Alleged Mob Thieves Freed from Jail

Police say they captured the pair trying to rob a late mob boss' home

Reputed mob thieves old enough to collect Social Security are freed from jail despite objections from prosecutors.

Last Friday, the Federal Appellate Court in Chicago released Arthur "The Genius" Rachel, 72, and Robert "Bobby" Pullia, 69, from the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown. The court refused to reverse a lower court's decision setting bond for the men, the Sun-Times reports.

A judge ordered both men under house arrest with electronic monitoring.

Rachel gained notoriety and received a 15 year prison sentence for stealing the 45-carat Marlborough Diamond in London in 1980. His partner in that crime, Joseph "Jerry" Scalise, 73, is sitting in jail for another alleged plot authorities claim the men were hatching.

Scalise, Rachel and Pullia are charged with planning to rob an armored car at a La Grange Bank

Scalise may taste his freedom if a federal magistrate judge rules he has enough property to post as bond.

Last April, police arrested all three men as they allegedly tried to break-in the home of late Chicago mob boss Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra. If convicted, they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Prosecutors claim the geriatric gentlemen remain a danger to society.

The suspects' lawyers dismissed that notion arguing his clients cleaned up their acts as they got older.

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