`Dead' man has tale to tell

Two federal cases filed in Chicago paint two very differentportraits of Wail "Wally" Salem.

In a criminal case, Salem, 33, is listed as the key figurebehind one of the largest food-stamp fraud rings in Chicago history.

In a civil case, Salem is listed as dead and buried; his"widow," Amal Salem, produced a Palestinian death certificate in aneffort to collect $2.5 million in life insurance.

But Salem's story did not end in a Palestinian grave. Itstretches from Ramallah, West Bank, where he purportedly died ofcardiac arrest July 18, 1996, to Chicago, where Salem resurfaced morethan a year after his supposed burial.

Salem's trail also extends to …