Paul Scharff's Blog, page 2

Paul Scharff on Ron Chepesiuk’s Crime Beat on ArtistFirst Radio Network

Crime Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Paul Scharff, author of Murder in McHenry. What would you do if you received a phone call twenty seven years after your father s murder and a friend told you they finally knew who killed him? You would venture forward to bring the criminal to justice and clear the case. However, good guys aren’t always the heroes and bad guys the villains. In his fascinating book, Paul Scharff brings this story to life as he rekindles his desire to bring his father’s murderer to justice and as he is doing this he uncovers the truth of a justice system in the corrupted town of McHenry. Be sure to tune in Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014 at 8 p.m. EST where you’ll have a front row seat to this fascinating story.

Listen to Paul Scharff on Crime Beat with Hosts Ron Chepesiuk and Will Hryb

Ron Chepesiuk

A native of Thunder Bay, Canada, Ron Chepesiuk is a full-time freelance journalist, documentary film producer and radio host based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA, which is located just outside Charlotte, North Carolina. He has a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) degree from Minnesota State University in Moorhead, Minnesota, a Masters degree in library science (M.L.S) from Atlanta Clark University and a post-graduate diploma in archival administration from the National University of Dublin in Ireland. Before freelancing full-time, he was a professor of library service for twenty-five years at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  Currently, Ron teaches online courses in the journalism program of UCLA’s Extension Division.

In all, Ron has published 25 books and more than 4,000 original articles in FHM, USA Today, Black Enterprise, Woman’s World, Modern Maturity, The Rotarian, New York Times Syndicate, Toronto Star, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Collier´s Encyclopedia, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the New York Daily News and more than 400 other print publications.

Ron has reported from more than 35 countries, including Cuba, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Kenya, Colombia, Hong Kong, Nepal and Czechoslovakia, and his 16,000 plus interviews include such luminaries as Gerry Adams, Yasser Arafat, Russell Simmons, John Kerry, Dave Barry, Andie McDowall, Jimmy Carter, Abbie Hoffman, Noam Chomsky, Frank Lucas (the subject of the movie, ¨American Gangster¨), a former president of Nicaragua and three former presidents and two vice presidents of Colombia, South America.

He serves as a consultant to the History Channel´s ¨Gangland¨ series and has been interviewed by NBC´s Dateline, the Biography Channel’s “Mobsters”, The Discovery Channel’s “Undercover” and Black Entertainment Television´s ¨American Gangster¨ Ron has also been interviewed or quoted on radio by the CBC, BBC, CBS, NPR, XM Satellite Radio, Radio Australia and numerous Irish radio stations, among other outlets, and by such newspapers as Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, The Weekly Standard, New York Times, St Petersburg Times, Associated Press, the Guardian (United Kingdom) and the Dallas Morning News.

Ron has won numerous writing awards sponsored by such organizations as USA Book News, Foreword Magazine, and Independent Publishers Book Award. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Association of Journalists and Authors, the International Association for the Study of Organized Crime, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Florida Freelance Writers Association and the Professional Writers Association of Canada.

Ron’s Links :  www.ronchepesiuk.com  www.ikeatkinsonkingpin.com

www.strategicmediabooks.com

Ron’s Projects:  The Frank Matthews Story (Video)   www.frankmatthewsmovie.com

 

Will Hryb

Born in Oberlahnstein Germany, William Hryb emigrated to Thunder Bay, Canada at a young age. Ukrainian by heritage, he is a freelance print and broadcast journalist, a member of the ‘Professional Writers Association of Canada’ (PWAC), ‘Superior Scribes’, a professional Thunder Bay writer’s guild. Hryb is a regular contributing writer to various trade magazines, periodicals and newspaper publications such as Canadian Sailings Transportation & Trade Logistics, Bayview, On The Level, Cruise Ship North America, and the Ukrainian Weekly. He also is the President and Managing Director of THUNDER BAY SHIPPING INC.

Before entering the shipping industry, he studied Communication Arts, majoring in broadcast journalism. After his studies in the early 1970′s he travelled extensively throughout South America as a freelance Journalist. Hryb has interviewed a wide range of political and business leaders in his career, including ‘The Right Honourable’ John Diefenbaker, the 13th prime minister of Canada.

William Hryb has been associated with the marine industry since 1975, representing a world-wide network of ship owners and charterers. He is the ‘Commercial Navigation’ representative (Public Information Advisory Group – PWAC) for Canada with the International Upper Great Lakes Study / IUGLS (International Joint Commission – IJC) a major bi-national Canadian and U.S. study examining water level issues on the Upper Great Lakes from 2007 to 2012.

Hryb is also the co-author of Movers & Mavericks, an anthology of influential people that lived in the Thunder Bay area over the last 100 years. He will have another book published later this year titled Vanished:The Life and Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Next year, Movers & Mavericks Volume ll will be coming out and later in 2014, he will co-author and publish a book describing the famous luxurious ship wreck, ‘Gunilda’ that sank in Lake Superior more than 100 years ago.

whryb@hotmail.com

crimebeat123@yahoo.com

 

The post Paul Scharff on Ron Chepesiuk’s Crime Beat on ArtistFirst Radio Network appeared first on McHenry County 1981.

Bill Prim VIDEO, Q&A, and even a DEBATE!

Please take a look at the video put out by the campaign for Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff. It was excellently done and highlights all the points on why Bill Prim would make an exceptional sheriff for McHenry County. I had the opportunity to ask Bill Prim some questions in relation to my book, the sheriff’s office, and Andrew Zinke. I found his answers to my questions to be very much to the point, fair, and honest; exactly the man I have become to know over the last few months. After watching the video you can read my Q&A with Bill Prim down below.

Paul Scharff - Have you read my book MURDER IN MCHENRY?

Bill Prim- Yes.

Paul Scharff - What was your overall impression of the book?

Bill Prim- It was interesting, and sad to think of a young boy losing his father that way and only coming to the truth after many years.

Paul Scharff - What part of McHenry County are you from and how long have you lived there?

Bill Prim- I live in Cary and have been in the same house for over 20 years

Bill Prim who is being denied the opportunity to debate Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff

Paul Scharff - Based on your personal experience of living in the community do you find what happened to my father and my family believable, why or why not?

Bill Prim- As a career law enforcement officer, I am aware that organized criminal enterprises don’t just stop at the city or county or even state limits.  Or national borders, for that matter.  So yes, it is believable.

Paul Scharff - The first investigator George Hendle, whom later became Sheriff of McHenry County, seemed to have ignored a lot of information as it pertains to suspecting Larry Neumann as the killer of my father. Jim Hager tells Investigator Hendle that he suspects that Larry Neumann may have killed my father after witnessing an altercation with my father throwing his ex-wife, Debbie Neumann out of the bar. A year later Investigator Hendle and States Attorney Ted Floro are told by the FBI and Frank Cullotta, a high ranking Chicago Outfit associate turned government witness that Larry Neumann killed my father and Patricia Freeman. Larry Neumann was already a convicted of a triple murder of a bar owner, bar employee, and newspaper vendor outside of the bar in 1957. A sentence he received 125 years for each victim, and only served 12 years. He was a well-known Outfit Associate and as a “killer” by the Chicago, Las Vegas FBI, and Las Vegas Metro PD and Intelligence Unit.

Paul Scharff - What do you think about an Illinois Parole Board that lets a triple murderer out on parole after only serving 12 years for three consecutive sentences for 125 years?

Bill Prim- It was an unconscionable decision.

Paul Scharff - Would you have brought him in for questioning for the murder of my father and Patricia Freeman?

Bill Prim- Given the credibility the U.S. Justice Department afforded Mr. Cullotta, as is attested to by the multiple times they put him on the witness stand, any investigator would be foolish not to pursue that lead.

Paul Scharff - Can you think of any justifiable reason that George Hendle would not question Larry Neumann?

Bill Prim- I can only say what I would have done under the circumstances.  I would have pursued the lead vigorously.

Paul Scharff - In my book Murder In McHenry I suggest that Andrew Zinke, made his own milestones, and not achieved a single one. He would establish dates for arrests (I am assuming either Debbie Neumann or Tommy Amato or both) and arrests never came. He would set dates for the Sheriff’s Dept. to make a statement about the case to NBC 5 News Chicago, from October to December and didn’t until the 12th hour when NBC News was running with the story with or without their statements. He would not provide me with regular updates, so I had to start calling in to him and he would not return my phone calls. I had to call the producer for NBC 5 News who in returned called Zinke, which suggested to him strongly to accept my calls. Then he passed me on to a detective for updates, but the first time I spoke to him he was ordered not to provide me any new info without permission. When he wrapped up the case naming Larry Neumann in his summary report called the Letter of Notification, it provide me no new information that I did not know except one thing. The woman that called the hit on my father accused him of rape. I asked Andrew Zinke he personally thought about her creditability in that statement. He did not find it creditable at all. It makes me believe that was put in the Letter of Notification on purpose. Maybe a way to make me consider if I wanted to pursue this matter further. This is my believe anyway.

Paul Scharff - What are your thoughts of Andrew Zinke as I portrayed him in my book MURDER IN MCHENRY?

Bill Prim- I would not be running for Sheriff if I believed Mr. Zinke was the best that McHenry County could muster for chief law enforcement officer.

Paul Scharff - How would you have handled the communications to me as the lead family member overseeing the reinvestigation?

Bill Prim- It is not always easy to balance the legitimate requests of family members against the need for discretion and awareness of the constitutional rights of the targets of any investigation.  In this case, I believe I would have made more of an effort to keep the family apprised of progress or lack of it.

Paul Scharff - Does it seem to you that they were trying to obsessively control what I would find out?

Bill Prim- I’ll defer to my last statement.

Paul Scharff - What does it say about Zinke that it took a producer from NBC 5 to get him to return my calls?

Bill Prim- That’s hard to say, and I don’t want to speculate without knowing all the facts.

Paul Scharff - Debbie Neumann did accuse my father of raping her, I read the report, but do you think that there was a motive for that being the only thing that I learned out of a supposed investigation of about 1,200 man hours?

Bill Prim- I can only say this case appears to have been poorly managed from the start.

Paul Scharff - I am in an ongoing fight to get the remainder of my father’s case file, but I believe that I have most of it. A double homicide that was committed now almost 33 years ago. The murderer, Larry Neumann has been named and he has been dead now for seven years. His ex-wife, Debbie Neumann, who called the hit on my father, is now also dead. The lead investigator that I connected to the Chicago Outfit through a newspaper clipping, FBI reports, and witness statements, Sheriff George Hendle is also dead. I connected Hendle through mostly FBI reports. In the FBI reports he was subpoenaed to testify on the behalf of Tony Spilotro. They also indicated that they held Tommy Amato (alleged drove Larry to kill my father) for a Las Vegas warrant, however that was never listed in my father’s case file. Larry Neumann was there with the Outfit’s attorney Adam Bourgeois. A Las Vegas SUN articles had Adam Bourgeois slandering Frank Cullott’a creditability about my father’s murder. Someone had leaked the meeting that Floro and Hendle has with Frank and the FBI. In that same article Bourgeois said that he was going to use Hendle as witness on behalf of Larry Neumann in another murder trial. I also have other supporting statements, like the head of Las Vegas Metro Intelligence Unit stating that Hendle was going to “clear this up.” His meaning was the debacle of an innocent man being suspected as the killer of my father and Pat, instead of Neumann.

Paul Scharff - What do you think about me connecting Sheriff George Hendle to the Chicago Outfit?

Bill Prim- I’m not in a position to say.  You, on the other hand, are an author, but more importantly, the son of a victim in which the criminal has not been brought to justice.  If I were in your shoes I would be pushing hard for justice myself.

Paul Scharff - What do you think about Zinke either not connecting Hendle to the Outfit or not disclosing it in the Letter of Notification that Hendle was connected to the Outfit?

Bill Prim- Again, these are matters I am not in a position to pronounce judgment upon.

Paul Scharff - Do you think that the investigation should have went the direction of investigating Hendle and company?

Bill Prim- It seems to me that first and foremost, someone must be held accountable for the murders.  That has yet to happen.

Paul Scharff - As I mentioned I filed a FOIA request with the sheriff’s office for my father’s complete file. A double murder that has named the killer that is now 33 years old with almost every associated with it being dead. The remainder of my father’s case file being denied to me. I originally corresponded with Jan Weech, whom is the Freedom of Information Act Officer for the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. She is trained and certified for this position. However, on my appeal to the PAB the McHenry County Sheriff’s Equal Employment Opportunity Officer Donald Leist, a position that I understand, was forced on the McHenry County Sheriff’s office because of a sex discrimination suit, took over the correspondence in my appeal.

Paul Scharff - Can you explain why?

Bill Prim- I can only speculate that while Ms. Weech is not an attorney, Mr. Leist is.

Paul Scharff - Also he seems to me to be hired as Sheriff’s Keith Nygren in-house lawyer on the taxpayer’s dollar. I thought that the States Attorney for McHenry County, Lou Bianchi is attorney for the McHenry County Sheriff, am I wrong? What gives with this position?

Bill Prim- I have already taken a firm stand in this campaign that the State’s Attorney represents the Sheriff and indeed all county officers.  I have also publicly taken the position that I would abolish the EEOC position in the Sheriff’s Office.

Paul Scharff - Do you think that I have a right to my father’s case file?

Bill Prim- [This is a tough one.]  The Sheriff’s Office should seek out competent legal counsel and then follow it with respect to your request, but given what you have been through personally, they should err on the side of more information, rather than less.

Paul Scharff - What are your thoughts about FOIA requests in general?

Bill Prim- We have a relatively new and comprehensive FOIA statute in Illinois.  It should be followed, period.

Paul Scharff and candidate for McHenry County Sheriff Bill Prim at Walla Pa Looza Cancer benefit in July of 2013.

Paul Scharff - Andrew Zinke tipped off Brian Goode that he may be a person of interest in drug shipments being received at his RITA Corporation in Crystal Lake. Two weeks later Zinke received a $5,000 contribution to campaign for Sheriff. The suspected drug shipment was destined to the same address as Zinke’s campaign HQ and Brian Goode sits on the McHenry County Sheriff’s Merit Commission. A Commission that is responsible for Promotion and Disciplinary of deputies. First I have to say, WOW!

Paul Scharff - Does tipping off a person of interest by a law enforcement official in an ongoing investigation break any laws that you know of?

Bill Prim- In certain circumstances, yes.

Paul Scharff - How about the Sheriff’s General Orders?

Bill Prim- Yes again.

Paul Scharff - Brian Goode’s campaign contribution of $5,000 looks like a thank you to me, what is your perception?

