Mobster’s dad admits extortion scheme of his own

John J. Rainone, the father of a once-feared mob enforcer, pleaded guilty to an extortion plot Thursday.

By: Jon Seidel@SeidelContent

The father of a once-feared mob enforcer pleaded guilty to his own extortion plot Thursday and now faces 20 years in federal prison.

John J. Rainone, 83, admitted to U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso that he helped shake down a businessman six years ago in Bartlett, once meeting the victim at a Dominick’s grocery store and warning that “nobody is going to give you a problem if you do the right thing.”

Rainone was quietly indicted in 2015 along with his 41-year-old grandson, who shares the same name. The younger Rainone pleaded guilty to the same scheme in October and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators, records show. The judge has yet to set a sentencing date for either man.

While the attempted extortion charge they pleaded guilty to carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, the elder Rainone is more likely to face about three years in prison. His grandson is likely to face the same if he continues to cooperate with the feds.

The men are the father and son of Mario Rainone, the former Outfit muscle once described as an “urban terrorist” by a judge. Prosecutors have accused Mario Rainone of using violence and threats to squeeze Outfit debtors, even threatening to chop off the heads of a restaurateur and his children if he wasn’t paid $200,000.

Fearing his associates in the Outfit were out to kill him, Mario Rainone once entered the federal witness-protection program only to change his mind when his mother’s porch was bombed. Mario Rainone is serving a 15-year prison sentence, but he is hoping for a reduction in prison time based on a change in the law, his defense attorney Joe “The Shark” Lopez said.

The younger John J. Rainone was sentenced in 2015 to 38 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, records show.

Now grandfather and grandson have been caught up in the same scheme. They’ve admitted that, in August 2010, they told a businessman that a reputed Outfit leader wanted to be “taken care of” and demanded $10,000. The businessman refused to pay. The younger Rainone then told him in October 2010 that he had to pay $2,000 a month in “street tax” after the unnamed Outfit leader had gone to prison.

During a meeting at a Bartlett Dunkin’ Donuts, the younger Rainone told the businessman, “You’re going to have to pay.”

The two Rainones met the businessman at the Dominick’s later that month, where the older Rainone searched him for a recording device. He told the businessman that “nobody is going to give you a problem if you do the right thing” and then he demanded $5,000 a month. When the businessman asked if he could pay less, the elder Rainone said he’d have to check because “everybody answers to somebody.”

They met at the Dominick’s again the next day, where the elder Rainone said, “You’re going to have a little problem later on” if he didn’t pay $4,000 a month. The businessman agreed to make the payment Oct. 13, 2010, but the elder Rainone showed up at his business a day early and insisted on receiving the payment. The businessman refused.

The elder Rainone then said “they” were going to “send the rough guys to collect,” according to his grandson’s plea agreement.

Inside Chicago's gangland empire:

Inside Chicago's gangland empire: Eye-opening map details exactly where the city's most notorious mobsters hid from the police and carried out their crimes in the roaring 20s

A University of Chicago sociologist created the map covering the entire city from 1923 to 1926

Every clubhouse and hideout used by the more than 1,300 active gangs is charted on the incredible map

Frederic Thrasher included the chart in his book about mobsters, The Gang, a Study of 1313 Gangs in Chicago

Some of the most notorious gangsters in US history, including Al Capone were active in Chicago in the 1920s

By Liam Quinn For Dailymail.com

PUBLISHED: 13:43 EST, 24 January 2017 | UPDATED: 17:32 EST, 24 January 2017

An incredible hand-drawn map from the 1920s reveals just how Chicago's infamous mobsters controlled the city.

To see the map and associated pictures go to the link below:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4153246/Map-gives-detailed-look-Chicago-s-gangland-empire.html#ixzz4Xq7cl6Jl

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Every clubhouse, home base, and hideout used by the more than 1,300 active gangs between 1923 and 1926 was marked down on a map spanning the entire city by a University of Chicago sociologist.

