Jurors began deliberating the fate of five defendants Aug. 31 in the 10-week Family Secrets trial in Chicago, and continued Sept. 4. Four of the men are alleged members of the organized crime syndicate known as the Outfit. The defendants are alleged to have been involved in 18 mob murders, according to the federal indictment.
The Chicago Tribune reports: “Federal prosecutors contend that reputed Outfit figures James Marcello, Joey ‘the Clown’ Lombardo, Frank Calabrese Sr. and Paul ‘the Indian’ Schiro as well as former Chicago Police Officer Anthony ‘Twan’ Doyle should be convicted in a racketeering conspiracy spanning four decades.
“All are charged in Count 1, the racketeering conspiracy charge, which takes up 18 pages of the indictment and alleges that an enterprise known as the Outfit collected street tax, operated illegal gambling businesses, made juice loans, obstructed justice and protected itself with violence and murder.”
If convicted, each man is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars. The defendants are in their 60s and 70s.
While this real-life spectacle has captivated fans of crime drama all summer, Chicago is not the extent of the Outfit’s reach. Although outshined by a trial epitomizing Chicago’s rich history of organized crime, nine men were sentenced this summer, between May and June, on federal charges of operating an illegal gambling business in Rockford since the 1980s.
The lead prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney John Scully, said the ring netted in excess of $500,000.
Indictments were handed down last year, and federal warrants were executed for the arrests of eight local men, all of whom later entered guilty pleas after surrendering peacefully.
Rockford Police and the FBI conducted a joint investigation into the bookmaking business, starting in August 2000, including wire taps and surveillance of the ring’s hub of operations in a 17th Avenue apartment building. Bettors were not charged.
U.S. District Court Judge Philip G. Reinhard sentenced Joseph F. “Pep” Fiorenza to three years probation, eight months of which to be served under home confinement while wearing an electronic monitoring device. In addition, Fiorenza was sentenced to 150 hours of community service, and his passport was ordered to be held by Fiorenza’s probation officer. Fiorenza was fined $10,000 and ordered to forfeit an additional $46,000. Feds initially hoped to seize Fiorenza’s Rockford home, but simply held onto it until the forfeiture was made.
Fiorenza’s sons, Nicolas T. and Rick J., were sentenced to 36 months probation, six months of electronic monitoring under home confinement, 100 hours of community service and ordered to forfeit $15,000 each. Nicolas, of Machesney Park, and Rick were fined $2,000 and $350, respectively. Nicolas’ passport was also ordered to be held for the duration of his probationary period.
John P. “Tiger” Frisella, rumored to be the ringleader, was sentenced to three years probation and six months of electronic monitoring under house arrest. Frisella was also ordered to perform 150 hours of community service, pay a $250 fine and forfeit $20,000. Prosecutors originally sought $500,000 from Frisella from funds they said were associated with illegal gambling activities.
Frank C. Giardono, of Loves Park, was ordered to part with $7,500 in illegal gambling proceeds and ordered to pay a $500 fine in addition to his sentence of three years probation and three months of home confinement with electronic monitoring. Giardono will also perform 75 hours of community service.
Nick Provenzano, also of Loves Park, was ordered to surrender $5,000 and pay a $1,000 fine. He will serve two years of probation and 75 hours of community service. Provenzano is not related to the Rockford Provenzanos of Supplycore fame, according to the local daily.
Judge Reinhard sentenced Charles A. Purin to three years probation, three months under house arrest with electronic monitoring and 75 hours of community service. He also agreed to forfeit $5,000 and pay a $1,000 fine.
John F. Salamone will serve three years probation, pay a $100 fine and forfeit $5,000. Salamone’s aliases include Don Finooch, John Finooch and John Franks.
The ninth man, Joseph W. Saladino, was already in federal custody on weapons charges. He was sentenced to an additional six months in prison and three years of supervised release. In addition, Saladino was ordered to part with $20,000 for his role.
As reported in our May 4-10, 2005, issue with regard to Saladino: “According to court records, after a state trooper searched the trunk of Saladino’s vehicle, police found ‘a loaded 0.380 caliber handgun, an unloaded 0.357 magnum handgun, an unloaded 9 mm fully automatic machine pistol with no serial number, and in excess of 400 rounds of ammunition.’
