Charles Panici
Encyclopedia
Charles "Chuck" Panici is the former mayor
of Chicago Heights, Illinois
. He served from 1975 to 1991. He was also head of the Bloom Township
Republican Party
from 1978 to 1992. He was born in 1930 in the “Hungry Hill” section of Chicago Heights, a south suburb, which was the home to mainly Italian immigrants in a heavily Italian town. His parents operated "Three Star Restaurant", a popular hangout for many neighborhood residents.
. In 1979, Panici won again, with his entire city council slate of John Gliottoni, Louise Marshall and Eugene Sadus winning re-election. They were joined by Nicholas C. "Nick" LoBue, and all five won easy victories in 1983 and 1987. His administration was responsible for bringing Lake Michigan water to Chicago Heights after residents had complained for years about poor water quality. Several municipal buildings were also built during his tenure, including a new City Hall, police station and library.
Beginning in 1978, Panici was the Bloom Township Republican Committeeman. With a patronage army that spanned all levels of city and township government, Panici built the party into the most powerful Republican organization in Illinois. During Panici's time as Bloom's Republican leader, the township consistently turned out one of the highest Republican vote totals in the Chicago suburbs. This made the Bloom GOP one of the most powerful political organizations in Illinois
. The party backed winning candidates in every city, park district, school district and township race during the 1980s. Because of the Republican vote totals in Bloom Township, Panici was also responsible for fostering the political careers of numerous local officials, state legislators and judge
s during that time. He was instrumental in the campaigns of Governor
Jim Thompson
. The party became so powerful that Bloom Township High School hosted President Ronald Reagan
in 1986 and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush
in 1988. Panici also forged alliances with Democrats, and was partly responsible for bringing former Cook County
Democratic chairman Edward Vrdolyak
to the county's Republican party. Panici also organized a crossover vote in 1992 to defeat former congressman Gus Savage
in the Democratic primary. Panici co-founded Telecommunication Services (TCS) with two other Chicago Heights entrepreneurs, and the company grew rapidly during the 1980s and early 1990s, serving many of the area's hospitals and other businesses.
Albert Tocco
of Chicago Heights was indicted
for a wide range of crimes, including racketeering, murder, extortion
, and arson. He was also implicated by his wife in the murder of Anthony Spilotro
, which was depicted in the movie Casino. Although he was never charged with the Spilotro killing, he would be convicted on many other charges in 1990 and sentenced to 200 years in prison. During the trial, LoBue's name was mentioned along with another Panici ally, former South Chicago Heights mayor Donald Prisco. Testimony alleged that LoBue and Prisco were accepting bribe money from Tocco in exchange for their help in keeping the garbage-hauling license for both cities in the hands of Tocco's Chicago Heights Disposal. This led federal investigators to open a wide-ranging probe of public corruption in Chicago Heights. City Street Department superintendent Ernest Molyneaux pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in 1990 and cooperated with the investigation, leading to the indictments of LoBue and Prisco later that year. The two were charged with multiple racketeering violations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO). The investigation also led to the indictments of several other city officials on charges of bribery, tax evasion
and other crimes. Under this cloud of controversy, Panici chose not to seek re-election as mayor in 1991. His hand-picked successor, Douglas Troiani, won an easy victory against Sadus, who had split with the party.
In March 1992, two weeks after the death of his wife, Panici was indicted along with Gliottoni and Marshall on federal charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery. He was also charged separately with witness tampering
for directing a witness to lie to investigators. The indictment charged that the group extorted more than $700,000 in kickbacks from businesses in return for city contracts. Panici stepped down from his post as township Republican committeeman after the indictment. LoBue and Prisco each pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and agreed to testify against the others. LoBue would tell a federal jury that nearly every major city contractor paid kickbacks to city council members. He claimed that Panici was responsible for orchestrating the schemes. LoBue testified that Panici decided how much bribe money would be required to secure each contract, and who would receive the payoffs. One of these schemes involved monthly payments from Tocco to LoBue and Panici. Prisco and lifelong Panici friend Ralph Galderio, a former city employee, also testified that Panici was involved in bribery and received significantly reduced sentences in return for their testimony. Panici was accused of personally taking nearly $260,000 in bribes during his 16 years as mayor.
Panici, Gliottoni and Marshall were convicted in 1993 on all charges. Panici was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Gliottoni to five years, six months and Marshall to four years. Over the next several years, other Panici allies would also head to prison. Bloom Township Supervisor Robert Grossi was sentenced to four years in prison in 1996 for misusing township funds, and former Chicago Heights Deputy Police Chief Sam Mangialardi would get a 10½ year sentence for his 1995 conviction on charges that he accepted $10,000 monthly payments to protect the city's top drug dealer. Panici was not involved in either case.
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Chicago Heights, Illinois
Chicago Heights, Illinois
Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 31,373 at the 2005 census. Chicago Heights is nicknamed 'Crossroads of the Nation'.-History:...
. He served from 1975 to 1991. He was also head of the Bloom Township
Bloom Township, Cook County, Illinois
Bloom Township is one of thirty townships in Cook County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 93,901.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, Bloom Township covers an area of ; of this, is land and is water.-Cities, towns, villages:* Chicago Heights*...
Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
from 1978 to 1992. He was born in 1930 in the “Hungry Hill” section of Chicago Heights, a south suburb, which was the home to mainly Italian immigrants in a heavily Italian town. His parents operated "Three Star Restaurant", a popular hangout for many neighborhood residents.