Frederic Thrasher put the amazingly detailed map together for part of a book he wrote chronicling the city's mobster scene, The Gang, a Study of 1313 Gangs in Chicago.

Chicago is well known for its bloody history with gangs, with the likes of Al Capone, George Moran, and John Dillinger operating in the city at stages during the 1920s and 1930s.

This map from the 1920s plotted exactly where gang hideouts and different territories were located across Chicago

A full map of the Second City is covered with hundreds of red triangles and dots, which are used to identify clubhouses with or without 'clubrooms', respectively.

It then goes into even greater detail, marking out specific areas where specific ethnicities were dominant, including: 'Jewish', 'Polish', 'Negro, Hungarian', 'German', and others

'No less than 1,313 gangs have been discovered in Chicago and its environs!' Frederic Thrasher wrote at the time, according to Atlas Obscura.

Some of the most infamous mobsters, including Al Capone (left) and George Moran operated across Chicago during the decade. Capone and Moran were rivals in the Chicago mafia

The map showed exactly where different mob locations were across the city. Pictured is a group of men in the street in 1920

'Their distribution as shown on the accompanying map makes it possible to visualize the typical areas of gangland and to indicate their place in the life and organization of Chicago.

'Gangland is a phenomenon of human ecology. The gang develops as one manifestation of the economic, moral, and cultural frontier which makes the interstice.'

In his book, Thrasher claimed more than 25,000 boys and men were involved in gangs at the time, and the crews grew to the extent they became 'mini-societies'.

The mob expert then went on to write: 'No two gangs are just alike. Some are good; some are bad; and each has to be considered to its own merits.'

The Birger Gang poses for a group portrait at its hangout, Shady Rest, Illinois. Many notorious gangs and mobsters operated in the city

Lester Gillis aka Babyface Nelson, a member of the Dillinger gang and regarded as the most psychotic outlaw of the 1930s, on an undertaker's slab as police stand over him

A wanted poster for Lester Gillis, the mobster who was known as 'Babyface' is seen in June 1934

The map charted where different gangs operated for three years between 1923 and 1926. Pictured in Chicago's Wrigley Field in the 1920s

FBI SEEKS INFO 10 YEARS AFTER CHICAGO MOB BOSS ANTHONY ZIZZO VANISHED

An ABC7 I-Team Investigation

By Chuck Goudie

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago crime boss Anthony Zizzo disappeared a decade ago on Wednesday. He is believed to be one of the outfit's last hits.

On August 31, 2006, George W. Bush was president and the Cubs were nearly in last place. And on that day 10 years ago, Zizzo kissed his wife goodbye and left their Westmont townhouse destined for lunch on Rush Street. He had been summoned to meet with some outfit colleagues, but Zizzo never returned. Now AWOL for 10 years, he vanished without a trace.

"Anthony Zizzo has connections to La Cosa Nostra which may have played a part in his disappearance," FBI Special Agent Garrett Croon said.

La Cosa Nostra, which means "this thing of ours" in Italian, is the favored federal lingo for the mob of which Anthony Zizzo was a high-ranking member.

"He was the underboss - traditionally a tough guy's job," said John Binder, author of "The Chicago Outfit."

Binder said Zizzo had left his house here in suburban Westmont and told his wife he had a lunch meeting on Rush Street. His car was found empty near a restaurant in Melrose Park.

Zizzo is said to have a falling out with mob boss Michael "Fat Boy" Sarno concerning illegal video poker machines.

"As they often do, they were going to sit down and smooth this out. But no - that's your death sentence," Binder said.

Investigators consider top hoodlums Joe "The Sledgehammer" Andriacchi and Albie "Falcon" Vena as possible suspects in Zizzo's disappearance, but no one has ever been charged.

Without a body, the FBI reiterates its $10,000 reward for information in the case.

