School Bus Company Owner Disputes Ties to the Mob

Upset over online columns linking him to the mafia, a school bus company owner is considering a libel suit against a veteran reporter, but wants the details kept secret, attorneys said Wednesday.

The face-off is between Domenic F. Gatto, chief executive of the Staten Island-based Atlantic Express Transportation Corporation, and Jerry Capeci, mafia expert and author of the weekly ganglandnews.com.

In a column last December, Capeci cited sealed court documents for the assertion that law enforcement officials in 1989 "pegged the current owner of New York City's largest school bus company as a labor racketeer with ties to the mob and a corrupt bus drivers union executive."

The column said "Domenic F. Gatto, whose company now earns more than $200 million a year busing city school kids, was linked to bid-rigging and illegal activities with Julius (Spike) Bernstein, the late secretary-treasurer of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, according to the documents."

Peter R. Silverman, Gatto's attorney, said his client is "absolutely not" linked to the mafia and the sealed court documents contained "lies and fabrications made up by a convicted felon."

Mr. Silverman said, "If we choose to litigate this, we do not want the sealed court documents to be open to the public again."

Capeci's attorney, Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, argued that the First Amendment protects his client and that any libel suit must be entirely public.

"Jerry Capeci meticulously reported on documented alleged ties between Mr. Gatto, the mafia and price fixing in the school bus industry," said Margulis-Ohnuma. "Mr. Gatto has the right to respond to these allegations but if he wants to sue, he has to do it in public."

A Staten Island judge rejected Gatto's request to temporarily seal the court documents at issue, but the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn took the case on appeal and will again consider the matter next week.

Thanks to WNBC

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Defining "The Chicago Way"

The Chicago Way.

What is it? Is it easily abused? Is it dangerous in the wrong hands?

This is critical, as the nation's eyes turn toward Chicago's federal building, where Barack Obama's personal real estate fairy, Tony Rezko, stands trial on federal corruption charges.

The phrase must be put in context, something the national media fails to do when they portray Obama as the boy king drawing the sword from the stone, ready to change America's politics of influence and lobbyists, ignoring the fact that Chicago ain't Camelot.

With opening statements expected Thursday, the court will be packed with journalists foreign to our idiom. In the past, a few reporters have applied "The Chicago Way" to our pizza, theater and opera, thereby embarrassing themselves beyond redemption.

To prevent such outrage, I've enlisted the help of George Washington, father of our country, crooner Dean Martin and aged action star Sean Connery in a cutting-edge video premiering now at chicagotribune.com/kass.

You know the movie "The Untouchables" in which Connery played the only Chicago cop in city history with a Scottish accent? "He [ Al Capone] puts one of yours in the hospital, you put one of his in the morgue..." says Connery's cop. "That's the Chicago Way."

Perhaps.

Chicago's mob -- we call it the Outfit -- was slapped last summer by federal prosecutors in the Operation Family Secrets trial that convicted Outfit bosses, and cops and put political figures in with them. We've had our chief of detectives (William Hanhardt) sent to prison for running the Outfit's jewelry-heist ring. And we've had white guys with Outfit connections get $100 million in affirmative action contracts from their drinking buddy, Mayor Richard Daley, who must have seen them pink and white and male at some point.

That's the Chicago Way.

"This country was built on taxes," said a Democratic machine hack, Cook County Commissioner Deborah Sims, as she and other Democrats prepared to slap Chicago with the highest sales tax of any major city in the country.

Her belief, that America was built on taxes, is one of the unique features of our own city's history, which reportedly began in 1776, when the Daleys boldly declared our independence from the English king.

"There's not that many political hacks in Cook County," Sims insisted after the tax hike.

Not that many hacks? The only one reporters need to bother about is also involved at the same federal building: the mayor's own Duke of Patronage, Robert Sorich.

Sorich has been found guilty by a jury, but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals above the Rezko courtroom is still deciding whether to redeem the jury or redeem the mayor, who'd much rather have Sorich happy than Obama in the White House.

