THE BLACK HAND FORUM

SonnyC wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 2:45 pm

PolackTony wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 10:50 am

SonnyC wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 9:38 am The guy in the back with the white hat on is my uncle, Frank Barrata. He was close with Accardo and Ricca, but probably closer with Ricca. I was told by Dominic Volpe something to the effect of "he was definitely in". Strangely enough Volpe told me he was a member of the "council", which the existence of I thought was nonsense at the time (late '90s), but has obviously been proven true. Was he really sitting on it? I doubt it.

This was Frank “Blackie” Baratta, who died in 1984? If so, makes sense that he would have been closer to Ricca, as he was from Taylor St (grew up by Bishop and Polk).

Yes, that's him.

VC2 wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 12:40 pm all good to know antimafia and thank you for the hello. i am looking to learn more about outfit, share my thought and projects and try to really figure out the 90s/2000s structure of chicago and the crews. it is not my intention to copy and past my work or others and really have never done so on gbb.

been looking into arizona outfit activity into 2000s and have a few names/questions for those who may know.
anthony m. boscarino- from what i could find he is a son of angelo and brother to nick. was indicted aug 2010 for on-line fraud linked to internet sports handicapping, imprisoned july.23 2013: 135 mths. i may have the relation to angelo and nick wrong, figured if anyone knew either way it is the guys on here.

joseph n. gagliano arrested in the famous ASU point shaving scheme in the 90s, which gagliano family does he hail from in chicago?
it appears after that bust gagliano got indicted for mtg fraud in scottsdale mar 2012, imprisoned oct 2013 and now is a "legit" sports handicapper. also owned and ran 15 car washes across state. that mtg fraud began june 2006+-
i mention the car washes because upon researching outfit activity in the area i came upon the dipiero/burgi gambling bust from 2008 that stretched from arizona-las vegas. the burgi part of the group was a lawyer named anthony burgi who in 1998 represented a defendant in ASU point scheme and was also in business with him. i believe that this person is either gagliano or vincent p. basso. i checked the mangiameles lawyer and benny silmans, a bookmaker from scheme and it is not theirs. basso to my knowledge never lived in arizona. burgi died in a single car accident where his dodge viper ended up under a tractor trailer in march.27 2007, never facing any prosecution on gambling charges.

very convoluted i know, but i'm looking at the possibility that at least gagliano and burgi could have been linked, with very outside possibility boscarino may have been part of this as well. boscarino, burgi and gagliano were all running rackets in same time frame in the state (2006-2010+-) with gambling probe of burgi going back to 2005. gagliano=mtg frauds, burgi=street level/internet gambling, boscarino=on-line fraud.

the dipiero part of group is one ralph s. dipiero and sons ralph III, chris. there seems to be no crime family dipiero hasnt been linked to in past from philly to the colombos. there were also 3 other gambling rings working together in arizona and one in vegas consisting of michael buono sr. and jr. and brandt england, steve prentky.

not my intent to force an issue was looking mostly for the gagliano and boscarino family connects. when looking into this outfit stuff...or not, if some of these indictments can be totally removed as possibilities it can only help clear up the picture in 2000s.

PolackTony wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 10:50 am

SonnyC wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 9:38 am The guy in the back with the white hat on is my uncle, Frank Barrata. He was close with Accardo and Ricca, but probably closer with Ricca. I was told by Dominic Volpe something to the effect of "he was definitely in". Strangely enough Volpe told me he was a member of the "council", which the existence of I thought was nonsense at the time (late '90s), but has obviously been proven true. Was he really sitting on it? I doubt it.

This was Frank “Blackie” Baratta, who died in 1984? If so, makes sense that he would have been closer to Ricca, as he was from Taylor St (grew up by Bishop and Polk).

