Bookie testifies at Chicago mafia trial

CHICAGO: A convicted bookie who went to jail rather than testify against reputed mafia boss Frank Calabrese Sr. relented Monday and told jurors he paid thousands in "street tax" to the mob and once got a loan from Calabrese.

Calabrese and four other defendants are facing Chicago's biggest mob trial in years. They are charged with taking part in a racketeering conspiracy that included 18 murders, gambling, loan sharking and extortion.

Among the killings are the death and dumping of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, once the Chicago mob's man in Las Vegas, whose case was an inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the 1995 Martin Scorsese film "Casino."

Joel Glickman, looking haggard after spending a week behind bars for contempt because of his earlier refusal to testify, said he paid as much as $400,000 in "street tax" over 25 years of working as a bookmaker.

Witness says he got inside Chicago mob

CHICAGO - Straining to hear and with his right hand shaking badly, a career criminal who has been in and out of prisons for decades admitted Wednesday to passing worthless stock, pandering to pornography fans and even blowing up a house as a late-joining member of the Chicago mob.

Alva Johnson Rodgers, 78, a lanky, drawling Texan, was both the most improbable and most colorful witness to testify so far at the government's Operation Family Secrets trial of five alleged members of the Chicago mob.

Chicago mob trial pits son vs. father

CHICAGO, July 4 (UPI) -- A Chicago organized crime trial has pitted testimony by the son of a reputed mobster against his father, accused of homicide and running a protection racket.

Frank Calabrese Jr., 47, spent 45 minutes Tuesday describing how he began collecting protection money for his father while he was in high school, and worked his way up to doing the books, The Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.