General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[PolackTony]

Never noticed that about Maniaci's induction. They'd be another one of the traditional Sicilian style Families who stopped using the ceremony.

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Was looking something up and saw that early KC boss Paolo DiGiovanni lived in Chicago before he went to Kansas City.

- Paolo DiGiovanni's 1906 naturalization in Chicago was witnessed by Giuseppe DiGeorge and Nick Buccola. DiGiovanni arrived to the US in 1900 with an Alfonso DiGiorgi from Burgio. DiGiovanni was arriving to New Orleans while DiGiorgi was going to NYC -- seems likely DiGiorgi is connected to DiGiovanni's friend "DiGeorge" in Chicago. DiGiovanni's Family in KC had important people from Burgio, like Ferrantelli who Nick Gentile talked about.

- DiGiovanni was still in Chicago through 1913, when a daughter was born. He was in Kansas City by 1917. He was at or around 40 years old when he left Chicago and quickly became KC boss so I think we can safely say DiGiovanni was an early Chicago member. This also makes two members that left Chicago and quickly became Missouri bosses -- DiGiovanni of KC and Pasquale Miceli of St. Louis. Miceli was from Burgio so he was likely no stranger to DiGiovanni.

- DiGiovanni's hometown Chiusa Sclafani forms a triangle with Burgio and Palazzo Adriano. There's documentation showing Paolo DiGiovanni was well-acquainted with guys from Burgio in Sicily, Chicago, and Kansas City. It seems equally likely he'd have known mafiosi from Palazzo Adriano -- the DiGiovannis / DeJohns of Chicago come to mind. Hard to imagine these two mafia clans named DiGiovanni from neighboring villages weren't familiar with one another in the midwest, assuming there's not a relation somewhere.

- DeRose said along with Nick DeJohn being part of the rebel faction in the Cheese War, the rebels had support from Chicago Heights and Kansas City. Sam DiGiovanni seems like a likely participant in the Heights but you have to wonder who in Kansas City may have been involved. With the KC DiGiovannis having history with Chicago that's one possible connection.

Great info on Paolo DiGiovanni. We’ve probably talked about it before, but I’ve suspected, based on DeRose’s claim, that the DiGiovannis in the Northside, the Heights, and KC may have all been linked to the 1940s conflict. Finding out that DiGiovanni had close personal ties to Burgitani adds another potential layer to these likely connections. Not that those ties are surprising or unexpected in the least, as Chiusa Sclafani directly borders Burgio (as it does Palazzo as well).

Some notes to consider.

Nicola DiGiovanni of the Heights (Sam’s brother; ID’d by the Feds as a member) was married to a woman, Martha Bullaro, whose family relocated from downstate Williamson County to Little Sicily; her mother was a Miceli from Burgio (Martha’s brother John Bullaro died in Colorado Springs in 1931, not sure if whacked).

Phil Bacino’s father, Giovanni Bacino, was born in Burgio to Burgitani parents. Giovanni’s paternal grandmother was an Antonina Miceli from Burgio.

There were DiGiorgio/DeGeorges in Chicago from Chiusa Sclafani. Worth noting that a Nicolà DiGiorgio, born 1895 in Chiusa Sclafani, lived on Wabansia near Wolcott in the Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood on Chicago’s Near NW side in 1917. This was in the immediate vicinity of the “home base” of the LoLordos and (Riberesi) DeGeorges (and paesani the Dianas and D’Angelos) at North Ave and Wolcott. While there may have been no kinship connection (the DiGiorgio surname could be coincidence, as Jim DeGeorge’s ancestry was all from Ribera), it can be assumed that these Riberesi at least had social ties to some Chiusesi. That they had ties to Burgitani (which one would predict anyway, apart from Bacino’s direct Burgio ancestry), is indicated by the fact that Jim DeGeorge, his brother Calogero (who for all we know was an old time Chicago member; he died in ‘95), and Patsy LoLordo were suspects in the 1922 murder of roommate Vito Fondanetta, of Burgio, at North Ave and Wolcott.

[lennert]

All the DiGiovannis in early Chicago are a big headache to research… Nevertheless, pretty interesting…

Not only KC’s Paul DiGiovanni, but also his brothers Vincent and Pietro lived there for a while. A sister, Antonina, also lived in Chicago during this period. In 1913 she stood trial there for murdering her husband Pete Musso in December of the previous year. Linked to the Musso case was the murder of Peter Noto, who it was believed had an affair with Mrs. Musso and was shot to death a year after Musso. Pietro DiGiovanni’s wife acted as a defense witness during Antonina’s trial.

