A Glenview businessman wanted in Poland for soliciting the gangland-style murder of a former national police chief was taken into custody Friday morning at his home, an arrest billed as a breakthrough in a case of enormous significance in that country.
A man identified in court records as Edward Mazur, 60, appeared in federal court in Chicago on Friday afternoon, and was ordered held pending an identification and extradition hearing Wednesday. The arrest came on the heels of a high-level meeting in Washington this month between Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales and Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.
Officials said Ziobro met with Gonzales to discuss Mazur’s extradition for the 1998 murder of Marek Papala.
The wealthy investor is accused in Poland of scheming with organized crime figures to kill Papala, a one-time police commander general who was gunned down in front of his home in Warsaw as he got out of a car.
Mazur was arrested by federal agents Friday on a provisional warrant from the Polish government, FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.
A judge in Warsaw issued a warrant for Mazur’s arrest in February 2005 on a charge of soliciting a man named Artur Zirajewski to carry out the murder with a third person in exchange for $40,000.
The case has been the subject of intense media scrutiny in Poland, where there has been much speculation about the crime and Mazur’s possible connections to it. Mazur had been briefly arrested in Poland in 2002 in connection with the slaying, but was released.
His arrest Friday made national headlines in Poland.
Ziobro held a news conference there Friday to announce that prosecutors had gathered “hard evidence” against Mazur that includes statements from Zirajewski and other witnesses, and to call his arrest “good news.”
In 2002, Mazur filed a libel suit in Chicago against a Polish-language publication in Washington that he claimed unfairly accused him of contracting Papala’s murder and exercising undue influence over the prime minister of Poland.
“Mr. Mazur did not contract the murder of Mr. Papala and was not involved in Mr. Papala’s murder in any way,” his attorney, Michael Stiegel, wrote at the time.
Stiegel further wrote that Mazur has never been involved in or charged with involvement in any illegal activity or `shady dealings.'” The lawsuit was later dropped.
In an interview late Friday, Stiegel said he believed the accusations against Mazur were politically motivated. The recently victorious Polish conservative party won elections in that country in part on a promise to solve the Papala murder case.
Stiegel said he had “grave doubts” that Mazur was involved in the crime and understood that Papala was in fact a friend of Mazur’s.
“He had set up an opportunity for this guy to come to the United States and study English,” Stiegel said.
In the suit, Mazur included a number of personal details. He stated he immigrated to the U.S. from Poland in 1962 and graduated from a school listed as “Chicago Tech” with a degree in electrical engineering.
His career involved working for a number of international companies as well as staking a claim in several businesses, from a medical products company to a yogurt manufacturer in Poland, the suit states.
Illinois records show Mazur was the president of a firm called Demarex Inc., which was registered at his Glenview home until it dissolved in May. A recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed Mazur has had multimillion-dollar dealings with a Canadian cable company that does a large amount of business in Poland.
Mazur also was involved in a number of Polish organizations locally and nationally, according to court records.
In the suit, Mazur stated that he was director of the American Center of Polish Culture in Washington, D.C., and was the president of WISLA, “a social and athletic club in Chicago founded by Polish immigrants in 1927.”
In the 2002 suit, Mazur stated that he lived in Glenview and had three sons.
Neighbors on Mazur’s upscale Glenview street said he lived in his home on Lawson Road with his wife, a son who is a junior in high school and the teen’s grandfather.
A woman who answered the door there declined to comment as members of Chicago’s Polish-language media waited outside.
The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw on Friday issued a statement that “Mazur is currently being held by U.S. authorities awaiting his formal extradition to Poland.”
“I can assure the Polish public that this matter is receiving a great deal of attention from the U.S. government,” the statement quoted U.S. Ambassador Victor Ashe as saying.
At the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys delayed a proceeding to formally identify the man in custody as Mazur, because he did not have a criminal attorney to represent him.
A hearing will be held Wednesday afternoon for Mazur, “or whomever is under arrest in this case,” Keys said.
The judge advised the man identified by prosecutors as Mazur of his rights, and ordered that he remain in custody until the hearing. If his identity is confirmed, Mazur would be extradited under a 1999 extradition treaty between the U.S. and Poland, officials said.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Mitchell Mars outlined the charges against Mazur. The man who appeared in court answered “I understood” when asked by the judge if the accusations were clear. Evidence against Mazur was spelled out in a 10-page complaint that was unsealed Friday.
The key witness, Zirajewski, allegedly has told authorities he met with an organized crime figure along with Mazur and another man a couple of months before the killing.
“The ensuing conversation lasted for about an hour, Mazur doing most of the talking,” the complaint states. “Mazur said that he was interested in killing Papala, who `was a big obstacle to further business.’
“Mazur displayed a newspaper clipping featuring a picture of Papala,” the complaint states.
Zirajewski allegedly told authorities Mazur told him Papala was under surveillance and asked questions about a hit man’s skill.
Natalia Papala, daughter of the slain chief, was quoted on a Warsaw police Web site Friday.
“[The] arresting of Edward Mazur allows us to have hope that now will occur a turning point in the conducted investigation,” the statement read. “Initiating the extradition procedure creates a chance to complete the investigation and press charges against other people who also stand behind this homicide.”
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