Alleged mobsters in bust ran the gamut from top chieftains to low level soldiers
NWI Times
Dec 19, 1990
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/alleged-mobsters-in-bust-ran-the-gamut-from-top-chieftains/article_9dcd45b7-2755-5e87-8922-29cce7f2601b.html
Tuesday's 29-count indictment of reputed mob gambling figures runs the gamut from top chieftains to low-level soldiers of Chicago's South Side crime family, which controls gambling in the south suburbs and Northwest Indiana.
The indictment, returned Friday, was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Hammond and charged 15 people with racketeering, extortion and illegal gambling.
Among those indicted are a man who reportedly dug the grave of executed mob figures
Michael and Anthony Spilotro, the head of Northwest Indiana's "street tax" collection from local gambling operations, the overseer of a former illegal lottery in Gary, the operators of high-stakes poker games in Merrillville, friends of former Northwest Indiana drug and chop shop kingpins and operators of bookmaking operations in South Cook County.
The top indictment is of 72-year-old
Dominic "Tootsie" Palermo, the heir to jailed South Side boss
Albert "Caesar" Tocco, who lost control of his territory when he fled the country. Arrested in Europe, Tocco was returned to Chicago, where he was convicted this year of racketeering, extortion and tax fraud.
Tocco and Palermo took over the turf left behind by the 1982 labor racketeering conviction of former South Side boss
Alfred Pilotto in Florida.
Pilotto had inherited the mantle from former mob boss
Frank LaPorte, who died in the early 1970s and who served as Palermo's mentor in Calumet City.
Palermo once lived in Calumet City and, some 25 years ago, owned a tavern called The Palace on the State Street strip. He cut his mob eyeteeth dealing blackjack in the 1940s on Calumet City's once infamous State Street-State Line Road "Sin Strip."
Palermo has been identified as one of the four territorial bosses of
the Chicago "Outfit," or crime syndicate, and controls the south suburbs and Northwest Indiana. He moved from South Holland to Orland Park about a year ago and is an official in Laborers Union Local 5 in Chicago Heights.
He was identified in a court memo during Tocco's trial as one of three men who met Tocco the night of the 1986 murders of the mob's Las Vegas overseer, Anthony Spilotro, 48, and his brother, Michael, 41, who were buried in a cornfield in Newton County, Ind.
One of the men identified in the memo as one who dug the grave,
Nicholas "Nicky" Guzzino, 49, of 104 E. Southgate Ave., Chicago Heights, also was indicted in Hammond.
Guzzino, also an official of
Local 5, has been described by federal authorities as Palermo's top lieutenant, with authority in Illinois and Indiana to collect "street taxes" or extortion on illegal gambling enterprises.
Another top "street tax" collector is reputed to be
Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, 54, of 150 N. Sylvan Drive, Valparaiso, who was among those indicted.
Morgano, who is allegedly in charge of supervising the day-to-day operation of the mob collectors in Northwest Indiana, is the son of
Gaetano "Tommy" Morgano, a former top mobster deported to Sicily in 1963 after he pleaded guilty to paying $100,000 in bribes to bring illegal gambling to Porter County.
According to federal authorities, the younger Morgano dealt directly with gambling operators and often personally collected the "street tax."
Morgano's top lieutenant,
Anthony Leone, 51, of rural Porter County, was also indicted Friday. He has a December 1988 federal conviction on racketeering, conspiracy and gambling in connection with running an illegal lottery in East Chicago and Gary.
Leone was held in custody following his conviction because prosecutors feared retribution against him after testimony at his trial that he freely told FBI agents about Morgano's alleged mob activity.
During the detention hearing, FBI agents presented evidence Leone was a close associate of Guzzino and Morgano.
Another alleged mob figure indicted Friday was
Sam "Frog" Glorioso, who gave an address in Gary. Chicago police sources say Glorioso actually lives in a swank suburb in Northwest Indiana, and uses Gary as a convenience address.
Sources said Glorioso is involved in bookmaking and definitely is linked to the south suburban mob family. His name also surfaced in police investigations of south suburban chop shops called
"Operation Chisel," police sources said.
Local police sources said Glorioso was a known associate of Northwest Indiana organized crime figures
John Greichunos and
Edward "Fast Eddie" Thackerson.
