Family Secrets jurors to get witness transcript
By Jeff Coen Tribune staff reporter
12:10 PM CDT, September 21, 2007
U.S. District Judge James Zagel is granting a jury request for the transcript of a witness against Family Secrets trial defendant Paul "the Indian" Schiro.
Jurors are deliberating for a fourth day on whether four Outfit figures can be held responsible for 18 slayings at the center of the case. Schiro, the Outfit's representative in Phoenix, has been accused of taking part in the 1986 slaying of grand jury witness Emil Vaci in Arizona.
Last week the same jury convicted the four—Schiro, James Marcello, Joey "The Clown" Lombardo and Frank Calabrese Sr.—as well as former Chicago police officer Anthony "Twan" Doyle of racketeering conspiracy charges. Doyle is not charged in connection with the murders.
Zagel did not say which witness transcript the jury wanted, but he suspected that jurors have contradictions in their own notes that they wish to clarify.
Prosecutors told Zagel they supported giving the transcript to the jury. Schiro's attorney, Paul Wagner, said it was unwise to hand it over at this late point in the proceedings.
Only a few witnesses testified against Schiro during the 10-week trial. The prosecution's key witness, mob turncoat Nicholas Calabrese, testified that Schiro was part of a hit squad that targeted Vaci.
Career burglars Richard Cleary and Sal Romano testified about doing jobs with Schiro and his connections to organized crime.
Cleary told the jury that he once mentioned publicity surrounding Calabrese's cooperation to Schiro and asked if that was a problem.
"[Schiro] said, 'Yes, he could put me away forever,' " Cleary told jurors.
L.J. O'Neale, a deputy district attorney in Nevada, testified that Vaci had been called to testify before a grand jury about a mob-connected Las Vegas slot manager who vanished after he was caught skimming at the Stardust casino.
Vaci was believed to have been among the last people to see the slot manager, who, it turned out, was cheating the mob on its take from his crooked work.
Zagel said jurors will receive the transcript after he reviews it and prepares an instruction telling them that it is only to be used to refresh their memory.
jcoen@tribune.com
