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America’s biggest mob trial since Al Capone starts

Richard Luscombe

Miami: Frail, wizened and wheelchair-bound with a heart complaint, 78-year-old Joey Lombardo hardly cuts the figure of a ruthless mafia godfather allegedly behind more than a dozen Chicago murders in the 1970s and 80s. But to the authorities in the Windy City, the gangster nicknamed “the Clown” for his wisecracks and sharp wit is perhaps their biggest catch since Al Capone almost 80 years ago. Mr. Lombardo and a handful of senior associates will appear in a federal court on conspiracy to murder and racketeering charges, at the start of a four-month trial that promises more intrigue than an entire series of the recently ended gangland drama

The Sopranos. At its heart is Lombardo, the reputed former head of the powerful Chicago “Outfit” whose alleged victims include the underworld rival Tony Spilotro, buried alive in an Indiana cornfield in 1986, and whose murder was later recreated in the film Casino. Mr. Lombardo, who was on the run for almost a year before his capture by FBI agents last January, joked to a judge at his pre-trial hearing that he had been, “what do they call it, unavailable”, when asked if he had seen a doctor recently. One friend said he was “more liked than the priest” in the West Side neighbourhood where he used to coach baseball to children.

Prosecutors, however, are keen to play up the seriousness of the allegations against him. Jurors, who have been promised anonymity for their protection, will hear that Mr. Lombardo, and his fellow leaders of the so-called Outfit, James Marcello and Frank Calabrese Sr, were allegedly responsible for up to 18 unsolved slayings in Chicago, along with running the usual mob activities of illegal gambling, protection rackets and prostitution rings.

The defendants were indicted along with 11 others in 2005 after an intensive FBI operation that investigators code-named “Family Secrets”, because it involves a mob captain, Nicholas Calabrese, giving evidence against his brother about Spilotro’s murder.

Yet only five of the ageing defendants remain to stand trial today, including Mr. Marcello and Mr. Calabrese, 65 and 71 respectively; the Outfit’s alleged leading loan shark Paul Schiro (69) and an ex-Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle (62).

Those to have fallen by the wayside in the two years since the indictment include Frank Saladino, who was found dead in a New Hampshire motel room along with thousands of dollars in cash, and Frank Schweihs, a 77-year-old alleged Outfit enforcer, who has been excused from today’s proceedings because he is undergoing treatment for cancer.

Mr Schweihs is the second alleged geriatric godfather to win favourable treatment from US courts this year.

Albert Facciano, 97, was sentenced to house arrest at his Florida condominium last month (MAY) despite admitting to decades of service as a henchman for New York’s Genovese crime family.

Some mafia experts believe that a higher success rate in the Lombardo case might have been achieved if tackling gangland crime had been made a higher priority.

“It’s taken a long time for law enforcement officials and federal authorities to do to the mob in Chicago what authorities in New York have been doing for 20 years,” said Jerry Capeci, editor of the ganglandnews.com website.

“Back in the 1980s, authorities there were obtaining racketeering indictments against entire families.”

The Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007

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