Chicago Mob Figure Gets 28 1/2 Years for Skimming

Joseph Aiuppa, reputed head of the Chicago mob, was sentenced today to 28 1/2 years in prison for conspiring to skim more than $2 million from Las Vegas casinos.

Aiuppa was sentenced one day after Milton Rockman, the reputed head of organized crime in Cleveland, drew a 24-year sentence in the case. Two other alleged crime bosses received 16-year terms when sentenced today and Wednesday.

Aiuppa, 78, was also fined $80,000 by U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Stevens Jr. and ordered to pay $32,614.73 in court costs and make restitution of $30,750.50 to the Nevada Gaming Commission.

David Helfrey, the head of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force, described Aiuppa as “the man, the boss, the leader.”

“There is no one in this country in a higher position of organized crime leadership than this defendant,” Helfrey told Stevens.

Stevens ordered Aiuppa to serve four years on one count of conspiracy and he ordered consecutive terms of 3 1/2 years each on seven counts of crossing state lines to carry out the conspiracy.

Aiuppa, who smiled and waved to friends and relatives when he entered the courtroom, had no comment before the sentencing.

He was one of 13 people convicted through pleas or jury trial in the case, which involved $2 million skimmed from casinos owned by Argent Corp. Skimming is the illegal practice of taking profits before taxes are paid.

The government said organized crime leaders controlled trustees of the Teamsters Union’s Central States Pension Fund, persuaded the trustees to loan money to Argent’s owner to buy the casinos, then moved in on him and took control.

Angelo LaPietra, 65, identified in FBI affidavits as a hit man for the Chicago mob, was sentenced today to 16 years and fined.

Carl DeLuna, 58, an alleged leader of organized crime in Kansas City, received a 16-year sentence and a fine Wednesday. His term is to be served concurrently with a 30-year sentence he is serving in an other Las Vegas casino skimming case.

Rockman, 73, also fined, was convicted Jan. 21 at the close of a four-month trial, while DeLuna had pleaded guilty early in the trial.