Vincenzo DiGiovanni married his niece in Chicago, the daughter of Liborio DiGiovanni, who was a brother of Salvatore, who of course was the father of the KC DiGiovannis. Frances figured in another murder case, that of Rosa Ciro, said to be a cousin.

A brother of Frances, Peter (born Crispino) shot dead the two Migliaccio, or Nigliaccio brothers in 1913 (apparently it was a busy year for the DiGiovannis.) The Migliaccio brothers were shot by Crispino during a card game at the saloon of Vito Barone, in which Paul and Pietro were also players. Crispino was murdered in 1915. Barone, of course, was named as a friend of Rosario Dispenza.

Still haven’t figured out who Vita DiGiovanni was, who was shot and wounded on the same day as Vito Barone…

Vito Barone, by the way, was the godfather of Nick DeJohn’s brother Tony.

As far as I could find, the KC DiGiovannis and the DeJohns were not directly related (at least not going back three generations) But they certainly moved around innthe same circles.

[B.]

Great work all around, Lennert. Incredible info on these connections.

Did you confirm where Vito Barone was from? When we looked into him a while back it looked like Palermo province but I don't think anything definitive surfaced.

[PolackTony]

Great work all around, Lennert. Incredible info on these connections.

Did you confirm where Vito Barone was from? When we looked into him a while back it looked like Palermo province but I don't think anything definitive surfaced.

+1 for Lennert’s work here. Glad to have his input on these early Chicago people.

Yeah, we had discussed Vito Barone before and couldn’t find anything 100% conclusive, IIRC, though Ciminna is probably the best bet. Newspaper accounts described a “Vietro Barone” as a top lieutenant to Catalanotto, and a Vito Barone as one of the top underworld figures in Little Sicily. The Little Sicily address given in the Tribune for Vito Barone corresponded to one confirmed for a Giuseppe Barone of Ciminna; likely either this was an alternate name for Vito or a relative. There was, however, a Vito Barone whose brother Giovanni was confirmed as from Càccamo, and a number of Barones from Altavilla Milicia in Little Sicily.

[B.]

Barone was described as the right hand man of Pietro Catalanotto, who may have been the interim boss between Dispenza and D'Andrea. Catalanotto coming from Villafranca Sicula, which is basically Burgio, puts him in close proximity with all of these people from Chiusa and Palazzo. Sam DiGiovanni having lived in Colorado where Burgio was prominent shows these patterns played out in other areas of the US too.

Interesting too Paolo DiGiovanni left Chicago during the period when Dispenza and then Catalanotto were killed.

[PolackTony]

Barone was described as the right hand man of Pietro Catalanotto, who may have been the interim boss between Dispenza and D'Andrea. Catalanotto coming from Villafranca Sicula, which is basically Burgio, puts him in close proximity with all of these people from Chiusa and Palazzo. Sam DiGiovanni having lived in Colorado where Burgio was prominent shows these patterns played out in other areas of the US too.

Interesting too Paolo DiGiovanni left Chicago during the period when Dispenza and then Catalanotto were killed.

Agreed that Catalonotto was an important figure who we only just very recently really identified. Good chance that he was rappresentante, I think, whether official or acting. Following in the heels of Dispenza’s execution, would make sense that Catalanotto might have had Barone (if not Cimminese, at least very likely from another “Triangle” comune) as a possible sottocapo. For all we know, these guys back then may have balanced out the admin of the family by paesani faction (e.g., here an Agrigentino with a guy from the Palermo “Triangle”). Just speculation, but it could have been something that would’ve made sense in a family with distinct networks that could give rise to blocs or factionalism.

Agreed also that the time period of Paolo leaving Chicago may be related to the serious events occurring at that time in the Chicago mafia. With the KC DiGiovannis in mind, it’s worth recalling that it was a guy of Chiusese/Altavillese parentage who murked Catalanotto:

In 1915 Angelina Locascio was murdered in revenge for her son killing Pietro Catalanotto. She was actually Antonia Locascio, born in 1864 and married to Carlo Locascio (1849-1932), who may have been from Chiusa Sclafani. Her maiden name was Loverde, which obviously brings to mind Toto Loverde. A Santo Loverde, who could have been Antonia's younger brother, witnessed Carlo's petition for naturalization (which was denied). He was born in 1877 in Altavilla Milicia.

Great find. This was a wild story, Antonina shot up over her son Michele LoCascio killing Pietro "The Silver King" Catalanotto. Catalanotto must've been a big man, given the way the Trib described him and that he was 65 when he was murdered.

Michele LoCascio apparently made it through all of this just fine. I have him as marrying an Eva Bellavia and in 1940 they lived in Humboldt Park; he was working for the City. He died in 1947.

