Published March 23, 2002

CICERO -- Closing arguments are scheduled for next week after testimony ended Friday in the federal trial in Chicago of Emil Schullo, Cicero's former public safety director, and two reputed mob chieftains.

The defense presented only one witness, a private investigator whose testimony was intended to show that hourly rates Schullo paid for investigative work in the mid-1990s were actually below the then-going rate.

Schullo is on trial on charges he steered a nearly $76,000 contract to an investigative firm secretly controlled by reputed Cicero mob boss Michael A. Spano Sr. in return for kickbacks of 10 percent. Prosecutors allege Spano jacked up the hourly rates to cover the kickback.

U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo scheduled closing arguments for Monday. On trial with Schullo and Spano is James Inendino.