by cavita » Thu Sep 28, 2017 11:35 am
Villain wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:08 am
Also cavita is right regarding the presence of some Sicilian group on Chicagos turf. It seems that this new Sicilian faction had the approval from the Outfit’s top administration to deal their narcotics on Chicago’s territory, as long as they stayed away from their sight and it didn’t involve any of their members or associates. But still according to some reports, like any other greedy criminal machine, the Outfit always had its own “outlaws”.
Villian-
I know you love these "connections" with Chciago so I’ve tried to research the Midwestern families and their connections to the narcotics trade which would really cover the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Springfield and Madison were dead by then and I haven’t looked into Milwaukee yet, so that pretty much left Rockford to be involved which because of their Sicilian connections they were able to be a distribution center. Besides the 1990s Rockford tie in and arrests to the Spatola and Inzerillo crime families in Sicily I mentioned before were the following major ones:
In November 1981 the FBI was turned on to the presence of a huge cocaine ring running from Rockford to Chicago to Las Vegas. In May 1982, federal agents arrested close to a dozen people in connection with this cocaine ring. Arrested were John Leombruni, 32; his brother Michael, 30, John J. Schiro, 23, John Bartelli, 36, Jack Richardson, 26, Dennis Salsbury, 32, Luke Cannella, 25, Israel R. Campello, 41, Manuel Martin Gomez, 33 of Chicago, Ruben Yanez and police radio dispatcher Susan Wisniewski, 25. At the time, agents stated that Leombruni was the biggest cocaine dealer in Rockford and in his younger years may have been a member of the Latin Counts street gang in Rockford which had its beginnings in the late 1950s in Rockford and started as primarily an Italian gang. In other cities across the U.S., these teen street gangs were a fertile recruiting ground for the Mafia looking to boost their ranks and find dependable young toughs and perhaps cultivate them into mob membership.
Although not admissible in court, the FBI privately acknowledged there was definite mob involvement in this cocaine case and this was backed up by court-approved wiretaps.
An interesting link between the April 1980 murder of Rockford LCN member Joe Maggio and possibly John Leombruni is an October 20, 1981 FBI file. Maggio’s heavily redacted file read, in part, that an individual “was instructed by his “associates” in either Las Vegas or Los Angeles that Maggio had to be killed” and that this individual’s “associates” are members of the LCN.” This is interesting in that right before Leombruni started his full scale cocaine distribution in Rockford he was living in Las Vegas but according to sources had been “run out by that city’s Mafia chief.” The only possible Mafia chief in Vegas at that time was Tony Spilotro. Leombruni’s drug dealing there could have caused problems for Spilotro’s interests and he may have warned Leombruni to stay away. Also interesting to note is that cocaine ring member Luke Cannella was the nephew of deceased Rockford mob member Phil Cannella and Luke told investigators, “He (Leombruni) told me some guys were gonna kill him- or run him out of town- if he ever did some drugs in Las Vegas.”
The reason for Maggio’s murder was explained in a February 17, 1981 FBI file in this way: “Investigation by Chicago to date reveals that in February, 1980, Maggio had met several times with Joseph Zammuto, boss of the Rockford LCN group, in Florida. Several days after these meetings, Maggio returned to Rockford and within two days (Maggio’s daughter)[KATHLEEN] was severely beaten by [STEVEN DAVIS] a Rockford narcotics dealer related to Zammuto who accused her of stealing narcotics. Maggio was furious over the beating and openly exchanged threats with [DAVIS] for a two-month period prior to his death. [REDACTED] advised that [REDACTED] and others had been dealing in narcotics with the sanction of Zammuto and this group and it is believed that Maggio was killed as a result of his objection to LCN entry into the narcotics business in Rockford. Joseph Zammuto has been confirmed as absolute boss of the Rockford LCN group. It has been established that the Rockford LCN met in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in February, 1980, and that [REDACTED] began dealing in narcotics in Rockford in August, 1980, with Zammuto’s sanction.
In another possible tie in to connections to possible drug cartels is the March 12, 1991 arrests of twenty-seven people that were indicted by a U.S. District court grand jury on charges to distribute cocaine in the Rockford area and southern Wisconsin. This conspiracy, according to federal prosecutors, started on January 1, 1986 and was called the “Mauerman Organization” as it included many members of the Mauerman family. Edward P. Mauerman, Jr. was called the drug ring’s kingpin and this organization brought more than 176 pounds of cocaine into the Rockford area over the next five years. Mauerman was friends in Florida with two brothers named Ramon and Juan Castellanos who used to live in Belvidere, Illinois. The Castellanos brothers and Mauerman arranged to have the cocaine shipped north to Rockford through various couriers and once in Rockford, the cocaine would be repackaged at different locations and then distributed throughout Rockford and southern Wisconsin. One of these locations that the cocaine was repackaged at was Jackson Auto Sales on 11th Street. Jackson Auto Sales was owned by William Spears who also owned the Pizza Joint next door that FBI files stated was “a known hangout for Rockford LCN members.” Over the years Spears has been continuously arrested for narcotics trafficking and weapons charges. Most recently on April 21, 2016 Spears was arrested again for manufacturing and delivering cocaine and cannabis, possession of cannabis, aggravated unlawful use of a loaded weapon in his vehicle, and being an armed habitual criminal.
I have yet to research the Castellanos brothers and to see what, if any, connection they have to a larger cartel but it seems that the Chicago Outfit had to be getting a cut of some type of money from the profits of narcotics trafficking and it’s just a matter of finding out who the points of contact were in Chicago at the time.