“’In addition, defendant [Saladino] had two books on how to make silencers, a book on machine lathes, a billy club, two ‘slim jims,’ two bolt cutters, a tree trimming saw, one butcher knife, a pipe wrench, a stocking cap, and two face masks.”
Saladino is the cousin of alleged mob enforcer Frank G. “Gumba” Saladino, who was found dead of natural causes April 25, 2005, when federal agents raided his Hampshire, Ill., hotel room as Operation Family Secrets culminated in the simultaneous arrests of numerous reputed Chicago mobsters.
Saladino, formerly of Rockford, was posthumously named a co-conspirator in the Rockford gambling ring.
“Frank ‘Gumba’ Saladino was allegedly a very busy Outfit killer,” explained Steve Warmbir, a Chicago Sun-Times reporter who has been covering the Family Secrets trial. “He’s been tied to several murders.”
According to Warmbir, Family Secrets prosecutors say Saladino was involved in the murders of John Mendell, Vincent Moretti, Donald Renno, Paul Haggerty and Henry Cosentino—five of the 18 Family Secrets “hits.”
Frank “Gumba” Saladino was long considered Rockford’s liaison to the Outfit, responsible for, among other things, delivering “tributes” to Chicago bosses from operations in Rockford.
The Chicago Tribune reported April 26, 2005, Saladino’s body was found with $25,000 in cash and $70,000 in checks in his room.
As reported in our Feb. 8-14, 2006, issue: “The Rockford Register Star reported that in the early 1960s, Frank ‘often partnered with his cousin Joe.’ Joseph Saladino’s past includes the following:
u “Rape conviction with his cousin Frank G. Saladino of a Winnebago County woman on Oct. 22, 1964.
“Pled guilty in Winnebago County to battery charges on Jan. 18, 1983, and was sentenced to one year of court supervision and a $90 fine.
“Sentenced to two years probation, 200 hours of community service and $3,500 fine for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon on April 8, 1998.”
Joe was recently seen in Rockford looking very well groomed and healthy.
A former Rockford-area bookie familiar with the illegal sports gambling ring alleged one of the key organizers was a prominent business leader. That leader was not among the individuals indicted.
Thanks to Stuart R. Wahlin
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Dem Are Lies!
The day after a jury of seven women and five men found him guilty of racketeering, bookmaking and extortion, Oak Brook mobster Frank Calabrese Sr. hit his boiling point in court Tuesday, shouting out "Dem are lies!" as a prosecutor detailed his alleged murders.
Assistant U.S. attorney Mitchell Mars was making his closing argument before the second phase of jury deliberations, during which jurors will specify which murders, if any, the now-convicted mobsters committed during the course of their racketeering activities.
Calabrese Sr. had managed to remain silent during the first portion of Mars' presentation, when he recounted how Calabrese Sr. was caught on tape apparently telling his son, Frank Calabrese Jr. about the murder of William and Charlotte Dauber in Will County in 1980. The two were cut off in traffic and then shot to death because the mob thought William Dauber was an informant.
When Calabrese Jr. questioned why Charlotte Dauber was killed too, Calabrese Sr. replied, "Well, what was I supposed to do? Tell her to move over?" Mars said. And Mars' voiced cracked when he recalled another tape showing Calabrese Sr. "talking to his son, almost with glee, about how you can cut a man in half with double-ought shotgun shells. That's as cold as it gets."
Through those accusations, Calabrese Sr. remained silent, as he did through his attorney's attempt to persuade jurors not to find he had committed murder. But only when Mars, in his final rebuttal, remarked on how Calabrese Sr. was, even then, sitting "with a very chilling smile on his face" after "he has left a trail of bodies -- literally" did Calabrese erupt.
"Dem are lies," he barked out, sitting up in his seat.
Two U.S. Marshals moved in, prepared to restrain Calabrese, but Mars continued, ignoring the comment as if Calabrese wasn't even in the room.
District Judge James Zagel glanced at Calabrese, but said nothing, apparently unwilling to interrupt Mars any further.
Jurors, for their part, looked unimpressed by Calabrese's attorney's pleas to not believe the testimony of Nick Calabrese -- the hit man and brother of Frank Calabrese Sr. who testified and linked Calabrese Sr. to 13 murders. One woman yawned repeatedly. Another stared at the floor, his head held in both hands. Still another juror's eyes fluttered almost closed.
