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major "pucker factor" for the obama campaign...
rumour has it rezko's lookin' for a deal.

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What those people are is what they are in total, a smiley face with an ugly body.

you just never know what he will do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIpdBtGTxyk&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_538886

"Why would Obama endorse a mob banker for State Treasurer?"

I know the question is rhetorical, but it also has a real answer, and it is obvious. Chicago politics. The kind of politics where this guys is just one of the respected boys.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/05/05/ayers-and-the-old-glory-boogie/

There is a very important reason for the FBI having it's second largest office here in Chicago.

Besides, youse gotta problem wit Chicago politics?

Only town where everybodys wins.

does anyone know if billy boy clinton is headed to cheecago

could always promise tony a McCain pardon if he spills his guts before election day:-))))

Well, I don't have time for the kind of examination that this deserves, but I'll mention a few things.

One of the reasons that the Chicago outfit and these Obama mob connections should interest Canadians is that the Canadian mafia and the Chicago outfit actually have a lot in common.

Although New York is famed for its goodfellows, it boasts 5 different mafia families, each competing for dollars in the Big Apple.

Chicago, like Canada (HQ in Montreal), is dominated by one mafia family, and as a consequence organized crime has gone through developments that are different than New York where competition is a factor.

In Chicago, despite what one can read, the outfit was dominated for several generations by Tony "Batters... Big Tuna" Accardo.

All those famous mob bosses like Sam Giancamo (you know, John F. Kennedy and Sam had the same girlfriend) were actually figureheads while Tony ruled with an iron hand behind the scenes.

Remember those frequent scenes in mob movies where some homicidal psychopath beats a member to death with a baseball bat? That's how Tony "Batters" got his name. You know, sometimes a guy's gotta get a little respect.

So the development of organized crime in the outfit had an opportunity to consolidate in a way that was difficult in New York because of the different families.

And like the Bonnanos in Canada, the outfit's interests are vast and international. Dope, gun running, insinuation into South American political systems, etc., etc., right alongside jukebox vending, and control of unions (including the unions in Las Vegas). Sure, the mob is not supposed to be working skim in the casinos anymore, but who do you think controls the different food catering unions?

The Rizzutos in Canada pretty much occupy the catbird's seat.

Before they rose to power, the Cotroni family was already there and working the rackets.

Eventually, Vic Cotroni asked for an emmisary in the Bonnano crime family from New York to come to Canada and help him deal with the Rizzoto upstarts. However, the emissary was wise and decided to throw in with the Rizzutos, but in a private, conciliatory, and respectful way. As a consequence, the Rizzutos began their rise to power.

After Vito went to jail in the US for 3 homicides (he only got 10 years, about 3 years for every guy he knocked off), Nick Rizzuto and some confederates are looking after things.

So Canada, like the outfit, has basically not had competition from other mafia families and also like the outfit, have vast criminal and legitimate holdings throughout the world. Because of their insular nature, they have maintained a code of clan kinship which has diminished apprehensions by the police.

Sure, sometimes some people go down and do a little jail time, but not enough to challenge the underworld influence and business of the Rizzutos.
And needless to say, their insinuation into the Canadian politcal process, essentially the Liberal Party, is wide and deep and very much like the outfit's influence in Chicago.

This is a subject that would require volumes, but just suffice it to say that the Montreal mafia and the Chicago outfit are alive and well and happy as peas in a pod, doing what they do best.

(On a personal note -- if Harper wins and Obama wins, maybe I'll think about moving to Canada.)

There's a lot of leeway for a politician when he knows members of his party will get virtually no criticism or investigation by the vast majority of the news media.