PolackTony wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:47 am
The question still remains for me whether this was because LaPorte was formally above Costello’s capodecina in the chain of command, or because LaPorte was simply a powerful capo who controlled the liquor licenses in the Chi Heights area.
Also, any guesses as to who Costello’s capodecina might’ve been?
Additionally, what was Fusco’s exact placement at this time? Was he a capo himself, or a lieutenant under Ferraro
To me the situation sounds like this....Fusco began entering areas which were not under his jurisdiction but instead they were under LaPorte. So, LaPortes guy who was involved in the same scheme was Costello, who obviously had a problem with Fuscos so-called "invasion". During those days Fusco was under Ferraro and Alex, meaning he belonged to a different faction.
So it is quite possible that Costello expected from LaPorte (south suburban and nw Indiana rep) to solve the problem either through Alex or Ferraro. Obviously LaPorte didnt have the ear for the problem and so Costellos next solution was to force his caporegime to talk to LaPorte regarding that same thing. Who knows, maybe Costellos caporegime was very close with LaPorte and also ignored the problem....
We can see that Costello already went straight to the boss and not the underboss, possibly because of the previous situation, meaning Fusco was with the underboss because both belonged to the South Side faction.
Regarding the question on who might've been Costellos capo at the time....well the convo occurred in 1962 which i believe was a little bit early for Catuara to take such position and so my guess would be either Joe Guzzino or John Roberto, although the latter one began spending more time with his deported brother in Italy. If it was Guzzino, then it might explain Costellos problem with both of his bosses.
According to one 1965 convo between Alderisio and Frank Luzi (LaPorte assistant and blood relative), Alderisio stated that Luzis associate Catuara and his close associates were not good and were "eating everything" and Alderisio used Catuara, Rubino and Fidanzi as examples. This also might relate to the LaPorte-Costello situation, meaning Costellos boss didnt care much about his underlings while his pockets were constantly full. Luzi and Alderisio also mentioned Palermo as their mutual friend from the C City area. Previously or in 1964 we can see a business connection between Alderisio and Catuara which means that Alderisio knew what was he talking about.
So it is possible that by 1965 Catuara was one of LaPortes capos around C City and the Heights, with Zizzo in Indiana and Curry in Joliet and Will County. Guzzino died around the same time, same as John Roberto i think. In addition, im not sure if Curry also oversaw LaPortes AZ crew but i know that his close associate Armand D'Andrea did.
As for Fuscos status in the Outfit....my guess is that he possibly received some higher stature during the 1940s when the Fischettis allegedly took control. We have evidences that Fusco controlled his own small crew at the time and continued like that until the early or mid 50s.
Later he probably had that "Ralph Capone" stature, meaning by the early 60s Fusco probably still held respect among the rest of the membership as a former capo or something like that. We cannot see Giancana badmouthing Fusco and we also can see that whenever Fusco had a problem, he took it straight to Ferraro and Alex and usually it went his way.