April 25, 2005 Frank "Gumba" Saladino

[SolarSolano]

That's Tiger in the bottom photo - white hair, gold tie. I think that is two of the Fiorenza brothers as well on either side of him? Joe Saladino has white hair no tie and not sure who the other guys are.

In the bottom photo, left to right:
Mike Pumilia
Natale Sartino
Pete Saladino (deceased)
Jimmy Ciaccio (deceased)
Joe Saladino
Mike Gioppo

So its not Frisella? I stand corrected and will edit that - also don't want to associate some innocent italian guy with the same name too.

[cavita]

That's Tiger in the bottom photo - white hair, gold tie. I think that is two of the Fiorenza brothers as well on either side of him? Joe Saladino has white hair no tie and not sure who the other guys are.

In the bottom photo, left to right:
Mike Pumilia
Natale Sartino
Pete Saladino (deceased)
Jimmy Ciaccio (deceased)
Joe Saladino
Mike Gioppo

So its not Frisella? I stand corrected and will edit that - also don't want to associate some innocent italian guy with the same name too.

Tiger Frisella I believe is older than John Frisella of the restaurant John's Pizza. John Frisella, born in Sambuca, Sicily was one of those named in an FBI file in the mid 80s who used his restaurant to distribute narcotics with the Sicilian Mafia narcotics ring led by Rockford LCN underboss Frank Buscemi. Hardly innocent.

[cavita]

Who did all the raids on the adult entertainment establishments in the last couple of years? The sheriffs department? It sounds like their relationship dried up if they did. I don’t understand why after all these years, they would decide to close them down now. That was a big money maker for them.

I definitely understand you not wanting to talk about Joe. He is still around I know his son is legit and works for slot machine distributor I believe.

Have you ever thought about writing a book on Rockford?

Well, the Rockford Police did the actual raids and it was only on the two businesses in Rockford- The Exclusive and Chantilly Lace. These businesses and others over the years always had arrests for prostitution and such but pressure was recently brought to bear because of the increased exposure and notoriety of sex trafficking. The ones in Belvidere, Illinois as far as I know were all Asian-owned. Over the years, the Rockford LCN never had quite the relationship with the Rockford Police as they did with the Sheriff's Department. Sure they had guys here and there in the police department over the years but for the most part the Sheriff's Department was their go to. A retired Rockford police detective was a chauffer for old man Zammuto for awhile in the 60s and 70s and would take him to the horserace park in Chicago often.
If I get some time I'll add the FBI files mentioning the law enforcement corruption.
As for a book on Rockford? That would be far off it ever did see the light of day- there are many, many more FBI files to request and at the pace their responding it could take some time.

I did find that the C'est La Vie massage parlor in Belvidere was "owned" by Charlotte Giovingo and Prudence Calgaro in the 1980s. I say "owned" because this business was really owned by Salvatore J. Giovingo who was Charlotte's husband and he was also Prudence's brother. He was using them as fronts and he also owned the Golden Touch Health Spa in Rockford. Salvatore's father was Joe Giovingo, who was murdered gangland style in August 1930 on orders of boss Tony Musso.