The Outfit on trial

Reputed top Chicago mobster Rudy Fratto was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for evading taxes on more than $800,000 in income over seven years.

Fratto. 66, had asked for home confinement, which the judge rejected, citing the seriousness of the crime. Fratto could have been sentenced up to 18 months in prison.

By being sentenced to a year and a day, rather than a year, Fratto becomes eligible to receive good time credit and could serve as little as 10 months behind bars.

To the feds, Rudy Fratto is a top Chicago mobster.

A man who posed a significant threat to the safety of a top federal mob witness.

But to Fratto's defense attorney, he's something less than a criminal mastermind.

Fratto, 65, of Darien, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion in October, left behind as evidence "a paper trail any first-year accounting student could not fail to pick up!" his attorney, Arthur N. Nasser, wrote in a court filing.

Nasser is expected to ask Wednesday afternoon in federal court for Fratto to be sentenced to home confinement, rather than prison, arguing that Fratto is the sole provider to his family and his wife has trouble getting around with a broken foot.

Prosecutors are objecting. Fratto could be sentenced from 12 to 18 months in prison and faces paying restitution for the unpaid taxes of more than $280,000, according to his attorney's estimate.

Fratto avoided the taxes by having several businesses pay him through a bank account that he controlled in the name of a defunct company.

For all of Fratto's alleged colorful past, the tax evasion charge, a case investigated by the IRS, marks his first conviction.

His name has come up in one mob-related trial after another, most recently when authorities released a list of Outfit heavies who posed the most risk to the safety of Nick Calabrese, the mob hit man who turned into a star witness at the Family Secrets mob trial.

If you case you missed it on-line or in the newspaper, here's a story concerning reputed Chicago area mob boss Mike Sarno that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday.

What does a reputed Chicago mob boss under house arrest do for holiday dinner?

First, if possible, get a judge to let you outside your house.

Next, don't waste the opportunity and get approval to go to the swanky
Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in downtown Chicago on
Christmas Eve.

That's just what reputed Cicero mob boss Michael "The Large Guy" Sarno did.

A federal magistrate judge recently approved that trip for Sarno, 51,
of Westchester, to have dinner with his extended family at Joe's
Seafood, 60 E. Grand, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday.

Sarno, out on $1 million bond, is typically allowed outside his home
only to go to church, the doctor or court.

Sarno -- described in court documents as a made member of the Chicago
mob -- is awaiting trial next year for allegedly overseeing the bombing
of a Berwyn business that was competing against the mob in the
lucrative video poker business.

Federal officials also believe that Sarno discussed putting out juice
loans with an associate who is a reputed high-ranking member of the
Outlaws motorcycle gang, records show.

In 1995, Sarno was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for his role in
a mob racketeering case.

Sarno, also dubbed "Fat Ass" by some colleagues, has denied any
wrongdoing in the current case. His attorney could not be reached for
comment.

A manager at Joe's Seafood had nothing to say Tuesday about Sarno's
choice of restaurant.

The good news for Sarno is that the restaurant's specialty, stone
crabs, are in season.

Jumbo stone crabs -- three per order -- go for $57.95, according to the
restaurant's on-line menu.

If Sarno's got a taste for steak, the bone-in New York strip will run
him $45.95.

And he can wash it all down with a bottle of Chateau Pavie at $490 a
bottle on the restaurant's reserve wine list.

Federal prosecutors wanted it made clear to Sarno that he could make
no other trips other than to the restaurant on Christmas Eve, and he
could only mix with members of his family, not his alleged crime
family, and the judge agreed.

Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose was sentenced to 4 years in prison Tuesday for leaking information about the star witness in the most significant mob prosecution in Chicago history.

Ambrose told a family friend that he was guarding Nick Calabrese, a mob hitman turned government informant. That information eventually made its way to mob leaders.

The leak was considered one of the most significant breaches of security of the federal Witness Protection Program in its history.

More to come.

A reputed high-level Chicago mobster complaining of chronic migraines got another reason for a headache Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion, which could send him to prison for one year to 18 months.

