Jury weighs fate of two reputed mob soldiers

Thursday, May 20, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

A 12-member jury today began deliberating the fate of two reputed Mafia soldiers charged in the plot to murder Chicago underworld figure Herbie Blitzstein.

The jury received the case this morning following the conclusion of closing arguments in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Philip Pro.

On Wednesday, Justice Department Attorney Cynthia Shepherd said the evidence presented during the month-long trial, including some 40 secretly recorded audio tapes, left little doubt that the two defendants, Robert Panaro, a reputed member of the Buffalo mob, and Stephen Cino, a suspected Los Angeles mob member, participated in the conspiracy.

"They planned to get rid of Blitzstein one way or the other," Shepherd said.

Blitzstein, once a trusted lieutenant of slain Chicago Mafia kingpin Anthony Spilotro, was murdered Jan. 6, 1997, in a scheme by the Los Angeles and Buffalo mob families to muscle in on Las Vegas street rackets.

Undercover FBI agents and their informants had infiltrated the two crime families, and although they learned of the takeover plot, they were kept in the dark about plans to murder Blitzstein for his loan-sharking and insurance fraud operations.

Shepherd told the jury that Panaro, 57, and Cino, 62, "insulated" themselves while pulling the strings behind the scenes in the murder scheme. She described Panaro, whom she said authorized the hit with permission from his superiors in Buffalo, as a "controller" and a "manipulator."

But Panaro's lawyer, John Fadgen, disputed Shepherd's theory, calling it a "house of cards" designed to protect the actions of the government's chief informer, John Branco, who was wired by the FBI throughout much of the undercover investigation.

Fadgen said nowhere on the tapes do Panaro and Cino indicate they wanted Blitzstein killed.

"Listen to the tapes and tell me who's in charge of this operation," Fadgen told the jury. "It's Johnny Branco."

Fadgen spent much of his closing argument attacking the credibility of Branco, and Joe DeLuca, a former co-defendant and Blitzstein friend who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government. Both witnesses testified at length during the trial in an attempt to corroborate the government's tapes.

Fadgen pointed out that Branco, who has a lengthy criminal record, testified that he would do anything to stay out of jail. And DeLuca, Fadgen said, got "one heck of a deal" -- a little more than 12 years in prison instead of life behind bars for his role in Blitzstein's killing.

Shepherd said Panaro and Cino suspected Branco was a "rat" and at times "play acted" around him to disguise their true intentions.

Such was the case, she said, at a secretly recorded Jan. 4, 1997, meeting at a local Denny's restaurant, where Panaro allegedly gave the green light to "whack" Blitzstein.

Both defendants said they agreed with Branco at that meeting that Blitzstein would not be harmed, Shepherd said. But Panaro reportedly whispered in Cino's ear that the murder would indeed take place.

Fadgen, however, described Shepherd's interpretation of the evidence as "offensive," saying Panaro would have to be pretty "damn dumb" to "chum" around with Branco knowing he's a government informer.

The government, Fadgen told the jury, has no choice but to advance the play-acting theory because the tapes don't support its case.

"I've read Mario Puzo," Fadgen said. "This doesn't sound like a mob hit to me, folks."

Blitzstein was shot three times in the head by two gunmen as he entered his home the evening of Jan. 6. One of those men, Antone Davi, pleaded guilty just prior to the trial. The other, Richard Friedman, is expected to stand trial later this month.

The two reported shooters were hired by Alfred Mauriello, who also has pleaded guilty. Mauriello has told the FBI that he paid Davi and Friedman a total of $7,000 to kill Blitzstein. Peter Caruso, a Los Angeles mob associate who died of heart disease earlier this year, had asked Mauriello to carry out the murder.

After Blitzstein's slaying, Shepherd told the jury, Panaro and Cino were to share in the proceeds from his loan-sharking and insurance fraud operations.

Panaro ultimately backed out of the deal, saying he wanted nothing to do with Blitzstein's enterprises, Shepherd said. But some of the profits eventually found their way to Peter Milano, the reputed boss of the Los Angeles mob.

Milano has not been charged, but his brother, Carmen Milano, the crime family's reputed underboss, is expected to stand trial later this year on racketeering charges stemming from the FBI's undercover investigation.