United States v. Rainone, 32 F.3d 1203 (7th Cir. 1994)

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, argued March 30, 1994 and decided August 23, 1994 (rehearing denied later that year), Chief Judge Posner writing. The court describes the Chicago Outfit’s protection racket of the 1980s, run through street crews such as the Patrick Street Crew, headed by Leonard Patrick.

It says a 1991 indictment “charged Patrick and two members of his crew, Nicholas Gio and Mario Rainone (the latter being Patrick’s second in command), along with Gus Alex, the higher-up in the Outfit … to whom Patrick reported,” principally with conspiring to conduct the crew’s business from 1983 to 1989 through a pattern of racketeering. Patrick became a government witness. Alex and Gio were convicted by a jury in 1992 and Rainone pleaded guilty; they were sentenced to 188, 137 and 210 months. The court rejected claims about cross-examination, about Alex’s competency (he was 75 at trial and showed early signs of senile dementia of the Alzheimer’s type), and about sentencing departures. On the departure for organized crime it wrote: “The Chicago Outfit is the clearest possible example of a gang operating on such a scale, with such success, over such a long period of time that the danger which it poses to society is not adequately reflected in the guideline range.”

In a passage about Patrick’s later testimony, the opinion refers to “the current boss of the Chicago Outfit, Carlisi.” That is a remark in passing, not a holding. The district court’s 1992 pretrial order in the same case is filed as United States v. Alex.