General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[PolackTony]

...in addition, according to one old time Camorra extortion letter, the mainlanders allegedly had many of their members located in Argentina and as I previously said in one of my posts, Tony Mops Volpe was allegedly born in Argentina, and later in 1955 Nick Circella voluntarily went to Argentina, instead of being deported to his native Italy.

Thanks, I'd noticed before that Nicky Dean left to Argentina and thought of some connection via Mops Volpe.

On another note, the connections between the Sicilian Mafia in Chicago and mainland Southerners was longstanding. An example here was the Salvatore Di Giovanni killed in 1901 near Grand and Halsted presumably on orders of then Mafia boss Giuseppe Morici. Given the surname I had assumed that Di Giovanni was Sicilian and likely connected to the well known Di Giovanni clans from Palermo. It seems that he was actually Napolitano though. When he was killed in February of 1901 Di Giovanni was living on Polk near Wells in the South Loop with his wife Vittoria and young children Angelina (born in Maine) and Anthony (born in Cincinnati). After he was killed the young family relocated to the Uptown area on the North Side and Vittoria later died in Evanston in 1957. On her naturalization document Vittoria stated that her maiden name was Pupilella and that she was born in Matrice, Campobasso, Molise and that her deceased husband Salvatore was born in Naples. The info here is further confirmed by a marriage document for a Vittoria Pupilella and Salvatori (sic) Di Giovanni from 1900 in Covington, KY (a suburb of Cincinnati). IIRC from the Tribune after Di Giovanni's death, supposedly he was killed in retaliation for attempting to cut Morici's throat. Di Giovanni could've been a Napolitano working with the Mafia, or he very well could've been part of some Camorra network. The Tribune also stated that he may have been previously residing in St Louis, so perhaps there was a Camorra network across the Midwest during this early period.

[PolackTony]

Damn man, you're the best. Thanks a lot for this info and to tell you the truth, I always thought that the Petittis were Sicilians. It is possible that Esposito wasnt the only made mainlander by the old Mafia in Chicago ate the time...

Also,back in the days I managed to connect many old time Mafiosi with the help of the Ranieri kidnapping case.

Good info on Jerfita and Ive never seen a photo of him so thanks again.

Digging into these things gives us some good insight into the operations of the Mafia in Chicago. And I agree that the Ranieri kidnapping and Jerfita brewery open up a whole set of associations. Rather than just based around the Near North Side, Taylor, and the south suburbs, we see them operating wherever Italians were concentrated in Chicago -- the South Side, the North West Side/Elmwood Park, Melrose Park. They clearly had a lot of manpower, and there were complicated relationships between the Capone-ite and non Capone-ite factions. It's clear also that they had plenty of close connections to non Sicilian Southerners, not only Esposito et al but also likely the Vincis.

The bomb making arrests at Tony Caliendo's farm (I believe in then rural Leyden township just over the line from Melrose Park) also open up an interesting network. It's clear that the Montana Melrose Park gang was an extension of the Taylor St faction or possibly decina, and seems to have been composed primarily of Napuletani. Tony Caliendo was born in Scisciano Napoli, which seems pretty significant given that the Ariola/Ebolis of Melrose Park were also from Scisciano. Who knows of course if any of these Napuletani were already made under Esposito or not. While it's possible this could have been a formal decina with Esposito (and maybe Montana after him) as capodecina, or perhaps it was instead a situation like the later Outfit where a made member functioned as a "Boss" on the streets, with a crew of non inducted "soldiers", whether or not he was formally a capodecina in the Borgata.

Another question is what these guys were making bombs for. Were they Capone or anti Capone partisans? I believe Rocky DeGrazia was already operating in Melrose Park by 1930, and if so what relationship did the Montana boys have with him I wonder.

Theres no question that some of these clans were either under the Mafia or their "associates" the Capone Mob, but theres also a great possibility that some were independent to an extent. For example, if they bought booze from Esposito, Lombardo and Aiello and they were located on the west or north side, than there probably wasnt any problem...or if they were on the South Side and if they bought their booze from Capone, everything was cool, and im talking about the time period before Capone was made.

