Chicago Outfit Places of Origin

[cavita]

Frank Palmeri was born December 8, 1919 in LaSalle, Illinois to Vincenzo Palmeri and Concetta Palmeri of Sambuca, Sicily. On June 16, 1940 he married Maria Manni in Rockford and her family was from Ferentino, Italy. Palmeri was involved in gambling through his tavern the Sunset Tap and he was questioned in the 1968 gambling and liquor inquiry. Palmeri died March 1, 2011 in Rockford, Illinois.

[B.]

I'm of the opinion Troia was a boss in Illinois given he was the candidate for capo dei capo but didn't serve. When researching San Giuseppe Jato it looked like he was probably acting boss when his cousins (the two preceding bosses who both served as mayor) went into hiding but Mori didn't really make formal distinction between capofamiglia and sostituto. His brother was a doctor and mayor who became boss in the 1940s and the 1920s investigation showed their father and another brother were deeply involved with the local mafia and town politics.

Be curious what Troia's interaction with the Chicago Family was like given he was such an aggressive and powerful member in the rest of Illinois.

[cavita]

I'm of the opinion Troia was a boss in Illinois given he was the candidate for capo dei capo but didn't serve. When researching San Giuseppe Jato it looked like he was probably acting boss when his cousins (the two preceding bosses who both served as mayor) went into hiding but Mori didn't really make formal distinction between capofamiglia and sostituto. His brother was a doctor and mayor who became boss in the 1940s and the 1920s investigation showed their father and another brother were deeply involved with the local mafia and town politics.

Be curious what Troia's interaction with the Chicago Family was like given he was such an aggressive and powerful member in the rest of Illinois.

I'm of the belief that he was possibly the first boss of Springfield or at least helped set up a family there as well as Tony Riela, When Troia and Riela fled Rockford in 1930 they both landed in Springfield and for this reason I fell they were instrumental in helping get that family started before heading on to New Jersey.

[SonnyC]

In the 1930s Catuara was a protege of Jimmy Belcastro, and they both acquired media-given nicknames "the Bomber." Belcastro was from Cosenza, so no (apparent) ancestral connection there. Later, Catuara was reportedly in the Buccieri crew - but other evidence suggests he was with Chicago Heights or Chinatown.

Regarding Ferraro, I never saw anything official reporting that he was with the Chinatown crew before he was promoted to underboss. He probably was, but it's more of a reasonable conjecture on our part. The problem is that sometimes our best guesses are off. Based on the evidence we do have I would stand behind it unless proven otherwise. Whatever the case, it's worth pointing out that one didn't have to head a crew to move up to be second-in-command.

As with Catuara, Ferraro was from the Chinatown neighborhood. But that doesn’t mean he was therefore with the Chinatown crew (and it’s unclear to me if what was there under Roti and Belcastro was necessarily the direct ancestor in formal terms of the later LaPietra Chinatown crew, though I think it probably was). I’d say that along with the Daddono crew, the Southside/Chinatown remains comparatively poorly understood (unlike, say, the Northside where we have a pretty firm understanding that remained the same entity all the way through to Solano, and we have a good genealogy of capos).

Thanks for the reminder about the allegation that Catuara was under Buccieri. Maybe the CI that B posted who had Catuara as working in the West Burbs (albeit under Daddono) wasn’t completely off the mark. My take is that Catuara was probably never formally under one of the Westside crews, but he possibly had some interests with them or in that area at some point.

First let me say I'm amazed at the level of detail and time it must have taken to research all this. Well done!

As far as Catuara goes, when I was in the neighborhood he was spoken of as a higher level boss than Skid. My understanding was he was more aligned with the Heights than with Chinatown though. This was before Angelo was put in that spot. Info comes from people I knew who grew up there. Also, my grandfather worked with/was rivals with his son Carl at the DOT Drivers license facility on Lexington. His clout was obviously his father. My grandfather's was Angelo Fosco. My grandma was his first cousin. The Chicago / Pizzone connection was strong.

