General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[Villain]

I think Ferriola's group eventually grew to where he was elevated to a captain's status because Scarpelli describes him as such in 1989. I think Tocco feared him because he had a large crew with a lot of killers and was perhaps someone responsible for handling murders at that time.

Well if he was responsible for handling murders then there were two main hit squads at the time, Ciceros Wild Bunch and Chinatowns 26th Crew....

[PolackTony]

I think Ferriola's group eventually grew to where he was elevated to a captain's status because Scarpelli describes him as such in 1989. I think Tocco feared him because he had a large crew with a lot of killers and was perhaps someone responsible for handling murders at that time.

Well if he was responsible for handling murders then there were two main hit squads at the time, Ciceros Wild Bunch and Chinatowns 26th Crew....

That's my understanding. And of course at times they even worked together, as in the Billy Dauber hit.

Ferriola remains a bit of an enigma I think. Not only was he not the boss as many believed for years, he may have never even been a capo. I think that it's possible that he remained a high ranking "soldier" direct to the admin who was tasked with overseeing the Wild Bunch squad, but technically was never a capo as he was never placed in command of one of the street crews. So in this, a bit like Pat Marcy where some of these guys were put in charge of sensitive operations and thus were of considerable importance to the organization but were not working under one of the street crew capos.

Snakes, do recall the verbatim statement that Scarpelli gave for Ferriola's rank or role? Did he describe him as a "capo", a "Boss", or was it more of a description of his status?

[Villain]

I think Ferriola's group eventually grew to where he was elevated to a captain's status because Scarpelli describes him as such in 1989. I think Tocco feared him because he had a large crew with a lot of killers and was perhaps someone responsible for handling murders at that time.

Well if he was responsible for handling murders then there were two main hit squads at the time, Ciceros Wild Bunch and Chinatowns 26th Crew....

That's my understanding. And of course at times they even worked together, as in the Billy Dauber hit.

Ferriola remains a bit of an enigma I think. Not only was he not the boss as many believed for years, he may have never even been a capo. I think that it's possible that he remained a high ranking "soldier" direct to the admin who was tasked with overseeing the Wild Bunch squad, but technically was never a capo as he was never placed in command of one of the street crews. So in this, a bit like Pat Marcy where some of these guys were put in charge of sensitive operations and thus were of considerable importance to the organization but were not working under one of the street crew capos.

Thats true about Dauber and interesting point regarding Ferriola, but how are we going to explain Monteleones alleged interests in both Chinatown and Cicero? I dont think he was going to reach the boss status by previously being only a capo of the Chinatown area...Or who was the boss of the Cicero crew from 1979 until 1988 or until Infelice took over? Or how are we going to explain the alleged takeover of the Chicago Heights and all southern areas by the Cicero and Chinatown crews? Or Nick Ferriolas alliance with Chinatown?

[Villain]

Lets look at some of Rassanos history, shall we....

Lorenzo, Larry, Lawrence Rassano used the alias Frank Russo and was allegedly born in Potenza, Italy and in 1914 illegally immigrated to the US.

In 1930, Rassano gave two addresses, one was 737 DeKoven St and the other was 3235 Wenworth Av. He was arrested with one Frank Zito who years later was known as Battaglia/Melrose Park associate. In another case Rassano again gave the same Wentworth location which is near Chinatown and the South Side and he and his gang were known for extortining joints around W 47th St.

In 1943, Rassano was arrested regarding the murder of South Side racketeer Martin Quirk. One of the main guys who asked for Quirks life at the time was John Moore aka Claudie Maddox, Aiuppas first boss. Quirk was with Danny Stanton and there was a beef regarding the unions. Rassano was also associated to one South Side racketeer known as Tony DeLordo who in turn was also involved in the murder.

During the 1940s, Rassano allegedly lived at 2438 and 2844 Taylor St, and Butch Blasi was labelled as his associate also. By the late 40s, Blasi lived at 1138 Taylor St.

By the early 1950s, the only North/West connection for Rassano was one Spencer Durante from 643 N Harding Av.

In 1953, both Aiuppa and Rassano were arrested at the Frolics Club in Cicero.

By 1960, Rassanos home address was 1801 Scoville Berwyn.

In 1970, the feds tried to connect Rassano to the Santarelli bros from the EP area.

Rassano obviously had connections on the west side but we can be 100% sure that he leaned towards the Cicero/South Side faction which included Ralph Capone, Aiuppa, Ansani, Maddox, DeLordo etc. Later, Russo, Ortenzi and Rassano were instrumental in bringing Aiuppas crew in Melrose Park, besides Aiuppa being a resident there back during 1930s. For example, Russo was close associate or member of Eddie Vogel's crew which was one of the old dominant groups in both Cicero and Melrose Park under Ralph Capone.

