Chicago Outfit enforcer Mario Rainone freed from prison due to COVID-19 concerns

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mario "the Arm" Rainone will be allowed to immediately leave prison after a federal judge granted him compassionate release Monday due to COVID-19 concerns.

U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber reduced Rainone's 15-year sentence on a gun charge to time served.

Although he's not infected with COVID-19, the court warned Rainone's "relatively advanced age and other health problems" could lead to "major complications" if he were to become sick.

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Rainone, nicknamed "the Arm" for his skill at muscling those who have irked the Chicago mob, made a career as a gangland enforcer with a long history various mob rackets. He was doing time for a 2013 case in which authorities found him in possession of a .357 revolver, which, as a convicted felon on parole, was illegal.

In the order, Judge Leineweber writes that he believes the career criminal "likely poses no immediate danger to his community" because he "is optimistic that Rainone understands that given his long criminal history and his advancing age, he is likely to spend the rest of his natural life imprisoned if he breaks the law again."

In his motion for release, Rainone's attorney Joe "the Shark" Lopez wrote that Rainone suffers from a long list of health challenges: skin cancer, cataracts, liver disease, prostate cancer, heart and breathing problems, asthma, tinnitus, cataracts and a tortuous aorta in his heart, which can lead to high blood pressure, aortic insufficiency or premature atherosclerosis.

Rainone has been locked up at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota.