The brother of James Weiss, the politically connected business owner convicted of bribing two state elected officials, pleaded guilty Monday to lying to federal investigators about his brother’s mob contacts, including connections to notorious Outfit hit man Frank “The German” Schweihs.
According to the six-page indictment, Weiss collected revenue and performed other services for his brother’s sweepstakes gaming business, which operated the quasi-legal machines that look like video poker terminals but are not regulated by the state. Schweihs, who according to authorities spent decades as a reputed enforcer for the mob’s Grand Avenue street crew, died of cancer in 2008 while awaiting trial.
But it turned out that Joseph Weiss had been caught on a federal wiretap saying his brother was “good friends” with Schweihs and once went to him for protection for his massage parlors being threatened by other gangsters. At the time, Schweihs had been charged in the Family Secrets mob case and was on the run. According to the brother’s story, The German told Weiss, “‘Jim, I’m underground right now … but I’ll have someone call you right back.’”