VC2 wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 5:40 pm evening fellas, new member here. only posted on buffalo thread thus far but have been on gbb posting stuff on outfit and mtl mafia mostly, under the handle of vitocahill. i have to say the outfit knowledge on this site is incredible. i will say as well that a few weeks ago one of my posts from gbb about mike sarno was posted on here by rushstreet. i have no problem with this, i wasnt asked, didnt volunteer info to him outside of posting it on internet. i think if one posts anything on the www its free game, to a point of course. all to say i hold no malice towards rush for this and am aware of how some on this site feel about sharing or copying info.[snip]

SonnyC wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 9:38 am The guy in the back with the white hat on is my uncle, Frank Barrata. He was close with Accardo and Ricca, but probably closer with Ricca. I was told by Dominic Volpe something to the effect of "he was definitely in". Strangely enough Volpe told me he was a member of the "council", which the existence of I thought was nonsense at the time (late '90s), but has obviously been proven true. Was he really sitting on it? I doubt it.

Cosmik_Debris wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 6:06 am

Snakes wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 3:16 pm

SonnyC wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 3:04 pm

funkster wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 2:41 pm

SonnyC wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 2:01 pm

Snakes wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 10:25 am It was also on Reddit. In my experience, if privacy is expected, pics shouldn't be posted on Facebook, whether it's in a private group or not. There's no way for us or any of the mods to know that.

Yep, that's the truth. I shared a family photo (my current picture here) and it got blasted out all over. One dude even claimed it was his. There's really no expectation of privacy any longer.

You gave the photo to Joe Fosco?

I let Joe use it for the contest. My uncle Frank is the guy at the back with the white hat on. My fault for not foreseeing it would be copied and shared around. No big deal I guess.

Different time back then, I guess. With that said, do you know anyone else in the photo? I know the only guys that have been positively I'D are Accardo, Amato, Palermo, and (probably) Potenza.

I know the first guy on the right in front with the cigar is Barney Potenza and the third on the left next to Accardo is Rocco Potenza.

Confirmed by a member of their family.

Snakes wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 3:16 pm

SonnyC wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 3:04 pm

funkster wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 2:41 pm

SonnyC wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 2:01 pm

Snakes wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 10:25 am It was also on Reddit. In my experience, if privacy is expected, pics shouldn't be posted on Facebook, whether it's in a private group or not. There's no way for us or any of the mods to know that.

Yep, that's the truth. I shared a family photo (my current picture here) and it got blasted out all over. One dude even claimed it was his. There's really no expectation of privacy any longer.

You gave the photo to Joe Fosco?

I let Joe use it for the contest. My uncle Frank is the guy at the back with the white hat on. My fault for not foreseeing it would be copied and shared around. No big deal I guess.

Different time back then, I guess. With that said, do you know anyone else in the photo? I know the only guys that have been positively I'D are Accardo, Amato, Palermo, and (probably) Potenza.

VC2 wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 5:40 pm evening fellas, new member here. only posted on buffalo thread thus far but have been on gbb posting stuff on outfit and mtl mafia mostly, under the handle of vitocahill. i have to say the outfit knowledge on this site is incredible. i will say as well that a few weeks ago one of my posts from gbb about mike sarno was posted on here by rushstreet. i have no problem with this, i wasnt asked, didnt volunteer info to him outside of posting it on internet. i think if one posts anything on the www its free game, to a point of course. all to say i hold no malice towards rush for this and am aware of how some on this site feel about sharing or copying info.

all that aside i just finished john hagedorns insane chicago way and was impressed with book. i wont go into details as it has been discussed but it really shed light on how chicago functions at a street level from the outfit to gangs, cops, politicians the whole machine. i also have been working up some charts from 1992 and on. thus far these are text only charts for i am no computer design guy, very black and white.

anyway wanted to say hey. have a good night all, chat soon.

PolackTony wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 2:55 pm I had a thread a few years back where I tried to summarize and discuss the little substantive info we have about Italian OC networks in Chicagoland in relation to the significant “second wave” immigration dynamics in the area. People may be interested in this.