Fidel Urbina of Chicago is Added to FBI's Ten Most Wanted List

A former Chicago resident wanted for the brutal sexual assault and murder of one woman and the beating and sexual assault of a second woman has been added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, announced Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Office. Joining Mr. Grant in making this announcement are Garry F. McCarthy, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD); Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart; and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Fidel Urbina, age 37, whose last known address was in the 2100 block of South Fairfield, has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt since 1999 after being charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution following the aggravated criminal sexual assault of a Chicago woman.

In March 1998, Urbina was arrested by the CPD and later charged with kidnapping, brutally beating, and raping a woman in Chicago. Subsequent to his arrest, Urbina was released on bond pending his trial in Cook County Circuit Court. While out on bond, Urbina was also suspected of assaulting and bludgeoning to death 22-year-old Gabriella Torres. Her body was found in the trunk of an automobile, which had been abandoned in an alley in the 2300 block of West 50th Street in Chicago. The vehicle had been set on fire and Torres’ body was badly burned. Urbina has since been charged with this crime as well. Attempts to locate and apprehend Urbina by local police were unsuccessful, as he had apparently fled the state.

On July 20, 1999, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Urbina and on August 26, 2006, a provisional arrest warrant was signed by a Mexican Federal Magistrate. Despite extensive investigation, including the case being profiled nationally on “America’s Most Wanted” and locally on “Chicago’s Most Wanted,” Urbina remains at large and his whereabouts are unknown. As such, the FBI is renewing its request for assistance from the public in locating and apprehending this wanted fugitive.

In making this announcement, Mr. Grant noted the continued threat to the community that Urbina poses. Said Mr. Grant, “Fidel Urbina is wanted for his alleged role in two brutal attacks directed against innocent women. These crimes have demonstrated his violent nature and the need to locate and apprehend Urbina before he can strike again. We are hoping that the publicity associated with this case, along with the significant reward being offered, will lead to his arrest.”

Urbina, who is a Mexican national, is described as a Hispanic male, 37 years of age, 6’0” tall, having a medium build, and weighing approximately 170 pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes, and a severely pockmarked right cheek. He has been known to use numerous aliases, including the names Lorenzo Maes, Fernando Ramos, and Fidel Urbina Aquirre.

The search for Urbina is being coordinated by the Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF), which is comprised of FBI special agents, detectives from the Chicago Police Department, and Cook County Sheriff’s Police investigators.

Urbina is the 497th person to be placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, which was established in 1950. Urbina replaces Adam Christopher Mayes, who was wanted for the murder of a woman and her daughter and the kidnapping of her two small children from their home in Tennessee.

A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information leading to the location and arrest of Urbina. Anyone recognizing him or having any information as to his current whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700 or the nearest law enforcement agency.

Given the nature of the charges filed against him, Urbina should be considered armed and dangerous.

Additional information about this case and the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives program can be found online at www.fbi.gov.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Will "Mob Wives Chicago" Knock Off The "Real Housewives"?

VH1 attempts to challenge the "Real Housewives" throne by expanding its mafia-centric franchise into the Windy City.

By 2011, The Real Housewives empire had spread itself conspicuously thin with formualic spinoffs stretching from Beverly Hills to Manhattan. True, cliques of social-climbing, bourgeois women playing out their often petty dramas while the cameras rolled had proven to be a lucrative enterprise, but by the time the Miami franchise debuted last year — let's face it — the whole endeavor was feeling a tad stale.

To the rescue came Mob Wives, VH1's gritty challenger to the Housewives throne, which infused a whole new level of violence, passion and heartbreak into the gender-centric genre. Created by Jennifer Graziano, the daughter of Bonanno crime family consigliere Anthony Graziano, the show's characters were as vivid and conflicted as those found on The Sopranos or in Goodfellas. Comprised of Drita D'Avanzo, Renee Graziano, Karen Gravano and Carla Facciolo, the original cast was unlike any found in reality television at the time. But because Hollywood has never learned the virtue of leaving well enough alone, two highly rated seasons of Mob Wives have brought us the invitable expansion of this new fledgling empire.

Mob Wives: Chicago, like all five of the Real Housewives sequels that followed Orange County, doesn't try to tinker with the original recipe. In fact, it apes every opening move of the first series save for the change of setting. As with its forerunner, the premiere episode introduces us to a cast of brassy, foul-mouthed, mafia-connected women before tossing them together with an ample amout of tequila in a bar to see how long it will take for a fight to break out.