In my info, I also have Pietro's daughter Mariantonia Catalanotto as marrying a Giuseppe LoCascio, born in Chiusa Sclafani, who may have been Michele's brother. If so, they must've had some great family get-togethers.

[B.]

Whoa yeah, definitely further indication Chiusa Sclafani was tied to Catalanotto and part of the early Chicago Family.

Also Lennert mentioning that Vito Barone was godfather to Nick DeJohn's brother -- further indication Giovanni DeJohn was important. Took over D'Andrea's position with the union, his wife's naturalization witnessed by Mike Merlo and Solly D's relative, then his son's godfather was the possible second-in-command of the Chicago mafia circa mid-1910s.

[PolackTony]

Whoa yeah, definitely further indication Chiusa Sclafani was tied to Catalanotto and part of the early Chicago Family.

Yup. Michele LoCascio, for all we know, could also very well have been a low-key Sicilian member until his death in 1947; the fact that he worked for the City is at least consistent with a guy with connections. His family also points to links between Chiusa and Altavilla back in Sicily. While links between Chiusa and both Palazzo and Burgio/Villafranca are completely expected, there may have also been a deeper history of connection between that area of inland Palermo province and the “Triangle”. Already by the 1830s, there was evidence of criminal cooperation (a sheep rustling ring) between Corleone, Bagheria, and Tèrmini. Later in the 1800s, the term “fratuzzi” was recorded for a secretive criminal “sect” in Atavilla Milicia, same as in Bagheria and Corleone. Corleone/Palazzo/Chiusa served as a lynchpin in Chicago connecting to both the Palermo and Western AG “Triangles”, I suspect.

Also Lennert mentioning that Vito Barone was godfather to Nick DeJohn's brother -- further indication Giovanni DeJohn was important. Took over D'Andrea's position with the union, his wife's naturalization witnessed by Mike Merlo and Solly D's relative, then his son's godfather was the possible second-in-command of the Chicago mafia circa mid-1910s.

Absolutely; Lennert’s confirmation of that particular cumpari connection is important. Tangential, but on top of Joe Esposito being a mafia member, the DeLaurentis connection here goes to really underscore how close some of these Napolitani were to core mafia circles at the time. Solly D doesn’t have a drop of Sicilian blood in him but is as much from a hardcore mafia lineage at this point as almost any Sicilian, for all intents and purposes.

[lennert]

Never been able to figure out Barone’s place of birth. He was the brother of John, with whom he operated the Saloon where the Migliaccios were shot. So if John was from Caccamo, I guess Vito was also.

The only Vito Barone matching the Chicago fellow’s age born in Ciminna lived in NYC, and looks to have never livid in Chicago. The mentioning of Barone’s age by the media (32 in 1914) could of course be wrong though.

Vito Barone appears to have disappeared from vieuw shortly after the Catalonotte murder…

[Patrickgold]

We don't have a thread for Milwaukee; for comparative purposes considering the topic, it makes sense to post here anyway.

In 1963, Maniaci told the Feds that there was no oath or ritual involved in being made into the Milwaukee outfit; rather, a guy was made at an informal party. Interestingly, Maniaci also claimed that one had to be of Sicilian descent to hold a leadership position within the family. When MPD revealed after the Valachi hearings aired that they had possession of intel stating that the traditional mafia induction ceremony was done in Milwaukee, Maniaci denied this to the FBI, telling them that he was not aware that this was practiced there and that he had undergone no ritual initiation when he was made.






Unlike some of the earlier Chicago CIs (who may have used "membership" to refer to associates who belonged to outfit crews), there is no question here that Maniaci is referring to being made into cosa nostra. So, either he was being deceptive, or so far as he knew, Milwaukee not only didn't do the blood-and-fire, they didn't even do a formal oath (such as Teddy DeRose stated was done in Chicago, or that the DeCavs were doing in the 70s).

Interesting that a heavily Sicilian LCN family would shun the ceremonies. Usually the opposite. I think Milwaukee was very much set up like the Outfit. Actual made members were almost always in a leadership position or a top earner. The work force consists of mostly associates and non made members. I think Milwaukee definitely had a recruitment problem. Balistrieri told Donnie Brasco that they needed some young blood to fill in the ranks because all the current members were old. and that is why those New Yorkers were invited to work with them.

Also, I know there has been talk about the Outfit ceremony before and that some people think that there was always a ceremony while others think that it started in the 70s. I am under the belief that there was none until the 70s or it stopped sometime in the 40s or 50s and restarted in the 70s. Roemer had top CIs including Butch Blasi supposedly and I think Roemer would have known. Include that with the bug they had unless Blasi purposely mislead Roemer like he did with the Giancana hit.

