General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[Villain]

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.

Besides Solano and Ferriola, informants and the feds also once labelled Pilotto as territorial boss. For example, the feds said that Dom Palermo was Pilottos "field rep", while on the other hand, they labelled DiVarco as "capo" under Solano, so i imagine that Infelice was Ferriolas field rep.

Regarding the long time Cicero/Chinatown connection, Ken Eto also said that both Infelice and Monteleone were close associates since the Buccieri days. At the same time agents observed Infelise, Monteleone and Ferriola meeting on daily basis at the Flash company offices. Thats why I always see the Ferriola/LaPietra or Infelice-Spano/Monteleone crews as one group.

[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.

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).

Thanks for the additional info and i agree with everything you said.

[Snakes]

The "field rep" description was pertaining to the unions, if I remember right.

[Villain]

The "field rep" description was pertaining to the unions, if I remember right.

Thats right but they also used the term "territorial boss" to describe Pilotto and if I remember correctly, during that time Palermo was his number two guy in the Chicago Heights crew

[Snakes]

The "field rep" description was pertaining to the unions, if I remember right.

Thats right but they also used the term "territorial boss" to describe Pilotto and if I remember correctly, during that time Palermo was his number two guy in the Chicago Heights crew

Well, "field representative" is an actual description of a labor position. It's probably not used much outside of America so I can see why it may be confusing. Either way, yeah, Palermo was Pilotto's number 2.

[Villain]

The "field rep" description was pertaining to the unions, if I remember right.

Thats right but they also used the term "territorial boss" to describe Pilotto and if I remember correctly, during that time Palermo was his number two guy in the Chicago Heights crew

Well, "field representative" is an actual description of a labor position. It's probably not used much outside of America so I can see why it may be confusing. Either way, yeah, Palermo was Pilotto's number 2.

Palermo was the only high level guy from the Chi Heights crew out on the streets who sponsored Tocco right?

[Snakes]

The "field rep" description was pertaining to the unions, if I remember right.

Thats right but they also used the term "territorial boss" to describe Pilotto and if I remember correctly, during that time Palermo was his number two guy in the Chicago Heights crew

Well, "field representative" is an actual description of a labor position. It's probably not used much outside of America so I can see why it may be confusing. Either way, yeah, Palermo was Pilotto's number 2.

Palermo was the only high level guy from the Chi Heights crew out on the streets who sponsored Tocco right?

Palermo was capo (or acting capo) after Pilotto. Frank Zizzo was still around but yes, Palermo sponsored Tocco.

[PolackTony]

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

If you were to have such an opportunity -- apart from general questions about Outfit history, ranks, admin and crew structure -- it'd be nice to clarify his understanding of Ferriola's rank in the '80s as well as when exactly LaPietra took over from Caruso. While it was before he was made, of course, it could be useful also to see what he knows of Catuara's crew allegiance and rank. Also, I'd like to see what he might say about the status of EP post-1992 (Frank Sr was recorded alluding to Joey A taking over for DiFronzo) as well as Lombardo's role and level of activity following his release.

[PolackTony]

The "field rep" description was pertaining to the unions, if I remember right.

Thats right but they also used the term "territorial boss" to describe Pilotto and if I remember correctly, during that time Palermo was his number two guy in the Chicago Heights crew

A question I still have is when and how LE first started using the term "LCN territorial boss". So far as I can tell, it was only ever used for Chicago and in the context of these LIUNA hearings. Was this an "outsider" term that the feds came up with based on their understanding of rank and structure in the Outfit (my assumption), or was the term itself ever an "insider" term used explicitly in the testimony or communications of any members? Was it used in an official setting before the Solano/LIUNA cases? I had wondered if it came from the interviews with Eto specifically, but then I note that John Landesco referred to "territorial boss[es] [and] lieutenant[s] of the Syndicate" in a 1932 paper ("Prohibition and Crime") and I'm not sure if the feds wound up borrowing Landesco's terms or if they came up with it independently later on.

[Villain]

The "field rep" description was pertaining to the unions, if I remember right.

Thats right but they also used the term "territorial boss" to describe Pilotto and if I remember correctly, during that time Palermo was his number two guy in the Chicago Heights crew

A question I still have is when and how LE first started using the term "LCN territorial boss". So far as I can tell, it was only ever used for Chicago and in the context of these LIUNA hearings. Was this an "outsider" term that the feds came up with based on their understanding of rank and structure in the Outfit (my assumption), or was the term itself ever an "insider" term used explicitly in the testimony or communications of any members? Was it used in an official setting before the Solano/LIUNA cases? I had wondered if it came from the interviews with Eto specifically, but then I note that John Landesco referred to "territorial boss[es] [and] lieutenant[s] of the Syndicate" in a 1932 paper ("Prohibition and Crime") and I'm not sure if the feds wound up borrowing Landesco's terms or if they came up with it independently later on.