Bill Prim- I have consistently criticized Mr. Zinke’s judgment in this whole matter.  Even if there had been no contribution, the contact between the two men, apparently initiated by Mr. Zinke by Mr. Koziol’s account, is way out of bounds.

Paul Scharff - You and Andrew Zinke agreed to the Patriots United Debate, but recently in a Patriots United Press release it stated that Andrew Zinke was declining to do the debate because you and he were scheduled to debate in the Northwest Herald sponsored debate and League of Woman Voters sponsored debate; a third would not be necessary. I thought that it was poor showing on Zinke’s part for not honoring his commitment. Then your campaign turned around the next day with a press release of your own stating that you have been contacted by either of these organizations.

Paul Scharff – This is hard to follow. Is there a debate?

Bill Prim- The Northwest Herald has contacted me to see if I was interested. I replied that I was and I have not heard from them since. The league of Women Voters has never contacted me or my campaign.

UPDATE Since the question was asked of Bill Prim, there has been a debate scheduled. The debate between Bill Prim and Andy Zinke before the March 18th Republican Primary for McHenry County Sheriff will be held on Tuesday, February 25, at 7:00PM at McHenry County College. The Northwest Herald will sponsor the debate in conjunction with the McHenry County League of Women Voters. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that all that can join to watch the debate do.

 

 

 

 

 

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

I have put together some of the articles that I have written that are prevalent for the upcoming election in MARCH!. This is the Republican Nominee election but probably more important than the general election. It is most likely the winner in March will win in November and become sheriff. If you review the articles in the Knowledge Center, you will read all kinds of unbelievable things as it relates to this election.

 

Freedom of Information Act Appeal to get the remainder of my father’s file. In my efforts to get to the bottom of my father’s murder and what the McHenry County Sheriff’s office has done to me and my family 33 years ago. I filed a FOIA Request (Freedom of Information Act Request) to get my father’s case file. Many documents were withheld from my request. It is my believe the documents are withheld to protect guilty individuals that are known to Sheriff Keith Nygren and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke that covered up who actually killed my father during the original investigation. Start on page 11 to read what sounds like a murder mystery thriller, but this is my true life. It is backed by FBI reports, witness statements, and newspaper articles.

Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff, Really??? This article is based on my own father’s murder investigation and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke. I talked about how he made his own milestones and failed to meet every single one. How it took me calling NBC News Chicago to get Andrew Zinke to return my phone call about my father’s murder investigation, as he was the lead investigator. I am fighting to get the remainder of my father’s case file. It is my believe that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and the Sheriff Keith Nygren are hiding and protecting individuals that covered up the true killer of my father during the original investigation.

Andrew Zinke plus Rita Corporation equals ON THE TAKE Brian Goode and his RITA Corporation was a person of interest and focal point for the investigation of the distribution of 30 plus tons of marijuana. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke told Brian Goode of the investigation. Two days later, according to Koziol, (Sgt. Koziol was working on the investigation and filed a complaint against Zinke) Goode gave Zinke’s election campaign a $5,000 donation. The RITA Corporation address is the same address as Andrew Zinke’s campaign headquarters.

McHenry County Deputy Zane Seipler under siege, Again!! Zane Seipler is a whistleblowing deputy that was fired by Keith Nygren after he exposed the sheriff’s office for racial profiling. Nygren was forced to hire Seipler back after he lost an arbitration ruling, a court hearing, an appellate court hearing, and a failed attempt to be heard by the Illinois State Supreme Court. After Seipler was hired back, Nygren fired him again. Zane Seipler is currently fighting to get his job back.

Another McHenry County Deputy under siege, Scott Milliman Scott Milliman was a deputy and former right hand man to Sheriff Keith Nygren. He was fired by the sheriff for whistleblowing that the sheriff allegedly transacted in ticket fixing, bribery, general corruption, fraud in a SBA Loan, and in tapping Milliman himself to kill a McHenry County Judge and a Coroner’s Candidate. Scott Milliman is currently fighting to get his job back.

How Gary Gauger got to DEATH ROW This is the real life, tragic story of Gary Gauger. He was falsely arrested and sent to Death Row by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department for the double murder of his parents. Investigators from the sheriff’s department rigged a false confession so that they could convict him.

 

McHenry County Ethics Commission, Ethical or NOT!?!? The McHenry County Ethics Commission conducted a hearing of a complaint filed by Cal Skinner that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke used a government computer for a very politically charged email. The hearing was ran over by Zinke’s attorneys Mark Gummerson and Rebecca Lee. The sign up sheet to speak at the hearing went missing but found in the possession of Rebecca Lee. The commission went into secret session, made its decision, and did so without explanation.

First Electric Newspaper v.s. Sheriff Nygren and EEO Officer Donald Leist Pete Gonigam won a Public Access Bureau (Illinois States Attorney) appeal for the release of a 100 page report conducted by the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. The report exonerated Undersheriff Andrew Zinke after he told Brian Goode that he and his RITA Corporation was a the focal point of a drug investigation by the DEA.

Zinke’s middle finger may cost Cal Skinner $5,000 After filing a valid ethics complaint against Undersheriff Andrew Zinke for using a government computer for his campaign, Cal Skinner was to face Zinke’s attorney Mark Gummerson. Gummerson was lobbying for a $5,000 fine against Skinner filing a valid complaint. An act of bulling and intimidation of a McHenry County citizen.

Will McHenry County be Ripped Off by Special Interest in Sheriff Election? I question the interest and the contribution to Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign from the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 election. I send a letter to the President-Business Manager of the union James M. Sweeney.

IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop? The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 contributes money to Undersheriff’s Andrew Zinke’s campaign. They have known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime Families.

 

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke Shuts Down Cal Skinner’s Blog Site Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign was able to get Cal Skinner’s website, mchenrycountyblog.com shut down by falsely accusing him of stalking and linking to obscene material. Read here on how Zinke’s campaign resorts to breaking the law to silence a citizen’s voice.

 

Andrew Zinke Fearful to Debate Bill Prim Lies to Get Out of It. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke is so fearful to debate Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff that he lies to get out of it. Zinke knows that he would be out matched, outwitted, and the truth of his corrupt character would be revealed to the citizens of McHenry County. Instead of enduring such damage to his campaign he lies to coward out of it.

Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke Intimidating and Tampering with Federal Witnesses? Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke intimidating federal witnesses? Or are the deputies fighting back? Donald Leist, the sheriff’s in house lawyer sent a letter to 30 deputies and correctional officers to be interrogated prior to their depositions in a federal case. Would that work anywhere else in the US or just McHerny County?

 

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Tony “Big Tuna” Accardo the Outfit’s Ultimate Boss Part II

 

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Tony Accardo with his trophy catch a “Big Tuna.”

Tony “Big Tuna” Accardo is now the head of the Outfit since the remaining top leaders were sitting in jail because of the Hollywood Extortion Scandal. In my last article I went to Accardo’s other nickname of “Joe Batters.” The article was Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo the Outfit’s Ultimate Boss Part I He received his second nickname of “Big Tuna,” through a photo of him with a trophy catch of a big tuna. He favored the nickname that Al Capone gave him and that was “Joe Batters,” but was often referred to as both.

Accardo had big plans for taking the Outfit to the next level. He would expand on the gambling empire. He was going to take over a wire service. The wire service is used by bookies across the country to get the results of races that gamblers would bet on. The wire service that Accardo had on his mind was the Continental Press that was based in Cleveland. It was owned by an Irishman named James Ragen.  In 1946 Accardo offered James Ragen a partnership in his own business. Ragen did not see the perk in partially owning a business that he currently owned a 100% interest in. People were threatening Ragen and he had enough. He took his complaint to the FBI. “Joe Batters” did not care for Ragen getting the FBI involved. In June of 1946 a panel truck came up on Ragen’s car and blasted Ragen with shotgun blasts. Fortunately for him, he made it to the hospital. However, someone was able to get into James Ragen’s hospital room and spiked his I.V. bag with mercury. James Ragen now lays dead, Accardo takes over the Continental Press, and no one was ever charged for Ragen’s murder.

Tony Accardo

The wire service was not the only gambling asset that Accardo had on his mind. Two men, named Teddy Roe and Ed Jones, were African Americans who were running the “Numbers” game on the South Side of Chicago. These games are like the Lottery of today. You would select numbers and if those are the numbers selected in the “Numbers” game, you won. Teddy Roe and Ed Jones were raking in an estimated $186,000 a week. Jones was captured and kidnapped. He was returned safely when his family paid a ransom of $100,000. Jones hopped on a train to Mexico and never looked back to the Chicago South Side ever again leaving everything to Roe. Roe was shot and killed in front of his house. Now the Outfit even had a cut from the African American community in Chicago.

In 1946 Tony and his wife Clarice added another son through adoption to their family. The Accardo’s now had two sons and two daughters in their family of six. Tony loved his family. He was never found to have a mistress or go out with showgirls. He was a family man that loved golf and like to vacation in the winter to California. He kept his personal life, personal and private. Heading in the 1950’s he was able to keep his personal life private, but not his professional life.

Tony Accardo testifying at the Kefauver Hearings

The La Costra Nostra, or the organized crime families across the country came under the attention of the US Government. At the time, Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo, was the most powerful mob boss in the country. The US Senate led by Cary Estes Kefauver, a senator from Tennessee, toured the country in what was called the “Kefauver Hearings.” The Kefauver Hearings were Special Committee formed by the senate that investigated organized crime in interstate commerce. The hearings were held all across the country from 1950 to 1951. The committee invited mob bosses from all over the country to attend and be investigated by this special panel. It was also shown on the TV across the country. Tony Accardo and other Outfit members left for Mexico when they knew that they were going to be asked to testify. Accardo was invited to this hearing after the committee waited him out while he was in Mexico. Like most of the other mobsters, he pleaded the fifth amendment of the US Constitution. While he was on TV, he acted like a gentleman. It worked. Many of the people that saw Tony Accardo on the TV, thought that he was too nice of a guy to be involved in the allegations made by the government. The hearings came to an end and did not bring charges against the La Costra Nostra for mob activity. It did shine the light on the La Costra Nostra for all Americans to see.

Tony Accardo’s house in River Forrest.

After the hearing came to an end, Accardo was at the pinnacle of his life. A thriving mob boss and family man, decided that he needed an upgrade the family home. He bought a house fitting of a man of his stature. He bought a house in 1956 in River Forrest for $150,000. The house that Accardo had nicknamed the “Palace,” had 22 rooms, an indoor swimming pool, a bowling alley, and a $10,000 black onyx bathtub. This house seems to be a contradiction of the man that advised his crews to lay low. This house was flashy and nothing to do with laying low. Accardo took heat from his contemporaries for moving into this house.

Las Vegas was thriving for both New York and Chicago La Costra Nostra. This was an open town, meaning that not one crime family can make claim to running Vegas. In 1955 Accardo invested some Outfit money into a casino and a hotel being built. The name of the hotel and casino was the Stardust. The Outfit was able to obtain money for the casino is through the infiltration of the unions. They were using the Teamster’s pension funds by loaning the money out to build casinos and hotels. The Stardust was different than the other hotels and casinos. They had rooms that were cheap and catered more to the average American than a Las Vegas high roller. This opened up a new channel of revenue in Las Vegas to fill the Outfit’s vault with cash.

In 1957, the US Senate established a permanent panel called the “Rackets Committee.” They had spent years study the La Costra Nostra and once again invited “Joe Batter,” to testify at this committee. He once again provided no help when called to Washington in 1958. He declined to answer and took the 5th 172 times. Once again he flew below the radar, but he was still under the watchful eye of government. Knowing this, Accardo had to make a change.

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Sam “Mooney” Giancana is handcuffed to a chair

Again in 1957, Accardo was going to step down as the boss of the Chicago Outfit. He was not going to be able to step down and retire, but he would be able to step down from the day to day activities and have someone else in charge. He would still serve as the Chicago Outfit’s consigliere. He would act as an advisor or a chairman, allowing the CEO or Outfit Boss to run everything from the day to day operations, but provide direction and consultation of larger decisions and strategy. The man selected to take over for Tony Accardo, was Sam “Momo” or “Mooney” Giancana.

Sam Giancana got the nickname of “Momo” or “Mooney” for being “crazy.” Like Accardo, he was from the Circus Café gang, and was the man in charge of taking over the “Numbers” game from Teddy Roe and Edward Jones. Now Tony can spend more time golfing, fishing, and vacationing, while the Outfit thrived through the leadership of Sam Giancana.

Tony was thinking that he was now in the clear, until July 29th, 1959. On that day Tony Accardo was indicted by the IRS after being investigated for a year and for filing a false tax return. Accardo had always filed his taxes under the occupation of a beer salesman. Accardo even took his car as a tax deduction on his taxes. The government stacked the courtroom with many witnesses to prove Accardo was not a beer salesman. Accardo’s charm ran out as he was found guilty of three charges including tax evasion. If Accardo had an unblemished record of never spending a night in jail, that was about to be tarnished with this six year conviction.  Tony Accardo’s attorney would appeal his case on the grounds that the negative press that Accardo received around the time of the case put his opportunity of a fair and impartial trial in jeopardy. He won a new trial for his case. Now there will be no surprises, having already seen the government’s evidence in the first trial. Accardo’s trial would end in a verdict of not guilty for the country’s biggest crime boss.

Sam Giancana Phyliss McGuire

After going through the trials, Accardo thought that he needed to lay lower to stay out of the limelight of law enforcement and government. He has a much smaller home built in 1963. This house was more fitting of the approval of all that were involved in wanting to keep a lower profile. This was unlike his mob boss Sam Giancana.

Giancana was more like Al Capone than “Joe Batters.” He was more flamboyant and was always in the press for who he hung out with or who he was dating. In 1965 Giancana was indicted before a Grand Jury. He would not testify and was cited for contempt of court. Being cited for contempt would cost Giancana one year in jail. When Sam got out of jail, he was not greeted by the Outfit leadership with joy. He garnished way too much attention and under the regime of Accardo, that was a big no, no. Giancana was exiled to Mexico. The rift between him and the Outfit grew further when Sam started some casinos in Mexico but did not kick up to the Outfit. In 1974 Mexico deported Sam Giancana back to the United States. Sam wanted to get back into the graces of Accardo and his Outfit. That was not going to happen. On June 18th, 1975 Sam Giancana was cooking sausage and peppers in the kitchen basement when someone came up from behind and shot him in the head. Once lying dead on the floor, he was shot six more times in the face. A hit like this

Sam Giancana murdered

would only come up if it had the approval of “Joe Batters.” Nobody has ever been prosecuted for the murder of Sam Giancana.