If the 12 jurors find unanimously that Calabrese Sr., James Marcello of Lombard, Joseph Lombardo of Chicago and Paul Schiro of Phoenix committed murders as part of their racketeering conspiracy, they face sentences of life in prison.
The jury went home Tuesday without reaching a decision. Deliberations continue today.
Thanks to Rob Olmstead
Assistant U.S. attorney Mitchell Mars was making his closing argument before the second phase of jury deliberations, during which jurors will specify which murders, if any, the now-convicted mobsters committed during the course of their racketeering activities.
Calabrese Sr. had managed to remain silent during the first portion of Mars' presentation, when he recounted how Calabrese Sr. was caught on tape apparently telling his son, Frank Calabrese Jr. about the murder of William and Charlotte Dauber in Will County in 1980. The two were cut off in traffic and then shot to death because the mob thought William Dauber was an informant.
When Calabrese Jr. questioned why Charlotte Dauber was killed too, Calabrese Sr. replied, "Well, what was I supposed to do? Tell her to move over?" Mars said. And Mars' voiced cracked when he recalled another tape showing Calabrese Sr. "talking to his son, almost with glee, about how you can cut a man in half with double-ought shotgun shells. That's as cold as it gets."
Through those accusations, Calabrese Sr. remained silent, as he did through his attorney's attempt to persuade jurors not to find he had committed murder. But only when Mars, in his final rebuttal, remarked on how Calabrese Sr. was, even then, sitting "with a very chilling smile on his face" after "he has left a trail of bodies -- literally" did Calabrese erupt.
"Dem are lies," he barked out, sitting up in his seat.
Two U.S. Marshals moved in, prepared to restrain Calabrese, but Mars continued, ignoring the comment as if Calabrese wasn't even in the room.
District Judge James Zagel glanced at Calabrese, but said nothing, apparently unwilling to interrupt Mars any further.
Jurors, for their part, looked unimpressed by Calabrese's attorney's pleas to not believe the testimony of Nick Calabrese -- the hit man and brother of Frank Calabrese Sr. who testified and linked Calabrese Sr. to 13 murders. One woman yawned repeatedly. Another stared at the floor, his head held in both hands. Still another juror's eyes fluttered almost closed.
If the 12 jurors find unanimously that Calabrese Sr., James Marcello of Lombard, Joseph Lombardo of Chicago and Paul Schiro of Phoenix committed murders as part of their racketeering conspiracy, they face sentences of life in prison.
The jury went home Tuesday without reaching a decision. Deliberations continue today.
Thanks to Rob Olmstead
Mob Killings Outlined for Jury
A day after jurors handed down guilty verdicts in Chicago's biggest mob trial in years, a prosecutor asked them yesterday to take the next step toward sending four defendants to prison for life for a series of "brutal and heinous" gangland killings.
"There was no mercy with regard to these murders — they were cruel, they were ruthless," prosecutor Mitchell A. Mars told jurors as he described the slayings of mobsters Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and his brother Michael Spilotro.
The same jury on Monday convicted five men of racketeering conspiracy and other charges involving decades of loan sharking, gambling extortion and 18 unsolved organized crime killings tied to the Chicago mob.
Prosecutors now want the jury to hold four of the defendants responsible for specific killings, qualifying them for life sentences. U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel will make the final decision on each defendant's sentence.
Mr. Mars described the 18 killings outlined in the indictment and what prosecutors see as the role of each defendant.
His voice cracked with emotion as he recalled how a bomb planted in businessman Michael Cagnoni's car almost killed Mr. Cagnoni's wife and child. "I can't think of anything more shockingly evil than the homicide of Michael Cagnoni," Mr. Mars said.
Facing life sentences are purported mob boss James Marcello, 65, purported capo Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78, convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese Sr., 70, and convicted jewel thief Paul Schiro, 70. The fifth defendant convicted Monday, retired Chicago policeman Anthony Doyle, 62, is not accused of taking part in a killing.
Calabrese is accused of the most killings: 13. During the trial, he denied being a mob member and said he did not kill anyone.
Marcello is blamed for the June 1986 killings of Tony Spilotro, long the Chicago mob's man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the movie "Casino." He and his brother were fatally beaten and buried in an Indiana cornfield.