[Antiliar]

First let me say I'm amazed at the level of detail and time it must have taken to research all this. Well done!

As far as Catuara goes, when I was in the neighborhood he was spoken of as a higher level boss than Skid. My understanding was he was more aligned with the Heights than with Chinatown though. This was before Angelo was put in that spot. Info comes from people I knew who grew up there. Also, my grandfather worked with/was rivals with his son Carl at the DOT Drivers license facility on Lexington. His clout was obviously his father. My grandfather's was Angelo Fosco. My grandma was his first cousin. The Chicago / Pizzone connection was strong.

Catuara is a mystery that we've been trying to settle for years. The problem is that the FBI files and news reports are contradictory. Skids Caruso was the capo of the Chinatown crew. That's confirmed through multiple sources. He died in 1983, but appears to have retired around 1977 due to his very poor health and lack of rackets in his area and was replaced by Angelo LaPietra, who had been in the Buccieri/Torello crew but grew up in the Bridgeport area. Frank LaPorte was the chief of the Chicago Heights crew until his death in 1972. Some sources have Catuara being Caruso's top lieutenant and others have him as LaPorte's top lieutenant. Sources told the FBI that LaPorte retired in the late 60s and Catuara replaced him, then later info said that LaPorte never retired. When LaPorte died they said Catuara replaced him, but later said that was wrong and Al Pilotto replaced him. According to Red Wemette, Catuara was a capo in Chicago Heights. Some sources say he was a top Chinatown guy who operated in Chicago Heights and was stepping on toes.

Jimmy Catuara didn't live near Chinatown or the Heights. He lived near the Englewood neighborhood close to the South Side in between the two crews. So who did he answer to? Did he answer to LaPorte, Caruso, or to the administration? Like I wrote, the FBI files are contradictory. Most lean to LaPorte.

Often when we look at a crew we can get an idea of what they were. A caporegime normally has several made members under him. Catuara had Guido Fidanzi and Billy Dauber. James Palaggi and Richard Ferrara, both junk yard dealers, were associated with Catuara. None of them were made as far as we know. That suggests to me that he probably wasn't a caporegime. Maybe he just gave off a perception of being a high-ranking guy since he was so aggressive.

[PolackTony]

First let me say I'm amazed at the level of detail and time it must have taken to research all this. Well done!

As far as Catuara goes, when I was in the neighborhood he was spoken of as a higher level boss than Skid. My understanding was he was more aligned with the Heights than with Chinatown though. This was before Angelo was put in that spot. Info comes from people I knew who grew up there. Also, my grandfather worked with/was rivals with his son Carl at the DOT Drivers license facility on Lexington. His clout was obviously his father. My grandfather's was Angelo Fosco. My grandma was his first cousin. The Chicago / Pizzone connection was strong.

Catuara is a mystery that we've been trying to settle for years. The problem is that the FBI files and news reports are contradictory. Skids Caruso was the capo of the Chinatown crew. That's confirmed through multiple sources. He died in 1983, but appears to have retired around 1977 due to his very poor health and lack of rackets in his area and was replaced by Angelo LaPietra, who had been in the Buccieri/Torello crew but grew up in the Bridgeport area. Frank LaPorte was the chief of the Chicago Heights crew until his death in 1972. Some sources have Catuara being Caruso's top lieutenant and others have him as LaPorte's top lieutenant. Sources told the FBI that LaPorte retired in the late 60s and Catuara replaced him, then later info said that LaPorte never retired. When LaPorte died they said Catuara replaced him, but later said that was wrong and Al Pilotto replaced him. According to Red Wemette, Catuara was a capo in Chicago Heights. Some sources say he was a top Chinatown guy who operated in Chicago Heights and was stepping on toes.

Jimmy Catuara didn't live near Chinatown or the Heights. He lived near the Englewood neighborhood close to the South Side in between the two crews. So who did he answer to? Did he answer to LaPorte, Caruso, or to the administration? Like I wrote, the FBI files are contradictory. Most lean to LaPorte.

