June 07, 1990|By Matt O`Connor.
A former member of a neo-Nazi group testified Wednesday that William Leinberger was ``laughing and bragging`` the day after he had vandalized scores of Jewish businesses in 1987 on the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
Nov. 9, 1938, is the day Nazis broke windows of thousands of Jewish businesses and burned down synagogues in Germany.
As the trial opened in Cook County Criminal Court, prosecutors told a jury that Leinberger told police that he broke windows at two Jewish shops and spray-painted a swastika on the front door of one business.
In all, 10 Jewish or minority-owned shops and three synagogues in the Albany Park and Rogers Park neighborhoods were vandalized Nov. 9, 1987.
It was no coincidence, argued prosecutors Anthony Calabrese and Lynne Kawamoto, that the vandalism occurred on the 49th anniversary of
Kristallnacht.
``It is one of the darkest nights in Jewish history,`` Arnold Dworkin, the owner of Kaufman`s Bagel Bakery and a victim of the 1987 vandalism in testifying about Kristallnacht.
Leinberger, 24, is charged with criminal damage to property and institutional vandalism for attacks on Kaufman`s bakery, 4411 N. Kedzie Ave., and Hobfall Kosher Meat Market, 3305 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Cassandra Clark, who belonged to a white supremacist ``skinheads`` group in 1987, testified that Leinberger told her he had broken a series of windows at Jewish businesses before cutting his finger.
Clark, 22, testified that Leinberger said a pipe-wielding juvenile friend helped out in the vandalism, while Leinberger`s twin brother, Frederick, waited nearby in a car.
Neither Frederick Leinberger nor the juvenile has been charged.
Clark, who testified for the prosecution after receiving promises of probation in an unrelated home invasion and robbery, said the Leinbergers belonged to the SS Action Group, a neo-Nazi group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan.
Chicago Police Detective Daniel Noon, assigned to the Gang Crimes North unit, testified that he found newspaper articles about the North Side vandalism and the cards of two neo-Nazi groups on William Leinberger when he arrested him on an unrelated offense two days later.
After questioning, Leinberger admitted vandalizing the two Jewish businesses and using a false name when he sought treatment for a cut finger at Resurrection Hospital hours later, Noon said.
The two shop owners testified that the damage totaled $2,000.
Last November, Leinberger was sentenced to 5 years in prison for threatening a bus driver who was to testify against him on a charge of vandalizing a CTA bus.
