Joey "the Clown'' Lombardo Goes to Trial

Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo and 10 other reputed members of The Outfit - Chicago's organized crime family - are going to trial. The reputed Chicago mob leaders are accused of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy that included 18 murders, a federal judge said Tuesday, April 24.^[1] Judge James B. Zagel will be empanelling an anonymous jury for the upcoming trial, Zagel refrained from saying why he decided to seat an anonymous jury. But he may have acted to insulate the jurors from outside pressures.^[2]

Eight of the 11 defendants are charged with participating in a long-running conspiracy involving 18 murders, including those of Tony ``The Ant'' Spilotro, The Outfit's one-time man in Las Vegas, and his brother, Michael.^[3] In 1971, Spilotro succeeded the mercurial Marshall Caifano as the mob's representative in Las Vegas. Spilotro reunited with his boyhood friend Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran several mafia-backed casinos, including the Stardust.^[4] Spilotro and Rosenthal worked together to embezzle profits from the casinos, which were then sent back to Midwest Mafia families, namely the Outfit in Chicago.^[5]

Spilotro however eventually ran afoul of the Outfit, he managed to get blacklisted from the same casinos he was supposed to be managing, he generated massive amounts of unwanted media attention through his high-profile jewel heists, and he broke one of the cardinal rules of a "made man," by sleeping with an associate's wife.^[6] This all proved to be a lethal combination of acts for "The Ant;" the Spilotro brothers were savagely beaten and buried in a cornfield in Enos, Indiana in June 1986.^[7] Tony and Michael were identified by their brother Pasqaule Jr. through dental records.^[8]

Besides the eight charged with racketeering conspiracy, the indictment names three other defendants on gambling charges; originally 14 people were charged in the case.^[9] One was found dead when FBI agents went to arrest him.^[10] Another has since died, and a third isn't going on trial, but is expected to be the government's star witness.^[11] Some of the defendants could spend the rest of their lives in prison if convicted of taking part in the racketeering conspiracy.^[12]

Racketeering
Under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(a) states that it shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt in which such person has participated as a principal within the meaning of section 2, title 18, United States Code, to use or invest, directly or indirectly, any part of such income, or the proceeds of such income, in acquisition of any interest in, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. A purchase of securities on the open market for purposes of investment, and without the intention of controlling or participating in the control of the issuer, or of assisting another to do so, shall not be unlawful under this subsection if the securities of the issuer held by the purchaser, the members of his immediate family, and his or their accomplices in any pattern or racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt after such purchase do not amount in the aggregate to one percent of the outstanding securities of any one class, and do not confer, either in law or in fact, the power to elect one or more directors of the issuer.^[13]

It also states that it shall be unlawful for any person through a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, any interest in or control of any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce.^[14]

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^[1] AP Wire, Judge To Empanel Anonymous Jury At Organized Crime Trial, Associated Press Newswire Apr. 25, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] William F. Roemer Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro-The Chicago Mob's Man in Las Vegas, Ivy Books; Reprint edition (April 1, 1995).
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] AP Wire, supra note 1.
^[10] Id.
^[11] Id.
^[12] Id.
^[13] 18 U.S.C. § 1962(a) (2007)
^[14] Id. at §1962(b).