If the feds were wrong about Rassano then we were going to be able to see at least few close associations with high level members from the EP crew, or maybe i personally cannot find them.

[Snakes]

I think Ferriola's group eventually grew to where he was elevated to a captain's status because Scarpelli describes him as such in 1989. I think Tocco feared him because he had a large crew with a lot of killers and was perhaps someone responsible for handling murders at that time.

Well if he was responsible for handling murders then there were two main hit squads at the time, Ciceros Wild Bunch and Chinatowns 26th Crew....

That's my understanding. And of course at times they even worked together, as in the Billy Dauber hit.

Ferriola remains a bit of an enigma I think. Not only was he not the boss as many believed for years, he may have never even been a capo. I think that it's possible that he remained a high ranking "soldier" direct to the admin who was tasked with overseeing the Wild Bunch squad, but technically was never a capo as he was never placed in command of one of the street crews. So in this, a bit like Pat Marcy where some of these guys were put in charge of sensitive operations and thus were of considerable importance to the organization but were not working under one of the street crew capos.

Snakes, do recall the verbatim statement that Scarpelli gave for Ferriola's rank or role? Did he describe him as a "capo", a "Boss", or was it more of a description of his status?

Said Ferriola had previously been his boss but Infelise was now running the crew because Ferriola was really sick and no longer very active. He said Infelise kicked up to Ferriola and Carlisi and that Carlisi had succeeded Aiuppa as boss. Said Ferriola was "probably" the underboss but didn't know for sure (this sounds like he was asked who the underboss was and just guessed at Ferriola because he didn't really know). He described his crew (Infelise's) as one of the Outfit street crews, along with Chinatown, Elmwood Park, North Side, Chicago Heights, and Grand Avenue. He did not describe Melrose Park as its own crew but guessed that Carlisi ran the area, although he described someone who was redacted that I believe to be James Marcello, adding that he had "his own people" but that they weren't too familiar to him. It should be noted that Scarpelli flipped the same year he was made so he may not have been privy to the Outfit's full infrastructure by that point. I have some other files that give some more information but they are woefully disorganized right now so I'd have to do some digging.

[Antiliar]

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

[Snakes]

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

[Antiliar]

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

I think Nick was talking about an earlier time period before Ferriola was promoted. It's important context that's usually left out in newspaper articles. When Ferriola was under Buccieri his subcrew was the Wild Bunch, similar to Frank Calabrese Sr had his own crew although he was technically only a soldier under LaPietra.

[Snakes]

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

I think Nick was talking about an earlier time period before Ferriola was promoted. It's important context that's usually left out in newspaper articles. When Ferriola was under Buccieri his subcrew was the Wild Bunch, similar to Frank Calabrese Sr had his own crew although he was technically only a soldier under LaPietra.

That's kind of what I was thinking, too. When he had only the Wild Bunch, he wasn't a capo, but when he succeeded Torello (by which point most of the Wild Bunch was dead or imprisoned) he had been promoted to capo. Although you would think that he'd be present at the making ceremony in 1983 but depending on his health at the time, he may have decided not to go.

[PolackTony]

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

I think Nick was talking about an earlier time period before Ferriola was promoted. It's important context that's usually left out in newspaper articles. When Ferriola was under Buccieri his subcrew was the Wild Bunch, similar to Frank Calabrese Sr had his own crew although he was technically only a soldier under LaPietra.

That's kind of what I was thinking, too. When he had only the Wild Bunch, he wasn't a capo, but when he succeeded Torello (by which point most of the Wild Bunch was dead or imprisoned) he had been promoted to capo. Although you would think that he'd be present at the making ceremony in 1983 but depending on his health at the time, he may have decided not to go.

Seems like Nick should've been aware at least of Ferriola's rank by the 80s (as opposed to his ignorance about Eboli) given the close links between Cicero and Chinatown. Does anyone have the text of Nick's testimony on Ferriola handy? Is there any indication as to the time period thay he was referring to?

Has anyone else like Fosco, Mikey Mags, or Frank Calabrese Jr ever made claims as to Ferriola's rank after Torello's death?

[PolackTony]

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

Some imprecision in how this document discusses ranks though, as it also refers to Vic Spilotro as a "Boss from another crew".

Another question that I have about Nick's testimony though is whether he stated who he understood to have been Cicero capo after Torello?

I'm generally inclined to side with the testimony of a made member on things like this, especially with someone like Nick who knew guys from the old Buccieri crew and used precise terms lkke "capo". If we wanted to be really conservative, we might interpret Scarpelli's account as simply referring to Ferriola as who he answered to, which doesn't really tell us whether he formally held the rank of capo of the Cicero street crew. Even with this court document, the Feds also believed that Ferriola was the boss of the Outfit until Nick set that straight.