Sorich was convicted two years ago of running the mayor's massive and illegal patronage operation, and he's still not in prison. Thugs, morons, idiots, and convicts were put on the city payroll to work the precincts so that Daley could keep getting elected. Obama's spokesman, David Axelrod, defended Daley patronage in a Tribune op-ed piece.

The Daley family's parish priest in Bridgeport, Rev. Dan Brandt, lovingly compared Sorich to Jesus Christ as both had troubles with the law.

"People often say, what would Jesus do?" he said, loyal not only to his faith but to the 11th Ward's place at the head of Chicago Way. "I put a twist on it and say, 'What would I do for Jesus?' With whom Robert has a lot in common as far as legal problems ... [The Lord] was a convicted felon. And Robert was convicted, and so he may have a lot in common with Jesus."

When the parish priest does right by the patronage boss to protect the mayor who gets endorsed by that great reformer Sir Barack of O'bama, that's the Chicago Way.

Naturally, there are some squares who don't think taxpayers should pave the Chicago Way to make it easy for Rezko to help purchase the senator's dream house in a kinky deal exposed by the Tribune and still not fully explained.

"It's really the Old Chicago Way," said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. "In the old days they would pretty much admit it up front, and now they deny it. It's essentially about power, access to government jobs, government contracts and taking care of your own."

One secret DaVinci Code-type sign for the Chicago Way is in the back room of the Chicago City Council chambers at City Hall, where a portrait of George Washington looks down at the crookedness below, and extends his own hand, palm up, itchy, needing that special grease. But some strangers to our lands have used the Chicago Way with perfect pitch. Rezko's buddy, former Iraqi electricity minister, Aiham Alsammarae, escaped an Iraqi prison where he was being investigated for corruption.

A reporter asked -- How did you escape?

"The Chicago Way," he said.

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US Marshall Wore Wire to Investigate Mob Witness Leak

A deputy U.S. marshal secretly wore a wire against a man who was like a father to him as part of the investigation into the leak of confidential witness information to the Chicago Outfit.

The details were revealed Tuesday in federal court as the deputy marshal, John Ambrose, battled prosecutors to get certain statements he allegedly made to investigators thrown out of his upcoming trial. Ambrose is charged with leaking information on a star witness, hitman Nick Calabrese -- information that made its way to mob boss James Marcello.

Federal agents focused on Ambrose as the source of the leak after listening to secret prison tape recordings of Marcello.

Ambrose was lured to FBI offices on a pretense in September 2006, then the feds revealed their evidence against him. The feds needed Ambrose to detail how the information got from him to Marcello. Ambrose answered the feds' questions but initially balked at wearing a wire, worrying he would be viewed as "a snitch," FBI Special Agent Ted McNamara testified.

Ambrose eventually recorded William Guide, a former Chicago Police officer who was convicted with Ambrose's cop father in the Marquette 10 scandal. Ambrose's father died in prison, and Guide became a second father to Ambrose.

The feds haven't charged Guide but claim in court filings Ambrose passed witness information to Guide, who allegedly has mob ties.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

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Did US Marshall Put Flipped Mobster at Risk?

In a brief but loud confrontation, the top FBI agent in Chicago, Robert Grant, underscored the deadly potential of a deputy U.S. marshal leaking information to the Chicago mob about a star government witness, as Grant verbally battled with the deputy marshal's attorney during a court hearing on Monday.

"This leak put at risk the most important witness in the Family Secrets case. It put at risk the agents guarding him. It put at risk his wife," Grant said, during questioning by Francis C. Lipuma, the lawyer for U.S. Deputy Marshal John Ambrose. "This leak was no small leak."

Ambrose is accused of leaking information about mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese, the star witness in the Family Secrets trial, which ended in September with the convictions of five defendants, including Calabrese's brother, mob killer Frank Calabrese Sr.

