The Mystery of Chicago's "Zips": Potential links to Italian OC?

[B.]

John had a brother Ciro Stanfa who was made in Caccamo. Might be a cousin.

[PolackTony]

Altavilla is, of course, nestled within an absolute mafia hotbed and a large portion of the town has close connections to Chicago, so we could've a priori predicted that some Milicioti immigrants in Chicago would be connected. Worth noting again that in the late 70s, another recent immigrant restauranteur family from Altavilla, the Incandelas, were evidently so trusted by the outfit's admin that the entire family's leadership structure felt safe enough -- in an era of heavy Federal LE scrutiny -- to assemble in person and snap photos at their Harlem Ave restuarant for the famous "Last Supper" meeting. While I don't know as of yet that the Incandelas were personally involved with criminal activities, as the Lombardos clearly have been, one has to wonder exactly through what avenues they made links to the local mafia and how they came to secure this much trust.

Worth noting here that Rosaria "Rose" Incandela, a niece of Joey Caesar DiVarco (she was the daughter of a younger brother, also called Joseph DiVarco), married a Salvatore Incandela from Altavilla Milicia who immigrated to Chicago in the 70s. Caesar DiVarco was himself, of course, at the "Last Supper" meeting at the Incandela family's Sicily Restaurant.

As mentioned above, Luciano Libreri arrived in the US in 1969, and apparently stayed in Philly for a bit before relocating to Chicago. Along with Chicago, Philly has been the primary place of settlement for Caccamesi in the US. Now, readers may recall that Philly boss Giovanni "John" Stanfa was from a mafia-connected family in Càccamo, with his nephew Antonino Giuffrè becoming capomandamento (and then high-level pentito) over the area. As noted above, current Tèrmini boss and Càccamo native Giuseppe Libreri was personally close to Giuffrè. Now, among the Caccamesi who settled in Chicago during the second migration wave, there were a group of Stanfas who arrived in the 1960s; John Stanfa also arrived in the US in the 60s, but went to NYC. Included in this contingent was a Nicasio Stanfa, born in 1925 in Càccamo, who arrived in Chicago in 1967. John Stanfa's brother was a mafia member in Càccamo, born in the 1920s, who was busted in the 90s. I don't think that these were the same guy, as I'm not aware that the Càccamo member Nicasio Stanfa ever lived in the US, but the shared given name could indicate that they were cousins (San Nicasio is the patron saint of Càccamo, so it's a common given name there. But, again, Càccamo is not a big town and there aren't a million Stanfas there). Of course, there were Stanfas and Giuffrès, from both Càccamo and Tèrmini, already living in Chicago from the first immigration wave. Likely that John Stanfa had multiple relatives in Chicago, I think.

The Stanfas have, naturally, been associated with the Càccamo Society in Chicago. Another mafia-connected surname associated with the Society is Panzeca, with, again, both first- and second-wave arrivals to Chicago. The boss of the Càccamo family in the mid-20th century was Giuseppe Panzeca (a powerful and feared boss who was a member of the first Palermo provincial Commission, Panzeca died in 1967). Given that Chicago has a significant settlement of Caccamesi, who maintain close connections back to their hometown and remain faithful to their traditions with their Society and annual Festa di Beato Giovanni Liccio, one should suspect that mafia ties have existed between Chicago and Càccamo, a town where it's said that "even the stones belong to the mafia".

To follow up on this, I was able to successfully confirm that John Stanfa's family in South Jersey is directly connected today to Stanfas in Chicago, as well as to a number of people in Càccamo, who are in turn also connected to Chicago. It's what I suspected but wanted to confirm.

Interestingly there was a lone Stanfa family in Rockford starting in the 1920s with Ciro Stanfa but I can't find where he was from- wouldn't surprise me at all if it was Caccamo. My buddy knew Ciro's son Salvatore and always said he was "connected."

Ciro Stanfa, unsurprisingly, seems to have been from Càccamo. If his son was connected, I’d wonder if the dad was connected in Chicago Heghts. I also note that Salvatore Stanfa married a Gulotta.

