General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[SolarSolano]

1979 news on Vic Comforte at 6:15....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWbyq9w ... nel=MOBFAX

Comforte was allegedly one time lieutenant for Joey Glimco.

Interesting - I always wonder what Pete Schivarelli is doing these days the manager of Chicago, who were still touring right? He was brothers with Michael and a nephew of the German if I am not mistaken. Or he could be a nephew of The Bug Varelli perhaps actually.

[PolackTony]

1979 news on Vic Comforte at 6:15....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWbyq9w ... nel=MOBFAX

Comforte was allegedly one time lieutenant for Joey Glimco.

Interesting - I always wonder what Pete Schivarelli is doing these days the manager of Chicago, who were still touring right? He was brothers with Michael and a nephew of the German if I am not mistaken. Or he could be a nephew of The Bug Varelli perhaps actually.

Yes Pete and Mike Schivarelli are brothers. They are full Italians, so not related to Schweihs at all, though Pete was said by LE to be a close friend of the German. And yes, they are the nephews of Johnny Varelli, who was the brother of their father Michael Sr. The surname appears to have originally been either Schiavarello or Schiavarelli. I'm not sure where it's from at the moment, it could be Barese or from the North. The Bug and Michael Sr were sons of Giovanni Schiavarello and Mary Malpede. The Malpedes were "Richies" from Ricigliano who settled by Taylor St and intermarried with some other big "Richie" families like the Serritellas and the Altieris. The Schivarellis lived by Taylor St at least up until the 1940s.

Michael Schivarelli Sr was apparently at least an Outfit associate, as he was described in a 1964 Tribune article as an ex "bootlegger and muscleman for syndicate gangsters" following his arrest for shaking down a trucking firm as a rep for IBT local 710 (as well as on the city payroll as a supervisor for Streets and San. Pete Schivarelli was later a big guy at Streets and San, of course, IIRC in charge of the snowplows). Posted a pic in Mugshots.

[Snakes]

Schweihs's mother was Italian so they could realistically be realistically be related. I don't know if they are though.

[PolackTony]

1979 news on Vic Comforte at 6:15....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWbyq9w ... nel=MOBFAX

Comforte was allegedly one time lieutenant for Joey Glimco.

Interesting - I always wonder what Pete Schivarelli is doing these days the manager of Chicago, who were still touring right? He was brothers with Michael and a nephew of the German if I am not mistaken. Or he could be a nephew of The Bug Varelli perhaps actually.

Yes Pete and Mike Schivarelli are brothers. They are full Italians, so not related to Schweihs at all, though Pete was said by LE to be a close friend of the German. And yes, they are the nephews of Johnny Varelli, who was the brother of their father Michael Sr. The surname appears to have originally been either Schiavarello or Schiavarelli. I'm not sure where it's from at the moment, it could be Barese or from the North. The Bug and Michael Sr were sons of Giovanni Schiavarello and Mary Malpede. The Malpedes were "Richies" from Ricigliano who settled by Taylor St and intermarried with some other big "Richie" families like the Serritellas and the Altieris. The Schivarellis lived by Taylor St at least up until the 1940s.

Michael Schivarelli Sr was apparently at least an Outfit associate, as he was described in a 1964 Tribune article as an ex "bootlegger and muscleman for syndicate gangsters" following his arrest for shaking down a trucking firm as a rep for IBT local 710 (as well as on the city payroll as a supervisor for Streets and San. Pete Schivarelli was later a big guy at Streets and San, of course, IIRC in charge of the snowplows). Posted a pic in Mugshots.

The Mike Schivarelli Sr story got even better. In 1959 it was revealed that Old Man Daley put Schivarelli in charge of "investigating" ghost payrolls in Streets and San (LOL) and there was public pressure to oust him after it came out that Schivarelli was an ex-con who had done time in Terre Haute for transporting bootleg liquor across state lines in 1941, as well as a lengthy rap sheet that included 12 charges of robbery including one incident where the cops shot him while apprehending him. Schivarelli was moved to foreman of an asphalt paving division. After pleading guilty to the above-mentioned federal extortion charge, Schivarelli was suspended from the Streets and San payroll, but then in 1970 it came out that he had managed to sneak back onto the Streets and San payroll and was suspended again. At the time it was noted that Schivarelli had been on the city payroll most of the time since 1936 (when he was 15). Michael Sr died in 1995.

