Mafia scandal linked to Sportsman's Park
thunde...@webtv.net
crime and politcal corrption in Cicero Illinois, home to Sportsman's
Park and Hawthorne Race Course.
At the time, the Cicero scandal's connection to horse racing was not
very clear. However, new information in today's Sun-Times shows there is
a stronger link to horse racing then was originally suspected.
Sportsman's Park in particular. That story from the Suntimes is also
posted here following the first story.
The Cicero mayor [president] and former police chief were charged by the
federal government with stealing $10.000.000 in public health funds from
the city. There is an organized crime connection although it was not
elaborated on by the feds. The mayor and chief used some of the stolen
money to buy a horse farm in Indiana. It turns out one of the partners
in that horse farm is the wife of Eddie Arroyo, general manager of
Sportsman's Park.
Hang on kiddies we going to have some fun with this one.
http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGAGX20Q1OC.html
Jun 16, 2001
Corruption scandal shakes Chicago suburb
MIKE ROBINSON
of The Associated Press
CHICAGO - Cicero's town president and nine others were charged Friday
with stealing $10 million in taxpayer money and spending it on a horse
farm and a golf course in the latest scandal to hit the one-time capital
of Al Capone's bootlegging empire.
``The Cicero candy store is closed,´´ said Kathleen McChesney, agent
in charge of the Chicago office of the FBI.
Among those indicted in what federal prosecutors said was a
mob-connected corruption scheme were Betty Loren-Maltese, who as town
president is equivalent to mayor, and former police Chief Emil Schullo.
Loren-Maltese, a Republican, has been enormously popular with voters in
the gritty, blue-collar town of 70,000 outside Chicago.
She was re-elected in a landslide in April, under the eyes of federal
observers brought in after the town board tried to change residency
requirements in a way that would have made her opponent ineligible. The
defendants were arrested on charges of racketeering conspiracy, money
laundering, fraud and tax offenses.
A federal magistrate set a $100,000 bond for Loren-Maltese, who made no
statement. Her attorney said his client had been working to expose the
scandal she was accused of helping orchestrate.
``To suggest she is somehow involved in a conspiracy she´s worked so
hard over the last few years to uncover is sad,´´ said Terry
Gillespie.
According to the indictment, the defendants stole $10 million from the
town's health insurance fund and used some of the money to buy a golf
course, The Four Seasons, near Pembine, Wis., that Loren-Maltese and
others hoped would be converted into a casino.
The money was also used to buy a horse farm near Crown Point, Ind., and
a vacation home for the family of trucking executive Michael Spano Sr.,
prosecutors said.
They said the scheme was hatched by Spano and Loren-Maltese's husband,
Frank ``Baldy´´ Maltese, a one-time town clerk who died in 1993
before he could start a federal prison term on a gambling conviction.
U.S. Attorney Scott Lassar declined to say precisely how organized crime
fit into the scheme.
.........................................
And now this from the Chicago Sun Times:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/horse/odnt20.html
Illinois racing finds itself embroiled in new probe
June 20, 2001
BY JIM O'DONNELL STAFF REPORTER
THE PENDULUM OF A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION once again has come precariously
close to the highest levels of thoroughbred racing in Illinois. Court
documents discovered en route to the indictment of Cicero Town President
Betty Loren-Maltese and nine associates Friday revealed that Sally
Arroyo, the wife of Sportsman's Park general manager Eddie Arroyo, was a
general partner in the Indiana horse farm allegedly purchased with some
of the $15 million pilfered from the western suburb.
Originally reported by Sun-Timesmen Charles Nicodemus and Mark Skertic,
Sally Arroyo was listed in a civil suit pressed by the town of Cicero
for recovery of overbilled insurance charges as a general partner in
Crown Point Farm. That is the seven-acre northwest Indiana horse center
allegedly purchased at least in part with money gained by associates of
Loren-Maltese through fraudulent insurance billings to the western
suburb.
BONNIE LAGIGLIO, another partner in Crown Point Farm, was indicted
Friday. So was her husband, John. Also indicted was Michael Spano Sr.,
who according to court documents kept at least two thoroughbreds at the
farm in 1994-95. Both were trained by Arroyo for racing primarily at
Chicago tracks. She has not been listed as a trainer of record in
Chicago since 1995, according to multiple archives.