Thackerson, a key figure in Northwest Indiana car thefts, has been convicted on both sides of the state line on auto theft charges. His auto theft business has been tied to the mob, and he was named as a former associate of
Steven "Red" Ostrowsky, an alleged mob enforcer who was shot to death in 1976.
Greichunos, a major figure in the Calumet Region's auto theft and narcotics rackets, died several years ago of a suspected drug overdose.
Also named in the indictment were several members of a reputed high-level gambling family in Merrillville.
Sam Nuzzo Sr., 69, of 5401 Lincoln Court, and sons
Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of 5991 McKinley St., and
Arthur, 33, all of Merrillville, allegedly run a big money poker game out of the elder Nuzzo's home, according to local sources.
They are also allegedly involved in making sports book, horse betting, cards and sports pools. Sam Nuzzo Sr. was described by local law enforcement as a mob "bagman" who would distribute betting sheets at Gary's train station. Sam Nuzzo Jr. is also part owner of
Hy-Dad's tavern in Merrillville.
Another longtime local gambling figure indicted was
Steve Sfouris, 55, of 1106 Camellia Drive, Munster, described by federal authorities as a major gambling operator specializing in "barbut," a Greek dice game often played for high stakes.
Sam Nuzzo Jr. was arrested in 1977 by Hammond police in connection with a raid on a betting parlor at 513 Conkey St. and was indicted by the federal government in 1980 along with nine other people in connection with a barbut game which floated from New Chicago to East Chicago in 1979 and 1980. Sfouris was the owner of the old Robert Hall building at 104 State St., Hammond, which was raided by Lake County Sheriff's Police in October 1980, when 18 people were arrested.
Jan. 12, 1983, Hammond police raided the same building, arresting a number of people at a game of barbut. Among those people - but not arrested - was former
Munster Police Chief Louis Beratis. Although Beratis said he was there in an undercover investigation, he resigned from the Munster force that summer.
Sfouris, who was also the proprietor of the Broadway Book Store, an adult book store in Gary, and the Duchess Lounge Show Club, a bar at 7290 Black Oak Road, Gary, was arrested by East Chicago police during a gambling raid in June 1987. He was released after questioning without being charged.
Another man indicted was
Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, of Chicago, whose name surfaced during the federal trial of two local men -
Michael Mokol Sr. and
Reginald Kinkade - on gambling conspiracy.
During the trial, FBI Special Agent Philip Hultgen testified Kinkade provided the FBI with a videotape of himself meeting with Petros and FBI informant
Timothy "Geno" Janowsky.
Although the tape was not used at the trial, there were references that Petros was a lieutenant for organized crime in Northwest Indiana.
Also indicted was
Anthony J. "Potatoes" Ottomanelli, 60, of Portage, who is described by Chicago police sources as a small-time bookmaker who ran operations out of the south suburbs with four or five employees.
Several people indicted for whom little information could be found were Merrillville residents
Sandra T. Mynes, 43, and
Jennifer Kaufman, 37, and Portage residents
Ned M. and Yolande M. Pujo, ages 51 and 55, respectively.
Named as people who had been "shaken down" by the mob were Kinkade and Janowsky, who were owners of local vending machine companies which provided poker and other gambling machines for local taverns.
Kinkade, convicted of gambling and conspiracy earlier this year, owned
Variety Amusement in East Chicago. Janowsky, an FBI informant, was the owner of
Geno's Vending in Merrillville.
Janowsky was a key witness in the October 1983 federal extortion trial of
Frank R. Esposito, of Crete;
Richard Piekarski, of Crete;
Ronald Figurski, of Dolton; and
Gary Novak, of Crown Point.
All were charged with attempting to shake down Janowsky for 50 percent of his profit on electronic poker games in exchange for being allowed to distribute the games in mob-controlled Northwest Indiana.
Also named as shakedown victims were
Louie and Athanasios Gerodemos. Louis was the former owner of a Lakes of the Four Seasons restaurant, Mr. G's. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1951 from Greece and was acquitted of federal gambling charges in 1972.
Also named as a victim of mob extortion was
John Mantis.
Mantis, who was arrested by an organized crime task force in June 1977 during a gambling raid at 821 W. Chicago Ave., East Chicago, entered a guilty plea to gambling in September 1977. His gambling was tied to Greek dice games in East Chicago.
Also named as victims of mob enforcement in Northwest Indiana were
Edward Strawmier,
Donald Pytel,
Jeffrey Dunk,
Franklin Burton and
Robert Graczyk.
