The Blackmailer Jeffery Epstein, the Chicago Hitman, and the Tragedy of MAGA

By John Kass

July 16, 2025

At some of the quaint “social clubs” in Chicago and suburbs that cater to old-time wise guys—the kind of place where the old men play cards and can still smoke and the kid behind the bar will make you a good espresso or pour out some delicious homemade limoncello– you might see something amazing.

A mounted giant trophy fish on the wall, sometimes with the lure hanging from its lip.

Keep looking at it, and some old timer will put down his cards and for the amusement of the other guys and for the millionth time tell the story about how that fish ended up on that wall:

“How’d he get caught? Simple. He opened his big f-ng mouth.”

I don’t think Attorney General Pam Bondi ever heard that one, or if she did, she ignored the warning.

But like the trophy fish,  Bondi opened her mouth wide anyway and bit down hard.

And what happened?

Anguished thrashing in MAGA world over the so-called Epstein files. This drama triggered the salivary glands of the New York Times and other leftist media rags, including MSNBC and the rest desperate and eager to sell their advertising by fomenting dissent among their Republican enemies.

FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, the Trump and MAGA loyalist and podcaster, threatened to resign over the public relations mess.

And over what?

Some sleazy blackmailer and pedophile who you’d scrape off the sole of your shoe, if you stepped on him.

This is the point where I must repeat: I support our president. And if Bongino resigns, then MAGA will hate on Pam Bondi. She must know this.

Yet Trump world had already been primed to expect earth shattering info through release of the “Epstein Files,” because the smirking bi-coastal elites including the Clintons, Obamas and Bidens had spent decades of their careers mocking us, belittling us, and not only getting away with it including the primacy of their two-tiered justice, applauded for it by left-wing media culture.

Then in a FOX News interview in February Bondi vowed to release the list, telling Fox News on Feb. 21, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” meaning the list of the influential that curried Epstein’s favor.

But  after much investigation, the Department of Justice and the FBI decided there was no list. And then came the pent-up anti-Bondi blowback from MAGA World.

A memo released earlier this week bearing the logos of both agencies stated that a “systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’” Nor did they find credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed people or any evidence that he was murdered in jail, rather than killing himself — claims that have been feeding the controversy around the Epstein case.

But she talked about a list of wealthy scum bags and child sex traffickers and sex addicts.

What happened, Pam?

Were you played like a fish in the long weeds?

Remember that Epstein is said to have been a blackmailer with ties to foreign intelligence and that many wealthy people visited him at his sex island and were videotaped. Even Bill Clinton flew on trips on the “Lolita Express” to and from the island. Most suspect the intel agency Epstein was working with involved Israel.

I shouldn’t be surprised. I know some will be upset at the suggestion that Israel would blackmail anyone, let alone any British royal family member attracted to underage girls. And I suppose others will insist, as David Axelrod so often does, that conspiracy theorists abound.

All I need is Kay from “The Godfather” whining that I’m being naïve to think the powerful play by their own rules. Or that allies never, ever spy on each other.

And the tragedy of all this is that the knaves and weasel media jesters begin pouncing to undercut the president with so much going on in the world with young people desperate for the interest rates to drop so they might rekindle the dream of owning their own home someday.

Tragedies have one thread: Overweening pride. It is the downfall of every hero in the stories. You paying attention, Mr. President?

Young MAGA voters need attention. They want to build their own lives, they want to buy homes and get married and and if they can’t build them, then Trump and JD Vance and the Republicans will lose them forever.

And through all of it the left is hoping to rip MAGA apart at the seams, the media pitting neoconservatives like Ben Shapiro and Mark Levine against other conservatives like Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson.

Kelly said sources have confirmed to her that Epstein did not kill himself but was targeted while working as an “agent” for the Israeli government, while Shapiro said unnamed whistleblowers were unreliable. Who’s being naïve, Ben? What’s next? Israel’s 1967 bombing of the U.S. Liberty–and the dead sailors–was purely an accident?

Megyn Kelly is so bright. As to whether the snake Epstein killed himself, I agree with her. He did not. If you think it was suicide, apply some good Midwestern common sense and try this experiment: Hold your breath and tell me how far you can get in committing suicide. Keep holding your breath and then call me.

Consider the feared Chicago Outfit hitman, Gerald Scarpelli, a weight lifter and feared enforcer once only whispered about at those social clubs I mentioned above, like the south side club founded by Outfit boss Angelo “the Hook” LaPietra with the big bass on the wall, or the one in the Western suburbs that was hangout of  Outfit boss John “No Nose” Difronzo, with giant pike and walleye up there.