Rudolph C. "Rudy" Fratto, 65, of Darien, who comes from a family of alleged mobsters, admitted to failing to pay more than $140,000 in federal taxes on more than $800,000 in income from 2001 to 2007, according to his plea agreement in a case investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.

Fratto evaded the taxes by having various businesses pay him through a defunct business whose checking account he controlled. One of those businesses included a gaming company in the northwest suburbs that specializes in lotteries and paid him about $58,000 in 2005 for handyman work.

In court Tuesday, Fratto complained to the judge he suffered from migraine headaches, but unlike other mobsters in their golden years reported no other serious ailments. He is to be sentenced Jan. 12.

Fratto's name has come up often in federal mob investigations, but his guilty plea on Tuesday marks his first federal conviction.

Fratto, long associated with the Elmwood Park crew, was considered among the top threats to the safety of key mob witness Nicholas Calabrese, court records show.

Calabrese's testimony helped put away some of Chicago's top mobsters in the Family
Secrets case.

In another instance, Fratto allegedly once met with one of Chicago's most crooked cops, former chief of detectives William Hanhardt, over a proposed hit, according to testimony in Hanhardt's sentencing hearing in 2002 for running a jewel theft ring. The hit, though, never happened.

Fratto also was accused of taking part in a 2001 meeting to approve Chicago mob boss James Marcello's takeover of key video poker territory in the western suburbs.

Reputed top mobster Rudy Fratto has been charged with failing to pay more than $30,000 in taxes on nearly $200,000 in income from 2005, according to federal court documents filed this week.

Fratto is accused of directing businesses and others to send payments to a defunct business of his, J.J.F. Inc., in order to avoid paying taxes.

Fratto's name came up most recently in federal court as one of the top mobsters who posed the most direct threat to the safety of Nicholas Calabrese, the star witness in the Family Secrets mob case.

Fratto's name also popped up during testimony in the sentencing hearing of former Chicago chief of detectives William Hanhardt, who was accused of meeting with Fratto while trying to set up a hit. The murder never happened.

Fratto was never charged with any wrongdoing in that matter, and a federal judge did not take the most serious aspect of the prosecutor's allegations into account when he sentenced Hanhardt.

Check out this story from the New York Post.

The main suspect in the last known mob hit in Chicago will remain in prison after the federal court of appeals in Chicago rejected his legal arguments for his convictions to be reversed.

Anthony "Tough Tony" Calabrese was sentenced last year to 62 years in prison for his leading role in three robberies.

Reputed high-level Chicago mobster Michael "Large Guy" Sarno was released on $1 million bond Tuesday and ordered placed under house arrest.

The rotund Sarno, 51, also dubbed "Fat Ass" by some colleagues, is charged in a wide-ranging racketeering case that includes the bombing of a Berwyn business that was competing with the Outfit with video gambling machines.

Family members put up several pieces of property as collateral.

Aging reputed mob associate Sam Volpendesto had some gripes and some advice for alleged high-ranking Outfit member Michael Sarno, according to court records.

Volpendesto was secretly recorded by a government informant complaining about having to do Sarno's dirty work but not getting adequate compensation, according to court records.

Volpendesto is charged along with Sarno with taking part in a plot to bomb a Berwyn video poker machine company that was competing with the Outfit.

Excerpts after the jump.

Former Gov. Dan Walker, sent to prison for crimes after he left office, gives his opinion on the roots of Illinois corruption in The State Journal-Register.

Walker points to the Democratic Machine and The Outfit.

You can read it here.

A former head of the Chicago mob, Alfonso "Pizza Al" Tornabene, died Sunday after a career in organized crime that spanned decades but often remained in the shadows.

Tornabene, 86, headed the Chicago mob while another leader, James Marcello, was in prison several years ago, according to testimony at the historic Family Secrets mob trial in Chicago.

Marcello was apparently unhappy with Tornabene's stewardship of the mob while he was in prison and promised to shape things up when he got out, according to a secret FBI recording of Marcello.

Tornabene was once clearly a target of the Family Secrets case but was never charged.

A long-time owner of a pizza shop in Stickney, Tornabene had disavowed any Outfit connection.

Tornabene died of natural causes.