Sneed on Sunday
At last!
The inside scoop behind a sensational 56-year old Chicago story from the 1968 Democratic National Convention, thanks to Carol DiLeonardi, the widow of the late, press friendly Chicago top cop “Joe Di” DiLeonardi. Back then, Joe Di was working the DNC floor as a young, undercover plainclothes CPD detective.
It was quite a story. Legendary CBS-TV correspondent Mike Wallace was arrested on the convention floor inside the old International Amphitheater, while massive anti-Vietnam War protester-police confrontations were raging on Chicago’s streets.
Wallace was just weeks away from launching “60 Minutes” with Harry Reasoner. His arrest made national headlines.
One 1968 press account had Wallace getting stopped by police and arrested for attempting to muscle his way off the congested convention floor to talk to a New York delegate who was having trouble with his credentials. Another claimed Wallace was arrested while fuming angrily at being blocked and strong armed on the DNC floor while he was just “doing his job.” He had also blasted the police for manhandling the angry protesters outside the convention.
For whatever reason, Wallace was arrested and whisked off the convention floor. His CBS boss would bawl out then-Mayor Richard J. Daley and protest the arrest. Daley reportedly demanded Wallace apologize.
But Wallace was never charged with any crime or booked.
Boss busts Wallace for ‘bad mouthing his city’
According to Carol DiLeonardi, whose husband was one of the officers who escorted the blustery newsman off the convention floor, Wallace was indeed “reporting inside the hall and blasting the way police outside were arresting and holding back protestors..
“The mayor was very upset that he [Wallace] was bad mouthing his city, so he wanted him arrested and removed from the floor,” she claims.
“So, Joe and another officer did take Wallace outside the convention, where his [Wallace’s] picture was taken and shown in every newspaper, so he [Wallace] could, of course, let his audience know what happened.”
“He told Joe it was the only time he ever got arrested,” she said.
“Joe heard later from Wallace’s son, Chris, that Mike had the picture framed and [it was] hanging in his office like a badge of honor,” she said.
A decade later, Carol DiLeonardi’s husband would eventually become Chicago’s top cop, Police Supt. Joe DiLeonardi, during the administration of Mayor Jane Byrne.
Chris Wallace — Mike Wallace’s only son – went on to become a Fox News TV anchor and is now a correspondent for CNN. He was in Chicago when his father covered the 1968 Dem convention.
Coincidentally, Chris Wallace will be in town covering the 2024 Dem convention. Wonder what he’ll have to say about his dad when he checks into town.
Stay tuned!
In memoriam
A special note to Willy Vogt … the only child of Kathy Byrne, who died of a unique, fast acting, deadly lung cancer. Byrne was the only child of Jane Byrne, Chicago’s first female mayor.
Dear Willy,
Your brilliant attorney mom was one of two major “encyclopedias” helping me research nearly a dozen newspaper columns on why your grandmother should be honored with a city memorial.
The series led to TWO memorials being named for her after then-Gov. Pat Quinn and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel both jumped aboard immediately.
But your mother also wanted them for YOU, looking forward to your first drive through the newly named “Mayor Jane Byrne Interchange,” hearing it mentioned on the car radio, visiting the new Mayor Jane Byrne Park with you, not far from your late grandmother’s Gold Coast residence — and going with you on a winter school break a few years ago to visit your grandmother’s rediscovered and relocated Children’s Fountain in Lincoln Park. It was everything for her Willy. She loved you so much.
Sneedlings …
Yessir, Senator! Former state Sen. Billy Marovitz, empresario of Chicago’s Carnivale restaurant, 702 W. Fulton St., is tossing out the eatery’s cover charge and serving up an “after party” while the Democratic National Convention is in town. Actors portraying the legendary “Rat Pack” members Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. will hit the Carnivale stage Sunday and Wednesday nights. And Chicago’s own piano man, Nick Psyhogios, will perform with his Billy Joel and Elton John tribute band Tuesday night. “As a past Dem convention delegate at least six times, I know attendees are always looking for after hour fun,” chirped Billy.
Saturday birthdays: actor Robert De Niro, 81; Julian “Downton Abbey” Fellowes, 75; actor Sean Penn, 64; Giuliani Rancic, 50; actor Austin Butler, 33 … Sunday birthdays: Robert Redford, 88; actor Denis Leary, 67; Actress Madeleine Stowe, 66; actor Edward Norton, 55; actor Parker McKenna Posey, 29.