General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[Snakes]

One could make the argument that Accardo and Aiuppa were the Committee in the early 70s. Battaglia and Cerone were imprisoned, Buccieri was dead and the other leaders were all brand new to their respective positions (Torello, Lombardo, Pilotto, DiBella) so perhaps they hadn't quite "earned" the right to serve in any type of leadership group. The FBI later (late 80s) attempted to purse a case against the Chicago leadership as a group ("Commission" in their words) but by that point it appeared to be more geographically segregated with territory more easily staked out. You previously saw guys like Alderisio and Daddano have their hands in pots all over the Chicago area but by the eighties the territories were pretty well established and (with a few exceptions) guys basically stayed in their own areas, so to speak. So the leadership group (or Committee) eventually just became the administration and the capos.

[Frank]

Really interesting to see the “commitee” laid out like that. If you think about it, it really is a good system for running a large organization like the outfit. With a pyramid type scheme, which is essentially what la cosa nostra is, you will always need one man to call the day to day shots. Obviously that would be the boss. But it seems to me that the boss was most likely elected by and perhaps even voted in by this committee. So really, it is an organization that is run by a board, and not one person.

My guess would be some type of committee still exists today. If you are a seasoned veteran and you have proven your worth, you may be eligible for a seat on this top committee. My only question is where somebody like Ricca would have fit in during his time as “top boss.” Could he overrule the committee? Or were him and Accardo simply very influential members of the committee who could influence the others if need be?

Yes the informants mention of the committee raises more questions. Ive seen chartfrom that time period that has a board of directors. I believe the Nitti book lists a board of directors from the Capone era. Not all members of board were Italian in that book. Was it the same board that was described as a ruling panel in the first half of the 70s, with less members on it. Well thats the LCN for you. When you think you have something figured out, new info seems to come along. Who knows at this point if its accurate. I think Ricca and Accardo must of wanted it this way at the time if its true. I dont believe it shows that they had less power

My own assumption is that the Committee or BOD panel leadership was a heritage of the Board described in the Eghigian book, with the Board members receiving a cut of gang income as well as their own side interests that they directly invested in. It's also possible that this arrangement had some influence from Mafia practices such as the Consiglio or Seggia that B and CC have described. These aren't mutually exclusive, of course, and influences from both points of origin may have reinforced certain practices. I see the Outfit as a hybrid of LCN and the Capone Syndicate of course, and believe that the leadership over time adopted/adapted or rejected various protocol addition depending on how useful they saw them. The use of a Committee/Consiglio form is obviously useful in the context of trying to hold together a Syndicate composed of several factions that were almost like their own "families", and which ruled a vast territory and huge rackets.

It's notable that this CI both underscored the power and prestige that non-made Outfit guys could wield, while also taking care to state that they ultimately still answered to and advised the Italian made guys on the ruling Committee. If a truncated version of the Committee was maintained in the 70s and 80s (as I think is likely), it's worth noting that Alex still occupied this important role as non-made senior advisor while being unable to hold the top boss, boss, or underboss positions. The value of a panel leadership (in this case in limiting outsider scrutiny and analysis of the hierarchy rather than for internal conflict resolution etc) is further demonstrated though by the fact that many in LE and Chicago newsmedia took Alex for the boss for a period.

I also thought of the Outfit when B and CC talked about Consiglio and Seggia. It really comes to mind when you have a boss in Giancana and 2 guys in Ricca and Accardo still alive and not in prison. Thats pretty unique. It was close to the panel of Elders.

[Villain]

Fast forward to 4:30...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xeIPGDIK3IM&t=9s

[Villain]

I think the term "governing board" also might correspond with what you guys previously said...

[Frank]

Fast forward to 4:30...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xeIPGDIK3IM&t=9s

Thats cool.

[Coloboy]

One could make the argument that Accardo and Aiuppa were the Committee in the early 70s. Battaglia and Cerone were imprisoned, Buccieri was dead and the other leaders were all brand new to their respective positions (Torello, Lombardo, Pilotto, DiBella) so perhaps they hadn't quite "earned" the right to serve in any type of leadership group. The FBI later (late 80s) attempted to purse a case against the Chicago leadership as a group ("Commission" in their words) but by that point it appeared to be more geographically segregated with territory more easily staked out. You previously saw guys like Alderisio and Daddano have their hands in pots all over the Chicago area but by the eighties the territories were pretty well established and (with a few exceptions) guys basically stayed in their own areas, so to speak. So the leadership group (or Committee) eventually just became the administration and the capos.