"We need the public's help. Telephone the FBI. Tell us what you know if you were in that area at the time or you were around the rest or you knew Anthony Zizzo. Call us, tell us your information, no matter how small you think it may be," Agent Croon said.

"It's interesting that the FBI itself offered a $10,000 reward for information into the whereabouts or the disappearance of Tony Zizzo," Binder said. "Honestly, they would have seen him as valuable to them dead or alive in one sense or another. Possibly if they thought they could solve the Zizzo murder that would lead to a whole second round of indictments."

Zizzo vanished as the government's Family Secrets mob murder case was shifting into high gear 10 years ago.

A second round of Family Secrets indictments was always expected but never came. It isn't known whether authorities saw Zizzo as a defendant or thought they could turn him as a witness, but after he became unavailable, all the Zizzo options were off the table.

From Scarface to senile: Inside Al Capone's fall from criminal kingpin to syphilis-riddled madman

Capone took over the Chicago mob aged just 26, making $40million a year

But despite evading rival gangsters, he was taken down by syphilis

The sexually transmitted disease eroded his mental faculties over years

He spent final years 'talking to' dead men - some of whom he'd had killed

And doctors said he had the mental age of a 12-year-old

His wife Mae kept his condition a secret, knowing the mob would kill him

He eventually died in 1947 due to a pneumonia-caused heart attack

By James Wilkinson For Dailymail.com

PUBLISHED: 09:15 EST, 16 October 2016 | UPDATED: 10:17 EST, 16 October 2016

In the 1920s Al Capone was one of the most feared men in the United States of America - a criminal kingpin who rose to the head of the Chicago mob aged just 26 and whose campaign of extortion and murder touched the world of politics.

But despite being shrewd and security-conscious, Capone was ultimately taken down by an unstoppable foe: A syphillis infection that left him with the mental age of a 12-year-old, doctors said.

His shocking story and pitiful end are the focus of a new book, 'Al Capone: His Life, Legacy and Legend' by Dierdre Bair, the NY Post reported.

Mobster: Al Capone was the feared boss of the Chicago mob. But despite being careful to guard against rival gangsters, he was felled by the sexually transmitted disease syphilis

Last days: The gangster lived out his last days at this mansion with his family. But the disease has ravaged his mind, and he would 'talk' to dead men, including some that he'd had killed

Capone - nicknamed 'Scarface' after an attack as a teenager that left him with a marked left cheek - had made his fortune as the vicious leader of the Chicago Outfit.

The Outfit, which had tendrils across the US, ran bootlegging and smuggling operations, and Capone would bomb the stores of those who resisted their protection rackets.

That power turned Capone into a major target, but the wily crook was careful to surround himself with security and shield himself from arrest.

He was also famous for his parties and life of excess, which earned him headlines across the world and fascinating a population hungry for scandal.

But in 1932, Capone, then 33, was imprisoned on tax evasion charges, and prison doctors immediately diagnosed him with the sexually transmitted diseases syphilis and gonorrhoea.

By the time he was paroled in 1939, Capone was in the midst of late-stage syphilis, and as his mind began to unravel he would be seen talking to himself.

At least, that's how it appeared from the outside, but inside Capone's head he was having in-depth conversations with men who were long-dead - some of whom he'd had killed.

Capone was given a 'pension' of just $600 a week by the Chicago Outfit - a huge step down from his former life of luxury, in which the mobster, rumored to make $40million a year would wear expensive jewelry and drink fine liquor.

In danger: Had the mob learned Capone was senile, they would have had him killed

Instead, he would walk around his mansion in his pajamas, trying to collect butterflies with his granddaughter.

'It was, in many ways, an ideal, middle-class Italian-American household where family came first,' Bair told the NY Post.

That mansion was sold for $7.4million in 2014 and is now being rented out for movies and private functions.

Capone was fiercely protected by his wife Mae, who knew that if the reporters who camped out on their lawn found out he was talking about old business, the Outfit would have him killed.

