Has our banking system and the GOP been infiltrated by organized crime?

&feature=player_detailpage


----------------------------------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Panici

Charles Panici

Charles "Chuck" Panici (December 26, 1930 - ) is the former mayor of Chicago Heights, Illinois. He served from 1975 to 1991. He was also head of the Bloom Township Republican Party from 1978 to 1992. He was born in 1930 in the “Hungry Hill” section of Chicago Heights, a south suburb, which was the home to mainly Italian immigrants in a heavily Italian town. His parents operated "Three Star Restaurant", a popular hangout for many neighborhood residents.

Panici began his political career in the early 1970s as President of the Chicago Heights Park District. In 1975, he put together a coalition ticket and easily defeated the incumbent mayor. His Concerned Citizens ticket won three of the four seats on the city council. In 1979, Panici won again, with his entire city council slate of John Gliottoni, Louise Marshall and Eugene Sadus winning re-election. They were joined by Nicholas C. "Nick" LoBue, and all five won easy victories in 1983 and 1987. His administration was responsible for bringing Lake Michigan water to Chicago Heights after residents had complained for years about poor water quality. Several municipal buildings were also built during his tenure, including a new City Hall, police station and library.

Beginning in 1978, Panici was the Bloom Township Republican Committeeman. With a patronage army that spanned all levels of city and township government, Panici built the party into the most powerful Republican organization in Illinois. During Panici's time as Bloom's Republican leader, the township consistently turned out one of the highest Republican vote totals in the Chicago suburbs. This made the Bloom GOP one of the most powerful political organizations in Illinois. The party backed winning candidates in every city, park district, school district and township race during the 1980s. Because of the Republican vote totals in Bloom Township, Panici was also responsible for fostering the political careers of numerous local officials, state legislators and judges during that time. He was instrumental in the campaigns of Governor Jim Thompson. The party became so powerful that Bloom Township High School hosted President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush in 1988. Panici also forged alliances with Democrats, and was partly responsible for bringing former Cook County Democratic chairman Edward Vrdolyak to the county's Republican party. Panici also organized a crossover vote in 1992 to defeat former congressman Gus Savage in the Democratic primary. Panici co-founded Telecommunication Services (TCS) with two other Chicago Heights entrepreneurs, and the company grew rapidly during the 1980s and early 1990s, serving many of the area's hospitals and other businesses.

FBI investigation

In 1988, south suburban mob boss Albert Tocco of Chicago Heights was indicted for a wide range of crimes, including racketeering, murder, extortion, and arson. He was also implicated by his wife in the murder of Anthony Spilotro, which was depicted in the movie Casino. Although he was never charged with the Spilotro killing, he would be convicted on many other charges in 1990 and sentenced to 200 years in prison. During the trial, LoBue's name was mentioned along with another Panici ally, former South Chicago Heights mayor Donald Prisco. Testimony alleged that LoBue and Prisco were accepting bribe money from Tocco in exchange for their help in keeping the garbage-hauling license for both cities in the hands of Tocco's Chicago Heights Disposal. This led federal investigators to open a wide-ranging probe of public corruption in Chicago Heights. City Street Department superintendent Ernest Molyneaux pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in 1990 and cooperated with the investigation, leading to the indictments of LoBue and Prisco later that year. The two were charged with multiple racketeering violations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The investigation also led to the indictments of several other city officials on charges of bribery, tax evasion and other crimes. Under this cloud of controversy, Panici chose not to seek re-election as mayor in 1991. His hand-picked successor, Douglas Troiani, won an easy victory against Sadus, who had split with the party.

----------------------------------------------

I was at Bloom High School the day Reagan spoke there in 1986 for a couple of reasons. It was the High School I graduated from and I had never seen a president in real life before. Plus my mother was heavily involved in Republican party politics. She grew up in the same neighborhood as Charles Panici so she had tickets and I went with her. My mother and Panici knew each other on a first name basis.

When I got there that day I noticed that every organized crime figure I could identify by sight was there. And there were a lot of hem I could identify on sight too. Hundreds. Those people you see named in the Wiki story above. I knew every single one of them since I was a little kid. I sure did. I could recognize every one of them on sight. Some I know to this day.

So, what do you think?

Is it possible?

Wish I could write this all off as woo. But I can't.

Don