Scarpelli was a killer. His crew was the Wild Bunch and they weren’t actors, Yet it is said he committed suicide while in federal custody, very much like Epstein. I don’t believe it.

You believe in coincidences too, like Ben Shapiro?

I never met either one, Epstein or Shapiro, but it is fair to think of the blackmailer Epstein having had soft hands. He loved luxury and fancy parties where he’d spin his webs.

Scarpelli wasn’t some weak Fredo. He wasbrutal. He killed people he was told to kill. Some deserved killing. He robbed Brink’s trucks and squeezed whimpering deadbeat gamblers. He loved his work, which was all about visiting violent force upon others weaker than he.

For example, When the bosses worried that hit man Billy Dauber and Dauber’s mouthy wife, Charlotte, would talk to the FBI, Scarpelli and his cowboy crew called “The Wild Bunch” tailed Dauber’s car after it left his lawyer’s office.

It was the middle of the day when they blasted Dauber off the road outside Chicago. They pulled up alongside in a van in broad daylight. They cut them to pieces with automatic weapons, shotguns, and rifles.

Epstein was a wealthy man with powerful friends. His disgusting hobby was all about inflicting himself upon young girls and stealing their innocence.

Scarpelli was a thug who killed for money. Epstein purred like a vampire and dedicated himself to a life of stealing young souls.

Immediately after Epstein was pronounced dead, the conspiracy theories began. Even President Donald Trump, acting as conspiracy theorist-in-chief, hinted in a retweet that the Clintons might have had something to do with it. Like Clinton, Trump knew Epstein, and once had said nice things about him, but years ago Trump had Epstein barred from his Florida club, Mar-a -Lago, reportedly for approaching young women.

One thing prosecutors and cops learn is that people sometimes want to convict themselves.

Human beings just love conspiracy theories.

After Epstein’s death, I received an email from a retired Chicago homicide detective. In his day, he investigated many of the city’s heater cases, too many murders to count. The Chicago FBI didn’t trust the Chicago Police Department, because Chicago’s chief of detectives, William Hanhardt, was the mob’s main man.

But the detective who emailed me were trusted by the FBI, so much so that he’d been a member of the federal Organized Crime Task Force. When Scarpelli was arrested, he had a bag of guns, including a British machine gun and magazines loaded with 9 mm hollow points. He planned to shoot his way out of any arrest and leave cops and FBI agents dead on the ground.

Once caught, he began talking. Word got out, as it always does. Scarpelli was found dead on the shower floor in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, asphyxiated by plastic bags he’d collected from waste baskets. And the detective was brought in to investigate told me about it.

“When I was in the FBI Task Force a really bad guy, Outfit hit man, high profile prisoner Jerry Scarpelli killed himself in the MCC…Scarpelli had been the target of a major OC (organized crime) case. Major effort to get this guy. He was captured in a sting operation. Dangerous dude. FBI SWAT team. FBI snipers, the works. SOB was carrying a machine gun. He never got to use it.”

A mob underling was cooperating. Had information that would put Scarpelli away for life. FBI and Justice hoped Scarpelli would take down some really big names to save himself.

He was no rat. He was not going to spend his life in prison.

I didn’t have a newspaper column then, but when I began writing this column, I’d write occasionally about Scarpelli. He’d already started to flip, and he was in that in-between world, between the Outfit and the feds. The Outfit was worried.

Try holding your breath and see what happens. The life inside of you would compel you to rip the bag off your head. But I’ve since learned inmates bent on killing themselves–or spies–can find a way. Perhaps by twisting a bed sheet anchored to the bed or the door around their neck, then rolling on the floor. As it tightens, they lose consciousness and die.

Generation upon generation of corrupt and cynical leaders have taught us that those who believe in coincidence are fools. And so, we build alternate realities from the dust and mud of discredited institutions. We all have our conspiracy theories.

We use them like armor to shield us from a cynical, faithless world.

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About the author: John Kass spent decades as a political writer and news columnist in Chicago working at a major metropolitan newspaper. He is co-host of The Chicago Way podcast. And he just loves his “No Chumbolone” hat, because johnkassnews.com is a “No Chumbolone” Zone where you can always get a cup of common sense.

Merchandise Now Available: If you’re looking for a gift for that hard-to-buy for special someone who has everything, just click on the link to the johnkassnews.com store.

