General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

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Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by Patrickgold » Fri May 23, 2025 6:47 am

Interesting event that happened in Chicago recently. Joe Borsellino, the son of murdered Tony Borsellino, was recently involved in an incident. Joe has always been somewhat involved with the Outfit in regards that he is friendly with many of the Outfit guys like Tony Dote and even had a little gambling cafe in Oak Brook where they hung out. Well anyway, he was at a gas station on the west side of Chicago for whatever reason and a group of black kids tried to rob him and carjack him. He had a lot of money on him and decided to fight back. He had a hammer in the car and hit one of the kids in the face with the hammer and supposedly killed him. Supposedly he’s not in trouble bc it was self defense but interesting story.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by SonnyC » Fri May 23, 2025 5:04 am

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).
Interesting you know the name. It's not one you hear discussed. I know there is another picture out there with him, Chuck Nicoletti, and another guy but the photo is not mine.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by SonnyC » Fri May 23, 2025 5:02 am

funkster wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 4:47 pm
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.
Great info. Thanks for the photo it’s easily one of the greatest outfit photos of all time.
Sure, glad to share. Definitely generates some good discussion. It's been a long time, but I recall the photo came up in a conversation between Joe, my father and me. My dad did business with both Romie Nappi and Phil Mesi.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by funkster » Thu May 22, 2025 4:47 pm

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.
Great info. Thanks for the photo it’s easily one of the greatest outfit photos of all time.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by NorthBuffalo » Thu May 22, 2025 2:54 pm

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.
Anthony Boscarino of Tuscon is indeed the son of Angelo Boscarino who was killed in 67' and brother of Nick Boscarino who is currently in court with the son of Tony Borsellino. He was also indicted in Indiana on drug charges in 1990.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by SonnyC » 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.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by VC2 » 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.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by antimafia » Thu May 22, 2025 11:10 am

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]
Sorry for not welcoming you to the board earlier, Vito -- I did notice your first post back on May 9 in the other thread. I'm sure you'll make valuable contributions to TBHF and I'm glad you're here.

While you have no problem with another poster on TBHF copy-pasting here your GBB post without attribution, many posters on both forums do have a problem with not providing credit or a source, either in the form of the handle of the poster who posts elsewhere, a site where the post is found, a webpage where the post is found, etc. Snakes was kind enough to point that out back on Apr. 23, a half-hour after your GBB post was copy-pasted here. The posts on GBB are public, so providing here a link to a GBB post isn't difficult. Only some posts on TBHF are public, so copy-pasting somewhere else the TBHF members-only posts is a no-no.

Once you start reading here some of my older posts and some new ones, you'll see I cross-post quite a bit between GBB and here but that I occasionally post a tidbit here that I wouldn't dream of posting on GBB. However, as more and more sharing takes place on a private forum like TBHF of what is on found on or via the Internet -- including someone's private communications (email, DMs, PMs, etc.) -- the less inclined I am to contribute anything notable here, including original research, because I don't feel good knowing that someone here is going to steal my work and share it somewhere else. I might ultimately stick to posting links to articles, social-media posts, etc. that are publicly available.

Just my 2 cents.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by PolackTony » 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).

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by NorthBuffalo » Thu May 22, 2025 10:13 am

Well I'm shook. No idea the original guy who had this photo was on the forum - also thought that was settled as Sam Spalla.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by SonnyC » 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.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by NorthBuffalo » Thu May 22, 2025 7:23 am

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.
That's correct - many said that Barney was 'Hy Larner' for a long time. I am fairly confident this is the most up to date list and accurate - though like everything, subject for debate. Cerone's relatives noted he is not the bald guy next to Barney.

Left - Right
Black Joe Amato
Accardo
Rocco Potenza
Sam Spalla
Nick Palermo
[John Palermo?] - believe up for debate
Frank Palermo (wet pants from sweating over BBQ).
Frank Zimmerman (Union Guy)
James Aducci
Jimmy Caliendo
Barney Potenzo

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by Cosmik_Debris » 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.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by NorthBuffalo » Thu May 22, 2025 6:04 am

The good Chicago posters are few and far between - I have only come across one with real 'street knowledge' of what is going on today and I don't think he's posted for some time (ChiTown on GangsterBB). However, a lot of excellent historical guys who really put the pieces together and do the research the right way. Guys like SonnyC who contribute incredible family photos and make them public are my personal favorites - that's also why I get pissed off when people abuse those photos, because they stop.

I used to speak often with Bruce Neglia who contributed some of the best photos we've seen of guys like Ross Prio, Joe Arnold, etc. - however, he got very sick of having people steal his photos without permission - and he stopped sharing well before he passed. That is a shame to guys like us.

Re: General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

by VC2 » Thu May 22, 2025 5:49 am

thanks coloboy, previous to joining forum i went on a deep dive of mostly all the threads pertaining to that era of outfit on this site. that includes all 530 pages of this thread. it was first to gain knowledge but also to get a feel for this site. to be fair i recently did a good search over on gbb of similar outfit threads. i have been researching the post accardo era of the outfit for a long time, then with the onset of almost continuous violence in montreal my interest veered elsewhere. but like micheal said in godfather III..."just when i thought i was out..."

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