12151991 - News Article - Former government witness gives up witness protection

Former government witness gives up witness protection
NWI Times
Dec 15, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/former-government-witness-gives-up-witness-protection/article_3650c9c5-75a8-58e2-97d6-0466282a52c0.html
HAMMOND - Anthony Leone left the federal witness protection program Friday.

Leone, 51, of rural Valparaiso, was a key government witness in the prosecution of Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo and five other gamblers who were alleged to be part of a crime syndicate that had gambling operations in Northwest Indiana. The six are to be sentenced in three weeks.

Crown Point attorney David Braatz said Leone wanted to return to the area to be close to his family. His former wife and two sons live in Porter County.

Leone entered the witness protection program in June 1989 under a condition that he not return to Porter County.

Assistant U. S. Attorney Michael Thill told U.S. District Judge James Moody that Leone had cooperated in prosecuting "some of the most dangerous people a codefendant can testify against."

Having heard the word of caution, Leone signed papers releasing him from the program. Leone plans to be with his sons at Christmas.

12141991 - News Article - Leone sheds federal cover - Love for his children cited

Leone sheds federal cover
Love for his children cited
Post-Tribune (IN)
December 14, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D95CCC18695?p=AWNB
Anthony Leone stunned a federal courtroom Friday, announcing he was dropping out of the federal witness protection program three weeks before the sentencing of six crime syndicate members he helped convict.

Crown Point attorney David Braatz said Leone's love for his children led to his decision to shed his protective cover and expose himself to the crime bosses for whom he once worked and helped convict.

Braatz said Leone will be with his children this Christmas for the first time in four years.

"Good luck, Mr. Leone," U.S. District Judge James T. Moody said as Leone walked out of the courtroom to sign the papers to gain his freedom.

Leone, 51, of rural Valparaiso, was a key government witness in the August prosecution of Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo and five other gamblers and members of the crime syndicate. They will be sentenced in early January.

Leone entered the witness protection program in June 1989, about 18 months before Palermo and the others were indicted. Leone was charged in the same indictment, which centered on the crime syndicate's collection of a street tax from Northwest Indiana gamblers.

Braatz told the court,"My client wishes to come back to this area. He has a deep affection for his two sons, especially his handicapped child."

Leone was in court Friday for sentencing under terms of a plea agreement stemming from his cooperation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Thill told Judge Moody that Leone cooperated against "some of the most dangerous people a co-defendant can testify against."

Moody may have tipped his hand as to the sentences he will impose next month on Palermo, Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino of Chicago Heights, Ill.; Bernard ''Snooky" Morgano, of Valparaiso; Sam Nuzzo Jr. of Merrillville; Sam ''Frog" Glorioso of Gary; and Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, formerly of Gary.

Before sentencing Leone to three years on probation, Moody said he was being lenient only because of Leone's cooperation.

"Otherwise he would go to jail for a real long time," Moody said.

As one of the conditions of probation, Moody told Leone he wouldn't be allowed to reside in Porter County, the home of his former wife and two children. The couple were divorced while he was in the witness protection program. Leone has visitation rights.

The December 1990 racketeering and gambling indictment was the second time Leone has been charged.

He was convicted in February 1989 of running an illegal lottery in Gary. He served about four months in prison before he began cooperating with the FBI and entered the witness protection program.

Prior to that, in October 1987, Thill said Leone met with the FBI in a motel in Remington and began cooperating with the federal investigation into the crime syndicate.

"He got some bad advice from a co-defendant and stopped cooperating," Thill said. "At a very serious risk to himself, he decided to cooperate again."

Leone and others launched the illegal lottery in 1984 while working at USS Gary Works. Leone was laid off about the same time - three months short of 20 years, which would have qualified him for a full pension.

Leone told FBI special agent James Cziperle he left the lottery operation in February 1986 and went to work for Morgano enforcing the street tax on gambling operations.

Leone told authorities Morgano told him he took over organized crime's Northwest Indiana gambling operation when former boss Frank Zizzo died in the late 1970s, Cziperle said.

Leone got his start with Morgano making pizzas at the former Pete and Snook's restaurant, 4875 Broadway, Gary.

Leone said he knew Morgano's father, Tommy Morgano, who died in Sicily after being deported in 1963. Bernard Morgano, the former Northwest Indiana crime boss, left the country to avoid a prison term.

12111991 - News Article - Sentencing of 6 crime syndicate members stalled - Government seeks longer prison terms

Sentencing of 6 crime syndicate members stalled
Government seeks longer prison terms
Post-Tribune (IN)
December 11, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D92446B58A3?p=AWNB
A government motion seeking to increase the potential jail sentences for six members of the crime syndicate has brought a one-month sentencing delay.

Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, the head of the crime syndicate's Northwest Indiana and south Chicago suburbs, and five other defendants were to have been sentenced Thursday.

U.S. District Judge James T. Moody continued the sentencings after a motion by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Thill.

Thill is asking Moody to depart from the new federal sentencing guidelines and increase the potential jail time each faces. The guidelines, which took affect Nov. 1, 1987, limit a judge's leeway in sentencing.

"The sentencing guidelines don't adequately take into account the existence of organized crime," Thill said. "We are asking the court to depart upward."

The six were convicted on racketeering and illegal gambling charges for extorting a "street tax" from high-stakes games operated by Northwest Indiana gamblers.

The other defendants are Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino of Chicago Heights, Ill.; Bernard "Snooky" Morgano of Valparaiso; Sam "Frog" Glorioso of Gary; Sam Nuzzo Jr. of Merrillville; and Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, formerly of Gary and LaPorte and now of Cicero, Ill. Each of the defendants is being held.

Palermo, Guzzino and Morgano face sentences of between 11 and 14 years. Thill is seeking to increase the ceiling to 25 or more years.

Nuzzo, Glorioso and Petros face about five years. The government is seeking an increase to about 11 years. Under the new guidelines, a defendant serves most of the sentence he receives.

Chicago attorney Kevin Milner, representing Palermo, said the federal racketeering statute was created to nab those involved in organized crime.

"The guidelines already have completely and adequately determined what the appropriate sentencing should be," Milner said. "We are going to be filing a response explaining why his (Thill's) theory is incorrect."

Gary attorney Scott King, representing Nuzzo, said, "You are going to tell me the sentencing commission didn't consider racketeering."

King called the government's position "poetic justice."

King said the government for years has abused the racketeering statute, applying it to crimes for which it wasn't intended.

"This is an example of the government being hoisted by its own petard," King said.

The sentencings are set for Jan. 7, 8 and 9.

10111991 - News Article - Sentencing delayed for crime figures guilty of racketeering

Sentencing delayed for crime figures guilty of racketeering
Post-Tribune (IN)
October 11, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D4A9FC97A1B?p=AWNB
Crime boss Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo and five other men have had their sentences continued from Oct. 15 until Dec. 12.

The continuance was granted by U.S. District Judge James T. Moody at the request of the federal probation office, which has the task of preparing the pre-sentence reports on each defendant.

To be sentenced with Palermo, of Orland Park, Ill., are Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino of Chicago Heights, Ill., Bernard "Snooky" Morgano of Valparaiso, Sam Nuzzo Jr. of Merrillville, Sam "Frog" Glorioso of Gary, and Peter ''Cadillac Pete" Petros, formerly of Gary and most recently of Cicero, Ill.

The five were convicted in U.S. District Court in August on racketeering and illegal gambling charges stemming from the collection of a "street tax" on illegal gambling operations in Northwest Indiana.

Palermo was the head of the crime syndicate's gambling operations in Northwest Indiana and Chicago's south suburbs. Guzzino was Palermo's top lieutenant and he dealt directly with Morgano on Indiana matters.

Palermo, Guzzino, Petros and Nuzzo have been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since being indicted in December. Glorioso and Morgano were jailed upon conviction.

Each of the six defendants faces more than 50 years in prison.

09281991 - News Article - Sisters get 12 months on gambling charges

Sisters get 12 months on gambling charges
NWI Times
Sep 28, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/sisters-get-months-on-gambling-charges/article_4b7e128d-6f61-590f-b730-9ca3eb85951b.html
HAMMOND - Two Merrillville sisters were sentenced Friday to 12 months in prison for their role in a family-controlled sports betting operation.

U.S. District Court Judge James Moody gave Jennifer Kaufman, 37, and Sandra Mynes, 44, the maximum prison terms and ordered them to perform 500 hours of community service.

The two women faced between six and 12 months in prison and between $2,000 and $20,000 in fines. Moody did not fine the women, ruling that they did not have the resources and that he would not anticipate them being able to pay.

Moody gave the maximum prison term and fine - 18 months and $30,000 - to their father, Sam Nuzzo Sr., 70, of Merrillville. Their brother Arthur Nuzzo, 33, also received 18 months and was required to pay $10,000. Both were charged under the same federal gambling law.

The judge showed no mercy on the family, which pleaded guilty July 16 shortly before they were scheduled to go to trial on a charge that they operated an illegal gambling business.

