A mortician to the mob appeared to be a bit shaken at the Family Secrets trial Thursday when asked whether a hoodlum ever asked him how to use a Rosemont crematorium he owned. 

Ernest Severino, 60, would only say that William (Butch) Petrocelli approached a crematorium employe with the request. 

But a transcript from earlier testimony in September 2004 to a grand jury showed that Severino told of being directly approached by Petrocelli. But on Thursday, Severino stuck to his statement about his employe getting the chilling request.  

Still sounding a little shaken, Severino testified in U.S. District Court that he provided guns and money to members of the Outfit. Six members of  the Chicago mob are on trial for 19 murders – 10 of which have been charged to ringleader Frank Calabrese, Sr.

Gerald Scarpelli and Petrocelli, were the two men Severino said he dealt with the most.

Early in his relationship with the men, Severino admitted to running errands – “It was, you know, ‘Go pick up a package,’ or something,” he said – as well as drive Petrocelli to meetings at a local funeral home or Y.M.C.A. Scarpelli and Peter “The Seal” Duke were often present at these meetings, Severino said.

The envelopes Severino was asked to pick up in the late 1970s were what he believed to be street tax payments – perhaps heavy with gold coins, he said. Severino would deposit the envelopes at a bank. 

Severino also confessed to paying Scarpelli $800 a month in what he said he believes was street tax – something Severino said he did under the table, so his business partner would not find out.

He always paid on time, too.

“I didn’t want to be late; I didn’t want to put myself in harm’s way,” he said.

Later, Severino said Scarpelli approached him for $50,000, which he also paid.

“When those guys ask you for money, you don’t refuse ‘em,” Severino said.

In addition to his crematory and mortuary duties, Severino was a co-investor and part-owner of a gun shop in Chicago. 

“He’d say, ‘I need this gun, I need this gun,’ and he would send Scarpelli to pick up the guns,” Severino said. Severino said he estimates he gave away 50 to 100 weapons for free to Scarpelli and Petrocelli, including hunting rifles, handguns and MAC-10s.

“Again, when they ask you for something, you don’t refuse,” Severino said. He said he was never told directly what the weapons would be used for, but that he could guess. Severino also said he picked up other packages, containing ammunition parts such as silencers and sawed-off shotgun barrels.

Another package, which held several wires, was something Severino said could have been an explosive.

In January 1981, Petrocelli disappeared and his body was recovered approximately three months later. Prior to his death, Severino recalled meetings with Scarpelli and Duke, who demanded that any belongings of Petrocelli’s that Severino still had should  be turned over to them.

“I was very skeptical of telling them anything,” Severino said, but he eventually complied. He was holding a couple of lockers and personal items in a bank for Petrocelli. Though he said he did not know for certain what was inside the lockers, Severino said it was probably the guns.

When Severino expressed fear that Petrocelli would hurt him if he knew he was turning over his belongings, Severino said Scarpelli told him, “[Petrocelli’s] never coming back,” and that “the old guys” wanted to take care of “the garbage.”

Severino said he believes “the garbage” was a reference to Petrocelli, and “the old guys” was The Outfit’s hierarchy.

Wives tell their stories

Earlier Thursday, Margaret Wenger, wife of the late Michael Cagnoni, testified. Cagnoni was killed on June 24, 1981 in a car bomb explosion as he drove on the Hinsdale ramp onto I-290. The Outfit’s Frank Calabrese, Sr., has been charged for his murder.

Wenger, a petite brunette in a navy and white striped suit, said her husband operated a trucking and shipping company that transported dry freight and produce. He often contracted with other companies to do the actual shipping, she said.

On June 23, she celebrated her birthday, and on the morning of June 24, Wenger said she took her stepson to school and came back to see Cagnoni off to work. “He hugged and kissed me and said, ‘I love you very much,’” she said.

Wenger then arranged for a baby-sitter, went to a swimming lesson and found out later that day, while at work, about her husband’s death.

She said she was comforted by Paul Spano, a family friend who she knew had ties with The Outfit, and said he had no idea what happened to Cagnoni.

“He had tears in his eyes,” she said.

Wenger continued to run Cagnoni’s business for about eight years after his death, and said she feared for her safety and for her life.

“I was extremely terrified because the press made [Cagnoni] out to be a terrible person,” she said. “[They said] he was part of this mafia and did all these drugs.”

Though she did not testify, the court was told about Charlene Paul, wife to Paul Haggerty, who was murdered in Chicago in 1976. Calabrese, Sr., is also charged with his murder.

An attorney said Paul confirmed Haggerty had been living in a halfway house for burglary and theft and was found blindfolded, gagged and bound with narcotics paraphernalia around him when he died. An autopsy would later report cutting and lacerations to Haggerty’s neck.