Last of 63 tapes played at Cicero police chief's trial

Last of 63 tapes played at Cicero police chief's trial

By Matt O'Connor
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 15, 2002

Federal prosecutors Thursday finished playing the last of 63 undercover recordings in the theft and bribery trial of a former Cicero police chief and two reputed mob figures.

The recordings, the result of undercover work by private detective Sam Rovetuso, are a crucial part of the government case.

The charges allege that in 1995 Emil Schullo, then Cicero's public safety director, pocketed kickbacks of 10 percent to steer almost $76,000 in investigative work to co-defendants Michael A. Spano Sr. and James Inendino.

The tapes took on even more significance after Rovetuso, a convicted felon, died of leukemia in 1999.

In one tape played Thursday in U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo's courtroom, Rovetuso told Inendino that Schullo's cut from the scheme totaled almost $11,800.

Inendino appeared surprised, saying, "He made more than us?"

On Thursday, lawyers for the three defendants cross-examined the case's chief investigator, IRS Special Agent William Paulin.

Inendino's lawyer, Raymond J. Smith, tried to suggest that Peter Volpe, at the time a Berwyn police detective and a Spano relative, might have conned Rovetuso into thinking the money went to Schullo and instead pocketed the cash himself.

But Castillo agreed with prosecutors that the question was speculative.

Spano's lawyer, Alexander Salerno, raised questions about the fact that agents didn't conduct surveillance of Volpe after he received the cash payouts from Rovetuso to see if, as authorities alleged, he then delivered the money to Spano and Inendino.

According to Paulin's testimony, Spano and Inendino were so concerned about federal surveillance that they had Rovetuso sweep their cars for bugs.

In January 1996, their concerns apparently grew because of sudden heat on Inendino. The undercover Operation Silver Shovel probe of City Hall corruption had become public a few days earlier, and Inendino had been reported to be one target. He was never charged as part of that investigation.

But according to a tape played Thursday in court, Volpe chose to meet Rovetuso on Jan. 12, 1996, in a Berwyn hair salon because of the security concerns.

"Um, the reason I wanted to meet in here, like I said, was I can't talk in my car either," Volpe told Rovetuso in the recording. "Obviously things are a little warm."

Moments later, Volpe said, "It's almost doing that bunker mentality, you know what I mean? Just be real careful, be real careful in where we talk."