CHICAGO, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A reputed mobster who served time for stealing the Marlborough diamond was convicted of conspiring to rob an armored car and the home of a Chicago mob boss.
Federal prosecutors said Arthur Rachel, 73, was convicted Thursday of racketeering, conspiracy and firearms charges. He was acquitted on one weapons count. Sentencing was set for May 30, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Prosecutors said Rachel conspired to rob an armored car at a suburban Chicago bank and plotted to rob the home of the late Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood.
Rachel, Joseph Scalise, 73, and Robert Pullia, 70, were arrested last year outside LaPietra's home before pulling off either of the two robberies, the newspaper said.
Scalise, who served as a technical adviser for the feature film "Public Enemies," and Pullia pleaded guilty to the same charges last week.
Rachel had requested a bench trial.
"He is a tough, proud old-timer," Terence Gillespie, Rachel's attorney, told the Tribune before the trial began. "And if the government wants to put him in jail for the rest of his life they are going to have to prove the charges."
Under a plea agreement, Scalise and Pullia face nine to 10 years in prison.
Rachel and Scalise were convicted in 1980 of stealing the 45-carat Marlborough diamond and other jewels in a $13 million London jewel heist. The diamond was never recovered.
