Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 1-10

10 Chicago Tribune Section1 would have been a very interesting said a seemingly relaxed Scalise, 73, outside U.S. District Judge Harry courtroom. think I would have won (But) you just got to be In the rare exchange with reportersafter pleading guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges, Scalise had little to say about the missing Marlborough Diamond, worth an estimated $960,000 at the time of the robbery in 1980. A reporter asked if anyone could recover the gem. (of London) wanted to pay enough money, maybe they he said with a smile in reference to the insurance company that covered the loss of the diamond.

guys will have to wait until the book comes On the other hand, Rachel, 73, determined to fight the charges, turned down the plea deal and announced he would return to the courtroom Thursday for what could be a two-day trial before Leinenweber. is a tough, proud Terence Gillespie, attorney, said. if the government wants to put him in jail for the rest of his life, they are going to have to prove the Athird defendant, Robert Pullia, 70, joined Scalise in pleading guilty to the same charges Wednesday. Under the deal, each faces about nine to 10 years in prison. Sentencing was set for May 10.

In addition to the armored car break-in, prosecutors charged that the trio targeted the residence of deceased mob leader Angelo La- Pietrain 2010 for a home invasion. Prosecutors say the three hoped to find a hidden stash of valuables much like the highly publicized discovery days earlier of about $750,000, stolen jewelry and guns by federal agents behind a portrait during a search of imprisoned mob hit man Frank Calabrese From the start the case fascinated the public, in part because of their alleged mob ties and senior citizen status. Federal agents arrested the three outside Bridgeport home under the cover of night in dark clothing and armed with a police scanner, drilling tools, a ladder, flashlights and a toolbox containing Mace. Weapons also were found at aseparate location. Since the late 1950s or early 1960s, the three men have been arrested numerous times and convicted of burglary and other charges, according to court documents.

rap sheets read like a Who in burglary and robbery in the United Gary Shapiro, then an assistant U.S. attorney and now the No. 2 prosecutor in the U.S. office, said in 1980 when Rachel and Scalise were arraigned in Chicago on the Marlborough Diamond charges. The Marlborough Diamond caper remains a compelling part of story, in part because of the lingering mystery over the missing gem.

News reports at the time described how they threatened to usea grenade and a revolver to force staff and customers to the floor of jewelry store in fashionable Knights- bridge district. Jack a retired FBI agent who attended the London trial and interviewed Scalise in a British prison, recalled reports that the two had worn traditional Arab robes during the robbery. was a master of said. The two robbers might have eluded authorities but the accountant, according to wire reports at the time, became suspicious after noticing a fake beard slip from chin as he and Scalise entered the shop. He then followed the two when they left.

said a license plate noted by the accountant was traced to Scalise and Rachel because they had rented a car in their own names. Scotland Yard soon was calling the Chicago FBI office. you lads know Jerry Scalisee recalled London police asking his boss. later traveled to Britain to try tointerview Rachel and Scalise, but neither would talk about the case. Rachel was more curt, refusing to even sit for the interview, remembered.

Scalise sat down to chat, but he never answered questions. In fact, after the visit from the agents, Scalise mailed a letter to his at- torney at the time to emphasize this: He say anything to anybody. That much still rings true about the man. After Scalise and Pullia entered their guilty pleas Wednesday, Pullia asked his attorney to convey a message to the judge. Pullia is not announced attorney Marc Martin.

Afew hours later, after news accounts highlighted refusal to cooperate with investigators, Scalise sent word to a reporter through his attorney. He cooperating either. Joseph Scalise, left, and Arthur Rachel, right, are escorted by federal agents after they were seized on charges of stealing the Marlborough Diamond in September 1980. TRIBUNE PHOTO Continuedfrom Page1 Trenton family cried silently behind a glass partition in a Cook County courtroom Wednesday as Chicago police Officer Richard Bolling was convicted in the 13-year-old death in a hit-and-run. The father, Terrence Booker, clutched a wet tissue and silently pumped his fist.

Seated in the bench behind him, Barbara Norman, held hands with her sister and cried. Ajury deliberated about ninehours over twodays before convicting Bolling of aggravated drunken driving, reckless homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the crash that killed Trenton as he rode his bike late one night in May 2009. feel Booker said shortly after the verdict was announced. got justice for Trenton after all these Judge Matthew Coghlan revoked bond. The decorated 17-yearveteran narcotics officer was booked into Cook County Jail, where he will remain in protective custody until his scheduled sentencing in February.

He faces up to 15 years in prison, but is also eligible for probation. family, including his father, retired Chicago police Cmdr. Douglas Bolling, left the Criminal Courts Buildingwithout comment. But Needham described the youngerBoll- ing as a church-going family man. is a good man, and he does not belong in he said.

Bolling was suspended from the department after his arrest and the city is moving to fire him, Needham said. Prosecutors argued Bolling received preferential treatment from police the night his Dodge Chargerstruck and killed Trenton at 81st Street and Ashland Avenue. Bolling was arrested a few blocks away driving the wrong way down a one-way street with an open beer in the front console of his car and alcohol on his breath. He immediately announced he was a police officer, according to the officers who stopped him. Avideo camera in a squad car picked up an undisclosed superior officer telling Bolling about 30 minutes after he was stopped that gonna try to help you out as much as Jurors did not hear that evidence, however.

