A family who is suing the village of Melrose Park and its longtime mayor has fired back at the mayor's attempt to sidestep their lawsuit over the village’s alleged campaign of harassment against the family, asserting in a new filing there is little doubt the harassment was spearheaded by Mayor Frank Serpico.
“…. Serpico as the Mayor of Melrose Park is a final policy maker for purposes of … liability because Defendant Serpico imposes his will to persecute people,” the family wrote in their amended complaint.
The amended complaint comes as the latest step in a legal action launched earlier this year against Serpico and the Melrose Park village government by plaintiff Michael Cozzi, who was targeted by Serpico in an angry, vulgar tirade, laced with obscenities and a racial slur, at a Melrose Park village board meeting, which was captured on video and went viral.
Cozzi, with his parents, Vincent and Angeline Cozzi, filed suit in Chicago federal court in February, claiming their constitutional rights were trampled by the village’s enforcement of “bogus” parking and nuisance ordinance violations.
The Cozzi family claims Melrose Park has hit them with citations worth thousands, and slapped a $15,500 lien on them.
According to the complaint, Michael cares for his parents, who are in their 80s, in the home they have shared in Melrose Park since 2019.
According to the complaint, the problems with the village government began in 2020 when the Cozzis refused the village’s demand to remove six plastic lawn chairs from their front yard. After that, the family allegedly began receiving citations for creating nuisances and alleged unsanitary conditions.
According to the complaint, some citations fined the Cozzis for putting Christmas decorations on the outside of their home, and for placing an unspecified political flag and signs on their property.
The Cozzis assert code enforcement officers routinely watched their property, and on at least one occasion, told them the citations “are from the mayor, not us.”
Michael said he also received parking tickets from the village.
When Michael took his grievances to social media, he was harangued at a village board meeting in January by Serpico, who told him to “sit down and shut the fuck up.”
In February, Serpico again yelled at Michael during a village board meeting, telling him was a “fucking shine” – a racist slur against Black people – and he and his parents lived “like a fucking hillbilly.” After the video went public, a spokesman for the village of Melrose Park said Serpico regretted the remarks, but accused the Cozzis of “repeatedly harassing” Serpico and the board.
Serpico has been mayor of Melrose Park for 24 years, and enjoys ties to influential state political leaders, including Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and the machine of former House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.
In April, Serpico and the village asked the judge to dismiss much of the lawsuit. The village asserted the Cozzis could not back their claim that Serpico can legally establish ordinances, or guide their enforcement.
The village further alleged the Cozzis can’t prove Serpico was personally involved in the alleged persecution, as the decisions against the Cozzis were entered by a hearing officer employed by the village, and not Serpico himself.
The Cozzis then asked the judge for permission to amend their complaint, which was granted. At the same time, the judge dismissed the village’s motion as moot, pending the filing of the new complaint.
In the amended complaint, filed on June 14, the Cozzis pointed to “overwhelming circumstantial evidence” they say proves Serpico personally controls nearly every aspect of Melrose Park’s village government.
They noted Serpico appointed the village’s Director of Code Enforcement.
Further, in the past two decades, the village board has served as little more than a “rubber stamp” for whatever Serpico wants.
“… Members of the Board of Trustees have only voted ‘no’ on legislation he proposed twice in his 24 years as Mayor,” the Cozzis wrote.
And, according to the complaint, Serpico personally threatened the Cozzis by “driving past the Cozzi residence and yelling that he should ‘kick Michael’s ass.’”
They further pointed to a documented “unofficial policy of retaliation and unlawful targeting” from the village government, “at the behest of Defendant Serpico.”
The complaint noted Melrose Park or Serpico have been sued on at least three occasions for such alleged harassment and persecution. That included a lawsuit brought by a janitor who secured a $1 million verdict from a jury, after he demonstrated Serpico retaliated against him and his five-year-old daughter after the janitor managed and supported his cousin’s mayoral campaign against Serpico.
The alleged actions against the Cozzis “reflect an unofficial policy, custom, or practice of penalizing residents for no rational reason, discriminatory reasons, or based on illegitimate animus,” which, they said, violates the Cozzis’ constitutional rights, allegedly at the behest of Serpico.
The Cozzis are represented in the action by attorneys Gianna R. Scatchell, Cass Casper, and Navarrio Wilkerson, of Disparti Law Group, of Chicago.
Melrose Park and Serpico are represented by attorneys Cynthia Grandfield and K. Austin Zimmer, of Del Galdo Law Group, of Berwyn.