Paul Schiro
Mob killer Paul Schiro was sentenced today to 20 years in prison as part of the historic Family Secrets case after a federal judge found he had taken part in the 1986 Outfit slaying of Schiro's close friend, Emil Vaci.
A jury had found Schiro guilty of racketeering but couldn't reach a verdict on Vaci's killing.
But U.S. District Court Judge James Zagel found that the prosecution had proven by a preponderance of evidence that Schiro had helped kill Vaci. And the judge took that into account in sentencing Schiro, as the law allows.
Schiro was the first of the Family Secrets defendants who went to trial to be sentenced. Prolific mob killer Frank Calabrese Sr. is to be sentenced Wednesday, while mob bosses James Marcello and Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo are to be sentenced next week.
Zagel said a 20-year sentence would be "lenient" for Schiro except for the fact that Schiro is 71.
Schiro, a career criminal and close friend to infamous Chicago mobster Tony Spilotro, was essentially on call to do the mob's bidding, Zagel noted. When the Outfit asked him to help kill his friend, Zagel noted, there was "no evidence of hesitation."
Vaci was killed in Phoenix outside the restaurant where he worked because the Chicago mob feared he was cooperating with a federal criminal investigation into the disappearance of a man who had helped the Outfit skim millions of dollars but then ripped off the mob.
Schiro did not pull the trigger on his friend but was in a nearby car, acting as a lookout and listening to a police scanner, according to court testimomy.
Mob killer-turned-government witness Nick Calabrese testified at trial that Schiro took part in the planning of Vaci's killing. Calabrese said he and an accomplice pulled Vaci into a van, then Calabrese shot Vaci several times in the head and dumped his body in a canal.
Schiro was defiant in comments today to the judge, saying that prosecutor Markus Funk was misquoting testimony.
"There's no evidence of racketeering I can see at all," Schiro said. "I don't know how the jury found me guilty of racketeering. I went to trial with co-defendants I never met in my whole life."
Thanks for the coverage, Steve. How crowded was the courtroom?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: Not very. I didn't do a headcount, but I would estimate less than 20 people, mostly reporters and federal agents.
Steve - From what year is that picture of Schiro and from where was he leaving?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: It wasn't specified in court, but given Mr. Schiro's current appearance, it has to be decades old. I don't know where he was leaving from.
Looks like he was going on a morning paper run. Newspaper in one hand, wallet in the other. Then he noticed the surveillance van across the street just in time for an FBI agent to snap his picture.
He looks to be about in his mid-to-late 40s in that trial-exhibit photo above.
We all know what the other sentences will be. Life for Lombardo, Marcello, and Calabrese, and 20 years for Doyle.
I'm anxious to see what Nick Calabrese gets for fourteen cold-blooded, premeditated murders.
If I had to guess (going on what the majority of past mob-informant witnesses have received), he'll get 20 years, too, with a sentence recommendation that he only serves five years and finishes the rest of his sentence on probation. Hopefully they won't figure in time served with those five years or he may get out within a couple of years. Then he will get set up with a new life in the Witness Protection Program, courtesy of good old U.S. tax dollars.
In response to Anonymous's post, I believe that when you are convicted in federal court for murder, you serve at least 80% of the sentence. It is very different than the state system where there is "good time" and whatnot.
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: Once again, the VCG is correct. It is 80 to 85 percent.