written by Andy Grimm posted: 12/21/2015, 09:52am
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman reportedly wanted to take more time to consider the large amount of information filed in advance of the sentencing hearing for Paul Carparelli.
There was a wide disparity between the two sides expectations, with Carparelli seeking probation and the feds asking for a sentence of more than 11 years.
Carparelli pleaded guilty in May to his key role in a series of extortion conspiracies around Chicago as well as in Las Vegas, the East Coast and one in Wisconsin that caused the debtor to urinate in his pants and hand over a Ford Mustang because he feared Carparelli’s henchmen.
Carparelli’s request for probation asserted that because he’s a single parent, he needs to be out of prison to take care of his teenage son. Federal prosecutors, in contrast, were asking for a sentence of 135 months — that’s 11 years and 3 months.
The feds captured the reputed Cicero Street Crew member’s colorful way with words on thousands of secret recordings as he bossed around a 300-pound enforcer, ordered up brutal beatings, and concerned himself only with the hierarchy of the Chicago Outfit.
The feds say he’s a key associate of organized crime figures in Chicago, while his attorney contends Carparelli is nothing more than a big-talking wannabe wise guy.
In U.S. District Court filings, Carparelli also asked Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman for a break because he was once a firefighter.
Federal prosecutors, though, say Carparelli isn’t exactly firefighter-of-the-year material, according to a transcript of a secretly recorded conversation.
He wasn’t keen on running into houses on fire for the few years he worked in west suburban Bloomingdale.
“I said for twenty-eight grand a year, I’ll drive you, and you guys wanna go fight the fire, I’ll go get the donuts,” Carparelli is quoted as saying in a transcript of a phone conversation he had with one of his goons in March 2012.
Carparelli, 48, said: “It just wasn’t the job for me, you know. You gotta help them f—— people.”
The extensive conversations recorded by federal prosecutors are laced with profanity and racial epithets, as Carparelli disparages the elderly and African-American people he would be called upon to assist on the job.
In other recordings, Carparelli demanded that the “f—ing thorough beating” of a car salesman in Melrose Park include broken legs. Other times, the feds say he described the beatings more simply: “Guy gets out of his car. Boom, boom, boom. That’s it.” But they said he also once asked the enforcer to “just beat the living p—” out of his ex-wife for $5,000.
Ed Wanderling, Carparelli’s attorney, has called his client a “typical wannabe who watched the Godfather and Sopranos too much.” He called prosecutors’ claims that Carparelli was part of the Cicero Street Crew “ridiculous,” and he pointed to the extensive surveillance of his client.
Prosecutors also say Carparelli has twice this year made threats — once against a government witness, and a second threat by email against a former business partner, made from jail.
The investigation that nabbed Carparelli has already resulted in prison sentences for several of Carparelli’s associates, including five years for Robert McManus, four years for Michael “Mickey” Davis, 46 months for Mark Dziuban and Frank Orlando, and 38 months for Vito Iozzo.
Carparelli, of Itasca, was arrested July 23, 2013, as he drove up to his home with his son in the car, according to the feds. He had cocaine and tested positive for it, and agents found two guns and $175,000 cash in his home.
Carparelli’s request for probation asserted that because he’s a single parent, he needs to be out of prison to take care of his teenage son. Federal prosecutors, in contrast, were asking for a sentence of 135 months — that’s 11 years and 3 months.
The feds captured the reputed Cicero Street Crew member’s colorful way with words on thousands of secret recordings as he bossed around a 300-pound enforcer, ordered up brutal beatings, and concerned himself only with the hierarchy of the Chicago Outfit.
The feds say he’s a key associate of organized crime figures in Chicago, while his attorney contends Carparelli is nothing more than a big-talking wannabe wise guy.
In U.S. District Court filings, Carparelli also asked Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman for a break because he was once a firefighter.
Federal prosecutors, though, say Carparelli isn’t exactly firefighter-of-the-year material, according to a transcript of a secretly recorded conversation.
He wasn’t keen on running into houses on fire for the few years he worked in west suburban Bloomingdale.
“I said for twenty-eight grand a year, I’ll drive you, and you guys wanna go fight the fire, I’ll go get the donuts,” Carparelli is quoted as saying in a transcript of a phone conversation he had with one of his goons in March 2012.
Carparelli, 48, said: “It just wasn’t the job for me, you know. You gotta help them f—— people.”
The extensive conversations recorded by federal prosecutors are laced with profanity and racial epithets, as Carparelli disparages the elderly and African-American people he would be called upon to assist on the job.
In other recordings, Carparelli demanded that the “f—ing thorough beating” of a car salesman in Melrose Park include broken legs. Other times, the feds say he described the beatings more simply: “Guy gets out of his car. Boom, boom, boom. That’s it.” But they said he also once asked the enforcer to “just beat the living p—” out of his ex-wife for $5,000.
Ed Wanderling, Carparelli’s attorney, has called his client a “typical wannabe who watched the Godfather and Sopranos too much.” He called prosecutors’ claims that Carparelli was part of the Cicero Street Crew “ridiculous,” and he pointed to the extensive surveillance of his client.
Prosecutors also say Carparelli has twice this year made threats — once against a government witness, and a second threat by email against a former business partner, made from jail.
The investigation that nabbed Carparelli has already resulted in prison sentences for several of Carparelli’s associates, including five years for Robert McManus, four years for Michael “Mickey” Davis, 46 months for Mark Dziuban and Frank Orlando, and 38 months for Vito Iozzo.
Carparelli, of Itasca, was arrested July 23, 2013, as he drove up to his home with his son in the car, according to the feds. He had cocaine and tested positive for it, and agents found two guns and $175,000 cash in his home.