Jul 25 2007
Police were on the mafia payroll in the old days, mobster says
CHICAGO: After years of hiding in the witness protection program, mobster Robert G. Siegel emerged Wednesday at the trial of five alleged Chicago mafia figures and told how organized crime used to buy off the police.
The 71-year-old confessed killer said mob members rarely went to prison in the 1950s.
“Most of the police were on the payroll,” Siegel said.
HIs testimony laid some background for the ongoing trial of the five men, who are charged with a racketeering conspiracy that included gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 long-unsolved mob killings.
On trial are retired Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle, 62, Paul Schiro, 70, Joseph Lombardo, 78, James Marcello, 65, and convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese, 69.
Siegel said things changed for the mafia after the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act — a key element in the U.S. government’s war on the mob — went into effect in the 1970s. He said mobsters started going off to prison, and those who once boasted that they were “made guys” became secretive.
Police were on the mafia payroll in the old days, mobster says – The Associated Press – Wednesday, July 25, 2007 – http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/25/america/NA-GEN-US-Mafia-Trial.php
