The SunTimes has a good section devoted to the Chicago Outfit. Writer Steve Warmbir’s mob blog is not nearly as detailed or updated as it could be, but it is the only news outlet in town that to my knowledge has such a blog.  During the recent Family Secrets trial the daily updates were brief, but I read every word.  Now today, the final defendant in the trial is literally late for his own funeral:

FAMILY UPSET | Body taken from funeral home and sent to medical examiner

July 30, 2008

BY MICHAEL SNEED AND STEVE WARMBIR Staff Reporters

The late reputed mob hit man Frank “The German” Schweihs was known for making people disappear.

But this week, it was Schweihs’ body that was not to be found at his funeral service.

Schweihs’ family and friends were ready to attend the service, when authorities ordered Salerno’s Galewood Chapel to immediately transport Schweihs’ remains to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, leaving the family distraught.

“It wasn’t a pleasant situation for them, that’s for sure,” said one of Schweihs’ attorneys, Paul Brayman.

The move sparked speculation that federal investigators wanted to get some DNA off Schweihs’ remains before the alleged hit man himself took a dirt nap. Schweihs had a reputation on the street as prolific hit man for the mob and inspired fear among the toughest Outfit thugs.

But the truth was far more pedestrian.

The medical examiner’s office was not properly notified when Schweihs died Wednesday at Thorek Memorial Hospital under guard. By law, anyone who dies in custody has to undergo an examination at the medical examiner’s office, a source there said. A medical examiner’s investigator learned Schweihs had died and called the funeral home Monday, demanding the remains.

For the record, Schweihs, 77, died of complications from cancer. He had suffered from lung cancer and a brain tumor and was to go to trial in October. His body was released by the medical examiner’s office to the funeral home Tuesday. The funeral director could not be reached for comment.

Schweihs’ family was already upset because they were not at his side when he died. Authorities at the U.S. Marshals Service were trying to arrange for a visit, but Schweihs’ condition deteriorated so quickly, he died before that could happen, sources said.

“The family is devastated,” said a source close to the Schweihs family. “He may not have been liked by a lot of people, but he was loved by some, and they were the ones who wanted to be with him in his final hours.”

Some family members of Schweihs’ alleged victims have said they believed that cancer was too good a death for Schweihs — after his reign of terror for decades — and were satisfied to hear he died without his family.

Schweihs had been charged with racketeering in the Family Secrets case and accused of taking part in two Outfit murders — although authorities believed he was involved in many more. He was too sick to be tried with five other defendants in the case last year.

Schweihs had looked forward to going to trial, Brayman said.

On Monday, a federal judge dismissed the indictment against him.

Oy with the gun and the props and the mashuguna and the thing…woah ….mister policeman, sir…

Vegas police: Jerry Lewis cited for gun in luggage

Police say they have confiscated a gun belonging to Jerry Lewis that was found in the 82-year-old entertainer’s carryon bag as he prepared to fly to Detroit from Las Vegas.

Las Vegas policeman Bill Cassell said Tuesday that the actor was cited Friday for carrying an unloaded concealed weapon at the Las Vegas airport.

Lewis’ manager, Claudia Marghilano, says the handgun is a hollowed-out prop gun that Lewis sometimes twirls during his show. She tells The Associated Press that the gun couldn’t fire.

Marghilano says Lewis didn’t know the gun was in the bag along with other props.

Cassell says if the gun were merely a prop “it wouldn’t be a weapon and we couldn’t cite him for carrying a weapon.”