Chicago 1930

Deliver2Mac has released Chicago 1930, a strategy game for Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later. It’s Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It’s a real time. tactical game set in the time of prohibition and ongoing battles between police and the mob.

Here’s how the game is described: “Chicago 1930 impresses with very detailed and varying backdrops offering dark courtyards and dubious brothels as well as monumental buildings of large towns. Embedded in the atmosphere of mafia-like activity as well as the style of the thirties, you have to succeed in procuring the leadership of the city to ‘your’ side, always being conscious about possible ambushes.

“Besides you have the choice between mafia and police. This decision influences the game play crucially: With the police it is your job to clear up crimes at the scene of their happening, as well as protecting important persons from crooks or busting mafia-gangs. You have to track down and interrogate witnesses and collect information in order to finally get onto the mafia as a result from your razor-sharp considerations. It often comes down to a spectacular showdown, when the criminals are hunted down at last and defend themselves with baseball bats, shotguns as well as Tommy-guns.

“You have to respond to a totally different challenge in the mafia campaign: Compelling arguments as well as hard words are required, not only to assert yourself against the police, but also against competing gangs.

“However, acting circumspectly is necessary as well: you have to silence passer-bys as they have become witnesses of your abominations. You also have to think about tactics and ambushes for superior gangs and by doing so you always need to have your sympathy in the population in your eye. Strategy is what is asked for!

“Every district offers you new opportunities and resources like arms stores and practice establishments. The consistent story instantly transfers you into the role of the person pulling the strings. The characters being commanded by you are capable of improving their abilities as they game goes on. Ensure they become a team of specialists so you can keep up your chances as the battle about Chicago becomes harder consistently. Therefore smart planning and tactics are an assumption for the choice, assignments and the equipment of the up to five characters per mission.”

Thanks to Dennis Sellers

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Mobsters of the Midway

Is Tinsel Town headed to Chi-town?

Again?

The ongoing "Family Secrets" trial at the Dirksen Federal Building is a modern day mob soap opera with a son, a mistress and a brother taking the stand against reputed mobsters.

The trial has all the guns and gore associated with Hollywood blockbusters:

• Murders
• Bribes
• Extortion ("street tax")
• Police protection
• Turncoats
• Mafia mistresses

Top-notch producers and directors are sitting in on the trail this week in an effort to quench their desire to morph the mob into a star-studded script, according to radio reports buzzing through Chicago.

Think Casino, The Godfather, GoodFellas. Think of the proscecutor who reminded us all that this trial is real life - and not the movies. But, before these poaching producers descended on Dearborn Steet at the Dirksen Building, mob movie casting was already underway on Clark Street at the Medill News Service.

Endless casting meetings, headshot reviews and late night brainstorming led to the creation of the elite eight—the seasoned stars that will bring “Mobsters of the Midway” [our working title] to the big screen.

Cast suggestions:

Danny DeVito as flamboyant criminal defense attorney Joe Lopez. DeVito needs to ditch his dull duds and shop at Lopez's colorful clothing store! Oh and Danny, think about a tan.

Woody Harrelson as the 47-year old Frank Calabrse Jr., the "rat" son of alleged mafia hitman Frank Calabrese Sr. Harrelson should transfrom himself into this khaki wearing prince by only shopping for dockers and donning a walking cane. Note to Woody: Get a thick Chi-town accent ASAP!

Daniel Craig as Nick Calabrese, the brother of alleged hitman FRank Calabrese Sr. Craig has just enough tough skin to pull playing the part of Nick testifying against his own brother. Remember Casino Royale.

Donald Sutherland as Joey "the Clown" Lombardo. Seeing that Sutherland is no newcomer to playing brutish characters, he will need little pre-production preparation. Oh and Don, don't shave, go shabby!

J.E. Freeman to portray mobster and alleged killer James Marcello. Freeman should just keep up his scary look and look to his previous roles as killers and lunatics for guidance.

Paul Sorvino as reputed mobster Frank Calabrese Sr. Sorvino, a mob movie veteran who is Italian, will know how to play a reputed killer.

Jennifer Garner as fiesty rookie reporter Jacqueline A. Ingles. Garner will have to retrieve her sassy attitude from Alias to portray this firecracker.

George Hamilton as the overly tan and pompous ABC 7 investigative reporter Chuck Goudie.

Thanks to Jacqueline A. Ingles

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Mistress Faces Reputed Mobster

Friends of ours: James Marcello, Tony Spilotro, Joey "the Clown" Lombardo
Friends of mine: Michael Spilotro

The reputed mob boss did his best to keep a poker face Thursday.

First, the daughter of one of the Spilotro brothers tried not to cry as she indirectly blamed James Marcello for luring her father to his violent death.

Then a second witness, a slim, woman with shoulder-length brown hair testified against him in a quiet voice he knows well.

Connie Marcello, 53, who changed her name after becoming Marcello's mistress, said she met him while she was tending bar in Cook County strip clubs such as Michael's Magic Touch and The Hollywood. James Marcello, who was married to another woman, gave her thousands a month in cash for more than 20 years, she told jurors at the Family Secrets mob conspiracy trial in the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.

The gifts are important because prosecutors allege Marcello ran an illegal, cash-based gambling empire that saw video poker machines placed in bars around the Chicago area. If she was ever asked where her money came from, Connie Marcello testified, she was supposed to say her mother gave it to her.

