by PolackTony » Mon May 01, 2023 11:04 pm
newera_212 wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 9:16 pm
PolackTony wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 8:38 pm
And while my comments were a bit tongue-in-cheek, it was only a bit.
Yeah, even through text on a screen I could definitely tell what you meant. Tongue-in-cheek, but with an ultimate appreciation of how simple and efficient it was, and maybe a little bit of nostalgia too. Can't help but be nostalgic for a time when things were much more local and communities were stronger.
PolackTony wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 8:38 pm
If you’re interested in a real time capsule, the below video is arguably one of the best ethnographic documents of Chicago’s Byzantine machine politics in action. While the documentarians didn’t know it, longtime Alderman Vito Marzullo was identified by the FBI as an LCN member, as was Alderman Freddie Roti, who appears for some choice footage here as well:
https://mediaburn.org/lesson-plans/vito ... l-machine/
I'm definitely interested. This looks awesome. Going to check this out. I don't remember where I saw it, but over 10+ yrs ago I saw regular cable channel doc about The Outfit and half of it was about Roti and some specific case he fixed. That was the first time I had heard of Roti and thought it was pretty crazy. I knew about the alderman and ward boss systems back from history class as a kid basically, and it wasn't too surprising to hear about LCN & ward boss relationships , but I was surprised to learn there was a made Outfit guy who was an Alderman himself. Multiple now...never heard of Marzullo until your post right now.
I was going to ask a GangsterBB'ish type of question - who would be considered more powerful in Chicago way back when: Accardo, or the Alderman of a huge and prominent ward (something like the 27th ward on today's map for example) until I realized that if the Outfit already had 2 of it's own members running two wards just like that... I already have my answer
Apart from Roti and Marzullo, there was also John D’Arco Sr, Alderman and Democratic Committeeman of the 1st Ward, the same Ward that Roti was later Alderman of. There was also Joe Imburgio Bulger, who had been Mayor of the Italian suburb of Melrose Park, as well as Pat Marcy, longtime head of the 1st Ward Democratic Organization (not an elected public office, but extremely powerful in raw political terms). The old 1st Ward of a Chicago (which was broken up in the early 90s following the Federal takedown of Marcy and Roti) encompassed the Loop and City Hall. Thus, whoever controlled the 1st Ward had tremendous influence over zoning and construction in the Loop (a lot of envelopes had to be passed to build all those skyscrapers), the largest business and financial center in the US outside of Manhattan, and the City services and thus the attendant army of City patronage jobs (of which the extended Roti clan and their neighborhood buddies from Bridgeport had an entire battalion). The old 1st Ward Aldermen were nearly as important as the Mayor, and it was arguably one of the single most powerful public offices in the State of IL. Thus D’Arco and Roti (and Marcy, behind the scenes) weren’t just any Aldermen. Roti’s dad, Bruno Roti, BTW, was probably a capodecina and was also the head of an important Calabrese paesani Society (La Società San Rocco di Simbario, which is still going:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brulelaker/52562414039).
And yes, of course these guys were beholden to their own shadow “Machine” first and foremost. A CI in the ‘60s told the Feds that Giancana, as boss, had sole prerogative in designating political offices, as witnessed by the time that he ordered D’Arco to step down as Alderman so that Giancana could run one of his own relatives. The mafia had plenty of other important Italian politicians as their puppets, apart from the ones that were actually made guys. Recently it was revealed that the FBI considered Frank Annunzio, 13 time US Congressman from Chicago, to be a possible LCN member as well, though this remains unconfirmed.
[quote=newera_212 post_id=260203 time=1683000971 user_id=5522]
[quote=PolackTony post_id=260200 time=1682998697 user_id=6658]
And while my comments were a bit tongue-in-cheek, it was only a bit.
[/quote]
Yeah, even through text on a screen I could definitely tell what you meant. Tongue-in-cheek, but with an ultimate appreciation of how simple and efficient it was, and maybe a little bit of nostalgia too. Can't help but be nostalgic for a time when things were much more local and communities were stronger.
[quote=PolackTony post_id=260200 time=1682998697 user_id=6658]
If you’re interested in a real time capsule, the below video is arguably one of the best ethnographic documents of Chicago’s Byzantine machine politics in action. While the documentarians didn’t know it, longtime Alderman Vito Marzullo was identified by the FBI as an LCN member, as was Alderman Freddie Roti, who appears for some choice footage here as well:
https://mediaburn.org/lesson-plans/vito-marzullo-and-the-chicago-democratic-political-machine/
[/quote]
I'm definitely interested. This looks awesome. Going to check this out. I don't remember where I saw it, but over 10+ yrs ago I saw regular cable channel doc about The Outfit and half of it was about Roti and some specific case he fixed. That was the first time I had heard of Roti and thought it was pretty crazy. I knew about the alderman and ward boss systems back from history class as a kid basically, and it wasn't too surprising to hear about LCN & ward boss relationships , but I was surprised to learn there was a made Outfit guy who was an Alderman himself. Multiple now...never heard of Marzullo until your post right now.
I was going to ask a GangsterBB'ish type of question - who would be considered more powerful in Chicago way back when: Accardo, or the Alderman of a huge and prominent ward (something like the 27th ward on today's map for example) until I realized that if the Outfit already had 2 of it's own members running two wards just like that... I already have my answer :mrgreen:
[/quote]
Apart from Roti and Marzullo, there was also John D’Arco Sr, Alderman and Democratic Committeeman of the 1st Ward, the same Ward that Roti was later Alderman of. There was also Joe Imburgio Bulger, who had been Mayor of the Italian suburb of Melrose Park, as well as Pat Marcy, longtime head of the 1st Ward Democratic Organization (not an elected public office, but extremely powerful in raw political terms). The old 1st Ward of a Chicago (which was broken up in the early 90s following the Federal takedown of Marcy and Roti) encompassed the Loop and City Hall. Thus, whoever controlled the 1st Ward had tremendous influence over zoning and construction in the Loop (a lot of envelopes had to be passed to build all those skyscrapers), the largest business and financial center in the US outside of Manhattan, and the City services and thus the attendant army of City patronage jobs (of which the extended Roti clan and their neighborhood buddies from Bridgeport had an entire battalion). The old 1st Ward Aldermen were nearly as important as the Mayor, and it was arguably one of the single most powerful public offices in the State of IL. Thus D’Arco and Roti (and Marcy, behind the scenes) weren’t just any Aldermen. Roti’s dad, Bruno Roti, BTW, was probably a capodecina and was also the head of an important Calabrese paesani Society (La Società San Rocco di Simbario, which is still going: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brulelaker/52562414039).
And yes, of course these guys were beholden to their own shadow “Machine” first and foremost. A CI in the ‘60s told the Feds that Giancana, as boss, had sole prerogative in designating political offices, as witnessed by the time that he ordered D’Arco to step down as Alderman so that Giancana could run one of his own relatives. The mafia had plenty of other important Italian politicians as their puppets, apart from the ones that were actually made guys. Recently it was revealed that the FBI considered Frank Annunzio, 13 time US Congressman from Chicago, to be a possible LCN member as well, though this remains unconfirmed.