[cavita]

Altavilla is, of course, nestled within an absolute mafia hotbed and a large portion of the town has close connections to Chicago, so we could've a priori predicted that some Milicioti immigrants in Chicago would be connected. Worth noting again that in the late 70s, another recent immigrant restauranteur family from Altavilla, the Incandelas, were evidently so trusted by the outfit's admin that the entire family's leadership structure felt safe enough -- in an era of heavy Federal LE scrutiny -- to assemble in person and snap photos at their Harlem Ave restuarant for the famous "Last Supper" meeting. While I don't know as of yet that the Incandelas were personally involved with criminal activities, as the Lombardos clearly have been, one has to wonder exactly through what avenues they made links to the local mafia and how they came to secure this much trust.

Worth noting here that Rosaria "Rose" Incandela, a niece of Joey Caesar DiVarco (she was the daughter of a younger brother, also called Joseph DiVarco), married a Salvatore Incandela from Altavilla Milicia who immigrated to Chicago in the 70s. Caesar DiVarco was himself, of course, at the "Last Supper" meeting at the Incandela family's Sicily Restaurant.

As mentioned above, Luciano Libreri arrived in the US in 1969, and apparently stayed in Philly for a bit before relocating to Chicago. Along with Chicago, Philly has been the primary place of settlement for Caccamesi in the US. Now, readers may recall that Philly boss Giovanni "John" Stanfa was from a mafia-connected family in Càccamo, with his nephew Antonino Giuffrè becoming capomandamento (and then high-level pentito) over the area. As noted above, current Tèrmini boss and Càccamo native Giuseppe Libreri was personally close to Giuffrè. Now, among the Caccamesi who settled in Chicago during the second migration wave, there were a group of Stanfas who arrived in the 1960s; John Stanfa also arrived in the US in the 60s, but went to NYC. Included in this contingent was a Nicasio Stanfa, born in 1925 in Càccamo, who arrived in Chicago in 1967. John Stanfa's brother was a mafia member in Càccamo, born in the 1920s, who was busted in the 90s. I don't think that these were the same guy, as I'm not aware that the Càccamo member Nicasio Stanfa ever lived in the US, but the shared given name could indicate that they were cousins (San Nicasio is the patron saint of Càccamo, so it's a common given name there. But, again, Càccamo is not a big town and there aren't a million Stanfas there). Of course, there were Stanfas and Giuffrès, from both Càccamo and Tèrmini, already living in Chicago from the first immigration wave. Likely that John Stanfa had multiple relatives in Chicago, I think.

The Stanfas have, naturally, been associated with the Càccamo Society in Chicago. Another mafia-connected surname associated with the Society is Panzeca, with, again, both first- and second-wave arrivals to Chicago. The boss of the Càccamo family in the mid-20th century was Giuseppe Panzeca (a powerful and feared boss who was a member of the first Palermo provincial Commission, Panzeca died in 1967). Given that Chicago has a significant settlement of Caccamesi, who maintain close connections back to their hometown and remain faithful to their traditions with their Society and annual Festa di Beato Giovanni Liccio, one should suspect that mafia ties have existed between Chicago and Càccamo, a town where it's said that "even the stones belong to the mafia".

To follow up on this, I was able to successfully confirm that John Stanfa's family in South Jersey is directly connected today to Stanfas in Chicago, as well as to a number of people in Càccamo, who are in turn also connected to Chicago. It's what I suspected but wanted to confirm.

Interestingly there was a lone Stanfa family in Rockford starting in the 1920s with Ciro Stanfa but I can't find where he was from- wouldn't surprise me at all if it was Caccamo. My buddy knew Ciro's son Salvatore and always said he was "connected."

Ciro Stanfa, unsurprisingly, seems to have been from Càccamo. If his son was connected, I’d wonder if the dad was connected in Chicago Heghts. I also note that Salvatore Stanfa married a Gulotta.

Salvatore Stanfa didn't marry a Gulotta, rather he married Giovanna "Jennie" Gullotto. Jennie happened to be the sister of Nunzia "Nancy" Gullotto who married Rockford LCN capo Charles Vince.