Chicago mobsters "protect their own because it's assumed they won't cooperate. Once that cooperation becomes known, it's fair game," Grant said.

A federal judge is holding a hearing to determine what statements by Ambrose, if any, should be allowed at his trial.

Ambrose contends when he was lured to FBI offices in September 2006 on a ruse, he was in custody but not initially read his Miranda rights.

Both Grant and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who paired up to talk with Ambrose initially, testified at the hearing that they told Ambrose he wasn't under arrest.

Ambrose's name came to light during secret FBI recordings of Chicago mob boss James Marcello while in prison.

Grant said that Ambrose admitted he knew two of his friends had connections to mob bosses Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo and John "No Nose" DiFronzo.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

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Will Artifacts Confirm Discovery of Secret Capone Hideout?

Jean Garland had always admired the stately home where she and her family now live. But she never knew that secrets dating back more than a half century could have been buried beneath it.

In May 2000, the Garlands bought the home, which sits on a bluff overlooking Three Mile Lake in Paw Paw. And in the years since, neighbors started telling them stories about how the house was a getaway and hideout for notorious Chicago mob boss Al Capone. Capone died in 1947.

Eventually, their curiosity got the best of them. Last spring, they began digging for answers.

They found a hole in a wall in the basement, and upon looking down inside it, saw a shaft reinforced with steel and wood ran from the bottom of the hole further back into the basement.

They started clearing an area around a place they thought the shaft -- which might have provided a stream of fresh air -- could have ended. What they found surprised them.

A circular outline in the concrete about four feet in diameter emerged, and they went to work smashing through the concrete to see what was below.

All of a sudden, the concrete gave-way, revealing a hole with brick walls and a heavy iron fixture at its top.

"That's when our hearts started beating," Jean said.

Jean's husband, Jim, grabbed a hand-held ice auger and began slicing through the dirt. When he got down nearly six feet, he stopped.

They found Chicago Daily Tribune newspaper clippings from the 1930s and 1940s, along with assorted empty bottles and other items.

Could this have been a secret area for Capone or one of his associates to hide if law enforcement came knocking? Or is it an old well? Jean said it's not likely to be a well because there is no solid bottom to it.

"If it is a real hideout, then it's really interesting what we've found," Jim said.
In all, the Garlands have collected about 100 artifacts, he said. None of the items bears Capone's name, however.

Behind the main house, a yellow carriage house sits close to the Garlands' garage. Jim and Jean's daughter, Cara, currently lives there, but neighbors told the family that employees of Capone stayed there when he was staying at the main house.

Further back, encased in a heavily wooded area, is a five-sided, three-story silo, with windows on each side.

Neighbors said it served as a look-out tower for Capone's security detail, who would position themselves on the top floor, where a pool table currently sits, Jim said. On the bottom floor, Capone would host cock fighting contests, Jean said neighbors told her.

Tom Dietz, curator of research at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, said he has heard stories over the years about the possibility of a Capone home in the area, but he remains skeptical.

"There certainly have been legends and folklore that Capone did have such a home," he said. "But so far, I have not been persuaded."

It's not inconceivable that the gangster -- who was known to have spent time in Michigan -- could have had a house in the area, Dietz said, given the Kalamazoo area's equidistance from Chicago and Detroit. The proximity would have been a boon to his alleged bootlegging operations.

Dietz has investigated several claims from area homeowners who insisted their homes were used by Capone, but all were unsubstantiated, he said.

Still, he's curious about the Garland home.

"I'd be happy to take a look out there," he said. "Who knows what we'll find."

For their part, the Garlands are cautiously optimistic that their home is the real deal, saying they believe they have encountered paranormal activity.

Routinely, a television in their main living room turns on suddenly. A rocking chair in the carriage house rocked even when no one was in it. Disturbed, Cara got rid of the rocking chair.

"If this was an Al Capone house, then it's almost like he's still here," Jean said.

Thanks to Chris Killian

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