Aug 13, 2007 7:38 pm US/Central
Feds Rest Their Case At Chicago Mob Trial
By CBS 2's John Drummond. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Joey "The Clown" Lombardo. (File)
CBS 2
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The federal government rested its historic Family Secrets mob racketeering case Monday. Now, the focus turns to the defense. At least three of the five reputed mob defendants say they will take the witness stand in their own defense this week.
Eager reporters and onlookers gathered in the Dirksen Federal Building hoping to catch Joey "The Clown" Lombardo's testimony Monday – a first for . But things did not go according to plan, and Lombardo will
CBS 2's John "Bulldog" Drummond has been covering the Chicago mob for decades. As he reports, Lombardo has always contended he was not a mobster.
When Lombardo was released from federal prison 15 years ago, he even placed a classified advertisement in a Chicago newspaper, saying he had nothing to do with organized crime.
Monday his lawyer, Rick Halprin, told the jury "Lombardo is not, was not and never has been a capo or a made member of The Outfit."
He added," Joey is 78…not a gangster, not a mobster, just a hustler."
The crux of the government's case against Lombardo is the 1974 murder of businessman Daniel Seifert. Seifert was gunned down in his Bensenville factory as his wife and 4-year-old son looked on in horror.
But Halprin declared Joe Lombardo "did not kill Danny Seifert," claiming there was "incontestable evidence that Joe was 20 miles away at a restaurant" when a team of executioners killed the factory-owner.
Lombardo's defense is based on the claim that, after serving years in prison for attempting to bribe a U.S. senator and involvement in Las Vegas casino skimming, he swore he would never take part in any further crimes.
Zagel said he would allow Lombardo to talk about his withdrawal from a life of crime despite grumbling from prosecutors that it amounted to letting him vouch for his own good behavior.
On cross examination, prosecutors are guaranteed to ask him why he went on the lam for months after the indictment was unsealed. He was arrested after FBI agents cornered him in an Elmwood Park alley.
Another defendant, Frank "The Breeze" Calabrese, is apparently undecided as to whether he will testify or not. Earlier Monday, it appeared that the former Oak Brook resident would do so, but now Calabrese is having second thoughts about such a venture.
Lombardo plans to take the witness stand in his own defense sometime this week, attorneys said. Defense attorneys for Anthony Doyle did not rule out the possibility that he also could testify.
U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel quickly denied requests by the defendants for immediate acquittal and began setting the stage for perhaps a week of defense witnesses.
"It's quite plain that all of these motions for acquittal at the end of the government's case must be denied and I deny them," Zagel said.
Besides the 78-year-old Lombardo, those on trial are James Marcello, 65, Calabrese, 69, Paul Schiro, 70, and Doyle, 62.
They are charged with operating Chicago's organized crime family -- known as the Chicago Outfit -- as a racketeering enterprise that included gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 long-unsolved murders.
Among those murdered was Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, for years the mob's man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for the Joe Pesci character in the movie "Casino." He and his brother Michael were beaten and strangled in 1986 and buried in an Indiana cornfield.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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