[PolackTony]

Altavilla is, of course, nestled within an absolute mafia hotbed and a large portion of the town has close connections to Chicago, so we could've a priori predicted that some Milicioti immigrants in Chicago would be connected. Worth noting again that in the late 70s, another recent immigrant restauranteur family from Altavilla, the Incandelas, were evidently so trusted by the outfit's admin that the entire family's leadership structure felt safe enough -- in an era of heavy Federal LE scrutiny -- to assemble in person and snap photos at their Harlem Ave restuarant for the famous "Last Supper" meeting. While I don't know as of yet that the Incandelas were personally involved with criminal activities, as the Lombardos clearly have been, one has to wonder exactly through what avenues they made links to the local mafia and how they came to secure this much trust.

Worth noting here that Rosaria "Rose" Incandela, a niece of Joey Caesar DiVarco (she was the daughter of a younger brother, also called Joseph DiVarco), married a Salvatore Incandela from Altavilla Milicia who immigrated to Chicago in the 70s. Caesar DiVarco was himself, of course, at the "Last Supper" meeting at the Incandela family's Sicily Restaurant.

As mentioned above, Luciano Libreri arrived in the US in 1969, and apparently stayed in Philly for a bit before relocating to Chicago. Along with Chicago, Philly has been the primary place of settlement for Caccamesi in the US. Now, readers may recall that Philly boss Giovanni "John" Stanfa was from a mafia-connected family in Càccamo, with his nephew Antonino Giuffrè becoming capomandamento (and then high-level pentito) over the area. As noted above, current Tèrmini boss and Càccamo native Giuseppe Libreri was personally close to Giuffrè. Now, among the Caccamesi who settled in Chicago during the second migration wave, there were a group of Stanfas who arrived in the 1960s; John Stanfa also arrived in the US in the 60s, but went to NYC. Included in this contingent was a Nicasio Stanfa, born in 1925 in Càccamo, who arrived in Chicago in 1967. John Stanfa's brother was a mafia member in Càccamo, born in the 1920s, who was busted in the 90s. I don't think that these were the same guy, as I'm not aware that the Càccamo member Nicasio Stanfa ever lived in the US, but the shared given name could indicate that they were cousins (San Nicasio is the patron saint of Càccamo, so it's a common given name there. But, again, Càccamo is not a big town and there aren't a million Stanfas there). Of course, there were Stanfas and Giuffrès, from both Càccamo and Tèrmini, already living in Chicago from the first immigration wave. Likely that John Stanfa had multiple relatives in Chicago, I think.

The Stanfas have, naturally, been associated with the Càccamo Society in Chicago. Another mafia-connected surname associated with the Society is Panzeca, with, again, both first- and second-wave arrivals to Chicago. The boss of the Càccamo family in the mid-20th century was Giuseppe Panzeca (a powerful and feared boss who was a member of the first Palermo provincial Commission, Panzeca died in 1967). Given that Chicago has a significant settlement of Caccamesi, who maintain close connections back to their hometown and remain faithful to their traditions with their Society and annual Festa di Beato Giovanni Liccio, one should suspect that mafia ties have existed between Chicago and Càccamo, a town where it's said that "even the stones belong to the mafia".

To follow up on this, I was able to successfully confirm that John Stanfa's family in South Jersey is directly connected today to Stanfas in Chicago, as well as to a number of people in Càccamo, who are in turn also connected to Chicago. It's what I suspected but wanted to confirm.

Interestingly there was a lone Stanfa family in Rockford starting in the 1920s with Ciro Stanfa but I can't find where he was from- wouldn't surprise me at all if it was Caccamo. My buddy knew Ciro's son Salvatore and always said he was "connected."

Ciro Stanfa, unsurprisingly, seems to have been from Càccamo. If his son was connected, I’d wonder if the dad was connected in Chicago Heghts. I also note that Salvatore Stanfa married a Gulotta.

Salvatore Stanfa didn't marry a Gulotta, rather he married Giovanna "Jennie" Gullotto. Jennie happened to be the sister of Nunzia "Nancy" Gullotto who married Rockford LCN capo Charles Vince.

No relation to the Gulottas? I assumed it was just a spelling variation.

[cavita]

No relation at all. Two separate families.

[PolackTony]

No relation at all. Two separate families.

Thanks for confirming. If Charles Vince was Salvatore Stanfa’s brither-in-law, than I suppose he would’ve been connected.

