Chicago Bulls Assistant Coach, Bob Ociepka, Authors "Minestrone for the Mobster's Soul: Life Lessons from the Movie Mafia"

When Chicago Bulls assistant coach Bob Ociepka says "nice shot" in his free time, you can bet he's not talking about basketball.

Ociepka, who lives in Arlington Heights, loves mob movies. Loves them. He's studied them all, from the James Cagney flicks of the 1930s all the way up to contemporary films like "American Gangster."

The crime and violence inherent in such films is part of the fascination, of course, but Ociepka said he's also attracted to the actually quite-traditional values that the characters espouse when they're not breaking the law: respect, loyalty, responsibility, friendship.

"It occurred to me that there really are some important lessons in those movies," Ociepka said during a phone interview shortly before a Bulls-Rockets game in Houston. "And that's when I thought of putting those lessons together in a book."

The result is "Minestrone for the Mobster's Soul: Life Lessons from the Movie Mafia," a book Ociepka co-wrote and self-published with his cousin, Bruno Ociepka, also a mob-movie devotee.

The pair's fascination with Hollywood's treatment of organized crime began in their youth, when they lived on Chicago's West Side, an area that used to be home to a connected guy or two.

"We didn't have to look far to see some of that stuff," Bob Ociepka said with a laugh. "It was all around."

The book includes hundreds of mob-movie quotes and lists of the mob films that the authors would like to have "made" and others they believe should get whacked. ("The Godfather" is a favorite, but "Black Caesar" gets low marks.)

The heart of the book, though, is a fictionalized account of life on Chicago's West Side in the '50s and '60s. These accounts, narrated by the Ociepkas' alter-egos Bobby Madura and Joey DiBruno, hum with Chicago references and street slang. You'll read about 16-inch Clinchers, stern Catholic school nuns and the danger involved in running afoul of the neighborhood precinct captain.

"It was a professional writer in California who suggested that we include the Chicago stories along with the movie stuff," Bob Ociepka said. "We changed some details in the stories so they could fit with the lessons we were talking about, but there's still a lot of truth in them."

Ociepka, a graduate of Providence-St. Mel High School in Chicago, made his name as a local high school basketball coach before moving to the NBA in the late 1980s. He joined the Bulls' staff last year.

Ociepka said he's been handing out copies of the book to his players, many of whom share his interest in mob flicks. He recently autographed a copy for Ben Gordon, the Bulls' hot-shooting guard.

"I'm glad that a lot of the players like the movies, but they tend to focus on the recent ones," Ociepka said. "'Scarface' (the 1983 Brian DePalma version) is a big favorite. But it kills me that some of them have never seen 'The Godfather.'"

Writing "Minestrone" took about seven years, from conception to completion. Ociepka said he loved the experience, but he's not sure if he has another book inside him. "I might have told all my good stories in this one," he said.

Thanks to Matt Arado

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Customer Complains about Calzone, Allegedly Pistol-Whipped by Reputed Mobster Restaurateur

Authorities believe a Florida restaurateur accused of pistol-whipping and beating a customer might have connections to organized crime in New York City.

When a Florida judge signed warrants Friday for Joseph Milano, they also listed the name "Joseph Calco." The Daytona Beach News-Journal obtained the documents.

Calco was an aspiring mobsters who became a federal informant and testified at the trial of Anthony Spero. Authorities called Spero one of New York's top organized crime figures.

Milano was arrested Friday on two charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The State Attorney's Office told the newspaper the charges were "based on his identity as Joey Calco."

Milano was arrested in January after being accused of attacking a customer who complained about a calzone.

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Crime Does Pay. How? Italian Mafia Earned $167 Billions

How many times have we heard these words? "Crime doesn't pay"....or a Judge will say, "it doesn't pay to commit crimes".

It is true crime didn't pay for some lawbreakers who were caught and lost their freedom and every dime they earned. Swindler Ken Madoff earned billions running a ponzi scheme that bilked investors and now he's been caught. With the exception of having already spent 'hundreds of millons' and facing life in prison Madoff will probably lose all the money he may have left. Did crime pay for this billionaire crook?

You be the judge.

But there's a group of outlaws who keep winning in the crime game and seemingly they .never lose. They don't own banks, casinos, nor authorized by government to print 'money on demand' but they've mastered the money game of making crime pay 24-7. They're not strangers. Their history etched in the annals of the crime world. They are no other than Italian Organized Crime aka Mafia. And they make billions!

