rdfs:comment
| - Journalist Thomas Burdick, from his own investigation of the case, concluded that Schweihs, not the man who was actually convicted, was the likely killer of cigarette boat designer Donald Aronow, in 1987. Schweihs had been convicted of extortion in 1989 and was sentenced to 13-years-and-one-month in prison and was ordered to pay $42,900 in fines and restitution. Schweihs died on July 23, 2008, from complications related to his cancer. Schweihs' daughter, Nora Schweihs, is a cast member of Mob Wives Chicago.
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abstract
| - Journalist Thomas Burdick, from his own investigation of the case, concluded that Schweihs, not the man who was actually convicted, was the likely killer of cigarette boat designer Donald Aronow, in 1987. Schweihs had been convicted of extortion in 1989 and was sentenced to 13-years-and-one-month in prison and was ordered to pay $42,900 in fines and restitution. Schweihs ran with several crews, one of them the "Chinatown Crew" also known as the "26th Street Crew." Its operations were run out of the Old Neighborhood Italian American Club, originally on west 26th Street, in Chicago. Its founder, "The Hook" Angelo LaPietra, and Schweihs' partner skimmed $2 Million from Las Vegas casinos in the 1980s and built a new massive club structure on west 31st Street, in Chicago. In 1991, Schweihs collected $12,000 a month from the On Leong, in Chinatown, to allow them to run their casino there. The money was delivered to the Italian Club. The last known city of residence of Schweihs was Dania Beach, Florida, before he become a fugitive in April 2005. He was a fugitive along with Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, who each went their separate ways; however, Schweihs was eventually caught in Berea, Kentucky, on December 16, 2005, and less than a month later, Lombardo was caught on January 13, 2006, in the Greater Chicago area. Schweihs' trial was separated from the other defendants' because of his poor health (he had cancer). His co-defendants were convicted in the original trial in 2007. Schweihs remained in jail pending his trial. After his health had been judged to have improved, he was finally scheduled to go on trial in October 2008. Indeed, Schweihs' health had improved so much that he was able to try to stare down and verbally challenge lead federal prosecutor T. Markus Funk and prosecutor Amarjeet S. Bhachu. Schweihs died on July 23, 2008, from complications related to his cancer. Schweihs' daughter, Nora Schweihs, is a cast member of Mob Wives Chicago.
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