[PolackTony]

Schweihs's mother was Italian so they could realistically be realistically be related. I don't know if they are though.

When I looked into Schweihs, I had his mother as Irish-American (Nora Roach, hence his daughter's given name). Maybe I was off somewhere, but I recall being pretty confident in that. I had heard for years that he was half-Italian (I heard the same about Porky Poradyla, which was also not true). My impression was some of these guys either let people think they were half-Italian, or the idea that they were took root as a rumor because they were so close to the Outfit.

[PolackTony]

Also, just because it's such an over-the-top, almost cartoonishly classic Chicago story, I had to post this 1979 article about Pete Schivarelli and his connections to the Outfit while heading the Streets and San snow removal division:

[SolarSolano]

Here is Schivarelli's connection to The German - John Kass article - Peter apparently used his clout to get Schweis out of jail on the Rebecca Pappas murder - real scumbag shit if you ask me.


Frank 'The German' Schweihs - "A Killer, That's All, A Killer of a Girl"

Diane Pappas learned that Chicago isn't Camelot a lifetime ago when a tugboat captain found her sister's murdered body in the Chicago River. Eugenia "Becca" Pappas was only 18.

So last week, 46 years after Becca's death, when Diane heard the German was dead, she knew what to do: Drive out to the cemetery, to Becca's grave in the shade of a giant Norwegian pine, and talk to her little sister. "I'm going to the cemetery right now," Diane said. "I've got to be there. Now I want to tell Becca. The big, tough man. The big killer. The murderer of my sister. The German. The murderer of a girl."

If Frank "The German" Schweihs ever wondered about hell, he's not wondering now. He died last week, at 78, of cancer, waiting to stand federal trial in the Family Secrets case.

The FBI considers him the Babe Ruth of Outfit hit men, with dozens of Outfit victims, mobsters from New York to Los Angeles, murderous bosses and their turncoat business associates. Other hit men were terrified to be near him, even when he was sleeping. A glimpse of the German in Los Angeles, a chance sighting in a car window, frightened Jimmy "The Weasel" Frattiano so much that the mobster ran shrieking into the federal witness protection program.

Schweihs the enforcer was the reason those frail, old men could run things without worrying about ambitious underlings. He's the reason they made fortunes, and a president and mayors and judges.

The list of the German's dead is a history of organized crime in America. Except for Becca Pappas, a beauty, tall, slim, black eyes, black hair. "I know he killed her. I just know. She was in his car. She was driving his car the last time anyone saw her. His car disappeared. Then it was auctioned a month later, totally stripped clean, washed down," Diane said.

Becca's murder was investigated by corrupt Chicago lawman Richard CainThe Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain - Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman. This being Chicago, Schweihs was released without charges. Still, I agree with Diane that Schweihs killed her sister.

Why? Because, as explained to me by mob-watchers and former FBI agents, no man in Chicago, or anywhere else, would have dared approach the German's girlfriend. Not even to say hello. They wouldn't have allowed their brains to think of it. Not one. Schweihs would have skinned them alive with a paring knife.

The German is said to have later shotgunned Cain at Rose's Sandwich Shop. And killed Jimmy "the Bomber" Catuara. Teamsters lawyer Allan Dorfman died in a parking lot, shot in the head with a .22. Joe Testa was blown up in his car. Sam DeStefano's arms were shotgunned off in his garage. Patsy Riccardi, Chucky Nicoletti, the list continues.

The Chicago Outfit's flamboyant Hollywood connection, Johnny Rosselli, was found stuffed into an oil drum, floating at sea. Angelo Boscarino was shotgunned, though his son was later given a piece of the failed Rosemont casino deal.

