O.J. Simpson investigated in alleged robbery at Vegas hotel room

O.J. Simpson investigated in alleged robbery at Vegas hotel room
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and LINDA DEUTSCH Associated Press Writers
Article Launched: 09/14/2007 03:19:32 PM PDT


LAS VEGAS—O.J. Simpson was under investigation Friday in an alleged armed robbery at a casino hotel room involving his sports memorabilia, but the former football star said he went to recover items stolen from him and there were no guns.
"Nobody was roughed up," Simpson told The Associated Press by phone. "What I can't understand is these guys are in a room trying to fence stolen goods and I'm the story."

The incident at the Palace Station casino once again hurled Simpson into the headlines more than a decade after he was acquitted of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in the "Trial of the Century," only to be found civilly liable for their deaths and ordered to pay a $33.5 million judgment.

Police Capt. James Dillon stressed that the investigation was in its "infancy" and that "few facts" had been determined. Officers responded to a call from the hotel just before 8 p.m. Thursday, he said.

"The victim stated that one of the suspects involved in the robbery was O.J. Simpson," Dillon said.

Police said the 911 call was made by Alfred Beardsley, one of the men in the hotel room.

"We have (reports) from the victim that there were weapons involved," Dillon said, but he added that no firearms had been recovered, no charges had been filed and no one was in custody.

Police contacted Simpson after the initial report and talked to him again Friday at his hotel. Dillon said Simpson would not agree to a formal, recorded interview until his lawyer arrived, but did offer some statements about the incident. "We still consider that cooperating," Dillon said.
Simpson would not give police the names of the "three or four" men who accompanied him into the hotel room until his lawyer was present, Dillon said.

He said investigators were trying to untangle the web of ownership of the items in dispute.

"We do have some conflicting statements, there is legitimate information that part or all of the items possibly are the possessions of O.J. Simpson," Dillon said, adding that would not excuse a robbery.

Dillon said investigators had video surveillance tapes and still images from various locations at the hotel but he did not say what they showed.

Simpson told the AP there was no armed robbery and no guns were involved.

"There was no armed robbery here. It wasn't a robbery. They said take your stuff and go," said Simpson, who remained in Las Vegas at a local hotel casino.

Beardsley, a real estate agent and longtime collector of Simpson memorabilia, told the AP that Simpson's account of the incident was fairly accurate except that there were guns.

But in an unusual development, Simpson said he and Beardsley had a friendly phone conversation later Friday and they wanted to resolve the matter.

Of the weapons question, Simpson said: "I didn't see anybody with any guns."

Both Beardsley and Simpson indicated in separate interviews that the underlying issue was recovery of photos from Simpson's childhood.

Simpson was a Heisman Trophy winner in college and a star running back in the NFL. Many of his sports collectibles, including his Heisman Trophy, were seized under court order and auctioned to pay some of the $33.5 million awarded to the Goldman family and the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson.

Now a Miami resident, O.J. Simpson lives off a sizable pension that could not be seized under the civil judgment. But last year, during a scandal over payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars for his participation in a book about the murders, he said he needed the money to get out of debt and to "secure my homestead."

Simpson said that on Thursday he was conducting a sting operation to collect his belongings when he was led to the room.

He said that auction house owner Tom Riccio called him several weeks ago to alert him that collectors were quietly trying to peddle his belongings.

Simpson said he was in Las Vegas for a friend's wedding and arranged to meet Riccio, who set up a meeting with collectors under the guise that he had a private collector interested in buying Simpson's items.

"We walked into the room," Simpson said. "I'm the last one to go in and when they see me, it's all 'Oh God.'"

Simpson said he was accompanied by two men he met at a wedding cocktail party and they took the collectibles, including his Hall of Fame certificate and a picture of him with the late FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover.

Simpson said he wasn't sure where the items were taken. Dillon said some of the items had been recovered but did not specify which ones.

Beardsley said Riccio had contacted him and told him he had a buyer who was a big fan of Simpson and "wanted to buy very personal items and could I give him some very high-end items."

"I've always supported Simpson. When he walked in the room, Simpson said, 'Oh no, not you. I thought you were a good guy,'" Beardsley said.