Her testimony came during the continuing trial of five men—including Marcello—for a conspiracy that allegedly included 18 previously unsolved murders, including the killings of brothers Anthony and Michael Spilotro.

Connie Marcello calmly said she lied to Marcello in 2005 after she appeared before a grand jury, telling him the subject of the money never came up. "I just said it was things about the '80s," she said she told him.

She was still getting money from him as late as June, she said. His brother or a friend would hand her an envelope or a coffee cup stuffed with $100 bills, she said.

Marcello paid for her lawyers, she said, and when she ran up $15,000 in gambling debt, Marcello's cash made it go away. If she was forced to testify at the Family Secrets trial under a grant of immunity, as she did Thursday, she was expected to say nothing and go to jail, she said.

On cross-examination, she was asked if Marcello was being kind to her and her two children, one of whom was adopted and has special needs. That, she said before leaving the courtroom, was true too.

Connie Marcello's testimony followed an earlier session where Michelle Spilotro, the daughter of mob figure Michael Spilotro, talked about working as a hostess at her father's restaurant in the 1980s. She watched him whisper with mobsters in the back room, she said, and told jurors she watched in her house as her dad and alleged mob leader Joey "the Clown" Lombardo wrote each other notes on a child's toy instead of talking out loud.

It was a board that could be written on and then erased by pulling a plastic sheet away from its backing. "You'd see scribbling and they'd lift it up," she said. And she received directions from her father about taking phone calls, especially when a man she knew as "Jim" rang the house.

"Jim," who authorities allege is James Marcello, had a distinct voice with a thick Chicago accent.

Spilotro, 38, now a homemaker, fought tears on the witness stand as she thought about the day in June 1986 when her father disappeared. Her father and uncle were waiting for "Jim" to call, and she answered the phone. After that, she said, the Spilotro brothers got dressed to leave the house.

She said her father left his jewelry in a Ziploc bag on the kitchen counter, and told her to tell her mother to bring it to a graduation party they were attending that night.

Years later, an FBI agent sat her in a car and played her a "voice lineup" of five investigators and Marcello reading a couple of paragraphs from an item in a Chicago newspaper.

When Marcello's voice came on, Spilotro told agents she didn't need to hear anymore, she was sure it was the caller.

On cross-examination, Spilotro acknowledged she hadn't heard "Jim's" voice for three years before listening to the tape. Spilotro's testimony followed that of her mother, Ann Spilotro, who told jurors her husband had once told her that he and his brother "were going to be No. 1" in the hierarchy of the Outfit. The men eventually were targeted for death because Anthony Spilotro, the mob's Las Vegas boss, was attempting unauthorized hits.

Thanks to Jeff Coen

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Mistress of Mob Boss to Testify

Friends of ours: James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, Frank Calabrese Sr., Nicholas Calabrese, Anthony Spilotro
Friends of mine: Mike Spilotro

A one-time mistress of reputed top Chicago mob boss James "Little Jimmy" Marcello is scheduled to be called today as a witness for the prosecution in the Family Secrets trial, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

It could not be determined what Connie Marcello will tell jurors. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitchell Mars referred to her only as "Miss Marcello" when asked by U.S. District Judge James Zagel Wednesday for a list of witnesses who are expected to appear today.

While there is a marital privilege that generally prohibits prosecutors from calling wives to testify against their husbands, there is no mistress privilege. Connie Marcello adopted James Marcello's last name, but the two never married.

It's the latest twist in the Family Secrets case, in which one defendant, reputed Outfit killer Frank Calabrese Sr., saw his son, Frank Jr., and brother, Nicholas, testify against him.

Also expected to appear today as witnesses are the widow and daughter of Michael Spilotro, who was killed in a brutal gangland beating in 1986 with his brother, Anthony Spilotro, who oversaw the Outfit's interests in Las Vegas.

Michael Spilotro's daughter, Michelle, is expected to testify that James Marcello called her home twice looking for her father, who left for a meeting and never returned. Spilotro's daughter said in an affidavit that she had heard Marcello's voice many times before. She later identified his voice from an FBI recording.

On Wednesday, a forensic pathologist testified Michael and Anthony Spilotro died from blunt force injuries and could not breathe because blood filled their airways or lungs. There was no evidence they were buried alive or hit with baseball bats -- a version popularized in the 1995 movie "Casino."

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

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The Sopranos - Season 6, Part 2

The Sopranos - Season 6, Part 2 is the highly anticipated conclusion of the long-running HBO series surrounding mob boss Tony Soprano, and his life with both "families". The highly publicized conclusion of the program's final season made the news recently, and HBO Home Video and Warner Home Video are bringing this home on October 23rd. There will be a 4-DVD set and HBO will release hi-def versions on both the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats, too.

The 9 episodes, which are nominated for 15 Emmy awards, will be joined by several extras, including 2 Featurettes and a number of Commentary Tracks: Making "Cleaver": Behind the scenes of Christopher' s horror film The Music of The Sopranos: Creator David Chase, cast and crew discuss the songs from the show Four audio commentaries with cast members Dominic Chainese, Robert Iler, Arthur Nascarella, Steven R. Schirripa and Stevie Van Zandt.

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