"Are you calling me f------ stupid?" pizzeria owner Michael Cosmano rhetorically asked delivery man Milton Rodriguez before shooting him in the chest with a .45 caliber pistol nearly 29 years ago (Sun-Times). At least that's what investigators are alleging took place since reopening Rodriguez's cold case file with the help of several witnesses.
Not to say he had it coming or anything, but perhaps Rodriguez should have known that calling his boss "stupid," if that's indeed what took place, would not get him the higher wages or better working conditions he reportedly had asked for.
What took police so long? In short, it seems as though there was a cover-up.
Cosmano allegedly gave the murder weapon to an off-duty cop working security at his pizzeria, Bella's, and witnesses were intimidated to keep their yappers shut. At the risk of invoking Italian-American stereotypes, one must ask just how much power and influence this Northwest Side pizzeria owner had.
There had been rumors swirling around town that Cosmano had ties to the mob, according to the article, which likely had a role in silencing witnesses (even if it was just a rumor).
But nearly three decades later, several witnesses stepped forward to tell their stories. Frank Mildenberger was 15 years old when he and his girlfiend saw the shooting:
"I said, 'Oh my God babe, that gentleman just shot that guy' and she told me to mind my own business and keep walking," Mildenberger, now 44, testified.
Cosmano's counsel, Chicago criminal attorney Todd Pugh, told the court that his client was charged because "someone fell in love with a cold case." But if it remained unsolved for all those years, why would someone be in such a rush to solve it now?
With so much time passed, and the murder weapon still unaccounted for, one must wonder how the prosecution will compile enough compelling evidence to establish Cosmano's guilt.
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Naperville man's trial set in cold-case murder (Naperville Sun)
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Rumored Mob Ties of Alleged Pizza Driver Killer Kept Witnesses Silent from 1981 Until Recently (The Chicago Syndicate)
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Chicago Police Cold Cases (Chicago Police)
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