General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[Patrickgold]

One doesn’t have to be made to inherit some racket interests, of course. As of 1973, the only source the FBI had for Frank Buccieri was Lou Fratto. For this reason, there were files in this period that referred to him as a member. To my knowledge, he was never identified as such by a Milwaukee or (reliable) Chicago source. Hence, the FBI no longer being able to list him as made in 1985. After investigating him for over 20 years, they were unable to confirm his membership, which again, is interesting given that he was not a low profile guy. The source/s that allowed them to identify Spillone as a CA-based Chicago member in the ‘80s evidently did not identify Buccieri as such.

It is possible that the FBI acquired a source after 1987 who was able to identify Buccieri. On the 1993 list that Snakes shared a while back, there were two redacted names between Angelini and Frank Calabrese. One of them would have been Sal Bastone, who was on the unredacted 1985 list. Following Bastone, the ‘85 list had Butch Blasi and Frank Buscemi preceding Calabrese. Buscemi of course died in ‘87. Blasi, however, died in the Spring of 1993 and could well have been the other name on that list, depending on when in the year the intel for it was compiled. Otherwise, as Snakes said before, another candidate for the second redacted ‘93 slot could have been Bobby Bellavia.

When do you think Spillone was made? I’m a little surprised he would be made. He was not a big time gangster or earner and there is hardly any info is out on him. He went out to California when Spilotro was still out there and Spillone was not really mentioned in any of the indictments that stemmed from Spilotro’s rackets. I know he got indicted for his own loansharking business in mid 80s. After he did time for that he basically stayed out of trouble from my understanding.

I remember being told or reading that Frank Buccieri was chosen by the commission to take care of the west coast. I wonder if he put out that information himself to make himself look more important than he really was.

[Snakes]

One doesn’t have to be made to inherit some racket interests, of course. As of 1973, the only source the FBI had for Frank Buccieri was Lou Fratto. For this reason, there were files in this period that referred to him as a member. To my knowledge, he was never identified as such by a Milwaukee or (reliable) Chicago source. Hence, the FBI no longer being able to list him as made in 1985. After investigating him for over 20 years, they were unable to confirm his membership, which again, is interesting given that he was not a low profile guy. The source/s that allowed them to identify Spillone as a CA-based Chicago member in the ‘80s evidently did not identify Buccieri as such.

It is possible that the FBI acquired a source after 1987 who was able to identify Buccieri. On the 1993 list that Snakes shared a while back, there were two redacted names between Angelini and Frank Calabrese. One of them would have been Sal Bastone, who was on the unredacted 1985 list. Following Bastone, the ‘85 list had Butch Blasi and Frank Buscemi preceding Calabrese. Buscemi of course died in ‘87. Blasi, however, died in the Spring of 1993 and could well have been the other name on that list, depending on when in the year the intel for it was compiled. Otherwise, as Snakes said before, another candidate for the second redacted ‘93 slot could have been Bobby Bellavia.

When do you think Spillone was made? I’m a little surprised he would be made. He was not a big time gangster or earner and there is hardly any info is out on him. He went out to California when Spilotro was still out there and Spillone was not really mentioned in any of the indictments that stemmed from Spilotro’s rackets. I know he got indicted for his own loansharking business in mid 80s. After he did time for that he basically stayed out of trouble from my understanding.

I remember being told or reading that Frank Buccieri was chosen by the commission to take care of the west coast. I wonder if he put out that information himself to make himself look more important than he really was.

Spillone is an interesting case as he was referred to as a member in the mid-80s, but curiously didn't show up on either the Chicago or the Los Angeles lists. This could just be miscommunication between the field offices or the agent preparing the report used old intel to describe him as such. Still, I added him to the "dead" members as he was described as one after the FBI revamped its criteria for membership inclusion (although there are definitely arguments against the membership status of some of those listed by the Chicago F.O.).

[PolackTony]

Hard to say why Spillone did not show up on the 1985 Chicago list. The claim about his membership was from the LA Field Office, which was working with the SoCal DOJ OC Task Force in the 80s and indicted and convicted Spillone and his associates in 1984-85.

Note the following memo from the LA FO in July of '84, designating Spillone as an LCN member. Not sure who their source was, but presumably this was under the revamped 1982 protocol:





The pizzeria chain operator who the memo also identified as a Chicago LCN associate was John James Barro, a Taylor St guy who had relocated from Chicago to SoCal with his brother Angelo Barro around 1960.

[Patrickgold]

Hard to say why Spillone did not show up on the 1985 Chicago list. The claim about his membership was from the LA Field Office, which was working with the SoCal DOJ OC Task Force in the 80s and indicted and convicted Spillone and his associates in 1984-85.

