Sentencing of 6 crime syndicate members stalled
Government seeks longer prison terms
Post-Tribune (IN)
December 11, 1991
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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.
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