[PolackTony]

"Diamond Joe" Esposito, an Acerres' who may have been the head of a Chicago Camorra society himself, was the first known mainland Italian inducted into the Chicago mafia. Fast forward to today, and Solly D and Jimmy I both trace their heritage back to Acerra. As with many other Italian paesi that sent large numbers of people to Chicago in the first wave of Italian immigration in the late 19th through early 20th century, Acerra sent many immigrants to Chicago in the second wave of Italian immigration in the decades following WW2; Chicago's Acerresi remain a notable and active contingent within Chitalia today. While the Società San Cuono e Figlio di Acerra no longer stands, Taylor St remains something like a "spiritual home" for Chicago's Acerresi, both older generations and the newly arrived. Acerra has also long been a major Camorra center. Like the Villabate-Bagheria-Casteldaccia area in Palermo province (also intimately tied to Chicago and its mafia), Acerra forms a hub of an area called "the triangle of death", due to a plague of heavy Camorra activity and attendant violence for decades (as well as the notorious dumping of toxic waste by Camorra clans in this region of Napoli province, leading to high cancer rates).

Another arrival from Acerra, Napoli, to Chicago was Giulia Maria Grazia Verone, who immigrated to Chicago with her family in 1950, when she was 15. In 1955, she married then-law-student Samuel Nathaniel Syracuse in Berwyn. Sam Syracuse was born in 1924 in Falconer, Chautauqua County, NY, to Rosario "Russell" Siragusa of Vallelunga, Caltanisetta, and Loretta Conti, born in Independence, LA, to parents from Vallelunga. The Siragusas lived in nearby Ellicott, NY (Chicago/Buffalo mobster Joe LaBarbera was from Chautauqua County; Gary mobster Angelo Cardinale was also from Vallelunga and had connections to Falconer). Sometime in the 1930s or 40's, Loretta remarried a man named Sam Dispenza and the family relocated to Chicago; in 1950, they were living with Loretta (Sam Dispenza was no longer on the scene, apparently) at Monticello and Huron in the Italian section of Humboldt park, near the area where Jack Cerone and Joe Gagliano were based.

In 1956, Sam Syracuse passed the IL Bar and began practicing law. In 1962, he was named as Jack Cerone's lawyer when the latter was arrested in an auto accident. In 1968, Sam Syracuse represented Jack's wife, Clara Russo, when she was busted with Grace Aloisio (wife of Willie Smokes) for shoplifting at an Oak Park department store by a Pinkerton agent working store security. At that time, the Tribune noted that Syracuse was "a frequent luncheon companion" of Cerone and Tony Accardo. In the 1970s, Sam Syracuse was the law partner of Jackie Cerone, Jr, and made the papers when a suburban land deal fell through when it came out that the buyers' lawyers (Syracuse and Cerone, Jr) had connections to the mob. In 1984, Syracuse was one of the parties who registered a company called Brookwood Land Ventures in Wood Dale, along with Jack Cerone, Sr, Vince Solano, and Paul Butera (from Cinisi, of the Butera supermarket chain family; as a super-flex, Butera's address was listed as 99 Butera Dr in South Barrington). In later years, Sam Syracuse was well-known for being active in the Italian social institution community in Chicago, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian America Human Relations Foundation of Chicago. Other Board members included Blagojevich-linked former President of Teamsters Local 727 Michael Coli (son of Chicago member Ercole "Eco" Coli and brother of ousted Local 727 Treasurer/Secretary John Coli, Sr, of the 2017 film studio extortion case infamy) and, for some reason, Congressman Danny Davis. Sam Syracuse died in 2020 in Melrose Park.

As noted above, the 1993 FBI IOC report claimed that Jackie Cerone, Jr was a liaison between senior Camorra capo Antonio Spavone and the Chicago outfit. We also know that Acerres' NCO leader Carmine Esposito fled justice in Italy to Chicago in the 1980s, Now we see that Jackie, Jr's law partner Sam Syracuse was married to a woman from Acerra. One more potential piece to the puzzle.

