by cavita » Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:24 am
On April 19, 1932 thirty-seven-year-old Angelo Tarallo was delivering a load of bootleg alcohol near Oregon, Illinois. Tarallo had driven all the way from Kenosha, Wisconsin and he was even labelled as the “king” of Kenosha County bootleggers by the newspapers there. Tarallo had taken a few arrests in that city and just the week before, authorities there had uncovered the largest liquor still to date and attributed it to be under the operation of his gang.
Just the year before authorities reported that Tarallo had a load of his alcohol hijacked near Rockford so tensions were running high between the two groups and the Rockford contingent would not take too kindly to having Tarallo run his liquor through their territory to Oregon, Illinois. So it was that Tarallo had just finished delivering a load of alcohol in Oregon at about 5 p.m. and was making his way north out of the city on the Blackhawk Trail, which is today’s Illinois Route 2. R.E. Hallgren of Rockford witnessed what happened next. Hallgren saw Tarallo’s coupe speed past his and continue on at about 80 miles per hour. Following close behind was a dark colored sedan bearing down fast on Tarallo eventually pulling alongside his vehicle. Several gunshots rang out and Tarallo’s car swerved from the road across a shallow ditch and into a fence where it came to rest, its speedometer broken at 90 miles per hour.
When all was said and done, two dozen bullet holes were counted in the rear of the wrecked vehicle. Shotgun slugs had pierced each of Tarallo’s shoulder blades, seven had lodged in his arm, one in his back another had hit him in the chin and six bullets entered his head. The assassin vehicle continued north but did not go through Byron, Illinois as authorities there had been radioed and were waiting. Instead, it was thought that the vehicle turned east and headed up Kishwaukee Road into Rockford and Hallgren had reported that the assassin vehicle displayed Rockford tags on it. Tarallo lingered for a few hours before passing away around 9:15 p.m. in an Oregon hospital.
It was reported that Tarallo had moved to Kenosha from Chicago about 2 to 3 years prior and still had his mother and several brothers and sisters living there. One sister, Mrs. Virginia Salamone, lived in Rockford at 1620 Huffman Boulevard interestingly just a few houses away from Rockford LCN boss Tony Musso. Musso, however, was still in Leavenworth Prison serving a year and a half sentence on liquor conspiracy charges leaving Phil Caltagerone as acting boss in his absence.
On April 25th in perhaps as a statement to further discourage any competition, someone had soaked Tarallo’s house in Kenosha with kerosene and set it on fire completely destroying it. No one was ever caught for setting the fire or for the Tarallo slaying, and interestingly Tarallo’s first cousin was Jimmy “The Bomber” Catuara. Catuara was an old-time member of the Chicago Outfit who was murdered due to his ineffectiveness in the chop shop operations in Chicago in July 1978.
On April 19, 1932 thirty-seven-year-old Angelo Tarallo was delivering a load of bootleg alcohol near Oregon, Illinois. Tarallo had driven all the way from Kenosha, Wisconsin and he was even labelled as the “king” of Kenosha County bootleggers by the newspapers there. Tarallo had taken a few arrests in that city and just the week before, authorities there had uncovered the largest liquor still to date and attributed it to be under the operation of his gang.
Just the year before authorities reported that Tarallo had a load of his alcohol hijacked near Rockford so tensions were running high between the two groups and the Rockford contingent would not take too kindly to having Tarallo run his liquor through their territory to Oregon, Illinois. So it was that Tarallo had just finished delivering a load of alcohol in Oregon at about 5 p.m. and was making his way north out of the city on the Blackhawk Trail, which is today’s Illinois Route 2. R.E. Hallgren of Rockford witnessed what happened next. Hallgren saw Tarallo’s coupe speed past his and continue on at about 80 miles per hour. Following close behind was a dark colored sedan bearing down fast on Tarallo eventually pulling alongside his vehicle. Several gunshots rang out and Tarallo’s car swerved from the road across a shallow ditch and into a fence where it came to rest, its speedometer broken at 90 miles per hour.
When all was said and done, two dozen bullet holes were counted in the rear of the wrecked vehicle. Shotgun slugs had pierced each of Tarallo’s shoulder blades, seven had lodged in his arm, one in his back another had hit him in the chin and six bullets entered his head. The assassin vehicle continued north but did not go through Byron, Illinois as authorities there had been radioed and were waiting. Instead, it was thought that the vehicle turned east and headed up Kishwaukee Road into Rockford and Hallgren had reported that the assassin vehicle displayed Rockford tags on it. Tarallo lingered for a few hours before passing away around 9:15 p.m. in an Oregon hospital.
It was reported that Tarallo had moved to Kenosha from Chicago about 2 to 3 years prior and still had his mother and several brothers and sisters living there. One sister, Mrs. Virginia Salamone, lived in Rockford at 1620 Huffman Boulevard interestingly just a few houses away from Rockford LCN boss Tony Musso. Musso, however, was still in Leavenworth Prison serving a year and a half sentence on liquor conspiracy charges leaving Phil Caltagerone as acting boss in his absence.
On April 25th in perhaps as a statement to further discourage any competition, someone had soaked Tarallo’s house in Kenosha with kerosene and set it on fire completely destroying it. No one was ever caught for setting the fire or for the Tarallo slaying, and interestingly Tarallo’s first cousin was Jimmy “The Bomber” Catuara. Catuara was an old-time member of the Chicago Outfit who was murdered due to his ineffectiveness in the chop shop operations in Chicago in July 1978.