Nicky Slim's testimony about his 1983 induction ceremony

[Antiliar]

St. Vincent's Church in River Forest.

Oh wow. Given the location, one would assume this involved an oath at least, if not a full ceremony, rather than Cerone just being told: "you're in". Has Mags ever given you his take on the ceremony question?

No, he wasn't comfortable talking about that.

[PolackTony]

St. Vincent's Church in River Forest.

Oh wow. Given the location, one would assume this involved an oath at least, if not a full ceremony, rather than Cerone just being told: "you're in". Has Mags ever given you his take on the ceremony question?

No, he wasn't comfortable talking about that.

Yeah, not surprising! Though I'd ask anyway.

[funkster]

St. Vincent's Church in River Forest.

Oh wow. Given the location, one would assume this involved an oath at least, if not a full ceremony, rather than Cerone just being told: "you're in". Has Mags ever given you his take on the ceremony question?

No, he wasn't comfortable talking about that.

That's interesting.

[Snakes]

St. Vincent's Church in River Forest.

Oh wow. Given the location, one would assume this involved an oath at least, if not a full ceremony, rather than Cerone just being told: "you're in". Has Mags ever given you his take on the ceremony question?

No, he wasn't comfortable talking about that.

That's interesting.

I'm wondering if there are guys out there that could still hurt him should they feel he reveals too much.

[PolackTony]

St. Vincent's Church in River Forest.

Oh wow. Given the location, one would assume this involved an oath at least, if not a full ceremony, rather than Cerone just being told: "you're in". Has Mags ever given you his take on the ceremony question?

No, he wasn't comfortable talking about that.

That's interesting.

I'm wondering if there are guys out there that could still hurt him should they feel he reveals too much.

IIRC, there was one show with Fosco where the subject of Vena came up and Mags looked like he saw a ghost and shut it down quick.

My feeling is that Mags was allowed to do the shows so long as he only stuck to stories about guys from the old days who were dead, of course. I’m sure there are lines he won’t cross and the ceremony stuff might be one.

[chin_gigante]

He touches on that in this interview:

JF: Are you worried that something will happen to you?

MM: Yes, but I will be okay. I know who their killers are. I know who to look for and who to avoid.

JF: Who are you going to be on the lookout for?

MM: Alby, Gary Gags, Porky, Bobby Abbinanti and a couple of others.

https://www.americannewspost.com/joseph ... agnafichi/

[PolackTony]

He touches on that in this interview:

JF: Are you worried that something will happen to you?

MM: Yes, but I will be okay. I know who their killers are. I know who to look for and who to avoid.

JF: Who are you going to be on the lookout for?

MM: Alby, Gary Gags, Porky, Bobby Abbinanti and a couple of others.

https://www.americannewspost.com/joseph ... agnafichi/

Thanks, I had forgotten about this interview, which was pretty hilarious also. Towards the end, Mags states that he won’t discuss Chuckie Russell either, who he describes as a “nut”.

Amazing that even at his advanced age Mags apparently still thought Porky was someone to watch out for.

[Tonyd621]

I remember reading an article back a few yrs ago from Burnstein that Nicky Slim was in Chicago back in the area at all the local hangouts having drinks and such.
I wonder what it's like living like that

[funkster]

He touches on that in this interview:

JF: Are you worried that something will happen to you?

MM: Yes, but I will be okay. I know who their killers are. I know who to look for and who to avoid.

JF: Who are you going to be on the lookout for?

MM: Alby, Gary Gags, Porky, Bobby Abbinanti and a couple of others.

https://www.americannewspost.com/joseph ... agnafichi/

I was going to say, I distinctly remember him saying Gary Gags.

FWIW, Abbinanti's name has also been thrown around along with Dote as being top Elmwood guys.

[B.]

St. Vincent's Church in River Forest.

Oh wow. Given the location, one would assume this involved an oath at least, if not a full ceremony, rather than Cerone just being told: "you're in". Has Mags ever given you his take on the ceremony question?

Wasn't an induction ceremony also the ruse used to lure the Spilotros to their death? Another indication it wasn't totally foreign to hold formal ceremonies. Their death came after the 1983 ceremony so they were definitely doing ceremonies by then, but it must not have been too exceptional if it was used to catch the Spilotros off guard.

[Snakes]

St. Vincent's Church in River Forest.