Neither the father, son nor two daughters agreed to cooperate or help the government in its prosecution of 11 other defendants named in a 30-count indictment.

Arthur Nuzzo, Mynes and Kaufman have been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since early May, when they were rearrested again and their bonds revoked because they allegedly continued to run their illegal gambling business.

Their older brother, Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, was arrested with them and was detained as well. He chose to take his case to court, however.

A federal jury last month convicted Nuzzo Jr. and his five other co-defendants, who were accused of not only running an illegal gambling business, but of racketeering, conspiracy and extorting money from other gambling houses.

Martin Kinney, who represented Mynes and Kaufman, told Moody before the sentence was imposed that the two women have had a difficult experience at the correctional center that has helped them comprehend the seriousness of their actions.

Kaufman told Moody she is sorry for what she had done and that she has learned that "nothing and no one is worth your freedom."

"If you give me a change to go home," Kaufman said, "I won't disappoint you."

Mynes declined to speak on her own behalf before she was sentenced.

The government hailed the case as the largest organized crime indictment ever handled by the U.S. attorney's office for Northern District of Indiana.

All of the defendants who went to trial, including Dominick Palermo, 73, the southern territorial boss of the Chicago "Outfit" crime family, were convicted of 56 of the 57 federal charges they faced.

Ned Pujo of Portage pleaded guilty last week of running an illegal gambling business as part of a deal to have the gambling charges against his wife, Yolanda, dropped.

Anthony J. "Potatoes" Ottomanelli of Portage cooperated with the investigation and was given probation.

Another cooperating defendant, Anthony Leone of Valparaiso, will be sentenced Dec. 13. The government's chief witness against the six defendants who went to trial, Leone faced more serious charges than Ottomanelli's single gambling charge.

A remaining defendant, Steve Sfouris of Munster, is still a fugitive and is believed to have fled to his native Greece.

09281991 - News Article - Odds catch Nuzzo's 2 daughters - Each sentenced to one year in prison and 500 hours of community service

Odds catch Nuzzo's 2 daughters 
Each sentenced to one year in prison and 500 hours of community service
Post-Tribune (IN)
September 28, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D3B5719ECD6?p=AWNB
Hundreds of Northwest Indiana gamblers have called Jennifer Kaufman and Sandra Mynes over the years to wager on football and basketball games.

Most of the gamblers lost. So did Kaufman and Mynes on Friday.

The two women, both daughters of Sam Nuzzo Sr., were sentenced to prison.

U.S. District Judge James T. Moody ordered each woman to serve one year in prison and perform 500 hours of community service upon release. He did not impose a fine. The one-year sentence was the maximum allowable.

Kaufman, 37, of Merrillville, told Moody, "After the last five months in prison ... nothing or no one ... it's not worth your freedom. If you give me a chance to go home, I won't disappoint you."

The judge rejected her appeal. He also denied defense attorney Martin H. Kinney's request that Kaufman be allowed to serve the rest of her time at a half-way house in Chicago.

Both women are being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.

Mynes, 43, of Merrillville, declined to address the judge before sentencing.

Kinney said, "She and her sister got involved because it was kind of a family business."

The women were among 15 charged last December in what federal authorities described as the most significant crime syndicate indictment ever in northern Indiana.

Each pleaded guilty to one count of illegal gambling under terms of a plea agreement. Neither was required to testify against co-defendants.

In May, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Thill petitioned to have Mynes' and Kaufman's bonds revoked when the FBI turned up evidence they continued to take sports bets by telephone. U.S. Magistrate Andrew P. Rodovich approved the request.

Because they will receive credit for the five months served, they likely will be released in April 1992.

Kinney, after sentencing, said, "It (one year) is certainly longer than I expected."

Mynes, along with other members of the Nuzzo family, owns and operates Hydad's lounge in Merrillville.

Anthony "Potatoes" Ottomanelli of Portage was sentenced Thursday to six months in a work-release center and fined $2,000. He, too, had pleaded guilty to illegal gambling. Ottomanelli played a role in the printing and distribution of football parlay cards - another Nuzzo operation.

Sam Nuzzo Sr., 70, and his son, Arthur A. Nuzzo, 33, both of Merrillville, were each sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday. Arthur has been incarcerated since May. Sam Nuzzo Sr. reports to prison Nov. 1.

Additionally, Sam Nuzzo Sr. was fined $30,000 and Arthur Nuzzo $10,000.

Another son, Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville, will be sentenced Oct. 15.

Sam Nuzzo Jr. was tried in August with five other defendants and was convicted on racketeering and gambling charges. He was considered head of the Nuzzo sports-betting and parlay card operation.

The crime syndicate skimmed part of his profits.

09261991 - News Article - Two Nuzzo family members sentenced to 18 months in prison

Two Nuzzo family members sentenced to 18 months in prison
NWI Times
Sep 26, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/two-nuzzo-family-members-setnenced-to-months-in/article_078b1e6c-faf1-57f9-86b6-12105796f610.html
HAMMOND - Two members of the Nuzzo family who pleaded guilty to running an illegal sports betting operation in Lake County were sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison.

Sam Nuzzo Sr., 70 and his son Arthur, 33, were given the maximum prison time provided for under federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody also gave the elder Nuzzo the maximum fine allowed - $30,000 - due Oct. 15. Arthur Nuzzo was fined $10,000 due during the first year of his supervised release from prison.

The two men are among 15 people indicted last year for gambling, racketeering and extortion, and the first to be sentenced for their role in the illegal activity. The indictment was hailed as the largest organized crime case ever handled by the U.S. attorney's office for the northern district of Indiana.

The four members of the Merrillville Nuzzo family pleaded guilty July 16 to running an illegal gambling business, shortly before their case was scheduled to go to trial. Sam Nuzzo Sr.'s two daughters Jennifer Kaufman and Sandra Mynes, will be sentenced Friday. The two could receive similar prison terms. Nuzzo Sr. will begin serving his prison term Nov. 1. Both he and Arthur Nuzzo were sentenced under new guidelines that require them to serve the majority of the prison time they received.

The fifth member of the family and the head of the gambling enterprise, Sam Nuzzo Jr., was found guilty by a federal jury in August along with five others of running an illegal gambling business, extortion, racketeering and conspiracy. He could receive more than 40 years in prison when he is sentenced with his five co-defendants Oct. 15.

Nuzzo Sr. and Arthur Nuzzo's lawyer, Thomas Vanes, argued unsuccessfully Wednesday that the two men were workers, rather than managers of the family-controlled gambling business. Their possible prison time increased from six to 12 months to 12 to 18 months because of the classification.

The government has also labeled Mynes and Kaufman as "managers."

Vanes said he thought the sentence was "out of proportion to this kind of offense." Other defendants like "Outfit" crime family south territory boss Dominick Palermo, who sanctioned the gambling and took in profits, could get a similar sentence for the same crime, he said. Palermo, 73, of Orland Park, faces additional charges as well.

"It hurts me to see a family hurt as much as they're hurting by what happened today (Tuesday)," Vanes said.

Taking the witness stand in his behalf, Nuzzo Sr. said he just "pitched in. It was never my business." He said his older son Sam controlled the profits, giving him money occasionally.

"What this man did he did not do for the purpose of profit, he did as a father of a family," Vanes said. "A father helping his children when they need help." Moody interrupted, saying: "Wouldn't it have been better to say to his children, 'Get out of this business, it's illegal'? That's what should have
happened here."

Arthur Nuzzo told the court that he accepted responsibility for his crimes. "I'm sorry for the crimes I committed, " he said before he was sentenced.

Also entering guilty pleas were Anthony J. Ottomanelli of Portage, who will be sentenced today; and Anthony Leone of Valparaiso, who will be sentenced Dec. 13.

Last week, Ned Pujo pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling business in exchange for dropping the charges against his wife, Yolanda Pujo of Portage.

A remaining defendant, Steve Sfouris of Munster, is still a fugitive and is believed to have fled to his native Greece.

09261991 - News Article - Bookie receives 1 1/2 years - Judge criticizes Nuzzo for way he raised kids

Bookie receives 1 1/2 years 
Judge criticizes Nuzzo for way he raised kids
Post-Tribune (IN)
September 26, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D391CC05E32?p=AWNB
U.S. District Judge James T. Moody sentenced Sam Nuzzo Sr. to 1 1/2 years in prison Wednesday, but not before criticizing the longtime bookie for the way he raised his children.

Moody also sentenced one of Nuzzo's sons, Arthur A. Nuzzo, 33, to 18 months for committing the same offense. Two daughters will be sentenced Friday and another son on Oct. 15.

Nuzzo, 70, of Merrillville, attempted to diminish his culpability by shifting the responsibility for the illegal sports betting operation to his sons, Arthur and Sam Jr.

"I was helping my kids," Nuzzo said, adding that he was nothing more than a gofer for the football parlay card business operated by Arthur and Sam Jr.