Heading into the 1970’s, Accardo looked like a grandfather like figure. If you would allow that to fool you, you would miss that he was still truly a ruthless man. In 1978 at the age of 72, Accardo was on vacation at his home in Palm Springs, California. While on vacation his house in River Forrest was robbed. Informants had told the police and the FBI that he was enraged. “Joe Batters” called a hit on anyone that was involved with this robbery. The word got out on the street to all burglars and home invaders that the boss was looking for some of their own. Folklore suggests that crime in Chicago ceased overnight. It is said that during Accardo’s inquisition Chicago’s crime was never lower in it’s history. Seven bodies of known home invaders showed up dead around the city. All understood to be under the orders of Tony Accardo.

Tony Accardo testifying at Rackets Committee

The government still had their sights on Tony Accardo. He would yet again be called into testify before another senate committee. This committee was on the labor rackets of the union in 1984. He answered more questions than he has at previous hearings. He was asked if it was true that his nickname was “Joe Batters.” Accardo replied to the question with a yes. He was then asked how he got his nickname, which Accardo claimed that he could not remember. He was still not helpful and was cited for contempt of Congress but no charges were filed.

L to R: Joey Aiuppa, Dom DiBella, Vince Solano, Al Pilotto; standing, L to R: Jackie Cerone and Joey Lombardo; front row, L to R: Tony Accardo, Joe Amato, Caesar DiVarco, and Jimmy “Turk” Torello

In the year of 1992, most of Accardo’s friends and associates have either been sentenced to prison or have died.  Accardo himself was suffering from heart disease. He started to become very ill, and was placed in the hospital for the last time. This was a death watch for the city of Chicago. All the media press was there sitting at the hospital to break the news that one of Chicago’s very own man of influence had passed. On May 27th, 1992 the 86 year old Accardo was taking off of life support. He died shortly thereafter, and the word out in Chicago streets was the boss was now dead. Accardo died a natural death, unlike his contemporaries and men who he has sentenced to die. Rumored to never have spent a night in jail in his lustrous career as a gangster. Unlike many bosses, he was never challenged by anyone. He towed the line of everyone from 1943 to 1992. Tony “Joe Batters” “Big Tuna” Accardo was the Outfit’s Ultimate Boss.

 

 

 

 

 

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

I have put together some of the articles that I have written that are prevalent for the upcoming election in MARCH!. This is the Republican Nominee election but probably more important than the general election. It is most likely the winner in March will win in November and become sheriff. If you review the articles in the Knowledge Center, you will read all kinds of unbelievable things as it relates to this election.

 

Freedom of Information Act Appeal to get the remainder of my father’s file. In my efforts to get to the bottom of my father’s murder and what the McHenry County Sheriff’s office has done to me and my family 33 years ago. I filed a FOIA Request (Freedom of Information Act Request) to get my father’s case file. Many documents were withheld from my request. It is my believe the documents are withheld to protect guilty individuals that are known to Sheriff Keith Nygren and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke that covered up who actually killed my father during the original investigation. Start on page 11 to read what sounds like a murder mystery thriller, but this is my true life. It is backed by FBI reports, witness statements, and newspaper articles.

Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff, Really??? This article is based on my own father’s murder investigation and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke. I talked about how he made his own milestones and failed to meet every single one. How it took me calling NBC News Chicago to get Andrew Zinke to return my phone call about my father’s murder investigation, as he was the lead investigator. I am fighting to get the remainder of my father’s case file. It is my believe that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and the Sheriff Keith Nygren are hiding and protecting individuals that covered up the true killer of my father during the original investigation.

Andrew Zinke plus Rita Corporation equals ON THE TAKE Brian Goode and his RITA Corporation was a person of interest and focal point for the investigation of the distribution of 30 plus tons of marijuana. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke told Brian Goode of the investigation. Two days later, according to Koziol, (Sgt. Koziol was working on the investigation and filed a complaint against Zinke) Goode gave Zinke’s election campaign a $5,000 donation. The RITA Corporation address is the same address as Andrew Zinke’s campaign headquarters.

McHenry County Deputy Zane Seipler under siege, Again!! Zane Seipler is a whistleblowing deputy that was fired by Keith Nygren after he exposed the sheriff’s office for racial profiling. Nygren was forced to hire Seipler back after he lost an arbitration ruling, a court hearing, an appellate court hearing, and a failed attempt to be heard by the Illinois State Supreme Court. After Seipler was hired back, Nygren fired him again. Zane Seipler is currently fighting to get his job back.

Another McHenry County Deputy under siege, Scott Milliman Scott Milliman was a deputy and former right hand man to Sheriff Keith Nygren. He was fired by the sheriff for whistleblowing that the sheriff allegedly transacted in ticket fixing, bribery, general corruption, fraud in a SBA Loan, and in tapping Milliman himself to kill a McHenry County Judge and a Coroner’s Candidate. Scott Milliman is currently fighting to get his job back.

How Gary Gauger got to DEATH ROW This is the real life, tragic story of Gary Gauger. He was falsely arrested and sent to Death Row by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department for the double murder of his parents. Investigators from the sheriff’s department rigged a false confession so that they could convict him.

 

McHenry County Ethics Commission, Ethical or NOT!?!? The McHenry County Ethics Commission conducted a hearing of a complaint filed by Cal Skinner that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke used a government computer for a very politically charged email. The hearing was ran over by Zinke’s attorneys Mark Gummerson and Rebecca Lee. The sign up sheet to speak at the hearing went missing but found in the possession of Rebecca Lee. The commission went into secret session, made its decision, and did so without explanation.

First Electric Newspaper v.s. Sheriff Nygren and EEO Officer Donald Leist Pete Gonigam won a Public Access Bureau (Illinois States Attorney) appeal for the release of a 100 page report conducted by the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. The report exonerated Undersheriff Andrew Zinke after he told Brian Goode that he and his RITA Corporation was a the focal point of a drug investigation by the DEA.

Zinke’s middle finger may cost Cal Skinner $5,000 After filing a valid ethics complaint against Undersheriff Andrew Zinke for using a government computer for his campaign, Cal Skinner was to face Zinke’s attorney Mark Gummerson. Gummerson was lobbying for a $5,000 fine against Skinner filing a valid complaint. An act of bulling and intimidation of a McHenry County citizen.

Will McHenry County be Ripped Off by Special Interest in Sheriff Election? I question the interest and the contribution to Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign from the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 election. I send a letter to the President-Business Manager of the union James M. Sweeney.

IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop? The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 contributes money to Undersheriff’s Andrew Zinke’s campaign. They have known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime Families.

 

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke Shuts Down Cal Skinner’s Blog Site Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign was able to get Cal Skinner’s website, mchenrycountyblog.com shut down by falsely accusing him of stalking and linking to obscene material. Read here on how Zinke’s campaign resorts to breaking the law to silence a citizen’s voice.

 

Andrew Zinke Fearful to Debate Bill Prim Lies to Get Out of It. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke is so fearful to debate Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff that he lies to get out of it. Zinke knows that he would be out matched, outwitted, and the truth of his corrupt character would be revealed to the citizens of McHenry County. Instead of enduring such damage to his campaign he lies to coward out of it.

Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke Intimidating and Tampering with Federal Witnesses? Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke intimidating federal witnesses? Or are the deputies fighting back? Donald Leist, the sheriff’s in house lawyer sent a letter to 30 deputies and correctional officers to be interrogated prior to their depositions in a federal case. Would that work anywhere else in the US or just McHerny County?

 

The post Tony “Big Tuna” Accardo the Outfit’s Ultimate Boss Part II appeared first on McHenry County 1981.

Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo the Outfit’s Ulitmate Boss Part I

 

Tony Accardo 1930s

Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo was the boss of the Chicago Outfit. He got his start in the Outfit working under Al Capone as his driver and body guard in the 1920’s. He worked his way up to Outfit Boss, running the Outfit until his death in 1992. Jake Guzik, an Outfit fixer once said that Tony Accardo had more brains for breakfast than Al Capone had in a lifetime.

In 1906 Tony Accardo was born on the West Side of Chicago in part known as Little Italy. Tony only went to school until he was 14. He went to work with only a sixth grade education and became a delivery boy in the neighborhood. The same year that he dropped out of school, 1920, prohibition began. Tony’s neighborhood became a hotbed of bootleggers. Accardo started delivery the illegal alcohol around Chicago for all the people in his neighborhood. In 1922 Tony Accardo joined a gang known as the Circus Café Gang after a neighborhood hangout.

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Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn

Another member in this gang was a man named Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn. He thought that Tony had talent. Accardo started with pick pocketing, than working his way up to muggings, break-ins, and armed robbery. He found his talent, Accardo learned how to gamble. That became his specialty.  McGurn started to use the young hoodlum as his personal driver and bodyguard in 1926. Jack McGurn was also becoming a criminal rising star himself. Known as tough and vicious killer, he was recruited by a gangster named Al Capone to be a hit man.

At this time the Chicago Outfit was raking in millions of dollars a year. The Circus Café Gang not only serves as a farm team for the Chicago Outfit but they would hold weapons for them and distribute the weapons when the Outfit needed them. At this time Capone had not yet locked up the city of Chicago as his. He had competition from the North Siders, Dean O‘Banion’s gang. Al Capone asked Machine Gun Jack McGurn is he knew of any good men to help him take on O’Banion and his crew. The first words out of Jack’s mouth were “Tony Accardo.”

Al Capone

Just like anyone else entering in as an Outfit Associate, Accardo had to prove himself. He had small jobs like being a lookout and working up to being a body guard for Capone. Capone badly needed this protection because the Outfit and the North Siders were killing each other in the street. In the first four months of 1926 there were 29 gangland style murders in Chicago. Things really heated up on September 20th of that year. Al Capone was eating lunch at the Hawthorne Hotel’s restaurant. In front of the hotel a cavalcade of cars were driving by spraying the hotel with hundreds of shots of gunfire, injuring a few. Chicago folklore has it,

Hawthorne Hotel

that Al Capone was thrown down to the ground and shielded by Tony Accardo himself.

In 1928 Al Capone has an important task. He wanted to take out an old friend named Frankie Yale. It is believed that when Al Capone wanted to take out the very first Outfit Boss, Big Jim Colosimo, and Yale was used as the hit man. However, in 1927 Capone was suspecting that Yale was hijacking some of his booze off his trucks. These are the same trucks that Yale was supposed to be protecting. Capone sent James “Filesy” DeAmato to confirm or deny that Yale was taking the booze. DeAmato confirmed with Capone that he indeed was taking the booze. DeAmato’s cover was blown by Yale and Frankie had him killed. Capone wanted get Frankie back. Yale was driving his new coffee colored Lincoln

Frankie Yale Dead outside his Lincoln

when some men in another car pulled up alongside Yale and sprayed his card with bullets. Frankie Yale’s Lincoln drove off the road crashing into a house, Frankie Yale was dead. One of the hit man in that operation was Tony Accardo. He had already proven that he would take a bullet for his boss. Now he had proven that he can give a bullet on orders from his boss too.

Another folklore legend is that Tony Accardo was one of the hit man in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, where seven of “Bugs” Moran’s men were killed. The true killers in that crime have never been found out and will always be the subject of folklore. However, Al Capone was out of town, so he would have an alibi for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Albert Anselmi and John Scalice were hit men for Al Capone. While he was gone these two men were going to try and take over the Chicago Outfit from Capone. Capone had found out about the

John Scalise and Albert Anselmi

double cross of Anselmi and Scalice. Al Capone threw a party at a club called the Plantation in Hammond, Indiana. He invited everyone including Albert Anselmi and John Scalice and told everybody this is his way of thanking them for all of their hard work. During the dinner the two men were seized and taken outside. Tony Accardo was waiting for them with a baseball bat, and literally bashed their heads in. Capone was said to remark “That kid is a real Joe Batters.” This nickname stuck with Tony Accardo for the rest of his life, Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo. During the 1930’s there has been numerous mob hits with links to Accardo, but for the most part, the specifics of his criminal activities are really not known.

Frank Nitti circa 1930

When Al Capone was sentenced for tax evasion, Frank Nitti, his second in command took over the Chicago Outfit. When he did he met with some of his top guys including Accardo. He made Accardo a Capo in the Chicago Outfit. He was now a boss of his own crew. He was put in charge in what he knew best, and that was the gambling operations. This was at the time that the Outfit was leaning more on gambling, because prohibition was over and the Outfit had lost the cash revenue from bootlegging. What he also did was make sure that any other gambling games that were not kicking up to the Outfit, started to kick up to the Outfit. If they didn’t Accardo’ enforcers would make introductions. Tony’s mob life was on an upswing and so was his personal life. He met a woman named Clarice Porter. She worked a vaudeville circuit in Chicago. The 28 year old Accardo married the 22 year old Porter. Within two years they adopted a boy that they named Anthony. Everything was booming for Accardo.

Tony Accardo was evolving. He has learned a lot of what not to do through the example set by Capone. Capone was of Neapolitan heritage. Neapolitan gangsters tend to me flashier. Accardo thought that this was a bad thing. He felt that if Al Capone would have lain low, he would have never caught the eye of the IRS which prosecuted him for tax evasion. He was becoming a very astute business man. He was savvy and sophisticated and that had set him apart from the other gangsters in the Chicago Outfit. Moving into the 1940’s Accardo’s gambling operations could boast over 7,500 locations throughout the city of Chicago. The gambling operations included everything from dice, slot machines, roulette, poker, the numbers game, and bookmaking. In the downtown loop area of Chicago, there was a bookie on every block. A bookie is someone that you would place a bet with, which mostly was sporting events or horse racing.

Frank Nitti wanted to advance the Outfit’s operations. He called on “Joe Batters” to help with this new endeavor. Nitti wanted to have a bigger stake in the unions, and he had his eyes set on the Union of Motion Picture Projectionist. Tommy Maloy was the President of Chicago Projectionists Local 110. Maloy had a racket of his own going on. He was demanding a cut from the profits from all of the local theaters in Chicago.  If the theaters owners did not pay this tribute to Maloy, his men would not show up to work at the theaters and this would force them to shut down. Frank Nitti liked what he saw in the Irishman’s racket and he wanted in, but Maloy refused. Tommy Maloy was a tough guy and he was not going to give in to Nitti. Frank Nitti was not going to reason with Maloy, instead he called his top guy in to take care of the job, and he called Accardo. In February of 1935 “Joe Batters” and another gunman tailed Maloy to a south side motel. They were able to flank him in their vehicle both firing at him and hitting him. “Joe Batter” just pulled off a daytime drive by and got Maloy out of the way for Nitti to put a man of his choosing in Maloy’s place. Not only did Nitti was going to take from the Chicago Theaters, he had his eyes set on also taking from the studios in Hollywood.