Note the following memo from the LA FO in July of '84, designating Spillone as an LCN member. Not sure who their source was, but presumably this was under the revamped 1982 protocol:





The pizzeria chain operator who the memo also identified as a Chicago LCN associate was John James Barro, a Taylor St guy who had relocated from Chicago to SoCal with his brother Angelo Barro around 1960.

I read that he came up under Joe Ferriola. Any truth to that? Any idea on what his relationship to Spilotro was? I would think he would have fell under Spilotro or Petti but I know Ferriola had a bad relationship with Spilotro and maybe sent him out there to have his owner thing going that was independent of Spilotro.

[PolackTony]

Spillone and his older brother Anthony were definitely associates with the Buccieri crew in the 60s — they also grew up by Taylor St, though they later moved out to Galewood.

I’ve written about him a bit before, but Vito Spillone’s 1971 sentence was for his part in Steve Annoreno’s juice operation, which LE said that Spillone and Martin Bucaro were supervising (Tony Annoreno and Sam Pullia were also involved with that operation). Spillone moved to CA after being released from prison in ‘76. If he was in fact a made guy, presumably he was made around that time. I haven’t seen anything solid that would lead me to believe that he was reporting to the Lombardo crew while he was in CA, so I would presume that he reported to Torello and then Ferriola. Some newspaper articles in the 80s had claimed that Spillone was “sent” to LA by Spilotro, but Spilotro was a well-known figure at that time and these kinds of things are often misreported. Nothing that I’ve seen from the LA FBI/DOJ mentioned Spilotro in connection to Spillone’s “crew” at all.

[Ivan]

https://capribygigishop.com/

Imagine actually buying Fillipo Rovito merchandise.

[chicagodog]

Here is something interesting. I have recently started communicating via Facebook with the director of the real casino documentary that was made in the early 2000s. Frank Buccieri was featured in the documentary but it was not advertised as him and his face was darkened out to not make it obvious. The director met Frank through Frank’s daughter. The director told me that he was introduced to Dominic Cortina at Giannotis by Frank Buccieri who told him that Cortina was the current boss of the Outfit at that time. This occurred sometime in the late 90s. The director told me he thinks Cortina was an interim boss between Carlisi and Monteleone. I think it’s possible. Anyone hear this before?

I've never heard that before, but it's interesting. The only problem with it, in my mind, is that Cortina was in prison for most of the first part of the decade, not getting out until 1995. He also had some major health issues, stomach cancer, I believe. Terms like "boss" can be interpreted differently by different people, especially non-members, so I can see something getting lost in translation.

Could Cortina or someone like that have been given the job as they were seen as less violent than their predecessors? Cortina and Angelini were always huge money makers and well respected. Wouldn’t be a huge suprise, but they weren’t particularly close to DiFronzo.

I’m sure having a low key guy that wasn’t prone to violence could have helped in in decision process considering what happened in the 80s.

Never came across anything about Dom Cortina being an acting boss in this period, but we still have a lot of gaps in our understanding here. It's an interesting claim, for sure.

Cortina was, by all accounts, a very intelligent, well-respected, and well-liked individual. A source told the Feds that in another life, Cortina could have been CEO of GM. While Chicago was a Family that put a high premium on capacity to commit violence for the organization, they also always had guys in their ranks who were not known for being rough street guys, including longtime sleepers like Phil Ponto, who was described as having the bearing and manner of a heart surgeon. It takes different kinds to have a well-rounded Family and Chicago never suffered for lack of tough guys, while guys like Cortina and Angelini were not a-dime-a-dozen and were highly valuable members of the LCN network.

Cortina and Angelini were, also, *probably* the most senior made guys on the street by this time, along with LaPietra. I believe that Cortina was made in the 1950s. While the FBI only had Louie Bombacino as a source to identify Cortina's membership as of 1967-73 (and Bombacino was himself unlikely to have been a member), there were reports in FBI files of Cortina attending meetings with Giancana by the early 1960s (Angelini, I would think, was likely to have been made around the same time as Cortina). Apart from his, obviously considerable, personal qualities, Cortina's seniority was presumably not an insignificant thing at a moment when so much of Chicago's older guard had fallen.

As Snakes already noted, Cortina died of cancer in '99. I'm not sure exactly how long he had been seriously ill before his death, however.

Cortina and Angelini were always huge money makers and well respected. Wouldn’t be a huge suprise, but they weren’t particularly close to DiFronzo.