Financial experts said the global recession has undoubtedly struck European countries hard but Italy's organized crime thrives in the midst of it all. Italy's world known organized crime groups are: (1) Sicilian Mafia. (2) Camorra (3) 'Ndrangheta (4) Sacra Corona Unita. Bloomberg.com reported the Italian Mafia's revenue in 2008 had increased 40 percent.

Example: Italy's organized crime syndicates grossed at least $167 billion dollars in 2008, up from $90 billion euros in 2007, according to figures supplied by Eurispes and SOS Impresa. Eurispes is a worldwide research organization and SOS Impresa consist of businessmen who investigate Mafia extortion. Extensive research based on long-term investigations and apprehension of organized crime gangsters, drug trafficking ranked the number#1 top revenue, bringing in approximately $59 billion euros.

Other Mafia players earned $5.8 billion euros from selling arms, the Rome-based research group reported Friday, January 30, 2009. "During a crisis, people lower their guard", says Robert Saviano. Saviano became an overnight success in 2007 after publishing a bestselling book called "Gomorrah". Gomorrah, superbly document the history of the notorious Camorra crime bosses. "Studies show the criminal market never suffer during a crisis", Saviano explained. "I'm convinced this crisis brings huge advantage to criminal syndicates". As the global recession tighten its grip banks are recluctant to risk loans.

This area of finance brings the Mafia on shore. They loan money at high interest rates. Consequences are detrimental even sometimes fatal if the borrower fail to pay up on time. "With people more desperate for money, loan sharking thrives", said Amedeo Vitagliano, an Italian crime expert at Eurispes research organization. "While the country is on its kneess, the Mob rejoice".

So how can the experts know the amount of illegal money earned by organized crime? What guidelines are utilized to caculate the Mafia's big payoffs? Simple math.

Mafia wealth is reflected in police asset seizures of $5.2 billions in 2008. $2.9 billions seized from the Camorra; $1.4 billion from the Sicilian Mob based in Sicily, and $231 millions from the 'Ndrangheta syndicate. The Eurispe report confimed a recent estimation by the Interior Ministry that 'Ndrangheta alone generate $45 billion euros, or 3% of GDP(Gross Domesticated Products) from dominating the European cocaine trade.

Here's another breakdown of revenues earned in 2008 by Italian organized crime based on their network of operations:

(1) loan shark: $12.6 billion euros
(2) protection rackets: $9 billion
(3) Arms trafficking and smuggling crimes: $5.8 billion In 2006, previous research showed that organized crime made $128 billions, a sum equivalent at that time to 7 percent of Italy's GDP.

For 2005, the crime syndicates took in approximately $106 billions. But the economy in Italy can swing back and forth with a double edged sword. Many businesses not particularly connected with the mob engage in shady pratices of doing business off the books.

Gian Maria Fara, an Eurispes chairman said the deeper underground economy don't reflect gross domestic product figures. "During good times, having a big underground sector can be a burden since the underground products isn't taxable and the state must account for it by increasing taxes on those who actually pay taxes".

"In this country," Fara added, "much more money goes around than whats actually represented by official statistics". "Italy's black economy has grown to a staggering 35% of GDP, approximately $540 billion euros".

Despite mass arrests of Italian crime gangsters over the years and the capture of several family bosses and high-ranking soldiers the Italian Mafia is a phenonomal money machine. They are a force the law must deal with in years to come.

Each day from extortion the combined groups earn at least $90 to 100$ billon euros per year, $250 million euros a day and $10 million euros an hour. If that's not making crime pay....then nobody commit crimes.... but we know this isn't true. People commit crimes every day.

Just ask the Mafia. They make billions and nobody can stop them.

Thanks to Clarence Walker

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Genovese Crime Family Bust Centers Around Gambling Operations

In the state of New York it has become common place to have police bust up mafia operations. It occurred again on Wednesday when thirteen alleged members of the Genovese crime family were charged with various crimes.

Gambling, as it is in most mafia cases, was at the forefront of the charges. The indictment that was unsealed refers to the "operation of illegal gambling businesses." The men were also charged with extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking.

Of the thirteen people that were charged, six of them were arrested early Wednesday morning. The other seven were either in the process of turning themselves in or were already in custody from other charges.

Among the arrests was a former acting boss for the Genovese crime family. Several of his soldiers were also picked up in the raid. Thomas Tassiello, another Genovese family member was charged in a separate indictment on charges of extortion and racketeering.

The sting stems from the crime family shaking down local businesses, mainly bartending school owners in both Jersey City and Manhattan. Genovese soldiers reportedly took over the businesses after the owners could make their payments on loansharking debts.

