General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[Patrickgold]

Documentary that’s coming out that is about the 12th street players by I guy name Steve Roden. Roden was related to some outfit guys on his mom’s side. The Messina’s from Taylor street I believe. Should be an interesting doc

https://vimeo.com/569495193/e02e3f04bf? ... EuL0lZySSk

[PolackTony]

Documentary that’s coming out that is about the 12th street players by I guy name Steve Roden. Roden was related to some outfit guys on his mom’s side. The Messina’s from Taylor street I believe. Should be an interesting doc

https://vimeo.com/569495193/e02e3f04bf? ... EuL0lZySSk

Yeah, I remember seeing that this guy Stevie Bullets was working on a doc. Thanks for posting, looks pretty interesting.

[funkster]

Excellent.

[funkster]

Also, I see Fosco has been posting this month.

[PolackTony]

Also, I see Fosco has been posting this month.

Yes, though of course they have been of a more personal nature. I’m hoping that he’s planning on resuming where he left off last year. When I last communicated with him he told me that he might address a number of questions that I had for him in future “mafia addendum” posts.

[funkster]

I’m curious how much correspondence he’s getting since he says he’s pretty much replaced the email with public comment interaction.

The posts are more personal nature, but also drops nuggets such as this Elmwood Park cop who I personally have never heard of. Doesn’t suggest any connection other than friendly with the outfit, but we all know how these things go.

[Wiseguy]

Pretty random but, in cleaning out some old files, here is a list of Outfit members and associates an old poster on the RD forum (Little Al) said were involved in the drug trade in one way or another.


Paul Ricca (took cut from narcotics trade)
Nick DeJohn
Leonard Calamia
Turk Torello, Rocky Infelise (under Fifi Buccieri)
Pete DePietto (under Phil Alderisio)
Sam Battaglia
Joseph Ferriola
Charles Nicoletti, Richard Cain, Lenny Patrick
Tony Pape, Joe Iacullo, Frank Coduto - some of these guys were surveilled leaving Accardo's house over 20 times.
Chris Cardi (Willie Massino cousin)
Ernest Sansone
Ken Eto (under Ross Prio)
Dave Yaras

[SolarSolano]

Pretty random but, in cleaning out some old files, here is a list of Outfit members and associates an old poster on the RD forum (Little Al) said were involved in the drug trade in one way or another.


Paul Ricca (took cut from narcotics trade)
Nick DeJohn
Leonard Calamia
Turk Torello, Rocky Infelise (under Fifi Buccieri)
Pete DePietto (under Phil Alderisio)
Sam Battaglia
Joseph Ferriola
Charles Nicoletti, Richard Cain, Lenny Patrick
Tony Pape, Joe Iacullo, Frank Coduto - some of these guys were surveilled leaving Accardo's house over 20 times.
Chris Cardi (Willie Massino cousin)
Ernest Sansone
Ken Eto (under Ross Prio)
Dave Yaras

I think it would be exceptionally hard to compile a list of Outfit members who were NOT at one point involved in drugs. Nearly all of them - including Accardo - were financing drugs directly and indirectly - and many guys like Infelise, La Pietra, Cowboy Mirro, etc had pinches for heroin and cocaine. Even the DiFronzo brothers were into the drug trade at various points in their careers.

[stubbs]

Pretty random but, in cleaning out some old files, here is a list of Outfit members and associates an old poster on the RD forum (Little Al) said were involved in the drug trade in one way or another.


Paul Ricca (took cut from narcotics trade)
Nick DeJohn
Leonard Calamia
Turk Torello, Rocky Infelise (under Fifi Buccieri)
Pete DePietto (under Phil Alderisio)
Sam Battaglia
Joseph Ferriola
Charles Nicoletti, Richard Cain, Lenny Patrick
Tony Pape, Joe Iacullo, Frank Coduto - some of these guys were surveilled leaving Accardo's house over 20 times.
Chris Cardi (Willie Massino cousin)
Ernest Sansone
Ken Eto (under Ross Prio)
Dave Yaras

I think it would be exceptionally hard to compile a list of Outfit members who were NOT at one point involved in drugs. Nearly all of them - including Accardo - were financing drugs directly and indirectly - and many guys like Infelise, La Pietra, Cowboy Mirro, etc had pinches for heroin and cocaine. Even the DiFronzo brothers were into the drug trade at various points in their careers.

Forgive me, my knowledge of Chicago is limited. But I seem to remember Frank Cullotta stating in an interview that being involved in drugs was a death sentence for the Outfit guys.

Was he full of it, or just out of the loop being a non-member?

[Wiseguy]

Forgive me, my knowledge of Chicago is limited. But I seem to remember Frank Cullotta stating in an interview that being involved in drugs was a death sentence for the Outfit guys.

Was he full of it, or just out of the loop being a non-member?

The Outfit's involvement in narcotics is one of the old, long drawn out debates and was what elicited that info from Little Al, where he gave several examples of Outfit guys, including high level ones, involved in the drug trade.

I have no doubt that a lot of the thinking Chicago had virtually no involvement came from Roemer. While the Outfit certainly wasn't as deeply involved as the NY families, there's enough examples to show that it wasn't unheard of or necessarily even rare.