Defense attorney Thomas Vanes added, "What this man did, he didn't do for personal profit. The motivation was a father helping his children whenever they needed help."

Moody, irritated by the comment, interrupted, saying, "Wouldn't it have been better to say, 'Get out of this business. It's illegal.' "

Prior to sentencing, Moody agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Thill's contention that Sam Nuzzo should be considered a manager or supervisor of the operation. That determination increased Nuzzo's possible maximum sentence by six months.

Nuzzo took the witness stand to explain that he was just a runner for his sons.

Moody, moments later, said, "I find the defendant's testimony here today to be incredible, not believable. Whatever he said, I didn't believe him."

Nuzzo countered, "You said you didn't believe me, but I'm telling the truth. I was helping my kids. I was doing wrong. I understand it."

During a November 1987 raid at Sam Nuzzo Sr.'s apartment, the telephone rang and FBI agent Phillip Hultgen took the call, Thill said. Nuzzo was in the apartment at the time. Hultgen accepted a wager from one of Nuzzo's customers.

The 18-month sentence is the maximum Moody could have imposed. Because of the new federal sentencing guidelines, Nuzzo will have to serve virtually all of the time.

Moody also fined Nuzzo $30,000, payable by Oct. 15. Nuzzo is to report to prison Nov. 1.

The 18 months given Arthur Nuzzo also was the maximum sentence. Moody fined Arthur $10,000, payable within the first two years upon release from prison.

Arthur has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since May and will be credited for time served.

Arthur, with his pre-school daughter looking on, told Moody, "I accept my responsibility and I am sorry for the crime I have committed."

Both Nuzzos had pleaded guilty to one count of illegal gambling under terms of a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney's office.

Sam Nuzzo's daughters, Jennifer Kaufman, 37, and Sandra Mynes, 43, will be sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to illegal gambling. They took sports bets by telephone. They, too, are incarcerated.

Another son, Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, will be sentenced Oct. 15.

Bond for Arthur and the two women was revoked in May after the FBI showed they continued the family sports betting operation after being indicted in December.

Sam Nuzzo Jr. went to trial in August with five other defendants and was convicted on racketeering and gambling charges.

After sentencing, Vanes said, "It hurts me to see a family hurt. It is out of proportion to this kind of an offense.

"One day you may see these football parlay cards with the state of Indiana stamped on them."

08171991 - News Article - Guilty verdicts for 6 defendants in gambling trial

Guilty verdicts for 6 defendants in gambling trial
Post-Tribune (IN)
August 17, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D05ABA7B488?p=AWNB
"The jury's in," said a U.S. marshal as he hustled around the federal building notifying the waiting defendants, lawyers, sisters, wives, mothers and sons.

The verdict for six men on trial for racketeering, conspiracy, gambling and extortion: "Guilty."

Just before 4 p.m. Friday, Bernard J. "Snooky" Morgano faced his wife, Stephanie, and caressed her cheek with his hand.

"Are you okay?" she asked, patting away an imaginary wrinkle from the shoulder of his sports coat.

Her hands appeared to move automatically, as if she were once again tidying up her husband of 30 years and sending him off to work as a motion picture projectionist.

But Stephanie Morgano's troubled face betrayed her inner torment. Her husband leaned forward and kissed her.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Morgano said, and turned to his older son, Guy, who pulled close and kissed his father's cheek.

Moments later, Morgano, 54, a Valparaiso resident, walked into U.S. District Judge James Moody's courtroom where Morgano was about to answer for his alleged other occupation - mob boss.

Co-defendant and Gary steel worker Sam M. "Frog" Glorioso, 48, whom Morgano had known since boyhood and who the government says is a mob extortionist, walked in with him. Morgano and Glorioso were followed by dozens of friends and family members - theirs and those of their four fellow defendants already inside.

Morgano and Glorioso greeted the four. They walked around the courtroom's two defense tables shaking hands with Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, of Orland Park, Ill.; Nicholas Albert "Jumbo" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights, Ill.; Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, formerly of Gary, more recently of Cicero, Ill.; and Sam Nuzzo Jr. 45, of Merrillville.

As dangers to the community, Palermo, Guzzino, Petros and Nuzzo were jailed before the trial began. They had been brought into the courtroom earlier.

All six were on trial for racketeering and conspiracy.

Five also were charged with operating gambling businesses of their own, specifically a Greek dice game called barbotte and a sports betting and football parlay card operation.

In addition, five were charged with specific acts of extortion to further a scheme of extracting mob "street taxes" from other Northwest Indiana gambling operators.

Moody entered the courtroom and sat at the bench beneath the huge Seal of the United States. He called in the jury.

The foreman handed a sheaf of verdict forms to the bailiff, who passed them to Moody.

Moody scowled as he flipped through the forms, then handed them down to court clerk David Garrett to be read aloud.

"Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty

08171991 - News Article - 6 Convicted In Indiana Mob Scam

6 Convicted In Indiana Mob Scam
Chicago Tribune
August 17, 1991
articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-08-17/news/9103010085_1_racketeering-guilty-verdicts-convicted"_racketeering-guilty-verdicts-convicted
The reputed head of organized crime immediately south of Chicago, his underboss, and four other mob figures, were convicted Friday of federal racketeering charges arising from a scheme to extort protection money from gamblers in northwest Indiana.

The guilty verdicts by a federal court jury were handed up to Judge James Moody following a 3 1/2-week trial that provided, through secret recordings, a rare listen and look at the inside workings of a crime family.

``The guilty verdicts are a substantial impact on organized crime as it exists today in northwest Indiana,`` said John Hoehner, the U.S. attorney in Hammond. ``I`m elated.``

Among those convicted was Dominick Palermo, 73, of Orland Park, successor in the mob to imprisoned rackets boss Albert Tocco, according to federal authorities.

Like the others, Palermo was convicted of conspiracy and racketeering and faces up to 70 years in prison and a $2 million fine.

Also convicted was Nick Guzzino, 50, of Chicago Heights, identified by the FBI as Palermo`s underboss and who, like Palermo, was employed as a field representative of the Laborers International Union.

The others convicted were Peter Petros, 57, of Cicero; Bernard Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso; Sam Glorioso, 48, of Gary; and Sam Nuzzo Jr., 33, of Merrillville.

Moody ordered Morgano and Glorioso jailed after the verdicts were returned. The other men have been in custody since their arrest in December by the FBI.

All were convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering acts over a five- year period, ending in 1988.

Prosecution evidence in the case, presented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill, included the testimony of a convicted mobster, Anthony Leone, and the playing of 200 taped conversations. Many of the tapes were made at the Taste of Italy restaurant in Calumet City, and others were the fruit of telephone wiretaps.

The recordings were obtained by the FBI through hidden microphones, two of which were in the Taste of Italy, near a booth favored by Palermo and Guzzino.

The two FBI agents who developed evidence in the case, James Cziperle and Robert Hadrick, testified that Palermo and the others met regularly at the Calumet City restaurant at times when it was not open to the public, primarily to count extortion money. The hidden microphones picked up the rustle of money being counted and whispered references to the payment of bribes.

In one tape played to show Palermo`s and Guzzino`s command of the extortion racket, Morgano was overheard telling a confederate, ``OK. But we are going to have to check it out with Chicago first.``

Eleven acknowledged victims of the shakedown racket testified that they paid rather than risk harm to themselves, their families, or their businesses. Some said they were bookmakers, and others identified themselves as vendors of gambling paraphernalia to taverns in Lake and La Porte Counties.

Moody set sentencing for all six for Oct. 15.

08171991 - News Article - Six mobsters found guilty - The verdicts

Six mobsters found guilty
The verdicts
NWI Times
Aug 17, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/six-mobsters-found-guilty-the-verdicts-graphic/article_efc6b06d-f19c-5f07-aa85-5d2ef414668b.html
Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, of Orland Park was found guilty of one count racketeering, one count racketeering conspiracy, two counts conducting and operating an illegal gambling business and four counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises. He faces 70 years in prison and $2 million in fines.

Nicholas Albert "Nicky" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights was found guilty of one count of racketeering, one count of racketeering conspiracy, one count of extortion, two counts conducting and operating an illegal gambling business and eight counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises. He faces 110 years in prison and $3.5 million in fines.

Bernard J. "Snooky" Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso was found guilty of one count of racketeering, one count of racketeering conspiracy, three counts of extortion, two counts of conducting and operating an illegal gambling business and eight counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises. He faces 150 years in prison and $3.5 million in fines.

Sam M. "Frog" Glorioso, 49, of Gary was found guilty of one count of racketeering, one count of racketeering conspiracy, five counts of extortion and one count of participating in an illegal gambling business. He faces 145 years in prison and $2 million in fines.

Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville was found guilty of one count of racketeering, one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of extortion and one count of conducting and operating an illegal gambling business. He faces 85 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines.

Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, of Chicago was found guilty of one count of racketeering, one count of racketeering conspiracy and four counts of extortion. He faces 120 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.

08171991 - News Article - Six mobsters found guilty

Six mobsters found guilty
NWI Times
Aug 17, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/six-mobsters-found-guilty-outfit-members-face/article_88726dd6-7da0-5503-b73d-dd390d82cf45.html
HAMMOND - Six mobsters were found guilty Friday of 56 of the 57 federal felony charges they faced collectively for their role in an extortion and gambling racket that netted thousand of dollars for organized crime.

Defense lawyers were stunned and visibly shaken as the guilty verdicts were read about 4 p.m. Friday. None of the lawyers expected all of the defendants to be found guilty of all but one of the charges. Most said they expect to file an appeal.

A jury of three men and nine women debated more than 18 hours over two days before reaching verdict, finding only one defendant, Nicholas "Nicky" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights, innocent of a single charge of the use of interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises.

All of the men, some of them considered in the upper echelon of the Chicago "Outfit" organized crime family, face between 70 and 150 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines when they are sentenced Oct. 15 by U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody.

U.S. Attorney John Hoehner said he was "pleased" with the verdict, admitting that "pleased" was probably an understatement.

Hoehner fended off criticism lodged by the defense lawyers, who said the gambling and extortion trial was victimless. "Gambling is not a victimless crime," he said. "Organized crime feeds on it."

The convictions stem an eight-year undercover investigation by the FBI and has been viewed as part of a national effort to dismantle traditional organized crime families in Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York. This is the largest organized crime case ever handled by the Northern District of Indiana.

Robert Pertuso, FBI supervisory senior resident agent in charge of the Merrillville office that spearheaded the investigation, said the prosecution fulfills a national commitment to pursue complicated racketeering cases against members of the La Cosa Nostra crime family. Personally, he said, he was "very satisfied" with the results.

Pertuso and Hoehner agreed the historic prosecution will greatly diminish the influence of organized crime in Northwest Indiana.

"I would suspect that the verdict rendered today, together with the guilty pleas the government has extracted from other people in this case, will have a substantial impact on organized crime as it exists in northern Indiana,"

Hoehner said. "That's one of the reasons why I'm elated." Since some of the top chieftains were convicted in this trial, Pertuso said, "it would take a number of years for some of the Young Turks to gain the same type of controls."

The six men were found guilty of racketeering, conspiracy and conducting an illegal gambling business. They extorted protection money from other illegal gambling operators in Lake and LaPorte counties in addition to running a very lucrative sports betting operation and a high-stakes barbooth game.

The case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill and assisted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Simon, was presented over three and a half weeks with the introduction of more than 200 secretly tape-recorded conversations and the testimony of more than 100 witnesses, several whom were granted immunity.

The only two defendants who were free on bond - Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso, who controlled illegal gambling in northern Indiana; and Sam "Frog" Glorioso, 49, of Gary, who collected the so-called street tax - were ordered detained Friday by Moody.

Moody agreed with the government that detention was necessary because the crimes the two men were convicted of involved violence.

Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, of Orland Park, a territorial boss of the "Outfit;" his underboss, Guzzino; and bagman Pete "Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, of Chicago have been detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since their indictment.

Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville, who controlled most of the illegal gambling in Northwest Indiana, was detained in May after he broke the terms of his bond.

The six men were among 15 indicted last December by a federal grand jury sitting in Hammond. The 30-count indictment also charged nine others of conducting illegal gambling businesses. All but two of those defendants, Ned and Yolanda Pujo of Portage, have pleaded guilty. The Pujos are expected to be tried separately later this fall.

The five who pleaded guilty were Nuzzo's father, Sam Sr., his brother Arthur, and sisters Jennifer Kaufman and Sandra Mynes, who have yet to be sentenced.

08171991 - News Article - Six mobsters found guilty - Courtroom overcome with sobs

Six mobsters found guilty
Courtroom overcome with sobs
NWI Times
Aug 17, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/six-mobsters-found-guilty-courtroom-overcome-with/article_34bcd41b-58cc-5afe-a330-0220a20e8014.html
HAMMOND - The heart-wrenching sobs of an 11-year-old girl gripped a federal courtroom Friday as family, friends, defendants and their lawyers tried to comprehend a verdict that stunned perhaps everyone but the government.

The child began crying even before her mother and family members entered the courtroom to hear the verdicts of her father, Nicholas "Nicky" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights, who could spend the rest of his life in a federal prison for his crimes. She stayed outside the court while the verdicts were read.

The child's wails could be heard from inside the courtroom, tearing at the emotions of the lawyer who defended her father and the lawyers of the five co-defendants who were all found guilty of running a gambling and extortion racket for the Chicago "Outfit" organized crime family.

"I think it's outrageous," said lawyer Ronald Menaker, who left the building with red eyes and few words.

Of the 57 racketeering, conspiracy and gambling-related charges the six men faced, the jury found them guilty of 56. Only Guzzino was found innocent of one of the nine charges he faced of the use of interstate travel in the aid of racketeering.

The six could spend the rest of their lives in a federal prison, with possible prison terms ranging from 70 to 150 years and fines as high as $3.5 million.

The jury took 18 hours over two days to reach its verdict about 4 p.m. Friday. Many of the family members waited while the jury deliberated. For the reading of the verdict, they sat as they had during much of the trial, shoulder to shoulder. Family members filled almost three court benches, holding hands as the verdicts were read, some of them crying quietly.

Outside the courtroom, members of the defendants' close-knit Italian families hugged and consoled one another, lamenting their disbelief that the jury of three men and nine women could deliberate for 18 hours and decide that all of the men were guilty of practically all of the charges.

One of the jurors also appeared shaken by the experience; one shielded her face and another nervously twiddled her thumbs as the verdicts were read by a clerk.

After the verdicts were read, the defense lawyers shook their clients' hands, and tried to reassure them as they were led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals who planned to take all of the defendants that evening to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.

The lawyers then sat back down, trying to soak in the loss as family members filed out of the courtroom to release their anger and sorrow.

"I am very disappointed," said Richard James, who represented Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso, a father of two sons and a daughter who gave birth to a daughter this week - the Morgano family's first grandchild.

James searched for the words to describe his feelings. "These guys are nothing like they were made out to be," he said.

Scott King, who represented Sam Nuzzo Jr., agreed: "The image of them as some sort of mobsters doesn't fit them."

King said he will "vigorously" appeal the extortion charges. The loss was hard to swallow for King, who thought his client had a chance to escape everything except a minor gambling charge.

The Nuzzo family was not present for the reading of verdicts. Sam's father, Sam Sr., brother Arthur and sisters Jennifer Kaufman and Sandra Mynes were indicted with him, but pleaded guilty last month to the single gambling charge they faced. They have yet to be sentenced.

Defense lawyers don't always get to represent nice people with nice families, and this was one such case, said Robert Truitt, a court-appointed lawyer who represented Sam "Frog" Glorioso, a steelworker from Gary whose wife and daughter joined him in the wait for verdict.

Truitt said he believes Glorioso, who got behind in his gambling debts, tried to settle his debts by doing favors. "I feel bad for Sam. He didn't go to them looking to be employed as a money collector."

Outspoken Chicago lawyer Kevin Milner, who represented Palermo, said he was too upset to share his thoughts after the guilty verdicts were read. If one of the defendants had a chance, he believed it was his client.

08161991 - News Article - Gambling trial in hands of federal jury

Gambling trial in hands of federal jury
NWI Times
Aug 16, 1991
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/gambling-trial-in-hands-of-federal-jury/article_ff06acf4-b0ed-5944-b250-cda2fe38fbe5.html
HAMMOND - The six men on trial for allegedly extorting protection money from illegal gambling operators were not "put together" by the government, a federal prosecutor told the jury in his closing remarks Thursday.

"I did not put these people together in this enterprise," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill. "Who put these people together? They did it themselves."

Thill countered arguments by defense lawyers that the six defendants were not a part of the so-called mob conspiracy to extort money.

A federal jury of nine women and three men began deliberating about 11 a.m. Thursday and will continue this morning sifting through the evidence, including more than 200 secretly tape-recorded conversations. The jury requested at 11:45 a.m. that a tape recorder be provided.

Asking for justice, Thill knocked claims by the defense that no one was hurt by the alleged extortion. The legal gambling hurts society, from the public corruption it breeds to the tragedy borne by the families of gamblers, he said.

Defense lawyers argued Wednesday that the government, which spent eight years investigating the men, failed to produce evidence that their clients collected a so-called street tax.

The six are accused of racketeering, conspiracy and running an illegal gambling business for the Chicago "Outfit" organized crime family.

The highlights of the government and the defense's closing arguments included:

* Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, of Orland Park allegedly was the boss to whom went the proceeds from a high-stakes barbooth game, a sports betting operation and the protection money collected from illegal gambling operators. The defense said Palermo is a hard-working family and union man who collected money only for the International Laborers Union Local 5 in Chicago Heights.

* Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights allegedly was one of the bosses under Palermo who applied pressure to gambling operators who refused to pay. The defense said Guzzino's only aggressive effort to collect money was done in his capacity as a field representative for the laborers' pension and welfare fund.

* Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso allegedly oversaw "street tax" collections in Northwest Indiana, bribing police to protect the illicit ventures. The defense argues that Morgano, a father of three and a movie projectionist, was a gambler and nothing more.

* Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville allegedly controlled most of the illegal sports betting in Lake County and helped extort money from other gambling operators. The defense admits Nuzzo is a gambler, but said he never extorted money from anyone.

* Sam "Frog" Glorioso, 49, of Gary allegedly was a street tax collector who leveled threats to those who refused to pay. The defense says the steelworker was a gambler who was forced to settle his gambling debts by doing favors, but didn't conspire to do anything with his co-defendants.

* Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, of Chicago allegedly was a "street tax" collector who threatened to put one man and his son in the cemetery. The defense says Petros is a goofy Greek gentleman who boasted a lot, did some favors and was taken advantage of by various people.

08161991 - News Article - 'Mob' trial goes to jury - Quick verdict not expected

'Mob' trial goes to jury 
Quick verdict not expected
Post-Tribune (IN)
August 16, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D03EEDAF62C?p=AWNB
A jury of nine women and three men spent most of the day and all of the evening Thursday deliberating the fate of six men charged with mob-related gambling activities.

The jurors began their deliberations at 10:30 a.m. after hearing the government's final summation given by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill and 67 pages of instructions read by U.S. District Court Judge James Moody.

A foreshadowing of lengthy deliberations came at 11:45 a.m. when the jury foreman sent out a written request for the jury to be provided a tape recorder. The government had entered into evidence hundreds of secretly tape- recorded conversations between the defendants from wire taps and bugs.

As of 9:55 p.m., when the judge sent jurors home, they had not reached a verdict. Deliberations will resume at 8:30 a.m. today.

All six defendants are charged with racketeering, in that all allegedly aided an extortion scheme in which local gamblers whose operations were not part of the syndicate paid "street taxes" on their gambling revenues to the syndicate.

All six are charged with conspiracy to commit such acts of racketeering.

Five defendants are accused of operating their own professional gambling enterprises in Northwest Indiana - specifically, either a sports betting- football parlay card ring or a high-stakes Greek dice game known as barbotte.

All told, there are 58 separate counts - or specific charges - against the defendants.

The accused and their alleged crimes - aside from the racketeering and conspiracy charges they all face - are:

* Dominick K. "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, Orland Park, Ill., two counts of gambling, four counts of interstate travel to promote racketeering.

* Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino, 49, Chicago Heights, Ill., two counts of gambling, one count of extortion, 10 counts of interstate travel to promote racketeering.

* Bernard J. "Snooky" Morgano, 54, Valparaiso, two counts of gambling, three counts of extortion, nine counts of interstate travel to promote racketeering.

* Sam "Frog" Glorioso, 48, of Gary, one count of gambling, five counts of extortion.

* Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, formerly of Gary, now of Cicero, Ill., four counts of extortion.

* Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville, one count of gambling, two counts of extortion.

Thill, the lead federal prosecutor throughout the trial, which began July 22, gave a 50-minute oration early Thursday morning recapping the government's case and taking shots at arguments made by defense counsel Wednesday.

All that day defense lawyers pounded star government witness Anthony Leone, 49, of Porter Township, attacking is character and credibility. Thill responded Thursday by saying he would have called "nuns and priests and schoolteachers and impeccable businessmen" but they don't know about extortion and racketeering.

Thill said Leone's role was to corroborate the evidence gathered by the government, whose case could stand alone.

"It all fits together, ladies and gentlemen, without Mr. Leone," Thill said. "Then bring him in and see why you can believe in his testimony.

"Mr. Leone is just one piece of the puzzle down in the corner," Thill said, gesturing, making a small circle with his hands.

In answering the question posed Wednesday by defense attorney Kevin Milner, Palermo's lawyer, about who are the victims of gambling, Thill answered: "Society is the victim."

Thill recited what the government alleges are Morgano's words on tape: "I got to take out for the coppers."

"Corruption affects all society," Thill said.

"Justice demands that you bring back a verdict of guilty against all defendants on all counts."

08151991 - News Article - 'Mob' defense attacks - Scorn for prosecution in racketeering trials

'Mob' defense attacks 
Scorn for prosecution in racketeering trials
Post-Tribune (IN)
August 15, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D0171D383D4?p=AWNB
It's a hodgepodge of innuendo plopped against the courtroom wall.

That's how several defense attorneys characterized the government's case Wednesday as the trial of six alleged gamblers and racketeers reached its penultimate day.

This morning, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill will make a last review of the government's case before the jury to be followed by instructions to jurors from U.S. District Court Judge James Moody.

Then the jury will begin deliberations.

Charged with 57 acts of racketeering and additional charges of conspiracy, extortion and professional gambling are:

Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, of Orland Park, Ill.; Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights, Ill.; Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso; Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville; Sam "Frog" Glorioso, 48, of Gary; and Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, formerly of Gary, and now of Cicero, Ill.

The defense rested Wednesday morning after Morgano's attorney, Richard F. James, called Mary Jo Norman to the stand.

Norman testified her ex-husband, Anthony Leone, 49, of Porter Township, whom she divorced in January, was "not trustworthy." She said Leone misused money given him by her parents to care for their handicapped son.

It was the first in a barrage of defense attacks on the character and credibility of Leone, a key government witness.

The government alleges Leone was Morgano's "right hand man" in running illegal gambling and extortion rackets in Northwest Indiana during the mid 1980s.

Leone, convicted of gambling charges in 1988, testified against Morgano and the other five defendants here Monday.

Thill, the chief prosecutor throughout the trial, made his closing arguments by ticking off - defendant by defendant - a list of alleged crimes and the evidence the government believes supports the charges.

The government has outlined a mob hierarchy headed by Palermo, the reputed boss of syndicate operations in Northwest Indiana and the south Chicago suburbs. His alleged lieutenant was Guzzino. The Northwest Indiana street boss allegedly was Morgano, from whom Glorioso, Nuzzo and Petros took orders, according to the government.

In defense, however, Kevin Milner, a former assistant U.S. Attorney now representing Palermo, characterized the government's case as "a lot of innuendo, a lot of suggestion, a lot of fill-in-the-blanks."

Ronald Menaker, Guzzino's attorney, again assailed Leone as an opportunist who took advantage of the government that began looking for mobsters in 1983.

Menaker said by 1987, the hundreds of wire-taps used in the case were completed and the investigation ended in 1988, yet the government waited until 1990 to produce the indictments.

"The reason that no indictments were returned was the government had at its disposal massive amounts of information, but they had an investigation that was going nowhere," Menaker said.

Enter Leone, Menaker theorized, who in 1988 desperately wanted out of a federal prison in Terre Haute.

"That's when Tony Leone negotiated himself into this courtroom," Menaker said. "He knew - consumate hustler that he is - exactly what it took."

Attorney James, Morgano's lawyer, said the government's case is like a box filled with 100 pieces grabbed from each of five different picture puzzles.

"Now they're going around with their little rubber hammer trying to pound the picture together," James said.

Scott King, also a former assistant U.S. attorney, now representing Nuzzo, expressed withering scorn for the prosecution.

King asked the jurors to consider if the prosecution's witnesses - most of whom were gamblers - were more afraid of the defendants or the government that traded their testimony for grants of immunity from prosecution.

King, too, alleged the government has failed to meet its burden of proof, but is relying on innuendo and the allegations of mob activity.

"Their fondest hope is that you'll get carried away," King added.

He summed up the U.S. attorney's case in three sentences, two spoken in a mocking tone, the third in a conspiratorial whisper.

"We don't need to be specific."

"We don't need the evidence.

"This is the mafia here."

08151991 - News Article - Prosecutors, defense wrap up "Outfit"

Prosecutors, defense wrap up "Outfit"
NWI Times
Aug 15, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/street-tax-collection-impossible-wife-testifies/article_a828ecd9-92af-5f02-9ea6-472ad061f9f6.html
HAMMOND - No gambling operation was too small for the six men on trial - they wanted a slice of it all, said a federal prosecutor summing up Wednesday what has been touted as the largest organized crime case ever handled here.

"It didn't matter if the gambling business was making $100 million or 10 cents a day," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill told the jury. "If it's gambling, these guys want a part of it. They demand a part of it."

Defense lawyers demanded the jury look carefully at the evidence, using the analogy that the government is using a rubber mallet to try to make pieces from five different puzzles fit together as one.

They also hammered away at what they said was surprisingly little evidence given the eight years the government spent investigating the six men. Each lawyer for the six defendants, including Dominick Palermo, the reputed territorial boss of the Chicago "Outfit," said the government failed to prove their clients extorted money from illegal gambling businesses that flourished in Lake and LaPorte counties in the 1980s.