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Comments 29

  1. If you’re using Carlson as some kind of credible source, please don’t. Kelly is in the process of destroying a very good broadcast by spending every hour of her show ranting about this. I get your point and understand, but as a (had no choice) Trump voter, this is becoming just silly. Granted this could have been handled much better, but, good Lord, there’s so much going on and this is distracting from real crimes. Bongino needs to grow a pair.

    1. We don’t need to speculate on any of this. They have Ghislaine Maxwell in custody. Client list, passenger list, guest list or whatever you want to call it, she has all the information.

    2. Agree with your comment about Kelly — too much time on this — the Diddy court scene, too. Kelly is a talent but using excessive air time is a waste. I suspect a lot of the files were destroyed years ago by deep state actors and what remains does not allow “connect the dots” by the current administration.

  2. Joh, the truth always comes out. Evil is taking over and people do not seem to realize it. The Press and news have taken over by Evil and they are running the Country. So sad the young are so not caring about what is happening to our Country. The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.

  3. I do not care a whit if Epstein was murdered by some dark operative or by his own hand. The louse is out of the breathing world.

    Just like Billy Dauber! That bullying creep used to terrorize me when I tended bar at Reilly’s Daughter in Oak Lawn on the weekends. He would pull his white Cadillac up on the side walk inches from the front door and swagger in. He was a miserable human being. When I read of his death in a Monee cornfield, I was delighted.

    One of my grienvous faults – I do not see some carbon footpints as brothers and sisters.

  4. The world has a fascination with evil. Speaking of which, Bill Clinton, who flew more than 20 times on the Lolita Express and whose acute satyriasis has been repeatedly documented over the years, is probably the person with the most to lose if all of Epstein’s perverse activities are revealed.

    But there are other evils that are far more consequential right now and we should be focusing on them. Putin, Hamas, Iran, Powell, Brennan, Comey, anti-semitism, attacks on ICE, etc.

  5. Fact. We know Epstein was a scumbag
    Fact: we know very influential people were involved with him
    Fact: if there was a there against Trump or ANY Republican you can believe the democrats would have blasted all over the world!
    I’m coming to believe it’s much ado about nothing because nothing will come of this. A total waste of taxpayer money and time.

  6. Yes, there are serious issues that need to be addressed. Too many to count, actually.

    However, Epstein himself should not be the focus, but those in the shadows who participated in the crimes and are more than likely responsible for all of the hostile crap going on around us now. Clinton (pick one), Gates, Obama, some famous Hollywood schmuck? Someone needs to be identified and held accountable. Frankly I couldn’t care less if some foreign emissary is involved. I’m interested in the people here, not there. Our justice department need not identify foreigners if they’re so afraid of national security, but should open up about our own scumbags. This whole thing reeks.

    Trump’s about face and hostile attitude towards those who feel they are being played (yet again) is very disheartening and is a serious slap in the face. That disillusionment is what has the MAGA’s up in arms.

  7. Just like being immune from our blessed Moutza, perhaps Clinton still being alive is a golden ticket to avoid the ignominy of being part of and maybe detailed sleaze. Clinton’s a likable guy. Hillary, not so much. If I were Bondi I’d have read the files on her desk before she appeared and commented, at least perused for the juicy stuff.
    I’m sure there were executive summaries already done there before she took office. Bad bad move for maga.

  8. Conspiracy theories always abound, so do conspiracies. Multiple truths and motives are always possible. The old Arthur Conan Doyle/Sherlock Holmes syllogism still works: eliminate what can’t be true and what remains, no matter how unbelievable, must be true. Suicide by Epstein is possible, but unlikely; murder by one or several interested parties is very plausible. Why conceal the client list? Take your pick: It doesn’t exist, it’s full of false info that compromises it, the blackmail info is still too useful, powerful/valuable people need protecting, too many innocent people would be hurt, valuable intelligence methods could be exposed and lost, it would eat up too much media bandwidth in a critical time, etc., etc. Patience. Machiavelli 101; recognize the difference between the means to an end and the end itself. Virtue signaling to bolster and display your integrity might be self-satisfying but compromising it to achieve a vital end is wiser and more statesman-like. Let’s see if it comes up again post-midterms.

  9. Why do we need the list? We all know what when on with Epstein and the others. Clinton skated on Monica, he will skate on this too. Why go after any of them? We all knew how Madigan operated, and he skated for years, and all those on that “list” will skate until they are either too old to prosecute or dead. Concentrate on the task at hand and quit giving the scum another opening to create discord.