I'm not aware that Cortina was ever particularly close to DiFronzo. He did, however, live in Elmwood Park (N 76th Ct) in the 1950s-60s and the FBI was told that Cortina was personally close to Jack Cerone. Cortina and Angelini were of course also charged along with Jack and Jimmy Cerone in the 1970 gambling case. Neither here nor there in terms of what role, if any, he could have had in the 90s, but these guys did have close ties going back to the Elmwood park crew.

By LaPietra you mean Jimmy, right? Angelo was in prison for the
Casino skim in 86 and I believe Jimmy died in 93. Tornebene could also have been upped as the Chinatown/Cicerco boss if Monteleone was running the day to day on the Southside. I wonder if we ever get some kind of CI or good info on what really happened 90’s to 2000’s?

[Antiliar]

Hard to say why Spillone did not show up on the 1985 Chicago list. The claim about his membership was from the LA Field Office, which was working with the SoCal DOJ OC Task Force in the 80s and indicted and convicted Spillone and his associates in 1984-85.

Note the following memo from the LA FO in July of '84, designating Spillone as an LCN member. Not sure who their source was, but presumably this was under the revamped 1982 protocol.

[snip]

The pizzeria chain operator who the memo also identified as a Chicago LCN associate was John James Barro, a Taylor St guy who had relocated from Chicago to SoCal with his brother Angelo Barro around 1960.

Just a side note, in the 1980s Barro's was voted best chain pizza in Orange County. It was on the top of my list too. Their pizza was really good and they set a standard that was hard to match, even today. Angelo Barro and his family set up shop in Arizona and now they're all over that state with some in Texas. There are two restaurants in Southern California, one in Walnut and the other in Whittier, called Barro's, but I don't think they have the same owners. At any rate, the arrests shocked a lot of us and were sad to see them shut down their California pizzerias.

[Snakes]

Here is something interesting. I have recently started communicating via Facebook with the director of the real casino documentary that was made in the early 2000s. Frank Buccieri was featured in the documentary but it was not advertised as him and his face was darkened out to not make it obvious. The director met Frank through Frank’s daughter. The director told me that he was introduced to Dominic Cortina at Giannotis by Frank Buccieri who told him that Cortina was the current boss of the Outfit at that time. This occurred sometime in the late 90s. The director told me he thinks Cortina was an interim boss between Carlisi and Monteleone. I think it’s possible. Anyone hear this before?

I've never heard that before, but it's interesting. The only problem with it, in my mind, is that Cortina was in prison for most of the first part of the decade, not getting out until 1995. He also had some major health issues, stomach cancer, I believe. Terms like "boss" can be interpreted differently by different people, especially non-members, so I can see something getting lost in translation.

Could Cortina or someone like that have been given the job as they were seen as less violent than their predecessors? Cortina and Angelini were always huge money makers and well respected. Wouldn’t be a huge suprise, but they weren’t particularly close to DiFronzo.

I’m sure having a low key guy that wasn’t prone to violence could have helped in in decision process considering what happened in the 80s.

Never came across anything about Dom Cortina being an acting boss in this period, but we still have a lot of gaps in our understanding here. It's an interesting claim, for sure.

Cortina was, by all accounts, a very intelligent, well-respected, and well-liked individual. A source told the Feds that in another life, Cortina could have been CEO of GM. While Chicago was a Family that put a high premium on capacity to commit violence for the organization, they also always had guys in their ranks who were not known for being rough street guys, including longtime sleepers like Phil Ponto, who was described as having the bearing and manner of a heart surgeon. It takes different kinds to have a well-rounded Family and Chicago never suffered for lack of tough guys, while guys like Cortina and Angelini were not a-dime-a-dozen and were highly valuable members of the LCN network.

Cortina and Angelini were, also, *probably* the most senior made guys on the street by this time, along with LaPietra. I believe that Cortina was made in the 1950s. While the FBI only had Louie Bombacino as a source to identify Cortina's membership as of 1967-73 (and Bombacino was himself unlikely to have been a member), there were reports in FBI files of Cortina attending meetings with Giancana by the early 1960s (Angelini, I would think, was likely to have been made around the same time as Cortina). Apart from his, obviously considerable, personal qualities, Cortina's seniority was presumably not an insignificant thing at a moment when so much of Chicago's older guard had fallen.

As Snakes already noted, Cortina died of cancer in '99. I'm not sure exactly how long he had been seriously ill before his death, however.

Cortina and Angelini were always huge money makers and well respected. Wouldn’t be a huge suprise, but they weren’t particularly close to DiFronzo.

I'm not aware that Cortina was ever particularly close to DiFronzo. He did, however, live in Elmwood Park (N 76th Ct) in the 1950s-60s and the FBI was told that Cortina was personally close to Jack Cerone. Cortina and Angelini were of course also charged along with Jack and Jimmy Cerone in the 1970 gambling case. Neither here nor there in terms of what role, if any, he could have had in the 90s, but these guys did have close ties going back to the Elmwood park crew.

