Hearing details FBI casino mob allegations

For the first time in public, FBI reports were laid out in hearings Wednesday detailing how investigators believe two investors in a proposed Rosemont casino are linked to the mob.

The FBI reports were admitted in the state's case for revoking the gaming license of Emerald Casino.

The Illinois Gaming Board accuses Emerald of selling shares in a proposed Rosemont casino to two investors - Nick Boscarino and Joseph Salamone - it claims are mob-connected without notifying the board beforehand.

The casino's lawyers fired right back Wednesday, objecting to the admission of the reports and arguing that nothing occurred that should cost Emerald the license.

Emerald attorney Bob Clifford contended that Emerald notified the IGB of the proposed investors and clearly said in writing they were tentative, still subject to approval by the gaming board. No regulation prevented the casino from taking money for the shares before the board approved, he said.

Administrative Law Judge Abner Mikva allowed a witness to read into the record FBI memos that make the mob allegations even though the documents also note that not every accusation in them has been verified or corroborated. Mikva allowed the reports because Illinois gaming law has a much lower standard of proof when assessing an applicant's character, he ruled.

"Nick Boscarino appears to be, at the very least, a close associate of a number of Chicago LCN members," read Sergio Acosta, the former administrator of the Illinois Gaming Board from the FBI reports. LCN stands for La Cosa Nostra.

In particular, the report said, Boscarino was linked with William Daddano Jr. through their business, SBD Services Incorporated. Daddano is the son of a former mob boss and an alleged mob associate.

Boscarino, the gaming board alleges, was the real investor behind the Sherri Boscarino Trust that invested in the casino. He supplied the $1.5 million for the trust - the entire investment amount, gaming board attorney Mike Fries noted as he produced a promissory note documenting the transaction.

Boscarino, who was recently sentenced on a conviction of defrauding the village of Rosemont out of insurance money, has always denied mob links.

Another investor, Joseph Salamone, is the brother of Vito Salamone, and the two are linked not just by blood, but by partnership in three businesses, the report said. FBI reports read Wednesday "indicate he (Vito) is close with members and associates of the LCN," read Acosta.

In particular, the report charged, DeMarco Restaurant owned by Vito Salamone at Lake Street and Route 53 in Addison "is known to the FBI as being a meeting place of members and associates of the LCN."

In addition, Vito Salamone is "close" to Frank Rappa and Marco D'Amico, the report charged. D'Amico is a bookmaker, the report said, and Rappa, it said, was affiliated with the mob both here and in Sicily and dealt cocaine. He left the Chicago area in 1967 but returned in 1984. At the same time he returned, the report noted, there was a marked increase in Sicilian cocaine dealers in Elmwood Park, Addison and Itasca. In 1971, Rappa was arrested at Kennedy Airport in New York with 80 kilograms of heroin, the report noted.

Also, Acosta testified, initially Vito Salamone was down on casino records submitted to the IGB as a potential investor. Later, he was removed and his brother Joseph was substituted.

An inspection of an original contract noted that the typed word "Vito" was blacked out and "Joseph" written in to replace it. The inference gaming board attorneys were trying to make was that Joseph would be more likely to be deemed acceptable to the gaming board.

Clifford hammered at that notion, insinuating that if they really wanted to cover Vito's involvement, they would have done more than just cross out a name.

"They didn't do a particularly good job, did they?" Clifford asked Acosta.

The Salamone brothers have denied any links to the mob.

Clifford also tried to show that the Illinois Gaming Board applied differing standards when it came to requiring that casinos notify the IGB before any ownership shares or money changed hands.

When Emerald notified the IGB that statutorily required minority shareholders had already been given shares and money exchanged hands, the IGB had no objection, Clifford noted.

Acosta said that was because he wasn't aware the minority investors' money hadn't been placed in escrow.

And where, Clifford asked, did gaming board rules or practices require potential investors' money be put in escrow? Acosta conceded there was no such rule or history.

Reports: Gaming board members say investor names changed because of mob ties

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