Prosecutors play tape of bombing suspect
Federal prosecutors Wednesday played a tape of an Oak Brook man laughing gleefully as he recounts to an informant how police got his getaway vehicle wrong in a 2003 bombing.
"It wasn't us," laughed Sammy Volpendesto in the recording. "No, we didn't have a van. That's why we laughed the next day when we found out that they were saying it was a van."
Volpendesto was unaware he was being tape recorded on May 17, 2005, when he and a government informant drove past the site of a 2003 bombing in Berwyn, prosecutors said. So the tape played in U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez' courtroom showed he had no qualms about telling the informant, an apparently trusted associate, that the location, C&S Coin Operated Amusements, was the site bombed with materials the associate had seen earlier.
"This tape is as clear as it can be," assistant U.S. attorney T. Markus Funk told Valdez in arguing that Volpendesto and another man, Mark Polchan, 41, of Justice, should be detained without bond.
The two were arrested last week at the same time that a home belonging to "Chicago Outfit Member A" was searched, Funk told the judge. That home, prosecutors' press releases and statements have shown, belongs to Michael Sarno. Sarno, the government's court filings contend, runs a street crew and is an associate of Polchan. Sarno has not been charged with any crimes, but prosecutors made sure to make it clear in the court filing that they had him under surveillance as recently as last week.
At one point in court, Funk slipped, mentioning Sarno's name mistakenly when referring to Polchan's lawyer, Alex Salerno.
"Mr. Sarno says - Mr. Sarno - Mr. Salerno. That's a slip there," said Funk, who argued that both men would pose a flight risk and a danger to the community if released.
Salerno argued that Polchan is willing to post all his property as well as his wife's property and would not possibly run out on them. Additionally, he said that the tapes presented by Funk do not contain any evidence that the bombing was mob-ordered as Funk contended.
"I have not heard one bit of evidence ... that someone gave an order from the Chicago Outfit," said Salerno.
Funk contended that Polchan was referred to in code as "Goldberg," the name of his pawnshop in Cicero. Additionally, he pointed out that one of the recordings notes it was Polchan who recruited Volpendesto to do the job.
Polchan's lawyer, Ed Wanderling, did not dispute that his client was a member of the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle gang, but contended he was not violent and not a high-ranking member in the gang as prosecutors contended.
Funk countered by producing a bank statement for the club found at Polchan's business under another name. He said Polchan was the treasurer of the North Side chapter of the gang, located on Division Street.
Perhaps more alarming than the bombing itself was taped evidence that some police officers cooperated in passing along information to Polchan about the bombing. The cooperating witness who was recorded noted that he was asked by a Berwyn police officer stationed at the bomb site the next day to pass along the detail about the van.
Funk also contended that police badges were found in Polchan's safe.
Wanderling said Volpendesto is in such ill health with bladder cancer he could not possibly flee. He also noted that Volpendesto was awarded the Bronze Star in World War II.
Valdez ordered the two men detained until at least Thursday when she planned to issue a written ruling on the request for bond.
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