Albert Tocco

|Refimprove|date=July 2007 Infobox Person
name=Albert Tocco


caption=
birth_date=birth date|1929|8|9|mf=y
birth_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|2005|9|21|1929|8|9|mf=y
death_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Albert "Caesar" Tocco (August 9, 1929 - September 21, 2005), nicknamed "Caesar" (though this was actually his baptismal name), 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 (Al Capone's old stomping grounds). Tocco is believed to have been the first mob boss whose spouse testified against him.

Early life

Albert "Caesar" Tocco was a first generation Italian-American, whose parents were from Southern Italy. He was the youngest of his siblings, and grew up in south suburban Chicago Heights, Illinois. Tocco had two sisters and a brother, Joe Tocco. Joe (aka "Buddy" or "Papa Joe") allegedly ran the Outfit's business interests in Phoenix, Arizona. Albert Tocco's father, Michael Tocco, was a decorated World War I veteran and an accomplished business man.

During the Great Depression, six-year old Tocco was already working to help support his family. Once a teenager, he helped his father run the largest cement business in Chicago. Tocco was 17 when his father died from cancer.

Chicago Outfit

Tocco, a reputedly "Made Member" of the Outfit, oversaw its operations in several of Chicago's southern suburbs during the late 1970s through the 1980s. His organization, centered in Chicago Heights, Illinois, dealt mainly in stolen car "chop shops", prostitution, and illegal gambling. Investigators described Tocco's reign as brutal. Although he was never convicted of murder, he was implicated in numerous gangland killings aimed at solidifying his control over these industries. Tocco was indicted on federal charges in 1988, and fled overseas to Greece. Tocco was eventually located in Greece by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who used his young son as bait and returned Tocco back to the United States where he was arrested. Tocco was convicted on multiple counts of racketeering, extortion, and tax fraud and subsequently sentenced to 200 years in prison.

Wife Turns Government Witness

Tocco's international escape may have led his wife, Betty, to turn on him. Or it may have been his absence that allowed Federal Agents to exploit her emotions and uncertainties at a weak time for her.

Betty Tocco was believed to be the first wife of an organized crime leader to testify against her spouse, and she reportedly entered the federal witness protection program with their son Michael Tocco, Tocco's only offspring. (He had stepchildren from a previous marriage) Among other things, Betty implicated her husband in several killings, including the brutal 1986 murders of Anthony Spilotro (the mob's man in Las Vegas for two decades) and his brother Michael. The Spilotro case was portrayed in the Martin Scorsese film, "Casino", which was released in 1995. The Reputed Chicago mob boss James Marcello was convicted in the Spilotro killings at the 2007 "Family Secrets" trial, which also saw three other top mobsters and a former Chicago police officer convicted. The version of the killings described by Calabrese was not consistent with Betty Tocco's testimony. Albert Tocco was convicted with the understanding that he was indeed involved in this act. The FBI has yet to publicly announce whether Tocco's name is now cleared of these allegations due to the recent convictions, or if they'll just let it go unmentioned.

In an interview published in the Chicago Sun-Times just after Tocco was sentenced in 1990, Betty called her husband a ruthless thug who abused his family, broke the mob's, "code of ethics," and even cheated his (step) daughter at tic-tac-toe. Though this article incorrectly attributes such testimony to Betty, it was actually the testimony of FBI agents who had worked on the case for several years, and demonstratively showed extreme prejudice in trying to characterize Tocco in a negative light, given their failed attempts during previous years to attribute crimes to him. Such testimony caused a public debate about the positives and negatives of both Betty and Tocco — littering the Chicago media with public letters and call-ins.

Through other sources, it was noted that such atrocious descriptions came about as an FBI press-smearing campaign against Tocco during his trial; other articles, sourcing friends and family members, depict him as a loving family man who helped many and harmed no one. It is believed that FBI agent Bob Pecoraro and associates used Tocco's popular image in Chicago against him to make their own careers. For two years leading up to his death, the FBI had been, and continued to investigate several crimes previously linked with Tocco that were no longer believed to be associated with him in any way. Among such evidence includes a confession by Gerri Scarpelli who admitted to the killings of at least two people previously tied to Tocco. The FBI, however, made no retraction of these charges against Tocco when he was up for parole.

Ties to Suburban Public Officials

Tocco's trial also brought to light widespread corruption in Chicago Heights city government, where Tocco's waste management company held the city's garbage hauling contract. A federal probe would reveal that Tocco doled out more than $75,000 in kickbacks to Chicago Heights officials in return for the inflated contract. Sixteen public officials, including former Mayor Charles Panici, would be convicted in various bribery and extortion schemes.

Prison and Death

Tocco spent the last 16 years of his life in various federal penitentiaries. The majority of his sentence was served in penitentiaries in Lompoc, California and Marion, Illinois. On September 21, 2005, Albert Tocco died from a stroke in the penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana, where he was awaiting medical treatment for several issues.

Michael Tocco attended his father's funeral after being away for sixteen years; he was pictured on the front page of most Chicago media that covered the event, and described him as a "spitting image of his father". The funeral was attended by hundreds of family and friends who remembered Tocco as a "loving, family man".

External links

* [http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=nation_world&id=3478253&ft=lg ABC13.com Reputed Chicago mob boss dies in prison]
* [http://cbs2chicago.com/homepage/local_story_238143500.html CBS2NEWS Video Retrospective]