If I've missed a few names, Schweihs didn't miss.

In the late 1980s, he was held in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center at the same time as Outfit member-turned-federal informant Gerald Scarpelli. The official story is Scarpelli committed suicide. He must have seen the German in the day room and then decided to tie his own feet and hands and choke himself to death with a plastic bag in the shower. The German is also credited with torturing and killing several burglars who dared rob the home of Anthony Accardo.

"He never informed. He killed who they told him to kill. And if he was involved in the killing of that young woman—it sheds an entirely new light on his personality," said FBI Special Agent John Mallul, a supervisor of the Organized Crime Unit. "No criminal ever wanted to see this guy around. Even if they knew that Frank was coming around and knew why, they were still terrified."

Law enforcement says that just about his only friend was Chicago political figure Peter Schivarelli, currently the manager of the rock group Chicago and the former 43rd Ward supervisor of Streets and San. Schivarelli is reputed to have been around Outfit types all his life and is the nephew of late mobster Johnny "The Bug" Varelli.

One night, Schweihs was arrested after fighting with police. "Schivarelli came down to the station trying to get him out, throwing his political clout around, and all hell broke loose," former FBI agent Jack O'Rourke recalled a while back. "It was a madhouse."

"That's not my recollection," Schivarelli said when I tracked him down. He talked on the phone as if I held a subpoena. "But I'd rather not debate it. I'll respectfully decline to comment."

Too bad. I was waiting to hear that the German was kind to tiny children and animals and helped old women cross the street. None of it matters to Becca Pappas' sister. "Schweihs still lived 46 years when he shouldn't have. And people glorify him, and they glorify the mob with their movies and TV shows. But all he was, was a killer. That's all. A killer of a girl."

[SolarSolano]

Also, just because it's such an over-the-top, almost cartoonishly classic Chicago story, I had to post this 1979 article about Pete Schivarelli and his connections to the Outfit while heading the Streets and San snow removal division:

This is just pure gold. At 33 he's living at 503 W. Wrightwood madon

[Antiliar]

Schweihs's mother was Italian so they could realistically be realistically be related. I don't know if they are though.

When I looked into Schweihs, I had his mother as Irish-American (Nora Roach, hence his daughter's given name). Maybe I was off somewhere, but I recall being pretty confident in that. I had heard for years that he was half-Italian (I heard the same about Porky Poradyla, which was also not true). My impression was some of these guys either let people think they were half-Italian, or the idea that they were took root as a rumor because they were so close to the Outfit.

Same here. I expected to find an Italian mother and instead I find one who has pure Irish ancestry based on all the assertions. Obviously thorough background checks weren't done even for made guys since many seemed unaware that Jimmy Marcello's mother was Irish. It creates room for doubt in the case of Richard Cain, even though Sam Giancana supposedly knew his parents.

[PolackTony]

Another minor note on Pete Schivarelli. I was looking at his 1960 yearbook at St Ignatius (he was born 1945) and one of the kids in his class was named Armando Fosco, who I think might very well be Armando Fosco Jr, son of Mondo Fosco and half-brother of Joe Fosco. Another kid had the surname Colucci, though I have no idea if he was directly related to the Outfit Coluccis.

[Villain]

Thanks for all of the additional info fellas. Interesting that the Chi Outfit was involved in the music biz allegedly since the days of Capone.

[PolackTony]

Here is Schivarelli's connection to The German - John Kass article - Peter apparently used his clout to get Schweis out of jail on the Rebecca Pappas murder - real scumbag shit if you ask me.


Frank 'The German' Schweihs - "A Killer, That's All, A Killer of a Girl"

Diane Pappas learned that Chicago isn't Camelot a lifetime ago when a tugboat captain found her sister's murdered body in the Chicago River. Eugenia "Becca" Pappas was only 18.