I agree on this. Accardo/Aiuppa, Alex, and a few year later Cerone most likely were the "committee" at that time in the 70's .

Still, through multiple FBI transcripts it is clear that Ricca in the 40's/50s/60s, and Accardo in the 70s and 80s were the final word on things. It is interesting to try and figure how that works with a board overseeing things. Besides the "board" potentially having the power to hire and fire bosses, My best guess is the boss (giancana, aiuppa, etc) has say over the day to day stuff, with occasional input from the board. However, Ricca, or later Accardo, had final say over the board ultimately.

If that is the case...a title of "chairman of the board", would make a lot of sense for those two guys. ( and perhaps later on Difronzo). I had heard that term used in reference to both of those guys in the past.

It's a very shrewd setup. This way 1 man (the boss), can't run wild and have power over every little thing, he has still has to answer to a group of people from various factions. I imagine this would help reduce internal conflicts and keep everyone in check. Then, at the end of the day if a decision has to be made and the board is struggling to make one, the chairman can weigh in if needed.

Into the 90's and 2000's, I could see guys like Difronzo, Lombardo, Tornabene, Andriacchi, Caruso Jr, and maybe Delaurentis sitting on such a board of directors.

[funkster]

Fast forward to 4:30...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xeIPGDIK3IM&t=9s

Watched those Pascente videos a long time ago, will have to revisit. Theyre great.

[Villain]

Fast forward to 4:30...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xeIPGDIK3IM&t=9s

Watched those Pascente videos a long time ago, will have to revisit. Theyre great.

I agree and whenever i see them, later I usually want go through his book for the 100th time lol

[Villain]

If that is the case...a title of "chairman of the board", would make a lot of sense for those two guys. ( and perhaps later on Difronzo). I had heard that term used in reference to both of those guys in the past.

[Villain]

Do not confuse Chicago's "chairman of the board" and the Commission's chairman of the board, since in Chicago that position was almost equivalent to "boss of all bosses" (four groups aka "crime families" under one top admin - chairman and commission rep (Ricca), senior advisor or boss emeritus (Accardo), boss and commission rep (Giancana), underboss (Ferraro))

Later we have Accardo as the chairman, Alex as the boss emeritus and connections guy, Aiuppa as the boss, Nicoletti as the underboss and so on...

[Frank]

I wonder if Battaglia and Cerone remained on the Committee during their prison terms. Also I would imagine that Buccieri and possibly Prio remained on the Committee till they died. Isnt there a gap from the time Cerone is sent to prison and the info that states Accardo said Riccas position would not be filled. This would have been in 72- 73. He basically was laying out the new administration. It doesnt seem like what he is saying is anything different than when Cerone went away a few years before. Only the Ricca part was new.

[Villain]

I wonder if Battaglia and Cerone remained on the Committee during their prison terms. Also I would imagine that Buccieri and possibly Prio remained on the Committee till they died. Isnt there a gap from the time Cerone is sent to prison and the info that states Accardo said Riccas position would not be filled. This would have been in 72- 73. He basically was laying out the new administration. It doesnt seem like what he is saying is anything different than when Cerone went away a few years before. Only the Ricca part was new.

While in prison, both Cerones and Battaglias main messenger was an attorney by the name of Barney Bruno who was the courier that carried instructions and messages mainly to their own crews such as the EP and MP groups.

With Cerone (last former boss) in prison, Alex took the senior advisor spot until Cerone got out of prison, since Alexs wife was very ill. This lasted until Giancanas death who i believe never officially stepped down (Battaglia, Cerone were probably acting). Giancana was killed in July 1975, and Cerone allegedly became the official underboss few months later or in September that same year, which also makes me to believe that was the same year when Aiuppa also became official and Alex also returned to his previous spot, according to numerous sources.

In addition, heres how the Accardo/Aiuppa/Alex trio functioned....

First, Accardo succeeded Riccas place and created all policy which was transferred to Aiuppa and Alex...



Later all decisions were transferred to the rest of the high level members through Aiuppa...



