Yeah, I’ve posted that I suspect that Mandell may have been responsible for the Horseshoe Inn murders; I’d also not at all be shocked if he was involved in the Catalano and DeFilippis murders as well.Patrickgold wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 9:56 amHe was a very dangerous guy. The murder in highland park , where he was definitely a suspect in, was very similar to a double murder of a bar owner and bartender in a Schiller Park bar at around the same time. He would think he was definitely a suspect in that.Tonyd621 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 8:16 amSo one guy for sure we can speculate on? But more bark then bite. I understand he was saying some very, very sick sh*t.Patrickgold wrote: ↑Sat Jun 11, 2022 6:36 pmHe suspected of killing that Italian restaurant guy in highland park. The guy was found dead in a fire so I don’t think they determined if he was tortured but definitely possible.
Mandell (legally changed from Steven Manning after his release from Death Row in the 90s) is/was (he’s old and in ADMAX now, so was seems more appropriate), by all accounts, a really vicious, intelligent, and charismatic guy. The guy’s a stone cold psycho and I don’t doubt for a second that he was capable of torturing and dismembering people as he planned. He can be linked to at least 4 murders: Giacomo Ruggirello, Jimmy Pellegrino, Thomas McKilip, and his own father, Boris Manning.
In 1986, Boris Manning was found bound, beaten, stabbed, and shot in the head in the trunk of a car ditched in a suburban Chicago shopping mall (incidentally, the Mannings lived around the corner from me on Rice and Rockwell in the 80s; not that I knew them, as I was 6). Shortly thereafter, KC-based crook Thomas McKilip was also found bound, stabbed, and shot in the trunk of a car at another suburban mall. Mandell (then Steven Manning) was facing charges stemming from his work in a burglary ring in KC. In 1990, suburban Chicago trucking firm owner Jimmy Pellegrino was found bound, stabbed, and dumped into the Desplaines River.
Anthony Mammolito, a KC Outfit associate in prison on unrelated charges who worked with both Manning and McKilip, later claimed to have knowledge that Steve murdered McKilip, who Mammolito considered a friend. Manning was eventually convicted for the Pellegrino murder based in the testimony of a CW and sentenced to death. The CW testified that Manning killed Pellegrino because the latter was “whining” about Manning having stolen $77k from him to purchase a drug shipment and Manning thought he was going to go to the police. At Manning’s sentencing hearing, the prosecution presented evidence tying him to both his father and McKilip’s murders, and later told the press that they had essentially closed those cases as Manning was going to be executed anyway. But then Manning successfully got released on appeal on the grounds that evidence for the prosecution was mishandled. He then returned to Chicago and changed his name to Steven Mandell. For whatever reasons, he was never charged in the other murders. In 2012, the Feds captured him on surveillance mentioning the Ruggirello fire the same day that it occurred, which makes it pretty clear that he was involved, though never charged on it. He was also alleged to have been caught trying to arrange a hit from jail on government witness George Michael, which is presumably why he’s in ADMAX.
Apart from those crimes, Mandell/Manning also was convicted in ‘83 for a luxury car insurance fraud scam (which forced him to resign from the CPD), for his role in the KC burglary ring, and for a double kidnapping for ransom of two KC businessmen. It’s also been alleged that he murdered a drug dealer in Missouri, did some other kidnappings, and was active in an Outfit-linked jewelry theft ring (unsure ATM which specific Outfit guys it was linked to).
Safe to conclude that Steven “I’ll show you what Elmwood Park really looks like. I can get real nasty!” Mandell/Manning had a whole lotta bark.