Accardo was head of all of the gambling operations for the Outfit. He was expanding in outlining areas of Chicago as well. Just like he would in Chicago, Accardo and his men would bust in on Outlaw Gambling games. These were games that were not yet sanctioned by the Outfit. They had three choices. They would kick up to the Outfit, cease the game, or cease to walk the earth. “Joe Batters” was a hard man to bargain with, so the games became sanctioned by the Outfit increasing the cash coffers for Nitti and crew.

Frank Nitti spent no time at all picking up where Maloy abruptly left off. Nitti was requiring all the theaters to resume their payments they made to Maloy to him or be forced to shut down. He also was using the union to get involved with Hollywood. He was going to infiltrate the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees or the IATSE. They not only controlled the Projectionist Union but all other unions that had a hand in making movies. Then the Outfit could demand that the studio heads of Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and others would pay the Outfit or face a shutdown of their movie productions. It worked, and in a couple of years the Outfit had made a couple of million off this racket. Things did not stay that easy though.

 

Estelle Carey

Nicky Circella, also known as Nicky Dean was a bagman for Outfit Boss Frank Nitti. Circella was working for Nitti in exploiting the Hollywood unions and extorting the studios. Nitti believed that he was cooperating with the Feds in the Hollywood Projectionist Union case against the Outfit. Frank Nitti and his Capo Tony Accardo could not get to Circella, but they could get to his girlfriend Estelle Carry. On February 2nd, 1943 Estelle got off the phone with her cousin saying that someone was at the door of her apartment. She lived at a quiet courtyard building in Lakeview at 512 West Addison in Chicago. She let the man in and was pouring two cups of hot cocoa when the man attacked her. There was a bloody struggle involving a bread knife, a rolling pin, an iron, and 10 inch blackjack club. After she was beaten nearly to death, she was doused with a flammable liquid and she and her apartment was set a blazed while she was still alive. Tony Accardo was questioned about the murder, but he was ever charged with the murder of Estelle Carey nor was anyone else.

In March of 1943 the feds indicted Outfit Boss Frank Nitti, Underboss Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, Louis “Little New York” Campagna, John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli, and others. They were all indicted on extortion of the Hollywood Studios. Since Tony Accardo was focused on the gambling operations, he escaped being indicted. This was a good thing because he and his wife Clarice welcomed two daughters into their family that year.

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Paul “The Waiter” Ricca and Louis “Little New York” Campagna

This was not good for Outfit Boss Frank Nitti. The Outfit brass including Paul Ricca and Tony Accardo met at Frank Nitti’s house in Riverside. They told him that he was going to have to take the heat for this case. They told him that there was no reason for everyone to go down on this. Nitti snapped back that everyone should stick together and they will all get out of the indictment. The leadership did not let off on their demand from Nitti. Frank Nitti had been to prison before briefly for tax evasion, but this stint could be up to 15 years. Nitti was 54 years old at the time and his health was ailing. This could be a death sentence for him. Even if it wasn’t, Nitti could not stand the prospect of being put in jail again. It did not matter either way because the brass had already spoken. Either Nitti takes the rap for this or they would take care of him. Frank Nitti found another option. On March 19th, 1943 Nitti had been drinking and walked over to the railroad tracks with a gun in hand. Placed the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. This tragic event for Nitti pushed Paul

Frank Nitti after he shot himself

“The Waiter” Ricca to boss of the Chicago Outfit and Accardo as the new underboss.

In October of 1943 seven men were indicted in the Hollywood extortion trial. Accardo was smart and never left a paper trail. He was exempt from the indictments and going to trial. At the trial all seven were found guilty including the newly crowned boss Paul Ricca. They all received ten years for their role. This was going to be a long time and the Outfits luck ran out for these seven men. Luck did not run out for Accardo, he has been with the Outfit for 17 years, was freed from having anything to do with the Hollywood extortion trials, and was now the Chicago Outfit’s new boss.

Next week Part II of the Outfit’s Ultimate Boss.

 

 

 

 

 

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

I have put together some of the articles that I have written that are prevalent for the upcoming election in MARCH!. This is the Republican Nominee election but probably more important than the general election. It is most likely the winner in March will win in November and become sheriff. If you review the articles in the Knowledge Center, you will read all kinds of unbelievable things as it relates to this election.

 

Freedom of Information Act Appeal to get the remainder of my father’s file. In my efforts to get to the bottom of my father’s murder and what the McHenry County Sheriff’s office has done to me and my family 33 years ago. I filed a FOIA Request (Freedom of Information Act Request) to get my father’s case file. Many documents were withheld from my request. It is my believe the documents are withheld to protect guilty individuals that are known to Sheriff Keith Nygren and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke that covered up who actually killed my father during the original investigation. Start on page 11 to read what sounds like a murder mystery thriller, but this is my true life. It is backed by FBI reports, witness statements, and newspaper articles.

Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff, Really??? This article is based on my own father’s murder investigation and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke. I talked about how he made his own milestones and failed to meet every single one. How it took me calling NBC News Chicago to get Andrew Zinke to return my phone call about my father’s murder investigation, as he was the lead investigator. I am fighting to get the remainder of my father’s case file. It is my believe that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and the Sheriff Keith Nygren are hiding and protecting individuals that covered up the true killer of my father during the original investigation.

Andrew Zinke plus Rita Corporation equals ON THE TAKE Brian Goode and his RITA Corporation was a person of interest and focal point for the investigation of the distribution of 30 plus tons of marijuana. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke told Brian Goode of the investigation. Two days later, according to Koziol, (Sgt. Koziol was working on the investigation and filed a complaint against Zinke) Goode gave Zinke’s election campaign a $5,000 donation. The RITA Corporation address is the same address as Andrew Zinke’s campaign headquarters.

McHenry County Deputy Zane Seipler under siege, Again!! Zane Seipler is a whistleblowing deputy that was fired by Keith Nygren after he exposed the sheriff’s office for racial profiling. Nygren was forced to hire Seipler back after he lost an arbitration ruling, a court hearing, an appellate court hearing, and a failed attempt to be heard by the Illinois State Supreme Court. After Seipler was hired back, Nygren fired him again. Zane Seipler is currently fighting to get his job back.

Another McHenry County Deputy under siege, Scott Milliman Scott Milliman was a deputy and former right hand man to Sheriff Keith Nygren. He was fired by the sheriff for whistleblowing that the sheriff allegedly transacted in ticket fixing, bribery, general corruption, fraud in a SBA Loan, and in tapping Milliman himself to kill a McHenry County Judge and a Coroner’s Candidate. Scott Milliman is currently fighting to get his job back.

How Gary Gauger got to DEATH ROW This is the real life, tragic story of Gary Gauger. He was falsely arrested and sent to Death Row by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department for the double murder of his parents. Investigators from the sheriff’s department rigged a false confession so that they could convict him.

 

McHenry County Ethics Commission, Ethical or NOT!?!? The McHenry County Ethics Commission conducted a hearing of a complaint filed by Cal Skinner that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke used a government computer for a very politically charged email. The hearing was ran over by Zinke’s attorneys Mark Gummerson and Rebecca Lee. The sign up sheet to speak at the hearing went missing but found in the possession of Rebecca Lee. The commission went into secret session, made its decision, and did so without explanation.

First Electric Newspaper v.s. Sheriff Nygren and EEO Officer Donald Leist Pete Gonigam won a Public Access Bureau (Illinois States Attorney) appeal for the release of a 100 page report conducted by the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. The report exonerated Undersheriff Andrew Zinke after he told Brian Goode that he and his RITA Corporation was a the focal point of a drug investigation by the DEA.

Zinke’s middle finger may cost Cal Skinner $5,000 After filing a valid ethics complaint against Undersheriff Andrew Zinke for using a government computer for his campaign, Cal Skinner was to face Zinke’s attorney Mark Gummerson. Gummerson was lobbying for a $5,000 fine against Skinner filing a valid complaint. An act of bulling and intimidation of a McHenry County citizen.

Will McHenry County be Ripped Off by Special Interest in Sheriff Election? I question the interest and the contribution to Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign from the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 election. I send a letter to the President-Business Manager of the union James M. Sweeney.

IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop? The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 contributes money to Undersheriff’s Andrew Zinke’s campaign. They have known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime Families.

 

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke Shuts Down Cal Skinner’s Blog Site Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign was able to get Cal Skinner’s website, mchenrycountyblog.com shut down by falsely accusing him of stalking and linking to obscene material. Read here on how Zinke’s campaign resorts to breaking the law to silence a citizen’s voice.

 

Andrew Zinke Fearful to Debate Bill Prim Lies to Get Out of It. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke is so fearful to debate Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff that he lies to get out of it. Zinke knows that he would be out matched, outwitted, and the truth of his corrupt character would be revealed to the citizens of McHenry County. Instead of enduring such damage to his campaign he lies to coward out of it.

Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke Intimidating and Tampering with Federal Witnesses? Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke intimidating federal witnesses? Or are the deputies fighting back? Donald Leist, the sheriff’s in house lawyer sent a letter to 30 deputies and correctional officers to be interrogated prior to their depositions in a federal case. Would that work anywhere else in the US or just McHerny County?

 

The post Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo the Outfit’s Ulitmate Boss Part I appeared first on McHenry County 1981.

Get MURDER IN McHENRY for FREE on Amazon!!

Starting on January 29th you will be able to get MURDER IN MCHENRY, A Son’s Pursuit of Justice for FREE on Amazon for Kindle. Every Wednesday from January 29th to February 26th my book will be available for Kindle on Amazon for FREE!! I am giving away the Kindle version of my book to enlighten the community of McHenry County on issues prevalent to the upcoming primary election for McHenry County Sheriff, and to show my support for Bill Prim. Please feel free to share on your facebook timeline and with all your family and friends that have a Kindle reader. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle Reading App for FREE on Amazon. Here is the link to Download the FREE Kindle Reading App. Now everyone can enjoy MURDER IN MCHENRY for FREE and educate themselves on the upcoming election.

1980 – The Last Family Christmas

MURDER IN MCHENRY is about the murder of my father, Ron Scharff and his employee Patricia Freeman at our tavern the PM Pub in Lakemoor, IL on June 2nd, 1981. McHenry County Sheriff George Hendle is the original investigator and has a suspect in the double homicides. The suspect is a man named Glen, who is Patricia Freeman’s boyfriend. Glen was never arrested and the case went cold for 27 years until my former babysitter, Holly Hager, asker her father who he thought had killed my father and Pat. One of the names he mentioned was Larry Neumann. Holly googled the name Larry Neumann and found out that he was a known killer from the town of McHenry, Illinois. She traced his name to a book about a former mobster turned government witness called CULLOTTA. Frank Cullotta worked for Chicago Outfit boss of Las Vegas, Tony Spilotro, who was made famous when Joe Pesci played the role of Nicky Santoro based on Spilotro in the movie CASINO. On page 130 of Frank Cullotta’s book he named Larry Neumann as the killer of my father and Patricia Freeman. Larry Neumann was a Chicago Outfit enforcer and Hole in the Wall Gang member. He was already convicted of a triple murder of a bar owner, bar employee, and a newspaper vendor; and was feared by mobsters and cops alike. I reached out to the authors of the book, Frank Cullotta and Dennis Griffin. I wanted to know, why didn’t Frank Cullotta turn over this information to Sheriff George Hendle back in 1982 when Frank turned government witness? He said that he did. That is where my pursuit of justice begins. Will the second investigator Undersheriff Andrew Zinke name Larry Neumann as the killer of Ron Scharff and Patricia Freeman? Will Undersheriff Andrew Zinke get to the bottom of why Sheriff George Hendle did not act on this information almost 30 years ago? Will the Scharff and Freeman families find closure in this horrific tragedy? GET YOUR FREE COPY OF MURDER IN MCHENRY STARTING ON JANUARY 29th from AMAZON!

Paul Scharff and candidate for McHenry County Sheriff Bill Prim at Walla Pa Looza Cancer benefit in July of 2013.

MCHENRY COUNTY SHERIFF ELECTION. The primaries for the McHenry County Sheriff’s election are March 18th, 2014. The Republican primary is between candidates, retired Des Plaines Police Commander Bill Prim, and McHenry County Undersheriff Andrew Zinke. Unlike most primaries, this primary will most likely elect the next sheriff for McHenry County. What I am suggesting is that the winner of this race will most likely win in the November Sheriff Election. It is real important that you vote in this primary, even if you normally do not vote in primaries, because if you don’t the sheriff election could already be decided for you. NOT SURE WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO VOTE?

Make sure that you are registered to Vote in Illinois. You can check the Illinois State Board of Elections website to see if you are registered. Click on the link to check. If you do not have an Illinois Voter Card or you are not registered to vote, or had a recent change in address contact the County Clerk’s Office at (815) 334-4242
On Tuesday on March 18th you can VOTE in PERSON at your local polling place. You must ask for a REPUBLICAN BALLOT to vote in this election. If you are unsure what voting precinct you belong to click on this link at the McHenry County Clerk’s office for precinct and polling places.
You can also cast an ABSENTEE BALLOT if you are not going to be available on Tuesday March 18th. To request an Absentee Ballot, you must call or email the McHenry County Clerk’s office at (815) 334-4242 or countyclerk@co.mchenry.il.us. Here is a link print off your APPLICATION for ABSENTEE BALLOT. To see if you qualify for Absentee Ballot click here.
EARLY VOTING is your last option for this Republican Primary for Sheriff. You will need to contact the McHenry County Clerk’s office at (815) 334-4242.

