Al Capone's Town Boils Over Again Amid Controversy -- Mob Allegations, Illegal Parking Are At Center Of Latest Turmoil

CICERO, Ill. - This gritty blue-collar town where Al Capone made his headquarters in the gangster era is boiling over once again.

The troubled town has fired no fewer than 40 police officers on charges that they violated a requirement that they live in Cicero. Sheriff's officers have been brought in to help patrol the town.

Meanwhile, top cop David Niebur says he was helping the FBI uncover "big-time corruption" when he was dumped last week. His successor lasted less than a week before he, too, was sent packing amid fresh whispers about mob connections.

`Evident and well-reasoned'

"The image of our community as mob-infiltrated and mob-influenced is certainly evident and well-reasoned," says Lt. Charles Hernandez, one of the fired police officers.

Cicero - a community of 70,000 - is named for a Roman orator, but the town's reputation was made during Prohibition.

When a reforming Chicago mayor kicked Capone out of Chicago, the gangster moved the headquarters of his bootlegging empire across the city's western boundary to Cicero.

Speak-easies flourished in the shadow of huge factory sheds and neat brick bungalows occupied by thrifty Czech immigrants. When Prohibition ended, strip joints moved in.

These days, the turmoil in Cicero has been caused by a newer vice: illegal parking.

Tow trucks roam Cicero streets like sharks prowling for fresh prey, residents complain. Park illegally once - and the cost is $100 to get your car back.

Locals say long lines form outside Town Hall some mornings with people whose cars have been towed because they were parked in a street-sweeping zone.

Niebur, the former police superintendent, says a whopping 45,000 cars are being towed annually - compared with 140,000 in Chicago, which has 40 times the population. Town counsel Merrick Rayle said the Cicero figure is closer to 11,000.

Investigated towing company

Niebur was fired while investigating Ram Recovery, the company that has an exclusive towing contract with the town.

The town's president, Betty Loren-Maltese, denounced Niebur as a "super-sleuth" and accused him of refusing to share his investigative records with her office as required by law.

Niebur said he refused on the advice of the FBI, adding that he is helping federal agents in their own investigation of Town Hall. A federal official, who requested anonymity, confirmed that such an investigation has been under way since 1996.

Less than a week after Niebur was sent packing, his replacement, William Bacon, got the ax as well, after someone faxed the Chicago Sun-Times with information that Bacon had personal and business ties with a former police officer convicted in a mob-run marijuana-growing operation. Bacon acknowledged the ties.

Indicted for extortion

The same day, former Building Commissioner Michael Nisk, fired by Loren-Maltese in 1994, was indicted on federal extortion and racketeering charges that he issued a building permit in return for a $1,000 gift to the Republican Party.

Loren-Maltese says she wants to refurbish the town's image. She has established an anti-corruption investigative unit in her office and says that in January she closed down the last two strip clubs in Cicero.

But even the town's president hasn't been left unscarred by the turmoil.

Loren-Maltese's late husband, Frank Maltese, a town assessor, pleaded guilty to federal gambling charges but died before going to prison. Prosecutors claimed he was a bookie and fixer for the mob.