John Gotti in northern Illinois?

[Villain]

@Snakes do you have any additional info on whether Galante really visited Chicago for the second time after his release from prison in 1974? According to one Chicago Tribune article, Galante arranged two meetings, one in Chicago and one in Florida, with the Outfit’s top leadership. I stated for the second time, since back in 1958, while being on the lam, Galante visited Chicago for the first time and first went to Calumet City, an area which was under the control of the Chicago Heights faction at the time, and after that Galante went to Cicero for another meeting and later went straight back to the east coast. It also seems that Galante visited Chicago every time when some of the Outfit's members or associates were being shot down or exiled after their problems with the law regarding narcotics

I'd have to go back and check for specifics but I am positive that there was intelligence indicating that Cerone was interested in the drug business. How accurate this information was is hard to gather because of redaction. I don't remember Galante being mentioned specifically by name but again, I'll have to check.

Also, I'm losing a ton of info because my hard drive crashed. The CDs that I used as backup (mostly CDs that the FBI initially granted my requests on) are of poor quality and constantly becoming inaccessible. So I am losing a wealth of old information that I'll have to either (a) do deep recovery on, as in running programs that can deep scan the disc (or the hard drive) and retrieve files or (b) request the files again, which is extremely demoralizing to consider.

Yeah i know how that feels since once ive lost half of my old collection and also some work which has never been finished, including documentaries which are no longer available on youtube or anywhere else and also many mob movies. I had it all on one wd external hard disk but one day the damn thing decided to burn some of its own parts lol i dunno it was some electrical problem since the whole room smelled like burned plastic and later it was determined that there was no way to get anything out of it

Regarding the alleged meeting with Galante, i forgot to mention that the Outfits reps were Accardo and Cerone. To tell you the truth im first time hearing regarding Cerones alleged support of the dope biz since i think ive seen some convos in which he referred to it as "junk" or the "hot stuff" but anything is possible and afterall his crew member DiFronzo did not kill his own brother when he got caught with all that weed...just sayin since in the old days was different

[Snakes]

@Snakes do you have any additional info on whether Galante really visited Chicago for the second time after his release from prison in 1974? According to one Chicago Tribune article, Galante arranged two meetings, one in Chicago and one in Florida, with the Outfit’s top leadership. I stated for the second time, since back in 1958, while being on the lam, Galante visited Chicago for the first time and first went to Calumet City, an area which was under the control of the Chicago Heights faction at the time, and after that Galante went to Cicero for another meeting and later went straight back to the east coast. It also seems that Galante visited Chicago every time when some of the Outfit's members or associates were being shot down or exiled after their problems with the law regarding narcotics

I'd have to go back and check for specifics but I am positive that there was intelligence indicating that Cerone was interested in the drug business. How accurate this information was is hard to gather because of redaction. I don't remember Galante being mentioned specifically by name but again, I'll have to check.

Also, I'm losing a ton of info because my hard drive crashed. The CDs that I used as backup (mostly CDs that the FBI initially granted my requests on) are of poor quality and constantly becoming inaccessible. So I am losing a wealth of old information that I'll have to either (a) do deep recovery on, as in running programs that can deep scan the disc (or the hard drive) and retrieve files or (b) request the files again, which is extremely demoralizing to consider.

Yeah i know how that feels since once ive lost half of my old collection and also some work which has never been finished, including documentaries which are no longer available on youtube or anywhere else and also many mob movies. I had it all on one wd external hard disk but one day the damn thing decided to burn some of its own parts lol i dunno it was some electrical problem since the whole room smelled like burned plastic and later it was determined that there was no way to get anything out of it

Regarding the alleged meeting with Galante, i forgot to mention that the Outfits reps were Accardo and Cerone. To tell you the truth im first time hearing regarding Cerones alleged support of the dope biz since i think ive seen some convos in which he referred to it as "junk" or the "hot stuff" but anything is possible and afterall his crew member DiFronzo did not kill his own brother when he got caught with all that weed...just sayin since in the old days was different

Granted, this was from an unnamed informant so it's difficult to gauge the veracity of the intelligence, especially considering Cerone tried to stay under the radar for the first year or two after he was released from prison.

