General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[Antiliar]

This 1977 New York Times piece by Nicholas Gage reports that Chuck Nicoletti was an informant: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/02/arch ... i-fbi.html

[Patrickgold]

This 1977 New York Times piece by Nicholas Gage reports that Chuck Nicoletti was an informant: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/02/arch ... i-fbi.html

That’s interesting but not credible in my opinion. Roemer wrote that they tried to flip him without success. He was FBI so I don’t see any reason he would lie about it. I guess it could be possible that he was an informant to the local law enforcement but doubt that since much of local law enforcement was corrupted in that time.

[Antiliar]

In this article it calls Nicoletti a suspected mob informant: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/01/23 ... 506840400/

[PolackTony]

This 1977 New York Times piece by Nicholas Gage reports that Chuck Nicoletti was an informant: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/02/arch ... i-fbi.html

It’s an interesting article. I wonder what source Gage had for the claim that Nicoletti was an FBI informant. My reading of it is that it possibly implies, but doesn’t explicitly state, that Nicoletti was killed with the same model .22 as Bomp and some other CIs. Was Nicoletti killed with a .22?

Nicoletti — according to other CI intel — had been locked out of some of his rackets by the Outfit and saw his businesses dry up. With the Giancana hit on top of that, he would’ve had plenty of motivation to inform, so I think it’s fully plausible that he did.

[Patrickgold]

Could have been a dry snitch like so many mobsters. Some of the most vicious guys like Leo Rugendorf did that. I just figured if he was an FBI informant, Roemer would have said he was

[Snakes]

I still have my doubts but I respect Antiliar's judgment. I personally interpret the articles as Aiuppa having Nicoletti killed because he believed he was an informant and then Gage ran with that and just assumed that Nicoletti *was* an informant. Get on the case, Ed!

[Antiliar]

I put in a new FOIA request for his file. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be released now.

[Ed]

A great read. Seems plausible. I tend to believe it since the article contains confidential information about other sources, which have proven accurate. Gage had great source(s) for the piece.

In my opinion, Roemer and the FBI have an incentive to deny a murdered CI was an informer because it's embarrassing and suggests institutional incompetency.

IIRC, the rumour about Nicoletti being killed over an incident in Milwaukee was attributable to a federal agent misquoting something Frank Rosenthal (Achilles) told them.

Snakes, I'll do my best! We need the release of more FBI files with informant symbol codes intact.

[PolackTony]

A great read. Seems plausible. I tend to believe it since the article contains confidential information about other sources, which have proven accurate. Gage had great source(s) for the piece.

In my opinion, Roemer and the FBI have an incentive to deny a murdered CI was an informer because it's embarrassing and suggests institutional incompetency.

Agreed. I think that Nicoletti was probably more than disgruntled and marginalized enough by this period to have reason to cooperate. And if Gage is right, that the FBI was very concerned that they had an LCN mole in their ranks that led to a wave of hits on informants, then the FBI being reticent to disclose Nicoletti’s status (if he were cooperating, of course) would make plenty of sense.

Another guy from this period who I wonder about was Ned Bakes/Ignace Spachese. I haven’t seen anything suggesting that he was informing, but he was in repeated legal hot water (stock scams) during the 70s before he was killed, so he was someone that may have had the motive or opportunity to cooperate. If you ever see anything that could suggest that he was playing the other side, let me know.

[Antiliar]

Frank Cullotta claimed that Nicoletti told him he was in trouble for killing Ned Bakes and was killed in retaliation shortly afterward. Maybe Nicoletti was involved with Bakes's death, but the timeline doesn't support that Nicoletti was killed in response. Bakes was shot to death on or about November 29, 1975, and Nicoletti was killed the same way on March 29, 1977 - almost a year and a half later. In the early 1970s Nicoletti was one of the guys running Melrose Park and was a top advisor to Joe Aiuppa while Jack Cerone was still serving time in prison. He probably was in line to succeed Sam Battaglia when he died in September 1973, but he apparently did something to lose face to Tony Accardo, leading him to pick Joe Lombardo. If Nicoletti killed Bakes, a longtime friend of the late Paul Ricca, without permission he could have signed his death warrant. However, there's that nearly 1 1/2 year gap again. Maybe he was just punished by being shelved, isolated, and taken his income away from him. That would have made him ripe to start talking to the G. It's speculation, but it's plausible.

[SolarSolano]

Was Ned Bakes killed over stolen securities that Nicoletti did not get a cut from? Bakes is an interesting figure - I've read he was a prime suspect in the Busy Siegel murder.

[PolackTony]

Was Ned Bakes killed over stolen securities that Nicoletti did not get a cut from? Bakes is an interesting figure - I've read he was a prime suspect in the Busy Siegel murder.

Here’s a post on Bakes that I wrote up on another thread, he was a very interesting figure:
viewtopic.php?p=191935#p191935

Him being close to Ricca makes perfect sense in terms of the history, given Bakes’ deep connections to the Taylor St “family”. I suspect that Bakes’ father Charles Bakes/Calogero Spacchese, from Termini Imerese, was himself a “man of honor” or at least an associate. Charles Bakes was murdered in Joe Esposito’s bar. Ned Bakes went on to marry Rose Pellegrino, whose family was from Marsala, potentially indicating a connection to the Genna faction. Another Bakes relative married one of the Serritellas. I think that the Bakes family may serve to exemplify the early and close intertwining of the Sicilian mafia with their Napuletan’/Riciglianese counterparts in the Taylor St community.

[SolarSolano]

Anyone know if this is Gary Gagliano in the last photo on the bottom - fat bald guy in white posing for the photo. I've never seen a photo of him, so cannot say for sure but I believe the family did own Lukes:

https://www.viennabeef.com/news-recipes ... l-of-fame/

[Snakes]

Anyone know if this is Gary Gagliano in the last photo on the bottom - fat bald guy in white posing for the photo. I've never seen a photo of him, so cannot say for sure but I believe the family did own Lukes:

https://www.viennabeef.com/news-recipes ... l-of-fame/

I've seen a couple older photos of him, but it doesn't look like him. The closest photo I've seen is probably 20-30 years prior to this, though. The guys on the far left and right definitely aren't. His wife is Roseanna, the current owner, who is second from the right. She is considerably younger than he is -- like 20 years younger.

[SolarSolano]

Anyone know if this is Gary Gagliano in the last photo on the bottom - fat bald guy in white posing for the photo. I've never seen a photo of him, so cannot say for sure but I believe the family did own Lukes:

https://www.viennabeef.com/news-recipes ... l-of-fame/

I've seen a couple older photos of him, but it doesn't look like him. The closest photo I've seen is probably 20-30 years prior to this, though. The guys on the far left and right definitely aren't. His wife is Roseanna, the current owner, who is second from the right. She is considerably younger than he is -- like 20 years younger.

I've been told Gary is a spitting image of his father and uncle Joe Gags. That just looked like Joe Gags to me and I do know Roseanna is his wife and a Greek immigrant if I'm not mistaken. I could be wrong and I would trust your word.