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News and Features about Organized Crime, Mafia and La Cosa Nostra taken from National and Local News Sources. In an attempt to get you this type of coverage in a timely manner we can not be responsible for the content of the following material. |
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7-29-01 Panel gets dirt to hit Outfit where it hurts. July 29, 2001
BY ABDON PALLASCH LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER It takes more than a pesky libel suit to scare Wayne Johnson, 50, the Chicago Crime Commission's barrel-chested cop-turned-mob-watcher who is trying to keep the casino business out of Rosemont. Likewise, Rosemont's orange-haired Mayor-for-life Don Stephens, 73, refuses to let some good-government group capsize his casino dream by accusing him of having mobbed-up friends. So the skirmishing continued last week as Johnson took the podium at a state Gaming Board meeting and named the alleged mobsters--with nicknames like "Jeeps'' and "Apes"--who he says are close to Stephens. Then Johnson dared Stephens to proceed with his libel suit, saying, in effect, ''Bring it on!'' "The timing of this suit makes its objective obvious,'' Johnson said, reading from a prepared statement at the podium. "The mayor plainly has acted to try to intimidate the Chicago Crime Commission and me from appearing today and speaking the truth.'' A libel suit would give the Crime Commission a chance to force Stephens and his alleged mob buddies to answer questions under oath. Johnson's comments made clear he and the commission relish the prospect. For 82 years, since the worst days of Al Capone, when even cops and judges pocketed illicit profits, the Chicago Crime Commission, a privately financed agency independent of government, has monitored the Chicago mob. For its wealth of information--who's on top, who's on the outs, who shot whom--it has relied on informal communications with local, state and federal law enforcement. Back in the 1930s, commission leaders forced meetings with Capone, warning him not to mess with local elections. Today, the commission's corporate backers check with the commission to make sure companies they do business with aren't tied to the mob.. Every few years, the commission publishes a chart naming 150 alleged mob members and associates--union leaders, numbers runners, political operatives, even police officers. And in 82 years, only one has ever sued. "A lot of people threaten, but then they always drop it,'' said Commission President Tom Kirkpatrick. "One person 20 years ago. It was a case of mistaken identity. We settled.'' The prospect of having to be deposed under oath by Crime Commission attorneys has dissuaded the others from challenging their dubious distinction. "Most of the people on the list have two serious problems that would get in the way of their bringing a suit,'' said Dominic Gentile, a Las Vegas attorney whose client, Salvatore "Sam'' Cecola, says he is wrongfully listed. ''No. 1, they don't have the money it takes to bring a libel action. And, No. 2, with all due respect to most of these people, most of them could not withstand a deposition. They've been taking the Fifth Amendment for 30 years.'' Some of the purported mobsters carry around the list to show wannabes that they've arrived, said Jack O'Rourke, a former FBI agent who helped put away hit men Harry Aleman and Lenny Patrick, who reportedly killed 26 men between them. ''Everything I've ever seen was right,'' O'Rourke said of the commission's reports. ''Wayne Johnson has done a real good job. He always had a food feeling for who was who. He's a well-respected guy. I worked with Wayne on a lot of cases when he was a police sergeant. We'd exchange information when he was a police officer. He's got a lot of his contacts within the Chicago Police Department and many other agencies as well.'' Johnson spent 24 years as a Chicago cop, finishing in the intelligence division working on organized crime. Four years ago, he jumped to the Crime Commission, succeeding Jerry Gladden, another former cop, as chief investigator. After Johnson's first speech earlier this year, the Gaming Board rejected the application for a Rosemont casino, citing mob ties of unnamed investors. Since that meeting, Gov. Ryan has replaced two board members, and it's unclear how a new vote will go. Johnson was 4 years old when Stephens was elected Rosemont's first and only mayor. Stephens has admitted meeting reputed Chicago mob boss John "No Nose'' DiFronzo, 72, once or twice and buying property from Sam "Momo'' Giancana and his family 40 years ago. But Stephens says he is the one who drove the mob from Rosemont. Stephens called Johnson "pathetic" and says his comments have damaged Stephens' "distinguished reputation.'' Twice through the years federal prosecutors tried Stephens for fraud, and twice juries acquitted him. Howard Abadinsky, a mob expert and professor at St. Xavier University in Chicago, has worked with the Crime Commission and finds its reports on target. "I'm really impressed with Wayne Johnson,'' Abadinsky said. "He took me on an organized crime tour of Chicago. The tour was so good, we actually ran into Joey Lombardo.'' The Crime Commission ranks Joe "The Clown'' Lombardo, 72, as a No. 2 man or ''adviser'' to DiFronzo. "We were in the alley on Grand Avenue and there he was, a big cigar in his mouth, working on his garage,'' Abadinsky said. "He didn't bat an eye. He just took a glance at us and just continued working on it. I was impressed with his nonchalance.'' The FBI and local law enforcement agencies trade information with the Crime Commission, consulting the group's files and taking Johnson's tips. The close relationship worries Gentile, the attorney for Cecola. Based in part on the Crime Commission naming Cecola as a mob associate, Nevada moved to put his name on the ''black book,'' banning him from running gambling operations in the state. Gentile subpoenaed Johnson in April to come to Nevada and answer questions about his evidence against Cecola. "What he said was that the Chicago Crime Commission does not employ standards,'' Gentile said. ''They take the word of law enforcement where law enforcement could not make a statement because it has 'due process' standards. They can't be arbitrary and capricious. He established that the Chicago Crime Commission can be arbitrary and capricious, using unofficial law enforcement opinion as a basis to put someone into their list.'' Cecola's felony federal conviction for failing to file taxes on income from his adult bookstores does not make him a mobster, Gentile said. Because of Stephens' threatened suit, Johnson said he could not comment for this article. But he and Kirkpatrick repeatedly have said they don't put any name on the list without evidence. A law enforcement source said he expects the evidence will hold up against Stephens, too, and he wonders whether Stephens is willing to follow through on the suit. "There's an avalanche of information on Stephens,'' the source said. "Once this thing goes into court, they can call Joe Lombardo and John DiFronzo.''
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