[stubbs]

It makes sense that a family not in a major city would be more heavily involved in drugs considering there isnt millions and millions of dollars flowing around for them to try and grab a piece of. How the LA family didnt turn out like Montreal will always be a mystery to me.

I’m surprised New Orleans didnt end up with a bunch of zips running cocaine and heroin through the port. New Orleans always seemed like the perfect mixture of corrupt city with a tolerance for lawlessness, plus it’s a perfect location to be another Miami for importing of cocaine from Latin America, then up north.

[cavita]

A little more on this-

In 1986 Joe Ocello was the owner of the Sicilian Restaurant Pizzeria II at 5506 Clayton Circle in Roscoe, Illinois and according to Rockford LCN underboss Frank Buscemi’s FBI files, the FBI was investigating this business as well as many others for their role in Rockford LCN narcotics distribution. On December 17, 1986 an undercover FBI informant bought just under two ounces of cocaine from Ocello, however he wasn’t charged with it until December 1, 1988 because according to Jan Wilhelm, head of the Rockford FBI office, “it was necessary to coordinate the arrest of Ocello with the international case,” which was the Iron Tower case. This case saw the arrest of 68 people in the U.S. and 133 in Italy including Giuseppe Gambino, nephew of Carlo. Ocello was born in Burgio, Sicily which is just north of Ribera and he came from Sicily in 1972 with his family and was most likely one of about 20 families that underboss Frank Buscemi sponsored into the U.S. In April 1989 it appeared that Ocello sold his restaurant to Maria Grisanzio, Salvatore Ocello and Giuseppa Ocello.

The FBI pulled many hours of surveillance on many Rockford area businesses throughout the 1980s and 1990s including but not limited to:

Sam’s Pizza, 2134 Charles St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by brothers Salvatore and Alfonso DiGiacomo)
Sam’s Pizza 130 N. Blackhawk Rd., Rockton, Illinois (owned by Alfonso DiGiacomo)
Sam’s Pizza 1031 Harlem Rd., Machesney Park, Illinois (owned by the DiGiacomo brothers and Mike Galluzzo.)
Sam’s Pizza 138 N. State St., Belvidere, Illinois (owned by the Alfano family)
Pino’s Pizza 2216 N. Main St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Antonino Pipitone)
Perrecone’s Pino’s Pizza 5851 Forest Hills Rd., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Paul and Marie Perrecone)
Villa Di Roma 1620 Harrison Ave., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Antonio Buscemi)
Villa Di Roma 3457 Merchandise Dr., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Antonio Buscemi)
John’s Pizza 2914 11th St., Rockford, Illinois, (owned by Giovanni F. Frisella)
Vince’s Pizza 1112 Madison Rd., Beloit, Wisconsin (owned by the Gabriele family)
Domenico Pizza 534 E. Grand Ave., Beloit, Wisconsin (owned by the Gabriele family)
Sam’s Pizza 1313 Milton Ave., Janesville, Wisconsin (unknown owner)
De Ja Oo Club 1600 S. Bell School Rd., Cherry Valley, Illinois (owned by Salvatore “Sam” Galluzzo)
Bino’s Restaurant 6935 11th St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Alberto “Bino” Seminerio)
Ross’ Restaurant 807-809 E. State St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Phil DiGiovanni)
The Pizza Joint Restaurant 2815 11th St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Bill Spears)

Now this last one, the Pizza Joint Restaurant was under heavy FBI surveillance as it was described by the FBI in the 1990s as a “known hangout for the Rockford LCN.” The owner, Bill Spears also owned Jackson Auto Sales which was under FBI surveillance as well. Spears and his wife were arrested in May 1985 on charges of possession and intent to deliver marijuana and cocaine. Police confiscated over $7,000 in cash, four to five pounds of marijuana and 30 grams of cocaine from their home at 2413 Alton Street. On April 1, 1992, Spears was arrested once again when he was found with one pound of cocaine strapped to his ankle. According to the Rockford Register Star he was considered a major drug dealer in the area and his arrest was the largest one-person drug bust in Winnebago County history according to Winnebago County State’s Attorney Paul Logli. Narcotics officers also seized a safe from Spears which contained seven kilograms of cocaine which was about 15.5 pounds. That and the cocaine strapped to his ankle made the total retail value about $2 million. It is my feeling it is most likely that Spears was involved in the Rockford mob’s narcotics distribution given that he was the owner of two businesses under FBI surveillance regarding the local syndicate.

