By Matt O'Connor
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 30, 2002

Federal prosecutors alleged for the first time Monday that former Chicago Police Deputy Supt. William Hanhardt acted as a go-between in a would-be mob hit in 1996.

But Hanhardt's lawyers maintained he had actually tried to be a peacemaker in a business dispute between former partners in a multimillion-dollar gambling operation.

The allegation came in the first day of a sentencing hearing for Hanhardt, 73, a legendary former chief of detectives who pleaded guilty in October to running what prosecutors called one of the most successful jewelry theft rings in the country.

As the sentencing hearing continues Tuesday, prosecutors are expected to try to link Hanhardt to a crime that wasn't part of the indictment--a strong-arm robbery of a jewelry salesman in a Brookfield, Wis., hotel room in 1995.

At Monday's hearing, the salesman, Eshagh Kashimallak, recounted how two masked men surprised him as he entered his hotel room and then beat and bound him before fleeing with some $750,000 in diamonds and jewels from a vest and a pouch he wore under his clothing.

On cross-examination, a defense lawyer hammered hard at alleged inconsistencies in Kashimallak's account of the holdup over the years and suggested Kashimallak staged the whole thing.

Kashimallak said he and his brother claimed a loss of $750,000 from the theft on their corporate tax return for 1995.

If U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle Sr. finds Hanhardt responsible for the holdup, Hanhardt, who already is facing up to 12 1/2 years in prison, could be hit with as much as 10 additional years in prison, his lawyers have said.

In an unusual turn Monday, Norgle ruled that Hanhardt could also be eligible for a stiffer sentence because of his attempted suicide last October just before he entered his guilty plea.

Hanhardt's suicide attempt amounted to obstruction of justice in that he "willfully impeded prosecution of his case," the judge held.

Monday's hearing started with a bombshell from prosecutors--allegations Hanhardt interceded with an organized crime leader in a plot to have the former partner of a gambling boss killed.

In March 1996, Ivan Mindlin, identified by the FBI as the leader of a gambling organization, allegedly hired an individual to kill Ronald D. Hirchhorn, a former partner whom Mindlin accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from him, according to prosecutors.

But the would-be hit man was cooperating with the FBI and backed out of the murder-for-hire scheme, authorities said. At that point, authorities said, Arthur Richard Stevens, a close associate and friend of Hanhardt's who at the time was working in Mindlin's bookmaking operation in Venezuela, introduced Hanhardt to Mindlin, authorities said.

According to prosecutors, Hanhardt made numerous phone calls, including some to Rudy Fratto, identified by authorities as a lieutenant in the Chicago mob's Elmwood Park street crew. Hanhardt, Fratto and Mindlin also met at O'Hare International Airport at least twice.

At one point, prosecutors said, Mindlin sent a picture of Hirchhorn to Hanhardt and two weeks later, Hanhardt told Stevens "this thing with Hirchhorn was going to pop this week."

As part of its investigation of Hanhardt's jewelry theft ring, the FBI had wiretapped Hanhardt's phones and learned of his overtures to Fratto and others on the subject.

According to the court filing, the FBI's "interpretation" of the calls and meetings was that Mindlin had turned to Fratto to have Hirchhorn killed, with Hanhardt essentially acting as a middleman.

But Jeffrey Steinback, one of Hanhardt's lawyers, strongly disputed the government's conclusions, saying it was Hirchhorn who had threatened to kill Mindlin in a late-night call to Mindlin's wife.

Quoting from a tape-recorded conversation with Hanhardt, Steinback argued in court that Mindlin wanted someone to talk to one of Hirchhorn's associates because "this situation has to be resolved fairly and amicably."

Through contacts he made during 33 years as a cop, Hanhardt contacted Fratto to intervene in the business dispute, not to kill Hirchhorn, Steinback said.

"Do you see Mr. Hanhardt as a peacemaker?" Judge Norgle asked.

"Yes, I do, your honor," Steinback replied.

Steinback called the government's version "speculation based on an interpretation that I don't think is borne out by the transcripts" of the tapes.

Norgle held that there were "numerous negative inferences" to draw from Hanhardt's involvement in the incident, but when he imposes sentence, the judge said he won't conclude Hanhardt was involved in a would-be hit.

But Hanhardt was "counseling and assisting organized crime" in connection with criminal conduct, Norgle concluded.

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