13 Years For Reputed Hitman.
In a criminal career that spanned more than three decades,
reputed Mob hitman Frank "The German" Schweihs had
encounters with dozens, if not hundreds, of law enforcement
people. However, when it came time to sentence Schweihs on a
Federal extortion conviction, only CCPA Presodent John J
Flood took the stand to graphically describe how he had
single-handedly prevented Schweihs and an accomplice from
carrying out a Mob murder.
And in the process, Flood told U.S. District Court Judge Ann
B. Williams, his own life was jeopardized as Schweihs'
escaping partner tried to run Flood down with his speeding
car.
Flood was asked to testify at the pre-sentencing hearing of
Francis John Schweihs, 59, who was convicted in the
extortion of an Old Town porno operator. In the case for
which he was convicted, FBI agents recorded Schweihs on
videotape as he accepted cash payments that were made to
keep Schweihs and other Mob figures from terrorizing,
bombing or otherwise closing down the porno operation. The
Flood testimony was sought by the U.S. Attorney's office as
a means of establishing that "The German" was a dangerous
criminal with a background of violence that spanned
virtually all his adult life.
In fact, Schweihs was described as "one of the most violent
people ever to come before this court," by the Federal
prosecutor who pressed the extortion charge before Judge
Williams.
The Flood testimony dealt with an incident that took place
in the western suburb of Schiller Park.. At that time
Flood, a Sergeant with the Cook County Sheriff's Police,
spotted Schweihs lurking in the dark outside the Cross Roads
Motel on Mannheim Road near O'Hare Airport.
Flood told the crowded courtroom how, at the same time he
spotted Schweihs sneaking around the corner of the building,
he saw a car parked nearby with a man and a woman in the
front seat. Flood testified that he sensed that the couple
in the car were about to become victims of some violent act.
At the same time, Flood told how he saw a second car parked
a few car-lengths away - with a man in the driver's seat
slouched down behind the steering wheel in an apparent
attempt to hide from view.
In the couple of seconds that it took to observe this
crime-about-to-happen, Sgt.Flood called for backup support,
wheeled his patrol car into the motel driveway, and jumped
from his car, confronting Schweihs. In the brief exchange
that followed, Flood ordered Schweihs to produce some
identification and, at the same time, gestured to the man in
the parked car to get out and come forward.
Schweihs, instead of reaching for his ID, challenged Flood
with a couple of choice epithets and took a swing at the
Sheriff's Police Officer. Meanwhile, the man in the car, by
then believed to be Mob figure Joey Lombardo, fired up the
engine and roared the vehicle directly at Flood in an
obvious attempt to run him down. In one brief, athletic
move, Flood lunged at Schweihs, knocking him to the pavement
while, at the same time, dodging the onrushing car that sped
past, escaping out onto Mannheim Road.
The getaway car was never found and, because Schweihs would
not implicate his partner, Lombardo was never directly
linked to the apparent assassination attempt.
The intended victim, Richard W. Hauff, was subsequently
identified as a part owner of the Cross Roads Motel and a
man with longtime ties to organized crime. Although Hauff
was well-known to several police agencies and was the
subject of an extensive file in Chicago Crime Commission
archives, he nevertheless personally thanked Flood for
saving his life.
Meanwhile, Back In Federal Court...
The testimony that John Flood gave about Frank Schweihs was
made directly and without embellishment. In matter-of-fact
tones, Flood responded to the questions of prosecutor
William Knight. He described how he first spotted Schweihs
creeping toward the intended victim's car, he described the
actual bust, and he told how later, at the Sheriff's Police
lockup in Niles, Schweihs became violent and had to be
restrained.
The audience of court personnel and courthouse buffs paid
close and careful attention to details of the intriguing,
highly publicized organized crime incident.
Then, Defense Attorney Alan Ackerman tried to shake Flood's
testimony and the room took on the mood of a comedy club,
with Ackerman coming off as the butt of the joke. Although
Ackerman has been a Chicago-area Mob lawyer for more than
two decades, he affects a Western-style of dress, replete
with cowboy boots, blue jeans and Stetson hat.
