By Rob Olmstead
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Rosemont Mayor Donald E. Stephens met with mobsters in 1999 to discuss what contracts at a Rosemont-based casino would be controlled by the mob, an FBI agent testified Monday.

The allegations were immediately denied by Rosemont’s attorney, who said Stephens was in Wisconsin on the weekend in question.

The allegation came at the Illinois Gaming Board’s license-revocation hearing for Emerald Casino. The gaming board called FBI Supervisory Special Agent John M. Mallul, who testified a 30-year mob informant told the agency Stephens sat down with five “made” members of organized crime and two mob associates at Armand’s Restaurant in Elmwood Park on May 29, 1999.

At the meeting were John “No Nose” DiFronzo, Peter DiFronzo, Joey “The Clown” Lombardo, Joseph “The Builder” Andriachi and Rudy Fratto, all of whom Mallul identified as members of organized crime, according to the testimony. Also present, Mallul said, were “mob associates” William Messino and Rick Rissoulo.

“One of the topics of discussion (at the meeting) concerned a casino in Rosemont, Illinois, and LCN (La Cosa Nostra, or mob) control of various contracts regarding its construction and operation,” Mallul testified.

Donald E. Stephens

Mallul said Stephens’ son-in-law also attended the meeting, but he had trouble naming that son-in-law when cross-examined by Emerald attorney John T. Karnezis. He at first mentioned “Vollmer,” the last name of Gail Stephens’ then-husband. But later, he mentioned another name, Billy Anderson.

“That shows how (expletive) reliable he is,” Rosemont attorney Bob Stephenson said, adding Billy Anderson is Rosemont’s public safety officer and has never been married to Stephens’ daughter.

Don Stephens and his daughter were estranged from Vollmer at the time of the alleged meeting and weren’t even speaking, Stephenson said.

“The mayor was in Lake Delevan, Wisconsin (May 29, 1999), and I can prove it,” Stephenson said.

On May 28, Stephens was meeting in Wisconsin with several people, including Rosemont attorney Peter Rosenthal and a developer from the John Buck company, Stephenson said. Asked who could vouch for Stephens’ whereabouts on May 29, Stephenson said, “I assume family members” and possibly a caretaker.

In other testimony Monday, Emerald investor Vito Salamone claimed Fifth Amendment privilege and refused to answer questions regarding an alleged secret partnership between himself and others in the casino.

Salamone, Mallul testified, is a mob associate. After his appearance on the stand, Salamone emerged briefly from the courtroom but ducked back in when he spied a newspaper photographer. He went out a back door of the courtroom and emerged by the elevators with his face covered by a folder. Finally, he turned to the stairwell to leave unphotographed.

Also called to the stand was Jeff Suspenzi, son of Rocco Suspenzi, the chairman of Parkway Bank. Rocco Suspenzi, the gaming board charges, was a secret investor in the casino along with Salamone. As his father did weeks ago, Jeff Suspenzi also took the Fifth.

In other developments, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Sophia Hall ruled the gaming board did not defy her June 9 order that said the body had to renew and relocate Emerald’s casino license to Rosemont.

Under Hall’s order, the gaming board on June 29 issued a four-year casino license to Emerald effective beginning in 1999, then declared it expired in 2003 and refused to renew it. Rosemont and the casino appealed, claiming the action was contrary to the court’s intent.

“The Board points out that Emerald can apply for the renewal of its license, and, then, pursuant to the Illinois Administrative Procedures Act, … Emerald could operate under their license, right now, until such time as the Board rules on the application,” Hall wrote.

It is doubtful Emerald, which is in bankruptcy, would be able to operate a casino, particularly since a facility has not been constructed in Rosemont yet.

Rosemont said it will appeal the decision.