"I may be a nice girl, the average mom rolling her grocery cart down the street, but there's a bitch in here if you bring her out," boasts Christina Scoleri, the daughter of one-time mob thief Raymond Janek.

All too happy to help bring out Scoleri's inner bitch are Renee Fecarotta Russo, a pretty blond with a boob job whose uncle, "Big John" Fecarotta, was said to be a loan collecter and hit man for the mob, and Pia Rizza, a stripper and mother whose dirty cop dad testified against his mafia bosses before disappearing into the witness protection program.

"People say I'm a judgmental bitch, but I'm about class, respect and loyalty," a gesticulating Russo says in a cut away shot. "And if you don't show me that, well then we're gonna have a f***ing problem."

Among Russo's problems is Rizza's chosen line of work, and, because no self-respecting mob wife (not a literal description, mind you) could ever be accused of shyness, she makes it known that she intends to tell her as much before the conclusion of episode one.

"I try to keep it real, so I think now is a pretty good time to tell Pia how I feel about her," Russo says.

The oddball center of gravity of the cast is Nora Schweihs, daughter of notorious mob hit man Frank "The German" Schweihs. If the conceit of Mob Wives Chicago is to be believed, Schweihs has gotten the old gang back together again after returning to town in a quest to dig up father's grave to make sure his body resides in the casket.

"Nora gets a bad rap, because a lot of people think she's f***ing nuts," Rizza, who has known Schweihs for more than a dozen years, explains.

Mob Wives Chicago's stellar production team — which includes Graziano, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Meryl Poster, Ben Silverman, Jimmy Fox, Banks Tarver, Ken Druckerman, Nina Diaz and Jack Tarantino — obligingly fill out the cast with Leah Desimone, the short-fused daughter of alleged mob associate William "Wolf" DeSimone.  Showing little patience for the behind the back gossip that typifies the show, DeSimone offers a near constant stream of violent invectives.

"Who wants a friend like that?" DeSimone tells Scoleri while shopping for clothes. "If somebody treated me that way I would hit them in the head with a shovel."

Preoccupied with amping up the animosity among its cast before the aforementioned bar blowout, Mob Wives Chicago doesn't feel nearly as organic as the original show. Instead of delving into conflicted feelings about the mafia that made Graziano and Gravano such interesting characters on Mob Wives, we are given gratuitous plot lines and a pacing that makes the show feel more like Basketball Wives LA.But the biggest problem for the Chicago version is that we've now seen this type of character before, and it feels like the new cast has spent a fair amount of time watching the first show so as to perfect their tough girl schtick. While Chicago may not be the last Mob Wives spinoff we'll see before this juggernaut is laid to rest, its staying power will require tapping into something new from its characters other than sassy hometown boosterism.

"I don't care what my father did, I don't care what the next person's father did," DeSimone says without apparent signs of irony, "Keep your fucking mouth shut, that's what Chicago's all about."

Thanks to David Knowles

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Nora Schweihs Profile from Mob Wives Chicago

Nora Schweihs grew up hearing that her father, Frank “The German” Schweihs was the most notorious hit-man in Chicago. And now she’s hoping to set the record straight. As one of the castmembers of Mob Wives Chicago, Nora has returned to her hometown with a mission to clear her father’s name and show the world who she is. Unfortunately, she has to contend with a family that doesn’t support her for being on the show, an uncooperative FBI that confiscated the body of her her father after he died, and a lot of in-fighting with her girlfriends. And still, she says the show is the best thing that’s ever happened to her. Meet Nora, everyone.

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Leah Desimone Profile from Mob Wives Chicago

“I wanted to join the Chicago Mob Wives, A) I’m very comedic, B) I got a deadly weapon and it’s in my mouth. And it ain’t registered,” Leah Desimone tells us right off the bat in her profile for Chicago Mob Wives Mob Wives Chicago. Leah is just the right blend of authentic, hilarious, and a leeeetle bit out there, and she is definitely going to make the show interesting this summer. Just don’t ask her to tell you the difference between a Popsicle and a lollipop.

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Renee Fecarotta Russo Profile from Mob Wives Chicago

You’re going to be seeing a lot of Renee Fecarotta Russo this summer. Renee is one of the stars of Mob Wives Chicago, and like the other Renee we know and love, she is a true daughter of the mob, who values loyalty, respect, and independence. Check out Renee’s cast profile, where she explains that what you see is what you get. “I think I’m pretty true to what I say that I am,” she says. No camera gangsters here!

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