Villain wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:53 am
In addition to the history of the expansion of the old Taylor St group or simply Louis Campagna’s crew which was officially created somewhere during the early 1930’s and became the most powerful faction and ruled the whole Outfit for more than 30 years.
*Also, maybe Im wrong regarding some of the years and positions but I made this time line mostly off the top of my head
Taylor St.
-In 1926, the boss of the Taylor St area Angelo Genna was killed by one North Side Mafioso known as Joe Aiello who in turn took over that same area until 1930, when he also got killed by the Capone Mob and the territory was inherited by Louis Campagna. You see, previously Aiello also held the North/West area but after his death, it also went under the Capone Mob, especially the West Side faction. So during the 1930’s, Campagna served as the underboss of the Outfit by separately controlling his own crew.
Northern Cicero
-According to my research, by the early 1940’s or in 1943, when one of Campagna’s underlings known as Sam Giancana, who was made back in 1939, was released from jail, he was placed as the overseer of the northern part of the Cicero area which was divided between them and the Ralph Capone faction. It is possible that previously the northern part was controlled by one of Capone’s old allies, known as Frank Maritote.
Des Moines, Iowa
-That same year, another of Campagna’s crew members Louis Fratto took for Des Moines, Iowa to replace Charles Gioe, another imprisoned mobster in the Hollywood case who was followed by Campagna and the rest of the bosses, including Maritote.
Expansion attempt on the Near North Side and West Grand Av
-Also by that same year, the boss of the Near North Side Frank Nitto already killed himself and Campagna’s replacement was Lawrence Mangano, who in turn began spreading his influence on Nitto’s territory and West Grand Av.
- After the deaths of Mangano in 1944 and also of his replacement James Belcastro in 1945, Sam Giancana also became the captain of the Taylor St crew including being the overseer of the northern part of the Cicero area, obviously with the help of his underlings.
- In 1947, the top administration was released from prison and that same year or the next, Giancana became the underboss of the organization, while the previous boss of the W Grand Av and Elmwood Park areas Tony Accardo became the boss of the organization.
- During the early 1950’s, Giancana finished the late Mangano’s previous project by also infiltrating the Near North Side or the Rush St area, which was divided between one of his underlings known as Marshal Caifano and the boss of the North Side Ross Prio.
Lawndale
-Until the end of the 1940’s, with the help of Jake Guzik and his Jewish criminal connections in the Lawndale area, Giancana managed to exterminate every possible obstacle and installed their new allies Lenny Patrick and Dave Yaras as the bosses of that area under the jurisdiction of one Giancana’s underlings known as Sam Battaglia.
- By the early 50’s it is possible that Fiore Buccieri became Giancana’s overseer of the northern part of the Cicero area and Central West Side.
Melrose Park (including Stone Park, Franklin Park and Northlake)
-In 1955, Giancana’s overseer in the Lawndale area Sam Battaglia became the captain of the Melrose Park crew.
- In 1957, Giancana became the boss with Buccieri and Battaglia as his main captains of two thirds of the whole West Side and western suburbs and also the northern part of the Cicero area.
North/West area
-By the late 50’s, the Bolita racket became one of the most profitable rackets and so most of the operations were placed on Chicago’s North Side. The major boss who controlled the Bolita racket was Ross Prio, but also joined by Buccieri from the West Side.
-By the mid 1960’s there was a clash between some of Chicago’s top hoodlums, for example Fiore Buccieri and Mike Patrick, Lenny’s older brother. The problem was that some of Patrick’s men took over some of the operations in North/West area in which Buccieri was the overlord of the juice racket. A sit down occurred, which was settled in Buccieri’s favour. In fact, Giancana’s and Buccieri’s overseer on the North/West area was Rocco Potenza.
Near South Side and Loop
-The year of 1952 was marked with the death of Phil D’Andrea the boss of the so-called “South Side Mafia” who in turn once had the jurisdiction of the largest territory which included the Loop, Chinatown, South Side and Calumet City. So after his death, D’Andrea’s huge territory was divided between two crews including Bruno Roti Sr in Chinatown and the whole South Side, and Frank Ferraro in the Near South Side and Loop area. The Calumet City area went under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Heights faction.
-In 1957, Roti Sr. died and Ferraro became the underboss of Sam Giancana. So Roti’s territory was taken over by Frank Caruso, while Ferraro’s territory was overseen by Gus Alex. Many reports say that Caruso wasn’t even nearly powerful as his predecessor Roti Sr., but he grew up with Ferraro and Alex at the old neighbourhood and so he had the support and was easily elevated to a higher position. So Caruso also shared some of his operations with Ferraro and also with another South Side mobster known as James Catuara
- By 1963, two of Ferraro’s and Alex’s main operators and collectors were out of the picture and so they turned to Fiore Buccieri for help. That same year, Alex and Buccieri met in a hotel in New Mexico and Buccieri agreed to help but only if he take a “small” percentage from the collections. So now the new collector for the First Ward was Buccieri’s guy Sam Gearis and his son Arnold. The father and son were known for making $6,000 per week from their collections and Arnold was the one who usually made the collections by starting his daily rounds in the morning from Edith Restaurant which was located near the corner of Halsted and Jackson Street and from there he travelled across the Loop on foot.
- In 1964, Frank Ferraro died and was replaced by Sam Battaglia as underboss
- In 1965 Giancana was imprisoned and in 1966 he fled the country
Expansion attempt on the South Side and Chicago Heights area
- By the mid 1960’s Buccieri began invading other territories that belonged to the Battaglia group (Melrose Park), Ralph Pierce (South Side) and also to the Frank LaPorte group (Chicago Heights). A sit down was arranged in restaurant on Chicago’s North Side between the two factions and during the meeting, Battaglia’s close associate Phil Alderisio lost his nerves and threatened at one of Buccieri’s top men Joe Ferriola by saying “I’m going to tear you apart, limb by limb!” Buccieri later said that Giancana should be the one to clear things up but he was out of the country and ignored the problem. Thoroughly disgusted with the problem, Ricca and Accardo again took the stage, resolved the dispute and immediately elevated Sam Battaglia to the position as acting boss of the Chicago Outfit, no questions asked, and forbiddened for Buccieri to spread his influence on those two territories.
- In 1966 Battaglia became the boss until 1967 when he was imprisoned
- By the late 1960’s, Gus Alex’s relinquished his personal crew and also closed all of his illegal operations in the Loop and the area became an “open territory”, meaning that if some of the Outfit members wanted to start their own operations over there, they were not going to be opposed by Alex but still they had to pay some kind of tribute to Buccieri.
- In 1970, Buccieri was diagnosed with cancer and in 1973 he died
Cicero, Chinatown and the South Side
- By 1975, one Buccieri’s underlings James Torello became the boss of the whole Cicero area and also had the same previous jurisdiction as his predecessors over the separate Chinatown and South Side crew, which was still led by Frank Caruso
- In 1977, the boss of the South Side Ralph Pierce died of natural causes followed by Torello in 1979
- In 1979, two of the late Buccieri’s or Torello’s underlings Angelo LaPietra and Joe Ferriola became the bosses of the Chinatown and Cicero areas. In addition, by now there was not much of their influence in Lawndale, Taylor St, Melrose Park, Des Moines or the North Side. The newly formed Grand Av crew inherited their North Side operations by absorbing former Taylor St member Marshal Caifano as their crew "new" member.