Lawman: Chicago Mob still wields power in region
Post-Tribune (IN)
January 28, 1993
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They don't always have foreign accents, wear $800 suits and travel in chauffeur-driven limousines.
And even though their ranks have been decimated by federal prosecutions, members of the Chicago family of the mafia still control organized crime in Northwest Indiana, according to a police authority.
Capt. Jerome Ezell of the Indiana State Police, who teaches a law enforcement course on organized crime at Indiana University Northwest, said the Chicago mob still calls the shots.
"I don't think they'll let it go," said Ezell Tuesday to a group of 23 police officers from Whiting, Munster, Portage and the Lake County Sheriff's Police. "Someone will fill the vacuum."
The vacuum was created when 15 area gamblers and members of the Chicago crime syndicate were convicted in 1991 of racketeering, extortion and gambling charges.
Five members of the Nuzzo family from Gary and Merrillville were convicted of gambling charges. Dominic "Tootsie" Palermo, the alleged south suburban mob boss controlling Northwest Indiana operations, was also convicted, along with several Illinois associates and Bernard Morgano of Valparaiso, Ned Pujo of Portage and Sam Glorioso and Peter Petros of Gary.
The convictions followed an eight-year FBI investigation into mob activity in Northwest Indiana.
Ezell said lower-level mob associates and area gamblers may be scrambling to make clean money while the Chicago mob, reeling from the losses of its leaders, struggles to resume operations.
"RICO (The Racketeering, Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act) has put them, their assets and their activities in peril," said Ezell. "The federal government has been real aggressive in seizing their illegal proceeds."
He said local police have raided gambling operations for decades.
"But until RICO came around, they didn't really get anywhere," Ezell said. "RICO hits them where it hurts. You can take down entire organizations by seizing their assets."
The officers attending the day-long seminar on organized crime saw films and news documentaries about mob corruption in Chicago, Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
Ezell explained how the syndicate has infiltrated legitimate businesses, including unions, health and insurance benefit companies, garbage-hauling, landfills and construction.
But the mob's big interest in Northwest Indiana has been gambling, particularly ethnic games of barbut, illegal lotteries and sports betting.
He cited Atlantic City as a warning to the Northwest Indiana communities seeking casino gambling here.
"The states may have kicked the mob out of the casinos and stopped the skimming," he said. "But they still profit through the unions and suppliers. They get a monopoly and a stranglehold. That's how they exert control."
