Organized crime trial starts today
NWI Times
Jul 23, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/organized-crime-trial-starts-today/article_172e3868-5e83-58a4-b416-3bd63f19aaa9.html
HAMMOND - Opening arguments will be heard this morning in what has been hailed by the government as the largest organized crime case to go to trial in northern Indiana.
U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody polled more than 100 potential jurors Monday in choosing a panel for the trial.
The trial may provide a revealing look at the financial network of the reputed Chicago "Outfit" crime family's South Side operation. The source of the money allegedly is illegal gambling and the so-called street tax paid to protect the illicit ventures in Lake County. The six defendants face charges of gambling, racketeering and extortion.
Some of those payoffs went to the sheriff of Lake County, according to Anthony Leone, a defendant who has pleaded guilty and will testify against his six co-defendants. Court documents do not name the sheriff.
Facing trial is the reputed head of the Chicago South Side operation, Dominick Palermo, 72, of Orland Park, and his alleged lieutenant, Nicholas Albert Guzzino, 49, of Chicago Heights.
Four other defendants allegedly among the upper ranks are also on trial: Bernard "Snooky" Morgano of Valparaiso, the reputed Northwest Indiana boss; Sam Nuzzo Jr. of Merrillville, who allegedly controlled much of Lake County's gambling; Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros of Chicago, the alleged bagman; and Sam "Frog" Glorioso of Gary.
The six were indicted in December with nine others. Six have pleaded guilty and two others, Ned and Yolande Pujo of Portage, face a separate trial on gambling charges this fall.
One defendant, Steve Sfouris, who was charged with running an illegal Greek dice game know as barbut, is still a fugitive and is believed to have escaped to his native Greece.
Defendants Leone and Anthony "Potatoes" Ottomanelli have traded chairs in the courtroom and will testify for the government.
Four members of the Nuzzo family will avoid a trial after pleading guilty last week: Sam Nuzzo Sr., his son Arthur Nuzzo and his two daughters, Jennifer Kaufman and Sandra Mynes, all of Merrillville.
The 31-count indictment, which stems from an eight-year investigation, charges Palermo and his organization with extorting protection money from other illegal gambling businesses. According to the indictment, businesses and their owners were threatened if they refused to pay.
Palermo, a field representative for the Laborers International Union Local 5 in Chicago Heights, is a member of the "Outfit," a crime syndicate that has operated in Northwest Indiana since the 1900s, federal officials said.
Palermo's position in the reputed crime family reportedly was elevated with the arrest and conviction last year of the Chicago Heights mob boss Albert Tocco, who is serving a 200-year prison term.
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