Often when we look at a crew we can get an idea of what they were. A caporegime normally has several made members under him. Catuara had Guido Fidanzi and Billy Dauber. James Palaggi and Richard Ferrara, both junk yard dealers, were associated with Catuara. None of them were made as far as we know. That suggests to me that he probably wasn't a caporegime. Maybe he just gave off a perception of being a high-ranking guy since he was so aggressive.

I agree that most of what we have for Catuara doesn’t point to him being a capo. Wemette does state that Catuara was a captain but that alone isn’t enough to overturn the other info that we have. While just an associate, Wemette was a personal friend of Catuara and knew him well, which does at least count for something. It’s been a while since I spoke to Wemette about Catuara, but IIRC he told me that he was a capo IN Chicago Heights but not necessarily over the Chicago Heights crew. The impression that he gave me was that he believed Catuara was a capo but didn’t have a real crew of made guys under him.

All that aside, I think a plausible explanation is that Catuara was probably a soldier who thought that the capo position should’ve went to him after LaPorte. When Pilotto got the spot, Catuara was running around acting as if he was a captain anyway, and we all know how that wound up for him. Wemette told me that Catuara was hit after repeatedly refusing to back down on orders from the admin and that the hit was contracted out to Lombardo as “street boss”.

[cavita]

Angelo Buscemi born May 8, 1912 in Aragona, Sicily to Mr. and Mrs. Angelo Buscemi. By the early 1920s the Buscemi family was living in Rockford when Angelo took an arrest for operating a liquor still and carrying ammunition. More liquor arrests followed and he was arrested for liquor running in Lee County at least twice. Buscemi was also charged for robbery and unlawful weapons and he was described in at least one news article as a lieutenant to LCN boss Tony Musso. Buscemi was also suspected in the murder of wealthy Boone County farmer Walton Wheeler on April 13, 1934. Leading up to April 17, 1934 Buscemi was muscling area taverns and forcing them to buy certain types of alcohol for the LCN when he encountered resistance with Louis DalCOllo at his tavern. DalCollo and Buscemi got into a gunfight and Buscemi shot and killed DalCollo in front of his tavern and Buscemi died at the hospital a few days later.

[cavita]

Frank “Frankie Bush” Buscemi was born May 19, 1904 in Aragona, Sicily to Alfonso Buscemi and Maria Vaccarello and soon after birth his family moved to Chicago where they lived until 1913 when they settled in Rockford. Buscemi’s early career was as a boxer where he went under the name Frankie Bush but the lure of easy money with bootlegging caught up to him and he started racking up liquor arrests. Buscemi was sentenced to a year and a day in Leavenworth in 1931 in the large liquor conspiracy trial in Rockford. Upon release he was then arrested along with Frank Correnti and Ted LaFranka for transporting stolen cars to Independence, Louisiana and was sentenced to two years. Later in life Buscemi worked in the construction and siding business and moved to Delray Beach, Florida in 1963. FBI files noted in the 1960s that Rockford LCN boss Joe Zammuto would often visit Buscemi when he would vacation in Hollywood, Florida. Buscemi was also first cousins to Rockford LCN underboss Frank J. Buscemi and Frankie Bush died March 13, 1977 in Delray Beach.

[cavita]

Frank J. Buscemi born December 8, 1911 in Aragona, Sicily to Salvatore Buscemi and Beatrice Seminerio and he immigrated through Ellis Island on November 2, 1926 settling in Brooklyn, New York. By 1930 he was living in Chicago and he married Giovanna DiMaria there in 1934. Buscemi began working as a bookie under capo Jimmie DeGeorge and was arrested on robbery and assault to commit murder and often used the aliases Frank Montana, Frank Bonteno and Ted Evans. Buscemi moved to Rockford in 1959 and was made a Rockford LCN member that year when he participated in the murders of gamblers Joseph Greco and Donald Burton. Buscemi was appointed LCN underboss in 1961 when Gaspare Calo moved back to Sicily. Buscemi was known for his extortion of Rockford businesses and he brought many young Sicilians to Rockford in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was with these Sicilians he imported and distributed narcotics into the Rockford area in the 1980s and Buscemi died December 7, 1987 in Rockford.

