Here's more from Robert Herguth:

Mob Hitman Harry Aleman Died While Serving Life in Prison

May 20, 2010

For more than a dozen people who ran afoul of the Chicago mob, the eyes of hitman Harry Aleman were the last thing they saw.

"You hear about the terror his eyes struck in people and he really has dark penetrating eyes," said former Sun-Times reporter Bob Herguth.

Herguth interviewed the reputed outfit enforcer in 2005, spending five hours less than three feet from those eyes.

"It was a very interesting conversation," Herguth said. "We touched on everything from obviosuly the mob, we delved into literature, culture, it was a very strange interview frankly."

Herguth's exclusive prison interview with Aleman was spread across two issues of the Chicago paper. Among all those words, Herguth never got his quarry to admit to killing anyone.

Police and federal investigators knew what Aleman would never admit -- he is believed to have gunned down at least 15 people.

His targets, they say, were low-lifes and bookies who owed money to the mob's North side crew.

Aleman was tried twice for killing a union steward named Billy Logan in 1972. The getaway driver that night testified that Aleman pulled off his ski mask before he pulled the trigger so Logan knew it was he who pulled the trigger.

Aleman's first trial ended in an acquittal but that verdict was later thrown out because the judge had been paid off.

His second trial sent him away for life.

Aleman died over the weekend from lung and liver cancer.

Read more: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/178423...n#ixzz2bURouqPM