How Much Power Does the Chicago Outfit Posess?

The "Family Secrets" trial of a group of alleged Chicago mobsters has drawn attention to the Windy City's gangland heritage and raises questions about the strength of today's "Outfit."

Is the shadowy organization - the modern-day legacy of Al Capone - on its last legs, or is it as strong as ever? Observers disagree.

Retired reporter John Drummond, who chronicled organized crime for WBBM-TV for decades, said the Outfit has been weakened through recent federal crackdowns and the aging of kingpins. Reputed mob boss Joseph "the Clown" Lombardo, one of the Family Secrets defendants, is in his late 70s. "I think they are pretty much in disarray," Drummond said. "Nobody wants to take over the mantle of leadership because of the scrutiny that they'd be under."

Jim Wagner, president of the Chicago Crime Commission, was less optimistic. The former FBI agent said the mob's influence remains as pervasive as ever and includes illegal activities such as gambling and prostitution as well as legitimate white-collar businesses that launder dirty money. "My concern is that people have the misunderstanding that this trial, as important as it is, represents an end of the Outfit, and nothing could be further from the truth," Wagner said. "The money's still there, and therefore the influence is still there."

All Illinoisans are affected by organized crime, Wagner said, because the crime syndicate's participation in any enterprise adds a layer of cost that is passed on to taxpayers or consumers.

The Illinois Gaming Board's 2001 decision to block a casino from being built in Rosemont centered on allegations that the project was tainted by mob influence. Late Rosemont mayor Donald Stephens was dogged for years by allegations that he had associated with Chicago mob chief Sam Giancana, but Stephens denied any connection beyond purchasing property from him in the early-1960s.

The sweeping Family Secrets trial that began in June in U.S. District Court is expected to offer an insider's view into the Chicago Outfit's past misdeeds. The alleged racketeering conspiracy at the heart of the case includes 18 long-unsolved murders and a myriad of crimes ranging from extorting "street taxes" from businesses to making "juice loans," or loan-sharking.

Probably the most notorious killing is that of Anthony Spilotro, who was found buried with his brother in an Indiana cornfield in 1986. In the 1995 movie "Casino," Joe Pesci's character - and his grisly end - is based on Spilotro.

Such displays of brutality generally are a thing of the past for organized crime, author and crime historian Richard Lindberg said. He said that's because mob hits tend to attract law enforcement attention. "The lesson that (mobsters) learned is that violence is bad for business," he said. "Once you stop seeing bodies being found in trunks at the airport or in ditches on the side of country highways, then the mob becomes invisible."

Even if the traditional Italian-American mob may be waning, experts say other kinds of gangs have moved into the Chicago region, possibly with the old syndicate's blessing. They include ethnic crime organizations from Eastern Europe and Asia. The new gangs are even more discreet, Lindberg said.

"What's happened, some people will tell you, is that the government has put too much priority on the traditional mobs, and the other ethnic groups are probably doing very well for themselves," Drummond, the retired reporter, said.

Chicago cannot shake its underworld history, particularly the image of Capone (1899-1947), whose bootlegging empire was the precursor to today's mob. Image-conscious city officials have tried to downplay that era, but it refuses to die.

Few Capone-related sites even survive today, but Don Fielding said his "Untouchables" bus tour continues to thrive. He said guides hit the highlights of Scarface's career. "I hope the trial goes on for years," Fielding said. "It gives people this little sense of intrigue."

In its central exhibit about the city's origins, the Chicago History Museum acknowledges the power that Capone wielded but frames him in a negative context. The display includes a graphic photograph of the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in which several of Capone's rival gang members were sprayed by machine-gun fire. "Part of what the museum is about is to promote a fuller understanding of the history of Chicago," museum historian Sarah Marcus said. "If you are choosing to erase portions of history, first of all, people are going to know you're doing it. And second of all, you have a responsibility to confront some of the less pleasant and disturbing aspects. ... It's not all sunshine and roses."

Thanks to Mike Ramsey

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Replacement for "The Sopranos" Found

The Hollywood Reporter said Wednesday a four-part movie about Saddam Hussein's life will air on HBO. It makes perfect sense that the cable network would buy a mini-series about Iraq. There's nothing HBO likes better than a shoot-'em-up with no ending.

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Widow Testifies that Mobster Killed Her Husband

Friends of ours: Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo
Friends of mine: Irwin Weiner

Emma Seifert had just gotten her sick 4-year-old son settled in the office she shared with her husband and was preparing to make her morning coffee when two gunmen burst through the door.