If you have any questions at all, contact the McHenry County Clerk’s office at (815) 334-4242 or countyclerk@co.mchenry.il.us or http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/county-government/departments-a-i/county-clerk or MAILING ADDRESS of McHenry County Clerk’s Office, 2200 N. Seminary Ave, Woodstock, IL 60098 or OFFICE LOCATION of McHenry County Clerk’s Office, 667 Ware Rd, Woodstock, IL   60098. YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED at the bottom of my articles for the last couple of weeks and going forward to the March 18th election a footer section. In the footer I have a section called Bill Prim for Sheriff. Everyone should click on the JOIN THE CAMPAIGN button right now. When you do, you will be registered to receive updates from Bill Prim on the sheriff election. If you have never given back to your community try volunteering. Or if you already know the reward of giving back to your community click on the VOLUNTEER button right now. This will put you in touch with the Bill Prim for Sheriff Camp letting them know you are ready to volunteer your time to your community and his campaign. Reaching out and communicating to your supporters and prospective voters requires your help. Please click on the DONATE button right now. Money will go to reaching out to more members in the community and urging them to vote for Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff. Also in the footer is a section that I am calling the KNOWLEDGE CENTER. This contains many articles that I have written that are relevant to this Sheriff’s Election taken place in March. In the KNOWLEDGE CENTER you will find a small image with a link to the article and a summary to the subject of that article. Articles pertain to corruption, connections to crime families, outside money interests, a McHenry County Death Row case, the double homicide of my father and Patricia Freeman, and so much more that will have bearing on your decision on who to elect for McHenry County Sheriff. UPDATES ON www.mchenrycounty1981.com Many of you are familiar with this website. This is the website that I began to use in 2008 and 2009 to get Larry Neumann named as the killer of my father. Since, it has been a centralized repository of everything related to my father’s case and more. It has TV and video interviews, pictures, newspaper articles, radio show interviews, and all of the articles that I have written to date. While I was writing my book MURDER IN MCHENRY, I did not do much with this website but it was still online. When I picked up the website in January of 2013, there was not much traffic on it.  January 2013 the mchenrycounty1981.com site could boast only a 164 Unique Visits, 414 Visits, and 1,093 Pages turned (a number of times an article was read). We ended the year in December with 6,105 Unique Visits, 17,560 Visits, and 75,316 Pages turned. The total for the year was 39,163 Unique Visits, 103,983 Visits, and 490,220 pages turned, almost a half million. We all should be proud considering our humble beginnings. We do our monthly January total and more on a daily basis. There is much pride in these numbers to be had, but we need to put them in perspective. All the numbers quoted matter, but gauging how many people we are reaching is looking at Unique Visits. This is the number of unique IP’s that come into the site. When you look at these spectacular numbers we still have to realize that we are trying to reach to the community of McHenry County, which is around 350,000. Still lot’s to do. IN SUMMARY, I have been discussing the need for change. Corruption in McHenry County is rampant, and I believe in particular in the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. This has been going on for decades so it will not change overnight. The first step is getting the trust and integrity back into the highest law enforcement office in the county, and that is the sheriff’s office. We can look to Bill Prim to make that change; and in order for him to do that for us, we will need to some things for him. We need to support Bill through donations and volunteering for his campaign. I hear from a lot of victims. People that been victimized through a murder, someone missing, through bribery of the courts and lawyers, and all other alleged victimizations; now is your chance. You want justice for yourself, for someone you know, or just simply want to exist in a community that feels safe; participate in supporting your candidate, and participate by voting in the election. The ball is in your court!

 

 

 

 

 

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

I have put together some of the articles that I have written that are prevalent for the upcoming election in MARCH!. This is the Republican Nominee election but probably more important than the general election. It is most likely the winner in March will win in November and become sheriff. If you review the articles in the Knowledge Center, you will read all kinds of unbelievable things as it relates to this election.

 

Freedom of Information Act Appeal to get the remainder of my father’s file. In my efforts to get to the bottom of my father’s murder and what the McHenry County Sheriff’s office has done to me and my family 33 years ago. I filed a FOIA Request (Freedom of Information Act Request) to get my father’s case file. Many documents were withheld from my request. It is my believe the documents are withheld to protect guilty individuals that are known to Sheriff Keith Nygren and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke that covered up who actually killed my father during the original investigation. Start on page 11 to read what sounds like a murder mystery thriller, but this is my true life. It is backed by FBI reports, witness statements, and newspaper articles.

Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff, Really??? This article is based on my own father’s murder investigation and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke. I talked about how he made his own milestones and failed to meet every single one. How it took me calling NBC News Chicago to get Andrew Zinke to return my phone call about my father’s murder investigation, as he was the lead investigator. I am fighting to get the remainder of my father’s case file. It is my believe that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and the Sheriff Keith Nygren are hiding and protecting individuals that covered up the true killer of my father during the original investigation.

Andrew Zinke plus Rita Corporation equals ON THE TAKE Brian Goode and his RITA Corporation was a person of interest and focal point for the investigation of the distribution of 30 plus tons of marijuana. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke told Brian Goode of the investigation. Two days later, according to Koziol, (Sgt. Koziol was working on the investigation and filed a complaint against Zinke) Goode gave Zinke’s election campaign a $5,000 donation. The RITA Corporation address is the same address as Andrew Zinke’s campaign headquarters.

McHenry County Deputy Zane Seipler under siege, Again!! Zane Seipler is a whistleblowing deputy that was fired by Keith Nygren after he exposed the sheriff’s office for racial profiling. Nygren was forced to hire Seipler back after he lost an arbitration ruling, a court hearing, an appellate court hearing, and a failed attempt to be heard by the Illinois State Supreme Court. After Seipler was hired back, Nygren fired him again. Zane Seipler is currently fighting to get his job back.

Another McHenry County Deputy under siege, Scott Milliman Scott Milliman was a deputy and former right hand man to Sheriff Keith Nygren. He was fired by the sheriff for whistleblowing that the sheriff allegedly transacted in ticket fixing, bribery, general corruption, fraud in a SBA Loan, and in tapping Milliman himself to kill a McHenry County Judge and a Coroner’s Candidate. Scott Milliman is currently fighting to get his job back.

How Gary Gauger got to DEATH ROW This is the real life, tragic story of Gary Gauger. He was falsely arrested and sent to Death Row by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department for the double murder of his parents. Investigators from the sheriff’s department rigged a false confession so that they could convict him.

 

McHenry County Ethics Commission, Ethical or NOT!?!? The McHenry County Ethics Commission conducted a hearing of a complaint filed by Cal Skinner that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke used a government computer for a very politically charged email. The hearing was ran over by Zinke’s attorneys Mark Gummerson and Rebecca Lee. The sign up sheet to speak at the hearing went missing but found in the possession of Rebecca Lee. The commission went into secret session, made its decision, and did so without explanation.

First Electric Newspaper v.s. Sheriff Nygren and EEO Officer Donald Leist Pete Gonigam won a Public Access Bureau (Illinois States Attorney) appeal for the release of a 100 page report conducted by the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. The report exonerated Undersheriff Andrew Zinke after he told Brian Goode that he and his RITA Corporation was a the focal point of a drug investigation by the DEA.

Zinke’s middle finger may cost Cal Skinner $5,000 After filing a valid ethics complaint against Undersheriff Andrew Zinke for using a government computer for his campaign, Cal Skinner was to face Zinke’s attorney Mark Gummerson. Gummerson was lobbying for a $5,000 fine against Skinner filing a valid complaint. An act of bulling and intimidation of a McHenry County citizen.

Will McHenry County be Ripped Off by Special Interest in Sheriff Election? I question the interest and the contribution to Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign from the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 election. I send a letter to the President-Business Manager of the union James M. Sweeney.

IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop? The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 contributes money to Undersheriff’s Andrew Zinke’s campaign. They have known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime Families.

 

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke Shuts Down Cal Skinner’s Blog Site Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign was able to get Cal Skinner’s website, mchenrycountyblog.com shut down by falsely accusing him of stalking and linking to obscene material. Read here on how Zinke’s campaign resorts to breaking the law to silence a citizen’s voice.

 

Andrew Zinke Fearful to Debate Bill Prim Lies to Get Out of It. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke is so fearful to debate Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff that he lies to get out of it. Zinke knows that he would be out matched, outwitted, and the truth of his corrupt character would be revealed to the citizens of McHenry County. Instead of enduring such damage to his campaign he lies to coward out of it.

Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke Intimidating and Tampering with Federal Witnesses? Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke intimidating federal witnesses? Or are the deputies fighting back? Donald Leist, the sheriff’s in house lawyer sent a letter to 30 deputies and correctional officers to be interrogated prior to their depositions in a federal case. Would that work anywhere else in the US or just McHerny County?

 

The post Get MURDER IN McHENRY for FREE on Amazon!! appeared first on McHenry County 1981.

Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke Intimidating and Tampering with Federal Witnesses?

Sheriff Keith Nygren

Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke intimidating and tampering with McHenry County Deputies listed as federal material witnesses? Former Deputy Scott Milliman’s wrongful termination case is moving through the system, albeit slowing by moving forward all the same. If you recall my article Another McHenry County Deputy under siege, Scott Milliman, Scott Milliman was the former right hand man of Sheriff Keith Nygren. He was diagnosed with Brain Cancer in 2002 and facing a life threatening disease decided to make things right. In an article with the Better Government Association Milliman has said “I just wanted to clear the table, God gave me another chance to be around, I wanted to do it right, I didn’t want to end up in federal prison.” Scott Milliman knows about the corruption of Keith Nygren and Andrew Zinke’s McHenry County Sheriff’s office, he was once a part of it. Before I bring us up to date on this very important case I want to provide some clarity to who I am and what is my mission, since picking up so many new readers.

My name is Paul Scharff and I am the co-author of the book MURDER IN MCHENRY and the admin/owner of www.mchenrycounty1981.com. My father, Ron Scharff was gunned down and murdered at our tavern the P.M. Pub in Lakemoor with his employee Patricia Freeman. The case went cold for 27 years. My former babysitter, Holly Hager made discovery of` a book about a former mobster turned government witness, called CULLOTTA, the biography of Frank Cullotta. On page 130, it named the killer of my father and Patricia Freeman as Larry Neumann. He was a Chicago Outfit (mob) associate and Hole in the Wall Gang member. In campaigning to get Larry Neumann named as the killer of my father and Patricia Freeman (which we did in 2009) I have discovered a system of cover ups and corruption that I have called the Regime. There are many pieces and people to what I call the Regime, but one of the people that is part of this system of corruption is Andrew Zinke and he is running for McHenry County Sheriff. He was the second investigator of my father’s case. The first investigator was Sheriff George Hendle. He became sheriff after my father was murdered. He tried pinning my father’s murder on an innocent man because he was tied to the Chicago Outfit (I made that discovery, not Andrew Zinke, he was to inept as a law enforcement officer to do so or was participating in his own cover up). I vowed to take a stand, seek to honor my father, provide justice and understanding to myself and my family, and to stop the further victimization of McHenry County Citizens. I must do whatever I can, to do my part to prevent Andrew Zinke becoming sheriff through honest and truthful research of facts, and communicate my findings and opinions through all mediums available to me, to the good people of McHenry County.  That is what I am doing here in discussion of Scott Milliman’s wrongful termination suit. Scott Milliman is third McHenry County Deputy to sue Sheriff Keith Nygren in wrongful termination suit.

Scott Milliman

Scott Milliman testified in a Deposition of another deputy in his wrongful termination suit before filing one of his own. He testified in former Deputy Zane Seipler’s wrongful termination case. Seipler alleges that he was wrongfully terminated for whistleblowing the sheriff’s department practice of Racial Profiling. A claim made valid by the Chicago Tribune, when it did a study and reviewed court records. Study suggests racial mislabeling skews McHenry County sheriff data, in the study they found that Pedro Lopez, Jose Salas, and Pablo Toxqui-Zavala were not Hispanic but white even though the three had brown skin, spoke Spanish and were from Mexico. I have written a more detailed article on former Deputy Zane Seipler called McHenry County Deputy Zane Seipler under siege, Again!!

In Seipler’s wrongful termination suit, Milliman alleges that he was tapped by Sheriff Nygren to kill the now deceased Judge Conrad Floeter by pushing him in front of a Metra Train, while he was campaigning for Sheriff Keith Nygren’s opponent in a sheriff race at the Crystal Lake train station. He also was alleged that he was tapped again to kill Dave Bachmann, a former Coroner’s Candidate. This time Milliman says that he was told to make Bachmann’s death look like a suicide by hanging. When I reference the Sheriff’s office as acting as a Gangster Regime, it is because of allegations like these, and other noted actual facts. Like Andrew Zinke accepting money from a union that has known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime families. You can read my article IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop? Milliman explained that he testified in a deposition in Seipler’s wrongful termination suit on November 23, 2010, about:

Dave Bachmann former Coroner’s Candidate Allegedly ordered to be killed by Sheriff Keith Nygren.

Excessive force used by McHenry County Deputy Sheriffs
Retaliation suffered by Milliman and other deputy sheriffs for reporting unlawful conduct of other deputy sheriffs
Allegations that Nygren was directly involved in ticket fixing in McHenry County
Nygren’s acceptance of bribes intended to influence his actions as Sheriff
Nygren’s involvement in a scheme to fraudulently procure SBA loans for individuals and share in the proceeds of the loans knowing that the loans were going to default
Milliman’s cooperation with the FBI investigation into corruption in McHenry County
Evidence of racial profiling by McHenry County Deputy Sheriffs
General corruption within the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office

Milliman also says that, as retaliation, he was placed on administrative leave, stripped of his badge, and forced to undergo psychological testing. He said that his squad car also was replaced with one that was old and unsafe, and that personal items of his were seized. In August of 2011 he was fired by Sheriff Keith Nygren. Sheriff Nygren claimed that Milliman lied in his deposition in the wrongful termination brought forward by Seipler, a charge that Milliman denies.

McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren and Deputy Scott Milliman during better times.

In Milliman’s wrongful termination suit is in the Deposition phase and will be heading to federal court. In early January a letter from Donald Leist was sent out to about 30 deputies and correctional officers. The deputies and correctional officers are listed as witnesses and expect to be subpoenaed for depositions, if they have not already been. Who is Donald Leist and what is his interest with the Deputies?

Donald Leist is the McHenry County Sheriff’s Equal Employment Officer. I believe that this position was mandated after a sex discrimination case against the McHenry County Sheriff’s office prevailed to be true. Just another moment of pride for the community and the history of the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. As part of the decision, this position was created and expected to be maintained until it was satisfied that sex discrimination was no longer prevalent at the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. Kathleen Seith formerly held this position up until January 7th, 2012. The best that I can tell in finding a new replacement, Sheriff Nygren added an additional preference of “Juris Doctorate preferred,” without board approval or any other directive. “Juris Doctorate,” is fancy speak for a law degree. This in essence, turns an administrative position into a position needing to be filled by a lawyer. A position that currently provides salary and benefit to

Equal Employment Officer Donald Leist

Donald Leist of $103,802.25 a year. Another thing to note is Sheriff Nygren also uses an outside attorney James Sotos, at the taxpayer’s expense. The sheriff’s attorney should be the McHenry County States Attorney, who is already on the taxpayer’s payroll. Bill Prim, a Republican candidate running against Andrew Zinke in the Republican Primary for McHenry County Sheriff has referenced that he would eliminate this position and stop using taxpayer’s money in personal vendettas like all of these wrongful termination suits.

