Government's key witness pleads guilty in mob murder case - I witnessed one of the hits

[NNN0LHI]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IL_MOB_INDICTMENT_ILOL-?SITE=ILKAN&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

CHICAGO (AP) -- The star witness in the government's case against a dozen alleged Chicago mob figures pleaded guilty Friday to taking part in a conspiracy that included 18 murders.

Nicholas W. Calabrese - under heavy security - admitted that he took part in planning or carrying out 14 of the murders, including that of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, long known as the Chicago mob's man in Las Vegas, and Spilotro's brother.

The Spilotros were beaten to death and buried in an Indiana cornfield. Joe Pesci played a character based on Tony Spilotro in the movie "Casino."

The husky, white-haired Calabrese is expected to be the key witness against his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., and other major mob figures charged in the government's Operation Family Secrets investigation.

The investigation was aimed at clearing up old, unsolved gangland killings and bringing down Chicago's organized crime family.



This is the hit my father and I witnessed while driving on the Tri-State Tollway on our way to Sportsmans Park that fateful day:




http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20050207/ai_n9725813

Mobster blows lid off '81 hit

When the gangsters slaughtered trucking executive Michael Cagnoni, they punctuated their violence with unusual boldness.

The killers did it in broad daylight.

In a quiet Chicago suburb.

And with a car bomb that showered the road with shredded steel and body parts.

The 1981 mob hit shook the idyllic west suburb of Hinsdale and marked a new sophistication in the mob's bomb-making efforts. A clever remote-control device was used to trigger the bomb under the seat of Cagnoni's silver Mercedes. snip

Before he was blown apart, Cagnoni knew his life was in danger.

His business was under attack.

His trucks were being shot up and vandalized.

He discovered a tap on his phone at home.

For safety, Cagnoni hired a bodyguard, carried a gun and wore a bulletproof vest. snip

Cagnoni entered the on-ramp from Ogden. Several car lengths back was a Downers Grove man, driving another vehicle.

About halfway down the ramp, the driver saw a wisp of white smoke from the Mercedes and a yellow flash.

The Mercedes disintegrated before his eyes, according to investigators' reports.

[acmavm]

1. Wow, nice guys.

You saw a hit on someone? How many weeks before you could sleep throught the night again?

[NNN0LHI]

2. The guys body being blown apart across the Tri-State Tollway in broad daylight was troubling

It was like watching a movie. In slow motion as I remember.

Don

[blueknight]

3. the mob is still

a lot stronger then people realize. they have just changed their business model just like any business. now they are into more high tech scams. but if you cross them, the results are still the same

[NNN0LHI]

4. They got a bunch of them back then

http://www.ipsn.org/mob_arrests-2005/where_the_victims_were_killed.htm

These two were killed a few miles from where I lived back then.

8 & 9. William and Charlotte Dauber

The couple was driving on a road outside Joliet when they were killed by a shotgun blast on July 2, 1980. Dauber, a hit man, was facing federal drug charges, and Outfit bosses thought he would testify against them, investigators said. The Daubers had just left the courthouse in Joliet and were driving to their home in Crete when they were killed. In 1990, Albert Tocco, reputed south suburban mob boss, was sentenced to 200 years in prison for running his crime family through murder and extortion. Witnesses, including Tocco's wife, implicated him in ordering the killings of the Daubers.

This one grew up in the same town as I did so I remembered him from my childhood:

12. Nicholas D'Andrea

The Chicago Heights man, an associate of reputed hoodlum Albert Tocco, was found dead in the trunk of a burning car in the Crete area in September 1981. Tocco was suspected of orchestrating a botched golf course hit of Al Pilotto that summer. It was theorized that D'Andrea, who was around 50 at the time of his death, was murdered as retaliation, or to get information about the attempted Pilotto hit. D'Andrea's areas of expertise were allegedly drugs and gambling, according to the Chicago Crime Commission.

These two were found in a cornfield a few miles from where I live now:

16 & 17. Anthony and Michael Spilotro

The popularized view of the mobster-brothers, advanced in the movie "Casino" and elsewhere, is they were beaten to death with bats in an Indiana cornfield. Actually, it appears, they were pounded by the fists and feet of top mobsters in a Bensenville basement June 14, 1986, then driven to Indiana and buried. Anthony Spilotro, 48 at the time of his death, was the mob's man in Las Vegas, but he had enraged mob higher-ups in numerous ways. Mob turncoat Nick Calabrese has told the feds he was involved in the Bensenville beating, sources have said. Michael Spilotro, 41, had been under indictment on federal charges.