Thanks to Tom Jones

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Do You Want to be Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's Chumbolone?

The Tribune has commissioned a new poll asking taxpayers whether they support Mayor Richard Daley's 2016 Olympic dream. But the pollsters didn't call me, so I conducted my own poll on the cheap, while shaving.

Just look at yourself in the mirror, while trying to shave that stubborn stubble from under your nose, and ponder whether it's smart to give the Daley gang billions of dollars to run the Olympics. There's only one question in the Kass poll. Just ask yourself:

"Does wanting the Olympics in Chicago make me a big chumbolone?"

"Chumbolone" is the immortal term uttered by corrupt Chicago cop Anthony Doyle, convicted of being a messenger boy for imprisoned Chicago mob bosses in the Family Secrets trial. In those prison visits, he insisted he didn't hear anything. All he did was nod when the boss was talking, over and over, nodding like some Chinatown-crew bobblehead doll.

"I didn't know what he was talking about," Doyle explained from the witness stand. "I don't wanna look like a chumbolone, an idiot, stupid."

And there you have it.

We want the glitzy Olympic party. But we think we won't have to pay for it. And when Mayor Fredo talks about his Olympic dream, we nod like chumbolones.

For almost two decades now, Daley has run the city and Cook County. His administration is an encyclopedia of corruption and insider deals for friends and family. He'd drink with white guys with Outfit connections every Christmas Eve, guys who received $100 million in affirmative-action contracts from his administration, and he didn't know how it happened.

As of Sunday, it has been 1,615 days since the mayor promised he'd find out who promoted ex-gangbanger Angelo Torres to run his scandal-plagued Hired Truck program that cost taxpayers at least $40 million. We're still waiting.

There are so many such deals that counting them would be like trying to count the flies on a chunk of liver sausage in an alley in July. All this on his watch. Just imagine what he'll do with all that Olympic gold.

These days, corruption is important again, since the former governor, Mr. Dead Meat, got busted for trying to sell President Obama's Senate seat. But when will we realize that the governor of Illinois—no matter who sits in the chair—is just a measly nose hair compared to the boss of Chicago?

And if it's not outright corruption, it's incredible arrogance born of absolute political power with no dissent.

Just the other day, the mayor said he wasn't going to tell the people of his city what large "shovel-ready" public works projects he wanted out of the Obama White House. Or, is it the Cellini/La Hood U.S. Department of Transportation sending all that federal cash?

"Oh, yes, we have our list," said the mayor. "We've been talking to people. We did not put that out publicly because once you start putting it out publicly, you know, the newspapers, the media is going to be ripping it apart."

Translation: Why do I have to tell the chumbolones what I'm going to do with their tax money? They're my chumbolones. Not yours. They're mine! Mine!

Just imagine how he'll react when asked about who got cut in on some Olympic village deal. Don't ask me no questions, you chumbolones, he'll say.

Daley has already sold off the Skyway to a private management firm, and Midway Airport, and all the city's parking meters, blowing long-term assets for short-term cash. At this rate, if one of his guys gets a lobbying deal in Dubai, he might sell off all the water in Lake Michigan in the middle of the night, and everyone will wake up to the sound of fish flopping in the mud.

Such private management contracts shield information about lucrative subcontracts and, for instance, whose political brother-in-law with the room-temperature IQ gets hired after cashing in his second six-figure government pension.

Pestered by reporters about the wisdom of selling everything he can get his hands on, Daley got angry and trashed his entire city workforce, the same workforce that he's been managing for almost 20 years now, the same workforce that puts his stooges in office.

"They're not customer-related. They're gonna leave at 5 o'clock. They're gonna leave at 4:30 or 4. I'm sorry. We are on the time clock. They walk out. But in the private sector, when you have a customer, you're gonna stay there making sure they're happy and satisfied," said Daley, who regularly takes three-day weekends to his Grand Beach estate when he's not jetting off on free vacations to Paris, Geneva, Rome, Beijing, Mumbai and elsewhere.

The next day, he whined that reporters had twisted his words. "I'm a ping-pong ball for the media," he said. "But don't misinterpret what I say to try to bring confrontation against city workers."

Don't misinterpret? It was on tape. He must think we're chumbolones.

So with Daley pushing the Olympics and all the gold that flows with it, look yourself in the eye while shaving the stubble under your nose (unless, of course, you're a woman). Either way, you can still take the Kass poll. Just ask yourself:

Do I really want to be Daley's Olympic chumbolone?

Thanks to John Kass

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