Nestled on a small island deep in the North Woods and miles off the beaten path sits an elegant and secluded nine-hole golf course called the Four Seasons Club.
With its palatial clubhouse, sweeping veranda and fairways lined with thick, fragrant pines, the course is 300 miles–and a peacefully forested world apart–from Cicero.
Yet it figures in the political and legal turmoil that has consumed that western suburb as federal agents poke into sweeping allegations of corruption. Sources close to the probe say investigators from an organized crime unit are intrigued by the large sums of money and the confusing tangle of personalities and companies that bankrolled the project.
The list of investors ranges from Town President Betty Loren-Maltese to a company that did tens of millions of dollars in business with Cicero. It also includes the widow of a former west suburban crime-syndicate boss.
Cicero, in recent weeks, has been bombarded with charges of crooked cops, widespread irregularities in the town’s towing practices and shakedowns of local businesses for campaign contributions. Meanwhile, Loren-Maltese has come under fire for allegedly commandeering municipal resources and workers to rehab personal real estate investments.
The latest intrigue stems from federal scrutiny of a seemingly parochial matter–the town’s troubled insurance programs–leading investigators on a trail from a Cicero trucking company to an obscure Schaumburg insurance firm and the sparsely populated forests of northern Wisconsin.
It also adds a new dimension to the Cicero saga, which has shed light on a town long known for its insulated and often-unsavory ways–not to mention its mob ties. On some days, Cicero even has the capacity to overshadow the colorful politics practiced in Chicago.
According to federal law enforcement sources, the Cicero investigation is being handled by the same organized crime unit that prosecuted several mob figures and Frank Maltese, Loren-Maltese’s late husband. Maltese, who was the political boss of Cicero and the town assessor, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in 1993, but died before he could begin serving his prison term.
The investigation has now veered into several directions, including the Wisconsin golf course, the sources said.
Loren-Maltese continues to portray herself as an unwitting bit player in a golf course development deal that she knew little about. And she has continuously denied that she knew that a controversial town vendor was one of her partners in the deal.
That point, however, appears to be contradicted by a loan document for the golf course obtained by the Tribune that lists as investors both Loren-Maltese and Specialty Risk Consultants Inc., the Schaumburg company.
Specialty was paid $33.9 million by Cicero during a period of less than five years to handle municipal insurance business, including paying out claims.
The saga of Loren-Maltese and the Four Seasons golf course can be traced to 1992, when her political mentor, then Town President Henry Klosak, and Frank Maltese were running Cicero. Klosak hired Specialty Risk, formed only weeks earlier, to administer the town’s various health, liability and other insurance needs.
At about the same time, two women, Bonnie LaGiglio and Laurie Weber-Taylor, formed a venture called Plaza Partners for the specific purpose of buying a stately but run-down old golf resort on Wisconsin’s Miscauno Island, in the Menominee River, 80 miles north of Green Bay.
Weber-Taylor is the wife of Frank Taylor, who at that time was the general manager of Specialty Risk. LaGiglio is married to John LaGiglio, then an owner of a Cicero trucking company and a vice president of Specialty Risk.
Loren-Maltese has said previously that John LaGiglio approached her about investing in the Four Seasons Club in 1994, a year after she became town president. She said she was unaware at the time that John LaGiglio had any connection to Specialty Risk.
But she has acknowledged lending $300,000 from her political fund to the project. Loren-Maltese said through a spokesman that $225,000 was repaid in 1995 and the rest is still owed.
The investment remained a secret until Loren-Maltese’s 1997 re-election campaign, when political foes uncovered hints of it and alleged that Specialty Risk had been overpaid by millions of dollars for its services. Loren-Maltese responded by ordering a special investigation, which has yet to be completed.
She also had town lawyers file a lawsuit against Specialty Risk and several related companies alleging that they overcharged the town and diverted millions of dollars in town insurance payments to unrelated business ventures, including the golf course.
On Wednesday, Loren-Maltese continued to assert through a town spokesman, that she made the loan from her political fund to the golf club without any knowledge that the town’s insurance firm was involved in the deal. Loren-Maltese also said she didn’t know any of the other investors.
“All she knows is she gave $300,000” to the project, said David Donahue, a town spokesman.
Court and land records in Wisconsin and Illinois suggest a somewhat different series of events and detail how the golf course venture came together.
The club was acquired and refurbished with the help of $2 million in loans in 1994, records show.
The bulk of that funding–$1.6 million–came from a group of investors that included Loren-Maltese, according to documents. The documents name her as an investor, but she has said that’s an error and that the money came from her campaign fund, not her personal bank account.
Also among those lenders was Lila Mae Torello, a longtime Cicero resident and the widow of James “Turk” Torello. Before his death from cancer in 1978, James Torello was the mob’s gambling and juice loan czar in the western suburbs.
Specialty Risk and an affiliated firm also were among the lenders.
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Though the loans are detailed in a mortgage document that was reviewed by Loren-Maltese’s lawyer, Donahue said Loren-Maltese never saw that document. Donahue added that Loren-Maltese doesn’t know Lila Mae Torello.
In addition, records show, $450,000 was lent by the Anthony Marano Co. The Chicago company is a wholesaler of fruits and vegetables; its late namesake was once known as the “Tomato King” of Chicago.
Among those who once worked for the company, according to federal prosecutors, were mob kingpin Sam Carlisi and mob enforcer Louis Marino, who was convicted in the same federal racketeering case that led to the conviction of Frank Maltese.
Last year, the Marano company transferred its financial claim to the Four Seasons Club to Marano’s widow, Josephine, who also serves as president of the produce firm, according to state records.
Torello could not be reached for comment. An official of the Marano firm referred inquiries to the company’s lawyer, who did not return a phone call.
Neither the LaGiglios nor Weber-Taylor would provide comment.
The island that drew all of them together was developed as a resort in 1905 and was later sold to a group of Chicago investors.
The elegant and vast clubhouse, reminiscent of the famed Grand Hotel on Michigan’s Mackinaw Island, is perched high on a grassy hill overlooking the ninth green. Entry to the property was over a quaint wooden plank bridge that once held railroad tracks.
Eventually, the club was bought by local investors who turned it into a public golf course. In 1994, they sold it to Plaza Partners for about $1 million, according to land records in Marinette County, Wis.
Plaza conducted extensive remodeling of the clubhouse and grounds, and by 1995 the property was appraised at around $5 million. Also by then, all pretense of separation between Plaza and Specialty was dropped and Specialty formally became the course owner.
In connection with its lawsuit against Specialty Risk, Cicero last year staked a claim on the golf club in state court in Wisconsin. But the town doesn’t really want to own the course, Donahue said.
“Any and all assets (of the insurance firm) are being sought by Cicero,” he said. “If that asset is turned over to the town, it will be liquidated and would be used to pay back the money owed.”
While happy that Plaza has showered Four Seasons with costly improvements, many local residents admit that they are also puzzled by it.
“Quite honestly, we have questioned why this significant investment in a place that’s so far off the beaten path,” said state Rep. Lorraine Seratti, who represents sparsely populated Marinette County in the Wisconsin House. “It’s about 12 miles off of the main highway.
“It lacks one very important thing. It’s a destination resort without any lodging.”