Another alleged Outfit hit
September 24, 2012
The FBI believes imprisoned Chicago mob associate and former cop Steve Mandell is the No. 1 suspect in the unsolved 2012 murder and robbery of suburban restaurateur Giacomo Ruggirello, according to sources familiar with the investigation. This week, The Chicago Tribune reported that the FBI has video and audio tape of Mandell discussing the crime with a wired-up informant on the day it occurred.
The 61-year old Ruggirello, a native Sicilian, was found dead of smoke inhalation as his Highland Park, Illinois house burned to the ground on September 24, 2012, just hours after his Italian eatery Trattoria Giacomo in nearby Highwood, Illinois was robbed of its safe. Mandell, 66, is doing a life prison sentence for the attempted murder and extortion of two local businessmen, hoping to use a torture chamber he built that he referred to as “Club Med.” He was found guilty at a 2014 trial.
