Shunned Federal Informant Kills Himself

A politically connected Bridgeport home developer who became a key informant for the feds apparently committed suicide after he was ostracized in his neighborhood, and his marriage began falling apart, sources say.

Michael DiFoggio, 58, was found dead of a gunshot wound in his office at 3126 S. Shields on Tuesday night, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

An autopsy Wednesday showed he died from an internal gunshot wound to the head, and the death was ruled a suicide, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

DiFoggio was a key government witness in the recent corruption cases of former Cook County Board Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno and former Ald. Ambrosio Medrano.

The Sun-Times first revealed DiFoggio’s cooperation in July 2012. He had been cooperating since March 2010 after facing his own tax problems, and pleaded guilty to tax evasion in October 2012.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago had no comment Wednesday.

DiFoggio had not been sentenced yet in his tax case and could have faced as little as probation given his critical cooperation.

Yet for that cooperation, DiFoggio had been shunned in his tight-knit community. He had been trying to sell his luxury home for about $1.5 million, which included an indoor pool, without any luck. He was no longer welcome at the Old Neighborhood Italian American Club, a hangout for local businessmen and mobsters that his father co-founded with mob boss Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra.

DiFoggio also had been having difficulties in his marriage. His wife filed for divorce less than two weeks ago, and DiFoggio had been talking with her on the phone at his office before apparently killing himself, sources say.

The wife, Fran Prado, obtained an order of protection against him on Monday, after alleging he’d grabbed and shoved her during an ugly fight that saw police called to their home on the 3700 block of South Normal.

The order, signed by Cook County Judge Helaine Berger, banned DiFoggio from the couple’s home until a hearing next month.

Copyright CHIST - SunTimes
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