Your theory on Esposito is quite plausible but we only have Gentile's info that Esposito was a member and thats it. He doesnt mention if he was a capo or anything like that BUT if we follow some of the events we might raise more suspicion. For example, besides Yale's and DAquila's 1928 eliminations in New York, two other quite important hits that occurred in Chcago that same year were the executions of Lombardo and Esposito. That same year Capone was allegedly made, AND WAS INSTANTLY bumped to a capo with a special privilege to make his own people (by that year many of Espositos guys were already killed). We all know that Lolordo took Lombardo's place, and so the question is whether Capone took Esposito's place? If so, next question would be, was Esposito previously a capo or they simply "invented" a new position for Capone only?

Before being made, Capone already had the Loop, Near South Side and whole South. He also had parts of the North/West with the help of the so-called Circus gang aka Capezio/Heeney/Maddox, and also had interests around the West Side with the help of some of Esposito's "soldiers" such as Ricca and Volpe. Lombardo was the boss, Aiello was the number two guy and Esposito was probably their top rep for the west side. Roselli met Capone through Esposito remember?!

So after Esposito's demise, Capone received the keys to the heart of the West Side and became a made guy aka capodecina with Ricca being his closest associate. After that, Joe Montana was seen greeting Capone from few of his arrivals from out of town meaning the Montanas were probably with Capone and previously under Esposito. The Mazzones were allegedly connected to Frank Rio according to Bioff, who in turn said that Ernest Mazzone aka West Side Frankie Pope once drove him and Browne to a meeting with Rio. Almost a year before Rio's natural death, Mazzone was killed. After the murders of Tropea, Esposito and Ferrara, it is possible that Mangano decided to join in that same time and im telling you this since some sources connect Mazzone to Mangano, instead of Rio but besides that both bosses were mainly from the west side.

After learning that the Ernest Mazzone you were looking for was "Westside Frankie Pope", I can pin him down. He was Ernesto Mazzone, older brother of Fred and William Mazzone, born 1896 in Chicago to Matteo Mazzone and Marianaccia Papa of Senerchia, Avellino. The younger Ernie Mazzone working for the Outfit in later decades was likely their cousin of some sort.

As I'm sure you know, Ernest/Frankie Pope and Willie Mazzone were also responsible for running a major narcotics operation in the Taylor St area busted in 1929.

[Villain]

...in addition, according to one old time Camorra extortion letter, the mainlanders allegedly had many of their members located in Argentina and as I previously said in one of my posts, Tony Mops Volpe was allegedly born in Argentina, and later in 1955 Nick Circella voluntarily went to Argentina, instead of being deported to his native Italy.

Thanks, I'd noticed before that Nicky Dean left to Argentina and thought of some connection via Mops Volpe.

On another note, the connections between the Sicilian Mafia in Chicago and mainland Southerners was longstanding. An example here was the Salvatore Di Giovanni killed in 1901 near Grand and Halsted presumably on orders of then Mafia boss Giuseppe Morici. Given the surname I had assumed that Di Giovanni was Sicilian and likely connected to the well known Di Giovanni clans from Palermo. It seems that he was actually Napolitano though. When he was killed in February of 1901 Di Giovanni was living on Polk near Wells in the South Loop with his wife Vittoria and young children Angelina (born in Maine) and Anthony (born in Cincinnati). After he was killed the young family relocated to the Uptown area on the North Side and Vittoria later died in Evanston in 1957. On her naturalization document Vittoria stated that her maiden name was Pupilella and that she was born in Matrice, Campobasso, Molise and that her deceased husband Salvatore was born in Naples. The info here is further confirmed by a marriage document for a Vittoria Pupilella and Salvatori (sic) Di Giovanni from 1900 in Covington, KY (a suburb of Cincinnati). IIRC from the Tribune after Di Giovanni's death, supposedly he was killed in retaliation for attempting to cut Morici's throat. Di Giovanni could've been a Napolitano working with the Mafia, or he very well could've been part of some Camorra network. The Tribune also stated that he may have been previously residing in St Louis, so perhaps there was a Camorra network across the Midwest during this early period.

Thanks for this.

