by PolackTony » Wed Jun 11, 2025 12:20 pm
We’ve discussed all of these guys at some point or another, not sure if you’ve tried using the search function for this already.
Are you asking specifically if these guys were made? Members never stop being members, even if they are basically inactive with respect to the affairs of the organization and do not engage in any criminal activity. Associates can cease to be formally affiliated with the mafia, for various reasons.
So far as I am aware, the only one who was 100% confirmed as an LCN member was Al Pilotto, who succeeded Frank LaPorte as captain of the Heights crew in the 70s and held this position until his conviction and sentencing in 1982. Pilotto died in 1999 and there is no indication that he was involved in anything in his final years. LCN membership is, again, a permanent status, so he was still a member when he died. But we have no sources that tell us that he was involved in anything related to mafia affairs after his release (though if he in fact was, we also wouldn’t necessarily have any idea) and would not have been involved in any official capacity with LIUNA Local 5 following his prison stint.
Of the other guys, LaMantia, Catezone, and Cisternino I think could well have been made, but the inference here is less reliable. LaMantia is the strongest candidate, as he was identified as a member by the Feds, but his status was seemingly contradicted by Frank Calabrese Sr on one of the prison recordings done by Calabrese Jr (this was the story St recounted where he claimed that LaMantia had improperly introduced him as an LCN member to Sonny Franzese, the issue apparently having been that LaMantia was not himself made and thus was not supposed to have been doing this). There are thus some question marks here; for me, LaMantia is a firm “maybe”.
Guys like Cisternino and Catezone are rumored to have had some clout, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they were made guys. A guy can be in charge of some operations/criminal activity and be acting on behalf of a made guy that he reports to, of course.
The other guys you listed, I don’t have any strong suspicion that they were made. It’s Chicago, so who really knows (most of us here don’t, often the Feds don’t. Guys on Reddit don’t). But these other names are not people that I have a strong inclination to even put in the “suspected” category myself.
If you’re just asking as to whether any of these guys were active in any criminal endeavors of whatever sort in the years preceding their deaths, it’s basically the same story. What’s publicly available about them is what’s publicly available. Online rumors about them may have — at the most generous — varying degrees of validity.
We’ve discussed all of these guys at some point or another, not sure if you’ve tried using the search function for this already.
Are you asking specifically if these guys were made? Members never stop being members, even if they are basically inactive with respect to the affairs of the organization and do not engage in any criminal activity. Associates can cease to be formally affiliated with the mafia, for various reasons.
So far as I am aware, the only one who was 100% confirmed as an LCN member was Al Pilotto, who succeeded Frank LaPorte as captain of the Heights crew in the 70s and held this position until his conviction and sentencing in 1982. Pilotto died in 1999 and there is no indication that he was involved in anything in his final years. LCN membership is, again, a permanent status, so he was still a member when he died. But we have no sources that tell us that he was involved in anything related to mafia affairs after his release (though if he in fact was, we also wouldn’t necessarily have any idea) and would not have been involved in any official capacity with LIUNA Local 5 following his prison stint.
Of the other guys, LaMantia, Catezone, and Cisternino I think could well have been made, but the inference here is less reliable. LaMantia is the strongest candidate, as he was identified as a member by the Feds, but his status was seemingly contradicted by Frank Calabrese Sr on one of the prison recordings done by Calabrese Jr (this was the story St recounted where he claimed that LaMantia had improperly introduced him as an LCN member to Sonny Franzese, the issue apparently having been that LaMantia was not himself made and thus was not supposed to have been doing this). There are thus some question marks here; for me, LaMantia is a firm “maybe”.
Guys like Cisternino and Catezone are rumored to have had some clout, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they were made guys. A guy can be in charge of some operations/criminal activity and be acting on behalf of a made guy that he reports to, of course.
The other guys you listed, I don’t have any strong suspicion that they were made. It’s Chicago, so who really knows (most of us here don’t, often the Feds don’t. Guys on Reddit don’t). But these other names are not people that I have a strong inclination to even put in the “suspected” category myself.
If you’re just asking as to whether any of these guys were active in any criminal endeavors of whatever sort in the years preceding their deaths, it’s basically the same story. What’s publicly available about them is what’s publicly available. Online rumors about them may have — at the most generous — varying degrees of validity.