The government's star witness, Nicholas Calabrese, brother of Frank Calabrese Sr., testified that he helped kill Michael Spilotro while other mobsters killed Tony Spilotro in the basement of a suburban home. He testified that Marcello lured the Spilotros to their death.
Marcello defense attorney Thomas Breen appealed to jurors to disregard the testimony of Nicholas Calabrese, saying he was an admitted hit man who would say anything to get a deal from prosecutors that would keep him from the execution chamber.
Mr. Breen said Nicholas Calabrese thought that to cut a plea deal, "the marquee, the five-star case that has to be cleared, is the Spilotro case."
"There was no mercy with regard to these murders — they were cruel, they were ruthless," prosecutor Mitchell A. Mars told jurors as he described the slayings of mobsters Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and his brother Michael Spilotro.
The same jury on Monday convicted five men of racketeering conspiracy and other charges involving decades of loan sharking, gambling extortion and 18 unsolved organized crime killings tied to the Chicago mob.Prosecutors now want the jury to hold four of the defendants responsible for specific killings, qualifying them for life sentences. U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel will make the final decision on each defendant's sentence.
Mr. Mars described the 18 killings outlined in the indictment and what prosecutors see as the role of each defendant.
His voice cracked with emotion as he recalled how a bomb planted in businessman Michael Cagnoni's car almost killed Mr. Cagnoni's wife and child. "I can't think of anything more shockingly evil than the homicide of Michael Cagnoni," Mr. Mars said.
Facing life sentences are purported mob boss James Marcello, 65, purported capo Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78, convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese Sr., 70, and convicted jewel thief Paul Schiro, 70. The fifth defendant convicted Monday, retired Chicago policeman Anthony Doyle, 62, is not accused of taking part in a killing.
Calabrese is accused of the most killings: 13. During the trial, he denied being a mob member and said he did not kill anyone.
Marcello is blamed for the June 1986 killings of Tony Spilotro, long the Chicago mob's man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the movie "Casino." He and his brother were fatally beaten and buried in an Indiana cornfield.
The government's star witness, Nicholas Calabrese, brother of Frank Calabrese Sr., testified that he helped kill Michael Spilotro while other mobsters killed Tony Spilotro in the basement of a suburban home. He testified that Marcello lured the Spilotros to their death.
Marcello defense attorney Thomas Breen appealed to jurors to disregard the testimony of Nicholas Calabrese, saying he was an admitted hit man who would say anything to get a deal from prosecutors that would keep him from the execution chamber.
Mr. Breen said Nicholas Calabrese thought that to cut a plea deal, "the marquee, the five-star case that has to be cleared, is the Spilotro case."
Rudy Giuliani's Mafia Jargon Deters Italian Voters
Just as some firefighters and relatives of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, don't want Rudolph Giuliani giving a reading at today's Ground Zero ceremony, the man who would be Churchill is in danger of becoming persona non grata within his own ethnicity.
Despite a distinguished career as a crime-busting federal prosecutor (in the great Roman classical tradition of jurisprudential excellence), two terms as mayor of the country's most heavily Italian-American city and a lifelong admiration for his predecessor Fiorello LaGuardia, Giuliani has turned his back on his Italian roots. Giuliani plays the dumbed-down-Italian card with gusto.
While campaigning on the West Coast earlier this year, "America's mayor" began a speech in the raspy cadence of don Vito Corleone: "Thank youse all very much for invitin' me here tuh-day, to this meeting of the families from different parts'a California."
Is this political theater, ethnic self-loathing or both?
Whatever the reason - his heart or his handlers - it is self-defeating. In a nation with nearly 25 million Americans of Italian descent - many of whom are swing voters in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Illinois and California - why risk alienating such a pivotal constituency?
In the Northeastern states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, the scions of Italy comprise 15 percent of the population.
Perhaps Giuliani feels he can take Italian-American voters for granted by virtue of the tell-tale vowel at the end of his surname. But why trifle with the country's fourth-largest white ethnic group? On what position paper is it written that Giuliani must wallow in the muck and mire of Mafia mythos?
Why can't he identify himself as a proud Italian in the same manner that Ronald W. Reagan and John F. Kennedy jauntily called themselves Irishmen? Michael Dukakis invoked the ideals of ancient Athens throughout his presidential campaign.
Why can't Giuliani speak of his Italian origins, and of America's debt to his noble ancestors in the Roman republic that is the basis of our own? Or of Caesar Augustus' pax romana, an unparelled 200-year period of peace and prosperity?
