Will Fed Trial Put "Hit" On Chicago Mob?
FBI's "Operation Family Secrets" Goes To Trial Over 18 Mob Murders, Extortion, Other Charges
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Frank Calabrese Sr., left, and Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo, who were among those indicted in connection with the FBI's "Operation Family Secrets" investigation into the Chicago Outfit, the crime organization linked to murders, extortion, illegal gambling and other offenses. (AP/FBI)
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U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, at podium, announcing the indictment of 14 reputed mob members in April 2005. (AP)
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Interactive Mobster Madness In real life and on the screen, Americans are fascinated by the Mob. Find out more about actual dons and their fictional counterparts.
Crime buffs speculated that Lombardo was hiding out in the hills of Sicily or enjoying a life of ease in the Caribbean. In fact, after nine months on the run, FBI agents nabbed him in a suburban alley one frosty night in January 2006. Schweihs was captured deep in the Kentucky hill country in December 2005.
The Clown lived up to his nickname later when he appeared before U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who inquired about the aging man's health and asked why he hadn't seen a doctor lately.
"I was supposed to see him nine months ago, but I was — what do they call it? — I was unavailable," Lombardo rasped.
Experts say the Chicago crime syndicate is so deeply entrenched that it won't be decapitated even if the government gets a clean sweep of convictions.
Gus Russo, who describes the Chicago mob in his book "The Outfit," noted that the federal Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act has helped crime-busting prosecutors make progress against the mob.
"But, regretfully, greed is such a part of our culture that you're always going to have a criminal element, and it will organize," Russo said. "This will hurt the mob but it won't end it."
The trial is expected to take four months. Among the security precautions, jurors' names are being kept secret and prosecutors say they have nine potential witnesses whose names have been kept secret out of concern for their safety.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- It's good to see "perception5" has his granddaughter's computer available when she's at school...his Republicunt Party ********* diatribes are rather amusing to those of us that got beyond the sixth grade.
Unions ? You mean the folks that brought you WEEKENDS and PAID VACATIONS ?
You must have been brought up as the Son of the Massa someplace South of the Mason/Dixon line if you can't appreciate that fact...or your Daddy must have run the local sweatshop and kept you in preppy clothes and convertibles while your classmates without the silver spoon toiled right alongside their Daddies.
In the REAL world, unions make life better.
So sorry you're a freakazoid cake-eater that is just now realizing the Republicrap Party is done for at least the next 16 (if not TWENTY!!) years! - Reply to this comment
- forthepeople: How is any of that related to the story? You are really reaching for some support that, as far as I have read, is very small, in deed. Stick to what you do best: Rant in your own back yard, kick your dog, slap your wife, yell at your kids, light fire crackers under your grandma's rocking chair: you know, the usual kid stuff you think is so funny.
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- JULY 21 2007 IS WHEN AMERICANS WILL BE FREE AGAIN
EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO HELP WITH THIS SHOULD BE TALKING TO ALL MEDIA OUTLETS AND TELLING THEM THAT AMERICANS ARE READY TO TAKE WASHINGTON ON AND ITS NOT A FEW AMERICANS ITMILLIONS OF AMERICANS THAT WILL TAKE BACK THERE COUNTRY..
I AM WILLING TO GIVE MY BLOOD FOR ALL AMERICANS TO GET OUR COUNTRY BACK TO WHAT OUR FORFATHERS WANTED.
AM A VET AND AM READY TO TAKE CHARGE OF THIS AMERICAN BOYCOT/COOP IF WE THE PEOPLE DONT DO THIS NOW WE WILL BE GIVENING UP ON OUR CONSTITUTION AND WHAT ALL OUR VET HAVE DIED FOR..
DAVID A BELANGER,VET US ARMY,for-america@hotmail.com
ok so wants to join in on this great american REVOLUTION
they cant kill millions of americans at once so if we charge them all at once we will win and take them out and hang them all..
just like in the old days of the west...hang them from the trees in front of the whitehouse and see how many start telling the truth about what they have done to all us americans..
if the american NOW dont stand up and start a NATIONAL REVOUTION ON THIS WASHINGTON BULL S/H/I/T/ THEN we as TRUE AMERICANS can say nothing!!!
its time to take all this *** and take our government back now..
they are the ones that started this and we will finnish it now..we the people will take our country back and everyone in washington can sit there and thinks we the people are ok with what they are doing..go ahead and let them think that we are comming to take them out - Reply to this comment
- "charging businesses "street tax" to stay in operation."
The government hates competition... - Reply to this comment
- HOPEFULLY NEXT, THEY'LL BUST THE "SKULLS & BONES" GROUP, WHO OUR PRESIDENT G.W. BUSH AND VP-CHENEY IS A MEMBER OF !!! ALONG WITH DADDY-BUSH AND SEVERAL OTHER PROMINENT CORRUPT POLITICIANS AS WELL !!! JUST A MATTER OF TIME, ITS COMIN !!!! THEN THEY'LL FIND ALL THOSE MISSING BILLIONS OF US-TAX PAYER DOLLARS EARMARKED FOR IRAQ RE-CONSTRUCTION THAT CAME UP MISSING !!!!!!!
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- The republicans have their own even more powerful and corrupt mob to take care of them - corporations and law enforcement:)
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- "Wisecracking Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, who in the 1980s was convicted in the same federal courthouse (along with then-International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Roy Lee Williams) of attempting to bribe Sen. Howard Cannon of Nevada."
........ and our mob-run unions keep getting more corrupt......... which is why they probably support the Democrat Party............of course.
But our liberal MSM wolfpack press will continue to ingore these stories .........as much as possible as not to disrupt funds flowing from the mob-run unions to their pals in the Democrat party........... - Reply to this comment
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