Arroyo was not mentioned in the 64-page list of charges released Friday
by the office of U.S. Attorney Scott Lassar. Nor are any further
indictments expected in the insurance-fraud portion of the federal probe
into the affairs of Cicero, according to federal sources.
But one insider said: "That's not saying what other leads could develop.
That's also not saying there aren't other investigations ongoing that
could touch on matters related to Friday's announcement."
SO FAR IN 2001, the most significant publicly known investigation to
make an impact on
Illinois racing was the IRS-Criminal probe into the alleged theft of $1
million in uncashed winnings at Arlington. In a maneuver that looks more
and more curious as events move forward, the federal agency handed the
investigation off to the Illinois Racing Board in January.
Three months later, the IRB announced it had found "no evidence of
wrongdoing." But the board staffers who prepared the summary--Jack
Kubik, Marc Laino, Dan Fitzgerald, Bob Lang and Keith
Peterson--singled out an Arlington mutuel clerk as a "likely IRS
informant." The clerk was fired by Arlington shortly thereafter and has
yet to be reinstated.
KUBIK, THE IRB'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, was reported to be in Springfield
on Tuesday. Asked whether the board was proceeding with any review of
the Sportsman's link to the indictments Friday, spokesman Mickey Ezzo
said: "We'll have a more complete answer as soon as we can."
June 20, 2001
longshotjohn7
http://www.thetimesonline.com/
in archive
Publication date: 06/15/2001
Cicero town president arrested at her Porter County home
Loren-Maltese, nine others charged with stealing $10 million of public
funds.
BY BILL DOLAN
Times Staff Writer
LAKES OF THE FOUR SEASONS -- Cicero police officers guarding the weekend
home of Cicero Town President Betty Loren-Maltese couldn't protect her early
Friday from being arrested by state and federal law enforcement agents.
She and nine others were charged in Chicago federal court with stealing $10
million of public funds -- which they spent on personal real estate
including a rural Crown Point horse farm.
A woman identifying herself as Loren-Maltese's mother answered the telephone
at the one-story ranch in the 1200 block of Brandywine Road, as reports of
her daughter's indictment were playing on the afternoon television news
shows.
She said she hoped her daughter would return home here late Friday because
the family was exhausted by the ordeal that began about 6:30 a.m. "We all
are (tired)," the mother said, declining further comment.
Carol Wolf, who lives two doors down, said Friday afternoon, "My husband was
leaving for work about 7:15 a.m. when he said there were a lot of police
cars and FBI agents out there."
Dominic Dimarco, who lives across the street, said, "I was out taking the
dogs for a walk this morning. By the time I came back, cars were pulling up,
and there were federal agents and state troopers. I saw her led out and put
in a unmarked cruiser."
A federal grand jury in Chicago issued a 17-count indictment charging the
Cicero mayor and her co-defendants with racketeering, conspiracy, money
laundering, fraud and tax offenses.
Investigators allege that $10 million in taxpayers' money earmarked for
health insurance and other benefits for Cicero town employees was diverted
to the personal use of Loren-Maltese and the others. The charges identify
one of the properties purchased with that money as a 7-acre horse farm near
U.S. 231 and Iowa Street, a rural area about three miles southeast of Crown
Point.
Records from 1998 in the Lake County treasurer's office indicate Plaza
Partners Partnership of Bloomingdale, Ill., paid more than $5,500 a year in
property taxes on the land, a house and three barns where several horses are
kept.
Federal investigators allege that partnership is associated with Michael
Spano Sr., an Illinois trucking executive involved in organized crime. He
was indicted with Loren-Maltese.
According to Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, the
indictment does not seek forfeiture of the farm because the defendants sold
the farm sometime during the past few years.
Neighbors said Loren-Maltese and her late husband, Frank "Baldy" Maltese,
bought the house here on the Porter County side of this gated community
about a decade ago. Her husband was a one-time Cicero town clerk who died in
1993 before he could start a federal prison term on a gambling conviction.