There was a glimmer of hope when he journeyed to Calabria in January to inaugurate the first direct flight from Kennedy Airport to the southern Italian airport of Lamezia Terme. But it was quickly dashed with the failure of Giuliani's staff to ballyhoo the trip or underscore its significance.
Instead, we hear this: When asked about his wife Judith's role in a Giuliani administration, he couldn't resist reverting to form: "I am a candidate. She's a civilian, to use the old Mafia distinction." When queried about Hillary Clinton's vile Internet spoof of the "Sopranos" finale, he responded with a question of his own: "Think she's trying to get the Mafia vote?"
Peggy Noonan, one of President Ronald Reagan's favorite speechwriters and a New Yorker to the bone, has a wry take on these tawdry proceedings: "Can't have enough candidates for president who whimsically employ the language of mobsters."
Mario Cuomo, a man who surely missed his rendezvous with destiny, knows full well the dangers posed by anti-Italian intolerance. He witnessed Geraldine Ferraro's trials as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984. And the New York former governor was famously smeared as likely having "mafioso connections" by Gennifer Flowers (Bill Clinton's trailer-park paramour).
Italo-Americans should not support Giuliani simply on the basis of ethnic pride. The best advice for both candidate and voter in 2008 can be found in the words of the ancient Roman statesman, Marcus Aurelius:
"Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason. It enables you to learn from experience, to live in harmony with others, and to walk in the way of the gods."
Thanks to Rosario A. Iaconis, the vice chairman of The Italic Institute of America, which promotes Italian culture and is based in Floral Park.
Despite a distinguished career as a crime-busting federal prosecutor (in the great Roman classical tradition of jurisprudential excellence), two terms as mayor of the country's most heavily Italian-American city and a lifelong admiration for his predecessor Fiorello LaGuardia, Giuliani has turned his back on his Italian roots. Giuliani plays the dumbed-down-Italian card with gusto.While campaigning on the West Coast earlier this year, "America's mayor" began a speech in the raspy cadence of don Vito Corleone: "Thank youse all very much for invitin' me here tuh-day, to this meeting of the families from different parts'a California."
Is this political theater, ethnic self-loathing or both?
Whatever the reason - his heart or his handlers - it is self-defeating. In a nation with nearly 25 million Americans of Italian descent - many of whom are swing voters in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Illinois and California - why risk alienating such a pivotal constituency?
In the Northeastern states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, the scions of Italy comprise 15 percent of the population.
Perhaps Giuliani feels he can take Italian-American voters for granted by virtue of the tell-tale vowel at the end of his surname. But why trifle with the country's fourth-largest white ethnic group? On what position paper is it written that Giuliani must wallow in the muck and mire of Mafia mythos?
Why can't he identify himself as a proud Italian in the same manner that Ronald W. Reagan and John F. Kennedy jauntily called themselves Irishmen? Michael Dukakis invoked the ideals of ancient Athens throughout his presidential campaign.
Why can't Giuliani speak of his Italian origins, and of America's debt to his noble ancestors in the Roman republic that is the basis of our own? Or of Caesar Augustus' pax romana, an unparelled 200-year period of peace and prosperity?
There was a glimmer of hope when he journeyed to Calabria in January to inaugurate the first direct flight from Kennedy Airport to the southern Italian airport of Lamezia Terme. But it was quickly dashed with the failure of Giuliani's staff to ballyhoo the trip or underscore its significance.
Instead, we hear this: When asked about his wife Judith's role in a Giuliani administration, he couldn't resist reverting to form: "I am a candidate. She's a civilian, to use the old Mafia distinction." When queried about Hillary Clinton's vile Internet spoof of the "Sopranos" finale, he responded with a question of his own: "Think she's trying to get the Mafia vote?"
Peggy Noonan, one of President Ronald Reagan's favorite speechwriters and a New Yorker to the bone, has a wry take on these tawdry proceedings: "Can't have enough candidates for president who whimsically employ the language of mobsters."
Mario Cuomo, a man who surely missed his rendezvous with destiny, knows full well the dangers posed by anti-Italian intolerance. He witnessed Geraldine Ferraro's trials as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984. And the New York former governor was famously smeared as likely having "mafioso connections" by Gennifer Flowers (Bill Clinton's trailer-park paramour).
