Reputed mobster payoff on tape
NWI Times
Aug 2, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/reputed-mobster-payo៛-on-tape/article_e375dd90-cc65-5d9b-984e-593afb7adec5.html
HAMMOND - A reputed crime syndicate member was recorded on tape in 1986 as saying he takes a thousand dollars a week to the sheriff.
The tape was one of more than 40 played Thursday in the trial of six men accused of extorting money from illegal gambling operations, including Greek coffeehouses and sports bookmakers, in Lake and LaPorte counties. The conversations were recorded by two microphones planted by FBI agents in the Taste of Italy restaurant on Burnham Avenue in Calumet City.
The speaker does not say who the sheriff is or what he means, but such references to paying the sheriff are sprinkled throughout the tapes obtained between January and June 1986. The sheriff in Lake County since late 1985 has been Stephen R. Stiglich.
One of the defendants, Bernard "Snooky" Morgano, is identified by the government as saying April 15, 1986: "Okay, he's giving me a thousand, and I take a thousand dollars a week to the sheriff. No more do I give him two. See, before I used to have to give him two. Now he's givin' me one, and I take one off the top, and that's where the $2,000 comes from.
Another defendant identified as Dominick Palermo, reputed southern territorial boss of the Chicago "Outfit," responds: "Uh, so what'd you give him, the shines?"
Morgano, who on the same tape can be heard counting money and saying he picked up $11,600 from the Greek who is "always behind," responds to Palermo's question: "Yeah. And this here six-sixty, I gave 700 to the two coppers. Five to the black copper, five ... two to the black copper, and five to the county copper on the vice squad."
Palermo: "Then what'd you give him, 12 even?"
In another reference to the sheriff made April 17, 1986, a third co-defendant, Nicholas "Nicky" Guzzino," allegedly Palermo's underboss, is heard saying: "Yeah, he told me that they had did that yesterday. He says yeah, he says you see, I told 'em how to take care of that guy. He'll take care of the sheriff."
The tapes also make reference to former Lake County Sheriff Rudy Bartolomei, whose deal with the government launched to date the most widespread investigation into public corruption in the county. He was convicted on a weapons charge and entered the witness protection program after he began his cooperation.
Morgano, Palermo and Guzzino all express concern on the tapes about Bartolomei's cooperation and expected testimony before a federal grand jury.
The three are heard discussing Bartolomei April 9, talking about the sheriff's expected cooperation and how the government has caught him selling confiscated guns. Morgano remarks: "I'm surprised he didn't steal stationery and sell it..."
Morgano later says: "That's the only time I ever could actually say 'no' to the old man. I didn't want nothin' to do with that guy (Bartolomei). I told him if you want me to I'll do it. I don't like him. I've known him for years, 'cause the guy's stupid. He's a cheap ..., you know. I said why don't you let the other guy handle it, you know ... see, I appreciate it. You want me to I will, you know, but I'm just tellin' ya. It came true now that other guy's sweatin,' the guy we were with the other day."
Defense lawyers tried to blast the credibility of the government's interpretation of the tapes, showing how two FBI monitoring agents listening to the same tapes gave two vastly different interpretations of some of the conversations.
FBI special agent Robert Hadrick's explanation for the discrepancies was that the two agents were recording the conversations picked up by two different microphones placed in two different parts of the restaurant.
Palermo, Morgano, Guzzino and others who met regularly at the Taste of Italy during the lunch hour, when it was closed to the public, were also aware of the police surveillance outside their homes and the restaurant owned by Guzzino's brother Dominic. At one point, they talk about the ownership of one of the FBI vehicles used for surveillance of the restaurant.
Many of their conversations were guarded, talking about "that guy" and "the thing" and some of the background noises of the restaurant block out chunks of the conversations.
FBI agents followed many of the defendants, tracking Morgano and Guzzino on their trips to the Duchess Lounge at the Cline Avenue exit from Interstate 80.
The lounge was owned by Steve Sfouris, who is believed to have escaped to his native Greece to avoid prosecution.
Sfouris ran a lucrative Greek dice game that was played in the mid-1980s seven days a week in Hammond and later in East Chicago.
Palermo, Guzzino and Morgano were seen parking their cars at businesses near the Taste of Italy and then walking to the restaurant. On one tape, Guzzino brags about evading what the men refer to as the "G," or government.
Anthony Leone, who has pleaded guilty and will testify against his co-defendants, was also seen visiting the restaurant during the lunch hour and is heard talking with the some of the defendants.
The taped conversations also reveal a relationship with former Chicago Heights mob boss Albert "Caesar" Tocco, who is seen at the restaurant and who is recorded April 8 as saying: "I could use a ... vacation."
The conversation was taped before his federal conviction that earned him a 200-year sentence in 1990:
Palermo: "Yeah, but you don't want that kind."
Tocco: "I don't give a ... I could do two, five, six. Just to relax and straighten the ... thing out..."
Tocco allegedly met with Palermo, Guzzino and Albert John "Chickie" Roviaro, who is also recorded on the Taste of Italy tapes, on the night of the murders of Anthony Spilotro, 48, the head of the "Outfit" operations in Las Vegas, and his brother Michael, 41, a minor mob figure. Both were found buried in a cornfield in Newton County.
Also on trial with Palermo, Guzzino and Morgano are Sam Nuzzo Jr. of Merrillville, Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros of Chicago and Sam "Frog" Glorioso of Gary.
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