Chicago SyndicateChicago SyndicateThe Chicago Syndicate will focus on the Chicago Mob. In addition to featuring current news articles, it will also attempt to provide some additional analysis and background information. This site may also feature news about the mafia in other cities Articles
America's Most Wanted on The Chicago Syndicate
2007-09-08 17:36:00 Dominic Lyde & Derrick Benjamin: Deputies in South Carolina have arrested five suspects in one major armored car robbery – with proceeds to the tune of nearly $10 million. But they say two other suspects are still on the run, and nearly $5 million is still missing. Only one of the suspects is older than 22. So what did they do with all that cash? They blew their loot on tattoos, cars and More About: Chicago , Wanted , Chica , Most Wanted , Syndicate
Family Secrets Trial Highlights
2007-09-07 05:49:00 June 18th - Jury selection begins. June 20th - On the day the trail is set to start, Kurt Calabrese, the son of mob hit man Frank Calabrese Sr. finds what appears to be a bomb on his back porch. The device turns out to be fake. June 21st - In opening statements, federal prosecutors lay out the details in the deaths of 18 men and women allegedly slaying by The Outfit. "This is not 'The Sopranos, More About: Family , Trial , Secrets , Highlights
Intimidation Request by Jury in Mob Trial
2007-09-07 02:16:00 A federal court jury considering the biggest Chicago mob trial in years has asked for the legal definition of the word "intimidation." Federal Judge James Zagel told attorneys about the jurors' request late this morning. He asked attorneys to return at 1:30 with proposals on how the word should be defined. The five defendants are accused of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy including 18 More About: Trial , Request , Dati
Reputed Gambino Sentenced for Conspiracy to Commit Murder Conviction
2007-09-06 17:07:00 Dominick Pizzonia shuffled into Federal District Court in Brooklyn yesterday wearing a faded and wrinkled prison uniform, his hair almost completely gray. Mr. Pizzonia, a reputed Gambino crime family captain, looked more like a middle school mop man than a hardened mobster, fragile as he entered the courtroom for sentencing after being convicted in May of conspiracy to commit murder. Judge Jack More About: Murder , Conspiracy , Sentenced , Conviction , Sentence
Part Two of Family Secrets Mob Trial Coming Next Spring
2007-09-06 16:39:00 While jurors deliberate over the evidence in the family secrets mob murder trial, it appears act two of the saga will now unfold next spring. CBS 2’s John “Bulldog” Drummond has learned federal prosecutors are planning an all-out blitz on another high-profile Chicago mob figure. Frank “The German” Schweihs was severed from the family secrets trial last spring reportedly because of health More About: Family , Spring , Trial , Secrets , Part
"Usurious" Request from Jury
2007-09-06 16:33:00 Jurors in the Family Secrets mob conspiracy trial deliberated for a second day Wednesday without reaching a verdict, but not before complaining about the temperature in the jury room and becoming perplexed for a time over the definition of an uncommon word in the indictment. Jurors deciding the fate of four reputed Outfit figures and a former Chicago police officer issued their first written More About: Request
Judge Kicks Out Two Mob Trial Jurors
2007-09-05 17:43:00 After a federal judge removed two jurors for already having made up their minds, the jury in the Family Secrets mob trial began its first full day of deliberations Tuesday but went home early without reaching a verdict. Last week, two jurors in the case communicated to the judge that they had already made up their minds, and the judge, after consulting with attorneys in the case and holding a More About: Judge , Trial , Kicks , Kick
Family Secrets Closing Argument: Required Reading on The Chicago Way
2007-09-03 21:28:00 As the Family Secrets trial was put into the hands of the jury, City Hall offered up poetic symmetry in choosing a book for all Chica go ans to read as part of its One-Book-One-Chicago program: "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, a social commentary about witch hunts and innocent people caught up by the mob. No, not the mob on trial in Family Secrets, the other mob, the mob as in the commoners, the More About: Reading
Not Letting Family Secrets Slide
2007-09-03 21:18:00 There was a break in the courtroom action at the Chicago Outfit trial called Family Secrets , so I took a walk outside the federal building, wondering how to explain my obsession to you. Recently, a few readers have asked me to switch gears, to give you all a break from endless murders, political corruption and the Outfit's proficiency in putting key people in key spots, including City Hall and More About: Slide , Letting
Marcello Pulls Out Shamrock for Good Luck
2007-09-03 21:04:00 The last thing you'd expect at the Outfit trial would be a big green shamrock next to Jimmy Marcello's name. It reminded me of that nightmare suffered by Christopher Moltisanti, the young mobster in "The Sopranos," who wakes up from a coma to tell his crew that he has seen hell for Italian wiseguys: Eternity spent in an Irish bar where every day is St. Patrick's Day. But the jury in the Family More About: Good , Luck , Good Luck , Cello , Sham
Chicago Outfit Miniseries Heads to Jury Deliberations
2007-09-03 20:29:00 When Chica go 's biggest mob trial in years got under way, prosecutors urged jurors to throw out any Hollywood notions they'd picked up from "The Sopranos" or "The Godfather." Ten weeks later, as jurors prepare to begin deliberations, they could write a miniseries based on what they heard in the courtroom about the Chicago Outfit , as the city's organized crime family is known. There was an More About: Heads , Libera
Origin of the term "The Outfit"
2007-09-03 20:15:00 Virtually every story about the Family Secrets trial now winding down in Federal Court refers to the local organized crime network as "The Outfit ." At some point recently the name started sounding odd to me -- how did a term normally associated with clothing come to refer to a vicious conglomerate of thugs and killers? Is it a media creation, or something mob guys use in referring to their More About: Term , The O , Origin
Do you believe "The Clown" or an admitted hit man?