My opinion is that not all Camorra clans at the time were in alliance with each other, since some were in alliance with the Mafia and it is possible that some of the clans who choose to remain independent, created their own networks. Afterall, the Mafia was already organizing itself on national level

[Villain]

After learning that the Ernest Mazzone you were looking for was "Westside Frankie Pope", I can pin him down. He was Ernesto Mazzone, older brother of Fred and William Mazzone, born 1896 in Chicago to Matteo Mazzone and Marianaccia Papa of Senerchia, Avellino. The younger Ernie Mazzone working for the Outfit in later decades was likely their cousin of some sort.

As I'm sure you know, Ernest/Frankie Pope and Willie Mazzone were also responsible for running a major narcotics operation in the Taylor St area busted in 1929.

Thanks again for the additional info. Believe or not, the first time i read about West Side Frankie Pope, i thought i was reading about one of Capones non-Italian fellas lol but later when i started my work on the old time charts, I realized that he was in fact a Mazzone. For example there was one non-Ital and union racketeer John West Side Barry whose family intermarried with the Italians i think (same as Alexs)...although i have to re-check that statement about Barry

All of these old time guys who were heavy users and were involved in the dope trade, are just another evidence regarding Capones unification of all factions in Chicago, meaning if they were loyal and kicked up to him, Capone didnt care much on who they were or what they did to themselves.

I mean one of his chief security guys and constant companion Willie Heeney was a heavy heroin user. One day when detectives raided his hotel room, they thought that they were going to see some huge tough guy according to his murderous legend, but instead they found one quite skinny and small fella with dozens of needle marks on his arms and legs, although they also found numerous guns and one blonde bombshell beside him, followed by dozens of cans filled with opium and brown powder i think. Later or during the mid 40s, Heeney was one of the key figures in the huge national corruption regarding the early release of the Chicago bosses.

[Villain]

Another interesting thing to note is that one document which I previously posted together with the rest of the Circella files, in which we can see that by 1963 Nick Circella was organizing gambling in Mexico for the Outfit with the help of Ricca, Accardo and Giancana, and other files also say that many high level Chicago bosses began to invest in Circella's gambling ops in Mexico at the time. Later theres another story like when Giancana was released from prison and fled to Mexico, Circella wasnt allegedly quite happy about it since Giancana took over his ops and became the head of almost all international Outfit-connected schemes, including narcotics shipments.

You see, during those days Circella also had a legitimate operation in Mexico by controlling a large shrimp boat business along the Pacific Coast and his boats were often overloaded and barely seaworthy, hidden from the watchful radar of the US patrols, although sometimes the boats didn’t even have to hide in the night since Circella was already legally exporting shrimps into the U.S., meaning the night shifts were usually for moving narcotics by sea off the San Diego coast, directly to California.

[Villain]

Some info on John Torrio from the 1900's and 1910's, including regarding guys like Jim Colosimo, Robert Vanella and many more...it is interesting to note the New York and national connections the Colosimo/Torrio Mob had at the time...

Im not sure if the first one is regarding John Torrio because he allegedly arrived in Chicago sometime around the mid or late 1900's, but still i thought about posting it since most of the last names were quite known on the south side even decades later...from 1903...



From 1909...




From 1911...



The year of 1912...






The year of 1913...



Next, the year of 1914...
























The year of 1916...




And the last ones are regarding the year of 1917...

[funkster]

Ernie Severino, who testified at the Family Secrets trial about Butch Petrocelli, has said his grandfather was made...not sure i've ever seen him give a name but i have seen that he claimed he was from Taylor Street and used a social club out there as his HQ. Anyone know who he's talking about?

[Snakes]

Ernie Severino, who testified at the Family Secrets trial about Butch Petrocelli, has said his grandfather was made...not sure i've ever seen him give a name but i have seen that he claimed he was from Taylor Street and used a social club out there as his HQ. Anyone know who he's talking about?

Probably Angelo Severino

[PolackTony]

Ernie Severino, who testified at the Family Secrets trial about Butch Petrocelli, has said his grandfather was made...not sure i've ever seen him give a name but i have seen that he claimed he was from Taylor Street and used a social club out there as his HQ. Anyone know who he's talking about?