A very interesting tie-in with Spears and Jackson Auto Sales also occurred about this time. On March 12, 1991 twenty-seven people 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 into the Rockford area over the next five years. Mauerman was friends in Florida with 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.

[Snakes]

Cool info; thanks, Cavita.

[CabriniGreen]

@cavita
Great stuff, my man. Great read...keep me coming....

@Stubbs

I've thought the same about NO, I actually used to think he was in league with Trafficante in the dope biz, but I never could really find a lot to substantiate it....

[Villain]

@Snakes do you have any additional info on whether Galante really visited Chicago for the second time after his release from prison in 1974? According to one Chicago Tribune article, Galante arranged two meetings, one in Chicago and one in Florida, with the Outfit’s top leadership. I stated for the second time, since back in 1958, while being on the lam, Galante visited Chicago for the first time and first went to Calumet City, an area which was under the control of the Chicago Heights faction at the time, and after that Galante went to Cicero for another meeting and later went straight back to the east coast. It also seems that Galante visited Chicago every time when some of the Outfit's members or associates were being shot down or exiled after their problems with the law regarding narcotics

I'd have to go back and check for specifics but I am positive that there was intelligence indicating that Cerone was interested in the drug business. How accurate this information was is hard to gather because of redaction. I don't remember Galante being mentioned specifically by name but again, I'll have to check.

Also, I'm losing a ton of info because my hard drive crashed. The CDs that I used as backup (mostly CDs that the FBI initially granted my requests on) are of poor quality and constantly becoming inaccessible. So I am losing a wealth of old information that I'll have to either (a) do deep recovery on, as in running programs that can deep scan the disc (or the hard drive) and retrieve files or (b) request the files again, which is extremely demoralizing to consider.

Yeah i know how that feels since once ive lost half of my old collection and also some work which has never been finished, including documentaries which are no longer available on youtube or anywhere else and also many mob movies. I had it all on one wd external hard disk but one day the damn thing decided to burn some of its own parts lol i dunno it was some electrical problem since the whole room smelled like burned plastic and later it was determined that there was no way to get anything out of it

Regarding the alleged meeting with Galante, i forgot to mention that the Outfits reps were Accardo and Cerone. To tell you the truth im first time hearing regarding Cerones alleged support of the dope biz since i think ive seen some convos in which he referred to it as "junk" or the "hot stuff" but anything is possible and afterall his crew member DiFronzo did not kill his own brother when he got caught with all that weed...just sayin since in the old days was different

Granted, this was from an unnamed informant so it's difficult to gauge the veracity of the intelligence, especially considering Cerone tried to stay under the radar for the first year or two after he was released from prison.

I agree. The year of 1974 is very interesting regarding Cerones activities, like for example he was allegedly not satisfied with the Seifret hit and that he was against it but was ruled out. He was also allegedly not pleased with Spilotro being in Vegas and also one time he had a meeting with both Spilotro and Giancana

[Villain]

A little more on this-

In 1986 Joe Ocello was the owner of the Sicilian Restaurant Pizzeria II at 5506 Clayton Circle in Roscoe, Illinois and according to Rockford LCN underboss Frank Buscemi’s FBI files, the FBI was investigating this business as well as many others for their role in Rockford LCN narcotics distribution. On December 17, 1986 an undercover FBI informant bought just under two ounces of cocaine from Ocello, however he wasn’t charged with it until December 1, 1988 because according to Jan Wilhelm, head of the Rockford FBI office, “it was necessary to coordinate the arrest of Ocello with the international case,” which was the Iron Tower case. This case saw the arrest of 68 people in the U.S. and 133 in Italy including Giuseppe Gambino, nephew of Carlo. Ocello was born in Burgio, Sicily which is just north of Ribera and he came from Sicily in 1972 with his family and was most likely one of about 20 families that underboss Frank Buscemi sponsored into the U.S. In April 1989 it appeared that Ocello sold his restaurant to Maria Grisanzio, Salvatore Ocello and Giuseppa Ocello.