2007-09-03 19:35:00 Jurors will have to decide when they begin deliberations Tuesday in Chicago's biggest mob trial in years. They got the case Thursday night after prosecutors made a last pitch to sway them to believe the testimony of their star witness, admitted hit man Nicholas Calabrese. Defense lawyers have pegged Calabrese as "a walking piece of deception" whose testimony shouldn't be believed, even More About: Mitt , Mitte
"We're Here to Kill the Spilotros" T-Shirts
2007-09-03 19:13:00 Alleged top mobster Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo is still part of the Chicago Outfit because he lied from the witness stand to protect the organization, a federal prosecutor said Thursday in the government's final argument in the Family Secrets trial. Lombardo, at 78, is arguing he has long retired from any mob activities and should not be convicted of taking part in any recent mob More About: Shirts , T-Shirts , T shirts , Kill , LOTR
Juror Communication Subject of Secret Hearing
2007-09-03 19:10:00 There was a secret court hearing in the Family Secret s case that was closed to the public. The contents are under seal. But the Chicago Sun-Times learned it involved a juror in the case. The hearing caused the trial to start late Thursday, just before 3 p.m. Court is supposed to start at 9:30 a.m. So what was the issue? It did not involve someone trying to tamper with the juror, according to More About: Communication , Hearing , Subject
'He would shoot you in the head over a cold ravioli'
2007-09-03 18:57:00 For jurors who have sat through a summer in Courtroom 2525 listening to testimony from more than 100 witnesses, the contrast couldn't have been starker on Wednesday. The defense attorney, wearing a hypnotic pink-and-black checkered tie, reveled in his role as the mob lawyer, talking loudly about constitutional rights and the American Revolution. He blasted the government's case, contending the More About: Ravioli , Cold , Head , Viol , Ravi
Onlookers Flock to Family Secrets Trial
2007-08-31 06:56:00 "There he is, there's Calabrese and there's the Indian and there's Joey the Clown," said Lee Anne Roggensack, excitedly pointing out three of the elderly defendants in the Family Secrets mob conspiracy trial, where closing arguments conclude Thursday. Roggensack, 48, skipped a planned vacation so she could attend, sitting in the courtroom for at least 18 days. The 10-week trial has spawned a More About: Trial , Flock , Lookers
Arrivederci to a Chicago Hero from Little Italy
2007-08-31 06:50:00 In federal court Tuesday morning, lawyers for five accused mobsters were poised to try and sell a jury on the sad, sad story about how their clients were misunderstood. Not murdering gangsters. And not guilty. But somehow, sitting there, all I could think about was Florence Scala, who died that very morning, just hours before defense attorneys embarked on the last lap of a historic trial. More About: Chicago , Italy , Hero , Litt , Chica
Dueling Closing Arguments in Federal Court Over Family Secrets Case
2007-08-29 20:57:00 Prosecutors and defense attorneys dueled in closing arguments at the "Family Secrets " mob trial Tuesday, each putting their own views on the evidence presented over the last 10 weeks. Prosecutors asked jurors not to buy the spin of defense attorneys while the defense, in turn maintained it was the government's witness who is not believable. Assistant U.S. Attorney Markus Funk, continuing his More About: Case , Court , Federal Court
Rent-a-Mobster
2007-08-29 20:49:00 Reputed top Chicago mobster Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo was "not truthful" at times in his testimony in the Family Secrets trial and was made to look like "a ridiculous old fool" under cross-examination -- but he was nothing more than a "rent-a-mobster," Lombardo's own attorney told jurors in his closing argument Tuesday. Lombardo's lawyer, Rick Halprin, said Lombardo was never a made More About: Rent
Prosecution Reminder - Cross the Outfit: End Up Dead
2007-08-29 02:40:00 Defense attorneys were to get their last shot Tuesday after a federal prosecutor reminded jurors at a big Chicago mob trial what happens to people who cross the Outfit : "You end up dead." That's according to assistant U.S. Attorney Markus Funk in a 280-minute closing argument that stretched over two days. Defense attorneys were to start their arguments Tuesday afternoon. Five defendants are More About: Cross , Dead , The O , Reminder
Prosectors Begin Closing Argument in Family Secrets Mob Trial
2007-08-28 21:58:00 To acquit the men on trial in the "Family Secrets " mob case, prosecutor Markus Funk told the jury Monday, jurors have to believe that three of the defendants caught on tape talking about their crimes were simply unlucky enough to be recorded while they were "play acting." "The evidence tells you that these men are guilty," said Funk, referring to defendants Frank Calabrese Sr. of Oak Brook, More About: Trial , Sectors
Family Secrets Closing Arguments This Week
2007-08-28 04:40:00 With the presentation of evidence expected to wrap up Monday, the Family Secrets trial has been among the most riveting and eye-opening in Chicago history, putting the violent realities of Outfit life and death on display for nine weeks. Among the trial's highlights, three reputed "made" members of the Chicago Outfit each testified -- one, the star government witness, and two key defendants. More About: Week
Paris Hilton - A Mafia Princess?