For example, when Ross Prio died in December 1972, one month later Accardo sent for Aiuppa who in turn gathered only the high level members who had interests around Prios area and to announce the new territorial boss and Prios successor Dom DiBella. The guys who attended the meeting were Aiuppa, DiBella, Brancato, Pilotto, Kruse and Lenny Patrick. Both DiBella and Brancato were Prios long time top lieutenants....Patrick and Kruse answered to Alex but they also operated in Prios/DiBellas area and besides Alex, they also kicked up to the boss and the territorial boss in whose area they were allowed to operate. The Chicago Heights and North Side factions had close associations since the 1920s and so i presume Pilotto also had some interests on the North Side at the time which he recently inherited from his late predecessor LaPorte.



According to Alexs own words, by 73 the two top Outfit guys (boss and underboss) were Aiuppa and Nicoletti...



So the Outfits 71/72 - 73 "commission" was formed by Accardo, Aiuppa, Alex and Nicoletti.

[Villain]

Some additional info on Alexs absence during the period of 1973 - 1974 and regarding Cerone taking his place...






Alex's return to the Chicago area....




And some additional stuff on the 1976/77 admin...






This is about certain leaders from different cities who were on the questioning list regarding the Roselli murder...

[B.]

Should be noted that the consiglio/council in Milwaukee referred to as the "seggia" translates to "chair", which would suggest Milwaukee saw the council members as "chairmen". Whether or not that translates to Chicago I have no idea, only pointing out that there is some precedent for that kind of language with the consiglio.

In the following one we can see Philly boss Angelo Bruno discussing the Outfits core and that besides becoming Sicilian again, according to Bruno himself, still bosses like Giancana didnt care if the guys who brought him money were Sicilian at all....

Just to add some context, when Bruno says Giancana is "like us" (Philadelphia) in not caring if someone is Sicilian or not, he is referring to the fact that the Philadelphia family had a huge number of mainlanders, particularly Calabresi and Abruzzesi, many of them in leading positions. In fact, at one point in the 1950s, the administration was made up entirely of men from Calabria, Abruzzo, and Potenza backgrounds, with no Sicilians on the admin.

The Calabrian faction was almost entirely autonomous under the family's consigliere Rugnetta, who acted like the boss of that faction (Angelo Bruno even calls him "rappresentante" of the Calabrians on one tape). Of course, there was still a Sicilian faction in Philadelphia through this time that cared about their heritage, but Bruno is simply saying the organization was no longer defined by ethnic background.

Also, the 500 Club was in Atlantic City. Big hangout for Frank Sinatra, so not surprising Giancana would also visit.

Good find and interesting that Bruno sees a parallel between Philadelphia and Chicago in terms of their loose approach to Italian ethnicity.

I don't see where Bruno says anything about money, though. Is there more to the excerpt that mentions money being a factor?

[Pete]

Do not confuse Chicago's "chairman of the board" and the Commission's chairman of the board, since in Chicago that position was almost equivalent to "boss of all bosses" (four groups aka "crime families" under one top admin - chairman and commission rep (Ricca), senior advisor or boss emeritus (Accardo), boss and commission rep (Giancana), underboss (Ferraro))

Later we have Accardo as the chairman, Alex as the boss emeritus and connections guy, Aiuppa as the boss, Nicoletti as the underboss and so on...

We’ve discussed this previously and I know I’m in the minority but I always thought the outfit was run more in tandem or committee. For instance when it was aiuppa accardo and cerone people say well accardo has final say, which could be true but has there been a time where it was proven the other Guys disagreed with him and he trumped them? To me they always made decisions together just like Ricca and Accardo did. I get for instance one guy has the most clout I just never saw an instance where accardo needed to flex and say no were doing this etc. it’s possible to aiuppa was just the liaison for instance when a hit went down in the 70’s or 80’s it was always this comes from the old man(aiuppa) which may or may not mean he discussed it with accardo before putting out a hit. Same thing more recent times I never saw anything that said marcello was a front boss and someone else gave him orders like people say. I think he did his own thing. What people forgot difronzo wanted out of day to day and didn’t wanna be involved for the most part which was confirmed by many people. I’ll forever believe after difronzo son died while he was in prison he was not the boss again could be semantics cuz he had enough juice to do anything but it’s been proven as apes was the boss till 01 then tornabene kept the seat warm until marcello got out and on and on.