The FBI pulled many hours of surveillance on many Rockford area businesses throughout the 1980s and 1990s including but not limited to:

Sam’s Pizza, 2134 Charles St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by brothers Salvatore and Alfonso DiGiacomo)
Sam’s Pizza 130 N. Blackhawk Rd., Rockton, Illinois (owned by Alfonso DiGiacomo)
Sam’s Pizza 1031 Harlem Rd., Machesney Park, Illinois (owned by the DiGiacomo brothers and Mike Galluzzo.)
Sam’s Pizza 138 N. State St., Belvidere, Illinois (owned by the Alfano family)
Pino’s Pizza 2216 N. Main St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Antonino Pipitone)
Perrecone’s Pino’s Pizza 5851 Forest Hills Rd., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Paul and Marie Perrecone)
Villa Di Roma 1620 Harrison Ave., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Antonio Buscemi)
Villa Di Roma 3457 Merchandise Dr., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Antonio Buscemi)
John’s Pizza 2914 11th St., Rockford, Illinois, (owned by Giovanni F. Frisella)
Vince’s Pizza 1112 Madison Rd., Beloit, Wisconsin (owned by the Gabriele family)
Domenico Pizza 534 E. Grand Ave., Beloit, Wisconsin (owned by the Gabriele family)
Sam’s Pizza 1313 Milton Ave., Janesville, Wisconsin (unknown owner)
De Ja Oo Club 1600 S. Bell School Rd., Cherry Valley, Illinois (owned by Salvatore “Sam” Galluzzo)
Bino’s Restaurant 6935 11th St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Alberto “Bino” Seminerio)
Ross’ Restaurant 807-809 E. State St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Phil DiGiovanni)
The Pizza Joint Restaurant 2815 11th St., Rockford, Illinois (owned by Bill Spears)

Now this last one, the Pizza Joint Restaurant was under heavy FBI surveillance as it was described by the FBI in the 1990s as a “known hangout for the Rockford LCN.” The owner, Bill Spears also owned Jackson Auto Sales which was under FBI surveillance as well. Spears and his wife were arrested in May 1985 on charges of possession and intent to deliver marijuana and cocaine. Police confiscated over $7,000 in cash, four to five pounds of marijuana and 30 grams of cocaine from their home at 2413 Alton Street. On April 1, 1992, Spears was arrested once again when he was found with one pound of cocaine strapped to his ankle. According to the Rockford Register Star he was considered a major drug dealer in the area and his arrest was the largest one-person drug bust in Winnebago County history according to Winnebago County State’s Attorney Paul Logli. Narcotics officers also seized a safe from Spears which contained seven kilograms of cocaine which was about 15.5 pounds. That and the cocaine strapped to his ankle made the total retail value about $2 million. It is my feeling it is most likely that Spears was involved in the Rockford mob’s narcotics distribution given that he was the owner of two businesses under FBI surveillance regarding the local syndicate.

A very interesting tie-in with Spears and Jackson Auto Sales also occurred about this time. On March 12, 1991 twenty-seven people 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 into the Rockford area over the next five years. Mauerman was friends in Florida with 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.

Here are some additional pizza parlors which were distributing drugs for the Outfit during different time periods in Chicago and some in Indiana...

In 1956, two Outfit associates John Dispensa and Sam Seritella owned a pizzeria in Evergreen Park, known as "Connie's Pizza Pie" from where they controlled a vast narcotics network. Back in the old days Serritella worked as a runner for one old time Outfit member and dope peddler known as Leonard Calamia who in turn belonged to the North Side crew. Their close associate was Morris Rosenguard who was a pharmacist and operated a drug store at 3037 Wentworth av. on Chicago’s South Side, which in fact was the gang’s main outlet for selling narcotics. In June, 1958, narcotics agents managed to arrest one of Dispensa’s runners, while selling narcotics to an undercover agent. The unlucky soul was James Chiaro, who in turn wore a wire and so in February, 1960, Dispensa was sentenced to 12 years, while Rosenguard received 5 years in jail.

