Elderly mobster found guilty in planned break in at mob boss home
A federal judge found mob thief Arthur “The Genius” Rachel guilty Thursday of three of the four criminal charges he faced, including racketeering, for being part of a geriatric crew that planned to rob an armored-car truck at a west suburban bank and to break in to the home of the late Chicago mob boss Angelo ”The Hook” LaPietra.
Rachel — who gained notoriety three decades ago when he was imprisoned in Britain after being convicted of stealing the 45-carat Marlborough Diamond from a London jewelry store — showed no emotion as U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber read his decision.
Rachel, 73, chose a bench trial before Leinenweber rather than a jury trial.
The two other geriatric thieves he was charged with — Robert “Bobby” Pullia and Joseph Jerry “The Monk” Scalise — pleaded guilty in the case last week.
The three men were arrested outside the LaPietra home before actually committing either of the crimes they were planning.
Working with Pullia and Scalise, Rachel was found to have helped in the planning of the robbery of an armored car outside a bank in LaGrange, as well as the break-in of the home of the late Chicago Outfit boss LaPietra.
Rachel was arrested along with Scalise in 1980 for stealing the Marlborough Diamond, which was never recovered.
The judge found the prosecution didn’t prove its case on the fourth count, which charged Rachel with being a felon in possession with a gun, because prosecutors didn’t show he ever had a gun in his possession. Evidence showed that Scalise, using a fake name, had rented a garage where guns were stored.
The case drew attention because of the defendants’ ages and Rachel and Scalise’s involvement in the Marlborough Diamond theft.
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