Probably Angelo Severino

If it was his grandfather, then I don't think it was Angie Severino as I believe that Ernie Severino is his nephew. Ernie should be Ernest Severino, Jr, son of Ernest Alexander Severino, born 1912 in Chicago. Ernest Sr (once commissioner of the Rosemont PD and IL State patrolman) was the youngest of seven brothers (including Michael Angelo "Angie" Severino) born to Francesco "Frank" Severino (born about 1865 in Palermo) and Concetta Gargaro (born about 1879 in Napoli). The family lived by Taylor and Oakley. If Ernie was right that his grandfather was made, then that is very interesting as it's possible that he was already inducted under the old Mafia. Frank Severino died in 1934, but had been involved in the large bootlegging operations in Melrose Park with his son Angie (and Frank was listed in 1918 as already running a liquor business before Prohibition):

Capture.PNG

Photo of Frank Severino:

Capture1.PNG

[PolackTony]

The above article was off on Angelo Severino's age, this was from 1928 and Angelo was born 1906.

[PolackTony]

Some info on John Torrio from the 1900's and 1910's, including regarding guys like Jim Colosimo, Robert Vanella and many more...it is interesting to note the New York and national connections the Colosimo/Torrio Mob had at the time...

Im not sure if the first one is regarding John Torrio because he allegedly arrived in Chicago sometime around the mid or late 1900's, but still i thought about posting it since most of the last names were quite known on the south side even decades later...from 1903...

Very interesting info, thanks. Colosimo and Torrio I think were likely plugged into something bigger than just their vice ring in the old Levee. While it's speculation on my part, my belief is that Colosimo (perhaps through his wife's family) was connected to some Camorra-type ring of Calabrian and Neapolitan gangsters stretching from NYC to Chicago and beyond. A big question is still exactly how Colosimo brought Torrio and Vanella to Chicago in the first place, which hints at some such network I think. We know that TOrrio being a blood relation to either Colosimo or Moresco is bunk, but it may be very possible that Torrio was connected to them in some way via his Calabrian stepfather, or some other connection via mainlander Italian OC at the time.

[Villain]

Ernie Severino, who testified at the Family Secrets trial about Butch Petrocelli, has said his grandfather was made...not sure i've ever seen him give a name but i have seen that he claimed he was from Taylor Street and used a social club out there as his HQ. Anyone know who he's talking about?

Probably Angelo Severino

If it was his grandfather, then I don't think it was Angie Severino as I believe that Ernie Severino is his nephew. Ernie should be Ernest Severino, Jr, son of Ernest Alexander Severino, born 1912 in Chicago. Ernest Sr (once commissioner of the Rosemont PD and IL State patrolman) was the youngest of seven brothers (including Michael Angelo "Angie" Severino) born to Francesco "Frank" Severino (born about 1865 in Palermo) and Concetta Gargaro (born about 1879 in Napoli). The family lived by Taylor and Oakley. If Ernie was right that his grandfather was made, then that is very interesting as it's possible that he was already inducted under the old Mafia. Frank Severino died in 1934, but had been involved in the large bootlegging operations in Melrose Park with his son Angie (and Frank was listed in 1918 as already running a liquor business before Prohibition):

Capture.PNG

Photo of Frank Severino:
Capture1.PNG

In my old charts I have one Frank Severino from the late 40s and early 50s that I placed under the EP crew...

[Villain]

Some info on John Torrio from the 1900's and 1910's, including regarding guys like Jim Colosimo, Robert Vanella and many more...it is interesting to note the New York and national connections the Colosimo/Torrio Mob had at the time...

Im not sure if the first one is regarding John Torrio because he allegedly arrived in Chicago sometime around the mid or late 1900's, but still i thought about posting it since most of the last names were quite known on the south side even decades later...from 1903...

Very interesting info, thanks. Colosimo and Torrio I think were likely plugged into something bigger than just their vice ring in the old Levee. While it's speculation on my part, my belief is that Colosimo (perhaps through his wife's family) was connected to some Camorra-type ring of Calabrian and Neapolitan gangsters stretching from NYC to Chicago and beyond. A big question is still exactly how Colosimo brought Torrio and Vanella to Chicago in the first place, which hints at some such network I think. We know that TOrrio being a blood relation to either Colosimo or Moresco is bunk, but it may be very possible that Torrio was connected to them in some way via his Calabrian stepfather, or some other connection via mainlander Italian OC at the time.