[Antiliar]

First let me say I'm amazed at the level of detail and time it must have taken to research all this. Well done!

As far as Catuara goes, when I was in the neighborhood he was spoken of as a higher level boss than Skid. My understanding was he was more aligned with the Heights than with Chinatown though. This was before Angelo was put in that spot. Info comes from people I knew who grew up there. Also, my grandfather worked with/was rivals with his son Carl at the DOT Drivers license facility on Lexington. His clout was obviously his father. My grandfather's was Angelo Fosco. My grandma was his first cousin. The Chicago / Pizzone connection was strong.

Catuara is a mystery that we've been trying to settle for years. The problem is that the FBI files and news reports are contradictory. Skids Caruso was the capo of the Chinatown crew. That's confirmed through multiple sources. He died in 1983, but appears to have retired around 1977 due to his very poor health and lack of rackets in his area and was replaced by Angelo LaPietra, who had been in the Buccieri/Torello crew but grew up in the Bridgeport area. Frank LaPorte was the chief of the Chicago Heights crew until his death in 1972. Some sources have Catuara being Caruso's top lieutenant and others have him as LaPorte's top lieutenant. Sources told the FBI that LaPorte retired in the late 60s and Catuara replaced him, then later info said that LaPorte never retired. When LaPorte died they said Catuara replaced him, but later said that was wrong and Al Pilotto replaced him. According to Red Wemette, Catuara was a capo in Chicago Heights. Some sources say he was a top Chinatown guy who operated in Chicago Heights and was stepping on toes.

Jimmy Catuara didn't live near Chinatown or the Heights. He lived near the Englewood neighborhood close to the South Side in between the two crews. So who did he answer to? Did he answer to LaPorte, Caruso, or to the administration? Like I wrote, the FBI files are contradictory. Most lean to LaPorte.

Often when we look at a crew we can get an idea of what they were. A caporegime normally has several made members under him. Catuara had Guido Fidanzi and Billy Dauber. James Palaggi and Richard Ferrara, both junk yard dealers, were associated with Catuara. None of them were made as far as we know. That suggests to me that he probably wasn't a caporegime. Maybe he just gave off a perception of being a high-ranking guy since he was so aggressive.

I agree that most of what we have for Catuara doesn’t point to him being a capo. Wemette does state that Catuara was a captain but that alone isn’t enough to overturn the other info that we have. While just an associate, Wemette was a personal friend of Catuara and knew him well, which does at least count for something. It’s been a while since I spoke to Wemette about Catuara, but IIRC he told me that he was a capo IN Chicago Heights but not necessarily over the Chicago Heights crew. The impression that he gave me was that he believed Catuara was a capo but didn’t have a real crew of made guys under him.

All that aside, I think a plausible explanation is that Catuara was probably a soldier who thought that the capo position should’ve went to him after LaPorte. When Pilotto got the spot, Catuara was running around acting as if he was a captain anyway, and we all know how that wound up for him. Wemette told me that Catuara was hit after repeatedly refusing to back down on orders from the admin and that the hit was contracted out to Lombardo as “street boss”.

Red posted a short video of himself from a hospital bed. He had a bunch of stitches. Looks like he was attacked by an animal. Whatever happened he didn't say.

Want to post some links to give background to Catuara.

Catuara says that he grew up with Skid Caruso and Frank Ferraro in the same neighborhood:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20catuara

According to a source, Caruso took over territory with Catuara:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20catuara

In 1958 a source said that Catuara was under Caruso, and Pupi Maenza and Angelo LaPietra were muscle:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20catuara

Caruso also controls the South Side and a guy named Jimmy Contrusi collects from the "immediate" South Side for Caruso, but pockets some of the money. Operationally, Caruso kicks up some money to Gus Alex:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... uthside%22

In this document Catuara is associated with the Buccieri group:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20catuara

Here is a theory that Catuara was made the capo of the South Side:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20catuara

Here Al Pilotto and Toots Palermo are lieutenants of Catuara:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20catuara

Catuara takes orders from Phil Alderisio:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20catuara

[PolackTony]

Thanks for putting them all together in one post.

