Mobsters? In Chicago?

Whoever heard of such a thing?

• Rudy Fratto, long reputed to be a top operative for the Chicago Outfit, was arrested Friday at his Darien home on charges he rigged contracts to supply forklift trucks for a pair of trade shows at McCormick Place, the nation's largest convention center, with its own history of mob ties.

• The new indictment alleged that Fratto saw an opportunity when a consultant for a Las Vegas exposition firm was on the hook with Cleveland organized-crime figures for $350,000. Fratto, nicknamed "the Chin" and "Uncle Rudy," cited his Outfit ties in offering to intervene with the Cleveland mobsters, prosecutors alleged, but in return Fratto wanted the consultant to leak confidential information on competitors' bids and help steer business to an associate.

• The Outfit has long been entrenched at McCormick Place and in many of the unions and contractors that do business there.

  [...] Among the factors that make McCormick Place a haven for the mob are its sheer size and the number of contracts and trade shows there, Wagner said.

  Four years ago, the riggers union, whose members set up exhibits at McCormick Place, was under federal investigation after its boss, Fred Schreier, who was once married to the niece of the late mob boss Tony Accardo, pleaded guilty to taking a bribe.

  Reputed mob-connected figures have also cashed in on contracts. The Duff family had a lucrative contract to clean McCormick Place after falsely claiming its firm was run by a woman.

Gee, it's like the Outfit actually extended it's tentacles into government and operate hand-in-hand with with our elected officials to steal money from taxpayers instead of gunning each other down over running dope, prostitution, and gambling rackets. Or maybe that's in addition to?