With Chicago arrests, Mafia takes a hit

While La Cosa Nostra holds a celebrated place in the popular imagination, many see it as a relic of a bygone era. The Chicago arrests are a reminder of its existence, but also evidence that it's continued to weaken. Many of those charged are in their 60s or 70s, and the murders took place between 1970 and 1986. Other crimes, particularly those related to gambling, are much more recent.

"We've seen a tremendous drop-off in the number of mob-related homicides, but the tentacles of the mob still stretch into the illegal gambling industry in Chicago," says Mr. Bochte.

Since passage of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in 1970, federal agents have made significant crackdowns on organized crime in the US. The government's attack on the Mafia began in earnest in the late '70s, says James Jacobs, a law professor at New York University and author of "Busting the Mob." Since then, the government has "made a lot of headway," he says. "They've sent hundreds of LCN [La Cosa Nostra] capos and bosses and soldiers to prison. It's been relentless, and it's occurred in every city where there are LCN members."

Gone are the days when politicians could openly dine with mob bosses, or when Chicago's First Ward was controlled by the Mafia, and everyone knew it. Back then, says Professor Jacobs, "they had hooks and influence in police departments, in City Hall, they were part of the power structure of the country."

J. Edgar Hoover, the former FBI chief, refused to devote any agency resources to fighting organized crime. But after his death in 1972, and with the advent of RICO - which made it possible to give significant prison sentences for mob activities - and the Federal Witness Protection Program, the government began a more concerted effort to wipe out organized crime. Federal moves have severely weakened it, and eliminated Mafia presence in at least a few cities, but it's been a tough battle - in part, says Jacobs, because so many arrests simply pave the way for internal promotions.

That's one reason officials are touting the Chicago arrests - for taking on so many people at once. As with most major attacks on the mob, it was made possible in part through alleged internal cooperation. According to the Chicago Tribune, Nicholas Calabrese, a "made" man who worked for South Side Street Crew (one of four such Chicago crews), was connected to the 1986 murder of John Fecarotta through evidence given by his nephew. He in turn cooperated with officials to give evidence against other members of his family.

Despite the fact that the mob in Chicago, as in other cities, is severely weakened, the arrest is a good reminder of its continued activities, says Mr. Kirkpatrick of the Chicago Crime Commission. "People tend to start thinking of it in terms of the Sopranos and as an older part of our culture, and they forget that every day somebody is being shaken down," he says. Despite the federal government's current focus on terrorism, it's "good to see they're not giving up on the kinds of crimes that threaten more ordinary people in the course of a day."

These arrests, officials hope, send that message particularly forcefully.

The indictment "is remarkable for both the breadth of the murders charged and for naming the entire Chicago Outfit as a criminal enterprise under the anti-racketeering law," said US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in a statement. "After so many years, it lifts the veil of secrecy and exposes the violent underworld of organized crime."

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