Beardsley claimed that Riccio actually had found out that Beardsley was going to be involved in a private sale of the childhood photos "and got Simpson all worked up."

Beardsley said the pictures were not in the room but he intended to arrange to get the pictures to Simpson. "I will give him those pictures back, I feel bad about it," he said.

"I'd like to see it go away," Beardsley said of the incident. "We both feel this has gotten way out of control."

A message left for Riccio was not immediately returned.

Riccio told the Los Angeles Times he arranged the meeting after receiving a phone call about a month ago from a person who claimed to have personal items—including footballs, awards and personal photos—that had belonged to Simpson and wanted to sell them.

"Simpson was supposed to show up, identify the items and tell the men to either give the stuff back or he would call the police," Riccio told the newspaper.

The plan unraveled after Simpson showed up with about seven "intimidating looking guys," at least one of whom had a gun, he said.

"We tried to peacefully reacquire these personal items, not for their monetary value, but for their family value. O.J. wanted to be able to pass these things down to his kids," Riccio said.

"They (Simpson and his companions) took the stuff, and they left. What can I say? Things went haywire," he said.

Bruce Fromong, a sports memorabilia collector who testified at Simpson's civil trial, said he witnessed the incident and that Simpson broke into the hotel room and took several collectibles.

"It was home invasion-type thing," he told the Web siteTMZ.com. "Guys come busting through the door at the Palace casino, I mean, literally busting through it. He and some of his guys came in with the guns, hollering and screaming."

Fromong, who reportedly has tried to sell the suit Simpson wore when he was acquitted of murder, described him as at one time being a close friend.

On Thursday, the Goldman family published a book about the killings that Simpson had written under the title, "If I Did It," about how he would have committed the crime had he actually done it. After a deal for Simpson to publish it fell through, a federal bankruptcy judge awarded the book's rights to the Goldman family, who retitled it "If I Did It: The Confessions of a Killer."

Fred Goldman, Ron's Goldman's father, defended the family's decision to publish the book. He said he was stunned by the news from Las Vegas.

"I'm overwhelmed and amazed," Fred Goldman told The Associated Press. "If it turns out as it is currently being played, I think this shows more of who he is. He is proving over and over and over again that he thinks he can do anything and get away with it."

Goldman's lawyer, David Cook, said he would seek a court order on Tuesday to get whatever items Simpson took in Las Vegas.

———

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch and Associated Press Writer Jeff Wilson contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

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Pavarotti Sings His Last Tune

Tenor Pavarotti has died at age 71, his manager tells the AP
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO | Associated Press Writer
8:06 AM EDT, September 6, 2007


ROME - He was the son of a singing baker and became the king of the high C's. Luciano Pavarotti, opera's biggest superstar of the late 20th century, died Thursday. He was 71.

Pavarotti, who had been diagnosed last year with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment last month, died at his home in his native Modena at 5 a.m., his manager told The Associated Press in an e-mailed statement.

His wife, Nicoletta, four daughters and sister were among family at friends at his side, manager Terri Robson said.

"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer," Robson said. "In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness."

Pavarotti's charismatic personna and ebullient showmanship _ but most of all his creamy and powerful voice _ made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since the great Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar.

For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his thrilling performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.

"Nessun Dorma" turned out to be Pavarotti's last aria, sung at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006. His last full-scale concert was at Taipei in December 2005, and his farewell to opera was in Puccini's "Tosca" at New York's Metropolitan in March 2004.

Instantly recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a way Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras _ his partners in the "Three Tenors" concerts _ never quite could.

"I always admired the God-given glory of his voice _ that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range," Domingo said in a statement from Los Angeles.

Pavarotti, who seemed equally at ease singing with soprano Joan Sutherland as with the Spice Girls, scoffed at accusations that he was sacrificing his art in favor of commercialism.

"The word 'commercial' is exactly what we want," he said after appearing in the "Three Tenors" concerts. "We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera. If you want to use the word 'commercial,' or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want."

In the annals of that rare and coddled breed, the operatic tenor, it may well be said the 20th century began with Enrico Caruso and ended with Pavarotti. Other tenors _ Domingo included _ may have drawn more praise from critics for their artistic range and insights, but none could equal the combination of natural talent and personal charm that so endeared Pavarotti to audiences.

