Early 1970s Chicago member informant

[Villain]

Giunta was the official Chicago Mafia boss between Lolordo and Aiello. He was one of the three mafiosi (the other two being Giovanni Scalise and Alberto Anselmo) reportedly beaten with baseball bats by Capone and Accardo before being shot and dumped in Hammond, Indiana. Giunta attended the 1928 Cleveland Mafia conference.

Thanks Anti. Two questions...are we 100% sure Giunta was official? (his attendance at the meeting possibly says he was, although it was Lolordo allegedly being recognized, not Guinta).....and i think we already talked about this, is the whole baseball bats sitution a myth, since we allegedly dont have the type of physical traumas on the victims that are made by a baseball bat? Only bullet holes and missing fingers from the bullets....

[Antiliar]

Giunta was the official Chicago Mafia boss between Lolordo and Aiello. He was one of the three mafiosi (the other two being Giovanni Scalise and Alberto Anselmo) reportedly beaten with baseball bats by Capone and Accardo before being shot and dumped in Hammond, Indiana. Giunta attended the 1928 Cleveland Mafia conference.

Thanks Anti. Two questions...are we 100% sure Giunta was official? (his attendance at the meeting possibly says he was, although it was Lolordo allegedly being recognized, not Guinta).....and i think we already talked about this, is the whole baseball bats sitution a myth, since we allegedly dont have the type of physical traumas on the victims that are made by a baseball bat? Only bullet holes and missing fingers from the bullets....

Lolordo was the Chicago boss when they attended the Cleveland meeting, then not long after he was killed. GIunta succeeded him and also had a short reign.
I qualified the baseball bat incident with "reportedly," I didn't write that it was a fact. People refer to it, so I have to mention the baseball bat. It doesn't mean that I agree with or believe the common narrative.

[Villain]

Giunta was the official Chicago Mafia boss between Lolordo and Aiello. He was one of the three mafiosi (the other two being Giovanni Scalise and Alberto Anselmo) reportedly beaten with baseball bats by Capone and Accardo before being shot and dumped in Hammond, Indiana. Giunta attended the 1928 Cleveland Mafia conference.

Thanks Anti. Two questions...are we 100% sure Giunta was official? (his attendance at the meeting possibly says he was, although it was Lolordo allegedly being recognized, not Guinta).....and i think we already talked about this, is the whole baseball bats sitution a myth, since we allegedly dont have the type of physical traumas on the victims that are made by a baseball bat? Only bullet holes and missing fingers from the bullets....

Lolordo was the Chicago boss when they attended the Cleveland meeting, then not long after he was killed. GIunta succeeded him and also had a short reign.
I qualified the baseball bat incident with "reportedly," I didn't write that it was a fact. People refer to it, so I have to mention the baseball bat. It doesn't mean that I agree with or believe the common narrative.

I know, my intention was just to hear you opinion about being false...I wasnt putting words in your mouth

[PolackTony]

Pietro Amato is the only Cinisi Chicago figure I know of from Gianola's own generation. Amato's mother was yet another Vitale and he was born in Cinisi 1915, lived in Chicago, deported 1953, continued operating with the mafia in Cinisi.

While it's probably been commented on elsewhere, Illinois "Pizza Connection" operative (and nephew of Gaetano Badalemnti) Pietro Alfano was of course from Cinisi. His wife was a Phyllis Palazallo and her brother Emanuele was another operative based in Wisconsin.

Incidentally (if it hasn't already been reported on the boards here) Alfano died in January 2020.

[cavita]

Pietro Amato is the only Cinisi Chicago figure I know of from Gianola's own generation. Amato's mother was yet another Vitale and he was born in Cinisi 1915, lived in Chicago, deported 1953, continued operating with the mafia in Cinisi.

While it's probably been commented on elsewhere, Illinois "Pizza Connection" operative (and nephew of Gaetano Badalemnti) Pietro Alfano was of course from Cinisi. His wife was a Phyllis Palazallo and her brother Emanuele was another operative based in Wisconsin.

Incidentally (if it hasn't already been reported on the boards here) Alfano died in January 2020.

I don't think the Pietro Alfano that died in January 2020 is the same one as the Badalamenti nephew. Are you speaking of the Pietro Alfano that died in Ottawa, Illinois at the age of 91? The Oregon, Illinois Pietro Alfano moved back to Sicily in the 1990s and if he were alive today he'd be 83 years old.