"I believe they said, 'This is a robbery and where is ...' I don't know if they called him my husband or 'that SOB,' " Seifert told jurors Thursday as she described how mobsters gunned down her husband, Daniel, on the morning of Sept. 27, 1974. "I screamed but obviously not loud enough, because Daniel didn't hear me," Seifert said.

She gave perhaps the most powerful testimony yet in the federal trial in Chicago of five alleged organized crime figures, including two prominent mob bosses.

Daniel Seifert was to be a key government witness against Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, who had been charged with ripping off a Teamsters Union pension fund. When Seifert was killed, the case against Lombardo evaporated. Lombardo is one of the five men on trial as federal prosecutors seek to pin 18 murders, including Seifert's, on the mob.

Emma Seifert testified that she couldn't be definite but believed one of the three gunmen she saw that day was Lombardo -- based on his height, build and lightness on his feet. "Joey was a boxer and very light on his feet," she said.

She acknowledged under questioning by one of Lombardo's defense attorneys that she did not initially tell police about her suspicion. She said she feared for her family's safety but did tell her brother-in-law that day of her belief, according to court testimony.

Her son, Joseph, was there the day his father was killed and also was in court Thursday to hear her testimony, as was his half-brother, Nick. "We felt that she was very courageous," Joseph said of his mom's testimony, speaking for himself and Nick.

He praised the prosecution, saying, "for us, it was an incredibly enlightening day of testimony, of hearing different details and different sides."

Testimony on Thursday revealed that Daniel Seifert became a business associate of mobsters after he did some carpentry work with a mobbed-up businessman, Irwin Weiner.

Weiner helped bankroll the fiberglass factory that Seifert operated. Weiner was friends with Lombardo, and soon Lombardo was hired at the factory, but Emma Seifert testified she never saw him do any work.

Lombardo and Seifert were close, so close that Seifert named his son, Joseph, after him. But relations soured, and Seifert left to start his own business, his widow testified. When the mob later learned that Seifert was cooperating with the feds, the threats began, culminating in his slaying, she told jurors.

Emma Seifert testified that her son had gone into the fiberglass factory first that morning, with her husband trailing behind. Two gunmen burst through a back door, pushed her to the floor and jumped Daniel Seifert in the entryway, hitting him in the head with a gun.

With her husband down, Emma tried to get into her office desk where there was a gun, but the drawer was locked and one of the gunmen herded her and her son into a bathroom, she told the jury.

She heard a gunshot and then heard nothing for a few seconds, told her son to stay put and went back to her desk, Emma said. She saw her husband running for his life across the factory parking lot -- the last time she would see him alive, she testified. Emma said she locked the office door and called police. Emma told jurors that her husband ran through another building, and one of the gunmen shot him. As he lay on the grass, a gunman came up to him and delivered a point-blank shot to his head, according to her testimony.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

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The Mob Turns Down the CIA

The CIA released classified documents Wednesday admitting that the spy agency once recruited mafia hit man Johnny Roselli to try to kill Fidel Castro. However, the gangster turned the U.S. government down. The mob won't get in bed with just anybody.

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Mob Scion Admits No-Show Job Scam

Mob scion Anthony Colombo copped a plea to defrauding a Manhattan construction company, cutting his losses to avoid a retrial four months after a federal jury deadlocked on the charge.

The son of murdered mob boss Joseph Colombo, who ran an off-shoot crew with his brother, Chris Colombo, likely faces 18 months behind bars after he 'fessed up to landing a pal a no-show job at EDP Construction from 1999 to 2000. "I assisted Philip Dioguardi in obtaining a job with EDP entities knowing that he did not actually perform at all times the work he was paid for," Colombo said as he pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court yesterday.

The reputed wiseguy dodged conviction in February when a jury acquitted him of racketeering and extortion, and failed to reach a verdict on two additional extortion counts and conspiracy.

At the same trial, Chris, who gained notoriety in 2005 by filming the failed reality show "House Arrest" for HBO, was convicted on two counts of gambling. In his opening and closing statements, his defense attorney conceded Chris had committed those crimes, but the jury acquitted Chris of two extortion raps and deadlocked on racketeering and other charges. During trial testimony, EDP owner Dominick Fonti said he was also duped into putting Anthony Colombo on his payroll - knowing nothing about his mob ties - and then watched helplessly as his businesses were drained of cash.

Fonti said he doled out a weekly $600 salary to Colombo and more than $24,000 in bonuses, agreeing to make the checks out to gangster's wife, Carol.

The small-business owner claimed he eventually wised up to the fact he was dealing with a son of a murdered Mafia boss and thought to himself, "Boy, Dominick. You really got yourself in deep s- - - here."

Thanks to Kati Cornell

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