John Paul Spica

Epilogue

"Kill that f------ Flynn!" - Tony Giordano's dying words.

In the middle of August 1980, nine months after the Spica bombing, Berne and Stoneking met with Giordano in his house. The Mafia don still was obsessed with Flynn. He insisted that Flynn had to be hit. Stoneking remembered the conversation. "Tony said to Art, 'Why don't you have Jesse crack Flynn'? Art said he would think about it, but he had no intention of doing it. He said Tony was a sick man and wouldn't last long anyhow." A short time later, Giordano propositioned Stoneking personally to kill Flynn. "You take care of it and you'll be set up for life," he promised. Stoneking ignored him.

Giordano died a few days later on Aug. 29. Stoneking said an FBI agent later told him that the mob boss's dying words were, "Kill that f------ Flynn."

What Giordano couldn't get done, Stoneking did several years later. Flynn's arrest record became more impressive. During Stoneking's undercover work for the FBI from 1982 to 1984, he induced Flynn to admit that he had helped dispose of $1 million in loot from a 1982 downtown jewelry store robbery. In April 1986, he pleaded guilty in U. S. District Court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 1983, Stoneking also sold Flynn stolen jewelry valued at $14,000 for $6,500 and had given him a stolen washing machine. The FBI had supplied the jewelry, which had been stolen in another case. Flynn was prosecuted in St. Louis County Circuit Court for receiving stolen property and was sentenced to 10 years to run concurrently with the federal term.

By then the truth about the Spica bombing became known. Flynn was indicted for violation of the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Statute. Stoneking and Prater were the key witnesses. Flynn in 1987 was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison. The sentence later was reduced to 30 years. He remains confined.

Trupiano did not escape unscathed; it was Stoneking who helped bring him down. The hapless Mafia boss was convicted for operating the bookmaking ring, sentenced to four years in prison and fined $30,000. Stoneking had placed bets with him, ostensibly from East Side gamblers, but which in fact were random wagers made by FBI agents who rarely lost. He served one year of the sentence.

Trupiano was also indicted with Berne for conspiring to extort money from the owners of several East Side topless nightclubs and massage parlors. Again, it was Stoneking who made the case. Conversations secretly recorded by him clearly implicating Trupiano and Berne were key evidence.

In July 1986, Berne, then 74, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison. He could have received 25 years and fined $20,000. He was paroled in 1989 and died on Oct. 5, 1996. Trupiano went to trial a few weeks later and was acquitted. He died Oct. 22, 1997.

The Spica bombing offered an opportunity for Stoneking and the FBI. Halfway through his two-year stint undercover, Stoneking convinced Tom Fox and Terry Bohnemeier, his FBI control agents, and U. S. Attorney Thomas E. Dittmeier to seek a perfunctory grand jury investigation of the Spica murder. Stoneking and Berne were to be subpoenaed. He would take the Fifth Amendment, as he knew Berne would. His reputation in the underworld as a stand-up guy would be enhanced greatly. He would be trusted even more and there was a chance other hoods, including Flynn, would be more inclined to confide their deepest secrets to him.

Berne panicked when word was leaked that he might be granted immunity if he refused to testify. That, he knew, would lead to his being cited for contempt of court for still declining to cooperate and jailed for the duration of the grand jury's term which could last for two years. He made a quick trip to Chicago to consult with Aiuppa. When he returned, he told Stoneking that Aiuppa agreed with him that if he were jailed Stoneking would be boss.

Stoneking was in the grand jury room for 20 minutes and, as planned, refused to answer any questions. Berne was there for 30 minutes, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights 22 times in answer to questions about the Spica murder. He was even more convinced he would be granted immunity. But government prosecutors had no such intentions. To do so would have left them open to charges of frivolous prosecution and entrapment and might have jeopardized impending prosecution of Flynn. Still, it would have been a brilliant coup having the East Side boss as an informant who would be close to Aiuppa.

The Leisures were not charged in the Spica bombing. It wasn't necessary. More serious charges awaited them.