Oh wow. Given the location, one would assume this involved an oath at least, if not a full ceremony, rather than Cerone just being told: "you're in". Has Mags ever given you his take on the ceremony question?

Wasn't an induction ceremony also the ruse used to lure the Spilotros to their death? Another indication it wasn't totally foreign to hold formal ceremonies. Their death came after the 1983 ceremony so they were definitely doing ceremonies by then, but it must not have been too exceptional if it was used to catch the Spilotros off guard.

I think the ruse was to make Michael and promote Tony to capo of Grand Avenue (which was odd, considering he probably would have gone to prison not too long after Aiuppa and Cerone). Pretty sure they saw through it, as Michael left his jewelry with his wife before leaving.

[Old Schooled]

Im confused as to what some of you are speaking about, with regards to the Outfit going back to normal inductions. Paul the fan boy citizen lawyer is telling people that the Outfit had blood inducted irish and italian Amico Nostra...where do these guys come from....Cosa Nostra is Cosa Nostra...why would be Chicago be any different? This same guy is telling people that the outfit had 2 bosses lol....theres no such thing as 2 Representante's in a Cosa Nostra Family....thats why when theres no boss they put a 3 man panel...if theres 2 and you want to whack a guy and i dont...how we gonna break the tie...what are we gonna do..poll the skippers lol...Cosa Nostra is a dictatorship not a democracy

[Old Schooled]

Irish & Jewish*

[Snakes]

Im confused as to what some of you are speaking about, with regards to the Outfit going back to normal inductions. Paul the fan boy citizen lawyer is telling people that the Outfit had blood inducted irish and italian Amico Nostra...where do these guys come from....Cosa Nostra is Cosa Nostra...why would be Chicago be any different? This same guy is telling people that the outfit had 2 bosses lol....theres no such thing as 2 Representante's in a Cosa Nostra Family....thats why when theres no boss they put a 3 man panel...if theres 2 and you want to whack a guy and i dont...how we gonna break the tie...what are we gonna do..poll the skippers lol...Cosa Nostra is a dictatorship not a democracy

"Normal" or "traditional" as in finger pricking, burning holy card, etc. Even some of the New York families didn't use these things in induction ceremonies. Chicago never inducted anyone but Italians (maybe a few like Marcello who were Italian on the father's side -- New York also did this). Who is "Paul the fan boy citizen lawyer?"

[PolackTony]

Im confused as to what some of you are speaking about, with regards to the Outfit going back to normal inductions. Paul the fan boy citizen lawyer is telling people that the Outfit had blood inducted irish and italian Amico Nostra...where do these guys come from....Cosa Nostra is Cosa Nostra...why would be Chicago be any different? This same guy is telling people that the outfit had 2 bosses lol....theres no such thing as 2 Representante's in a Cosa Nostra Family....thats why when theres no boss they put a 3 man panel...if theres 2 and you want to whack a guy and i dont...how we gonna break the tie...what are we gonna do..poll the skippers lol...Cosa Nostra is a dictatorship not a democracy

"Normal" or "traditional" as in finger pricking, burning holy card, etc. Even some of the New York families didn't use these things in induction ceremonies. Chicago never inducted anyone but Italians (maybe a few like Marcello who were Italian on the father's side -- New York also did this). Who is "Paul the fan boy citizen lawyer?"

Yeah, I have no idea who “Paul” is but it shouldn’t even have to be said at this point that Chicago never inducted any non-Itals. Even Gus Alex had to content himself with being “King of the Greeks”. Jimmy Marcello may be the only 100% confirmed “mezzo”-Ital that Chicago ever inducted, so far as I’m aware. And with Marcello, he was raised from a young age by his Italian step-mother (Mickey’s mom), who on her obituary was listed as Jimmy’s mother, so people may have simply thought that Jimmy was full Ital.

And apart from one apparently confused CI during the leadership crisis in the early 70s, there is absolutely no evidence that Chicago ever had two simultaneous official bosses (as in official rappresentanti, not the sort of behind the scenes power that Ricca and Accardo exercised).

Looks like the old tradition of people spreading weird myths about Chicago is still going.

On the question of democracy, there absolutely were families that “polled the skippers” when making major decisions like clipping a member. Chicago seems to have been among the many US families that retained a council system to advise the boss and reach consensus on matters of importance to the family. At least for most of its history, it wasn’t a dictatorship, and the boss didn’t simply have free reign to do whatever he wanted.