FBI rounds up 11 Chicago mobsters

ELEVEN reputed Chicago mob figures have been indicted on charges of plotting at least 18 murders, including the 1986 hit on the crime organisation’s top man in Las Vegas, Tony ‘The Ant’ Spilotro, who was buried in a cornfield.

Prosecutors described the racketeering indictment as one of the most far-reaching in the history of Chicago. They would not comment on how or where they got the evidence that led to the charges. Those indicted included 63-year-old James Marcello, identified by FBI officials as the leader of organised crime in Chicago, and long-time mob leader Joey ‘The Clown’ Lombardo, 75. Marcello was arrested and a manhunt for Lombardo was underway in Chicago.

Fourteen alleged mob figures were indicted in all, including 11 in a murder conspiracy dating back to 1970 and three on gambling and other charges. Prosecutors said seven actually murdered someone or agreed to commit murder. “The mob takes a hit today,” US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told reporters in announcing the indictment - the result of an investigation that was code-named Operation Family Secrets.

Spilotro, a Chicago mob enforcer, ruled Las Vegas in the 1970s and early 1980s, and Joe Pesci played a character based on him in the 1995 Martin Scorsese movie Casino.

The bodies of Spilotro, 48, and his brother Michael, 41, were found buried in an Indiana cornfield in 1986. It was reported the brothers were buried alive, but Fitzgerald said they were killed elsewhere.