On another note, thanks to Scott B, I am now aware that Sam Syracuse had major ties to the Detroit outfit. Sam Syracuse and Giulia Verone's daughter Loretta Syracuse married Peter Tocco, daughter Aggie Syracuse married Peter Corrado, and daughter Gina Syracuse married Dominic Corrado. Additionally, Giulia's niece Teresa Verone, also Acerres' (her brother Pietro Verone, I believe, owns the Villa Verone restuarants in Elgin and Geneva), married a guy named Jack Tocco (not sure who this guy is, but considering that her cousins married a bunch of Detroit guys, one wonders if this is just coincidence). Given Tony LaPiana, and the apparently close relationship between Jack Tocco and Johnny DiFronzo, we can see that there have been some very strong ties between Chicago and Detroit in modern times.

[Patrickgold]

"Diamond Joe" Esposito, an Acerres' who may have been the head of a Chicago Camorra society himself, was the first known mainland Italian inducted into the Chicago mafia. Fast forward to today, and Solly D and Jimmy I both trace their heritage back to Acerra. As with many other Italian paesi that sent large numbers of people to Chicago in the first wave of Italian immigration in the late 19th through early 20th century, Acerra sent many immigrants to Chicago in the second wave of Italian immigration in the decades following WW2; Chicago's Acerresi remain a notable and active contingent within Chitalia today. While the Società San Cuono e Figlio di Acerra no longer stands, Taylor St remains something like a "spiritual home" for Chicago's Acerresi, both older generations and the newly arrived. Acerra has also long been a major Camorra center. Like the Villabate-Bagheria-Casteldaccia area in Palermo province (also intimately tied to Chicago and its mafia), Acerra forms a hub of an area called "the triangle of death", due to a plague of heavy Camorra activity and attendant violence for decades (as well as the notorious dumping of toxic waste by Camorra clans in this region of Napoli province, leading to high cancer rates).

Another arrival from Acerra, Napoli, to Chicago was Giulia Maria Grazia Verone, who immigrated to Chicago with her family in 1950, when she was 15. In 1955, she married then-law-student Samuel Nathaniel Syracuse in Berwyn. Sam Syracuse was born in 1924 in Falconer, Chautauqua County, NY, to Rosario "Russell" Siragusa of Vallelunga, Caltanisetta, and Loretta Conti, born in Independence, LA, to parents from Vallelunga. The Siragusas lived in nearby Ellicott, NY (Chicago/Buffalo mobster Joe LaBarbera was from Chautauqua County; Gary mobster Angelo Cardinale was also from Vallelunga and had connections to Falconer). Sometime in the 1930s or 40's, Loretta remarried a man named Sam Dispenza and the family relocated to Chicago; in 1950, they were living with Loretta (Sam Dispenza was no longer on the scene, apparently) at Monticello and Huron in the Italian section of Humboldt park, near the area where Jack Cerone and Joe Gagliano were based.

In 1956, Sam Syracuse passed the IL Bar and began practicing law. In 1962, he was named as Jack Cerone's lawyer when the latter was arrested in an auto accident. In 1968, Sam Syracuse represented Jack's wife, Clara Russo, when she was busted with Grace Aloisio (wife of Willie Smokes) for shoplifting at an Oak Park department store by a Pinkerton agent working store security. At that time, the Tribune noted that Syracuse was "a frequent luncheon companion" of Cerone and Tony Accardo. In the 1970s, Sam Syracuse was the law partner of Jackie Cerone, Jr, and made the papers when a suburban land deal fell through when it came out that the buyers' lawyers (Syracuse and Cerone, Jr) had connections to the mob. In 1984, Syracuse was one of the parties who registered a company called Brookwood Land Ventures in Wood Dale, along with Jack Cerone, Sr, Vince Solano, and Paul Butera (from Cinisi, of the Butera supermarket chain family; as a super-flex, Butera's address was listed as 99 Butera Dr in South Barrington). In later years, Sam Syracuse was well-known for being active in the Italian social institution community in Chicago, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian America Human Relations Foundation of Chicago. Other Board members included Blagojevich-linked former President of Teamsters Local 727 Michael Coli (son of Chicago member Ercole "Eco" Coli and brother of ousted Local 727 Treasurer/Secretary John Coli, Sr, of the 2017 film studio extortion case infamy) and, for some reason, Congressman Danny Davis. Sam Syracuse died in 2020 in Melrose Park.