"The government has brought very little evidence," said defense lawyer Kevin Milner, who represents Palermo. "But what they've brought is a lot of innuendo ... a lot of fill-in-the-blanks."

The government will get one more chance this morning to try to refute the claims of the defense lawyers and to persuade the jury to interpret the evidence as the government believes it should be viewed.

The jury could begin its deliberations in U.S. District Court in Hammond sometime this morning following the government's closing statement.

The six men - Palermo, his alleged underboss, Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino of Chicago Heights, Bernard "Snooky" Morgano of Valparaiso, who allegedly controlled gambling in Northwest Indiana; Sam Nuzzo Jr. of Merrillville, who allegedly conducted the majority of illegal gambling in the area; and alleged bagmen Pete "Cadillac Pete" Petros and Sam "Frog" Glorioso - face charges of racketeering, conspiracy and conducting an illegal gambling business.

Thill asked the jury to consider the mannerisms of many of the witnesses who testified that they were shaken down by the defendants for a percentage of the proceeds from the illegal gambling ventures they ran.

"Many of the witnesses who testified were frightened," Thill said. "They were frightened out of their mind."

The witnesses may have been scared, said Scott King, who represents Nuzzo, but what they were scared of is "what might happen to their deal with the government." Many of the witnesses testified under a grant of immunity in return for their testimony. Some of them admitted they continue to this date running illegal gambling enterprises.

"The government didn't say go and sin no more, but go and keep sinning," King said of the illegal gambling operators.

King and the other lawyers also insinuated that the reason the government selected the six defendants and ignored prosecuting the admitted illegal gambling operators was because five of the six defendants are Italian. The sixth defendant is Greek.

Thill invited the jury to listen again to the more than 200 taped-recorded conversations from the Taste of Italy restaurant in Calumet City and the phones of Morgano and Anthony Leone, the alleged bagman and right-hand man of Morgano who pleaded guilty in the case and testified against the six defendants.

But, defense lawyers attacked the credibility of the tapes, reminding the jury the government's own investigators interpreted parts of the same conversations differently. They used the example of "Toots on the way," and "put the stuff away" to show how two agents listening to the same conversation heard different words.

The defense lawyers directed much of their criticism, however, at the government's star witness in the case, Anthony Leone, calling him a "hustler, a con man" and a "liar" who is telling what the government wants to hear just so he can cut a deal to reduce his prison time. Leone is already serving an eight-year term for an earlier conviction resulting from an illegal lottery he ran.

Thill, however, told the jury that despite claims by the defense, Leone is not a "one-man" Mafia and he didn't collect the so-called street tax from illegal gambling operations for himself - he did it under the direction of Morgano, Guzzino and Palermo.

There were workers and bosses in this illegal association, Thill said.

08141991 - News Article - 'Street tax' collection impossible, wife testifies

'Street tax' collection impossible, wife testifies
NWI Times
Aug 14, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/street-tax-collection-impossible-wife-testifies/article_a828ecd9-92af-5f02-9ea6-472ad061f9f6.html
HAMMOND - A reputed mobster was unable to give the orders from his hospital bed to collect a "street tax" from illegal gambling operations, his wife testified Tuesday.

Stephanie Morgano took the witness stand in defense of her husband, Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, contradicting testimony offered by Anthony Leone, the man who claimed to be Morgano's right-hand man and who collected the "street tax."

Morgano is on trial with five other men, who the government alleges conspired to running illegal gambling businesses and extort protection money from other gambling operations, all for the benefit of the Chicago "Outfit" organized crime family.

Stephanie Morgano was one of a handful of witnesses defense lawyers put on the stand for the first time Tuesday. One additional witness is expected today to be called each by the defense and the government. Closing arguments will follow, with the jury likely to begin deliberating later this evening.

Leone testified Monday that after Morgano's life-threatening heart attack on April 16, 1986, he visited Morgano daily in the hospital to talk about collections. He said Morgano's wife told him after the heart attack to call another defendant, Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino, and ask him to "take over."

Stephanie Morgano said only family members were allowed to see Morgano, who underwent heart surgery and was unable to talk because his tongue was hanging out of one side of his mouth and a tube was in the other side. Leone, she said, is not related to the Morgano family.

She also denied telling Leone to call Guzzino. She said after her husband was discharged from the hospital, she asked Leone to take him for a ride in the car to help shake the depression and fear that overtook him after the heart attack.

She also helped the defense by offering another explanation about "getting rid of Pete," saying they had a hunting dog they had to get rid of because the dog couldn't hunt.

Leone testified that Morgano disliked Pete "Cadillac Pete" Petros and wanted to get rid of him. Co-defendants Petros and Sam "Frog" Glorioso allegedly collected the "street tax" with Leone. Leone was charged with the other defendants, but pleaded guilty and testified against them.

As for the frequent meetings at the Taste of Italy restaurant in Calumet City, where Morgano met with Guzzino and another defendant, Dominick Palermo, the reputed territorial boss for the Outfit, Stephanie Morgano said her husband would cook at the restaurant.

"Nicky (Guzzino) was a good cook," she said. She said her husband would come home after the lunch time meetings and tell her about what they cooked.

Like Morgano's wife, defense witnesses who testified Tuesday offered other explanations for some of the actions of the defendants.

Frank Zeuberis, a field representative for International Laborers Local 5 in Chicago Heights, said he rode daily with Palermo between 1987 and 1990 as the two collected union dues from construction workers throughout northern Illinois.

Zeuberis said it was their job to collect money from construction workers who had not joined the union. Most of the payments were cash, and at times they would meet workers in restaurants to collect, he said.

However, under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill, Zeuberis said he never went to the Taste of Italy restaurant during the lunch hour with Palermo.

FBI agents who conducted surveillance and placed a hidden microphone in the Calumet City restaurant in 1987 recorded numerous lunch meetings with Palermo, Guzzino, Morgano and other reputed mobsters at the restaurant owned by Guzzino's brother Dominic.

Guzzino's job as a field representative for the labor's pension and insurance fund in Chicago Heights also involved collecting money, testified his former supervisor, Raymond Holheman.

Between August 1978 and December 1987, Guzzino had collected more than $2.2 million from construction employers who had failed to make pension and insurance contributions. None was in cash, Holheman said.

08141991 - News Article - Palermo couldn't get Sfouris to pay rent on bar - Co-owner takes stand

Palermo couldn't get Sfouris to pay rent on bar 
Co-owner takes stand
Post-Tribune (IN)
August 14, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852D0032F0E3D8?p=AWNB
The co-owner of a Gary building used as notorious house of prostitution took the stand as a defense character witness in the trial of six reputed mobsters here Tuesday.

Janet Elias, formerly of Gary and Griffith, now of the posh Gulf Coast community of Marco Island, Fla., told jurors in U.S. District Court she has known defendant Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo for 20 to 25 years.

Palermo, 73, of Orland Park, Ill., and co-defendants Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights, Ill.; Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso; Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville; Sam "Frog" Glorioso, 48, of Gary; and Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, formerly of Gary now of Cicero, Ill., are charged with gambling and racketeering.

Closing arguments in their trial, which began June 22, are scheduled to start today.

Elias testified she and her husband, Joe Elias, bought the building at Cline Avenue and the Borman Expressway in 1964 and ran a bar there - Josef's Lounge - until her husband sold the business, but not the building, in 1978.

Elias complained tenant Steve Sfouris, who renamed the bar Duchess Lounge, was chronically late paying the building's insurance, taxes and $1,800-a-month rent.

She said neither her lawyer, nor the sheriff, nor an appeal for help to her friend Palermo could get Sfouris to pay regularly.

"I had a miserable time," Elias said.

Apparently the defense, in placing Elias on the stand, wanted to refute the prosecution's depiction of Palermo as an all-powerful mob boss. The government contends Palermo heads the crime syndicate in Northwest Indiana and the South Chicago suburbs.

Sfouris reputedly ran a high-stakes Greek dice game called barbotte from the Cline Avenue bar.

The government alleges Sfouris paid "street taxes" to the crime syndicate for "protection" of his gambling operations.

Sfouris, charged with gambling and racketeering, fled to Greece to avoid prosecution.

Under cross-examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill, Elias emerged as something other than Sfouris' victim.

During his questioning of Elias, Thill carried photocopies of newspaper articles about prostitution and vice raids at Josef's Lounge in the 1970s and late 1960s.

In other testimony, two defense character witnesses said Palermo and Guzzino were responsible men, employed at full-time jobs.

Frank Zeuberis, 45, of Chicago Heights, testified that when he became a field representative with International Laborers Local 5 in Chicago Heights in 1987, Palermo was already working in that position making $1,000 a week. Palermo retired in 1990.

