the jury selection process.

James Marcello's attorneys made no mention of the nasty legal bickering that erupted over the arrest records of several jurors at the close of former Gov. George Ryan's racketeering and fraud trial in April.

The attorneys merely said in a motion filed with U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel that a juror's failure to disclose his criminal record during the selection process could "give rise to an inference of bias."

"Such a juror could be motivated not to reveal his or her past because of a hidden agenda," the attorneys said. "In fairness, the parties ought to know it before or during jury selection."

Marcello is one of 14 defendants charged in a racketeering conspiracy indictment involving at least 18 long unsolved murders, including that of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, once known as the Chicago mob's man in Las Vegas.

Marcello, 63, of suburban Lombard has been described by FBI officials as the leader of organized crime in the Chicago area. The case, stemming from a long-running FBI investigation dubbed Operation Family Secrets, is due to go to trial next May.

The request for a criminal background check of prospective jurors and information concerning tax audits of them is unusual. But the turmoil surrounding the Ryan trial has led to considerable discussion of the issue among defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges.

In the Ryan case, two jurors were dismissed by U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer after the jury already had deliberated eight days. The Chicago Tribune disclosed that they had failed to indicate on a required court questionnaire that they had arrest records.

Later, Pallmeyer declined to dismiss four other jurors who were found to have failed to indicate that they had experiences with the court system ranging from a divorce to a 23-year-old theft charge for purchasing a stolen bicycle. She said their omissions were not as serious. Intense legal infighting over the issue dragged on for weeks.

The attorney who filed the motion on behalf of Marcello, Marc W. Martin, represented Ryan's co-defendant, businessman Larry Warner, at the seven-month trial that ended with the former governor's conviction.

Martin did not immediately return a phone call Monday afternoon. His office said he was in a meeting. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, Randall Samborn, declined to comment but said prosecutors most likely would file a written answer with the court.

In the wake of the Ryan turmoil, federal prosecutors urged criminal background checks for prospective jurors at the next major political corruption trial to take place in Chicago - that of Mayor Richard M. Daley's former patronage chief, Robert Sorich, and three other men. But U.S. District Judge David H. Coar, who presided over the Sorich trial, ruled out criminal background checks for jurors.

The four defendants were convicted July 6 in what prosecutors described as a scheme under which political campaign workers were illegally put on the city payroll. There were no noticeable jury problems.

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Mafia Cops Request Bail

Friends of ours: Gambino Crime Family
Friends of mine: Louis Eppolito, Stephen Caracappa

It was a sensational case that seemed finished when guilty verdicts and life sentences were announced earlier this year against the defendants, both former NYPD detectives accused of moonlighting as hitmen for the mob. But a stunning ruling last month has made a new scene possible: The portly and talkative Louis Eppolito and his spindly and taciturn former partner, Stephen Caracappa, walking out of jail.

The defendants were due back in court on Tuesday, when their lawyers are expected to ask U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein to free them based on his decision to toss out the verdict finding them guilty of participating in eight murders while on the payroll of a brutal mob underboss. The judge found that the statute of limitations had expired on the slayings, which occurred between 1986 and 1990.

Papers filed recently by the defense note that Eppolito, 57, and Caracappa, 57, each were out on $5 million bail for nine months before their convictions and return to jail on April 3. They argue that the similar conditions should apply while they await the outcome of a government appeal of Weinstein's ruling or, if it's upheld, a retrial on lesser charges stemming from a 2005 drug sting in Las Vegas, where the partners both had retired.

Eppolito ``respectfully submits that a reasonable bail pending the highly likely retrial on allegations that he distributed a small quantity of methamphetamine and laundered a small amount of money is appropriate,'' his attorney, Joseph Bondy, wrote in a July 21 letter to Weinstein. Bondy said his client hopes to return to Las Vegas, where he would ``live with his wife and near his children.''

Prosecutors, calling the evidence that the defendants were killers ``overwhelming,'' have argued that they are too dangerous to go free. ``The fact that these men, who swore to serve and protect, were so willing to betray the public trust by committing unspeakable acts of violence for money is a testament to the serious threat of danger to the community their release constitutes,'' wrote prosecutor Robert Henoch.

In his ruling, Weinstein said he agreed with the jury that Eppolito and Caracappa were guilty of murder, kidnapping and other crimes, but the law compelled him to set aside the verdict. The decision came less than a month after he told the pair they would receive life in prison _ a sentence that could still be imposed if prosecutors win their appeal.

Caracappa retired in 1992 after establishing the police department's unit for mob murder investigations. Eppolito, whose father was a member of the Gambino crime family, was a much-praised street cop who went on to play a bit part in ``GoodFellas'' and launch an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter.

In a jailhouse interview following his conviction, Eppolito called himself ``the most perfect scapegoat in history.''

Thanks to WINS

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Bonanno Crime Family Linked to BetonSports

Friends of ours: Bonanno Crime Family

A newspaper in Costa Rica is reporting that BetOnSports is linked to the Mafia. They state, "a year ago, New York and federal officials busted a $360 million gambling operation linked to the mob and to a sports book in Costa Rica. It turns out the sports book, being used as a virtual wire room for persons linked to the Bonanno Mafia crime family, according to New York officials, was part of the BetonSports operation, using the name Safe Deposit Sports. The administrative contact for safedepositsports.com was Pablo Quiros Valenciano, who has a betonsports.com e-mail address, according to a lookup of the Safe Deposit Internet domain.

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Overheard: Mafia Weather

The Weather Channel reported a power outage in New York's LaGuardia Airport last week due to record-high heat. It's really bad back East. In New Jersey, three guys suffocated inside a car trunk before they could die of their gunshot wounds.

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Keep Family Business Out of Trial Say Reputed Mobster's Attorneys

Friends of ours: Frank Calabrese Sr., Nicholas W. Calabrese, Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, Joey "The Clown" Lombardo
Friends of mine: Frank Calabrese Jr.

Attorneys for a reputed mobster said Friday it would be "morally repugnant" for jurors at his upcoming trial to hear about telephone conversations with his wife that were tapped by federal investigators.

"This case involves enough of a distasteful spectacle due to the fact that the defendant's son and brother may testify against him," attorneys for Frank Calabrese Sr. said in papers filed in U.S. District Court. Calabrese, 69, of Oak Brook is among 14 defendants charged in the FBI's wide-ranging Operation Family Secrets investigation of 18 mob murders that went unsolved for years.

Brother Nicholas W. Calabrese, 63, of Chicago also is charged and son Frank Calabrese Jr. may take the witness stand at the trial currently scheduled for May 2007. Calabrese Jr. is not charged in the case.

The court papers said it would be "morally repugnant to see the defendant's spouse on the witness stand and the government attempting to reveal confidences" that were exchanged in telephone talks between them while she was at home and he was in the federal prison at Milan, Mich. "These conversations revolved around family matters and other family business," the court papers said. One such discussion in May 2000 concerned an alleged break-in at wife Diane Calabrese's Wisconsin home.

The Family Secrets case is the result of the biggest mob investigation in the Chicago area in decades. Among the murders involved is that of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the Chicago "Outfit's" longtime man in Las Vegas, who was killed and buried in an Indiana cornfield in an act of mob vengeance.

Defendants include Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, the reputed mobster known for his zany sense of humor who went on the lam after the indictment was returned and became the target of an intense FBI manhunt. Agents captured him in suburban Elmwood Park in January.

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