Brutal mobster Infelise dies in prison at 82

July 26, 2005

BY STEVE WARMBIR Staff Reporter

Ernest Rocco Infelise rose to the heights of the Chicago mob with a combination of brutality and ruthlessness unequaled by few of his peers, investigators say.

Those same qualities landed him in federal prison for 63 years, where he died last week, authorities said Monday.

Infelise, 82, was once the third-ranking mobster in the Chicago area.

He was hit with effectively a life sentence in 1993 after a lengthy federal trial in which he and other members of his crew were convicted of conspiring to murder bookmaker Hal Smith, who refused to pay a $6,000-a-month mob street tax. Infelise was also convicted on charges related to running an illegal sports bookmaking operation and tax crimes.

Mob bookie William Jahoda, who turned federal witness, secretly tape recorded Infelise and others talking about the Smith murder. The testimony of Jahoda, who died in May last year, was critical to the federal case.

Ernest Rocco Infelise came across as a feisty tough guy at his trial more than a decade ago.

Infelise and his colleagues would talk about murder "like you would discuss the Sox game last night. That was what made it so chilling," recalled retired IRS Special Agent Thomas Moriarty, who is credited with flipping Jahoda for the feds.

Jahoda taped some conversations with Infelise while Jahoda was in the high-rise Chicago apartment that the feds had set him up in. Jahoda had a constant fear that if he were caught taping, Infelise would throw him off the balcony.

Infelise died Thursday in a federal prison medical center on a decommissioned military base at Fort Devens, about 40 miles west of Boston, authorities said. The Massachusetts State Medical Examiner would not release his cause of death late Monday. Infelise was transferred to the medical center on March 8 from the federal prison in El Reno, Okla., records show.

At trial more than a decade ago, Infelise came across as a feisty tough guy, ready for battle, unlike many aging mobsters who often gripe about their health or appear feeble. His wife, Ann, was often in the courtroom to observe, dressed in the best fashion.

"The whole time Jahoda testified, [Rocco Infelise] just glowered at him," said William Paulin, an IRS special agent who investigated Infelise.

Even after Infelise was convicted, he lashed into the judge, telling then U.S. District Court Judge Ann C. Williams that "I really don't think we had a fair trial, your honor, from Day One."

Contributing: Stella Foster