Not that I'm invested in arguing that Ferriola wasn't actually a capo after Torello, as that would still leave the Cicero crew without an official boss, but my inclination is to take a made guy's account seriously. Doesn't mean we have to upset the apple cart, but just recognize that there may be some doubt or that the question is somewhat unsettled.

[Antiliar]

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

I think Nick was talking about an earlier time period before Ferriola was promoted. It's important context that's usually left out in newspaper articles. When Ferriola was under Buccieri his subcrew was the Wild Bunch, similar to Frank Calabrese Sr had his own crew although he was technically only a soldier under LaPietra.

That's kind of what I was thinking, too. When he had only the Wild Bunch, he wasn't a capo, but when he succeeded Torello (by which point most of the Wild Bunch was dead or imprisoned) he had been promoted to capo. Although you would think that he'd be present at the making ceremony in 1983 but depending on his health at the time, he may have decided not to go.

Seems like Nick should've been aware at least of Ferriola's rank by the 80s (as opposed to his ignorance about Eboli) given the close links between Cicero and Chinatown. Does anyone have the text of Nick's testimony on Ferriola handy? Is there any indication as to the time period thay he was referring to?

Has anyone else like Fosco, Mikey Mags, or Frank Calabrese Jr ever made claims as to Ferriola's rank after Torello's death?

Ken Eto in testimony before the U.S. Senate named Ferriola as a territorial boss.
https://books.google.com/books?id=-02oh ... 22&f=false

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

Some imprecision in how this document discusses ranks though, as it also refers to Vic Spilotro as a "Boss from another crew".

Another question that I have about Nick's testimony though is whether he stated who he understood to have been Cicero capo after Torello?

I'm generally inclined to side with the testimony of a made member on things like this, especially with someone like Nick who knew guys from the old Buccieri crew and used precise terms lkke "capo". If we wanted to be really conservative, we might interpret Scarpelli's account as simply referring to Ferriola as who he answered to, which doesn't really tell us whether he formally held the rank of capo of the Cicero street crew. Even with this court document, the Feds also believed that Ferriola was the boss of the Outfit until Nick set that straight.

Not that I'm invested in arguing that Ferriola wasn't actually a capo after Torello, as that would still leave the Cicero crew without an official boss, but my inclination is to take a made guy's account seriously. Doesn't mean we have to upset the apple cart, but just recognize that there may be some doubt or that the question is somewhat unsettled.

Another mistake is naming Bucky Ortenzi as a member of the Ferriola/Infelise crew. Vic Spilotro did have a crew of people working for him, but the word is used too loosely in the document. But those descriptions are probably only in the summary (which paraphrases) and not in the testimony. Aside from that I think it's reliable.

[PolackTony]

Lets look at some of Rassanos history, shall we....

Lorenzo, Larry, Lawrence Rassano used the alias Frank Russo and was allegedly born in Potenza, Italy and in 1914 illegally immigrated to the US.

In 1930, Rassano gave two addresses, one was 737 DeKoven St and the other was 3235 Wenworth Av. He was arrested with one Frank Zito who years later was known as Battaglia/Melrose Park associate. In another case Rassano again gave the same Wentworth location which is near Chinatown and the South Side and he and his gang were known for extortining joints around W 47th St.

In 1943, Rassano was arrested regarding the murder of South Side racketeer Martin Quirk. One of the main guys who asked for Quirks life at the time was John Moore aka Claudie Maddox, Aiuppas first boss. Quirk was with Danny Stanton and there was a beef regarding the unions. Rassano was also associated to one South Side racketeer known as Tony DeLordo who in turn was also involved in the murder.

During the 1940s, Rassano allegedly lived at 2438 and 2844 Taylor St, and Butch Blasi was labelled as his associate also. By the late 40s, Blasi lived at 1138 Taylor St.

By the early 1950s, the only North/West connection for Rassano was one Spencer Durante from 643 N Harding Av.

In 1953, both Aiuppa and Rassano were arrested at the Frolics Club in Cicero.

By 1960, Rassanos home address was 1801 Scoville Berwyn.

In 1970, the feds tried to connect Rassano to the Santarelli bros from the EP area.

Rassano obviously had connections on the west side but we can be 100% sure that he leaned towards the Cicero/South Side faction which included Ralph Capone, Aiuppa, Ansani, Maddox, DeLordo etc. Later, Russo, Ortenzi and Rassano were instrumental in bringing Aiuppas crew in Melrose Park, besides Aiuppa being a resident there back during 1930s. For example, Russo was close associate or member of Eddie Vogel's crew which was one of the old dominant groups in both Cicero and Melrose Park under Ralph Capone.

