No Pension for Former Melrose Police Chief Convicted of Corruption
No pension for the former Melrose Park police chief convicted of corruption.
That’s the news that the Sun-Times and Fox Chicago are reporting today. Former police chief Vito Scavo — a strong ally and close friend of Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico — had fought to keep his pension. But no dice.
Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico has long been an opponent of reform — and, as such, an opponent of Commissioner Peraica. The Melrose Park machine is strongly backing Tony’s election opponent, McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski.
Please click here, here, here, here, here and here to read our prior posts on Serpico and Scavo.
Fox News Chicago reports:
Crime doesn’t pay, except…
The Sun-Times’ Steve Warmbir today reports that former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo is still collecting more than $7,000 a month from the taxpayers — even after being sentenced to prison on fraud and racketeering charges.
Writes Warmbir:
Vito Scavo — the crooked former Melrose Park police chief — muscled a Catholic church, a movie theater, a children’s amusement park and other businesses in the west suburb to hire his private security firm, which he staffed with on-duty cops.
He also ordered his employees — while on the clock — to drive his car from Illinois to his Florida vacation home.
Scavo, who retired in 2006, was convicted of racketeering and extortion and sentenced in February to six years in prison.
But he’s still getting his Melrose Park government pension — $7,737.88 a month.
Michael Manzo, who ran for Melrose Park village president in 2001 on a platform of replacing Scavo and is now Commissioner Peraica’s Chief of Staff, put it best:
“It’s a disgrace to all the honest cops who are putting into the pension that Vito Scavo is still getting paid.”
Red Lights, Cicero and Melrose Park
Interesting story in this morning’s Chicago Tribune about how the company behind the controversial “red light cameras” is seeking business to Berwyn — when they have strong ties to an attorney who is politically connected to the Berwyn mayor.
Please click here to read our earlier post about the major issues with the red light camera program.
But perhaps the most interesting part of this story is this:
Del Galdo also serves as municipal attorney for neighboring Cicero, where his father-in-law is part owner of a controversial towing company contracted to do work for the town.
What a small world, huh?
According to this Forest Park Review story, Del Galdo’s law firm also is involved with politics in Proviso, including in Melrose Park:
During its regular monthly meeting on May 21, the board voted to dump the law firm Odelson and Sterk, and instead, retain the services of Giglio and Del Galdo. Both firms have donated bundles of cash to campaign efforts by board President Chris Welch and Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico, a major backer of Welch and Welch’s political ally, Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore.
As we’ve posted before, Cicero Village President Larry Dominick and Melrose Park Village President Ron Serpico will no doubt team up to oppose Tony Peraica.
I think we’re getting a picture of why they want Tony off the County Board: he stands with the taxpayers instead of standing with the political insiders.
More Trouble in Melrose…
Melrose Park Village President Ron Serpico can’t be happy about this court testimony:
Michael “Mickey” Caliendo took the stand Thursday in his own defense to dispute charges of racketeering and mail fraud.
Caliendo, 66, former supervisor of part-time police officers at Melrose Park Police Department from 1995 to 2006, was questioned by his attorney, Arthur Engelland.
When asked about the evidence brought against him concerning the assigning of part-time police officers to do security work instead of patrolling the village, Caliendo said the decision was not his to make.
“I would assign part-time police to wherever they told me to,” he said.
“They” referred to his superiors, former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo, and Mayor Ronald Serpico.
Please read our previous post on Vito Scavo here.
Suburbs Fall Victim to Political Insiders’ ‘Red Light District’
Filed under: Budget, Corruption, Reform, Spending, Taxes
The Chicago Tribune this morning blew the doors off the lucrative scheme by a select group of western Cook County suburban political insiders to cash in on the “red light” cameras that have popped up throughout the suburbs.
Originally proposed as a railroad crossing safety measure, the taxpayer-funded usage of these cameras was vastly expanded by the clout of these insiders who were able to get contracts with more than “50 Illinois municipalities.”
The Daily Herald also weighed in the situation, noting that the cameras are often put in “places with few related crashes” … leading some to wonder if the these cameras are more about revenue and profits than about traffic safety.
So, just who are the political insiders cashing in at the taxpayers’ expense?
Despite being part of a “closely held Israeli-owned conglomerate that does most of its business in Kazakhstan”, the red light scheme is being pushed locally by many of the same folks who are staunchly opposing Commissioner Tony Peraica’s reform efforts in Cook County.
The Chicago Tribune reports:
The company’s sales director is Greg Zito, a former state senator from Melrose Park who also is a longtime Illinois lobbyist for British banking and credit card giant HSBC and the local loan giant it bought, Household International. Those two firms have long been a major source of campaign cash for the red-light legislation’s chief sponsor, state Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano (R-Elmwood Park).
RedSpeed also has become something of a gathering spot for associates of Zito and his longtime friend Al Ronan, another former Illinois lawmaker and a lobbyist for RedSpeed since 2007. Ronan — who lobbied for the red-light camera legislation on behalf of Melrose Park — was a name partner in a lobbying firm that pleaded guilty to federal bid-rigging charges in 2004, though Ronan personally was not charged. He also was a major fundraiser for both former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.
Talk about a smorgasbord of Cook County political insiders. And is it any surprise they all have ties to Melrose Park?
Melrose Park is, of course, home to Village President Ron Serpico — a man about whom we provided some interesting bullet points in this recent post. Serpico also ran against Tony Peraica in the 2002 race for 16h District Commissioner — and Serpico’s campaign manager in that race was none other than … Al Ronan.