Samborn said her primary residence was in Cicero, and the Indiana home was
"like a weekend residence in Crown Point. ... It was a second home."
Wolf said, "They are very good neighbors. Betty is quiet. I have only talked
to her a couple of times. They love fishing in the summer."
The house is on the western shore of Big Bass Lake.
Wolf said Cicero police officers have been parked in the Loren-Maltese
driveway for some time.
"They are there around the clock and they have been there since last
summer."
Dimarco said an unmarked van with the usual security officers remained
positioned at the house Friday afternoon. He said Loren-Maltese has had
bodyguards since she began cracking down on street gangs in Cicero.
Donald Blum, who lives across the street, said he has wondered about the
Cicero police detail for some time. "Who pays for that?"
Federal authorities held a news conference to announce the indictment -- the
latest scandal to hit Cicero, a town known for corruption since it was home
to Al Capone's bootlegging empire.
"The Cicero candy store is closed," said Kathleen McChesney, special agent
in charge of the Chicago office of the FBI.
"This is the first time there has essentially been the looting of a town and
organized crime has been alleged to be involved," U.S. Attorney Scott Lassar
said in announcing the indictments against Loren-Maltese, a Republican who
has been enormously popular with voters in the gritty suburb of about
70,000.
She was re-elected by a landslide in April, under the eyes of federal
observers brought in after the town board tried to change residency
requirements for candidates in a move that would have made her opponent
ineligible.
The indictment also alleges the stolen money was used to buy a golf course,
The Four Seasons, near Pembine, Wis., that Loren-Maltese and others hoped
would be converted into a gambling casino, federal officials said. And it
bought a vacation home for Spano.
Lassar said that municipal employees had to pay into the insurance fund that
was stolen from. Some of those who complained were demoted or fired, he
said. According to the indictment, the money was laundered at the company,
which was operated by a one-time Internal Revenue Service supervisor.
The indictments come one month after a federal jury awarded civil damages
totaling $1.7 million to former Cicero Police Chief David Niebur and another
man who said they were wrongly fired by Loren-Maltese in April 1998 for
working with the FBI to fight corruption in Cicero.
On learning of the charges Friday, Niebur said he was "overjoyed." He called
Cicero "a cesspool of corruption."
The indictments were also greeted with happiness by Loren-Maltese's opponent
in the April election, Cook County Commissioner Joseph Moreno.
During the primary campaign, Moreno was arrested by Cicero police on charges
of drunken driving. The charges were dropped for lack of evidence.
Loren-Maltese supporters then accused Moreno of being a wife beater and
adulterer and of failing to pay child support. They cited court documents
that turned out to relate to a different Joseph Moreno.
"This administration has disgraced the town of Cicero," Moreno said after
the indictments were issued Friday. He called on Loren-Maltese to resign and
for a special election to be held. He said he would run again.
But people on the street in Cicero seemed stunned.
"She was doing everything correct, and now they say there's some
corruption," said Gerardo Lopez, 37, a Spanish teacher who voted for
Loren-Maltese, as he gassed up at a service station. "I'm like, wait a
minute. What is going on? I thought everything was fine."
Barbara Kielmanski, 43, a clerk at the service station, said she "thought
(Loren-Maltese) was OK."
"She was always helping the seniors and the children," Kielmanski said.
Times staff writer John O'Connell and The Associated Press contributed to
this report.
Bill Dolan can be reached at bdo...@howpubs.com or (219) 662-5326.
Corsing
thunde...@webtv.net wrote:
>
> The story below I posted a couple of days ago. It's about about oganized
> crime and politcal corrption in Cicero Illinois, home to Sportsman's
> Park and Hawthorne Race Course.
I'm shocked! "Organized crime and political corruption in Cicero, Illinois?"
Superfecta sss
deserve whats coming to them......(on the links and the track I mean)
fundoc
<thunde...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:23182-3B...@storefull-107.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
>There is an organized crime connection although it was not
>elaborated on by the feds.
Holy fuck! You mean that the criminal element is attracted to venues where
there are huge piles of cash laying around? Katie bar the door.