Prosecutor: There may be more mob indictments
A federal prosecutor said Tuesday more indictments may be coming in the investigation of a bomb blast that allegedly was to scare a suburban company out of competition with organized crime in the video gaming business.
Assistant U.S. Attorney T. Markus Funk told U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman the government may add several defendants to the two already charged in the February 2003 bombing that ripped apart the offices of C & S Coin Operated Amusements in Berwyn.
The case is the latest major organized crime investigation to surface in the Chicago area following last year's Operation Family Secrets case in which five men were convicted and three are awaiting sentencing for their role in mob murders.
Prosecutors say organized crime has long had a monopoly on the $13-million-a-year video gaming business in Chicago's western suburbs. Authorities also say the mob bombed C & S offices to let the company know that it would not be allowed to horn in on the illegal profits.
A defendant in the Family Secrets case who pleaded guilty before the trial began, Michael Marcello, was the owner of a video gambling company and two of the other defendants who pleaded guilty worked for him.
Those charged in the latest case are Mark Polchan, 41, and Samuel Volpendesto, 84, both of whom have pleaded not guilty. They are being held without bond in the government's Metropolitan Correctional Center.
In court on Tuesday, attorneys revealed that the government has made audio and video recordings that it most likely would show jurors if the case went to trial.
Defense attorney Damon Cheronis said the government has turned over evidence that includes 24 DVDs and 24,000 pages of FBI reports and "audio and video that fills up a hard drive."
The case surfaced in July when federal agents, one group equipped with an armored car, raided a headquarters of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club and several other locations where members of the club have been known to gather.
Polchan's attorneys acknowledged in court that he is a member of the club.
But prosecutors have said since then that the mob instigated the explosion that is the focus of the investigation.