To be honest, im not sure when the feds or informants started using the "territorial boss" term, but during the 50s, 60s and 70s you can read about another very similar term such as "overall boss" to describe guys like Prio or LaPorte.

[SolarSolano]

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

If you were to have such an opportunity -- apart from general questions about Outfit history, ranks, admin and crew structure -- it'd be nice to clarify his understanding of Ferriola's rank in the '80s as well as when exactly LaPietra took over from Caruso. While it was before he was made, of course, it could be useful also to see what he knows of Catuara's crew allegiance and rank. Also, I'd like to see what he might say about the status of EP post-1992 (Frank Sr was recorded alluding to Joey A taking over for DiFronzo) as well as Lombardo's role and level of activity following his release.

Agreed the entire Ferriola structure is probably the largest mystery.

Another question for Nick C - what is the Outfit's level of communication with east coast or other LCN families? What was it like through the decades he was active and did he have any connections to LCN members of other families in prison like his brother Frank did?

[Villain]

Sometime ago, PolackTony and I made some remarks about Giancana and the Outfit using Catholic priests as their couriers and bagmen. The first time I read about this was years ago when I went through the Giancana: Double Cross book, and in it we can find the name "Father Cash" allegedly used by Giancana himself. So ive decided to make a quick research on who was this individual and it seems that we have one candidate.

The types of couriers for the Mob were usually individuals carefully chosen for their ability to be calmed and normal, or in other words to keep low profile and be as one with the crowd. For example, Outfit big shot Gus Alex loved to travel all around the world with his girlfriends but his travels also had another purpose like watching over the Outfit's international money transactions in countries like Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany and Greece. Alex usually couriered the cash to Washington where it was converted to bonds and then transported to the Finibank in Switzerland. But there were still problems like in 1965 when Alex was banned from Switzerland and on top of that, the feds also contacted the French authorities regarding Alex and his girlfriend using false identifications while passing through their country.

In other examples the Mob was using movie stars or singers as their couriers, famous names like Frank Sinatra and Vic Damone but even that wasnt perfect since there were always some Mob guys following them around and protected them. Known mobsters like the Fischetti brothers and others who were already on the government's target list.

So it seem that the Chicago Outfit had another idea by using individuals or priests who worked for the Catholic Church. The Outfit used these guys usually because in those days border and customs officers didnt want to be seen harassing a priest, and this type of tactic was used since the 1940's, especially during WWII, because priests were mostly the ones who couldve passed the borders with ease.

In 1946, Cardinal Samuel Stritch was elevated in Rome and by 1958, he left Chicago to accept a position in the Vatican. Stritch's successor in Chicago was Cardinal John Patrick Cody, who according to Giancana's brother Chuck, was a corrupt man who enjoyed the trappings of wealth and therefore, welcomed a close relationship with the Mob.

Even though he sometimes traveled to Rome, I personally doubt that Cardinal Cody constantly acted as courier for the Mob, mainly because he held a high position in the Catholic Church and his presence was needed in the US, but i have no doubt that Cardinal Cody probably appointed someone else from his lower ranks for the job. In 1966, the Denver police tried to develop an information if Giancana was residing in their area but had no luck, although they received some info that he allegedly became very religious and was previously residing somewhere with a priest (probably Chicago). They also developed information that Giancana was constantly accompanied by some detective who in turn was Richard Cain, the guy who prepared the transfer for Giancana to Mexico.

According to the book, at first "Father Cash", the "nameless" Chicago priest Giancana utilized as a courier, had traveled across the nation and to Europe for quite some time, but later in 1966 with Giancana's move to Mexico, the priest was told to also add Latin America to his list. Lots of cash was carried out of Chicago to Mexico under the safety of the priest, to be placed in banks scattered throughout South and Central America, but most often in Panama where one of Giancana's lieutenants Hyman Larner began residing at the time.

So the only individual who fits the description was one very low key Chicago priest known as Reverend Joseph Ray aka "Joey" or "Fitzie", who resided in Mexico but frequently traveled to Chicago and around the world. According to one early 1964 wiretapped convo between the priest, Giancana and Charles English, Reverend Ray resided one mile from the town of Juarez in Mexico, described by him as being "wide open as any other town". I also highly suspect that, besides Cain and one of Giancana's lawyers, Reverend Ray also played a major role in Giancana's huge influence in Mexico at the time.

Since Alex got banned from Switzerland back in 1965, besides Latin America, some funds were also transported to Milan by that same priest and then to the Vatican Bank in Rome, with the help of another Chicago priest who resided in the Vatican at the time known as Paul Marcinkus and according to some sources, Marcinkus was a former Cicero resident.

[Villain]

I already posted this several years ago in a different thread, and so i thought about posting it here also...

