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The Chicago Sun Times reveals that at least three state casinos are alleged to have worked with contractors that may have mob ties.
The Illinois Gaming Board is mum on whether Bally’s Casino Chicago will be fined.
Bally's River West casino project in the Chicago area is facing intensive scrutiny.
The focus seems to be on vendor D&P Construction Co. Inc. A Chicago Sun-Times reporter spotted D&P dumpsters at the casino work site this spring and asked the gaming board about them.
The Sun Times previously reported on D&P Construction Co. Inc's alleged mob ties back in 2022.
According to that paper, in a once-secret 2003 memo, the FBI said that company was secretly “controlled” by brothers John DiFronzo and Peter DiFronzo, reputed Chicago Outfit leaders who died in the past few years.
Peter DiFronzo has been described by law enforcement sources in the past as having been the chief lieutenant to his brother and, for a time, the leader of the Chicago Outfit’s Elmwood Park street crew.
His brother John “No Nose” DiFronzo was believed to long have headed the Chicago mob, until his death in 2018 at 89.
We should note that D&P Construction Co. Inc. was listed in "good standing" with the Chicago City Hall at the time.
Still, the ties appear to exist. Under Illinois state administrative rules, gaming companies can lose their licenses for “associating with, either socially or in business affairs, or employing persons of notorious or unsavory reputation or who have extensive police records, or who have failed to cooperate with any officially constituted investigatory or administrative body and would adversely affect public confidence and trust in gaming.”
Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin paid a $3.2 million fine in 2003, when Gov. JB Pritzker had an ownership stake. Rivers Casino in Des Plaines paid $1.65 million in 2016.
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