Dentist's drill: Rinse. Spit. Talk to feds.
John Kass
August 8, 2007
Patrick Spilotro, dentist with a pinky ring and brother of two slain Outfit hoodlums, testified in federal court that he's been informing to the FBI for the last two decades.
"About that," he said, discussing the murders of brothers Michael and Anthony, "and other things."
He paused for a bit on Tuesday, an old man now, blue suit, white hair, his face a map to his brothers. He'd been fixing teeth for Outfit families for decades and kept his ears open. He considered a bit, and spoke again.
"And about other things," said the dentist. "About other things."
What could those other things be? Spilotro didn't say.
The 1986 murders of his brothers, like all the other murders being dissected in the government's Family Secrets trial, have received most of the publicity, as have any references to animals, barking dogs, and tiny mice hung from a windshield as a warning.
But it's the "other things" that send a wave through Chicago.
Not like a pebble dropped in the federal pool, but more like a washing machine falling off a truck into a puddle, splashing on political shoes.
Mayor Richard Daley is furious, since his trucking boss friend and fashionista Freddie Barbara was mentioned from the witness stand by a hit man as a bomber driving Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra to arson parties.
So Barbara is hot and the mayor wants Freddie cooled down, so look for a settlement to be announced in the big feud over Tavern on Rush, the profitable nightspot in the Viagra Triangle.
The owners of the Tavern real estate -- Barbara and Bridgeport developer Tommy DiPiazza -- allegedly used Tavern partner Marty Gutilla to try and push restaurateur Phil Stefani out of his own place.
Barbara and DiPiazza are close to mayoral brain Tim Degnan. And Daley does not need Degnan heated up any more. If Degnan gets hot, the mayor could get crisp. So a splash in federal court in Family Secrets will most likely lead to a happy ending for Stefani.
Not everything about this town is in a press release. You have to study the waters, the tributaries, the pools, and that boiling caldron that is now the 36th Ward Democratic Organization.
The 36th keeps getting mentioned in Family Secrets, not by its official title, but through the individuals who run it, the guys who pick judges in Cook County and put people in the right places, cleaning the streets, expanding the airports, and other stuff.
But the names of their 36th Ward political superiors have been mentioned in the trial, including that of ward boss Sam "Pastries" Banks.
Banks in the old country means Panebianco (white bread), although now it's quite toasty.
Banks was brought up by a federal witness, a burglar friend of Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo, as a guy criminals go to, and pay to take care of the cops. Banks and his brother Ald. William Banks (D-Zoning) have also installed their own candidates for judge. "Pastries" did not return our calls Tuesday.
Another 36th Warder mentioned the other day is State Sen. James DeLeo (D-How You Doin'). And another, zoning lawyer James Banks, the son of Sam.
DeLeo and James Banks bought the Spilotros' restaurant, Hoagies, from Michael Spilotro's widow, Ann, after the brothers were murdered in 1986.
From the witness stand this week, Ann Spilotro, who also runs The Back Room, a jazz club on Rush Street, said Jim Banks and DeLeo ripped her off in the purchase.
Jim Banks and DeLeo are also involved in the Tavern on Rush feud, with Banks on the DiPiazza/Barbara side. DeLeo is an investor in the restaurant. But a funny thing happened when I asked DeLeo who the landlords were at Tavern.
He told me he didn't know.
DeLeo probably meant he didn't know that the son of Sam was one of the landlords, even though they hail from the same political organization, and bought Ann Spilotro's place together, which actually belonged to the wife of the Clown.
I suppose I should tell you that another name came up in the trial Tuesday:
Mine.
One of the Outfit bosses on trial, James Marcello, was videotaped in prison discussing my column with his good friend, Nick Vangel, nicknamed "The Caterer" by his Outfit pals and known to many in DuPage County as the former owner of The Carlisle banquet hall in Lombard.
"I just saw the last thing in the Trib," Vangel tells Marcello, also an avid reader of mine.
FBI Agent Edward "Ted" McNamara was questioned about this reference to the newspaper, and he said they were talking about my column published Feb. 21, 2003.
It was about mobster Nicholas Calabrese entering the federal witness protection program, and some of the murders he'd testify about in the case that became Family Secrets.
That made a little splash. But now, in the hands of prosecutors and the FBI, it's a tsunami.
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jskass@tribune.com