Flood, by contrast, sat erectly in the witness chair wearing
a blue business suit and tie. Ackerman, as if he were trying
to corral a loose calf, ranged over the courtroom from the
defense table to the jury box to within three or four feet
of Flood to the rows of spectators and back again. All the
while, Flood answered the Mob Lawyer's questions in a
succinct and professional manner, but did not look directly
at Ackerman.
After several minutes of being treated as if he wasn't
there, Ackerman lost his cool and challenged Flood to look
at him directly. He charged up to the witness box and put
his face directly in Flood's line of sight, but Flood turned
his head.
Ackerman demanded that Flood look directly at him. He
challenged Flood on the grounds that he had looked at the
prosecutor, so why not the defense? He pouted. He snarled.
He appealed to Judge Williams, and still Flood would not
look directly at the lawyer.
Meanwhile, a reporter was seen to smile. A spectator began
to chuckle. A court clerk suppressed a laugh. And, the more
Ackerman tried to get Flood to look directly at him -
without success - the more the court began to be filled with
laughter. Eventually, Judge Williams directed Ackerman to
confine his line of questioning to the testimony at hand,
and as the last snickers and giggles diminished, the room
quieted down.
Ackerman made a few more feeble attempts to shake Flood's
testimony, then began challenging the entire pre-sentencing
hearing on procedural points. But quite clearly, to those
court buffs and members of the press who were covering the
story, Frank Schweihs and Alan Ackerman had given the matter
their best shot - and had come up short.
Feds Believed Poised To Pressure Schweihs.
Two weeks later, at the actual sentencing, a solemn Judge
Ann B. Williams read her order that Francis John Schweihs,
convicted extortionist, was to spend 13 years and one month
in the Federal Correctional Center at Rochester, Minnesota.
Additionally, Schweihs was ordered to pay some $42,900 in
fines and restitution.
Although Schweihs made a blustering statement at the end of
his trial, full of bravado and macho posturing, he is
regarded as a prime candidate for federal pressure to share
some of his Mob insider's secrets. Investigators believe
they have a good chance to "flip" Schweihs into the federal
witness protection program, in exchange for a detailed
listing of what he knows. Among the unsolved crimes "The
German" is believed to either have been personally involved
in or at least have close knowledge of are:
The June, 1986 murders of Anthony and Michael Spilotro,
whose beaten-to-death remains were found buried in an
Indiana cornfield. Tony Spilotro was a major Chicago Mob
figure who oversaw gambling and skimming interests in Las
Vegas.
The February, 1985 murder of Charles "Chuckie" English, who
was shot in the head as he was leaving an Elmwood Park
restaurant. English was once a major figure in the Mob,
working as a trusted lieutenant to Sam Giancana.
The January, 1983 slaying in Lincolnwood of Allen Dorfman,
the Mob financial expert who ran the Teamsters Union pension
fund as if it were the Mob's personal checking account.
The December, 1973 killing of Richard Cain, a renegade cop
who had at one time been a Chicago Police vice detective and
then chief investigator for the Cook County Sheriff's
Department - before he was discovered to have been secretly
working for Mob super boss Sam Giancana.
Also, Schweihs is believed to have personal knowledge of the
murders of such prominent Mob figures as Sam Giancana, Sam
DeStefano and Chuck Nicoletti.
Another unsolved murder that federal investigators are
expected to query Schweihs about is the death of porno
operator Paul Gonsky, who was shot to death in a Wells
Street parking lot owned by - you guessed it - Frank
Schweihs. Also, Schweihs is thought to be a source of
considerable information about the killing of Patrick
"Patsy" Ricciardi, who had operated porno movie houses
before his body was found stuffed in the trunk of a stolen
car.
Some of the killings that Schweihs is believed to have
knowledge of go back to the 1960s, including the 1967 murder
of juice-loan collector Alan Rosenberg and the 1962 murder
of a young manicurist named Eugenia Pappas. Her body was
found in the Chicago River with a gunshot wound to the
chest. Before her death, she had been known to keep company
with a reputed Mob hitman - Frank "The German" Schweihs.