Political career
Panici began his political career in the early 1970s as President of the Chicago Heights Park District. In 1975, he put together a coalition ticket and easily defeated the incumbent mayor. His Concerned Citizens ticket won three of the four seats on the city councilCity council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
. In 1979, Panici won again, with his entire city council slate of John Gliottoni, Louise Marshall and Eugene Sadus winning re-election. They were joined by Nicholas C. "Nick" LoBue, and all five won easy victories in 1983 and 1987. His administration was responsible for bringing Lake Michigan water to Chicago Heights after residents had complained for years about poor water quality. Several municipal buildings were also built during his tenure, including a new City Hall, police station and library.
Beginning in 1978, Panici was the Bloom Township Republican Committeeman. With a patronage army that spanned all levels of city and township government, Panici built the party into the most powerful Republican organization in Illinois. During Panici's time as Bloom's Republican leader, the township consistently turned out one of the highest Republican vote totals in the Chicago suburbs. This made the Bloom GOP one of the most powerful political organizations in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The party backed winning candidates in every city, park district, school district and township race during the 1980s. Because of the Republican vote totals in Bloom Township, Panici was also responsible for fostering the political careers of numerous local officials, state legislators and judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s during that time. He was instrumental in the campaigns of Governor
Governor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
Jim Thompson
James R. Thompson
James Robert Thompson, Jr. , also known as Big Jim Thompson, was the 37th and longest serving Governor of the US state of Illinois...
. The party became so powerful that Bloom Township High School hosted President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in 1986 and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
in 1988. Panici also forged alliances with Democrats, and was partly responsible for bringing former Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
Democratic chairman Edward Vrdolyak
Edward Vrdolyak
Edward Robert Vrdolyak is a noted Chicago lawyer and politician and a convicted felon. He was a powerful longtime Chicago Alderman and also head of the Cook County Democratic Party before running unsuccessfully for Mayor of Chicago as a Republican...
to the county's Republican party. Panici also organized a crossover vote in 1992 to defeat former congressman Gus Savage
Gus Savage
Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage is a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois....
in the Democratic primary. Panici co-founded Telecommunication Services (TCS) with two other Chicago Heights entrepreneurs, and the company grew rapidly during the 1980s and early 1990s, serving many of the area's hospitals and other businesses.
FBI investigation
In 1988, south suburban mob bossMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
Albert Tocco
Albert Tocco
Albert Tocco , also known as "Caesar" , was a high ranking member of the Chicago Outfit during the 1970s and '80s. He allegedly controlled the rackets on the South Side of Chicago, the south suburbs, and parts of Northern Indiana...
of Chicago Heights was indicted
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
for a wide range of crimes, including racketeering, murder, extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
, and arson. He was also implicated by his wife in the murder of Anthony Spilotro
Anthony Spilotro
Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro was an Italian-American mobster and enforcer for the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. His job was to protect and oversee the Outfit's illegal casino profits...
, which was depicted in the movie Casino. Although he was never charged with the Spilotro killing, he would be convicted on many other charges in 1990 and sentenced to 200 years in prison. During the trial, LoBue's name was mentioned along with another Panici ally, former South Chicago Heights mayor Donald Prisco. Testimony alleged that LoBue and Prisco were accepting bribe money from Tocco in exchange for their help in keeping the garbage-hauling license for both cities in the hands of Tocco's Chicago Heights Disposal. This led federal investigators to open a wide-ranging probe of public corruption in Chicago Heights. City Street Department superintendent Ernest Molyneaux pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in 1990 and cooperated with the investigation, leading to the indictments of LoBue and Prisco later that year. The two were charged with multiple racketeering violations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO). The investigation also led to the indictments of several other city officials on charges of bribery, tax evasion
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...
and other crimes. Under this cloud of controversy, Panici chose not to seek re-election as mayor in 1991. His hand-picked successor, Douglas Troiani, won an easy victory against Sadus, who had split with the party.
In March 1992, two weeks after the death of his wife, Panici was indicted along with Gliottoni and Marshall on federal charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery. He was also charged separately with witness tampering
Witness tampering
Witness tampering is harming or otherwise threatening a witness, hoping to influence his or her testimony.-Witness tampering in the USA:In the United States, the crime of witness tampering in federal cases is defined by statute at , "Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant"...
for directing a witness to lie to investigators. The indictment charged that the group extorted more than $700,000 in kickbacks from businesses in return for city contracts. Panici stepped down from his post as township Republican committeeman after the indictment. LoBue and Prisco each pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and agreed to testify against the others. LoBue would tell a federal jury that nearly every major city contractor paid kickbacks to city council members. He claimed that Panici was responsible for orchestrating the schemes. LoBue testified that Panici decided how much bribe money would be required to secure each contract, and who would receive the payoffs. One of these schemes involved monthly payments from Tocco to LoBue and Panici. Prisco and lifelong Panici friend Ralph Galderio, a former city employee, also testified that Panici was involved in bribery and received significantly reduced sentences in return for their testimony. Panici was accused of personally taking nearly $260,000 in bribes during his 16 years as mayor.
Panici, Gliottoni and Marshall were convicted in 1993 on all charges. Panici was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Gliottoni to five years, six months and Marshall to four years. Over the next several years, other Panici allies would also head to prison. Bloom Township Supervisor Robert Grossi was sentenced to four years in prison in 1996 for misusing township funds, and former Chicago Heights Deputy Police Chief Sam Mangialardi would get a 10½ year sentence for his 1995 conviction on charges that he accepted $10,000 monthly payments to protect the city's top drug dealer. Panici was not involved in either case.