This is taken from a Press Release from Bill Prim’s campaign for McHenry County Sheriff.

Administrative activity currently associated with CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies), and with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), either is unnecessary and wasteful or could be better handled elsewhere in county government, for instance.

“Eliminating top level administration for these two items alone could save the county more than $200,000 per year in salary, benefits and ancillary costs,” Prim said.

Prim said there were other ways his administration would save taxpayers money that would not be strictly within the Sheriff’s Office budget. “Over and above office efficiency, I would not be throwing taxpayer dollars out the window in fruitless efforts to settle scores with individual deputies or staging public, lawyer intensive feuds with other county office holders,” Prim said.

As I mentioned Donald Leist has sent out a letter to about 30 deputies and correctional officers. He is going to meet with them because they are listed as references to them being listed as witnesses in Milliman’s case. Donald Leist is like Sheriff Keith Nygren’s in house lawyer. In Milliman’s wrongful termination case he names Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and Sheriff Keith Nygren as two of the defendants. Does it seem right the sheriff’s in house lawyer is interviewing federal witnesses prior to their depositions in a case against Nygren and Zinke? Is this tampering with federal witnesses, or is this an act intimidation or both?

former Deputy Zane Seipler

Former deputy Zane Seipler has offered some insight on his website www.zinke4sheriff.com. Don’t let the domain of the website fool you, Zane Seipler is not supporting Undersheriff Andrew Zinke for sheriff. He wanted to create an informational website that those in the community would see when they would Google Zinke for sheriff. If you have never been to his site you should check it out. He provides a lot of information that only an insider would have, and he it has a humorous slant to it. I go there often; I would suggest checking it out once a week. On Seipler’s website, he points out the dilemma that those being interrogated would face.

If the deputy is truthful and admits knowledge of crimes that he/she did not report to a supervisor or investigative agency he/she is in violation of General Orders and can be terminated.

Example: Hypothetically let’s say Andrew Zinke leaves a sticky note on a ticket in your in box and asks you to do him a favor and VOID the ticket. No explanation as to why… just a favor. If the deputy doesn’t report this it is a violation.

If the deputy admits to participating in any of the alleged activities under order of a supervisor the deputy is in violation of General Orders for not confronting the supervisor immediately and/or not notifying Don Leist of the illegal order.

If a deputy lies about any knowledge of illegal conduct to Don Leist and then testifies truthfully at the Federal deposition the deputy will be in violation of General Orders for lying to the EEO. The deputy will also have his/her veracity questioned by Nygren’s lawyers during the deposition.

If the deputy lies to Leist and decides to further the lies in Federal deposition a record of the lies will be solidified. When the case goes to trial evidence will be produced that will show conclusively that the deputy knowingly lied. Perjury charges could result and probably will because we are talking about police corruption and cover-ups. Juries tend to frown on that stuff.

Example: Hypothetically… the deputy lies about the sticky note from Zinke and low and behold a photo copy of the sticky note somehow shows up in Milliman’s mailbox along with a ticket number the deputy’s name and the midnight shift supervisor that passed the information along. Evidence galore!

Seipler suggests that this is a standard Nygren tactic. Send the letters to the deputies and correctional officers on a Thursday and let them sweat it out over the weekend. Zane would know a lot about Nygren’s tactics; he has suffered and still suffers by them currently. How would you like to have Keith Nygren and Andrew Zinke as your boss? Go to work knowing that these guys would not think twice about your livelihood, your family, or destroying you personally. What does that do to the morale of the deputies knowing that if they don’t at least go along to get along, they will be retaliated against? How well do demoralized deputies serve the community? Is it right that anyone be put through such suffrage that is not only wrong but perceived to be illegal? Are there any boundaries that the Regime of Keith Nygren and Andrew Zinke will not cross?

The deputies and correctional officers have found some relieve in what has to all ready be a gut wrenching experience. Attorney Robert Hanlon has filed a Notice of Appearance on behalf of four deputies. This prevents the Sheriff’s Department’s Donald Leist, or the Sheriff’s attorney, Jim Sotos from contacting these four deputies about this case without Mr. Hanlon’s presence. Accordingly to Zane Seipler’s website that these interrogations are now optional and he suggests that if these or any other witnesses are harassed to file a complaint with the ARDC or Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. He states that Donald Leist already has a complaint against him for this exact behavior. Rumor mill has it that the deputies and correctional officers are refusing to meet with Donald Leist. Good for them and we all support you!!

Well folks what do you think? What is going to come out of the allegations by Milliman? If you live in McHenry County, do you feel safe that the sheriff’s office runs on absolute dysfunction? Are you just tired of this all together? We all deserve more. The deputies that work at the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department and the community of McHenry County as a whole, deserves much better than this. This is under the leadership of Keith Nygren and Andrew Zinke, and Zinke wants to become the sheriff of McHenry County. And for what? More retaliation, vendetta’s, and gross allegations of crimes that deserve some of the fiercest penalties that justice has to offer. Hell No!! Stop this in March.  Register to vote, grab a Republican ballot, and vote for Bill Prim in the Republican Primary. Stop the victimization of the community and the Regime in its tracks!

 

 

 

 

 

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

I have put together some of the articles that I have written that are prevalent for the upcoming election in MARCH!. This is the Republican Nominee election but probably more important than the general election. It is most likely the winner in March will win in November and become sheriff. If you review the articles in the Knowledge Center, you will read all kinds of unbelievable things as it relates to this election.

 

Freedom of Information Act Appeal to get the remainder of my father’s file. In my efforts to get to the bottom of my father’s murder and what the McHenry County Sheriff’s office has done to me and my family 33 years ago. I filed a FOIA Request (Freedom of Information Act Request) to get my father’s case file. Many documents were withheld from my request. It is my believe the documents are withheld to protect guilty individuals that are known to Sheriff Keith Nygren and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke that covered up who actually killed my father during the original investigation. Start on page 11 to read what sounds like a murder mystery thriller, but this is my true life. It is backed by FBI reports, witness statements, and newspaper articles.

Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff, Really??? This article is based on my own father’s murder investigation and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke. I talked about how he made his own milestones and failed to meet every single one. How it took me calling NBC News Chicago to get Andrew Zinke to return my phone call about my father’s murder investigation, as he was the lead investigator. I am fighting to get the remainder of my father’s case file. It is my believe that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and the Sheriff Keith Nygren are hiding and protecting individuals that covered up the true killer of my father during the original investigation.

Andrew Zinke plus Rita Corporation equals ON THE TAKE Brian Goode and his RITA Corporation was a person of interest and focal point for the investigation of the distribution of 30 plus tons of marijuana. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke told Brian Goode of the investigation. Two days later, according to Koziol, (Sgt. Koziol was working on the investigation and filed a complaint against Zinke) Goode gave Zinke’s election campaign a $5,000 donation. The RITA Corporation address is the same address as Andrew Zinke’s campaign headquarters.

McHenry County Deputy Zane Seipler under siege, Again!! Zane Seipler is a whistleblowing deputy that was fired by Keith Nygren after he exposed the sheriff’s office for racial profiling. Nygren was forced to hire Seipler back after he lost an arbitration ruling, a court hearing, an appellate court hearing, and a failed attempt to be heard by the Illinois State Supreme Court. After Seipler was hired back, Nygren fired him again. Zane Seipler is currently fighting to get his job back.

Another McHenry County Deputy under siege, Scott Milliman Scott Milliman was a deputy and former right hand man to Sheriff Keith Nygren. He was fired by the sheriff for whistleblowing that the sheriff allegedly transacted in ticket fixing, bribery, general corruption, fraud in a SBA Loan, and in tapping Milliman himself to kill a McHenry County Judge and a Coroner’s Candidate. Scott Milliman is currently fighting to get his job back.

How Gary Gauger got to DEATH ROW This is the real life, tragic story of Gary Gauger. He was falsely arrested and sent to Death Row by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department for the double murder of his parents. Investigators from the sheriff’s department rigged a false confession so that they could convict him.

 

McHenry County Ethics Commission, Ethical or NOT!?!? The McHenry County Ethics Commission conducted a hearing of a complaint filed by Cal Skinner that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke used a government computer for a very politically charged email. The hearing was ran over by Zinke’s attorneys Mark Gummerson and Rebecca Lee. The sign up sheet to speak at the hearing went missing but found in the possession of Rebecca Lee. The commission went into secret session, made its decision, and did so without explanation.

First Electric Newspaper v.s. Sheriff Nygren and EEO Officer Donald Leist Pete Gonigam won a Public Access Bureau (Illinois States Attorney) appeal for the release of a 100 page report conducted by the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. The report exonerated Undersheriff Andrew Zinke after he told Brian Goode that he and his RITA Corporation was a the focal point of a drug investigation by the DEA.

Zinke’s middle finger may cost Cal Skinner $5,000 After filing a valid ethics complaint against Undersheriff Andrew Zinke for using a government computer for his campaign, Cal Skinner was to face Zinke’s attorney Mark Gummerson. Gummerson was lobbying for a $5,000 fine against Skinner filing a valid complaint. An act of bulling and intimidation of a McHenry County citizen.

Will McHenry County be Ripped Off by Special Interest in Sheriff Election? I question the interest and the contribution to Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign from the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 election. I send a letter to the President-Business Manager of the union James M. Sweeney.

IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop? The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 contributes money to Undersheriff’s Andrew Zinke’s campaign. They have known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime Families.

 

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke Shuts Down Cal Skinner’s Blog Site Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign was able to get Cal Skinner’s website, mchenrycountyblog.com shut down by falsely accusing him of stalking and linking to obscene material. Read here on how Zinke’s campaign resorts to breaking the law to silence a citizen’s voice.

 

Andrew Zinke Fearful to Debate Bill Prim Lies to Get Out of It. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke is so fearful to debate Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff that he lies to get out of it. Zinke knows that he would be out matched, outwitted, and the truth of his corrupt character would be revealed to the citizens of McHenry County. Instead of enduring such damage to his campaign he lies to coward out of it.

 

 

The post Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke Intimidating and Tampering with Federal Witnesses? appeared first on McHenry County 1981.

Andrew Zinke Fearful to Debate Bill Prim Lies to Get Out of It

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke, fear ridden to debate Bill Prim

Andrew Zinke revokes his commitment to debate Bill Prim. However, that is not what you would have read in the Northwest Herald the following Monday. Let’s start at the beginning of the sequence of events.

On Friday December 27th on the McHenryCounytBlog.com was a post about a press release from Patriots United. It says:

Andy Zinke Pulls Out of Debate with Bill Prim

WOODSTOCK, IL – The scheduled debate between the Republican candidates for Sheriff of McHenry County, Andy Zinke and Bill Prim, has been cancelled.

The debate, which was to be hosted by Patriots United, was cancelled when Andy Zinke, who had previously agreed to participate, withdrew his commitment saying there would be two other debates between the candidates sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Northwest Herald and that a third debate was unnecessary.

The Board of Patriots United expresses disappointment in this cancellation, noting there are serious issues concerning this office which need to be discussed so the voters can make an informed decision about who will best bring reform to the Sheriff’s office.

The Board looks forward to the other two promised public debates in advance of the primary election so voters can choose the best candidate .

The following day the Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff camp put out their own press release. Here is the first paragraph:

Republican candidate for Sheriff Bill Prim Saturday called Andrew Zinke’s decision to pull out of the only scheduled debate a decision that denies the people of McHenry County a chance to weigh for themselves the qualities and abilities of the two candidates.

I would suggest that it was not only feeble but cowardly. Not to mention a total lack of confidence that Andrew Zinke has in himself. Anyone that is confident in their skills will want to debate. It is the best way to demonstrate your wit to think on your feet. You will not only want to do it once, but as many times that you would have an opportunity to pound your opponent to submission. In Bill Prim’s press release he understands the power of debate with the following quote.

“Mr. Zinke has now deprived the voters of an excellent opportunity not only to learn our positions on the issues but to get a sense of the people behind the positions, and how we conduct ourselves in a high-stakes, high-pressure environment.

“The Sheriff’s Office, and law enforcement in general, is frequently stressful,” Prim added.  “Voters want to see for themselves how a candidate for that office operates when he has to think on his feet and make rapid decisions.  Mr. Zinke has just denied the voters that chance, and that is a feeble showing indeed.”

I have dealt with Andrew Zinke personally, and I can tell you that thinking on his feet is not in his character. The next paragraph in Bill Prim’s press release, explains what was wrong with Andrew Zinke’s explanation that he felt  with two other debates sponsored by the Northwest Herald and the League of Woman’s Voters was sufficient, and a third with the Patriots United was not necessary.

Bill Prim who is being denied the opportunity to debate Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff

The Prim and Zinke campaigns had previously both formally committed to the debate, to take place under the sponsorship of Patriots United.  No other organizations, neither the Northwest Herald newspaper nor the League of Women Voters (both of which have been mentioned as possible debate sponsors), have contacted the Prim campaign regarding a debate before the March 18 primary election.  Either of those groups would be fine with him, Prim said.

You got it, Andrew Zinke was caught in another lie. His last lie pertained to his original denial that he did not tip off Brian Goode that he was a person of interest in a DEA investigation concerning tons of marijuana being shipped to Andrew Zinke’s campaign headquarters, the RITA Corporation. At least this lie was not criminal but it did emphasize his lack of character. This was the only debate that was scheduled. He lied about two non-existing debates, because he was fearful in his performance in the debate with Prim and the damage that his run for sheriff would endure. Even though this occurred over the weekend, this story started to take a life of its own. What was fueling the fire was that Andrew Zinke was so fearful to debate Bill Prim. Why would he be fearful? One of Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s cornerstones in his campaign is education, but he failed his Sergeant’s exam scoring very low in the areas of investigations, patrol, and supervision. In a debate it would have been revealed that he has not been promoted out of merit but through cronyism. However that would have not been the worse reveal. In the press release by the Bill Prim camp, they hit on what is worse than a sheriff that is challenged to pass a sergeants exam, and that is his involvement in the alleged corruption of the sheriff’s department.

“Mr. Zinke will have a very hard time defending his decision to give the RITA Corporation, and his political donor, early warning about DEA surveillance of a drug shipment, not to mention the huge budget run-ups in the Sheriff’s Office over the last several years with nothing to show for it.  I expect him to drag his feet regarding debates in order to avoid defending himself on these and other issues.”

Local 150 International Union of Operating Engineers

Other issues could have included his acceptance of $12,000 plus for his campaign from the International Union of Operating Engineers whose leadership has known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime families. You can read more about this in my article  IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop?