So last week, 46 years after Becca's death, when Diane heard the German was dead, she knew what to do: Drive out to the cemetery, to Becca's grave in the shade of a giant Norwegian pine, and talk to her little sister. "I'm going to the cemetery right now," Diane said. "I've got to be there. Now I want to tell Becca. The big, tough man. The big killer. The murderer of my sister. The German. The murderer of a girl."

If Frank "The German" Schweihs ever wondered about hell, he's not wondering now. He died last week, at 78, of cancer, waiting to stand federal trial in the Family Secrets case.

The FBI considers him the Babe Ruth of Outfit hit men, with dozens of Outfit victims, mobsters from New York to Los Angeles, murderous bosses and their turncoat business associates. Other hit men were terrified to be near him, even when he was sleeping. A glimpse of the German in Los Angeles, a chance sighting in a car window, frightened Jimmy "The Weasel" Frattiano so much that the mobster ran shrieking into the federal witness protection program.

Schweihs the enforcer was the reason those frail, old men could run things without worrying about ambitious underlings. He's the reason they made fortunes, and a president and mayors and judges.

The list of the German's dead is a history of organized crime in America. Except for Becca Pappas, a beauty, tall, slim, black eyes, black hair. "I know he killed her. I just know. She was in his car. She was driving his car the last time anyone saw her. His car disappeared. Then it was auctioned a month later, totally stripped clean, washed down," Diane said.

Becca's murder was investigated by corrupt Chicago lawman Richard CainThe Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain - Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman. This being Chicago, Schweihs was released without charges. Still, I agree with Diane that Schweihs killed her sister.

Why? Because, as explained to me by mob-watchers and former FBI agents, no man in Chicago, or anywhere else, would have dared approach the German's girlfriend. Not even to say hello. They wouldn't have allowed their brains to think of it. Not one. Schweihs would have skinned them alive with a paring knife.

The German is said to have later shotgunned Cain at Rose's Sandwich Shop. And killed Jimmy "the Bomber" Catuara. Teamsters lawyer Allan Dorfman died in a parking lot, shot in the head with a .22. Joe Testa was blown up in his car. Sam DeStefano's arms were shotgunned off in his garage. Patsy Riccardi, Chucky Nicoletti, the list continues.

The Chicago Outfit's flamboyant Hollywood connection, Johnny Rosselli, was found stuffed into an oil drum, floating at sea. Angelo Boscarino was shotgunned, though his son was later given a piece of the failed Rosemont casino deal.

If I've missed a few names, Schweihs didn't miss.

In the late 1980s, he was held in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center at the same time as Outfit member-turned-federal informant Gerald Scarpelli. The official story is Scarpelli committed suicide. He must have seen the German in the day room and then decided to tie his own feet and hands and choke himself to death with a plastic bag in the shower. The German is also credited with torturing and killing several burglars who dared rob the home of Anthony Accardo.

"He never informed. He killed who they told him to kill. And if he was involved in the killing of that young woman—it sheds an entirely new light on his personality," said FBI Special Agent John Mallul, a supervisor of the Organized Crime Unit. "No criminal ever wanted to see this guy around. Even if they knew that Frank was coming around and knew why, they were still terrified."

Law enforcement says that just about his only friend was Chicago political figure Peter Schivarelli, currently the manager of the rock group Chicago and the former 43rd Ward supervisor of Streets and San. Schivarelli is reputed to have been around Outfit types all his life and is the nephew of late mobster Johnny "The Bug" Varelli.

One night, Schweihs was arrested after fighting with police. "Schivarelli came down to the station trying to get him out, throwing his political clout around, and all hell broke loose," former FBI agent Jack O'Rourke recalled a while back. "It was a madhouse."

"That's not my recollection," Schivarelli said when I tracked him down. He talked on the phone as if I held a subpoena. "But I'd rather not debate it. I'll respectfully decline to comment."

Too bad. I was waiting to hear that the German was kind to tiny children and animals and helped old women cross the street. None of it matters to Becca Pappas' sister. "Schweihs still lived 46 years when he shouldn't have. And people glorify him, and they glorify the mob with their movies and TV shows. But all he was, was a killer. That's all. A killer of a girl."