  10. It is attributed to old man Daley to have said” If the fish didn’t open it’s mouth it wouldn’t have been caught.” This recent episode of “let’s get Trump” reminds me of all the moments in the past when the lame stream press, the Never Trumpers, and the “intellectuals” all thought that they had Trump over a barrel. Justice takes time, and like in the past, the agile and resilient Trump will call upon his Houdini-like powers to deliver himself from the snare of the Evil one…..have faith boys and girls, quit getting your knickers caught up in a bind…..patience…. take a big breath, enjoy, watch the cute blond in front of you in the yoga class, life is good.

  11. Bondi’s attempt at explaining the video recording lapse is telling for me. You shut it off, or let it shut itself off at 11:59 and turn it back on and it defaults, like all electronics, to 12:00.01 am leaving plenty of time to kill the guy.

    Time to move past this filth, but what about good ole Harvard – who took $14 milch from Epstein for their latest Eugenics project and, with their $55 billion endowment, somehow could not find a way to give it up to Epstein’s victims, or any of it or that matter, I think it may have returned $100K of unspent funds.

    Where ever Harvard is involved – then you know its the worst of the worst

  12. Very good article but…….
    The refusal (so far) by America’s Supreme Leader to release the files and videos gathered by Epstein puts to rest the absurd idea that Trump will dismantle the Deep State. TRUMP IS PART OF, and has been part of, the REPUGNANT CABAL OF POLITIIANS- DEMS AND GOPers-, billionaires ad celebrities who view us, and the underage girls AND BOYS, as commodities to exploit for profit and pleasure.
    The list of those involved in Epstein’s orbit has been published years ago by the reporter Nick Bryant. You can find it free on internet or buy from Amazon.
    They include Trump, Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, Bill Richardson, Larry Summers, David Copperfield, former CIA director Bill Burns, Harvey Weinstein
    Ehud Barak, etc. They also include high priced attorneys, federal and state prosecutors, private investigators, publicists, servants, etc. Also pimps and procurers like the daughter of Robert Maxwell (a known Israeli spy, ie Mossad) Ghislane Maxwell (now in jail). They also include the media and politicians who ruthlessly discredited and silenced the victims and strong armed anyone seeking to expose Epsteins crimes and ‘friends’.
    Michael Baden, M.D., a famed forensic pathologist hired by Epsteins brother, and former New York City Chief Medical Examiner, WAS PRESENT AT THE AUTOPSY and determined the death a HOMICIDE. I have worked with Dr. Baden including here in Lake County, il when I was Coroner. He is totally honest.
    The Epstein case is important because it implodes the fiction of deep divisions between Dems, who have no more interest in releasing the files than Trump and the GOP. THEY ALL BELONG TO THE SAME CLUB. This case exposes how the courts and law enforcement agencies collude to shield the powerful figures who engage in these crimes. It lays bare the depravity of our exhibitionist ruling class, accountable to no one, free to violate, plunder, loot, and prey on the weak and vulnerable. It is a tawdry record of our political masters, those who lack the capacity of shame or guilt, whether it be Clinton or Trump.
    Check out the 1st century satirical novel ‘Satyricon’ by Gaius Petronius Arbiter where the class of ruling parasites are beautifully parodied. Also an author, Julie Brown, who is partially responsible for Epsteins 2nd indictment should be read:”Perversion of Justice: the Jeffrey Epstein Story”.
    John. If anyone responds to my entry do I have your permission to respond. You said last time I talked too much.

    1. Thomas: There is a lot of truth to what you say, I’m afraid. The Epstein “problem” DT now faces – as opposed to the prior Russian hoax – is largely one of his own making. It will not go away. It will continue to fester and be a major distraction for his administration. In fact it is very likely to take down his administration. Ironic since the remedy is simple: do what you (DT) and your administration once pledged: release the files. Will it shut up the true believer conspiracists? Of course not. Nothing will ever shut them up. You can never prove a negative. But it will shut down the furor to large extent and add credibility to his prior claims that his administration is committed to a transparency as opposed to the prior “deep state” administration. If he chooses to not do so, as is likely, his administration will be frozen out in 2026, as he loses control of both houses of congress. Of course, as you imply, if and when DT and his administration is taken down, the alternatives are the communist whores in the Democratic Party. What a choice, eh?

  13. Just guessing, but if there is a list, it would probably have more Democrats than Republicans, yet produce what is called in Congress a “lack of a quorum” to proceed.

    Just guessing again, but Bondi-v.-Bongino might be the most trivial national issue since the most recent call for Trump’s impeachment.