"Pavarotti is the biggest superstar of all," the late New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg once said. "He's correspondingly more spoiled than anybody else. They think they can get away with anything. Thanks to the glory of his voice, he probably can."

In his heyday, he was known as the "King of the High C's" for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes. In fact it was his ability to hit nine glorious high C's in quick succession that turned him into an international superstar singing Tonio's aria "Ah! Mes amis," in Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" at the Met in 1972.

From Beijing to Buenos Aires, people immediately recognized his incandescent smile and lumbering bulk, clutching a white handkerchief as he sang arias and Neapolitan folk songs, pop numbers and Christmas carols for hundreds of thousands in outdoor concerts.

His name seemed to show up as much in gossip columns as serious music reviews, particularly after he split with Adua Veroni, his wife of 35 years and mother of their three daughters, and then took up with his 26-year-old secretary in 1996.

In late 2003, he married Nicoletta Mantovani in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. Pavarotti said their daughter, Alice, nearly a year old at the time of the wedding, was the main reason they finally wed after years together.

In the latter part of his career, he came under fire for canceling performances or pandering to the lowest common denominator in his choice of programs, or for the Three Tenors tours and their millions of dollars in fees.

He was criticized for lip-synching at a concert in Modena. An artist accused him of copying her works from a how-to-draw book and selling the paintings.

The son of a baker who was an amateur singer, Pavarotti was born Oct. 12, 1935. He had a meager upbringing, though he said it was rich with happiness.

"Our family had very little, but I couldn't imagine one could have any more," Pavarotti said.

As a boy, Pavarotti showed more interest in soccer than his studies, but he also was fond of listening to his father's recordings of tenor greats like Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Jussi Bjoerling and Giuseppe Di Stefano, his favorite.

Among his close childhood friends was Mirella Freni, who would eventually become a soprano and an opera great herself. The two studied singing together and years later ended up making records and concerts together.

In his teens, Pavarotti joined his father, also a tenor, in the church choir and local opera chorus. He was influenced by the American movie actor-singer Mario Lanza.

"In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror," Pavarotti said.

Singing was still nothing more than a passion while Pavarotti trained to become a teacher and began working in a school.

But at 20, he traveled with his chorus to an international music competition in Wales. The Modena group won first place, and Pavarotti began to dedicate himself to singing.

With the encouragement of his then-fiancee, Adua, he started lessons, selling insurance to pay for them. He studied with Arrigo Pola and later Ettore Campogalliani.

In 1961, Pavarotti won a local competition and with it a debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme."

He followed with a series of successes in small opera houses throughout Europe before his 1963 debut at Covent Garden in London, where he stood in for Di Stefano as Rodolfo.

Having impressed conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti was given a role opposite Bonynge's wife, Sutherland, in a Miami production of "Lucia di Lamermoor." They subsequently signed him for a 14-week tour of Australia.

It was the recognition Pavarotti needed to launch his career. He also credited Sutherland with teaching him how to breathe correctly.

Pavarotti's major debuts followed _ at La Scala in Milan in 1965, San Francisco in 1967 and New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1968.

Throughout his career, Pavarotti struggled with a much-publicized weight problem. His love of food caused him to balloon to a reported 396 pounds in 1978.

"Maybe this time I'll really do it and keep it up," he said during one of his constant attempts at dieting.

Pavarotti, who had been trained as a lyric tenor, began taking on heavier dramatic roles, such as Manrico in Verdi's "Trovatore" and the title role in "Otello."

In the mid-1970s, Pavarotti became a true media star. He appeared in television commercials and began singing in hugely lucrative mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came joint concerts with pop stars. A concert in New York's Central Park in 1993 drew 500,000 fans.

Pavarotti's recording of "Volare" went platinum in 1988.

In 1990, he appeared with Domingo and Carreras in a concert at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome for the end of soccer's World Cup. The concert was a huge success, and the record known as "The Three Tenors" was a best-seller and was nominated for two Grammy awards. The video sold over 750,000 copies.

The three-tenor extravaganza became a mini-industry and widely imitated. With a follow-up album recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1994, the three have outsold every other performer of classical music. A 1996 tour earned each tenor an estimated $10 million.

