British hold 2 thieves for ransom, lawyer says

Two Chicago jewel thieves are being held for ransom in Britishprisons, according to their Windy City lawyer.

The ransom demand: location of a $1 million gem and informationon the crime syndicate.

Attorney Anne Burke said that's the real reason the Brits areholding onto her clients, Joseph "Jerry" Scalise and Arthur "TheGenius" Rachel.

Burke said Scotland Yard detectives recently have been visitingScalise in his prison on the Isle of Wight in an apparent effort tolearn the whereabouts of the Marlborough diamond.

The precious stone was part of a $3.6 million 1980 jewel heistfor which Scalise and Rachel received 20-year sentences three yearsago.

Acting on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department, the ScotlandYard sleuths also are pumping Scalise for information on mob bossAlbert Caesar Tocco.

Tocco is cappo of Chicago's southern suburbs. Scalise toiledfor him as a soldier.

Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic also are interested ina possible mob role in the 1980 theft.

Burke, who has been visiting Scalise to discuss the case, willfile a brief with the Justice Department later this week assertingthat both clients should be returned to this country under the termsof a treaty between the two countries.

The treaty provides that Americans serving time in Britain canbe returned to serve out their sentences here, and vice versa forBritish prisoners held in the United States.

The Justice Department has balked at return of Scalise andRachel on the grounds their crime was "heinous" and they are notcandidates for rehabilitation.

Burke argues there's nothing heinous about a jewel robbery andsaid her clients have been model prisoners.

Although heavily guarded, she said, Scalise is allowed to jogand has been growing vegetables for his island prison. He hasn'ttried to escape from the island, she said, and Rachel hasn't tried toescape from Durham prison near London.

Burke said the overseas isolation is a hardship for both menbecause they are cut off from regular visits by relatives andfriends.

Scalise's father exhausted his funds on legal fees before Burketook up the case, and the 70-year-old Chicagoan has managed toarrange occasional visits with his son by taking a job as aninternational airlines courier.

Burke, wife of Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), said she decided tofile her brief after meeting with Justice Department officials inWashington and asking exactly why her clients can't come home again.She said she failed to get a straight answer.