The sum of the available intel suggests that Catuara was a capo of both the Caruso and LaPorte crews as well as a soldier in the Caruso, LaPorte, Daddono, Buccieri, and Battaglia crews, lol.

[Antiliar]

Thanks for putting them all together in one post.

The sum of the available intel suggests that Catuara was a capo of both the Caruso and LaPorte crews as well as a soldier in the Caruso, LaPorte, Daddono, Buccieri, and Battaglia crews, lol.

You forgot the Graziano crew

[PolackTony]

Thanks for putting them all together in one post.

The sum of the available intel suggests that Catuara was a capo of both the Caruso and LaPorte crews as well as a soldier in the Caruso, LaPorte, Daddono, Buccieri, and Battaglia crews, lol.

You forgot the Graziano crew

Lol.

It’s a great case to illustrate how much we still don’t fully understand about Chicago. Even with a guy as notorious as Catuara, we aren’t sure not only of his rank but even exactly which crew he was in.

First let me say I'm amazed at the level of detail and time it must have taken to research all this. Well done!

As far as Catuara goes, when I was in the neighborhood he was spoken of as a higher level boss than Skid. My understanding was he was more aligned with the Heights than with Chinatown though. This was before Angelo was put in that spot. Info comes from people I knew who grew up there. Also, my grandfather worked with/was rivals with his son Carl at the DOT Drivers license facility on Lexington. His clout was obviously his father. My grandfather's was Angelo Fosco. My grandma was his first cousin. The Chicago / Pizzone connection was strong.

Thanks for comments. Always interesting for me to understand how people in the neighborhood saw a guy like Catuara. Even if he was seen as a bigger deal than Skid Caruso, doesn’t mean that in the formal hierarchy he outranked him or was even at the same level (capo). Alderisio is a great example, as people used to think that he was not only a capo but boss, though after reviewing the available evidence we see that there’s nothing to support him holding a rank above soldier.

Agreed on Pizzone. You may already have some insight into this given your family background, but their strong connections to organized labor and hence to city government departments goes all the way back to the D’Andreas (Nick and Joe D’Andrea, from Pizzone, obviously unrelated to the Sicilian D’Andreas). Apart from the Foscos and D’Andreas, I have the Matassas, Tony Centracchio, and Al Tocco as being of Molisano heritage. Must’ve been all the hot pepperoncin’ that got them all fired up, lol.

Red posted a short video of himself from a hospital bed. He had a bunch of stitches. Looks like he was attacked by an animal. Whatever happened he didn't say.

Rumor is that he was mauled by Porky Poradyla.

[B.]

Joe Profaci's relative he arrived to in Chicago was Giuseppe Provenzano (cousin but never seen that name in the family tree).

Tom Hunt ID'd these as more distant relatives of Profaci in Chicago / Milwaukee:

Zarcone
LoCascio

Doesn't say exactly which were in Chicago vs. Milwaukee.

He said the Milwaukee Family Zarcones were a "branch" of the Profaci Zarcones but they were from Santa Flavia while Hunt lists Profaci's Zarcone relatives as Villabatesi. The towns aren't far from each other so maybe there is an extended relation. Ex-Chicago Milwaukee captain Michele Mineo was related to the Milwaukee Zarcones. Early NYC figure Giovanni Zarcone was from Bagheria like the Milwaukee ones.

[cavita]

Lorenzo Buttice was born March 4, 1892 in Aragona, Sicily to Biagio Buttice and Giuseppa Russo. Buttice immigrated through Ellis Island on October 20, 1912 and immediately settled in Rockford where he married Giuseppa Russo on October 1, 1916. Her parents were Calogero and Anna Russo of Aragona, Sicily. Buttice was an early Rockford LCN member eventually attaining the position of capo which he retired that position in 1966 and he died October 3, 1967 in Rockford, Illinois.