The Chicago Mob's Family Secrets Trial is making
news.It's important to remember that the Chicago Outfit couldn't last without the interaction of pliant politicians.Chicago's Vice-Mayor and long serving Alderman Bernard Stone is a case in point.Here's a little excerpt from an investigation into the union movement and the
Chicago Outfit:
198. Bernard L. Stone (Stone) is an Alderman and the Vice-Mayor of the City of Chicago. Tr. 1505. Stone testified that he has known Bruno Caruso as long as Stone has been an Alderman, approximately twenty-seven (27) years. Tr. 1507. Stone knows Bruno Caruso through the City Council's meetings with labor leaders and through Bruno Caruso's uncle, Fred Roti, who Stone described as a close friend and colleague. Tr. 1507-08. Stone stated that he had been invited to Roti family functions and would see Bruno Caruso at those events. Tr. 1509. Stone testified that he saw Bruno Caruso between twelve and twenty times a year. Tr. 1512. Stone testified that most people in the labor community viewed Bruno Caruso as "a hard guy to deal with, because he was always fighting for his union members." Tr. 1509. Stone testified that from his own knowledge, he knew that Fred Roti was not involved with organized crime and neither was Bruno Caruso. Tr. 1509-1510. Stone stated that he did not know everyone with
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whom Bruno Caruso associated, and that Bruno Caruso could have friendships and associations of which he was unaware. Tr. 1514. Stone stated that he did not have personal knowledge of any organized crime individuals. Tr. 1515. Stone denied knowing John Monteleone, Joseph LaMantia, James Inendino, or Ronald Jarrett, and stated that he had no way of knowing whether Bruno Caruso had any connection to those individuals. Tr. 1515-16. Stone stated that he had met Angelo LaPietra, but had no knowledge of whether Bruno Caruso associated with LaPietra, in anyway. Id.
199. Stone stated that he does not know individuals in organized crime, does not know whether or not it exists, does not know if there is a problem with organized crime in Chicago, and that other than his father's membership in a union he "[does not] know much about the labor movement." Tr. 1516-17. The IHO finds it difficult to believe that a person who has served as a Chicago alderman for twenty-seven (27) years can state that he does not know whether organized crime exists.
Here's a little more on the
subject:
The Roti family's union power goes back to two late organized-crime figures, Ald. Fred B. Roti and Chicago Outfit boss Anthony Accardo, according to union investigators.
Bruno and "Toots'' Caruso are nephews of Roti. The three were among 47 men identified by the FBI in 1999 as "made'' members of the mob. "Made'' mobsters, according to the report, pledge loyalty to the Outfit "and would carry this oath of commitment and silence to the grave.''
Yet,Alderman Stone doesn't know if organized crime exists.
