Tapes show local gambling caught Detroit's interest
NWI Times
Aug 6, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/tapes-show-local-gambling-caught-detroit-s-interest/article_d4d7b52b-0ae5-5445-8693-fd342152fb21.html
HAMMOND - The man who allegedly pulled the mob's reins in Northwest Indiana apparently was not worried when he got a call in 1987 about some "muscle" from Detroit trying cut in on the action here.
The call came from local gambling figure Arnold "Jew" Bard, who on March 30, 1987 told Bernard "Snooky" Morgano that Bard got a call from "muscle" from Detroit who said, "They're coming to collect from me."
"Don't worry about it," Morgano told Bard. "... Before anybody can sell any newspapers over here, I got the stand."
Morgano is one of six defendants on trial in U.S. District Court in Hammond for allegedly shaking down local gambling operations for a "street tax." Also on trial: the reputed southern territorial "Outfit" boss Dominick Palermo, 73, of Orland Park and his alleged underboss, Nicholas "Nicky" Guzzino of Chicago Heights; Sam Nuzzo Jr. of Merrillville, who allegedly controlled most of Northwest Indiana's illegal gambling; Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros of Chicago and Sam Glorioso of Gary.
The tape of the March telephone conversation with Bard was one of more than 70 different recordings taken by federal wiretaps placed on Morgano's phone in 1987 that were played for the jury Monday.
The government is expected to finish today playing the more than 200 tape-recorded conversations from telephones of Morgano and Anthony Leone, another defendant in the case who has pleaded guilty and will testify for the government.
U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody ruled Monday that the government could not put on the witness stand Betty Tocco, the wife of imprisoned mob boss Albert "Caesar" Tocco.
She was expected to testify that her husband asked her to send a message to Palermo and Guzzino asking the pair to arrange for a witness against Tocco to have a heart attack.
Moody ruled that the value of her testimony did not outweigh the prejudicial effect it would create. Defense lawyer Kevin Milner, who is defending Palermo, said without Tocco's testimony, there is so far no evidence of violence associated with the defendants and that should help their case.
Monday, FBI agents testified about their surveillance between January and June 1987, detailing numerous meetings between the defendants. Two new names to surface in the trial, entering its third week, were James A. "Sonny" Peterson and Vincent J. Kirrin, both of East Chicago.
Peterson, who according to the FBI controls gambling in the city's predominantly black neighborhoods, met Morgano in the parking lot of the Service Merchandise store in Griffith several times during the surveillance.
Each time Morgano is seen entering Peterson's car for a short time and then leaving the area.
June 19, Morgano was seen by FBI agents meeting with both Peterson and Kirrin, a political power broker who was convicted last month of conspiracy and mail fraud relating to contracts with county government. The trio met at a shopping center at 41st Avenue and Cleveland Street in Calumet Township.
No testimony was offered by the government to explain the nature of the meetings or what was said.
The Morgano tapes and surveillance also linked Morgano, Leone and Guzzino to Steve "Bozo" Sfouris of Munster, who owned the Broadway Book Shoppe, an adult book store in Gary, and the Duchess Lounge, a now-defunct nightclub in Gary.
Sfouris was indicted with the six men now on trial, but is still a fugitive and is believed to have escaped to his native Greece.
Sfouris allegedly ran for the "Outfit" a high-stakes barbooth game in Hammond and later in East Chicago. The tapes detail discussions between Leone and Morgano about their difficulty in trying to reach him and of problems they were apparently having with him. At one point, Morgano took Sfouris to meet with Guzzino in the parking lot of a Builder's Square in Homewood.
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