As noted above, the 1993 FBI IOC report claimed that Jackie Cerone, Jr was a liaison between senior Camorra capo Antonio Spavone and the Chicago outfit. We also know that Acerres' NCO leader Carmine Esposito fled justice in Italy to Chicago in the 1980s, Now we see that Jackie, Jr's law partner Sam Syracuse was married to a woman from Acerra. One more potential piece to the puzzle.

On another note, thanks to Scott B, I am now aware that Sam Syracuse had major ties to the Detroit outfit. Sam Syracuse and Giulia Verone's daughter Loretta Syracuse married Peter Tocco, daughter Aggie Syracuse married Peter Corrado, and daughter Gina Syracuse married Dominic Corrado. Additionally, Giulia's niece Teresa Verone, also Acerres' (her brother Pietro Verone, I believe, owns the Villa Verone restuarants in Elgin and Geneva), married a guy named Jack Tocco (not sure who this guy is, but considering that her cousins married a bunch of Detroit guys, one wonders if this is just coincidence). Given Tony LaPiana, and the apparently close relationship between Jack Tocco and Johnny DiFronzo, we can see that there have been some very strong ties between Chicago and Detroit in modern times.

Since Spavone was mentioned. I saw this. Looks like he is singing at this festival today. This festival use to be in Berwyn but they moved to Niles about 5 years ago. I have only been to it when it was in Berwyn

[cavita]

I've seen Spavone perform, he's pretty good. Vince Amore too, he's out of Rockford

[Patrickgold]

I've seen Spavone perform, he's pretty good. Vince Amore too, he's out of Rockford

I went tonight. He sounded good. He said he grew up in Naples. Definitely going to hit up his restaurant one of these days

[PolackTony]

"Diamond Joe" Esposito, an Acerres' who may have been the head of a Chicago Camorra society himself, was the first known mainland Italian inducted into the Chicago mafia. Fast forward to today, and Solly D and Jimmy I both trace their heritage back to Acerra. As with many other Italian paesi that sent large numbers of people to Chicago in the first wave of Italian immigration in the late 19th through early 20th century, Acerra sent many immigrants to Chicago in the second wave of Italian immigration in the decades following WW2; Chicago's Acerresi remain a notable and active contingent within Chitalia today. While the Società San Cuono e Figlio di Acerra no longer stands, Taylor St remains something like a "spiritual home" for Chicago's Acerresi, both older generations and the newly arrived. Acerra has also long been a major Camorra center. Like the Villabate-Bagheria-Casteldaccia area in Palermo province (also intimately tied to Chicago and its mafia), Acerra forms a hub of an area called "the triangle of death", due to a plague of heavy Camorra activity and attendant violence for decades (as well as the notorious dumping of toxic waste by Camorra clans in this region of Napoli province, leading to high cancer rates).

Another arrival from Acerra, Napoli, to Chicago was Giulia Maria Grazia Verone, who immigrated to Chicago with her family in 1950, when she was 15. In 1955, she married then-law-student Samuel Nathaniel Syracuse in Berwyn. Sam Syracuse was born in 1924 in Falconer, Chautauqua County, NY, to Rosario "Russell" Siragusa of Vallelunga, Caltanisetta, and Loretta Conti, born in Independence, LA, to parents from Vallelunga. The Siragusas lived in nearby Ellicott, NY (Chicago/Buffalo mobster Joe LaBarbera was from Chautauqua County; Gary mobster Angelo Cardinale was also from Vallelunga and had connections to Falconer). Sometime in the 1930s or 40's, Loretta remarried a man named Sam Dispenza and the family relocated to Chicago; in 1950, they were living with Loretta (Sam Dispenza was no longer on the scene, apparently) at Monticello and Huron in the Italian section of Humboldt park, near the area where Jack Cerone and Joe Gagliano were based.

