After spending the last 32 years either in prison or under government supervision, longtime Chicago Outfit enforcer Mario Rainone just wants to do a little traveling and live out his “golden years” in peace, his attorney says.
“He’s about ready for the rocking chair at Shady Acres,” attorney Joseph Lopez said Tuesday in arguing for early termination of Rainone’s supervised release for a gun conviction. “He’s spent a lot of time with the U.S. government living with him and around him.”
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But federal prosecutors say Rainone, 67, may not be destined for the shuffleboard court just yet.
In fact, after being released from prison early in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns, he went right back to some of his old haunts, finding employment at a Cicero jewelry business once used by incarcerated mob associate Mark Polchan and his boss, Mike “The Large Guy” Sarno, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said in asking that the request be denied.
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Bhachu also noted that Rainone picked up his most recent case while under supervised release for an extortion conviction, and also had a recent run-in at a Northlake Home Depot where he was cited for attempting to steal an air conditioner.
“That’s a pretty bad indicator that Mr. Rainone did not learn his lesson,” Bhachu said.
Lopez said the Cicero jewelry store is currently owned by his brother, who has no known mob ties. He also told the judge the Home Depot incident did not result an any arrest or charges.
After the hearing, Lopez told the Tribune that Rainone had the air conditioner on a cart that was wheeled out by a store attendant and that the whole episode appeared to be a “misunderstanding.”
In the end. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber agreed with prosecutors and kept Rainone’s supervised release intact, meaning he’ll be under the supervision of court officials until June 2025.
Rainone was convicted by a federal jury in 2013 of having a loaded Smith & Wesson .357-caliber handgun on his nightstand at his Addison home. Authorities searched the residence after Rainone and an accomplice were caught coming out of a Lincolnshire condo building with jewelry and cash stuffed in their coats.
At his sentencing hearing, Bhachu noted a previous judge had labeled Rainone an “urban terrorist” who had no respect for the law.
“If you give him the opportunity, he will go out and commit crime,” Bhachu said. “He will hurt people. He will take their property.”
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Rainone’s colorful mob history dates to the 1980s, when he was identified as an associate of legendary mob bosses Lenny Patrick and Gus Alex.
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According to federal court documents, Rainone became an informant for the feds in 1989 after he thought Patrick was setting him up to be killed. He was taken into witness protection, but he later refused to cooperate with authorities after an explosive device damaged his mother’s porch, according to court records.
At Alex’s blockbuster trial in 1992, several business owners testified about being terrorized by Rainone, who threatened to kill them and their families — maybe putting their heads on poles as an example — if they didn’t pay.
Even after he was sentenced to a lengthy prison term, Rainone didn’t stop his criminal ways, according to prosecutors.
In 2010, he was convicted of bribing a corrupt guard to smuggle him salami and other Italian treats into a Wisconsin federal prison, records show.
In his motion last month to terminate Rainone’s supervised release, Lopez wrote that since being freed in 2020, he has been “a law-abiding individual who lives off Social Security,” and also suffered a debilitating back injury after he was rear-ended by another vehicle last year.
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“He is an elderly man and wishes to terminate his supervised release so that he can travel the world at this leisure during his golden years.” Lopez wrote.