Pavarotti liked to mingle with pop stars in his series of charity concerts, "Pavarotti & Friends," held annually in Modena. He performed with artists as varied as Ricky Martin, James Brown and the Spice Girls.

The performances raised some eyebrows but he always shrugged off the criticism.

Some say the "word 'pop' is a derogatory word to say 'not important' _ I do not accept that," Pavarotti said in a 2004 interview with the AP. "If the word 'classic' is the word to say 'boring,' I do not accept. There is good and bad music."


It was not just his annual extravaganza that saw Pavarotti involved in humanitarian work.

During the 1992-95 Bosnia war, he collected humanitarian aid along with U2 lead singer Bono, and after the war he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills.

He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia.

Pavarotti was also dogged by accusations of tax evasion, and in 2000 he agreed to pay nearly roughly $12 million to the Italian state after he had unsuccessfully claimed that the tax haven of Monte Carlo rather than Italy was his official residence.

He had been accused in 1996 of filing false tax returns for 1989-91.

Pavarotti always denied wrongdoing, saying he paid taxes wherever he performed. But, upon agreeing to the settlement, he said: "I cannot live being thought not a good person."

Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York in July 2006 to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital, and all his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, though doctors said the surgery offered improved hopes for survival.

"I was a fortunate and happy man," Pavarotti told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published about a month after the surgery. "After that, this blow arrived."

"And now I am paying the penalty for this fortune and happiness," he told the newspaper.

Fans were still waiting for a public appearance a year after his surgery. In the summer, Pavarotti taught a group of selected students and worked on a recording of sacred songs, a work expected to be released in early 2008, according to his manager. He mostly divided his time between Modena and his villa in the Adriatic seaside resort of Pesaro.

Just this week, the Italian government honored him with an award for "excellence in Italian culture," and La Scala and Modena's theater announced a joint Luciano Pavarotti award.

In his final statement, Pavarotti said the awards gave him "the opportunity to continue to celebrate the magic of a life dedicated to the arts and it fills me with pride and joy to have been able to promote my magnificent country abroad."

He will be remembered in Italy as "the last great Italian voice able to move the world," said Bruno Cagli, president of the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome.

The funeral will be held Saturday inside Modena's cathedral, Mayor Giorgio Pighi told SkyTG24.


Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press



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Catalina Loves Her Collar

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Chicago trial shatters romantic view of mob

Chicago trial shatters romantic view of mob

By Mike Robinson, Associated Press
CHICAGO — They have described becoming "made guys" in the mob by holding burning holy pictures in cupped hands while promising a lifetime of silence.
They've spoken of the arcane arts of "peeling" safes and selling bogus stock certificates.

And they've told stories that seem straight from the movies: bombing businesses, bloody hits on FBI informants, bodies stuffed in car trunks and an oil drum stuffed with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.

But Hollywood's romantic view has been mainly missing over the last month as witnesses — from a defendant's brother to old-time crooks with rap sheets as long as bed sheets — took the stand at Chicago's biggest mob trial in years.

Vito Corleone and Tony Soprano look like tame old duffers compared to what prosecution witnesses have been saying about the alleged dons of the Chicago Outfit, as the city's organized crime family has named itself.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Chicago | Michael | Mike | Crime | Joey | Joseph | Tony Soprano | Frank Calabrese | Nicholas Calabrese | Paul Schiro | Spilotro
"They are not the romantic people who are often portrayed in the movies," says James Wagner, who fought the mob for decades as an FBI agent and now is president of the Chicago Crime Commission. "They are brutal."

Star witness Nicholas Calabrese told jurors he watched for decades as the bodies of his fellow mobsters piled up around him. He said he lived in dread that if he made just one misstep he would "end up in a car trunk."

His brother, Frank Calabrese, 69, is among the defendants along with Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78, James Marcello, 65, Paul Schiro, 70, and Anthony Doyle, 62. They are charged with taking part in a racketeering conspiracy that included gambling, extortion, loan sharking and murders.