[quote=Villain post_id=58526 time=1506524880 user_id=88]
Also cavita is right regarding the presence of some Sicilian group on Chicagos turf. It seems that this new Sicilian faction had the approval from the Outfit’s top administration to deal their narcotics on Chicago’s territory, as long as they stayed away from their sight and it didn’t involve any of their members or associates. But still according to some reports, like any other greedy criminal machine, the Outfit always had its own “outlaws”.
[/quote]
Villian-
I know you love these "connections" with Chciago so I’ve tried to research the Midwestern families and their connections to the narcotics trade which would really cover the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Springfield and Madison were dead by then and I haven’t looked into Milwaukee yet, so that pretty much left Rockford to be involved which because of their Sicilian connections they were able to be a distribution center. Besides the 1990s Rockford tie in and arrests to the Spatola and Inzerillo crime families in Sicily I mentioned before were the following major ones:
In November 1981 the FBI was turned on to the presence of a huge cocaine ring running from Rockford to Chicago to Las Vegas. In May 1982, federal agents arrested close to a dozen people in connection with this cocaine ring. Arrested were John Leombruni, 32; his brother Michael, 30, John J. Schiro, 23, John Bartelli, 36, Jack Richardson, 26, Dennis Salsbury, 32, Luke Cannella, 25, Israel R. Campello, 41, Manuel Martin Gomez, 33 of Chicago, Ruben Yanez and police radio dispatcher Susan Wisniewski, 25. At the time, agents stated that Leombruni was the biggest cocaine dealer in Rockford and in his younger years may have been a member of the Latin Counts street gang in Rockford which had its beginnings in the late 1950s in Rockford and started as primarily an Italian gang. In other cities across the U.S., these teen street gangs were a fertile recruiting ground for the Mafia looking to boost their ranks and find dependable young toughs and perhaps cultivate them into mob membership.
Although not admissible in court, the FBI privately acknowledged there was definite mob involvement in this cocaine case and this was backed up by court-approved wiretaps.
An interesting link between the April 1980 murder of Rockford LCN member Joe Maggio and possibly John Leombruni is an October 20, 1981 FBI file. Maggio’s heavily redacted file read, in part, that an individual “was instructed by his “associates” in either Las Vegas or Los Angeles that Maggio had to be killed” and that this individual’s “associates” are members of the LCN.” This is interesting in that right before Leombruni started his full scale cocaine distribution in Rockford he was living in Las Vegas but according to sources had been “run out by that city’s Mafia chief.” The only possible Mafia chief in Vegas at that time was Tony Spilotro. Leombruni’s drug dealing there could have caused problems for Spilotro’s interests and he may have warned Leombruni to stay away. Also interesting to note is that cocaine ring member Luke Cannella was the nephew of deceased Rockford mob member Phil Cannella and Luke told investigators, “He (Leombruni) told me some guys were gonna kill him- or run him out of town- if he ever did some drugs in Las Vegas.”
The reason for Maggio’s murder was explained in a February 17, 1981 FBI file in this way: “Investigation by Chicago to date reveals that in February, 1980, Maggio had met several times with Joseph Zammuto, boss of the Rockford LCN group, in Florida. Several days after these meetings, Maggio returned to Rockford and within two days (Maggio’s daughter)[KATHLEEN] was severely beaten by [STEVEN DAVIS] a Rockford narcotics dealer related to Zammuto who accused her of stealing narcotics. Maggio was furious over the beating and openly exchanged threats with [DAVIS] for a two-month period prior to his death. [REDACTED] advised that [REDACTED] and others had been dealing in narcotics with the sanction of Zammuto and this group and it is believed that Maggio was killed as a result of his objection to LCN entry into the narcotics business in Rockford. Joseph Zammuto has been confirmed as absolute boss of the Rockford LCN group. It has been established that the Rockford LCN met in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in February, 1980, and that [REDACTED] began dealing in narcotics in Rockford in August, 1980, with Zammuto’s sanction.
In another possible tie in to connections to possible drug cartels is the March 12, 1991 arrests of twenty-seven people that were indicted by a U.S. District court grand jury on charges to distribute cocaine in the Rockford area and southern Wisconsin. This conspiracy, according to federal prosecutors, started on January 1, 1986 and was called the “Mauerman Organization” as it included many members of the Mauerman family. Edward P. Mauerman, Jr. was called the drug ring’s kingpin and this organization brought more than 176 pounds of cocaine into the Rockford area over the next five years. Mauerman was friends in Florida with two brothers named Ramon and Juan Castellanos who used to live in Belvidere, Illinois. The Castellanos brothers and Mauerman arranged to have the cocaine shipped north to Rockford through various couriers and once in Rockford, the cocaine would be repackaged at different locations and then distributed throughout Rockford and southern Wisconsin. One of these locations that the cocaine was repackaged at was Jackson Auto Sales on 11th Street. Jackson Auto Sales was owned by William Spears who also owned the Pizza Joint next door that FBI files stated was “a known hangout for Rockford LCN members.” Over the years Spears has been continuously arrested for narcotics trafficking and weapons charges. Most recently on April 21, 2016 Spears was arrested again for manufacturing and delivering cocaine and cannabis, possession of cannabis, aggravated unlawful use of a loaded weapon in his vehicle, and being an armed habitual criminal.
I have yet to research the Castellanos brothers and to see what, if any, connection they have to a larger cartel but it seems that the Chicago Outfit had to be getting a cut of some type of money from the profits of narcotics trafficking and it’s just a matter of finding out who the points of contact were in Chicago at the time.