And if his syphilis caused him to lash out, he would be determined to be breaking his parole and be hauled back into the slammer.

But Mae kept her husband safe with the emotional fortitude of any number of Capone's former heavies, and he lived out his final days in the mansion, dying in 1947, aged just 48, after a stroke, heart attack and pneumonia.

It was a muted end for the vicious mobster who fascinated America - and proof that all the henchmen in the world can't protect you from yourself.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3841142/Al-Capone-s-fall-criminal-kingpin-syphilis-riddled-madman-explored.html#ixzz4VIHDZ1Ek

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On Anniversary Of Al Capone's Prison Stint, IRS Delivers 2nd Gun To Mob Museum

Kelly Phillips Erb ,  FORBES STAFF October 17, 2016

It was 85 years ago today that the feds finally got their man: on this day in 1931, Al Capone was sentenced to serious prison time. Despite Capone's reputation, he wasn't put away for murder or gambling or bootlegging but for tax evasion.

Alphonse Gabriel Capone, better known as Al Capone, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1899. When he was 18, a friend, Johnny "The Fox" Torrio, introduced Capone to Frankie Yale. Yale owned a number of brothels which served as bases for illegal activities, including gambling. Yale gave Capone a job as a bouncer and bartender at one of the brothels. While at work, Capone, who wasn't known for being even-tempered, got into a fight and was slashed across the face three times with a knife, earning him his first nickname, "Scarface." Supposedly, the fight was over a girl: Capone made a pass at a customer's sister.

While still just a teenager, Capone met and married Mae Josephine Coughlin. That same month, Mae gave birth to the couple's first child, a son, Albert Francis "Sonny" Capone. Capone then decided it was time to settle down. He moved his family to Baltimore with intentions of making an honest living. But he couldn't resist his old life, and when Torrio asked Capone to move to Chicago and help him run his mob empire, it was an offer Capone couldn't refuse. Prohibition was in full swing and the men saw an opportunity to exploit the demand for booze, gambling, and women.

In 1925, Torrio barely survived an assassination attempt by rival mobsters Hymie "The Pole" Weiss, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci, and George "Bugs" Moran. That was it for Torrio: he wanted out. He decided to leave Chicago and head to Italy, handing over control of his mob empire over to Capone.

Capone expanded Torrio's business in Chicago and made lots of money doing it. By the mid-1920s, Capone was reportedly taking home $60 million annually ($826 million in today's dollars). Despite playing "Robin Hood" to the locals, his wealth continued to grow, reportedly topping $100 million ($1.43 billion in today's dollars).

As Capone's empire grew, so did his penchant for violence. The bodies piled up as rival gangs fought for control in Chicago. The lawlessness culminated on February 14, 1929, when gunmen allegedly hired by Capone posed as police officers before executing rival gangsters belonging to George "Bugs" Moran. Capone was in Miami at the time of the shootings but was immediately blamed for what came to be known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. No one was ever prosecuted. After the shootings, the FBI dubbed Capone "Public Enemy Number One," a label Capone reportedly hated.

Capone's exploits taunted lawmen who wanted him brought down. Capone proved difficult to pin down, escaping prosecution for serious crimes through a combination of smarts and, more importantly, bribes. Then President Herbert Hoover made it clear that he wanted Capone off the streets.

Scarface and Tennessee

December 6, 2016

BY MIKE VINSON

Arguably, "Al Capone" embodies the term "gangster" more so than any other criminal in American History. However, after asking around, I was baffled at how many young people didn't know very much about him, or had never heard of him, period.

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was born to Italian immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York, January 17, 1899. Dropping out of school at age 14, Capone became a member of the notorious "5 Points Gang," based out of New York. Having gained a reputation as a merciless street fighter and enforcer, the stockily-built Capone was bouncing at brothels while still a teenager.

