FBI says mayor met with mob members regarding casino

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 | 9:42 a.m.

CHICAGO -- Rosemont, Ill., Mayor Donald Stephens met with several organized crime figures at a restaurant in 1999 to discuss mob control of construction and operations contracts at a casino planned for his Chicago suburb, an FBI agent testified Monday.

Special agent John Mallul testified before an administrative law judge during a hearing in which the Illinois Gaming Board is trying to revoke the bankrupt Emerald Casino Inc.'s gambling license. State regulators want to revoke Emerald's license because they say some of the casino's investors had alleged mob ties.

Stephens denied Mallul's claim and said he was at his summer home in Wisconsin at the time of the alleged May 1999 meeting at Armand's, a restaurant in Elmwood Park, Ill. Stephens has denied any allegations that he has mob ties.

"It's utterly ridiculous. There isn't a word of truth in it," Stephens said. "This is utter nonsense."

Attorney General Lisa Madigan has questioned the suitability of Rosemont as a casino location and said she had concerns about possible mob ties in the suburb.

Mallul, an FBI supervisory special agent of an organized crime squad in Chicago, testified that the May 29, 1999, meeting he said Stephens attended included the following people whom Mallul identified as members of organized crime: Peter DiFronzo, John 'No Nose' DiFronzo, Joey 'The Clown' Lombardo, Rudy Fratto and Joe 'The Builder' Andriacchi.