2007-08-27 05:38:00 Now this is what we call casting news. You 'll never guess who was hand-picked by mafia princess Antoinette Giancana to play her in an upcoming cable TV movie: Paris Hilton ! Yes, you read right. PARIS HILTON! What's THAT about? A TV movie was made in 1986 based on Antoinette's book Mafia Princess and Antoinette wasn't thrilled with Susan Lucci's performance. (Tony Curtis played her father Sam
The Sopranos Season 6 to be Released 10-23-07.
2007-08-26 06:21:00 Last year, Tony Soprano cheated death when he was shot by his now institutionalized Uncle Junior. While Tony continues to muse about his second chance at life, he faces a myriad of immediate, stress-inducing crises at home, at work and from the law. Tony's wife Carmela plans for a future she's not sure will arrive, and son AJ and daughter Meadow find that adulthood holds its own surprises. More About: Season , Released , The Sopranos , Sopranos , Seas
The Chicago Mob Still Influential
2007-08-26 06:06:00 Jurors have heard testimony about a Judas kiss like the one Michael Corleone gave his brother Fredo in "The Godfather." They're heard about mobsters initiated as "made guys" by getting their fingers cut and having holy pictures burned in their bare hands in secret ceremonies. And they've heard about how those who crossed the "Chica go Outfit" sometimes ended up in the trunk of a car. The city's
Playing Dumb is Wrong Prescription on Witness Stand
2007-08-25 16:49:00 Anthony (Passafiume) Doyle, the hulking former Chicago cop tied to the Chicago Outfit, doesn't look like a guy who takes many beatings. Known as "Twan" on the street, Doyle looks more like a guy who gives them for free. But he needed a doctor after the beating he took on the witness stand Thursday in the Family Secrets Outfit trial. After a severe cross-examination by Assistant U.S. Atty. More About: Witness , Dumb , Wrong , Stand , Prescription
Former Chicago Cop Admits to Disgracing Badge while Moonlighting for the Mo
2007-08-25 16:12:00 In the Operation Family Secrets mob trial today, a Chica go Police officer admitted that he had a year's-long relationship with top ranking members of the Chicago outfit. Former Chicago cop Anthony Doyle is one of the five men charged with outfit crimes in Operation Family Secrets. While many Chicago Police officers moonlight to supplement their city salaries, federal prosecutors say Doyle's side More About: Moonlighting , Badge
America's Most Wanted on The Chicago Syndicate for 8/25
2007-08-25 15:59:00 Paul Eischeid: The ATF and police in Tempe , Ariz. have charged outlaw biker Paul Eischeid with an act of savagery in the desert. They say he killed a woman who visited a Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club in 2003. Now, they need your help to get their hands on him. East Coast Bandits: First, it was a bank in Chicopee , Mass. Then, Cranston , R.I. Now, the FBI says the same group of thugs has robbed More About: Chicago , Wanted , Chica , Most Wanted , Syndicate
The Clown goes verbal to deny he’s Keyser Soze
More articles from this author:2007-08-24 07:53:00 Reputed top mobster Lombardo makes high risk gambit By Josh Casey In a move that radically departed from mob courtroom strategies of thirty years or more, Joseph ‘The Clown’ Lombardo, reputed mobster and, moreover, widely alleged to be the hidden boss of the Chicago Outfit, took the stand in his own defense. Mob boss 1982? or Keyser Soze 2006? What makes Lombardo’s appearance on the stand More About: Goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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