Gotta love how Dick Cain was in charge of investigating Pappas’ murder, kinda like how Michael Schivarelli was in charge of rooting out ghost payrolls at Streets and San. The Chicago Way, baby.

[PolackTony]

Schweihs's mother was Italian so they could realistically be realistically be related. I don't know if they are though.

When I looked into Schweihs, I had his mother as Irish-American (Nora Roach, hence his daughter's given name). Maybe I was off somewhere, but I recall being pretty confident in that. I had heard for years that he was half-Italian (I heard the same about Porky Poradyla, which was also not true). My impression was some of these guys either let people think they were half-Italian, or the idea that they were took root as a rumor because they were so close to the Outfit.

Same here. I expected to find an Italian mother and instead I find one who has pure Irish ancestry based on all the assertions. Obviously thorough background checks weren't done even for made guys since many seemed unaware that Jimmy Marcello's mother was Irish. It creates room for doubt in the case of Richard Cain, even though Sam Giancana supposedly knew his parents.

Aleman is another one that maybe coulda (definitely woulda) been made. Marcello having an Italian surname and a dad who was connected, made it easier for him to get in I’m sure. Aleman having a Spanish surname and a Mexican dad, not so easy. But his relative was Joe Nicol’, so if they ever made an exception for anyone, it was either him or Cain. Cain at least had the grift of often going by his mother’s surname. Another possibility is Bobby Panozzo Sr. Don’t know if he’s made, but it’s certainly a possibility. Not only was his mom Ukrainian/hillbilly, but his Italian side is from the North, on top of it (not that the latter would be barrier in this day and age anyway).

The two “menzas” that offhand I can think of who did not have Italian surnames and were not made (and presumably never would have been) were Ronnie Jarrett and Mike Swiatek. I imagine that there were others that I’m overlooking at the moment.

[Villain]

Here is Schivarelli's connection to The German - John Kass article - Peter apparently used his clout to get Schweis out of jail on the Rebecca Pappas murder - real scumbag shit if you ask me.


Frank 'The German' Schweihs - "A Killer, That's All, A Killer of a Girl"

Diane Pappas learned that Chicago isn't Camelot a lifetime ago when a tugboat captain found her sister's murdered body in the Chicago River. Eugenia "Becca" Pappas was only 18.

So last week, 46 years after Becca's death, when Diane heard the German was dead, she knew what to do: Drive out to the cemetery, to Becca's grave in the shade of a giant Norwegian pine, and talk to her little sister. "I'm going to the cemetery right now," Diane said. "I've got to be there. Now I want to tell Becca. The big, tough man. The big killer. The murderer of my sister. The German. The murderer of a girl."

If Frank "The German" Schweihs ever wondered about hell, he's not wondering now. He died last week, at 78, of cancer, waiting to stand federal trial in the Family Secrets case.

The FBI considers him the Babe Ruth of Outfit hit men, with dozens of Outfit victims, mobsters from New York to Los Angeles, murderous bosses and their turncoat business associates. Other hit men were terrified to be near him, even when he was sleeping. A glimpse of the German in Los Angeles, a chance sighting in a car window, frightened Jimmy "The Weasel" Frattiano so much that the mobster ran shrieking into the federal witness protection program.

Schweihs the enforcer was the reason those frail, old men could run things without worrying about ambitious underlings. He's the reason they made fortunes, and a president and mayors and judges.

The list of the German's dead is a history of organized crime in America. Except for Becca Pappas, a beauty, tall, slim, black eyes, black hair. "I know he killed her. I just know. She was in his car. She was driving his car the last time anyone saw her. His car disappeared. Then it was auctioned a month later, totally stripped clean, washed down," Diane said.

Becca's murder was investigated by corrupt Chicago lawman Richard CainThe Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain - Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman. This being Chicago, Schweihs was released without charges. Still, I agree with Diane that Schweihs killed her sister.