[PolackTony]

Pietro Amato is the only Cinisi Chicago figure I know of from Gianola's own generation. Amato's mother was yet another Vitale and he was born in Cinisi 1915, lived in Chicago, deported 1953, continued operating with the mafia in Cinisi.

While it's probably been commented on elsewhere, Illinois "Pizza Connection" operative (and nephew of Gaetano Badalemnti) Pietro Alfano was of course from Cinisi. His wife was a Phyllis Palazallo and her brother Emanuele was another operative based in Wisconsin.

Incidentally (if it hasn't already been reported on the boards here) Alfano died in January 2020.

I don't think the Pietro Alfano that died in January 2020 is the same one as the Badalamenti nephew. Are you speaking of the Pietro Alfano that died in Ottawa, Illinois at the age of 91? The Oregon, Illinois Pietro Alfano moved back to Sicily in the 1990s and if he were alive today he'd be 83 years old.

Thanks for the correction Cavita.

[PolackTony]

I believe that we overlooked a potential candidate for this informant in our discussion -- Ned Bakes AKA Ignatius Spacchese.

To go back to B.'s summary in the OP:

Thanks to Antiliar for sharing Paul Ricca's FBI files:
[...] Sicilian heritage, family may have changed their surname, second-generation member, an important relative was murdered in 1931. He seems to have specific knowledge of the Genna group but also mentions Joe Aiello. If he or his relatives were connected to the Gennas it would make Trapanese heritage likely, as their faction included men from several different Trapani villages.

Bakes was born Ned Charles Bakes to "Charles Bakes", born ~1883 in Termini Imerese, and Mille Bakes (Maria Carmella D'Elia Cianciarulo), born in Chicago 1888 to parents from Potenza, Basilicata (probably). Several sources over the years give Ned Bakes's real name as Ignatius Spacchese, possibly that was his baptismal name. "Charles Bakes" I suspect was born Calogero Spacchese (or something similar), to Ignazio "Spacchese" and Maria Agostina Tedesco of Termini Imerese. The original surname and spelling have been challenging to confirm, as documents have it variously as Spacchese, Bachese, Sbacchesi, etc. and I have not been able to identify a matching surname in Sicily (or variant thereof). Perhaps it was originally something else entirely (which makes me wonder if Ignazio was already a mafioso and potentially had good reason to disguise his name, aside from the usual "'Medigan-ization" that many families went through). When Ignazio died in Chicago in 1899, he was listed as "Sbacchi". Either way, by the time Charles Bakes's brother Joseph Bakes was married (to Caterina "Katie" Serritella, likely a cousin to IL State Senator Dan Serritella, as both of their families were from Ricigliano, Salerno), he gave his name as "Giuseppe Bakes" and his father as "Ignazio Bakes". Regardless of what the original surname might have been, certainly "Bakes" would be entirely unfamiliar to relatives back in Sicily, much more so than the elision of an "N" in Giannola -> Gianola.

Charles Bakes seems to have himself been a gangster and was murdered in 1917 when a gunman by the name of Cuono Colletta opened fire inside of Joe Esposito's tavern on Taylor St. Also wounded in the shooting was Joe Esposito's brother Sam. Colletta was said to have been a known gunman in "Little Italy", who had previously been pinched on "white slavery" charges in Omaha, and had also been hiding out in Detroit under the assumed name "Savoia". This incident goes to show that, potentially, Esposito's Napuletan' group was already closely allied with Sicilians by 1917.

After Charles was murdered, Millie Bakes married a Mosale "Mossie" Falone (born in Chicago to Molisani parents), who died in 1940.

In 1938, Ned Bakes was arrested for running an operation recovering grain alcohol from denatured alcohol in Aurora, IL, and sentenced in 1939 to five years in prison. In 1944, while on parole, police announced that they were looking to question Bakes for his role as "one of the leaders in a gang suspected of extensive dealings in blackmarket liquor".