During the late 1950’s and early 60s, two Outfit associates Gus Deveno and Sam Lamargo operated a pizza restaurant at 3215 Harrison St. According to the FBN these two fellas allegedly worked another Outfit associate who went by the name of Frank DeMarie who in turn was closely connected to Outfit member Joe Mendino. In March, 1961, Deveno together with Lamargo managed to sell heroin to an undercover agent. In fact, in just two months the boys made six sales of narcotics to the federal agent, and each sale was valued at $2,000, which is a total of $12,000. According to government reports, Deveno’s pizzeria handled $500,000 a year dope distribution for Chicago’s crime syndicate. In April, both defendants were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 1964, Outfit associate Paul Miccolis (Jr) opened up the so-called Pepper Pot Pizza Carry Out Inc. with two restaurants, one on 9628 Indianapolis Blvd. in Hammond and another one on 6225 Melton Road in Gary, Indiana. Miccolis did this on the orders of Outfit member Frank Zizzo who back in 1963 was imprisoned to 5 years but was released in 1966. Many agents at the time reported that these establishments were mostly used for gambling activities, but sometimes they were also allegedly used as transportation points for narcotics.

By the early 1970’s Outfit hoodlum Salvatore “Sammy C” Canzoneri owned the Pizza Crisp International and Panhandle Pizza Inc in Calumet City and Cicero. He is not labeled as member but instead he is described as being very close to the hoodlum element in Chicago and the Outfit. Back during the mid 1960s Canzoneri was a officer of Chicago’s Police Department, magazine publisher and close friend of Giancana. Canzoneri was also closely associated with Sheldon Teller, another corrupt police officer who was involved in high level dope peddling operations. Back in those days, both Teller and Canzoneri owned a joint known as the Rivoli Club which in fact was a rock and roll spot on the city’s North Side. In fact, Canzoneri managed to loose his job as a cop when he was identified as half-owner of the infamous joint which was connected to large scales of narcotics and prostitution operations. After the imprisonment of his partner in crime, Canzoneri’s new associate became Dominic Santarelli, another wealthy builder-developer and also dope dealer, who spent considerable time in Miami, Florida; together with Canzoneri. In 1973 there are numerous reports of airplane flights between Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and New York’s LaGuardia or Miami, Florida, of both Canzoneri and one Outfit associate Irving Weiner and there are also alleged reports of meetings with “unknown individuals” closely connected to the Bonanno crime family, which I personally believe were Sicilian dope smugglers. After that the main connection between the Sicilians and the Outfit in the Florida area was one of Galante’s close associates known as Tito Carinci, who in turn was a Miami-based mobster.

During the mid 1980’s Dante Autullo Jr. owned a $400,000 pizzeria shop south of Orland Park known as 31st Street Pizza Restaurant, where the drugs were imported, and he also owned a $600,000 nightclub known as Rush's 21st Century Lounge from where the product was distributed. His crew operated mainly around the Orland Park and Joliet areas. His prime runners were John Cappas and Salvatore Dattulo, with Cappas being the main connection to the Outfit. At the beginning of 1988, the feds managed to build a case against the crew and so they arrested every possible member, including a Senator’s son. On top of that, the government seized over two million dollars in property of some of the defendants and in the end, Cappas and Autullo and 11 other crew members were charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs, a crime which at the time carried maximum penalty of life in prison. The prosecutors successfully convinced the jury against the defendants and upon the conviction, Cappas also faced 20 million dollar fine and as for Autullo, he received 10 million in fine.