Italo-Americans should not support Giuliani simply on the basis of ethnic pride. The best advice for both candidate and voter in 2008 can be found in the words of the ancient Roman statesman, Marcus Aurelius:
"Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason. It enables you to learn from experience, to live in harmony with others, and to walk in the way of the gods."
Thanks to Rosario A. Iaconis, the vice chairman of The Italic Institute of America, which promotes Italian culture and is based in Floral Park.
Appeal Heard for FBI Agent Convicted of Aiding Whitey Bulger
A lawyer for retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. urged a federal appeals court today to overturn his 2002 racketeering conviction because one of the government's key witnesses, former New England Mafia boss Francis "Cadillac Frank'' Salemme, allegedly boasted to a fellow mobster that he lied on the stand.
Judge Bruce M. Selya questioned the events described by Connolly's lawyer, suggesting that Salemme may have told the truth in court and then lied to Philadelphia mobster Roger Vella when the two of them were imprisoned together later.
"We have a Mafia don who is committing the worst crime a Mafia don can ... he rats out and cooperates with the feds,'' said Selya, one of three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit considering Connolly's case. "Why isn't it the most natural thing for him to try to explain away his cooperation?''
Braintree attorney Terrance J. McCarthy, who represents Connolly, argued that Salemme "had every reason to tell Vella the truth'' when he claimed prosecutors helped him shape his story to win a conviction because he didn't know Vella was a confidential informant and would later report the boasts to the FBI.
Connolly is serving 10 years in prison. He was convicted of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and lying to an FBI agent for protecting longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman'' Flemmi from prosecution and leaking them information. He's also scheduled to stand trial in Miami in March for a 1982 gangland slaying.
Salemme, who had been granted immunity for his testimony at Connolly's trial, was indicted in 2004 on a charge of lying to investigators by withholding information about the 1993 disappearance of South Boston nightclub manager Steven DiSarro. Federal prosecutors allege Salemme witnessed DiSarro's slaying and helped bury his body, and he is awaiting trial in that case.
"Doesn't that cloud the picture a bit?" said Circuit Judge Kermit V. Lipez, questioning the government today about why any of Salemme's testimony at Connolly's trial should be believed, given that he's now awaiting trial for lying.
US Special Attorney William J. Nardini said Salemme allegedly lied about his involvement in DiSarro's slaying to protect other organized-crime figures. He argued that Salemme's statements to Vella -- including claims that the government promised him $500,000 for his testimony and a condo on a golf course -- were "pretty absurd.''
Thanks to Shelley Murphy
Judge Bruce M. Selya questioned the events described by Connolly's lawyer, suggesting that Salemme may have told the truth in court and then lied to Philadelphia mobster Roger Vella when the two of them were imprisoned together later.
"We have a Mafia don who is committing the worst crime a Mafia don can ... he rats out and cooperates with the feds,'' said Selya, one of three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit considering Connolly's case. "Why isn't it the most natural thing for him to try to explain away his cooperation?''
Braintree attorney Terrance J. McCarthy, who represents Connolly, argued that Salemme "had every reason to tell Vella the truth'' when he claimed prosecutors helped him shape his story to win a conviction because he didn't know Vella was a confidential informant and would later report the boasts to the FBI.
Connolly is serving 10 years in prison. He was convicted of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and lying to an FBI agent for protecting longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman'' Flemmi from prosecution and leaking them information. He's also scheduled to stand trial in Miami in March for a 1982 gangland slaying.
Salemme, who had been granted immunity for his testimony at Connolly's trial, was indicted in 2004 on a charge of lying to investigators by withholding information about the 1993 disappearance of South Boston nightclub manager Steven DiSarro. Federal prosecutors allege Salemme witnessed DiSarro's slaying and helped bury his body, and he is awaiting trial in that case.
"Doesn't that cloud the picture a bit?" said Circuit Judge Kermit V. Lipez, questioning the government today about why any of Salemme's testimony at Connolly's trial should be believed, given that he's now awaiting trial for lying.
US Special Attorney William J. Nardini said Salemme allegedly lied about his involvement in DiSarro's slaying to protect other organized-crime figures. He argued that Salemme's statements to Vella -- including claims that the government promised him $500,000 for his testimony and a condo on a golf course -- were "pretty absurd.''
Thanks to Shelley Murphy
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