As reputed mob figure Casey Szaflarski fights burglary charges tied to the break-in of a McMansion in Kane County, a related legal fight has been playing out behind the scenes: he’s trying to get back a vehicle seized by police amid the 2025 arrest.
But if you think reputed mobsters or associates are all about Lincolns and Cadillacs, you’ve been watching too many old movies.
Szaflarski’s vehicle?
A silver 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid.
That could make him either eco-friendly, or perhaps in favor of a nearly silent ride, as that type of sport-utility vehicle is known for little noise when operating on electric power.
While quiet may be important when committing a burglary, Szaflarski is pleading not guilty to the one he’s charged with and, in paperwork filed to try to get his vehicle back, he wrote: “There was no probable cause to stop and arrest me.”
On the same form, under the heading of “reasons the property should not be forfeited,” he checked a box indicating “it would be unfair to take the property because forfeiting the property would be an excessive fine under the 8th Amendment.”
That’s the part of the U.S. Constitution that bars cruel and unusual punishment.
He also checked a box saying: “The property is not connected to the alleged crime and/or I did not know about, take part in, or cause the alleged crime.”
A court hearing is scheduled for later this month on the vehicle, but the matter appears to be essentially on hold until the criminal case progresses. There’s a hearing on that next month.
Szaflarski’s attorney, Ed Wanderling, declined to comment.
A spokesman for the Kane County state’s attorney’s office says, “The forfeiture case is still pending. The vehicle will remain in the sheriff’s custody until the case is resolved.”
Prosecutors want authorities to hold onto the car, and in records supporting the seizure, they give more detail on how the arrest went down of Szaflarski and two alleged accomplices: prolific mob-tied burglar Paul Koroluk, and Louis Capuzi, Jr., son of a late, long-ago state legislator.
On March 18, Kane County deputies and the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force “were investigating a residential burglary” in Dundee Township, the far northwest suburbs. They “conducted physical and electronic surveillance on defendant-property,” according to the state’s attorney’s “complaint for forfeiture.”
Police “observed the defendant-property” near the scene of the burglary, and then watched the vehicle drive and park “next to another vehicle that was involved in the residential burglary.”
Police “conducted a traffic stop on defendant-property which was driven by Casey Szaflarski, who was subsequently arrested” at or near a suburban hotel.
A search revealed burglary tools — including a crowbar and power saw — in his vehicle, “as well as burglary proceeds including United States Currency, loose change, purses and multiple items of jewelry,” according to the complaint.
Consumer Reports says that type of vehicle, in all-wheel-drive mode, includes a 3.3-liter V6 engine that is “augmented by three electric motors that together result in a net total of about 268” horsepower.
“The hybrid can propel itself solely on its electric power at low speeds, and as such, is eerily quiet.”
Vehicles can be kept by law enforcement in Illinois if they were used in the commission of select crimes, residential burglary and possession of burglary tools among them. Sometimes forfeited vehicles are sold at auction.
A Kane County judge last year approved the forfeiture after Szaflarski initially failed to respond in court.
The judge later vacated the judgment — over the objection of prosecutors — after Szaflarski’s lawyer said Szaflarski “was never personally served in this cause” and wanted to challenge the forfeiture.
With recent addresses in Bridgeport and on the Gold Coast, Szaflarski said in court papers that he “purchased the vehicle for $4,500” within the last several years.
He was convicted in 2010 in a sprawling federal racketeering case in which authorities portrayed him as the mob’s video poker kingpin, a key figure in organized crime’s involvement in illegal video gambling at the time.
One of the reputed bosses of the Chicago mob back then, John “No Nose” DiFronzo, was known as a car enthusiast, with a job at a Northwest Side car dealership. He died in 2018, and his late brother Peter DiFronzo, also a reputed mob leader, was known to drive a red Dodge.
Also registered to Szaflarski's address, records show, has been a Dodge Charger, a model not always great with gas mileage.
The mob has been dealt a heavy blow over the past two decades by deaths, prison and waves of federal prosecutions, but it’s still active, including on the gambling front, whether illegal sports betting or reputed associates trying to get involved in legalized video gambling regulated by the Illinois Gaming Board.