[cavita]

Yes! Nice info, as I have always wondered how the Outfit distributed their drugs. I wondered the same with Rockford- once the narcotics were brought to these pizzerias/businesses, how did they ultimately end up at the street level and I recall something that was told to me by an investigative journalist from Rockford and that was that there were certain businesses in Rockford during the 1980s that were “hands off” by local law enforcement to allow them to distribute the narcotics. Apparently, the narcotics were brought in by the Rockford LCN and they then distributed the drugs to the Conservative Vice Lords gang. A member of the Vice Lords and an unnamed man from Antigua were paying protection money to a contact from law enforcement. For some reason the protection payments stopped so law enforcement had the guy from Antigua deported, their drug stash was confiscated and redistributed to a rival gang, most likely the Gangster Disciples, and they then started paying the protection money. Now, this was all told to the journalist by the member of the Vice Lords after he had left the gang.

[Villain]

Yes! Nice info, as I have always wondered how the Outfit distributed their drugs. I wondered the same with Rockford- once the narcotics were brought to these pizzerias/businesses, how did they ultimately end up at the street level and I recall something that was told to me by an investigative journalist from Rockford and that was that there were certain businesses in Rockford during the 1980s that were “hands off” by local law enforcement to allow them to distribute the narcotics. Apparently, the narcotics were brought in by the Rockford LCN and they then distributed the drugs to the Conservative Vice Lords gang. A member of the Vice Lords and an unnamed man from Antigua were paying protection money to a contact from law enforcement. For some reason the protection payments stopped so law enforcement had the guy from Antigua deported, their drug stash was confiscated and redistributed to a rival gang, most likely the Gangster Disciples, and they then started paying the protection money. Now, this was all told to the journalist by the member of the Vice Lords after he had left the gang.

Yes I agree since the Outfit used almost everyone for the distribution, from police officers and "legit" businessmen to members from different gangs or groups. For example, during the 50's and 60s they used a lot of black gangsters such as Nolan Mack and James Williams who in turn controlled their own crews and illegal operations which were separate from the Outfit's but still they kicked up a big percentage to the Mob from the drug sales. For example, Mack was close to Frank Caruso and Amrico DePietto, while Williams was with Ken Eto and Ross Prio. Also Dante Autullo Jr. was independent drug dealer but the thing was that his close associate Cappas was connected to Chris Messino who probably through his own connections invested Outfit money in the deals. Also the Chicago Heights crew used their close connections among the chop shop owners, like for example one of those lucrative connections was guy known as Ora Curry, who in fact was the “top general” for the south suburban chop shop racket, which was mostly under the auspices of Al Tocco at the time. But this wasnt always the case since made guys like DePietto were sometimes directly involved and ended up in jail. Also on November 18, 1993, Chris, Clement, Chris Jr., Paul and Blaise Messino were sentenced to jail for the conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Im not sure and maybe Snakes can help me on whether Chris Messino was a made member but I think he belonged to the Chicago Heights crew, besides having old blood relations in the Elmwood Park group

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

It makes sense that a family not in a major city would be more heavily involved in drugs considering there isnt millions and millions of dollars flowing around for them to try and grab a piece of. How the LA family didnt turn out like Montreal will always be a mystery to me.

I’m surprised New Orleans didnt end up with a bunch of zips running cocaine and heroin through the port. New Orleans always seemed like the perfect mixture of corrupt city with a tolerance for lawlessness, plus it’s a perfect location to be another Miami for importing of cocaine from Latin America, then up north.

New Orleans was a perfect port to import drugs. Carlos Marcello and his fellow southern friends/bosses Santos Trafficante (Tampa) and Joe Civello (Dallas) were big time dope importers. Marcello got busted early in his 'career' with a large amount of pot. Don't know about any zips involved in
NOLA, I suspect Carlos did not need their help.

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

Narcotics officers also seized a safe from Spears which contained seven kilograms of cocaine which was about 15.5 pounds. That and the cocaine strapped to his ankle made the total retail value about $2 million.

That makes each kilo of coke worth $285,714.29.
Pahleeze.

[Snakes]

Chris Messino wasn't made, as far as I know.

[cavita]

Narcotics officers also seized a safe from Spears which contained seven kilograms of cocaine which was about 15.5 pounds. That and the cocaine strapped to his ankle made the total retail value about $2 million.

That makes each kilo of coke worth $285,714.29.
Pahleeze.

[electricslim]

It's pretty common for Law Enforcement to grossly overstate the street value of their bust.