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Continued from Page A-1fense attorneys time to prepare to cross-examine a potentially damaging witness.On Friday the defense team is expected to turn its attentions to Sheldon Shannon.He testified on May 16 that Tezak asked him to arrange the murder of a co-conspirator and possible witness against Tezak while Shannon and the former coroner were housed in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center in October 1993.Tezak remains in federal custodyat the MCC.Defense Attorney Dan Webb called Shannon's story “preposterous.”According to testimony, Tezak asked Shannon to arrange the murder of former labor official Kenneth Floyd, a partner in Tezak’s 1987 arson scheme. Tezak believed Floyd was preventing him from being released on bond, according to testimony.Tezak later withdrew his invitation to kill Floyd but paid Shannon $1,000 for his aborted planning efforts, Shannon said.According to testimony from other sources on May 16, Tezak alsoallegedly shook down a widow for insurance money and threatened alocal tax activist.In October 1993 Tezak pleaded guilty to hiring others to torch an unprofitable bowling alley he owned in Crest Hill so he could collect the insurance money. He also pleaded guilty to charges that he threatened to kill Nikki Leber, his former daughter-in-law and, allegedly, his ex-lover, if she testified against him.Tezak faces a maximum of about 19 years in prison, restitution, fines and a term of supervised release.As part of a plea agreement, the government will dismiss charges that Tezak hired others to set fire to a downtown Joliet building he owned and which housed1 the Will County Private Industry Council. Tezak admitted, but did not plead guilty to, having the building torched in 1987 to collect insurance money and to destroy records wanted by a federal grand jury as part of an investigation of others.Funeral director Tezak, once an influential and powerful force in Will County and Illinois Republican politics, served three terms as coroner after being elected in 1976. He became a millionaire after gaining the rights to the Uno card game.Tezak, his wife and several of their companies have declared bankruptcy.
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Crete Star
Crete, Illinois, US
Thu, Jun 23, 1994
Page 4
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AZ, USA 28 Jan 2020
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