Lombardo was convicted in the early 1980s of conspiring to bribe then Sen. Howard Cannon, D-Nev. Calabrese and Marcello have both served time for mob-related activity. Schiro is a convicted jewel thief and Doyle — the only one not alleged to have killed anyone — is a retired police officer.

All but Doyle could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

As prosecutors Mitchell A. Mars, John J. Scully and Markus Funk dredge up evidence going back to the 1970s, Chicago's police are not faring well.

Last week, old-time burglar Robert G. "Bobby the Beak" Siegel emerged from the witness protection program to accuse Chicago's former chief of detectives, William Hanhardt, of collecting $1,000 a week and a new car every two years in return for seeing to it that mobsters weren't caught.

"Most of the police were on the payroll" in the old days, he recalled.

Hanhardt is now serving 16 years after pleading guilty to leading a band of thieves that stole some $5 million in jewelry and fine watches.

Schiro pleaded guilty to serving as a member of Hanhardt's gang.

Nicholas Calabrese testified that onetime mob boss Joey Aiuppa personally presided over the ceremony at which he became a "made guy" in the Outfit, his finger cut in the ancient ceremonial manner and a burning holy picture placed in his hand while he recited the oath of silence.

"If I ever give up my brothers may I burn in hell like this holy picture," he remembered promising.

But DNA found on a bloody glove left at a murder scene was matched to his and he has agreed to testimony in return for a promise that he won't have to die in the execution chamber.

His testimony has been the most graphic of the trial.

He told how his brother, Frank, allegedly strangled victims like loan shark Michael "Hambone" Albergo with a rope and then cut their throats to make sure that they were dead. Albergo had threatened to talk to the FBI.

Frank Calabrese's attorney, Joseph Lopez, who loves a good wisecrack and sometimes wears pink socks to court, said before the trial that Nicholas Calabrese was lying about his brother.

Since then U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel has clamped a gag order on the attorneys.

Best known on the list of 18 murder victims in the indictment is Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the Outfit's onetime man in Las Vegas who was found in a shallow grave in an Indiana cornfield along with his brother Michael.

Tony Spilotro inspired the Joe Pesci character in the movie Casino.

Nicholas Calabrese testified that mobsters were mad at Spilotro because he was "bringing too much heat" on them and having a romance with the wife of a casino executive.

"That's a no-no," he quoted brother Frank as saying.

He testified that in June 1986 the Spilotros were lured to the basement of a Bensenville home where they were told Tony would be dubbed a "capo," or mob captain, and Michael a "made guy."

Instead, they were beaten and strangled.

Calabrese said he pulled one end of a rope around Michael Spilotro's neck while a mobster known as Louie the Mooche tugged away on the other.

With Nicholas in tow, FBI agents drove up and down Bensenville's streets searching for the house where the Spilotros died — to no avail.

Such missing elements have been fodder for defense attorneys.

Marcello attorney Thomas M. Breen pounced on a claim that the Spilotro killers all wore gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, claiming that the story simply didn't sound realistic.

"Did Mike Spilotro, say, 'Hey, guys, how come everybody's wearing gloves? This looks like a hit,"' Breen asked during Nicholas Calabrese's days on the witness stand.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-29-chicagotrial_N.htm

Jury deliberates Chicago mob case

Jury deliberates Chicago mob case

By Tara Burghart, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO — Jurors in Chicago's biggest mob trial in years began deliberating the fate of five defendants Tuesday in a case described by defense attorneys as built on the testimony of "a walking piece of deception."
Prosecutors said the testimony of mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese -- who linked four of the five men to a murder scene -- matched up with physical evidence at the scene and with recorded jailhouse conversations with one of the defendants.

Jurors also heard from more than 100 witnesses, listened to hours of secretly recorded audio tapes, and saw dozens of photos of crime scenes, victims and suspected members of the Outfit, as the city's organized crime family is known.

Jurors left at 2 p.m. Tuesday, despite indicating last week that they planned to work from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The office of U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel gave no explanation for the early departure.

The defendants are all in their 60s or 70s, and one alternated between using a cane and wheelchair in court. They are accused by prosecutors of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, detailed in a 43-page indictment, that included illegal gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 murders between 1970 and 1986.