Why? Because, as explained to me by mob-watchers and former FBI agents, no man in Chicago, or anywhere else, would have dared approach the German's girlfriend. Not even to say hello. They wouldn't have allowed their brains to think of it. Not one. Schweihs would have skinned them alive with a paring knife.

The German is said to have later shotgunned Cain at Rose's Sandwich Shop. And killed Jimmy "the Bomber" Catuara. Teamsters lawyer Allan Dorfman died in a parking lot, shot in the head with a .22. Joe Testa was blown up in his car. Sam DeStefano's arms were shotgunned off in his garage. Patsy Riccardi, Chucky Nicoletti, the list continues.

The Chicago Outfit's flamboyant Hollywood connection, Johnny Rosselli, was found stuffed into an oil drum, floating at sea. Angelo Boscarino was shotgunned, though his son was later given a piece of the failed Rosemont casino deal.

If I've missed a few names, Schweihs didn't miss.

In the late 1980s, he was held in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center at the same time as Outfit member-turned-federal informant Gerald Scarpelli. The official story is Scarpelli committed suicide. He must have seen the German in the day room and then decided to tie his own feet and hands and choke himself to death with a plastic bag in the shower. The German is also credited with torturing and killing several burglars who dared rob the home of Anthony Accardo.

"He never informed. He killed who they told him to kill. And if he was involved in the killing of that young woman—it sheds an entirely new light on his personality," said FBI Special Agent John Mallul, a supervisor of the Organized Crime Unit. "No criminal ever wanted to see this guy around. Even if they knew that Frank was coming around and knew why, they were still terrified."

Law enforcement says that just about his only friend was Chicago political figure Peter Schivarelli, currently the manager of the rock group Chicago and the former 43rd Ward supervisor of Streets and San. Schivarelli is reputed to have been around Outfit types all his life and is the nephew of late mobster Johnny "The Bug" Varelli.

One night, Schweihs was arrested after fighting with police. "Schivarelli came down to the station trying to get him out, throwing his political clout around, and all hell broke loose," former FBI agent Jack O'Rourke recalled a while back. "It was a madhouse."

"That's not my recollection," Schivarelli said when I tracked him down. He talked on the phone as if I held a subpoena. "But I'd rather not debate it. I'll respectfully decline to comment."

Too bad. I was waiting to hear that the German was kind to tiny children and animals and helped old women cross the street. None of it matters to Becca Pappas' sister. "Schweihs still lived 46 years when he shouldn't have. And people glorify him, and they glorify the mob with their movies and TV shows. But all he was, was a killer. That's all. A killer of a girl."

Gotta love how Dick Cain was in charge of investigating Pappas’ murder, kinda like how Michael Schivarelli was in charge of rooting out ghost payrolls at Streets and San. The Chicago Way, baby.

Cain was in charge of investigating many Outfit cases, but in the end it was one of the cases he also investigated, but was personally involved in the scheme, that brought him down.

[Villain]

Heres one funny story on the Bug Varelli....by the end of 1968, Varelli appeared on a trial together with Daddono and Cain. During the preliminary court hearing regarding the bank robbery, word got out that Varelli tried to hang himself in his prison cell but luckily he failed. So when he entered the court room he was all stressed up, with his eyes wide open, while whispering nonsense. Suddenly, Varelli pulled out a razor blade and tried to cut his neck. I’m not sure if Varelli only made an act just to fool everybody in the courtroom, but if he did than his trick really worked because the judge declared him incompetent to stand trial and sent him to medical prison in Springfield.

After that, during the trial another quite funny moment occurred and that was Cain’s act as his own lawyer. Story goes that Cain couldn’t afford a good lawyer because one year before the trial, Cain had problems with his stature within the Chicago Outfit and his profits from the illegal schemes became limited. But even with his act as man of the law, Cain still failed to accomplish his plan because he and the rest of the defendants were destroyed by the prosecutors and their star witnesses .

Daddano on purpose came to court dressed as a bum, which was in his way showing disregard towards the law, and stood proudly in front of the judge with his hands in his pockets, while waiting for his sentencing