Michael Coffey needed money to cover personal expenses in the spring of 1989, so he turned for help to Joseph DiFronzo, brother of reputed Chicago mob boss, John, and himself an alleged outfit member.
Coffey borrowed $10,000 at an interest rate of 5 percent a week, and not surprisingly, the juice loan’s balance quickly rose to about $18,000 in a few months.
Instead of sending muscle men to beat up or threaten another deadbeat borrower, Joseph DiFronzo hit on a novel approach, the government has charged.
DiFronzo proposed that Coffey erase the debt by growing high-grade marijuana for the mob, according to a seven-count indictment charging DiFronzo, Coffey and 10 others.
In recently pleading guilty to federal charges, Coffey, 42, said that he agreed to grow the marijuana inside his $650,000 house in northwest suburban Inverness until another location could be found.
It turned out to be a 2 1/2-year-long operation and the largest indoor marijuana growing effort ever in Illinois, according to authorities.
DiFronzo, 59, formerly of Elmwood Park, has yet to be apprehended since charges were filed in July, but the 10 other defendants have all pleaded innocent to the charges.
In August 1989, Coffey was given $10,000 by DiFronzo and flew to Florida for “advice, supplies and marijuana cuttings,” according to Coffey’s plea agreement.
Between then and his arrest in March 1992, Coffey arranged to grow high-grade marijuana in his colonial home.
DiFronzo and an undisclosed second individual not only forgave Coffey’s juice loan debt but also agreed to give him his monthly mortgage payments, Coffey’s plea agreement said.
In July 1991, DiFronzo gave Coffey cash to expand the operation by buying trailers to grow more marijuana, according to the charges.
Ultimately, three trailers were bought and located at a warehouse in an industrial park in west suburban Carol Stream.
Coffey’s sentencing has been postponed until after DiFronzo and the 10 other defendants have been prosecuted, but the government has agreed to recommend that he be given a 10-year prison term because of his cooperation.
