Rainone was arrested on Friday by Lincolnshire police and charged with the Feb 12 burglary of a home in the Trafalgar square subdivision. Also charged as an accomplice was Vincent T. Forliano, 39, of Addison.
Forliano is due in court tomorrow at 9 a.m.
Police say they have been under investigation in connection with a string of home invasions in the north and northwest suburbs.
While the relationship between the two is uncertain, Rainone has a long history with the Outfit according to organized crime investigators. They say in the 1980's when Mob bosses needed a job handled quickly and efficiently, Rainone was often enlisted to get things done.
His specialty was encouraging mob debtors to repay money owed to mob loan sharks and Outfit juice operators. Rainone was also dispatched by Chicago hoodlums to collect so-called street taxes from business owners; fees levied by the mob and enforced by threats of violence.
Among the legends of Mario Rainone is the time he informed a shakedown target that his family would pay if he didn't. The old man asked Rainone exactly what he meant. Rainone told the elderly extortion victim that if the debt wasn't handed over, he would kill his children and plant their heads in his front yard. The man settled up.
Rainone quit Organized Crime in late 1989, when he was deployed to murder a wayward mobster. As he prepared to take up a position for the hit, Rainone realized that he was actually the intended target. Rather than waiting to be whacked, Rainone escaped to his truck and sped away.
He went straight to the FBI in Chicago and spilled his story. Agents convinced him that he could only help himself by wearing a wire and working undercover against his one-time Mob bosses.
Rainone got a couple of wise-guys on tape but his cooperation was short-lived. He stopped helping the FBI in November, 1989 when a his mother's front stoop was blown up.
The message-bombing freaked Rainone, who felt it was better that he spend a stretch in prison rather than his mother end up in pieces on her porch.
So he gave up witness protection and in 1992 pleaded guilty to extortion and racketeering. He was sentenced to nearly 18 years and released in 2006. Rainone's next court date is March 13 at 10:30 am for preliminary hearing in Lake County Court. He is being represented by re-known Chicago criminal defense lawyer Sam Amirante.