In 1956, Sam Syracuse passed the IL Bar and began practicing law. In 1962, he was named as Jack Cerone's lawyer when the latter was arrested in an auto accident. In 1968, Sam Syracuse represented Jack's wife, Clara Russo, when she was busted with Grace Aloisio (wife of Willie Smokes) for shoplifting at an Oak Park department store by a Pinkerton agent working store security. At that time, the Tribune noted that Syracuse was "a frequent luncheon companion" of Cerone and Tony Accardo. In the 1970s, Sam Syracuse was the law partner of Jackie Cerone, Jr, and made the papers when a suburban land deal fell through when it came out that the buyers' lawyers (Syracuse and Cerone, Jr) had connections to the mob. In 1984, Syracuse was one of the parties who registered a company called Brookwood Land Ventures in Wood Dale, along with Jack Cerone, Sr, Vince Solano, and Paul Butera (from Cinisi, of the Butera supermarket chain family; as a super-flex, Butera's address was listed as 99 Butera Dr in South Barrington). In later years, Sam Syracuse was well-known for being active in the Italian social institution community in Chicago, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian America Human Relations Foundation of Chicago. Other Board members included Blagojevich-linked former President of Teamsters Local 727 Michael Coli (son of Chicago member Ercole "Eco" Coli and brother of ousted Local 727 Treasurer/Secretary John Coli, Sr, of the 2017 film studio extortion case infamy) and, for some reason, Congressman Danny Davis. Sam Syracuse died in 2020 in Melrose Park.

As noted above, the 1993 FBI IOC report claimed that Jackie Cerone, Jr was a liaison between senior Camorra capo Antonio Spavone and the Chicago outfit. We also know that Acerres' NCO leader Carmine Esposito fled justice in Italy to Chicago in the 1980s, Now we see that Jackie, Jr's law partner Sam Syracuse was married to a woman from Acerra. One more potential piece to the puzzle.

On another note, thanks to Scott B, I am now aware that Sam Syracuse had major ties to the Detroit outfit. Sam Syracuse and Giulia Verone's daughter Loretta Syracuse married Peter Tocco, daughter Aggie Syracuse married Peter Corrado, and daughter Gina Syracuse married Dominic Corrado. Additionally, Giulia's niece Teresa Verone, also Acerres' (her brother Pietro Verone, I believe, owns the Villa Verone restuarants in Elgin and Geneva), married a guy named Jack Tocco (not sure who this guy is, but considering that her cousins married a bunch of Detroit guys, one wonders if this is just coincidence). Given Tony LaPiana, and the apparently close relationship between Jack Tocco and Johnny DiFronzo, we can see that there have been some very strong ties between Chicago and Detroit in modern times.

As a follow-up on Sam Syracuse. 1962 meeting between Mooney and Cerone at the Armory Lounge. Cerone wanted to introduce Syracuse to Mooney, apparently with the hopes that Mooney would approve the guy for some political office. Looks like Mooney was wary because of potential red flags in Syracuse's background (seems like maybe the father was connected as well).

Also goes to show the reasoning behind some of these guys changing/Anglicizing their surnames. Dispenza was Syracuse's stepfather's surname; not sure where "Marino" came from.

[B.]

Haven't looked into him, but the Sam DiSpenza (b. 1899) of Elmwood Park who was close to Frank Zito of Springfield brought to mind both this DiSpenza and the old boss Rosario -- especially because "Sam" is a common nickname for Rosario.

[PolackTony]

Haven't looked into him, but the Sam DiSpenza (b. 1899) of Elmwood Park who was close to Frank Zito of Springfield brought to mind both this DiSpenza and the old boss Rosario -- especially because "Sam" is a common nickname for Rosario.

All I can confirm about Sam Syracuse’s stepfather was that he went by Sam R. Dispenza on his 1991 obituary. Can’t find anything else about him, not even a death record. This leads me to suspect that he was another one playing these funny name games.

Sam Syracuse’s mother was Loretta/Lauretta Conti, born in Louisiana to parents from Vallelunga and Valledolmo. As you know, Tony D’Andrea had Dispenza in his family tree, so I’ve been hoping to confirm where Sam Dispenza was from. Loretta Conti was born in 1899, so just based on age and name he could possibly be the guy who was connected to Zito. When Loretta died in 1977, she was living in Elmwood Park, and we know that her son Sam was closely tied to the Cerones.

