The Chicago Sun-Times reports on convicted mob bookmaker Carl Dote who got a liquor license for two restaurants. The Sun-Times warns us:
Felons typically can't obtain a liquor license.
But officials in Melrose Park and in Des Plaines, which hopes to be home to a new casino, don't appear to be overly troubled.
"Quite honestly, if you're asking me if it bothers me, it doesn't," says Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico.
It does bother James Wagner, a retired FBI supervisor who's an authority on organized crime.
"I cannot believe they are giving these people liquor licenses," says Wagner, who was the case agent overseeing a 1994 case involving Dote, his brother Anthony, Elmwood Park crew leader Marco Damico and the crew's multimillion-dollar gambling operation.
How is this all justified?:
Serpico says, "If Jan Schakowsky's husband got a second chance, Carl Dote deserves a second chance," referring to the Evanston congresswoman whose husband, Robert Creamer, pleaded guilty in 2006 to check kiting.
No word from
Rod Blagojevich on this one.