I'm not sure when Bakes would've been inducted into the mafia, but perhaps it was after this period. In the following years, Bakes becomes known as a top lieutenant for Outfit 1st Ward/organized labor boss Pete Fosco, and Bakes himself was a deputy Cook County sheriff for a period. During the later 1940s, the Chicago papers noted that Bakes was considered a messenger or "go-between" for several high-level Outfit figures, including the incarcerated Paul Ricca. In 1948, Bakes was sought for questioning by the authorities along with Pete Fosco in the Ricca, Capmpagna, D'Andrea, and Gioe parole scandal, and Bakes was described at the time as a "mysterious man of influence in Italian-American affairs". In 1954 Bakes was held for questioning -- but never charged -- by Milwaukee police in the slaying of Milwaukee liquor store owner John Ditrapani, along with former IL state rep Jimmy Adduci, Preter Granata, and Dominic Volpe. Further, in 1948, while under suspicion by federal authorities for his role in the Ricca parole operation, Bakes was arrested in Los Angeles, where police suspected his involvement in the Bugsy Siegel hit, though it seems that Bakes was never charged. At this time, a Chicago reporter additionally claimed that Bakes's address corresponded with that of a person of interest in the slaying of Chicago wire service owner James Ragen (IIRC Siegel had been running a "syndicate"-controlled rival service to Ragen's Nationwide News Service before he was killed).

We know that this informant claimed that he owed his life to Giancana's intercession on his behalf. Perhaps the Outfit thought that Bakes was going to flip on either the Ricca parole scandal or the Ditrapani murder (or even the Siegel and Ragen murders), and someone wanted to knock him down until Giancana stepped in.

The informant had knowledge of the old Genna faction, and we know that Bakes and his family had longstanding ties to OC in the Taylor St area, going back to before the Genna brothers. Another angle is that, in 1948, Bakes married Rose Mary Pellegrino, widow of Joe Mundo, a Taylor St mobster slain in 1944. Rose Mary was born in IN to parents from Marsala, Trapani. Given her family background and ties to Taylor St mob figures, she could have been another link from the informant to the Gennas.

The informant mentions Americo DePietto being run out of a place by Giancana for being a narcotics trafficker. In 1961, the Tribune noted that local and federal investigators and surveilled Rocky Infelice and DePietto attending meetings at the North Avenue Steak House in Melrose Park, where Ned Bakes was also in attendance along with figures such as Battaglia, DeVarco, the English bros, Daddano, etc.

in 1965, Bakes -- then 61 and residing at 900 North Lake Shore Dr. -- was convicted of failing to file past tax returns. At the time Bakes was described as an "alleged figure in syndicate gambling on the west side".

Soon Bakes was in further trouble with the law. In 1969 he was convicted of stealing thousands of Westinghouse Electric stock certificates (valued at $13 million) and sentenced to six years in prison. Free on an appeal bond in 1970, Bakes was subsequently arrested for possession of another load of stolen stocks, from a separate case. Despite this second infraction while out on appeal, Bakes was sentenced to four years to run concurrently with his original sentence. He was paroled in 1973.

In December 1975, Rose Mary Pellegrino Bakes reported that her husband went missing during a trip to the (famous) Ferrara's Bakery on Taylor St. Bakes's body later turned up in the trunk of his car. While investigators later fingered Gerry Scarpelli as the hitter, the account that I've read suggests that Bakes was knocked down on Nicoletti's orders, possibly on suspicion of being an informant. Another thing to note is, of course, that Giancana (who we know had previously saved the informant's life) had been killed earlier in 1975, potentially leaving Bakes with no "rabbi" in the organization following Ricca's prior death.

Now, the fact that Bakes did time in the early 1970s for his stolen stock schemes might mitigate against him being our guy. But I'm still unclear as to exactly how much time he actually spent locked up and what the precise dates were. We know that he was out on appeal for at least some time in 1970, perhaps that extended into 1971. And it seems he was involved in criminal activities during this window of freedom. Maybe someone here knows when he was pinched on the second stock charges and resentenced. Either way, Bakes's back-to-back cases could have provided pressure to flip. And he certainly seems to have gotten off easy, considering that he was convicted of another stock theft while on appeal for the first. Even if he wasn't talking, it looks like the Outfit sure thought so.

[B.]

Interesting info on another figure who parallels the informant.

We discovered that Needles Gianola may have been the only Chicago made member to attend a certain wake that the informant (himself a member) attended, along with other info that matched the informant. This type of detail can be a pretty big nail in the coffin, but as always, hard to close the door without explicit confirmation.

[PolackTony]

Interesting info on another figure who parallels the informant.

We discovered that Needles Gianola may have been the only Chicago made member to attend a certain wake that the informant (himself a member) attended, along with other info that matched the informant. This type of detail can be a pretty big nail in the coffin, but as always, hard to close the door without explicit confirmation.

