Chicago - Lawyers: Govt. proof lacking in Chicago mob trial

OFF THE WIRE

CHICAGO TRIBUNE.COM — An attorney for a reputed mobster accused of orchestrating the bombing of a video gaming company's offices told jurors Friday that the federal government failed to prove his client was involved in that crime or a wider racketeering conspiracy.
Attorney Terry Gillespie said that the case against Michael "The Large Guy" Sarno "amounts to guilt by association" and urged jurors in closing arguments to find Sarno not guilty in the case that involved allegations of robberies, jewelry heists and illegal gambling.
Prosecutors say Sarno, 52, ordered two of four co-defendants, Mark Polchan, a Cicero jewelry store owner and member of the Outlaws motorcycle gang, and Samuel Volpendesto, the former owner of a Cicero strip club, to bomb the Berwyn offices of C&S Coin Operated Amusements Inc. in February 2003. The bombing, which destroyed the offices, was meant as a message to the company to stop horning in on a profitable mob business in Chicago's western suburbs, prosecutors said.
The government also claimed the enterprise Sarno allegedly was a part of was responsible for burglaries and thefts, including the armed robbery of a LaGrange Park jewelry store that netted nearly $650,000 worth of jewelry and other valuables.
Attorneys for Polchan and Volpandesto, 86, also argued Friday that their clients were not involved as part of a conspiracy, saying some of the alleged members didn't implicate each other and in some cases didn't even talk to or trust each other.
Prosecutors, Gillespie said, proved that a lot of different crimes were carried out by different people who "sometimes joined together," but did not prove there was an organized racketeering conspiracy. He said that none of the government's witnesses talked about Sarno -- who was imprisoned in the early 1990s in a major federal mob case -- ordering or carrying out any crimes.
"Mike Sarno did nothing," Gillespie said.
Closing arguments are expected to continue Monday in the six-week-old case, which then will go to the jury.