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The men on trial are reputed mobster Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78; convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese Sr., 70; convicted jewel thief Paul Schiro, 70; reputed mob boss James Marcello, 65; and retired Chicago policeman Anthony Doyle, 62. If convicted, all but Doyle could face life in prison.

Defense attorneys attacked the case as one built largely on the testimony of Nicholas Calabrese -- Frank Calabrese's brother -- who the defense said admitted lying to authorities in the past and was only cooperating with the government now to escape the death penalty.

Defense attorney Joseph Lopez labeled Nicholas Calabrese a "grim reaper," a "walking piece of deception" and a man who would "shoot you in the head over a cold ravioli."

Prosecutors said Nicholas Calabrese's testimony matched up with stories that his brother told his son Frank Calabrese Jr. while in prison. The younger man secretly wore a wire for the government.

Nicholas Calabrese linked all the defendants except Doyle to a murder scene. Doyle is not accused of killing anyone, but he is charged with being part of a racketeering conspiracy that included murder.

Taking the stand in his own defense, Doyle testified that during a secretly recorded conversation with Frank Calabrese Sr. in prison, he agreed with much of what the prisoner wanted without knowing what it was, and that the code words Calabrese used were "mind-boggling gibberish."

Lombardo lived up to his "clown" moniker by wisecracking on the stand. He told jurors he's not a member of the Outfit and learned everything he knows about the mob from James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson movies.

Frank Calabrese Sr. told jurors he did business with Outfit members but never took the oath of a made guy.

The prosecutors and witnesses detailed grisly killings, with so-called friends allegedly luring men to their deaths, and bodies buried at construction sites.

In one notorious case, Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, known as the mob's man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the 1995 movie "Casino," was beaten to death and buried in an Indiana cornfield.

This is about "the history of organized crime in Chicago," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitchell Mars told the jurors in his closing arguments last week.

Prosecutors mocked many of the explanations offered by defense attorneys as unbelievable or ridiculous, and they asked jurors to disregard the claim by Lombardo's defense that he withdrew long ago from any criminal activity he might have been engaged in.

"Once you belong to the Outfit, you belong for life," Mars said. "These are people that cheat, steal and kill each other. They can make who they want, they can break who they want."

Lopez urged jurors to think of Frank Calabrese Sr.'s presumed innocence like the white cloak surrounding the cartoon character "Casper the Friendly Ghost."

"As you shut the (jury room) door," Lopez said, "he's still presumed innocent."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-04-3043193147_x.htm

Chicago mob trial opens with blood and gore details

Marcello

Calabrese
Lombardo
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago's biggest mob trial in years started Thursday with a prosecutor urging the jury to forget what they know about movie mobsters and see the now-elderly defendants for who they are: men who "committed brutal crimes on behalf of the Chicago Outfit."
"This is not The Sopranos. This is not The Godfather. These are real people, very corrupt and without honor," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Scully told the jury.

As Scully described a blood-drenched litany of murders, he showed the jury large photos of the victims.

He talked about Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, once the Chicago mob's man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the movie Casino. Spilotro and his brother were allegedly lured into a basement and beaten to death, then buried in an Indiana cornfield.

The men on trial — reputed mob boss Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78, James Marcello, 65, Frank Calabrese Sr., 70, Paul Schiro, 69, and former Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle, 62 — are accused in a racketeering conspiracy that included 18 murders.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Chicago | Joseph | Scully | Frank Calabrese | Outfit | Paul Schiro
All have pleaded not guilty.

An anonymous jury is hearing the case, with the jurors being identified only by court-issued numbers to protect their identities.

"Four of the five defendants in this room committed brutal crimes on behalf of the Chicago Outfit," Scully told the jury in his opening statement. The fifth, Doyle, protected them, he said.

Scully described Calabrese as a violent loan shark who strangled witnesses with a rope and cut their throats to make sure they were dead.

Defense attorney Joseph Lopez painted a different picture for the jury, describing Calabrese as a much-maligned, deeply religious man "who believes in peace" and loved his family.

He ripped into Calabrese's son, Frank Jr., who is expected to be a key witness for the government against his father.

"He's going to say, 'My father is a rotten S.O.B., my father never loved me' — none of this is true," Lopez said. He said the jurors would see letters between the father and son "expressing love for one another."