[PolackTony]

Was watching a collection of old news footage on Sicilian Cosa Nostra-related busts in the US on that YouTube channel Hezakaya News. One of the news programs reporting on the Pizza Connection stuff when it first dropped (unclear what network) had an interesting map breakdown of that operation. They had stage 1 as importing the heroin to “5 small Midwestern towns”, with dots indicating Alfano, Trupiano, Palazzolo, etc. Stage 2 was then moving the heroin to NYC, and stage 3 “redistributing it to other major metropolitan areas”. Stages 1 and 2 are not news, of course, but it’s stage 3 that I’m wondering about. I’m posting the map below. It specifically pinpoints NJ, Philly, Detroit, and Chicago:





As they pinpointed the locations of Alfano, et al, on the first map, I’m thinking that the locations on the third map are not incidental. Whoever put the map together must’ve been told something about which cities were being supplied, so I’m thinking that the Feds probably had intel on who in Chicago was on the receiving end.

Just to confirm, here’s a statement that US Attorney General William French Smith gave to the NYTimes in 1984 when the Pizza Connection indictments dropped:

'The ring distributed heroin in such major urban areas as New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Newark,'' he continued, adding that ''the traffickers laundered tens of millions of dollars in heroin proceeds.''

Clearly Smith was not referring to the importation phase of the process, where Alfano and Trupiano used their IL pizzerias to receive heroin which was then shipped to NYC for repackaging, but rather to the distribution phase which included supplying Chicago with heroin. Shouldn’t be surprising at this point, given what we know about Catalano’s Chicago pipeline in the ‘70s.

[PolackTony]

To post an excerpt again from the FBI's 1993 report on Italian Organized Crime in Illinois. The report cites Italian LE intel identifying a redacted name as head of "Chicago-area 'Ndrangheta operations", with ties to the Stalteri 'ndrina in Ontario and a redacted name in the Albany, NY, area:



While I still have no idea who the men involved in the Chicago 'Ndrangheta, including the redacted figure here, actually were, it turns out that there was a deeper context to the 1993 claim (thanks to Motorfab for bringing this latter info to my attention).

In 1976, Canadian LE managed to flip a Toronto-based member of the Sidernese 'Ndrangheta. Interviews with this informant helped to confirm and flesh out other sources, and documented how the "Siderno group" had established formal locali with "branches" in a number of cities in both Canada and the US, including Chicago, in the years since 1958. As such, Chicago was named as one of the hubs of international activity by the Sidernese 'Ndrangheta, including narcotics, human trafficking, counterfeiting, contract killings, and infiltration of local businesses, stretching from Siderno Marino, Reggio Calabria, to North America and Australia, and including ties to American LCN Families. A 1977 Newsweek article (1977/06/19) discussed the then-current state of intel on the Sidernese mafia. Though "membership" in areas like NYC (Queens, Brooklyn, and Suffolk County) and Miami was estimated in the range of 150 to 250 "members", no further detail was provided on the Sidernese Chicago "branch", apart from its existence:





Excerpts from an interview with the above-noted 1976 informant from the Toronto locale were reproduced in the 1985 book Mob Rule: Inside the Canadian Mafia, by James Dubro (the informant was given the pseudonym "Joe"). Again, no detail is given about Chicago apart from confirming that Chicago had a "cell" of the North American network of the "Italian Honoured Society" (as "Joe" referred to it) answering to Carlo Archino in Siderno Marino. "Joe" also claimed that the locale in Albany was headed by relatives of the Archino family (the surname in Siderno is originally spelled Archinà).



I suspect that the redacted Albany name cited in the 1993 FBI report was one of the Archinos, possibly Frank Archino (though he was arrested in 1977 and apparently admitted his membership in the Albany locale to LE, I'm not sure if he was considered an outright rat) or his brother Joseph Archino, a longtime Albany tavern owner and member of LIUNA Local 190 who died in 2008 (the Archinos had addresses in both Albany and neighboring Altamont, as the redacted name Albany-area name did in the 1993 report). Given the sparse info at hand, it is unclear to me if the Chicago "branch" of the Siderno Group was (is?) its own locale, or an 'ndrina under the Albany or another locale.

Obviously, the Siderno Group and relevant LE investigations will be well-known to those who focus on 'Ndrangheta networks in North America and Australia, but the fact that they also had a Chicago "branch" seems to have largely escaped notice. Hopefully, someone else will be in the position to add some further detail or insight here.