    1. PS — Finding relevance and lesson in a tawdry, vanishing episode like Epstein requires an accomplished writer. And we sure have one here, don’t we?

  14. I have decided that I must be the only voter in the USA who doesn’t GAS about the fabled Epstein client list. I no longer pay any attention to this. There are a bazillion things more important that need attention.

    If, by some quirk of fate, it is revealed, Phase II of this nonsense will begin where:

    1. The list’s authenticity will be challenged.

    2. Accusations will be made as to who doctored the list and what their motive was.

    3. There will be names who visited the island and did nothing illegal. (Their reputations will be ruined.)

    4. No one will be criminally charged, let alone jailed.

    This is purely an election smear witch hunt.

    The donks, with the complicity of the misleadia, will rail away at every perceived right wing name and Memory Hole the names of the lefties.

    Just my opinion. Everyone has one.

  15. Put all of this nonsense to rest already. Issue an unredacted list of the flight logs. Grant Maxwell full immunity and have her testify in front of Congress. Subpoena anyone with pertinent relation to her testimony to also testify. Directly ask her if there was indeed a client list. Ask her of her knowledge of the activities of the visitors to Epsteins island. Whether or not Epstein was working for Israel. By doing this it would mean someone actually was concerned with trying to get to the truth, wouldn’t it? It just demonstrates that NO ONE is trying to get to the truth.

  16. This more than ‘just politics’. This is about pedophilia, rape, kidnapping and murder on a large scale. These are serious felonies that need to be investigated and the perpetrators exposed, go to trial, be convicted and go to prison. Some of you think it just about sex. ITS NOT. Epstein ran a profitable extortion business. How many sex tapes of our elected leaders, govt employees movie stars, sports stars, high ranking educators, etc, were threatened with exposure if they didn’t vote or act a certain way. How many corporations got sweet heart deals because they had these sex tapes of pols having sex with 12 year olds. This is not important now? How many of the powerful low life’s are in jail. Few if any.
    I’m going to quote an excerpt from The Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie Brown’s book:
    “In 2016 a woman, using the pseudonym ‘Kate Johnson’, filed a civil complaint in a federal court in California alleging she was raped by Trump and Epstein when she was 13, over a 4 month period, from June to September 1994. ‘I loudly pleaded with a Trump to stop, she said in the lawsuit about being raped. Trump responded to my pleas by violently striking me in the face with his open hand and screaming that he could do whatever he wanted.’ This woman said that Epstein invited her to a series of underage sex parties at his New York mansion where she met Trump. Enticed by promises of money and modeling opportunities, she stated she was forced to have sex with Trump several times, including once with a girl who was 12 years old. Trump apparently did not like to partake in Epsteins orgies but preferred to watch. This young girl was threatened by Trump and Epstein not to talk of this or harm would occur to her and her parents.

    Finally, it appears that Trump was able to quash the lawsuit by buying her silence. She remains in hiding fearing for her life.
    This lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Central California.
    Before any of you say she was in it for the money, remember PERJURY IS A FELONY which means jail time. Why didn’t Trump sue her for slander and libel and have her incarcerated for lying. After all, if your innocent, isn’t your reputation most important? Recently he sued various media companies for lying.
    This is not a Dem or GOP POLITICS AS USUAL. As I said at beginning: it’s about pedophilia, rape, kidnapping, murder and I forgot, extortion too! These criminals no matter who they are need to be put away for a long time.

    1. Walsh is 100% correct. The irony is if Biden’s DOJ refused to release these files, I suspect John Kass would be having a major conniption. His head would be exploding. But because it is Trump, John seems to be saying “never mind … just a Democratic diversion”. As Walsh says, everyone – Democrats or Republican – should be concerned about the biggest sexual abuse scandal in recent memory … abuse of young girls by powerful men of all political stripes. And NO one as yet has paid for these crimes (except Mr. Epstein’s lowly girlfriend gofer). This is a perfect example of what Kass is always ranting about (and rightly so) the “deep state” …. “nothing to see here, move along”. Maybe there is “nothing to see here” but we, the people, should determine that, and not the government. Mr. Trump claims this is just boring. OK. If it’s so boring then release the files, all the files and let us – the people – be bored.

  18. The fixation on this Epstein saga is potentially crippling. We all need to listen very closely to the words used by the Justice Dept. As an example, they were clear that the video tape did not include a murder of Epstein! Thus, there is no legal PROOF he didn’t kill himself.

    I, for one, appreciate a DOJ that doesn’t speculate.

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