This post is for those who are interested in the Outfit's specific history and its main occurrences such as their whole leadership being indicted diring the early 1940's and the point is that none of the historians ever came to the bottom of the whole story or on who was the so-called "mysterious" individual who went by the name of "Mike Ryan" and spread all the corrupt cash for the early release of his bosses.

This happened during the early 1940's or should I say 1943, when every top boss such as Paul Ricca, Louis Campagna and Phil D'Andrea got imprisoned by the state up to 10 years regarding the infamous Hollywood extortion case. You see, many Mob historians almost never went into the depth of the whole story, meaning some of them never uncovered the real faces which were involved in the early paroles of the top guys.

The so-called "early paroles" are something unbelievable, meaning all of the three top guys, including Roselli, were freed after serving 3 years and 4 months of the ten years sentence, which was quite strange since they were handed a sentences without the possibility of parole but the main problem was that according to the law they had to serve at least one third of their sentences. And as a matter of fact, Campagna and Gioe were sent back to prison for a hearing as to why they violated their paroles.

Ricca was arrested on a similar warrant, but his return to prison was halted by court action, while D’Andrea had serious health issues so he was watched at his home and as for their underling Johnny Roselli, he was permitted to remain in Los Angeles jail. But on December 20, 1948, Federal Judge E. Marvin Underwood said “The evidence, adduced and unrebutted, shows that there was no violation of parole, and therefore no reliable information upon which to base the warrants" and so he released all of the bosses and all posted bonds of $5,000 each.

Of course the whole situation caused an uproar among the U.S. citizens, media and federal authorities and in 1948 government investigations were handed down thus creating a general report that the so-called major players in making of the early paroles were Chicago’s Jewish boss Jake Guzik, New York’s Genovese crime family boss Frank Costello and Owney Madden in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Everyone around the world knew that this was a huge corruption scandal which involved mobsters and obviously high level politicians and so many government hearings occurred which involved some of the previous names and also whole Chicago's southern Cicero crew such as Willie Heeney, Ralph Capone and Claude Maddox and also some West Side guys such as Pete Fosco and Ned Bakes a.k.a. Ignatius Spachese, both deeply infiltrated in the unions and First Ward politics.

The reality was that all of these guys formed a so-called "payoff fond" for every needed state senator or warden or attorney regarding the early paroles but none of the investigators were able to conclude on who gave or received what, expect of the fact for knowing for sure but having no evidences.

The thing was that some of the investigators found one clue or lead with the help of Spachese's big moth, meaning he was said to have told friends that he was previously informed that federal bureau of investigation agents would call on him to ask what help he had given to Ricca and the rest of the bosses in getting out of prison and later he had told the FBI nothing.

The investigators mainly wanted to know if Bakes could tell the identity of a "mysterious Mike Ryan," the man who paid $15,000 to Attorney Maury Hughes as a fee for handling matter preliminary to securing federal paroles for the bosses and also allegedly visited other highly respected government individuals and gave them the same "treatment". As additional info, Hughes was a close pal of United States Attorney General Tom Clark, who was also probably involved in the securing of the paroles.

Now this is the point where I want to present to you my evidences on who was this key individual who took care of the whole cash flow.

In 1946 or 47, "coincidentally" just previous of the early paroles, Outfit member Gus Alex married a very beautiful blue-eyed bombshell named Marianne Ryan. The interesting and at the same time strange thing was that at the time they married in a very secret ceremony and some say they went to Santa Barbara, some say they went somewhere else around California and others to Las Vegas, Nevada.

This was something quite odd for an Outfit guy of his status at the time. You see, Marianne came from Schuyler, Nebraska somewhere around the mid 1940’s at the age of 19 and was employed as a Chicago’s professional fashion model, which was the perfect target for Alex and the Outfit for their mission. At first she worked as a top model at the Carson Pirie Scott and Company and later she transferred to the College Inn of the Sherman Hotel in Chicago where she also worked as a “model” but only during the evening hours and that’s where she allegedly met the love of her life, which was Alex.

So from that point on, everywhere he went, Alex's used his wife’s maiden name and represented himself as Mike Ryan. This can be confirmed in his FBI files, especially in aliases and also his travels such as the previously mentioned states or even in Yeraki, Greece.

This means that Alex was obviously the main "fixer" with the courage to deliver all of that cash to the various state senators, presidents and God knows who, which later opened his path to the top levels of the Chicago Outfit. When Ricca died in 1972, Tony Accardo brought Alex among the top boys as a legit or official Outfit boss a.k.a. the "mysterious" Mike Ryan.

[Frank]

If you believe Fosco Alex recieved a bosses share till Carlisi and maybe D iFronzo cut him out

[Villain]

If you believe Fosco Alex recieved a bosses share till Carlisi and maybe D iFronzo cut him out

Dont know about Foscos claim, but besides Carlisi and DiFronzo, Patrick also kicked up to Alex and this was the late 1980s. Also, besides Carlisi, Alex was allegedly one of the guys who also asked for Jeeps Daddinos life.