03121991 - News Article - Alleged mob boss' lawyer asked to withdraw from case

Alleged mob boss' lawyer asked to withdraw from case
NWI Times
Mar 12, 1991
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/alleged-mob-boss-lawyer-asked-to-withdraw-from-case/article_486feb24-3362-5f47-8483-5227a7966fd9.html
HAMMOND - A lawyer now defending two key members of an alleged Chicago South Side crime family helped the government in its eight-year investigation of the syndicate, according to court documents.

Kevin E. Milner, a former assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, is defending two of the men he helped investigate - alleged mob boss Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, of Orland Park, and aide Nicholas "Nicky" Guzzino, of Chicago Heights.

The government will ask at a hearing Friday that Milner's law firm not be allowed to represent Palermo and Guzzino on grounds of a conflict of interest.

Milner and Patrick A. Tuite, of the Chicago law firm bearing Tuite's name, have represented the two men since their indictment last December.

Milner, who resigned from his government post in April 1990 to enter private practice with the Chicago-based Tuite law firm, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Palermo, 73, and Guzzino, 54, are being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago until their trial July 22. They are among 15 people accused of running for the Chicago "Outfit" crime family a sports betting and high-stakes gambling network in Lake County. They are also charged with extorting a so-called street tax from area gambling operations.

Court records show that Milner, while working for the U.S. attorney's office, sought in June 1987 an extension of a pen register of the phone belonging to Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, an aide to Palermo who was also named in the indictment returned by a federal grand jury. Milner stated in his application for the register that the information was relevant to the ongoing investigation.

A pen register logs from a certain telephone number the origin and duration of outgoing calls and the duration, though not the origin, of incoming calls.

The results from Morgano's pen register were used to obtain a wiretap to record conversations from Morgano's telephone, court records show.

Many of the conversations recorded during the wiretap will be used as evidence during the trial, which is expected to take between four and eight weeks, according to a motion filed by the government.

Prosecuting attorney Michael A. Thill learned of Milner's involvement Feb. 22 when FBI special agent James Cziperle told Thill about the pen register application signed by Milner.

In Thill's motion to disqualify the law firm, he indicated that after discussing the matter with Milner, an opinion regarding the potential conflict was sought from the Public Integrity Division of the Department of Justice.

"The department further advised that the law firm should withdraw from the defense of this case," Thill states in his motion.

Other defendants in the case are: Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, of LaPorte; Anthony Leone, of Valparaiso; Sam "Frog" Glorioso, of Gary; Sam Nuzzo Sr. and his sons, Sam Nuzzo Jr. and Arthur A. Nuzzo, and daughters Jennifer Kaufman and Sandra T. Mynes, all of Merrillville; husband and wife, Ned M. and Yolande Pujo, of Portage; and Steve Sfouris, formerly of Munster and now believed a fugitive living in his native Greece.