Everyone with any kind of a tie to the Outfit or heard the guys talking knows this. The Spilotros did not die in the cornfield. It was a bit of police speculation that the papers ran away with, and it was mooted by the coroner's report. Tony and his brother were murdered in an apartment and then taken to the cornfield and buried. It's right in the Grand Jury indictments for Operation Family Secrets.

Having known some Outfit hangers-on very vaguely and very legally, I've wondered when I would see Kenji trip up. This is it, though it isn't a very big one so I'm still on the fence. But it's at least indicative that some of his knowledge is coming from pop culture regurgitations rather than exclusive first- or second-hand knowledge.

And I hate to tell you this Luke and shatter your illusions, but the things he's going on about ain't a very realistic portrayal of any of the Outfit guys I could identify. Most of them spend their day on the make, constantly, trying to earn a living and condescending to do tiny little jobs extorting strip joints and running illegal video poker machines. Frank Schweis was nailed for, among other things, shaking down a strip club. A mob hitman. Among other reasons, that's in the indictment because that might be the only thing that sticks. That foul-mouthed dude K-Beech tried to tell you this a long, long time ago.

A guy my ex-partner represented had his nickname denigrated to "Quarters" from something far more sinister because he was hitting vending machines. Not lottery machines, but snack and soda machines. That's your mafia these days, doing nickle and dime shit that ghetto kids used to master before moving up to dealing.

Oh Kenji, Kenji... The way you portray this stuff reminds me of how I used think. That was prior to the day when a young law school graduate, looking for a slot at a big firm, took on a job that was too hot for the company to ingratiate himself with one of the partners. The client was Ronald Jarrett, Allah rest his soul because Christ knows that guy is being ripped to pieces and put back together again in hell right now. Nice guy as long as you kept him away from your wife/daughter/grandmother/disabled nieces, and as long as you and no one you knew owed him and anyone he knew money.

Now, I have a pretty good idea about this one. Your sources are your own ears, you say, but I tend to think they're your own eyes as well, and the little bits of newspapers, books and film that have passed before them. Because in a sordid career of defending rats, thugs and scoundrels, I've figured out a probability scenario for sifting through Federal bullshit. In particular, indictments tend to make people worse than they are. So when the most reputable federal prosecutor in the entire country corrects what has become a part of mythology, it's not to make his adversaries' lives any easier.

As a matter of professional curiosity, and to see if what I was hearing was bullshit or not, I've gone through the trouble of obtaining the coronor's report. I can still dig it up if you like, though you won't like what you see because it's inconclusive. The reason that it was originally believed that the Spilotros may have been buried alive is because there were no knife or bullet wounds in their bodies. That's it. The grave, in fact, was too shallow: they could have literally climbed out of it. When Tocco and his friends crossed the line to Indiana, the Spilotros were already dead, and it's highly unlikely they were alive when they left that basement in Bensenville.

I have what I've heard and now what prosecutors are arguing. You have what they argued, what's been portrayed and what even Roemer would only place an "allegedly" on.

As for the rest of it, I see the appeal of HollywoodMafia.com rather than GuysDrivingVansShakingDownStripClubs.com. You don't need to be a marketing guru to plant your flag on that one. But this is you and me talking and we can be serious with one another. Frank Schweihs--he's a living symbol of what they've become, as are, in a sense, you. Frank was a little guy? Well, he wound up that way, the same as you did, leaning on dodgy pornographers after the glory days had passed. That's how they all are these days.