Maybe we are looking in the wrong directions...maybe Vanella or Tony Ricci or maybe some of their relatives or associates were Colosimo's connection to New York. Although as I already said in one of my previous posts, it seems that before he met Victoria Moresco, Colosimo only extorted all saloons and brothels for the Kenna/Coughlin alliance but after their marriage, Colosimo started to bring girls all the way from New York and became one of the top guys in Chicago regarding the prostitution racket. Colosimo married Victoria in 1902 or 1903 and by 1905 Big Jim and Victoria founded their first big establishment, the Colosimo Billiard and Pool Room and Victorias brothers ran the place. One or two years later, we have guys like Vanella coming to Chicago as Colosimo's enforcers...i think Vanella came to Chicago before Torrio but Im not quite sure about that (I think Vanella killed a man in Chicago in 1907). In those days, these guys had a lot of women involved in the business like that Helen Torrio or Colosimos wife, just like in today's Camorra

[PolackTony]

Ernie Severino, who testified at the Family Secrets trial about Butch Petrocelli, has said his grandfather was made...not sure i've ever seen him give a name but i have seen that he claimed he was from Taylor Street and used a social club out there as his HQ. Anyone know who he's talking about?

Probably Angelo Severino

If it was his grandfather, then I don't think it was Angie Severino as I believe that Ernie Severino is his nephew. Ernie should be Ernest Severino, Jr, son of Ernest Alexander Severino, born 1912 in Chicago. Ernest Sr (once commissioner of the Rosemont PD and IL State patrolman) was the youngest of seven brothers (including Michael Angelo "Angie" Severino) born to Francesco "Frank" Severino (born about 1865 in Palermo) and Concetta Gargaro (born about 1879 in Napoli). The family lived by Taylor and Oakley. If Ernie was right that his grandfather was made, then that is very interesting as it's possible that he was already inducted under the old Mafia. Frank Severino died in 1934, but had been involved in the large bootlegging operations in Melrose Park with his son Angie (and Frank was listed in 1918 as already running a liquor business before Prohibition):

Capture.PNG

Photo of Frank Severino:
Capture1.PNG

In my old charts I have one Frank Severino from the late 40s and early 50s that I placed under the EP crew...

Yes, thats the Frank Severino who was among those busted for the cigarette tax stamp thing in 1951. He was a different Frank Severino of course, and I'm not sure whether they were related or how.

[Villain]

Ernie Severino, who testified at the Family Secrets trial about Butch Petrocelli, has said his grandfather was made...not sure i've ever seen him give a name but i have seen that he claimed he was from Taylor Street and used a social club out there as his HQ. Anyone know who he's talking about?

Probably Angelo Severino

If it was his grandfather, then I don't think it was Angie Severino as I believe that Ernie Severino is his nephew. Ernie should be Ernest Severino, Jr, son of Ernest Alexander Severino, born 1912 in Chicago. Ernest Sr (once commissioner of the Rosemont PD and IL State patrolman) was the youngest of seven brothers (including Michael Angelo "Angie" Severino) born to Francesco "Frank" Severino (born about 1865 in Palermo) and Concetta Gargaro (born about 1879 in Napoli). The family lived by Taylor and Oakley. If Ernie was right that his grandfather was made, then that is very interesting as it's possible that he was already inducted under the old Mafia. Frank Severino died in 1934, but had been involved in the large bootlegging operations in Melrose Park with his son Angie (and Frank was listed in 1918 as already running a liquor business before Prohibition):

Capture.PNG

Photo of Frank Severino:
Capture1.PNG

In my old charts I have one Frank Severino from the late 40s and early 50s that I placed under the EP crew...

Yes, thats the Frank Severino who was among those busted for the cigarette tax stamp thing in 1951. He was a different Frank Severino of course, and I'm not sure whether they were related or how.

Yup and that was the start of Accardos "downfall" as boss of the Outfit