As for Saviano, he has close ties to Serpico, as detailed in this Champion News article:
Saviano made four contributions totaling $2,200 to Ronald Serpico, former Democratic Mayor of Melrose Park, between February 1999 and May 2004. In turn, Saviano received six contributions totaling $2,100 between June 1995 and June 2001 from Serpico.
And, according to the Tribune article referenced above, Saviano is not only allies with Ron Serpico and a recipient of campaign cash from Greg Zito’s lobbying clients …. he also (surprise!) sponsored the red-light camera legislation in Springfield:
On the House floor, Saviano had the bill rewritten to authorize red-light cameras. Another version of the bill was pushed on a parallel track by now-Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), though it was the Saviano measure that became law.
We urge you to read the Tribune article in detail. It is an telling (and all too common) story about how political insiders line up to make a profit at the expense of taxpayers … while the politicians in Cook County and Springfield keep trying to convince us that they need more of our tax money.
Voters in the Cook County 16th Commissioner District should also pay heed — because these same political insiders are the ones targeting Tony Peraica for defeat in 2010.
Why? Tony’s push for reform and transparency is a direct threat to their profits.
Only in Cook County …
Just when we think we’ve seen it all in Cook County politics — some other piece of news comes along to make us shake our heads.
This week, that news comes courtesy of the Illinois State Crime Commission, who decided this week to honor Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico as the organization’s annual awards dinner.
That’s right — the Illinois State Crime Commission honored Melrose Park Village President Ron Serpico.
For many of you reading this post, no further explanation of the lunacy of this situation is needed.
For the rest of you, let’s provide a brief recap of recent events in Melrose Park…under Ron Serpico’s leadership:
- As we posted here, Serpico’s chief of police, Vito Scavo, was convicted earlier this month on federal corruption charges of “shaking down local businesses to hire his private security companies.” Serpico and Scavo were close personal friends — with the two even standing up in each other’s weddings. Scavo’s goings-on were widespread in a community in which Serpico rules with an iron fist. As the Proviso Probe post asks about the Scavo conviction — “Where’s it Going to Lead?“
- According to this Pioneer Press story, Scavo’s security firm (D.O.D. Security Consultants) was a sub-contractor to IFPC Worldwide Inc., which was awarded a security contract for the $42 million Melrose Park water project. As this story reports, the Melrose Park spokesman had previously raised conflict-of-interest concerns about that contract. So it’s hard to imagine that others in the administration — including Serpico — were not aware of Scavo’s company’s contract.
- Also reported in that Pioneer Press story was the fact that “IFPC, formerly known as County Line Security, has donated approximately $9,085 to Serpico-related campaign funds since 1999.”
- According to this Proviso Herald story, in April 2009 the Illinois Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the wife of a retired Melrose Park police lieutenant claiming this woman “stole $24,000 from the Melrose Park Little League in 2003 as the organization’s treasurer.” However, this woman “denied any wrongdoing and said all money was approved by the league’s president at the time, Terry Serpico, brother of Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico.”
- Longtime Serpico ally and former Melrose Park consultant Anthony Bruno (a disbarred attorney) was convicted on federal fraud charges earlier this year.
- According to the Melrose Park page on Wikipedia, “The athletic field next to the village hall is named after the late Ralph ‘Babe’ Serpico, father of the current mayor, Ronald M. Serpico, who had been convicted of extortion and racketeering.”
Granted, Ron Serpico has not been indicted of convicted of any crimes. And just because the father was convicted doesn’t mean the son is also guilty.
But, under President Serpico’s leadership, this town sure seems to keep federal crimefighters busy.
So, why did the Illinois State Crime Commission honor Serpico?
Your guess is as good as ours.
Scavo Indictment a Sign of Things to Come in Melrose/Proviso?
Cook County taxpayers supporting reform should be ecstatic at the news of the conviction of former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo.
Melrose Park has long been a cesspool of corruption, with the tentacles of fraud and abuse stretching throughout Proviso Township and other Cook County western suburbs.
As you can see from the below, Scavo was running a pretty big enterprise out of the Melrose Park police station. Who else in Melrose (and Proviso Township) knew of these goings-on — or were complicit in the operations? Is the Scavo conviction only the first shoe to drop in Melrose (and Provis0)?
The Pioneer Press reports on this conviction:
Jurors deliberated for five and half hours Monday before finding former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo guilty of all 22 counts in his federal corruption trial that lasted seven weeks.
Scavo was accused of shaking down local businesses to hire his private security companies. These firms were run out of the Melrose Park Police Station using on-duty cops and squad cars.
Melrose Park Named One of “Worst Small Towns to Own a Home”
Filed under: Budget, Corruption, Reform, Spending, Taxes
In a distinction that current Mayor Ron Serpico probably will not use in his re-election campaign mailers this April, Cook County’s very own Village of Melrose Park this week was named by Forbes magazine as one of “the Worst Small Towns to Own a Home.”
According to Forbes, 69% of mortgage holders in Melrose Park have housing costs that, on average, eat up more than 35% of their incomes. Not surprisingly, a big chunk of those housing costs go to property taxes. And in a town like Melrose Park, which sits within Proviso Township, the school board (209) of which is known for its spendthrift ways, high property taxes are not surprising.
It hasn’t been a good month for Mayor Serpico. This latest news comes on the heels of Melrose Park insider/consultant/disbarred attorney Anthony Bruno being charged with federal tax fraud.
There are still several months before the April elections, but it looks like Serpico has his work cut out for him.
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