Secret recordings allege ties between Berrios relative and notorious Chicago mobster. ‘Jimmy and Frank were good friends.’

The brother of convicted businessman James T. Weiss was once secretly recorded insisting Weiss had been “partners” with the late mobster Frank “The German” Schweihs, and that Weiss once turned to Schweihs for help with “some Russians” who “busted up” his store.

“Jimmy and Frank were good friends,” Joseph Weiss said during that recorded conversation, according to federal prosecutors. “And some Russians were muscling Jimmy, but Frank was on the run. Frank was in hiding and Jimmy called Frank and said ‘hey,’ cause they were partners. And Jimmy says, ‘Hey man, these guys just busted up my f—ing store. Scared the f— out of the girls, this and that, you know, I need your help, where the f— are you?’”

The feds revealed the details of that conversation in a 24-page court memo filed late Wednesday night as they sought a prison sentence of more than five years for James Weiss, who was convicted earlier this year of bribing two Illinois lawmakers. 

They also insisted that James Weiss’ argument last week — that the state of Illinois would have benefitted from the legislation at the center of his corrupt bribery scheme — should “offend” the judge and the public. 

“Indeed, this sort of flimsy effort to justify criminal conduct is grounds to impose a more serious sentence, for it demonstrates [James Weiss] does not understand the gravity of his crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine O’Neill wrote.

James Weiss, son-in-law of former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios, is due to be sentenced Oct. 11 by U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger. He’s the same judge who last year gave a nearly five-year prison sentence to former state Rep. Luis Arroyo for Arroyo’s role in the bribery scheme. 

Weiss paid thousands of dollars in bribes to Arroyo and then-state Sen. Terry Link in a bid to pass legislation affecting unregulated gambling devices known as sweepstakes machines. Link secretly cooperated with the feds and faces sentencing for his own tax crimes March 6.

The feds’ memo Wednesday also alleged that James Weiss has been known to risk $20,000 gambling several times a week.

Meanwhile, Joseph Weiss also faces criminal charges in an indictment made public earlier Wednesday. It alleged that Joseph Weiss lied to the FBI about his brother’s ties to Schweihs, who died in 2008. Joseph Weiss is also charged with attempted obstruction of justice. 

His indictment references a grand jury number tied to the indictment of Iman Bambooyani, an associate of James Weiss’ who is charged with a prostitution conspiracy.

The memo filed late Wednesday revealed that Joseph Weiss had been secretly recorded by law enforcement discussing his brother’s ties to Schweihs and another unnamed associate. During that secretly recorded conversation, someone said that “Jimmy was telling me that’s how he met” the unnamed associate, “back with the, um, massage parlors.” 

Joseph Weiss allegedly replied, “yeah” and said the unnamed associate “stepped in and saved his life.” Then he allegedly went on to tell the story of the “Russians” who “were muscling Jimmy,” and how Schweihs had been in hiding.

“He’s like, ‘Jim, I’m underground right now,’ he goes, ‘but I’ll have someone call you right back.’ And somebody called Jimmy and told him to go see” the unnamed associate, who then straightened everything out, Joseph Weiss allegedly explained.

“Ever since then, they’re partners on everything,” Joseph Weiss added, according to prosecutors. He also allegedly said the unnamed associate is “like a gangster, but he’s an honest guy. If you’re his friend, you’re his friend.”