The Outfit on trial

IRS Special Agent William Paulin

When a crooked private detective worried his life was threatened by a brutal loan shark, he turned to IRS Special Agent William Paulin — and wound up helping the feds uncover some of the deepest secrets of mobbed-up Cicero.

When a bookmaker got jittery while secretly recording mobsters for the feds and worried Outfit guys would throw him out a high-rise window, Paulin was sent to calm him down.

For roughly a quarter century, Paulin, 54, has been a go-to guy for the feds as a top mob investigator, uncovering millions of dollars in rip-offs and taking down top Outfit bosses.

Next week, Paulin will retire.

It's a loss to the federal team that battles the Outfit, authorities said.

Continue reading ""A legend" retires" »

Posted by Steven Warmbir at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

U.S. District Judge James Zagel has ruled that crooked Chicago cop Anthony Doyle will remain behind bars until his sentencing because he is a danger to the community.

Zagel noted that Doyle showed a great loyalty to mob killer Frank Calabrese Sr. and appeared concerned that Doyle could carry out directions from Calabrese Sr. to harm any of the key witnesses against him, some of who are not in witness protection.

An attorney for Doyle, Ralph Meczyk, is filing a motion to ask the judge to reconsider.

Posted by Steven Warmbir at 08:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It's well known that Kurt Calabrese found a package meant to look like a dynamite bomb on his porch steps, on the day jury selection began in the Family Secrets case.

But it was only the latest in a series of threats that Calabrese had received over several years, apparently relating to the case.

Calabrese revealed the nature of the threats in an exclusive interview with the Sun-Times. The print version of the story, with more details, can be checked out at www.suntimes.com.

Continue reading "More from the exclusive Kurt Calabrese interview: Letters and rats" »

Posted by Steven Warmbir at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Frank Calabrese Sr.
Foaming at the mouth?

John Nitti figured he had paid off his father's debts.

So he wasn't going to be making any more payments on the juice loans made to his father by Frank Calabrese Sr.

Nitti soon found out how wrong he was.

Continue reading "Think you're done, think again" »

Posted by Steven Warmbir at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

No matter what you think of Frank Calabrese Sr.'s guilt or innocence in the Family Secrets case, anyone who reads the transcripts of the secretly recorded conversations between Frank Sr. and his son cannot escape one conclusion.

Frank Calabrese Sr. is a seriously paranoid mobster.

Continue reading "A most paranoid mobster and the trial's big mystery" »

Posted by Steven Warmbir at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Federal prosecutors spent their first full week of testimony aimed at nailing Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo.

Prosecutors didn't offer a smoking gun. No witness said they saw Lombardo shoot Daniel Seifert in 1974. No DNA places him at the crime site.

Rather, prosecutors attempted to offer a cumulative case of circumstantial evidence against Lombardo.

Continue reading ""Lombardo week" comes to an end" »

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The top five statements

Continue reading "A chilling Frank Schweihs" »

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