By LaPietra you mean Jimmy, right? Angelo was in prison for the
Casino skim in 86 and I believe Jimmy died in 93. Tornebene could also have been upped as the Chinatown/Cicerco boss if Monteleone was running the day to day on the Southside. I wonder if we ever get some kind of CI or good info on what really happened 90’s to 2000’s?

I'm thinking of making a separate topic covering available intelligence for hat time period, specifically concerning Cicero/MP/Chinatown crews

[NorthBuffalo]

Has anyone ever heard of Tommy Dye? He claims to be a former associate of Spilotro.

https://youtu.be/FKkP9yfAvCA?si=Z6EL1KEmrMPsr1YA

I'm quite obsessed with the Stephen Manning saga in Chicago. Apparently, Dye was the one who snitched on Manning from prison. I can tell he's lying throughout this interview however, especially of watching Butch Petrocelli 'burned alive' - we know how that murder really went down from Nick Calabrese testimony. I think this guy is a scammer trying to get rich on his history.

https://casetext.com/case/manning-v-dye-3

[Snakes]

Paul Carparelli, 2011. I believe the name he's worried about having "come up" is Solly D:

[PolackTony]

Cortina and Angelini were, also, *probably* the most senior made guys on the street by this time, along with LaPietra. I believe that Cortina was made in the 1950s. While the FBI only had Louie Bombacino as a source to identify Cortina's membership as of 1967-73 (and Bombacino was himself unlikely to have been a member), there were reports in FBI files of Cortina attending meetings with Giancana by the early 1960s (Angelini, I would think, was likely to have been made around the same time as Cortina). Apart from his, obviously considerable, personal qualities, Cortina's seniority was presumably not an insignificant thing at a moment when so much of Chicago's older guard had fallen.

By LaPietra you mean Jimmy, right? Angelo was in prison for the
Casino skim in 86 and I believe Jimmy died in 93. Tornebene could also have been upped as the Chinatown/Cicerco boss if Monteleone was running the day to day on the Southside. I wonder if we ever get some kind of CI or good info on what really happened 90’s to 2000’s?

I was referring to Angelo, in the late 90s. He was released from prison in ‘97 soon after Carlisi died, which was the time frame we were discussing. My belief is Cortina, Angelini, Tornabene, and LaPietra were likely the most senior members at this time. While I don’t know of a source indicating exactly when they were made, I would guess that all 4 were *probably* made in the 50s. It’s possible that Lombardo and DiFronzo were made in that decade, but my belief there, barring strong evidence to the contrary, is that they were more likely made in the ‘60s (unless I’m forgetting some piece of evidence relevant to this question ATM)

[PolackTony]

Regarding who was running Cicero/Taylor St after Apes stepped up, CPD at least believed that it was DiForti. Not sure if they were saying that on their own or if they got it from the Feds. Maybe Snakes has seen something from the FBI stating that they believed that DiForti was running Cicero? I recall something to this effect, but I might be wrong.

If so, Mike Spano may have succeeded DiForti (unclear if in either case they would have been acting or official). The Lucchese associate that I spoke with who worked with Chicago guys stated that he understood the “boss” of the “Taylor St/Cicero crew” circa 2000 to have been “Big Mike”. I asked him if this was Spano or Sarno, as Spano was known to go by “Big Mike”, while Sarno was, obviously, a *big* Mike. He said that guys didn’t use government names and that he personally never met the captain, as he was only an associate and the made guys in Chicago only dealt with other made guys and their own “people”.

[Ivan]

Paul Carparelli, 2011. I believe the name he's worried about having "come up" is Solly D:

Did a poor job of this himself given that he was sloppy enough to name Solly D and associate him with MIckey Davis a couple times on a wire with Brown.

Speaking of whom, anyone know if this is his kid? There's a couple of these arrest mugshots for this guy assaulting people, both in DuPage county and I think Carparelli the Cicero guy lives/lived in Itasca.

[NorthBuffalo]

Anyone know if this guy 'Mario Agate' is legitimate? My friends in Chicago say he used to be a collector for John Monteleone's juice operation. He is a former 12th street player along with his brother 'Renzo' per this guy but older than the Carparelli generation. I found one indictment online for cocaine where he is fighting deportation back to Italy but not much else - he seems completely fried from drugs and somewhat high during this episode. No idea if he's real or full of shit - the Tony Accardo bodyguard story (Abe?) leads me to believe the latter, but these guys also exaggerate other stories all the time to make themselves more relevant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdPkFJQu0C8