If the feds were wrong about Rassano then we were going to be able to see at least few close associations with high level members from the EP crew, or maybe i personally cannot find them.

Thanks for posting. Just to confirm, Rassano was born ~1913 in Palazzo San Gervasi, Potenza. I have the Rassano family living in 1920 a near Taylor and Aberdeen and in 1930 at Arthington and Western. Later in the 1940s Larry Rassano listed his address at Taylor and Western. Given that he spent his whole younger life around Taylor St and then later moved to Berwyn, he doesn't at all fit the profile of someone linked to the Elmwood Park crew (not that residential geography always determines affiliation of course, but with -- say -- the Calabrese brothers their affiliations to the Buccieri faction were very clear).

Again, my inclination is to take a made guy's account seriously. But this doesn't add up, and none of us see any personal or business link between Rassano and the Grand Ave/EP guys. So I think that maybe we get any further info we should just put an asterisk next to Rassano's name and acknowledge that there's some uncertainty.

It would be interesting to see what Fosco says about Rassano also, never saw him mentioned on ANP (and not for nothing, but Fosco and the commentary there tended to be pretty EP and Grand Ave centered).

[PolackTony]

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

I think Nick was talking about an earlier time period before Ferriola was promoted. It's important context that's usually left out in newspaper articles. When Ferriola was under Buccieri his subcrew was the Wild Bunch, similar to Frank Calabrese Sr had his own crew although he was technically only a soldier under LaPietra.

That's kind of what I was thinking, too. When he had only the Wild Bunch, he wasn't a capo, but when he succeeded Torello (by which point most of the Wild Bunch was dead or imprisoned) he had been promoted to capo. Although you would think that he'd be present at the making ceremony in 1983 but depending on his health at the time, he may have decided not to go.

Seems like Nick should've been aware at least of Ferriola's rank by the 80s (as opposed to his ignorance about Eboli) given the close links between Cicero and Chinatown. Does anyone have the text of Nick's testimony on Ferriola handy? Is there any indication as to the time period thay he was referring to?

Has anyone else like Fosco, Mikey Mags, or Frank Calabrese Jr ever made claims as to Ferriola's rank after Torello's death?

Ken Eto in testimony before the U.S. Senate named Ferriola as a territorial boss.
https://books.google.com/books?id=-02oh ... 22&f=false

This court opinion and order gives a great summary of the Ferriola-Infelise crew:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 6/1983406/

The succession listed there (which jives with what most of us have been saying) goes from Torello to Ferriola to Infelise but what's interesting is Nick saying Ferriola wasn't a capo. However, it seemed like all three of these individuals (particularly Torello) had power and influence surpassing that of the other capos at the time, at least if you look at the files and court documents available to us.

Some imprecision in how this document discusses ranks though, as it also refers to Vic Spilotro as a "Boss from another crew".

Another question that I have about Nick's testimony though is whether he stated who he understood to have been Cicero capo after Torello?

I'm generally inclined to side with the testimony of a made member on things like this, especially with someone like Nick who knew guys from the old Buccieri crew and used precise terms lkke "capo". If we wanted to be really conservative, we might interpret Scarpelli's account as simply referring to Ferriola as who he answered to, which doesn't really tell us whether he formally held the rank of capo of the Cicero street crew. Even with this court document, the Feds also believed that Ferriola was the boss of the Outfit until Nick set that straight.

Not that I'm invested in arguing that Ferriola wasn't actually a capo after Torello, as that would still leave the Cicero crew without an official boss, but my inclination is to take a made guy's account seriously. Doesn't mean we have to upset the apple cart, but just recognize that there may be some doubt or that the question is somewhat unsettled.

Another mistake is naming Bucky Ortenzi as a member of the Ferriola/Infelise crew. Vic Spilotro did have a crew of people working for him, but the word is used too loosely in the document. But those descriptions are probably only in the summary (which paraphrases) and not in the testimony. Aside from that I think it's reliable.

Thanks, I'd forgotten about the Eto testimony. While not a made guy of course I think Eto was a reliable and very important informant.

What's nice about the testimony on Vince Solano there is that they're consistent with the use of "territorial boss" to refer to an actual Capo, as opposed to the looser "Boss" which could just refer to a made guy with a sub crew of associates.

It would be very useful for all of us if Nick Calabrese ever decides to communicate with the public a la some of these NYC informants lol. Would be great to ask him to clarify some of his statements.

[Antiliar]

Let's say I had the opportunity to interview Nick C. What would you want me to ask him?