by PolackTony » Sun Aug 27, 2023 2:53 pm
Is there a well-defined, shared definition of "active" vs. "inactive" membership? Are we applying the same standards to each Family? This has been an issue in previous discussions, where people seem to just assume that the meaning of this is self-evident and then wind up talking past each other. Who are the "active" members? Those who are not shelved? Those who are not incarcerated? Those who are currently involved in some capacity with specific criminal enterprises/racket operations? Those who still check in with their captain on a regular basis? Who defines "active" status? Us? LE? The membership themselves?
Leaving these questions aside, just in terms of membership, in 1973 the FBI published a list of Chicago's "Current LCN membership", numbering 158. This figure is almost certainly inflated, as the FBI listed guys like Frank Calabrese and Rocky Infelise, who we now know weren't actually made until 10 years later (it also has Frattiano as a Chicago member, though by this time the FBI had already been told by Bompensiero that Fratianno's transfer to Chicago never officially counted, as it wasn't recognized by the LA admin). Further, at least half of these were identified by only 1 source, the majority of these cases having been identified in 1967 by Lou Fratto shortly before his death from cancer (and Lou Fratto's membership status is itself unclear, apart from the fact that he was living in Iowa for decades by that time and described by other informants as basically a washed-up nobody). We might be tempted to then only include those who were identified by more than one source as made, but Calabrese was falsely identified by three sources (at least according to the list; me, I'd like to know what was actually said verbatim between the interviewing agent and the source). Further, there were also guys who were made, like Tony El Dorado and Sam DiGiovanni, and yet were only identified by one source on this list. Additionally, there were almost certainly a number of "sleeper" members not identified on the list, given that known members such as Sam Carlisi, Al Tornabene, and Phil Ponto (at the time a senior executive at the Stardust in Vegas) were not listed. The only member sources that we have on the actual range of membership numbers were not Chicago members and came from the 1960s. Augie Maniaci apparently believed that Chicago had as many as 400 made guys (no idea why he thought that, apart from perhaps just throwing a number out based on Chicago being a much bigger city with many more Italians than Milwaukee and its LCN Family being larger and much more powerful). In a 1962 bugged conversation with Swatt Mulligan Ciaffone, Louie LaRasso, and some unknown guys, Gyp De Carlo stated, with respect to Chicago, that "the whole mob I think is about 50" (worth noting that LaRasso was apparently in agreement and may have been a liaison between the DeCavs and Chicago, as he spent time in Chicago and was very close to longtime Chicago member Phil Bacino, his compaesan' from Ribera). In 1965, Greg Scarpa reported to the FBI about a Colombo meeting he attended chaired by Joe Colombo where Chicago's membership came up, and Colombo had stated that the membership was close to 50 men (the report stated that Scarpa reported that Chicago "has very few members, possibly only 40 - 50"); this was relevant because at the meeting Colombo was arguing that given his Family's small size (relative to the other NYC Families, obviously), Chicago was an example that he wanted to emulate and refrain from inducting new members (both De Carlo and Colombo thought that Chicago's smaller membership was desirable and wished that their own Families would induct fewer members).
We don't know of any Chicago ceremonies between 1956, when a large ceremony was held around the time that Giancana was made boss, and 1976, when sources tell us Chicago held a ceremony where a number of new members were inducted (with CI Vic Arrigo stating that he was told by member Joey Di Varco that Chicago's "books" were being reponed after having been "closed for many years"); we do, however, have good reason to believe that at least several members were brought in during this period, though it's possible that this was done on an ad hoc basis to replace deceased members. The next Chicago membership list that I am aware of was published by the FBI in 1985, which has almost 50 men listed (though this list was also problematic, as it did not list several guys that we later found out were made by that time, including Sam Carlisi, who within a year would be boss of the Family).
Is there a well-defined, shared definition of "active" vs. "inactive" membership? Are we applying the same standards to each Family? This has been an issue in previous discussions, where people seem to just assume that the meaning of this is self-evident and then wind up talking past each other. Who are the "active" members? Those who are not shelved? Those who are not incarcerated? Those who are currently involved in some capacity with specific criminal enterprises/racket operations? Those who still check in with their captain on a regular basis? Who defines "active" status? Us? LE? The membership themselves?
Leaving these questions aside, just in terms of membership, in 1973 the FBI published a list of Chicago's "Current LCN membership", numbering 158. This figure is almost certainly inflated, as the FBI listed guys like Frank Calabrese and Rocky Infelise, who we now know weren't actually made until 10 years later (it also has Frattiano as a Chicago member, though by this time the FBI had already been told by Bompensiero that Fratianno's transfer to Chicago never officially counted, as it wasn't recognized by the LA admin). Further, at least half of these were identified by only 1 source, the majority of these cases having been identified in 1967 by Lou Fratto shortly before his death from cancer (and Lou Fratto's membership status is itself unclear, apart from the fact that he was living in Iowa for decades by that time and described by other informants as basically a washed-up nobody). We might be tempted to then only include those who were identified by more than one source as made, but Calabrese was falsely identified by three sources (at least according to the list; me, I'd like to know what was actually said verbatim between the interviewing agent and the source). Further, there were also guys who were made, like Tony El Dorado and Sam DiGiovanni, and yet were only identified by one source on this list. Additionally, there were almost certainly a number of "sleeper" members not identified on the list, given that known members such as Sam Carlisi, Al Tornabene, and Phil Ponto (at the time a senior executive at the Stardust in Vegas) were not listed. The only member sources that we have on the actual range of membership numbers were not Chicago members and came from the 1960s. Augie Maniaci apparently believed that Chicago had as many as 400 made guys (no idea why he thought that, apart from perhaps just throwing a number out based on Chicago being a much bigger city with many more Italians than Milwaukee and its LCN Family being larger and much more powerful). In a 1962 bugged conversation with Swatt Mulligan Ciaffone, Louie LaRasso, and some unknown guys, Gyp De Carlo stated, with respect to Chicago, that "the whole mob I think is about 50" (worth noting that LaRasso was apparently in agreement and may have been a liaison between the DeCavs and Chicago, as he spent time in Chicago and was very close to longtime Chicago member Phil Bacino, his compaesan' from Ribera). In 1965, Greg Scarpa reported to the FBI about a Colombo meeting he attended chaired by Joe Colombo where Chicago's membership came up, and Colombo had stated that the membership was close to 50 men (the report stated that Scarpa reported that Chicago "has very few members, possibly only 40 - 50"); this was relevant because at the meeting Colombo was arguing that given his Family's small size (relative to the other NYC Families, obviously), Chicago was an example that he wanted to emulate and refrain from inducting new members (both De Carlo and Colombo thought that Chicago's smaller membership was desirable and wished that their own Families would induct fewer members).
We don't know of any Chicago ceremonies between 1956, when a large ceremony was held around the time that Giancana was made boss, and 1976, when sources tell us Chicago held a ceremony where a number of new members were inducted (with CI Vic Arrigo stating that he was told by member Joey Di Varco that Chicago's "books" were being reponed after having been "closed for many years"); we do, however, have good reason to believe that at least several members were brought in during this period, though it's possible that this was done on an [i]ad hoc[/i] basis to replace deceased members. The next Chicago membership list that I am aware of was published by the FBI in 1985, which has almost 50 men listed (though this list was also problematic, as it did not list several guys that we later found out were made by that time, including Sam Carlisi, who within a year would be boss of the Family).