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Jun 2, 2005 6:15 pm US/Central
Feds Name Names in Chicago Mob Hits
John Drummond
CHICAGO (CBS 2) ―
The government is naming names, now we know the inside story about some of the most gruesome and notorious hits in Chicago.
Now it appears to mobologists that Frank Calabrese was probably the mob's most prolific hit man during the 1970s and 1980s. One of those homicides linked to Mr. Calabrese was the spectacular assassination of a trucking company executive in the western suburbs.
The murder of Michael Cagnoni 24 years ago stunned even veteran homicide detectives. The Hinsdale businessman was blown to smithereens when his Mercedes exploded as he was about to enter the Tri-State Tollway. Now the Cagnoni murder has been linked to Frank Calabrese. The 71-year-old Calabrese, according to the US Justice Department, was involved in 13 murders.
Calabrese did not act alone in the slayings, but authorities have not identified his confederates.
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August, 1970: Michael "Hambone" Albergo. A juice-loan collector, murdered in Chicago.
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June, 1976: Paul Haggerty - Chicago.
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March, 1977: Henry Cosentino - Illinois.
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January, 1978: John Mendell. A burglar, suspected of breaking into Tony Accardo's home. Murdered in Chicago.
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January, 1978: Burglars Donald Renno and Vicent Moretti, murdered in Cicero.
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July, 1980: William and Charlotte Dauber. Dauber, a mob enforcer, was murdered in Will County.
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December, 1980: William "Butch" Petrocelli, a feared hit man, murdered in Cicero.
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June, 1981: Michael Cagnoni. Hinsdale businessman, murdered in Du Page County.
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July, 1983: Richard Ortiz and Arthur Morawski - murdered in Cicero.
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September, 1986: John Fecarotta, a suspect in the murders of the Spilotros, was himself killed in Chicago.
Frank "The German" Schweihs was named in two murders, the killing of government witness Daniel Seifert in 1974 and another man in Arizona.
Joey "The Clown" Lombardo was also implicated in the Seifert murder.
And another defendant, James "The Little Guy" Marcello, was named in the deaths of the two Spilotros and a south suburban mob figure, Nichola D'Andrea whose charred body was found in his Mercedes automobile in Chicago Heights.
We should point out that many of Calabrese's associates in the slayings are, like their victims, deceased.
Perhaps the most chilling were the deaths of Billy and Charlotte Dauber. The couple had just left a court hearing in Joliet and within 30 minutes both had been gunned down on a tranquil country road near their home in rural Crete.
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