That takes us to the following Monday, a story was released by the Northwest Herald about Zinke dishonoring his commitment. You would think in this story they would have confronted Zinke and asked him why he used the Northwest Herald in vain by including them in his lie; but they didn’t. Instead they offered to help bail out Zinke from yet another one of his self-inflicting acts of poor character.  Here is the headline to that article:

Andrew Zinke rejects debate with Bill Prim in sheriff’s race

Does this headline reflect that the man lied to get out of a debate? Instead they offer Andrew Zinke an opportunity to convert from a lie to an excuse that does not hold water. He cited that two Patriot United Board Members have contributed to Bill Prim’s campaign.  In the article Zinke said “What makes you think that I want to go be in a debate for your group when it’s clearly going to be one-sided?”  Keep in mind that Andrew Zinke is running as a Republican. He finds this very Republican forum daunting by his own omission. This is the mission statement of Patriots United from their press release.  Patriots United is a not-for-profit organization founded on five pillars: pro-family, limited government, free market economy, national defense, and choice in education. Dedicated to educating the public on public policy that reflects our conservative Pillars and values, uniting all like-minded citizens, and encouraging individuals to use this knowledge to hold those in the public sector accountable. What is more Republican than that? If he could not find comfort debating in this forum, what forum would he debate in? Maybe Zinke is not really a Republican.

He was part of the Host Committee for a fundraiser for Jack Franks, who is a Democrat and a State Representative; even though there was a Republican candidate. Even still, Jack Franks had successfully participated in a Patriots United sponsored debate. So what is all the lying and excuses really about? It is really about Undersheriff Andrew Zinke lacking in confidence and courage in a debate, fearing the further revelation by the community of McHenry County of his ineptitude, cronyism  promotions, and corrupt character. If Andrew Zinke denies the citizens of McHenry County in seeing their Republican Candidates debate for their betterment of qualifications to become Sheriff of McHenry County; then maybe the citizens of McHenry County should deny him the opportunity of becoming the McHenry County Sheriff.

 

 

 

 

 

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

I have put together some of the articles that I have written that are prevalent for the upcoming election in MARCH!. This is the Republican Nominee election but probably more important than the general election. It is most likely the winner in March will win in November and become sheriff. If you review the articles in the Knowledge Center, you will read all kinds of unbelievable things that pertain to this upcoming sheriff’s election.

Freedom of Information Act Appeal to get the remainder of my father’s file. In my efforts to get to the bottom of my father’s murder and what the McHenry County Sheriff’s office has done to me and my family 33 years ago. I filed a FOIA Request (Freedom of Information Act Request) to get my father’s case file. Many documents were withheld from my request. It is my believe the documents are withheld to protect guilty individuals that are known to Sheriff Keith Nygren and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke that covered up who actually killed my father during the original investigation. Start on page 11 to read what sounds like a murder mystery thriller, but this is my true life. It is backed by FBI reports, witness statements, and newspaper articles.

Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff, Really??? This article is based on my own father’s murder investigation and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke. I talked about how he made his own milestones and failed to meet every single one. How it took me calling NBC News Chicago to get Andrew Zinke to return my phone call about my father’s murder investigation, as he was the lead investigator. I am fighting to get the remainder of my father’s case file. It is my believe that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and the Sheriff Keith Nygren are hiding and protecting individuals that covered up the true killer of my father during the original investigation.

Andrew Zinke plus Rita Corporation equals ON THE TAKE Brian Goode and his RITA Corporation was a person of interest and focal point for the investigation of the distribution of 30 plus tons of marijuana. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke told Brian Goode of the investigation. Two days later, according to Koziol, (Sgt. Koziol was working on the investigation and filed a complaint against Zinke) Goode gave Zinke’s election campaign a $5,000 donation. The RITA Corporation address is the same address as Andrew Zinke’s campaign headquarters.

McHenry County Deputy Zane Seipler under siege, Again!! Zane Seipler is a whistleblowing deputy that was fired by Keith Nygren after he exposed the sheriff’s office for racial profiling. Nygren was forced to hire Seipler back after he lost an arbitration ruling, a court hearing, an appellate court hearing, and a failed attempt to be heard by the Illinois State Supreme Court. After Seipler was hired back, Nygren fired him again. Zane Seipler is currently fighting to get his job back.

Another McHenry County Deputy under siege, Scott Milliman Scott Milliman was a deputy and former right hand man to Sheriff Keith Nygren. He was fired by the sheriff for whistleblowing that the sheriff allegedly transacted in ticket fixing, bribery, general corruption, fraud in a SBA Loan, and in tapping Milliman himself to kill a McHenry County Judge and a Coroner’s Candidate. Scott Milliman is currently fighting to get his job back.

How Gary Gauger got to DEATH ROW This is the real life, tragic story of Gary Gauger. He was falsely arrested and sent to Death Row by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department for the double murder of his parents. Investigators from the sheriff’s department rigged a false confession so that they could convict him.

 

McHenry County Ethics Commission, Ethical or NOT!?!? The McHenry County Ethics Commission conducted a hearing of a complaint filed by Cal Skinner that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke used a government computer for a very politically charged email. The hearing was ran over by Zinke’s attorneys Mark Gummerson and Rebecca Lee. The sign up sheet to speak at the hearing went missing but found in the possession of Rebecca Lee. The commission went into secret session, made its decision, and did so without explanation.

First Electric Newspaper v.s. Sheriff Nygren and EEO Officer Donald Leist Pete Gonigam won a Public Access Bureau (Illinois States Attorney) appeal for the release of a 100 page report conducted by the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. The report exonerated Undersheriff Andrew Zinke after he told Brian Goode that he and his RITA Corporation was a the focal point of a drug investigation by the DEA.

Zinke’s middle finger may cost Cal Skinner $5,000 After filing a valid ethics complaint against Undersheriff Andrew Zinke for using a government computer for his campaign, Cal Skinner was to face Zinke’s attorney Mark Gummerson. Gummerson was lobbying for a $5,000 fine against Skinner filing a valid complaint. An act of bulling and intimidation of a McHenry County citizen.

Will McHenry County be Ripped Off by Special Interest in Sheriff Election? I question the interest and the contribution to Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign from the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 election. I send a letter to the President-Business Manager of the union James M. Sweeney.

IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop? The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 contributes money to Undersheriff’s Andrew Zinke’s campaign. They have known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime Families.

 

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke Shuts Down Cal Skinner’s Blog Site Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign was able to get Cal Skinner’s website, mchenrycountyblog.com shut down by falsely accusing him of stalking and linking to obscene material. Read here on how Zinke’s campaign resorts to breaking the law to silence a citizen’s voice.

 

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Paul Scharff on OUTLAW RADIO with Host Burl Barer

Paul Scharff, son of homicide victim, teams with ex-Mobster Frank Cullotta to seek justice!! listen live Saturday

LISTEN LIVE VIA OUTLAW RADIO SATURDAY 2PM PT/5PM ET!

What would you do if you received a phone call twenty seven years after your father s murder and a friend told you they finally knew who killed him? You would venture forward to bring the criminal to justice and clear the case. However, good guys aren’t always the heroes and bad guys the villains.

Paul Scharff , our guest Saturday 2pm pt/5pm et, found out who killed his father  by reading the book CULLOTTA, by Frank Cullatta and our pal Denny Griffin.

It was Denny who, in one of his early his early appearance on our show, told us the amazing story of an “unsolved” homicide in  McHenry County  Illinois, and how former mobster Frank Cullotta revealed the name of the killer, and the motive, for the murder of two innocent people over 27 years ago.    Cullotta named Larry Neumann as the murderer, Neumann admitted committing the murders because the pub owner, Mr. Scharff, had thrown his ex-wife out of the tavern.

When informed of this information, not only did the McHenry County detectives fail to act, they appeared to go out of their way to attempt to damage Cullotta’s credibility.

These days Scharff’s son, Paul Scharff, is aggressively seeking to have McHenry County officials finally name Neumann as the killer.  Neumann died in prison in January 2007 after a lengthy criminal career that included at least six murders. From the book ‘Cullotta,’ I discovered who killed my father and his barmaid 27 years ago.”

Frank Cullotta says “It’s about damn time! It’s taken them so long it’s ridiculous,” the 70-year-old reformed hoodlum says in his biting Chicago accent. “The kid wants closure, and can you blame him?”

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Undersheriff Andrew Zinke Shuts Down Cal Skinner’s Blog Site

Cal Skinner former McHenry County Treasure and State Representative and current editor of the mchenrycountyblog.com.

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke is fighting it out with Cal Skinner again. This time Skinner alleges that Zinke was able to get his website www.mchenrycountyblog.com taken down for a short period of time on Wednesday December 11th.

What seem to have occurred, was someone working for Zinke’s campaign, contacted Skinner’s host provider to his website. They told the provider that he was in violation of the terms of service by “stalking” Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and linking to an obscene website. I will get to the obscene website here in a second, but let’s address stalking.

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke giving Cal Skinner the finger at the 4th of July Parade in Crystal Lake, IL.

Other than the fact that Cal Skinner’s website was taking down and his Freedom of Speech was momentarily gagged, this is very comical. I am unsure what terms of service was violated on a website were stalking becomes involved and is outside of a criminal complaint. Right when I am convinced that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke is the best thing for Bill Prim’s campaign the scope widens. It appears that under Zinke’s leadership, his poor judgment has effected not only his decisions but now the decisions of those working for him. I am unsure what the angle is on “Stalking.” I don’t get it. I guess it can be likened to a reporter “stalking” the news. It really is the same.

Deputy Zane Seipler

How weak does this man look? He is running for Sheriff, and he wines to webhosting server provider that he is being stalked. What kind of confidence does this give a prospective voter who is on the fence in the McHenry County Sheriff’s race? How much laughter does this provide to his opponent’s supporters? I just have to wonder if pride exists inside a man that is running for sheriff that would make any kind of claim that he was being stalked by a blogger. Sounds scary and frightening for a man that carries a gun on his hip most of the time.

Let’s go to the other alleged charge that Skinner was linking to an obscene website. The obscene website is Zane Seipler’s website http://zinke4sheriff.blogspot.com/. If you don’t know Zane Seipler, he is the whistle blowing deputy that brought to the public’s attention that the McHenry County Sheriff’s office was racial profiling. Sheriff Keith Nygren has fired Seipler in retaliation for his whistle blowing on the sheriff’s office and is currently in another lawsuit to get his job back. He is also running against Zinke for Republican Precinct Committeeman and he is also running for the County Board in District 5. If the Truth is obscene then Zinke is right Zane Seipler website is obscene. Cal Skinner was told that there were couple of articles that Zinke found super offensive.

Letter that Zinke sent to Merit Commission requesting a review without merit his failed Sergeant’s Exam

The first article is Undersheriff Andrew Zinke failing the Sergeant’s Exam. I am sure that he is not finding this ideal when one of his cornerstones in his campaign is Education. It looks worse when you see Zinke’s letter to the Merit Commission (they are responsible for the promotion and discipline of deputies). He asks the Merit Commission to review his test, based on the advice of former Undersheriff Eugene Lowery. He had taken a test, failed, requested a review, and for whatever reason passed. Andrew Zinke was hoping for the same luck or divine right. I personally did not understand not having a basis to request a review for a test. The Merit Commission did respond back letting Zinke know that he had no hope of passing the exam as he scored weak and was graded in the low area of Patrols, Investigation, and Supervision. Again, not the type of letters you would expect in the background of a candidate running on Education as being a strength.

Merit Commission response to Zinke request for review without merit of his failed Sergeant’s Exam

The second article was in reference to the Letters themselves. As a demonstration that the McHenry County Sheriff’s office does not follow the law in processing Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA), Seipler had requested these documents from the sheriff’s office. The requests was for all correspondence that Zinke has had with the Merit Commission going back to 1994, which includes the letters. Seipler matched the letters to the six documents sent back from his FOIA requests and they were excluded. Another confirmation that FOIA requests are not handled based on law but how it serves the interests of those that are supposed to be enforcing the law.

I am surprised that is all that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke mentioned to be offensive on Zane Seipler’s website. On Seipler’s website, he has a lot of information about Undersheriff Andrew Zinke, and the sheriff’s office. Numerous campaign violations, hiding who control’s federal grant money, background on supporters (like Local 150, that I tied to Colombo and Gambino crime family), and other topics to be covered like sexual harassment, the Zacatecas/ Monterey and McHenry Connection, former deputy and pedophile  Greg Pyle, traffic deaths, Sheriff General Order Violations and much, much more. If you want insider information that you will not get anywhere else without being an insider yourself, check out http://zinke4sheriff.blogspot.com. I check it out about one or twice a week.

It has been a rough last six months for Andy Zinke’s and Cal Skinner’s relationship. Things seemed to have started to escalate on the 4th of July this year.  At the Crystal Lake 4th of July Parade Undersheriff Andrew Zinke flipped off Cal Skinner in uniform, while driving a sheriff vehicle, near a church, on a parade route lined with families and children. Then Skinner caught Zinke sending a politically charged email from work, which is a campaign violation and is illegal. Skinner files a complaint with the Ethics Commission advising of the violation. A sham hearing was conducted behind closed doors, and the Good Ol’ Boy network exonerated the child minded Zinke. Then Zinke’s attorney could not bask in the sun on the sham hearing that exonerated his client, so he scheduled a hearing to which he was going to try and levy a $5,000 fine against Skinner. The rationalization of a candidate running for sheriff levying a $5,000 fines against citizens does not help approval numbers in a election; so it was not pursued. Just as when you are thinking that things are on the mend between Zinke and Skinner, man-child Zinke tries to take down Skinner’s website and succeeds in doing so for a little while. Just imagine if Zinke was ever sheriff, what transgressions he could act out against citizens that he did not like then. Maybe something for all of us to seriously ponder about going into the sheriff election.

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Most Sadistic Loan Shark in Chicago Outfit’s History, “Mad Sam” DeStefano

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“Mad Sam” DeStefano in his 30′s

I wrote an article on Frank Cullotta’s boss Tony Spilotro. Tony got connected to the Chicago Outfit at an early age and became part of Sam “Mad Sam” DeStefano’s crew. “Mad Sam” mentored and groomed Tony Spilotro. “Mad Sam” is one of the most sadistic and demented individuals that I have learned about in the Chicago Outfit. It is also said that he may have been a Satanist but I could not get confirmation one way or another.

Sam DeStefano was born on September 13th, 1909 in Streeter, IL. In 1922 Sam’s father, Sam DeStefano Sr. worked as a coal miner. After a violent labor dispute that left 21 miners dead, Sam Sr. moved to Chicago and landed in the “Little Italy” neighborhood on the west side in Chicago. Where Sam was growing up was the Italian ghetto and that is why he looked up to the guys wearing damper suits with wads of cash in their hands, the mobsters.