Though accounts vary, it was while he still was in New York that Capone earned the nickname "Scarface." Capone was working in a nightclub (probably a brothel), and another gangster and his sister entered the nightclub. Capone reportedly made an off-color remark about the gangster's sister. The gangster took Capone's remark as a direct insult, and laid open the left side of Capone's face with a straight razor, thus the moniker "Scarface."

Chicago mob boss John Torrio recruited Capone to leave New York and come to the Windy City in 1921. It is key to note here that Prohibition was in effect as of 1920, Prohibition defined as: the legal prohibiting of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption. Torrio's Chicago-based gang--comprised of a large number of captains, lieutenants, and foot soldiers--ran a lucrative enterprise, raking in millions yearly on gambling, prostitution, and bootleg beer and whiskey. After arriving in Chicago (1921), young Al began on the bottom rung and worked as a bouncer at one of Torrio's brothels. It wasn't long, though, before the ambitious Capone was Torrio's right-hand man.

January 24, 1925, there was an assassination attempt on John Torrio's life. Though shot several times, Torrio managed to survive. Aware that death was inevitable if he didn't step down, and with plenty of money stashed away, Torrio turned over his "Chicago Outfit" to 26-year-old Al Capone.

After assuming control from Torrio, Capone set up his headquarters at The Hawthorne Inn, located at 4833 - 22nd Street, Cicero, Chicago. If my sources are correct, Capone owned 160 speakeasies (slang for bar/dance club), 150 gambling joints, and 22 brothels. It has been written that, at his peak, Capone was making over 50 million dollars a year--both big money and big politicians in his back pocket! Chauffeur driven in a bulletproof, souped-up Cadillac, attired in tailored silk suits, fedora hats, cigar in mouth, "Big Al," sociopath though he was, commanded totalitarian respect. However, such bountiful success did not come without equally ambitious adversaries.

George "Bugs" Moran ran Chicago's North Side criminal rackets, in direct competition with Capone's South Side operation. It was well known that Moran wanted to "take out" Capone. Moran's headquarters was the SMC Cartage Company Garage, located at 2122 North Clark Street, Chicago.

On Valentine's Day/February 14, 1929, Capone was conveniently vacationing at his winter home in Miami, Florida. On that same Valentine's day, Moran was scheduled to meet a man at the Cartage Company Garage and buy a truckload of hijacked whiskey, a ruse preemptively hatched by Capone to draw out Moran.

However, Moran was running late, and before he arrived, four Capone hitmen dressed up as Chicago Policemen, probably led by "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, marched into the garage and ordered the seven men inside to line up against the wall. Six of the men belonged to Moran's gang, and one was an optometrist who enjoyed hanging out with gangsters. Thinking it was a routine Chicago P.D. shakedown, the seven men did as ordered, their backs to their executioners. The Capone gunmen, mistakenly thinking one of the seven, indeed, was Moran, proceeded to blast the seven to smithereens with multiple .45 caliber rounds issued from Thompson submachine guns.

Newspapers across the country featured article-and-photo coverage of the carnage inside the Chicago garage, and it was--and still is--infamously referred to as the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre." Even Bugs Moran, who, as mentioned, had been the main target, but survived because he was running late, stated: "Only Capone kills like that!" Though Capone was considered the mastermind behind the multiple slaughter, no one ever was convicted for the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

In early October 1931, Al Capone was convicted of income-tax evasion. In 1934, he was transferred from the Atlanta State Penitentiary to the notorious Alcatraz Prison (now closed), which was located in the San Francisco Bay. Suffering from advanced syphilitic dementia, Capone was released to the care of his family in 1939. Capone died of a heart attack at his Miami mansion on January 25, 1947, at the age of 48.

So what about Al Capone and the "Tennessee Connection"? Credible sources claim:

*Capone bought illegal whiskey from bootleggers in Cannon County, TN, and Dekalb County, TN.

