STAIRWAY OF HELL
Informant claims reputed mobster charged in RICO case bragged about throwing elderly woman down stairs three times — killing her — after he conned her into signing over her property to him
A reputed Chicago mobster allegedly tossed an elderly woman down a set of stairs three times — killing her — after he conned her into signing over her property to him, according to an informant in a racketeering case unveiled over the weekend.
Robert “Bobby” Panozzo Sr., 54, is charged with four other defendants in Cook County Criminal Court. They were allegedly part of an Outfit-connected crew that engaged in murder, drug rip-offs, insurance fraud, kidnapping and prostitution.
According to an affidavit police obtained for a search warrant of their homes, an informant said Panozzo boasted about killing an elderly woman around 1987.
“Panozzo still jokes about throwing someone down three flights of stairs and jokes about how surprisingly difficult it was to murder an elderly woman,” according to the affidavit.
Investigators are focusing on a 77-year-old woman who died on Oct. 17, 1987, in the 2300 block of West Ohio, the affidavit said.
Panozzo and fellow convicted burglar Paul Koroluk, 55, were arrested about 9 p.m. Wednesday at a home on the Southeast Side. Also busted were Panozzo’s son Robert Jr., 22, along with Maher Abuhabsah, 33, the technological wizard of the crew, police said. Koroluk’s wife, Maria Koroluk, was arrested at their Near West Side home, where police said they found a quarter kilogram of cocaine. She is a $97,000-a-year director in the Cook County assessor’s office.
The investigation began in October when authorities learned Panozzo Sr. was allegedly trying to have a witness killed to prevent him from testifying in a Cook County trial.
An informant said Panozzo and Koroluk planned to pay the hit man $10,000 up front and $10,000 afterward. The murder wasn’t carried out.
According to court papers, the crew “took steps to place a Cook County judge’s home under surveillance.”
When he was arrested, Koroluk was wearing a silver police star emblazoned with the Illinois seal and “security police officer,” authorities said. Informants told police the crew posed as cops while stealing narcotics and cash from drug dealers. They conducted about half a dozen rip-offs a year, one informant said.
Koroluk, the Panozzos and Abuhabsah were caught in a sting by a task force composed of the Chicago Police, the FBI, the Cook County sheriff ’s office and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Officials placed about 40 kilograms of cocaine in the house. The crew thought they were ripping off a drug dealer when they were nabbed hauling the drugs from the home, Cook County prosecutors said.
The younger Panozzo was caught fleeing in a vehicle that contained a police scanner, officials said.
Paul Koroluk’s lawyer, Joseph Lopez, called the case a setup. “It was FBI dope,” he said.
In 2006, Panozzo Sr. and Koroluk were each sentenced to seven years in prison for burglaries that targeted wealthy residents in the north suburbs. They allegedly continued to carry out burglaries after they were released from prison three years later.
They used an insurance salesman who gave them information about items on victims’ homeowner’s insurance policies, an informant said.
Panozzo Sr. also allegedly participated in arsons. In April, he was charged in federal court in Rockford with allegedly paying an accomplice $1,000 to set fire to the car and home of a man who owed Panozzo $100,000.
After the sting, officials searched seven properties, including a Near West Side business owned by an associate of Koroluk and Panozzo Sr., officials said.
The business — near Hubbard and Damen — is where the crew allegedly divided up stolen narcotics and cash.
Police noted that there’s a colorful mural on a wall next to the business. It’s a portrait of Angela “Big Ang” Raiola, the gravel-voiced breakout star of the show “Mob Wives: New Blood.”
In the portrait, Big Ang is accompanied by pictures of her Pomeranian lap dog, a martini glass and a fat diamond.
But it’s the message on the mural that most intrigued the police. It says: “I like the wise guys.”