Prison Can Be Fun

The American dream lived in John Alessio. Son of an impoverished coal miner, he is a grade-school dropout and a onetime bootblack who became a millionaire with diverse interests in banking, real estate and restaurants in California and horse racing, dog racing and legalized bookmaking in Mexico. One of his enterprises was the erection of a twelve-story office building on the very same street in San Diego where he used to shine the shoes of C. Arnholt Smith, a fund-raising friend of Richard Nixon and Alessio's mentor and business associate. Alessio, named "Mr. San Diego" of 1964 by a local civic group, appreciates having friends in high places. In 1968, after years of contributing to Democratic campaigns, Alessio switched to the favorite and donated $26,000 to the winner.

As befits a man who attended Nixon's Inaugural Ball, "Big John" Alessio was a seemingly model citizen--president of the Tijuana Rotary Club, a director of the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, recipient of an honorary doctorate of law from the University of San Diego. "I don't want to be immodest," Alessio once said, "but I've been a wonderful fellow."

Hanky-Panky. The Internal Revenue Service, which began an investigation into Alessio's financial dealings six years ago, did not think so. Despite reported special pleading on his behalf that delayed the inquiry, Big John, three of his six brothers and his son were indicted for failing to report $1.2 million of taxable income. Big John and Brother Angelo finally pleaded guilty last year (charges against the others were dropped) and received sentences of three years and one year respectively.

Hanky-panky, however, seems to have continued. Last week a federal grand jury in San Diego and Los Angeles indicted Big John and Angelo, their brother Tony and John's son Dominic for conspiring to bribe a guard and other prison officials in exchange for certain favors that made their prison stay rather fun. A week prior, another grand jury in San Diego indicted Angelo, Tony, Dominic and two prison officials for bribery.

Sent to a minimum-security "honor camp" in Lompoc, Calif., a kind of penal country club for a handful of privileged convicts, the Alessios lost no time in buttering up the guards. On different occasions, according to the indictment, the Alessios arranged a free weekend at a resort hotel in Stateline, Nev., for one parole officer and his family; they treated another prison official to a lavishly catered sojourn at the Kona Kai, a San Diego club controlled by Smith. Another time Tony Alessio hosted a fishing trip for a guard and three of his friends that ended with a surprise bonus: two nude prostitutes who came dancing out of the bathroom in their motel suite.

Chicken Delight. Back at the honor camp, Angelo and Big John, whose visitors included Smith, Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty and former California Governor Pat Brown, were not exactly suffering. None of that gummy convict chow for them. They ordered out. According to one inmate: "The Chicken Delight truck used to pull up at the honor camp regularly." Security was so loose that Angelo once went hunting with one of the guards. The indictment says further that both brothers were often chauffeured out of the camp by a prison official for unauthorized visits to motels, where they conducted business and visited for hours with their girl friends. On other occasions the brothers Alessio are also said to have entertained women in a room off the camp's chapel, where the rites were anything but religious. The high jinks ended after an inmate, rankled by Angelo's attempts to woo his daughter, ratted on them.

Now Angelo, 55, who was paroled after serving 5 1/2 months of his one-year prison term, and Big John, 62, face sentences of 20 and five years respectively and three prison officials have been fired. Last week Dominic speaking for the Alessios declared: "We are innocent of any wrongdoing." Big John himself has been transferred to a maximum-security prison on McNeil Island near Tacoma, Wash. Chicken Delight does not deliver there.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.