*Capone dined at the historic Sedberry Hotel (now closed), located in McMinnville, TN.

*Capone patronized the renowned High Point Restaurant (still operating), located in Monteagle, TN.

Just some Gangster History 101.

Outfit soldier caught on tape planning robbery: 'It will be a great Christmas'

A reputed Chicago Outfit soldier was arrested on gun charges this week after he was caught on undercover recordings bragging about plans to break into the home of an elderly suburban lawyer and force him to open a safe filled with hundreds of thousands of dollars, federal prosecutors say.

"Nothing gets my juices flowing like putting a gun to someone's head, taking their stuff, and making it mine," Charles "Chuckie" Russell was quoted in a court filing telling a government informant. "It will be a great Christmas, I'm telling you."

Russell, 67, was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly went to a South Loop deli to purchase eight guns from a person who turned out to be an undercover federal agent, according to a 26-page criminal complaint unsealed Thursday. He was charged with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ordered held until a bond hearing in early January.

An alleged member of the Chicago mob's Grand Avenue crew, Russell was sentenced in 1992 to 35 years in prison for an aggravated criminal sexual assault conviction. He was acquitted of attempted murder in that case, records show. He was released on parole in March 2011.

Last month, a confidential informant told agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that Russell had been bragging about being "a top ranking member of the mob," according to the complaint.

At a meeting at a coffeehouse on Taylor Street, Russell allegedly told the informant he was the head of a prolific gang of burglars called the "Bishop" boys that was responsible for hundreds of burglaries and home invasions over the past several years.

On Dec. 16, Russell met the informant along with an undercover agent at the Boundary Tavern and Grille in Wicker Park, according to the complaint. During the conversation, which was secretly recorded, Russell talked about plans for an upcoming robbery of a man in his 70s who was believed to have as much as $750,000 in cash in a safe in his home, the complaint said. Russell said he'd been casing the home for years and had an "ex-girl" who was on the inside and knew the location of the safe and other valuables.

"If he doesn't open it, we're gonna make him open it," Russell said, according to the complaint. "They always open for me, believe me. I bring my butane torch, put it on the bottom of their feet, they open it."

According to the complaint, Russell wanted help on the robbery. He told the informant and the undercover agent that his crew would be equipped with all the proper tools to avoid detection, including police scanners, masks and a change of clothes. He also said their biggest worry would be if the victim had a heart attack, because if "he (expletive) drops dead, we got a (expletive) murder," according to the complaint.

"The fun for me is the score," Russell allegedly said on the recording. "That's how I get my adrenaline. ... You know how long it takes to come to down for me? I counted money one night for so long my hands were filthy."

Later in the conversation, Russell talked about buying firearms from the undercover agent. On Monday, the three men met again at the Gale Street Inn in Jefferson Park, where Russell gave the agent a list of guns he was looking for, including an Uzi submachine gun and an AK-47, according to the complaint.

During the meeting, Russell handed the undercover agent a driver's license depicting an African-American man and then showed him a cellphone photo of a car that was riddled with bullet holes. Russell said he was showing him "some decent work" of his, and that the man was "no longer with us."

"All (expletive) blood and brain all over the (expletive) seat," Russell was quoted in the charges as saying. "Went right through his head and out that side. Take (the car) and drop it off in the black community, another black bastard gets caught with it."

Chicago police confirmed that the man depicted in the driver's license photo was killed in November, according to the complaint.

Russell's arrest marked the latest blow for the once-feared Grand Avenue crew made famous by colorful and violent leaders such as Joey "The Clown" Lombardo and currently believed to be headed by Albert "Little Guy" Vena, who is Russell's brother-in-law

In 2014, alleged crew members Robert Panozzo, Paul Koroluk, and others were arrested on sweeping racketeering charges alleging an array of crimes going back to at least 2007, from home invasions and armed robberies to burglaries, arson, insurance fraud and prostitution.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jmetr22b

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