Witness describes being a rat for mob

In front of a U.S. District Court judge and jury, John Branco admitted he was a rat.

And a thief. And a liar, a counterfeiter and Mafia associate.

Branco said he's shot at people, beat them up and even broke a guy's finger once because the man waved it at him.

He said he has lied in court and in legal affidavits. He even called himself "a bad guy."

Not exactly stellar prosecution witness material. But decent makings for a "rat" -- a person who turns his back on Mafia buddies and turns them in to federal officials.

Branco takes the stand again Tuesday when testimony resumes in the trial of Robert Panaro and Stephen Cino, who are facing various charges in connection with organized crime activity and the January 1997 execution of reputed Chicago mob associate Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein.

The trial, which started April 26, was in recess today.

On Friday, Branco described his links to Mafia members in California and the crimes he committed with them.

After being arrested in July 1996 on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon -- which he says he did not commit -- Branco called FBI agents and offered them information on the mob in hopes of gaining some judicial leniency.

He ended up wearing a "wire," a hidden microphone, in conversations he later had with Panaro, Cino and a host of Buffalo and Los Angeles mob affiliates running rackets in Las Vegas. They hoped to take over Blitzstein's.

Those tapes, in which some of the men charged are heard discussing plans for burglarizing Blitzstein's home and taking over his lucrative loan-sharking business, provide a large chunk of the prosecution's evidence.

Much of the first week's testimony relied on information from those tapes and from two people with strong ties to the mob.

One of them was Joe DeLuca, Blitzstein's former partner, who admitted he wanted to take over Blitzstein's end of their auto repair and loan-sharking businesses because he thought Blitzstein was holding profits from him. DeLuca pleaded guilty to racketeering in 1997 and agreed to testify against others charged in the 50-count racketeering indictment handed down in February 1998 and which named 19 defendants.

The second witness tied to the mob is Branco, who says he began working for an organized crime family in California during the 1950s.

Throughout Branco's testimony Friday, defense attorneys Louis Palazzo and John Fadgen objected to him being allowed to describe other people's relationships with La Cosa Nostra families and the manner in which those organizations operate.

"We've all seen 'The Godfather,' your honor," Palazzo said.

But U.S. District Judge Philip Pro allowed Branco to continue. And for more than two hours, Branco told the tale of a life with the mob that spanned 40 years.

There were robberies during the 1950s and extortion of Las Vegas casino owners during the 1960s. He collected interest payments on loan-shark or "Shylock" debts during the 1970s.

Sometimes, Branco said, his boss told him to lean on those people -- hard.

"They were having trouble with a guy who owed big money. They wanted him to have a good beating," Branco said. "So the man had a good beating. And he paid."

The threats, the beatings, it was just part of the business, Branco said.

"There are some fellas who just didn't believe it was going to happen, and we'd go to work on them," Branco said. "Most of the time we'd just punch them around. I broke a finger once. The guy pointed it in my face, and I snapped it."

The 1980s brought counterfeiting to Las Vegas and eventually prison time, Branco said. Shortly after being charged, Branco said he tried to cut his first deal with federal agents by offering to turn over information on his mob associates.

They turned him down, and Branco was sentenced to 15 years. But around 1986, during his prison term, Branco got a chance to wear his first wire for the government.

The target of the investigation?

His daughter.

She had paid a Chicago police officer $3,000 to kill her husband, and investigators needed the cop's admission on tape. Branco said he was working against her on one level, but on her behalf on another.

The hired killer eventually would have feared her becoming weak and telling all, he said.

"My daughter didn't realize what she was getting into," Branco told jurors. "It wouldn't have ended there. My daughter and my grandchildren would have been killed."

After that, it was back to prison, where Branco met Blitzstein. The pair quickly became friends, he said. Later, they would become business associates.

In 1991, a couple of years after his parole, Branco and his wife moved to Las Vegas where he bought a small lawn-care business. He walked the straight and narrow, but began struggling financially when his wife fell ill around 1994.

With no health insurance, Branco was forced to borrow money from Blitzstein. He paid back some, but not all, of it.

Blitzstein found Branco's presence more valuable than his money. He asked Branco to hang around the office when folks came in for loans. And he sent Branco out to talk to those people when they didn't pay on time.

Before long, Branco was back in the fold of organized crime. He continued running his legitimate lawn-care service, but he did loan collections and became involved with criminal activity on the side, he said.

In July 1996, Branco was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping in connection with a loan collection gone bad in which he, Blitzstein and DeLuca, among others, had been involved.

Branco said he was the only one police arrested. And when he called Blitzstein to post the $7,000 bond, Blitzstein never called him back.

With an extensive criminal background and one felony conviction already under his belt, Branco said he turned to the only other option he figured he had: the FBI.

"I told them, 'I'll help you out any way I can,' " Branco said.

Within a month, he was working for federal investigators full-time, with a wire on his body, a tap on his phone and the federal government paying his bills.

Since August 1996, Branco figures he has received about $148,000 from the government for his time and effort. And he never was prosecuted on those assault and kidnapping charges.

During his testimony Friday, Branco told jurors he had a couple of chances to join the Los Angeles Mafia family. He received two invitations to become a "made man."

But he refused.

"I didn't feel I was the kind of guy who could fit into it. I was a hot head. I didn't take orders too well," Branco said.

"I figured I'd end up dead."

archive