One of the officers testified that she was ordered to on field sobriety tests by her watch commander. Those tests administered until two hours after the crash but not before Bolling was taken to awashroom and allowed to freshen up. The two arresting officers reported at the time that Bolling passed the sobriety tests, but both officers changed their opinions at trial, testifying that they now felt he had flunked key parts of the test after reviewing the squad car video. One officer said she was when she administered the tests because of all the superior officers at the scene. It until 4 hours after the crash that Bolling, on orders of an internal affairs sergeant, took a blood-alcohol breath test, registering just below the legal limit of 0.08percent.

A forensic toxicologist told jurors that she estimated blood-alcohol content at the time of thecrash was as high as twice the legal limit. Needham denied that Bolling ever asked for or received special treatment. matter Terrence Booker said when asked about the allegations of police favoritism. been convicted of all counts. Today the justice system Cop guilty of DUI thatkilledboy, 13 Off-duty officer hit cyclist in 2009, then drove away Chicago police Officer Richard Bolling was suspended from the department after his arrest and the city is moving to fire him, officials say.

He was jailed Wednesday after the verdict. TERRENCE ANTONIO PHOTO By Jason Meisner Tribune reporter Trenton The new year brought little promise for Cedric Anderson.He faced a possible prison term for a heroin conviction, and the woman he considered his girlfriend planned to move to Alabama with her sons to be near her mother. But, even with problems, a relative of the unemployed Chicago man said his family never foresaw the violence that unfolded this week. Early Tuesday, as girlfriend, her two sons and a niece slept, Anderson shot them before igniting a blaze in a home near Villa Park, authorities said. Hours later, stepfather returned to his home in Dolton to discover Anderson, 42, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Authorities said they found a .357 Magnum revolver and a note in which Anderson indicated he was but they said he did not admit to the four killings. let on that anything was going said his brother-in-law, Theodis Hoskins. had problems, but there was never any indication of violence like DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann said Wednesdaythat Ursula Nailor, sons Darnell Holt 16, and Daniel Nailor, niece Dominique Robinson, 19, of Bolingbrook, had been shot. Clues are being sought to tell if they died before the fire, Siekmann said. family wrote astatement of condolence to the Nailor family.

At Willowbrook High School, where Darnell was an accomplished athlete, students set up a makeshift memorial Wednesday. all wore red today because that was his favorite said Lionell West, 15, a sophomore. Terry Harrell, a social studies teacher, said Darnell always arrived early for class, greeting him with a big smile. was one of those kids who had a huge said Harrell. go out there in the hallway, and say meet his Ursula mother, Doris a fund will be set up to raise money for burial costs.Fu- neral services are pending.

Although a relative of on Tuesdayde- scribed Anderson as time Wallace said her daughter described her relationship with Anderson as a friendship and never suggested violence. thought he was her boyfriend, but it really that Wallace said. used to tell him, need to get your life It was like he wanted to be something but he have a clue how to get Anderson has a long criminal record in Cook County, court records showed.Though he never went to prison, officials said been in jail 13 times for drunken driving and heroin charges. Weeks ago, he was convicted of heroin possession.He was to be sentenced in March. family says he known for violence By Christy Gutowski and Annemarie Mannion Tribune reporters Aconvicted Chicago murderer pleaded guilty Wednesday and received a second life sentence for strangling his sleeping Will County cellmate in 2009, a killing that showed flaws in how the state housed nonviolent prisoners.

Richard Conner, 40, is among the most dangerous inmates, and he was placed in a cell with Jameson Leezer, 37, a petty criminal near the end of his five-year sentence for car theft, at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet, even though prison records labeled Leezer as just seems crazy he was ever put in a cell with this Assistant Attorney Steve Plateksaid after sentencing. After the Tribune reported on the case in 2009, the state changed its procedures for double-celling inmates, requiring correctional staff to investigate a history of violence in an attempt to prevent similar deaths. The two men ended up in Stateville cell F226after Conner, who was locked up in solitary confinement at the super-maximum-security Tamms Correctional Center, tried to hang himself and damaged his kidneys. Stateville is one of the few state prisons that offers dialysis treatment. Leezer was transferred to Stateville from the medium-security prison in Pinckneyville for allegedly making a sexual comment to a prison guard.

Two weeks later, on April 2, 2009, he was found strangled in his cell. basically came out and said, strangled my Platek said. Several inmates told the Tribune after death that the two men had asked to be separated. Sta- teville employees also told the Tribune that Leezer, who was named by authorities as a white supremacist gang member, protested when Conner, an African- American, was placed in his 8-by-12-foot cell. Conner allegedly told a prison worker that he would kill Leezer, according to a 2010 lawsuit filed by family.

The lawsuit was settled in November under undisclosed terms. In a letter to a Tribune reporter before the murder, Conner wrote that he heard voices me to kill myself and hurt Leezer grew up in Bolingbrook and Lisle and had a history of drug abuse. He had been incarcerated four times in the 17 years before his death on burglary and theft convictions. Conner, who has the words tattooed on his chest, was born on the South Side and sent as a young boy to live with an aunt in Alabama after his mother was fatally shot in 1975. He returned to Chicago as a teen, joined a gang, and become a drug user and dealer, court records show.

In 1991, he killed a West Side jewelry store clerk. He got life in prison and, experts said, had nothing to lose when he was put in a cell with Leezer. Inmate gets life for killing thatalteredprisonhousing By Steve Schmadeke Tribune reporter BREAKING NEWS See photos related to the mob-linked trial. chicagotribune.com Reputed mobster, 2nd man plead guilty Product: CTBroadsheet PubDate: 01-19-2012 Zone: ALL Edition: HD Page: MAIN1-10 User: jkerke Time: Color:.