"You're Sicilian, huh?"

I was reading a nice blog the Chicago Sun Times has on the Lombardo trial, which I will probably post an update on later, but it drew me back to the classic scene from True Romance.  You'll notice a younger Tony Soprano in this scene, too.

This is why Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken make  the big bucks.

(Language not fit for little people, Leslie.)

"Family Secrets" Timeline

The Chicago Tribune put together a nice timeline of the things leading up to the current Family Secrets trial in Chicago. Note the Spilotro brothers murder towards the bottom. Follow my link above...this copies over way too small to read.

Operation "Family Secrets" Trial Gets Under Way

The "Family Secrets" Trial began in Chicago federal court yesterday.  As we've discussed, the most notable Outfit figure on trial is Joey "The Clown" Lombardo.

The jury trial, in which  the jurors are being kept relatively anonymous, got off to an auspicious start when a fake explosive device was found outside the suburban home of Kurt Calabrese, one of the key witnesses expected to testify.  The home, described as one of the more modest on the block by the Trib, is in ritzy Kenilworth.

It is not known if it was merely a prank or some kind of message.  (Remember in Godfather when Pentangeli's brother was brought over from Sicily when he was to testify in front of the Congressional committee?)

At the top of this posting is Joe Pesci's character in Casino.  He was portraying the real-life Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, shown below with his then-lawyer, now-Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar B. Goodman.  His murder, also portrayed in the movie, is one of the alleged acts that are keeping these men behind bars on this Summer Solstice.