07251991 - News Article - Janowsky wanted to pay 'right people'

Janowsky wanted to pay 'right people'
NWI Times
Jul 25, 1991
nwitimes.com/uncategorized/janowsky-wanted-to-pay-right-people/article_37c16485-9b7f-5af8-98c5-90908a9e3cb2.html
HAMMOND - Vending machine operator Timothy Janowksy wanted to know if he was paying "the right people" to protect his lucrative illegal electronic video poker machines he placed in Lake County taverns and restaurants in the early 1980s.

Were the "right people" former Lake County Chief of Police Michael Mokol, East Chicago political powerbroker Vincent Kirrin or a group of competitors that included Richard Piekarski and Gary Novak, who tried to shake down Janowsky for a hefty take of the profits from his video poker machines?

Wearing a body recorder and working as an FBI informant, Janowsky, owner of Geno's Vending, tried to sort out whom to pay and who would deliver with the man who professed to be "the right people." That man was Peter "Cadillac Pete" Petros, one of six defendants now on trial in U.S. District Court in Hammond.

"...word will go out on the street that Geno is with the right people and that once word gets out, ain't nobody can ... bother ya," Petros told Janowsky during a January 1985 meeting that was recorded and played in court Wednesday.

Facing charges of gambling, racketeering and extortion are: Dominick "Tootsie" Palermo, 73, the reputed boss of the Chicago South Side territory for the "Outfit" organized crime family; his alleged lieutenant, Nicholas "Jumbo" Guzzino of Chicago Heights; Bernard "Snooky" Morgano of Valparaiso, the alleged boss of Northwest Indiana; Sam Nuzzo Jr. of Merrillville, who allegedly controlled much of Lake County's illegal gambling; Petros of Chicago and Sam "Frog" Glorioso of Gary, who both allegedly collected protection money for the "Outfit."

Janowsky, who testified under a grant of immunity, and other vending machine owners and bookmakers took the witness stand Wednesday to talk about the fear they felt for their businesses and families if they didn't pay the "street tax" demanded by the "Outfit."

Defense lawyers questioned them extensively about their fears, calling Petros "a goofy Greek gentlemen" who would pick up envelopes. Bookmaker Charles Hipsak said despite his fears he refused to pay the $1,000 a month that Petros demanded. Nothing happened, Hipsak said, when he didn't pay.

But there were plenty who apparently did pay.

For $3,000 a month, Petros said on the Janowsky tapes that he would try to "squash" the $1,300 a month Janowsky was paying Mokol and eliminate the threats and competition from Piekarski and Novak. Petros said he couldn't make any promises without talking with "the old man" who took care of the "complex," referring to the Lake County Government Complex.

Janowsky was a key witness in the October 1983 federal extortion trial of Frank R. Esposito and Richard Piekarski of Crete, Ronald Figurski of Dolton and Gary Novak of Crown Point. All were charged with trying to shake down Janowsky.

Vending machine owner Reginald Kinkade tells Janowsky on the same tape that the mob had lost a lot of "clout" over the past eight or nine years, but was trying to regain its influence. "And if they get organized and you're not part of it, or I felt if I'm not part of it ... they're gonna, they're gonna waste us," Kinkade said.

Kinkade also tells Janowsky on the tapes that the mob controlled "Nicosia," and had their "hooks" into "Stiglich" and "Hatcher," and financed political campaigns of former Lake County Sheriff Chris Anton and "Stiglich."

Joseph Nicosia was the former mayor of East Chicago; Richard Hatcher was mayor of Gary and Stephen Stiglich has been Lake County sheriff since 1985. The tapes identify Nicosia, Hatcher and Stiglich only by their last names.

Kinkade said he first was approached by Petros about paying his "dues" in the summer of 1984 and later began paying him $2,500 a month. Kinkade also protected his video poker operation by paying bribes to Mokol and others, a crime for which he received a 20-year sentence in 1990. In exchange for his testimony and cooperation in this case, Kinkade said his sentence could be reduced.

Defense lawyers questioned Kinkade about whether his fear of Petros was real. Kinkade said shortly after his encounter with Petros, he put a number of security measures in place at his business. "I thought they would burn the shop, hurt an employee," said Kinkade, owner of Variety Amusement in East Chicago. "I had my family working with me then. He (Petros) said he was with the mob from Chicago."

Kinkade said he sought out Frank Zizzo, the one-time boss of Lake County gambling who died in 1986, to learn if Petros was the right person to pay. He said he approached Zizzo at a restaurant in Calumet City, identifying him from a photograph. Kinkade said the two met in the bathroom. "I asked him if Pete was his guy. He said 'yes,' " Kinkade told the jury. "He told me he didn't like him very much, but that's who they had sent him."

Kinkade said after Zizzo's death, he was told by Petros that "Snooky" had taken over and that he "was up to date with all the modern equipment. He had a van that had scanners. He had his fingers in everything."