Guzzino's former boss, Raymond J. Holeman, retired director of field representatives for the Laborers Welfare and Pension Funds, testified that Guzzino was a "reliable and dilligent" field representative.

Holeman also testified Guzzino's duties caused him to call on Indiana construction companies.

Guzzino's alleged interstate pickup and delivery of gambling proceeds is a key element in the government's case against all six defendants.

Stephanie Morgano, defendant Bernard Morgano's wife of 30 years, also testified Tuesday she was constantly at her husband's bedside after his April 1986 heart attack.

She refuted previous testimony by Anthony Leone, 49, of Porter Township, who said he took orders on gambling operations from Morgano at his bedside after his two heart surgeries that April at Porter Memorial Hospital in Valparaiso and St. Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point.

Stephanie Morgano also testified about the home she and her husband bought in 1971.

An enlarged photo of the Morganos' house was placed in evidence by the prosecution.

Stephanie Morgano said she and her husband lived for years with their parents in Gary to save money for a down payment on their first and only home. She said they paid $45,000 for the house and made a customary down payment.

Porter County records show their deed was recorded Dec. 21, 1970. Their 25-year mortgage for $33,000 to the First State Savings and Loan Association of Gary required payments of $254.70, records show.

08131991 - News Article - Star witness says sheriff met with Morgano

Star witness says sheriff met with Morgano
Post-Tribune (IN)
August 13, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852CFF58FCF95A?p=AWNB
Accused mobster Bernard "Snooky" Morgano allegedly met with Lake County Sheriff Stephen R. Stiglich to discuss a police raid on a gambler paying Morgano protection money, according to the federal government's star witness.

The testimony of Anthony Leone, Morgano's "right hand man," concluded the final day of the prosecution's case in the three-week trial of six men on gambling and racketeering charges.

The case may go to the jury Wednesday.

Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso, is the Northwest Indiana street boss of the Chicago crime syndicate, according to the government.

He is on trial with Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, of Orland Park, Ill.; Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights, Ill.; Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrilliville.

Leone testified that reputed gambler Steve Sfouris called him in June 1987 after Indiana State Police raided Sfouris' strip joint, the Duchess Lounge at Cline Avenue and the Borman Expressway.

The government alleges Morgano and Leone extorted crime syndicate "street taxes" from area gamblers, including Sfouris, who ran a high-stakes Greek dice game called barbotte.

Leone and Sfouris originally were indicted along with the six defendants. Leone, however, has entered a plea agreement and became a federal witness. Sfouris fled to Greece to avoid prosecution.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill, Leone testified he and Morgano met frequently - sometimes twice weekly - with reputed East Chicago gambling boss James A. "Sonny" Peterson.

Peterson turned to Morgano when the heat came down on Sfouris, Leone said. ''He (Morgano) and Mr. Peterson were supposed to see the sheriff," Leone said.

At the time, Stiglich had been sheriff for seven months.

"Did you ride with him?" Thill asked.

"Yes," Leone said.

"Did you see the sheriff?" Thill continued.

"No," Leone responded.

Leone said, however, he and Morgano met Peterson "at a shopping center parking lot on Route 6 and Cline Avenue," then drove to meet the sheriff, ''somewhere in Hammond."

It was the second time in the trial the sheriff has been allegedly linked to the defendants.

On Aug. 1, jurors heard Morgano say in a secretly recorded conversation taped April 15, 1986, that, "I take a thousand a week to the sheriff."

Leone, 49, of Porter Township, was convicted in late 1988 of operating an illegal lottery in Gary.

Leone also testified Morgano enlisted the help of Gary City Councilman Clemmons Allen Jr., D-at large, in collecting a debt owed Leone by William ''Junior" Brookshire.

An alleged numbers runner in the Gary lottery, Brookshire pleaded guilty to gambling charges in 1988.

Allen, a former Gary police officer, works for Stiglich as an internal affairs investigator for the sheriff's department.

Leone's allegation came during cross-examination by Ronald Menaker, Guzzino's attorney.

"I didn't approach him," Leone said of the request to Allen. "I asked Mr. Morgano and Mr. Morgano introduced me to him (Allen)."

"Did you not tell Mr. Allen you wanted him to intimidate and scare ... (Brookshire)?," Menaker asked.

Leone indicated, yes, "to a certain extent."

Neither Stiglich nor Allen could be reached for comment.

Speaking on behalf of Stiglich, county police spokesman Ron Rybarczyk said, "the sheriff would not dignify those statements with a comment."

08131991 - News Article - Defense hurries to get prepared in 'Outfit' trial

Defense hurries to get prepared in 'Outfit' trial
NWI Times
Aug 13, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/defense-hurries-to-get-prepared-in-outfit-trial/article_47adfa5d-42eb-5625-932e-de1d7d06c3e1.html
HAMMOND - The prosecution's quick wrap-up of its case against Bernard "Snooky" Morgano and five other reputed mobsters Monday left the defense scrambling to get its witnesses together.

Most of Monday's testimony was taken up by Anthony Leone, who described himself as Morgano's "right-hand man." Being tried on federal racketeering and gambling charges with Morgano are Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, Nicholas "Nicky" Guzzino, Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, Sam "Frog" Glorioso and Sam Nuzzo Jr.

Lawyers originally had estimated the trial would take six to eight weeks, but it is entering its fourth week, and both Richard James, lawyer for Morgano, and Ronald Menaker, Guzzino's lawyer, said they were having trouble contacting witnesses for today. U.S. District Court Judge James Moody said he would not delay the trial for a witness.

During five hours on the witness stand, Leone told of first turning down Morgano's request to "run some errands," but after being laid off from USX Gary Works, he accepted a second offer because he needed the money. He said he has known Morgano since high school and worked part-time making pizzas at Pete and Snook's restaurant, owned by Morgano during the mid 1970s.

Leone said he understood the "errands" to mean he would pick up the "street tax," payments from operators of illegal gambling operations in exchange for protection. He turned down the first offer because he didn't want to disgrace his family, but then set up an illegal lottery game with a co-worker because he thought it was a "minor thing" under Indiana law, he said.

Leone and Al Watkins used Morgano's restaurant to count the money from their lottery. They paid Morgano the 15 percent street tax and another share to Frank Zizzo, who owned the building and who Morgano said was in charge of gambling in Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinois "for the syndicate," Leone said.

Although the lottery was grossing about $5,000 a week, Leone said he got out because it wasn't making any money and he wasn't able to pay off a $10,000 loan he got from a friend to operate the business. He began working as a collector for Morgano, replacing Petros, at a pay of $1,000 a month, he said.

Morgano disliked Petros and wanted to get rid of him, Leone said. Leone collected from several gambling operations in LaPorte, Michigan City, New Chicago and Gary. The monthly payments ranged from $200 to $500, and he took all the money to Morgano, either at his home or some other location.

When Zizzo died in 1986, Leone said his monthly pay dropped to about $500 and sometimes he wasn't paid at all. He said Morgano told him the money came "from those people across the line." Leone said didn't know who "those people" were, but whenever he accompanied Morgano to the Taste of Italy Restaurant in Calumet City, he saw Guzzino, Palermo and Zizzo, before his death.

Morgano had a heart attack while in Leone's car, and Morgano's wife told Leone to call Guzzino to take over. Leone said he continued to visit with Morgano daily in the hospital to talk about collections and considered himself Morgano's right-hand man.

After Zizzo's death, Morgano instructed Leone to try to collect a higher street tax from each of the operators. When each refused or said he couldn't afford it, Leone said Morgano agreed to continue the previous rates.

Leone said he shot out the windows in Frank Burton's front door when Burton refused to pay the street tax. He said Morgano drove him to Burton's and he used his own .22-caliber pistol with a pipe attached to the barrel as a silencer. Leone later cut up the pipe with a torch and scattered the tiny pieces along Interstate 65.

Defense lawyers attacked Leone's credibility, pointing out several times that he failed to mention Morgano in his previous testimony to the grand jury and that his testimony changed after he was sent to prison. At that time he contacted federal agents about a deal to reduce his sentence.

Leone agreed that he didn't want to spend more time in prison, but said he didn't want to implicate Morgano at first. Monday, however, he said, "I didn't go anywhere or do anything unless I was told to by Mr. Morgano."

When Leone said he couldn't remember making certain statements to the grand jury or the federal agents, lawyer Scott King said, "Your recollection appears to be different when defense attorneys ask questions as opposed to when the government asks."

08091991 - News Article - Ex-sheriff, Mafia named at trial - Tapes portray payoffs and street taxes

Ex-sheriff, Mafia named at trial
Tapes portray payoffs and street taxes
NWI Times
Aug 9, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/ex-sheriff-mafia-named-at-trial-tapes-portray-payoffs-and/article_ad8d409a-4f5d-56de-8cbe-83a3f3f4130c.html
HAMMOND - Convicted Gary gambling figure Al Watkins told a federal jury Thursday how reputed mobster Bernard "Snooky" Morgano regularly collected 15 percent "street tax" off the top of Watkins' illegal numbers operation.

