Today I spoke to Scott Cassidy of the
Cook County State's Attorney's office. He challenged me to find a statute which prohibits a village president from arbitrarily threatening to arrest someone with whom he doesn't like.
On January 25, Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico threatened to arrest me for attending a community meeting to which I was invited by the organizer.
The underlying issue was that the Latino neighborhood group alleges the Melrose Park Police department arbitrarily harasses, abuses and beats Latino teenagers. The cops are mostly Italian-American in Melrose Park.
Background on Ron Serpico: his father Ralph "Babe" Serpico was the Democratic Committeeman for Proviso Township. He did two stints in prison and was reputed to be the connection between the Chicago outfit and the Democratic Party. Serpico succeeded August Taddeo as mayor, who left when he was convicted of corruption. The election before last, the Melrose Park PD arrested Mike Manzo, Serpico's challenger, on trumped up charges that were dismissed in court.
From the beginning of my conversation with Scott Cassidy it was clear that Cassidy was acting as Serpico's defense attorney.
During my phone conversation with Cassidy I told him that when Serpico told me I wasn't welcome in Melrose Park, I responded, "The Constitution gives me the right to go anywhere in the country." Cassidy began arguing that I was wrong and used the example that I couldn't enter his house without permission. This is an obviously stupid and dishonest argument.
Cassidy then initiated a pedantic argument about the definition of assault to try to intimidate me with his legal knowledge.
I'd like help from the dKos community. What laws does it violate for a village president (Serpico's not even technically a mayor) to threaten to arrest someone he doesn't like for disorderly conduct?