Yeah, the Cesario wake. What was the source on Gianola being the only Outfit guy present? The other two wakes of course have a number of redacted names.

At the least, Bakes matches many of the points of the informant as well as (Sicilian heritage from an area with a strong compaesani network in the earlier mafia, Taylor St guy) or better than Gianola (major surname change, marked involvement in illicit liquor, less likely to have had an early relationship with Giancana, stable long-term marriage [to a wife with mob connections herself and even possible compaesani links to the Genna faction]), potential strong motivation for cooperating directly preceding the period when the informant begins cooperating) so I think that Bakes needs to be firmly ruled out in order to proceed with a persuasive inference of Gianola.

[B.]

It's in Gianola's FBI file. Says he attended the Cesario wake, and the member informant said there was only one member (name redacted) who attended. The informant was a made member, so would seem to be referring to himself and would point to it being Gianola, identified in another report as the only known member in attendance.

The only other mobbed up guy there was Mike Glitta, who doesn't seem to be a member or fit the bill. I don't know anything about him.

I would def encourage you to dig into Bakes more and see what you can find. Even if he's not the informant, you might find more of interest. What you've found is good info.

[Villain]

Mike Glitta was a member of the Outfit

[PolackTony]

Mike Glitta was a member of the Outfit

Was about to say the same. Glitta was a made guy in the Northside crew.

[B.]

Thanks for the correction. Double-checked and the informant said only one member attended the Cesario wake beside himself (the informant). From Gianola's FBI file, Gianola and Glitta were the only identified members listed in attendance.

Looked Glitta's background up and he was born ~1920 and his father came from Naples. Together those would knock him out of the running. That leaves Gianola as the only other known member to have attended the Cesario funeral based on what's available in the reports. Gianola's FBI file notes his close association with Cesario and the informant was also said to be a close associate of Cesario.

Gianola's FBI file also confirms he was at all the other wakes attended by the informant.

If another member shows up in a report as having attended the Cesario wake and the other early 1970s Chicago wakes, especially an older member of Sicilian heritage, they'd be in the running for sure. Right now it looks like Gianola is the strongest bet but the mafia is full of surprises so without an unredacted report naming Gianola as the informant I wouldn't say it's an absolute fact, only most likely.

[B.]

Here is what the informant said about a possible name change, heavily redacted:



- The use of "his" indicates the informant is referring to older relatives who were also mafia members, like the informant.
- The redaction makes it impossible to tell which of these members was of importance in the organization, but it seems to be the same one who changed his name. The redaction makes it hard to tell if the important member was one of the relatives he initially mentions or if it was someone else he brings up in connection with them.
- We can't be sure it was the informant's father who changed his name or that this name change would directly impact the informant's name. It could refer to an uncle, older brother, or cousin.
- Maybe most importantly, there is nothing that specifies it refers to surname. It just says this relative changed "his name". We know how common it was for first names to be changed or Americanized, so he could have been referring to something as simple as the Americanization of a first name and we overthought it.

Along with other circumstantial info matching up, Gianola's name is slightly different from his original Sicilian name of Giannola, but I completely agree this is a minor change that shouldn't have a dramatic impact on Sicilian relatives' ability to recognize the name. We can't be positive the informant was referring to his own surname (even if he was Gianola) or even a surname at all, as he is specifically talking about a relative changing his name and there isn't much to clarify whose name it is or whether it is the first or last name.

We also can't be sure the last part of the above clipping completely captured what the informant was expressing, either. It's possible he wasn't saying Sicilian relatives would be completely unable to recognize the name, but may have meant they weren't aware of the fact that he changed it or used a different name in America. Maybe he meant both.

The redactions and wording both make it difficult to say for sure what exactly the informant told the FBI in this paragraph but it is pretty clear he is referencing Sicilian-born relatives who joined the mafia in Chicago.

[Villain]

I agree with B regarding Gianola.

In addition, both he and Cesario belonged to the Battaglia/Alderisio group which makes sense regarding Gianolas presence on Cesarios wake, and their crew also had many interests around the North Side (especially Rush and Lake View), something that might explain their connections to Glitta and the Prio/Solano group. According to Denono, DiVarco knew about the contract on Cesario, a situation which again confirms the close connection and it seems that both Cesario and Gianola were long time associates and thats why Gianola had to pay respect, something that previously occurred numerous times regarding different individuals, no matter the goverment heat.

I thought we already closed this subject....