It seems the top Outfit guys took a similar approach that Castellano did. Not "deal and die" so much as deal without permission and die. In the examples he gave, some Outfit leaders considered drugs more permissible than others. They didn't all have the exact same views. And the guys down the line actually doing the dealing were treated differently depending on their status, relationships with the leadership and how expendable they were.

[stubbs]

Forgive me, my knowledge of Chicago is limited. But I seem to remember Frank Cullotta stating in an interview that being involved in drugs was a death sentence for the Outfit guys.

Was he full of it, or just out of the loop being a non-member?

The Outfit's involvement in narcotics is one of the old, long drawn out debates and was what elicited that info from Little Al, where he gave several examples of Outfit guys, including high level ones, involved in the drug trade.

I have no doubt that a lot of the thinking Chicago had virtually no involvement came from Roemer. While the Outfit certainly wasn't as deeply involved as the NY families, there's enough examples to show that it wasn't unheard of or necessarily even rare.

It seems the top Outfit guys took a similar approach that Castellano did. Not "deal and die" so much as deal without permission and die. In the examples he gave, some Outfit leaders considered drugs more permissible than others. They didn't all have the exact same views. And the guys down the line actually doing the dealing were treated differently depending on their status, relationships with the leadership and how expendable they were.

Great info as always, thanks!

[PolackTony]

Accardo’s involvement during his tenure as boss was apparently such that the Tribune began to describe him as the ”Narcotics Kingpin of the Midwest”. I believe that this heat played a significant role in the decision to convince or force Accardo to step back for Giancana.

In his excellent book “Captive City” (published 1971), Ovid Demaris asserted that Battaglia was the “overseer” for the Outfit’s narcotics operations, with Nicoletti and Aderisio as top lieutenants. Villain has done a much better job than I can do in detailing the various Outfit narcotics operations. Every crew at some point had their hands in or were financing drugs, though most of the actual operation of the racket was handled by associates rather than members, whose involvement probably mainly entailed investment capital and connections to other LCN families (as well as collecting their envelopes, of course).

As with many things, one can’t take Cullotta too seriously here. He was not a member, and spent a considerable part of his career as an associate outside of Chicago. Don’t forget also that his boss Spilotro was almost certainly moving drugs in Vegas. Cullotta’s claim I think is really specific to the Aiuppa years, but the real rule was not “deal and die”, but rather “get caught dealing and die”. It’s worth noting that some significant narcotics operations were active under Aiuppa’s reign, the most notable being the Frank Rappa/Rocky Infelise (possibly inherited later by D’Amico) operation that seems to have entailed connections to the Sicilian mafia as well as potential connections to Italian OC groups in other regions (notably Calabrians from the region of Taverna, where Infelise’s family was from). It’s very likely that Chicago also had some connection to the whole Pizza Connection thing, though the exact nature of this remains unclear, either via their contacts in the Rockford family (which D’Amico may have been involved in drug operations with) as well as their own potential contacts with the Sicilians (possible links could include the Salamones, who are likely connected with the Cinisi-Terrasini mafia, as well as Detroit LCN).

[SolarSolano]

Some of those guys in CHinatown were also selling drugs to the local street gangs. I think that entire Spilotro crew was selling coke - Frank Culotta along with them.

[PolackTony]

Some of those guys in CHinatown were also selling drugs to the local street gangs.

Ronnie Jarrett with the SDs.

[stubbs]

Accardo’s involvement during his tenure as boss was apparently such that the Tribune began to describe him as the ”Narcotics Kingpin of the Midwest”. I believe that this heat played a significant role in the decision to convince or force Accardo to step back for Giancana.

In his excellent book “Captive City” (published 1971), Ovid Demaris asserted that Battaglia was the “overseer” for the Outfit’s narcotics operations, with Nicoletti and Aderisio as top lieutenants. Villain has done a much better job than I can do in detailing the various Outfit narcotics operations. Every crew at some point had their hands in or were financing drugs, though most of the actual operation of the racket was handled by associates rather than members, whose involvement probably mainly entailed investment capital and connections to other LCN families (as well as collecting their envelopes, of course).

As with many things, one can’t take Cullotta too seriously here. He was not a member, and spent a considerable part of his career as an associate outside of Chicago. Don’t forget also that his boss Spilotro was almost certainly moving drugs in Vegas. Cullotta’s claim I think is really specific to the Aiuppa years, but the real rule was not “deal and die”, but rather “get caught dealing and die”. It’s worth noting that some significant narcotics operations were active under Aiuppa’s reign, the most notable being the Frank Rappa/Rocky Infelise (possibly inherited later by D’Amico) operation that seems to have entailed connections to the Sicilian mafia as well as potential connections to Italian OC groups in other regions (notably Calabrians from the region of Taverna, where Infelise’s family was from). It’s very likely that Chicago also had some connection to the whole Pizza Connection thing, though the exact nature of this remains unclear, either via their contacts in the Rockford family (which D’Amico may have been involved in drug operations with) as well as their own potential contacts with the Sicilians (possible links could include the Salamones, who are likely connected with the Cinisi-Terrasini mafia, as well as Detroit LCN).

Great info, thanks Tony!