The 13 year old Sam DeStefano got involved with a local gang called the 42 Gang. They were named after the 42 Café that they hung out at. They wore white fedora hats and were like a farm team for the Chicago Outfit. Sam even brought in his brothers Mario DeStefano and Michael DeStefano. They would commit theft, burglaries, and do some light work for the Chicago Outfit.

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Mario DeStefano, Chicago Outfit Load Shark for his brother “Mad Sam” DeStefano.

“Mad Sam” and his brother Mario were naturals for being criminals. Their brother Michael was cut from a different piece of cloth, but that was their brother. They kept him around and took care of him even though he was not nearly as vicious as either one of his brothers.

On August 19th, 1927 “Mad Sam” had a plan for some entertainment for himself and some other 42 Gang members. He and another member grabbed a teenage girl from a movie theater and brought her into a garage where there was seven other gang members waiting. They were going to rape her. Minutes later the police broke into the garage based on a tip from a witness that seen “Mad Sam” cart the girl off. Sam had been caught but he had not proceeded to rape her so he only got a three year sentence in Statesville Prison. This stint in prison taught him how to be a better criminal.

When he got out he robbed a bank on July 10th, 1933 in Wisconsin. While driving back to Chicago their car broke down. “Mad Sam” was heading back to prison. He was sentenced to another eleven years. When he got out in 1944, it was a different time.

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Paul “the Waiter” Ricca

He was no longer in a country that was going through a Depression but a country that has been industrialized by war. This created opportunities for a criminal like “Mad Sam.” Everyone had to use ration stamps to purchase things like sugar, meat, gasoline, etc. Sam started to work at a print shop that printed out ration stamps. He would print up ration stamps for sugar. He made a lot of money selling the stamps. Things were going well for “Mad Sam.” He met a seamstress named Anita and on February 15th, 1945 they were married. They even had a set of twins that year, and in 1947 they had another daughter.

“Mad Sam’s” luck was about to run out. He was caught when he sold 6,000 stamps to a local distributor. He got a year in Leavenworth Prison. This turned out to be a good thing for “Mad Sam.” He met and became friends with gentleman named Paul “the Waiter” Ricca.

Paul “the Waiter” was a higher echelon Outfit leader. In fact he would have been the boss of the Chicago Outfit after Frank Nitti killed himself, but he was doing time in prison for the Hollywood Extortion case. This is why Tony Accardo took over the Outfit in 1943. In any case Paul “the Waiter” Ricca had significant power and influence over the Chicago Outfit. Ricca was impressed with this 42 Gang graduate. He took “Mad Sam” under his wing and he schooled him in the Outfit’s rackets.

In 1948 he was back on the street as a “Juice” loan operator. He was 39 years old starting his mob career late, but as a “Juice” loan operator he was going to make up for lost time.

“Juice” or loan sharking is the interest that you get on making loans. People would get “Juice” loans when banks would not lend them money because they are not creditworthy, or too much risk in the loan for a bank, or the money was going to be used for something illegal, or any other reason that you could not go to a bank to get money. The interest on these types of loans is real high. There are no late charges assessed when someone is late with their loan payments. They are usually beat down, or assets taken, or wind up dead.

Since Sam hung out with criminals, he had plenty of clients for his loan sharking business. He even started to branch out by offering a new service of fixing court cases for a price. He would go and bribe the cop that brought forth the charges against his client. If he could not get the cop on a bribe then he would approach the judge. It even got to the point that crooked cops would drop off people that they arrested over to “Mad Sam’s” house so they could get some of the bribe money.

This is Frank Cullotta pictured in 2012.

Frank Cullotta tells a story about the one time that he was with “Mad Sam.” Frank thinks that he just needs to talk to his lawyer, so they go to the lawyer’s office. Sam started yelling and screaming at this lawyer because he did not take care of a guy on a case like he said that he would. He started calling him names, grabbing him, and threatening the lawyer. “Mad Sam” zips down his pants and starts to urinate on the lawyer. The lawyer thanks “Mad Sam” for not killing him on the way out. Frank cannot believe that this really happened.

“Mad Sam” had one the biggest, if not the biggest loan shark business in the 50’s in Chicago. Sam brings his brothers into the business. His brother Mario was an excellent associate because he was almost as sick as “Mad Sam.” His brother Michael was a softy comparatively to his brothers. With all the money that was coming in for the brothers, Michael developed a problem. He started to use heroin. This got back to the Chicago Outfit and the Outfit called in “Mad Sam.” they told him that his brother Michael had to go.

On September 17th, 1955 the Chicago Police received a strange tip, a location of a fresh body in a car’s trunk. What is strange is that with a gangland shootings the bodies are found by unsuspecting people. When found, Michael was shot in the body but not in the head. The body was cleaned up and was made sure to be found early.

“Mad Sam” enjoyed his line of work. The fact that he was probably bringing in around a million dollars a year on “juice” loans, was not his favorite part. His favorite part was collecting the debts when people didn’t or couldn’t pay. He liked torturing people.

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William “Action” Jackson

On March 28th, 1960 was a warm spring day that washed down the last of the winter snow. Sanitation workers were doing routine work on the city’s sewer system. They found a body that was still frozen in the sewer. It was of Arthur Adler, a local restaurant owner of the Trade Winds on Rush Street in Chicago. He had gone missing two months earlier and was affiliated with the Outfit. He was in debt with “Mad Sam.” It is believed that he found his way into “Mad Sam’s” basement. Unfortunately for “Mad Sam,” but fortunate for Arthur Adler, his heart gave out when he was being choked by Sam. When word got to now deceased FBI agent William Roemer that Arthur Adler owed money to “Mad Sam,” Roemer paid a visit to DeStefano at his Elmwood Park home. Roemer was led into the living room and “Mad Sam” made his way down wearing his pajama bottoms. As Roemer sat in a chair “Mad Sam” started prancing in front of him with his penis hanging out of his pajama bottoms. Roemer could not take it anymore and shouted at DeStefano, “You killed Art Adler, didn’t you?” “Mad Sam” shouted for his family to come into the living room. DeStefano acted outraged at the accusation and said something to the effect of this being true, may my family and me be struck with cancer. Roemer not wanting to give up on DeStefano, kept on going back to his house. “Mad Sam” would make him wait in the kitchen while DeStefano’s wife would serve Roemer coffee. What Roemer did not know at the time but later found out was “Mad Sam” was urinating in the coffee that Roemer was drinking.

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The Murder of William “Action” Jackson Newspaper Clipping

“Mad Sam’s” business grew. He had others collecting and making loans for him. DeStefano had to keep on top of those owing “juice” and those collecting “juice.” One collector of “Mad Sam’s” was William “Action” Jackson. He was a big guy and people did not want to fool with him. If anyone refused to pay, he could send “Action Jackson.” It got back to “Mad Sam” that “Action Jackson” may be tipping off the FBI. Instead of taking any chances, they kidnapped him and brought him down to a meat packing plant. They tortured him for three days before his heart gave out. It is not completely clear how he was tortured but this is considered to be one the worst mafia torture/hits known today. He was hit bats and hammers in hands, knee caps, and groin. He was assaulted with a cattle prod to the rectum and genitals. “Action” was then hung by a meat hook from his rectum, while a blow torch was taken to his genitals. He was shot and jabbed with an ice pick. It is incredible that one human being could endure any of this not less all of this and live for three days. The crew involved in torturing Jackson would laugh on wire taps when talking about how long it took “Action” to die. “Action” Jackson was not working with the Feds.

In November of 1963 “Mad Sam” went to visit a real estate agent that also lent money for DeStefano on the side. His name was Leo Foreman. He started to lend money to people to buy houses, but he came up short a few times. When “Mad Sam” confronted him, Leo got upset and threw Sam out of his office. Coming up short and now disrespecting the most maniacal loan shark in Chicago, Foreman was in trouble.

Leo Foreman was kidnapped by Mario DeStefano and brought back to his basement where Mario, Sam, Chuckie Grimaldi, and Tony Spilotro tortured the man. They smashed his body, knee caps, his hands, and genitals with a hammer and bat. They sliced pieces of his skin off his body and stabbed him 20 times with an ice pick. When “Mad Sam” was satisfied with the torturing of Foreman, he shot him in the head and placed him in the trunk of an abandoned car. Increasing “Mad Sam’s” reputation in the streets that is you owe “juice” to this loan shark, that he must be paid or else.

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“Mad Sam” and is wife Anita DeStefano

“Mad Sam’s” perverse antics were not limited to the streets. His wife Anita made DeStefano upset. He went to a bus stop and kidnapped a man by gunpoint to take back to his house. At gunpoint, he made his wife and the man have sex with each other while he watched. Afterwards when the man was let go, he ran to the cops. The cops did not believe his story until the man told him to look into “Mad Sam’s” car and found his lunchbox.

DeStefano was running an excellent business and his loan sharking work only continued to grow. However, he was becoming more and more unpredictable with his behavior. He was starting to give interviews to the press. He even pulled out a wad of cash on camera asking “I don’t need a loan, I got a lot of money. Maybe the President of the United States would like to borrow some money from me.” This was starting to put a riff between him and the Outfit leadership.

In 1963 Frank Cullotta was at a steakhouse and bar with a friend. “Mad Sam” was at the same steakhouse and bar with a friend of his. They acknowledge each other with a nod. “Mad Sam” was in an argument with a woman. After some yelling from both, “Mad Sam” got up and grabbed the woman and pushed her into the bathroom where he raped her. Both came back out of the bathroom with the woman crying, and they both went back to the bar. She did not call the cops or furthermore made a scene. Frank Cullotta was shocked by what just happened but he knew better to just keep quiet and ignore what had just transpired.

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“Mad Sam” DeStefano on Ambulance Gurney Outside of Court

The Feds were now hot on DeStefano. They would question him for anything that would happen in the neighborhood. The Feds eventually would charge him for voting in an election. He was a convicted felon and should not be allowed to vote. On May 4th, 1964 he was summoned to court. He made a huge spectacle out of the hearing. He would show up in pajamas while he was being wheeled around in a wheelchair or on an ambulance gurney. He was representing himself in this case. The judge refused him to represent himself. That is when “Mad Sam” started yelling and screaming in the court. When the judge told him to be quiet, “Mad Sam” yelled back “I’ll show you how quiet I can be.” He pulled out a bullhorn and started screaming in the bull horn. This incident earned him his first charge of contempt of court. Even though “Mad Sam” had a case going on, he still needed to mind his business on the street.

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Peter Cappelletti, a loan shark for “Mad Sam” DeStefano

Peter Cappelletti was one of DeStefano’s collectors. He made a huge mistake of stealing $25,000 from “Mad Sam” and headed to Milwaukee. “Mad Sam,” his brother Mario, and Chuckie Grimaldi headed to Milwaukee and found him. They beat him and through him in the trunk of the car and drove back to Chicago. He was pleading for his life all the way back to Chicago. They took him to the basement of Mario’s restaurant. They stripped him down naked, tortured him, and urinated on him as he was handcuffed to a heater. This went on for three days. Finally Peter screamed that he would pay DeStefano double if he would let him live. Surprisingly, “Mad Sam” agreed to this idea. Instead of letting him go right away, “Mad Sam” arranged for a party at Mario’s restaurant. He invited Peter Cappelletti’s family. While they were all eating and drinking around the table, Cappelletti was brought up tied naked to a chair and was thrown at his mother’s feet. “You ought to thank me, he is still living,” “Mad Sam” said to his mother. It was said that “Mad Sam” may have had family members urinate on Peter. The family came up with the $50,000 the following week.

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“Mad Sam” in Court

“Mad Sam’s” voting trial continued until it was three weeks later. The jury could not come to a decision of whether he was guilty or not; or they were just all too afraid. The judge declared a mistrial, a victory for “Mad Sam;” sort of. While he was in court, he managed to get three charges of contempt in the courtroom. The judge gave him a year for each charge of contempt. “Mad Sam” sees himself back in prison for the first time in 20 years. He is serving three years in a case that would have had him serving no time at all if it wasn’t for his outlandish antics.

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“Mad Sam” in Prison

When Sam got out, he was back on the streets overseeing his criminal enterprise. As DeStefano moved into the 1970’s a couple of things would cause big problems for him. Chuckie Grimaldi got busted and he had turned government witness. He was there with “Mad Sam”, Mario DeStefano, and Tony Spilotro when they tortured and killed Leo Foreman. To make things worse Paul “the Waiter” Ricca passed away on October 11th, 1972. He was the only thing that was preventing “Mad Sam” for getting hit by the Outfit for all of his antics and living in the public eye. He had the attention of the law enforcement, the media, and even the public was familiar with all the antics of “Mad Sam” DeStefano.

Just as anticipated “Mad Sam” DeStefano, his brother Mario, and Tony Spilotro were all arrested for the murder of Leo Foreman. “Mad Sam” is back in the courtroom and giving interviews to the press. When a reporter asked “Mad Sam” about his brother, he lost it as usual and went into a rage. He told the reporter, “Touch me but don’t touch my brother. I don’t like it when you touch my brother. Don’t look cross-eyed at my brother. Then I became what they call me, a raving maniac. Do I make myself clear? ” It is unfortunate for Michael DeStefano that “Mad Sam” did not seem to feel the same away about him as he did for his brother Mario and killed him.  After this first display, Outfit Boss Tony Accardo said “Mad Sam” has to go.

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“Mad Sam” DeStefano in the 1970′s

Once Tony Accardo put the word out they tapped the best man for the job. They tapped his brother Mario DeStefano to kill “Mad Sam.” On April 14th, 1973 Mario contacted his brother and told him that they figured out where they were keeping Chuckie Grimaldi. “Mad Sam” was seething at the chance to torture and kill Chuckie, just as Mario and Tony planned. Mario DeStefano and Tony Spilotro headed over to “Mad Sam’s” house. Mario got out of the car first and started to approach his brother, with Tony Spilotro following behind Mario, to hide a double barrel pump shotgun. Mario jumps out of the way between Tony and his brother; Tony raises the shotgun and pulls the trigger. With the first shot he almost tears off “Mad Sam’s” arm. He pumps the shotgun quickly again and fires; this time giving the final and fatal shot to “Mad Sam.” “Mad Sam” DeStefano was lying dead on his garage floor, bleeding out with his arm almost decapitated from his body. The most sadistic associate in the Chicago Outfit history is dead on April 14th, 1973. No one was ever charged for the murder of “Mad Sam.”

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