"You're going to hear that Frank did slap his son around on numerous occasions," Lopez said. But he said that was only because the youngster was robbing the neighbors of their jewelry and taking cocaine.

He said Calabrese's brother, Nicholas, also expected to be a key witness, once stole a rifle with a silencer from Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs, where it had been used to shoot birds that congregated on the scoreboard.

Scully described Marcello as one of the top leaders of the Chicago Outfit. He said Lombardo was the boss of the mob's Grand Avenue crew. Schiro was jailed five years ago for taking part in a jewel theft ring led by the Chicago police department's one-time chief of detectives, William Hanhardt.

Doyle, the retired Chicago police officer, also worked as a loan shark under Calabrese, according to federal prosecutors. He is the one defendant in the case not directly accused of murdering anyone. But Scully said that he aided and abetted the others in their work.

Scully was graphic in describing the killings, but it was Lopez who offered the juiciest details.

He recounted how FBI agents, acting on an informant's tip, tore up concrete in a parking lot near U.S. Cellular Field, home of the White Sox, looking for the last remains of murdered loan shark Michael Albergo. He said they found "thousands of bones" under the parking lot.

But DNA testing couldn't tie any of the bones to Albergo, Lopez said, repeatedly referring to the victim by his mob nickname of "Hambone."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Owen Wilson Suicide Crashers

Wilson reportedly slit wrists, didn’t overdose
Attorney for the actor says Wilson had been taking antidepressants

Updated: 12:10 p.m. ET Aug 31, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Police were called to Owen Wilson’s house after the actor slit his wrists. However, contrary to other reports, there was no drug overdose, an attorney for Wilson told “Access Hollywood.”
The attorney also told “Access” that the actor did not have his stomach pumped. The attorney said Wilson had been taking antidepressants, but was not aware of any other drugs in his system at the time of the incident.
While rumors quickly swirled over what sent the actor to the hospital, police call logs confirmed on Tuesday it was an “attempted suicide.” However, the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office has announced it will not be releasing the 911 call made regarding Wilson.

“In reaching this decision the City believes that in many instances no person should have to worry about whether placing a call for emergency assistance will automatically make his or her medical request open to public review,” the City Attorney’s office said in a press release late Wednesday. “In balancing the competing interests, the City agencies outweigh the public interest served by disclosure of the emergency 911 call. In situation such as this, the City concludes that the public is best served if medical attention is promptly sought instead of being delayed because of a concern, real or imagined, of public attention, regardless of whether that publicity is sympathetic or not.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20503310/


When she heard about her longtime friend Owen Wilson's suicide attempt, producer Polly Platt said, "It's impossible. He's far too full of life and is at the prime of his career," PEOPLE reports in its new issue, on newsstands Friday. But another pal confirmed the worst about the crisis that landed Wilson, 38, at L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center: "Owen was very despondent. He slit his wrists. He almost did not make it." For now, Wilson's immediate well-being is the primary concern of friends such as Woody Harrelson, Wes Anderson, Samuel L. Jackson and Brad Garrett, who visited Wilson at the hospital, as well as the actor's close-knit family.

Brothers Luke, 35, who initially found Owen after the suicide attempt, and Andrew, 43, were by his side in the hours and days after the incident; his parents, Robert, 66, and Laura, 67, fought past anguish and exhaustion as they kept a revolving vigil. What drove Wilson to an act of self-destruction that one friend calls "the most out-of-character thing"?

Even Wilson's closest friends admit that he has a dark side and his share of demons, which have included drug addiction. One friend notes that his drug use in the past has ventured into "the hard stuff," and he landed in rehab twice in the 1990s. Still, when asked what brought him to the point of suicide, a good friend says, "It would be irresponsible to say it was any single thing. People are complicated. Owen is no different." One source tells PEOPLE that Wilson's pals became concerned over the summer when he "pulled away....He went MIA for awhile." But now Wilson's loved ones are standing with him. "He has a very tight-knit circle of friends," says one. "And we're all rooting for him." For more on this story, including Wilson's stints in rehab, his sense of being an outsider when he was young and his battles with his dark side, pick up this week's PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

http://www.people.com/people/archives/news/0,,,00.html