Mayor Daley's Mob Connected Friend

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on Fred Barbara:

At 58, Barbara is a neighborhood guy who made good, amassing a fortune through trucking and real-estate deals with the city of Chicago since the 1970s.

Barbara is a longtime friend of Mayor Daley, other friends say. Barbara was a guest at a christening party for the mayor's first grandchild. The mayor and Barbara have gone sailing together on Lake Michigan.

Fred Barbara, a powerful Roti family member, got rich taking the city’s trash to landfills. Barbara is seen at right in 1982 and recently, above, outside 437 Rush, a restaurant owned by a business partner.


Barbara is a grandson of Bruno Roti Sr., who was one of Chicago's earliest organized-crime bosses and an associate of Al Capone, according to FBI files. Roti also was the patriarch of a family that has had ties to City Hall --and the mob -- for three generations.

Barbara's friends call him a self-made man, though he began landing city deals while his late uncle, Ald. Fred B. Roti, was a powerful City Council member. Accused of representing the mob's interests, the alderman eventually went to prison for fixing court and zoning cases.

The Chicago Way.