Morgano, 54, of rural Valparaiso is on trial along with five other reputed associates of the Chicago "Outfit" crime syndicate. All are charged with federal gambling and racketeering violations.

Anthony Leone, who has pleaded guilty to gambling charges, is expected to testify Monday, when the government hopes to wrap up the prosecution portion of the trial, which then will be entering its fourth week.

Watkins also told the jury how he witnessed payoffs to the Lake County sheriff by Leone, who is Morgano's nephew, and saw Leone take target practice in the back room of his uncle's Hobart restaurant with a silenced pistol.

Watkins identified the owner of the restaurant - not by name - as the "big man in the county" with organized crime, which Watkins called "the Mafia."

In a conversation with undercover Gary police Lt. Fred Bemish, who was posing as a cop on the take from gamblers, Watkins said, "I've seen him (Leone) make payoffs to the county. To, to the (expletive) sheriff."

"To the sheriff himself?" Bemish asks, and Watkins responds, "That's right.

I told you, this ... is not small." Later, Watkins says, "I know for a fact he's paying the sheriff, 'cause I seen it."

The conversation between Bemish and Watkins, which was tape recorded by Bemish and played for the jury Thursday, was made July 18, 1985. At the time, Rudy Bartolomei was sheriff. That year, he resigned after his conviction on federal extortion and weapons charges. He is now in the federal witness protection program.

Watkins told Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Simon he and Leone began running an illegal lottery game using the Illinois Lottery as a guide when both were working at the U.S. Steel Gary Works in 1982. Shortly thereafter, both were laid off and began concentrating efforts on the lottery.

Leone borrowed $10,000 from a co-worker and Watkins recruited workers to take bets and run them back to the counting house, which he said was at Morgano's restaurant on Ridge Road in Hobart.

When the money came in, as much as $800 a day, the three would split it up, Watkins said, with 15 percent going off the top to Morgano for use of the counting house and 15 going to pay the "street tax" to the mob for permission to operate.

Out of the remainder, 15 percent went to repay Leone's loan and 10 percent went to pay off Gary police, Watkins said. The final 45 percent was split between Leone and Watkins after the winners were paid.

When Bemish suggested to Watkins that he might put pressure on Leone, who had dumped Watkins out of the operation by 1985, to do business with Gary police, Watkins said Bemish might be biting off more than he was bargaining for.

"Man, don't you know Leone and them, ah, kill your ass?" Watkins asks Bemish. Later, he says, "Leone works for the big man that, ah, has control of the county."

"With the Mafia, you mean?" asks Bemish. "That's right ... I don't want no part of Leone. Leone is Mafia. I just told you that."

Bemish asks Watkins if he has mentioned Bemish to Leone. "No, why, am I crazy? Do I look crazy to you?" Watkins replies. "I'm trying to be honest with you, but I don't wanna get killed out here for no (expletive) $300 a week.

"I've seen things I'm not gonna tell you, but I've seen payoffs," Watkins says. "I've seen a whole bunch, that I know Leone is with the Mafia, and no doubt in my mind about that. But these guys don't play. They'll (expletive) you up. So if you're trying to make a buck, fine. But I wouldn't (expletive) with them. I wouldn't even (expletive) with them. Go get these other (expletive) around here."

Morgano's lawyer, Richard James, said although Leone may have bragged of organized crime connections, it was no more than brag and had no connection with his client.

Willie Ray Turley, a former Gary police officer now working in Indianapolis, testified he worked undercover with Bemish and was contacted numerous times by Leone - whom he knew as "John" - in an effort to get competing gambling operators shut down with police raids.

Turley, also posing as a cop on the take, made numerous recordings of conversations with Leone during which Leone agreed to pay police for raiding certain gambling dens in Gary's Glen Park neighborhood.

One of those gamblers, Franklin Burton, testified Wednesday he was arrested at his bookmaking operation at 16 E. 39th Ave. after he refused to pay "street tax" and was subjected to threatening phone calls and bullets through his window.

In another conversation with Turley, Leone says he wants to open a gambling operation in Glen Park, and Turley tells him the vice squad is cracking down on prostitution in the area.

"We don't mess with that," Leone replied. "The only thing we're interested in is a little gambling. Prostitution, dope and everything, you know, we stay 20 miles away from that. That's not our bag."

Another witness, convicted gambler John "Mustache John" Mantis, told how he paid $400 a month "street tax" to another defendant, Sam "Frog" Glorioso, in exchange for running a Greek coffee house at 113 State St., Hammond.

The coffee house was also home to a number of card games, some of which were illegal. "I got a call, I don't know who's calling," Mantis said. "He said I'd better pay some money, $400 a month, and he'd send a guy to collect it. A big guy named Sam, Sam came in and I gave him the money."

"Who did you understand Sam to represent?" asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thill. "I don't know, protection from police, from Mafia. I don't know who he give the money to."

08091991 - News Article - 'Crooked' cops come clean - Former officers posed to gather bribe information

'Crooked' cops come clean 
Former officers posed to gather bribe information
Post-Tribune (IN)
August 9, 1991
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10852CFB33195EE6?p=AWNB
Two honest Gary policemen who posed as crooked cops struck telling blows at one of six defendants in the racketeering and gambling trial in U.S. District Court here.

Secretly recorded tapes of conversations between former Gary police officers Lt. Fred Bemish and investigator Willie Ray Turley and the men who offered them bribes scored hits Thursday on reputed mobster Bernard "Snooky" Morgano.

The government alleges Morgano, 54, of Valparaiso, is the Northwest Indiana street boss of the Chicago-based crime syndicate.

Morgano allegedly ran his own gambling operations here and wanted to impose a mob "street tax" on the area's other gamblers.

Bemish's testimony helped tie Morgano to the gambling, and Turley's helped link Morgano to the protection scheme.

On trial with Morgano are his reputed mob boss, Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, of Orland Park, Ill., and underboss Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights, Ill., as well as Morgano's local associates, Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville; Sam "Frog" Glorioso, 48, of Gary; and Peter ''Cadillac Pete" Petros, 56, formerly of Gary now of Cicero, Ill.

Anthony Leone, 49, of Porter Township, reputedly Morgano's chief lieutenant, is scheduled to testify when the trial resumes Monday.

Leone is the link between Morgano and the bribing of Bemish and Turley.

Bemish is now an investigator for Northern Indi-

But in July 1985, Bemish was Gary's top vice cop, heading the department's Public Morals Bureau.

As such, Gary numbers runner Al Watkins calculated the first $50 bribe he paid to Bemish would be a down payment on future police protection.

He figured Bemish wrong.

Bemish, who had arrested Watkins earlier for lottery activities, then posed as a cop on the take, taped Watkins' conversation instead.

Watkins told Bemish - and the tape recorder in Bemish's car - that he was Leone's partner in the Gary lottery.

"Leone is Mafia," Watkins added, saying he once saw Leone take target practice with a silencer-equipped pistol at a line of bottles in the storeroom of Morgano's Hobart restaurant on Ridge Road at Interstate 65.

"I know what I'm talking about," Watkins said. "I've seen things, which I'm not gonna tell you, but I've seen payoffs."

Watkins said he saw Leone make payoffs to the Lake County Sheriff, then Rudy Bartolomei. Bartolomei now is in the federal witness protection program after being convicted on unrelated federal corruption charges.

Watkins was later charged with bribery for the payoff to Bemish, who was working with the FBI. Watkins then agreed to aid the government's gambling probe.

Watkins told jurors that Leone and Morgano would split the lottery money at their "counting house," Morgano's restaurant.

Morgano grabbed 15 percent of the lottery take "off the top" for protection and another 15 percent for using the restaurant, Watkins said.

An additional 10 percent was paid to then-retired Gary police officer Mike Mione, allegedly for police protection, Watkins said.

Mione also pleaded guilty in 1988 to gambling and racketeering charges.

It was Mione who approached Turley, then a member of Gary's vice squad, about taking payoffs in return for Turley directing raids on Gary gambling joints not paying street taxes.

On Wednesday, Gary bookmaker Franklin Burton testified he was approached by Glorioso, and later conferred with Nuzzo, about paying protection money. FBI wiretaps and surveillance, presented earlier in the trial, support Burton's testimony.

Turley's tape indicates Burton was, indeed, being targeted.

Leone, whose identity was at first unknown to Turley, offered to pay the Gary vice cop $500 to raid Burton's bookie joint at 39th Avenue and Broadway and two other, unrelated gambling locations.

Turley told the jury he learned later the caller was Leone.
"That guy (Burton) we want to be shut down, period," Leone said on tape.
"If you hit them before Thursday, you'll have the whole five ... Thursday morning," Leone said. "And this way, when you hit these joints, then we go in there and say, hey, you know you gotta come up with some bread."
Turley made the raids, but turned the tapes over to Capt. Cobie Howard, then head of Gary police investigators, who gave them to the FBI.