U.S. Concludes Loan-Sharking Case : Plays Tape of 2 Defendants Discussing Possible Killings

The government’s case against seven men charged with racketeering and loan sharking ended Friday with the jury hearing a tape of two of the defendants discussing having borrowers’ legs broken and people killed.

After 17 days of testimony in the past month, lawyers with the federal Organized Crime Strike Force concluded with a taped conversation, often inaudible and garbled, between defendants Vito Dominic Spillone and Frank Serrao. Jurors in the Los Angeles federal court trial followed the tape through transcripts.

FBI agents planted a hidden microphone in Spillone’s office at his El Monte wholesale grocery warehouse during the summer of 1981 and on Sept. 28, 1981, recorded Spillone, 48, and Serrao, 56, discussing two men.

‘Break My Legs’

“He said, ‘Break my legs. Is that what you want to do?’ I said, ‘If that’s what you want done, that’s what we do,’ ” Serrao is heard telling Spillone.

“So what do you want me to do?” Serrao asks.

“Motor ‘em,” Spillone replies.

“Kill (them)?” Serrao asks.

“You can’t get blood out of a turnip,” Spillone says.

U.S. District Judge William Matthew Byrne also allowed prosecutors to tell the jury Spillone was convicted of loan-sharking charges in Chicago in 1971. He served five years of a 12-year sentence before being released.

Spillone, of Upland, is accused of heading an operation that lent money at interest rates of 5% to 10% per week and threatened or beat borrowers who were late with payments. The defendants are not accused of killing anyone.

Serrao, of Huntington Beach, allegedly worked as a loan maker and collector for the ring. Several employees and customers of the California Bell Club, a legal poker casino in the city of Bell, testified that they borrowed money from Serrao and other defendants during 1980 and 1981.

Other Defendants

Also accused of helping run the operation is John James Barro, 46, of Anaheim. Barro owns a nationwide chain of pizzerias that carry his name.

Other accused collectors include John Clyde Abel, 41, currently serving a 25-year prison term for a 1981 bank robbery; Joseph Bolognese, 52, and Frank Citro, 38, both of Las Vegas; and John Meccia, 51, of LaSalle, Ill.

All are charged with racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. Each charge carries a maximum prison term of 20 years, plus a fine of up to $25,000.

All the defendants except Bolognese and Meccia also are charged with making or collecting extortion-related loans.

The seven were indicted in July 1984, after three separate sets of grand jury hearings dating back to November, 1981.