Question for Cavita, Im almost positive Rockford did the ceremony bc of the heavy Sicilian influence including having actual mafia members from Sicily in their organization. Is there any evidence that they did or did not do the ceremony? Considering they were heavily Sicilian I would think yes but after seeing this Milwaukee file who knows.

[PolackTony]

We don't have a thread for Milwaukee; for comparative purposes considering the topic, it makes sense to post here anyway.

In 1963, Maniaci told the Feds that there was no oath or ritual involved in being made into the Milwaukee outfit; rather, a guy was made at an informal party. Interestingly, Maniaci also claimed that one had to be of Sicilian descent to hold a leadership position within the family. When MPD revealed after the Valachi hearings aired that they had possession of intel stating that the traditional mafia induction ceremony was done in Milwaukee, Maniaci denied this to the FBI, telling them that he was not aware that this was practiced there and that he had undergone no ritual initiation when he was made.






Unlike some of the earlier Chicago CIs (who may have used "membership" to refer to associates who belonged to outfit crews), there is no question here that Maniaci is referring to being made into cosa nostra. So, either he was being deceptive, or so far as he knew, Milwaukee not only didn't do the blood-and-fire, they didn't even do a formal oath (such as Teddy DeRose stated was done in Chicago, or that the DeCavs were doing in the 70s).

Interesting that a heavily Sicilian LCN family would shun the ceremonies. Usually the opposite. I think Milwaukee was very much set up like the Outfit. Actual made members were almost always in a leadership position or a top earner. The work force consists of mostly associates and non made members. I think Milwaukee definitely had a recruitment problem. Balistrieri told Donnie Brasco that they needed some young blood to fill in the ranks because all the current members were old. and that is why those New Yorkers were invited to work with them.

Also, I know there has been talk about the Outfit ceremony before and that some people think that there was always a ceremony while others think that it started in the 70s. I am under the belief that there was none until the 70s or it stopped sometime in the 40s or 50s and restarted in the 70s. Roemer had top CIs including Butch Blasi supposedly and I think Roemer would have known. Include that with the bug they had unless Blasi purposely mislead Roemer like he did with the Giancana hit.

Question for Cavita, Im almost positive Rockford did the ceremony bc of the heavy Sicilian influence including having actual mafia members from Sicily in their organization. Is there any evidence that they did or did not do the ceremony? Considering they were heavily Sicilian I would think yes but after seeing this Milwaukee file who knows.

Some of the Sicilians could be a lot laxer about the traditional aspects of initiation than one might expect. Philly boss John Stanfa, who was from Caccamo and had close relatives who were important mafiosi there, burned tissue paper instead of a saint's image at a ceremony and inducted John friggin' Veasey. The DeCavs, who were heavily Sicilian, with close ties to Ribera and with a number of zips from there in their circle, were inducting guys with a verbal-only ceremony in the 1970s (the great irony here being that Napolitan'-American Gotti then forced all of those guys to later be re-inducted using the full ceremony). The Bonannos seem to have intermittently used verbal-only inductions for some time. Indeed, the Bonanno Knickerbocker Ave zip faction was inducting guys without the full ceremony. Guys who were Sicilian weren't always super strict about these things, clearly. When families didn't use the full ceremony, it was likely less a rejection of the symbolism, or whatever, but rather due to laziness, expediency, desire to minimize exposure to LE, etc. If Chicago didn't use the full ceremony for a period, we can't assume that they therefore explicitly rejected it or didn't care for it.

I'm also hoping that Cavita can weigh in on Rockford, as that's something I've been wondering about as well. I'm also uncertain as to whether any info exists regarding KC's initiations.

For Chicago, I have reason to believe they used a ceremony of some sort in the 30s. We know that they absolutely used the full traditional ceremony in the 80s. Information for the intervening period is mixed and poor. With Blasi, hard to say how forthcoming he would have been about this with Roemer. We've seen instances of CIs in other families who definitely seem to have been cagey or reluctant to admit to or discuss the making ceremony, and it could have been the case with some of these Chicago guys. CIs are, of course, not under oath and not compelled to divulge any info that they don't want to. Other FBI intel on this question could be problematic, in that it may have been unclear to CIs what the FBI may have meant by "membership". We know that years later Duke Basile described himself repeatedly as a "member of the Outfit", and he was not a made guy. So, some of the intel that there was no ritual attendant to becoming a member could be referring to when an associate was put under an Outfit crew. In those cases, I'd really like to be able to see a transcript of what the informants actually said and what questions they were responding to, rather than an FBI summary report of their information.

IMO, the best and clearest info that we have on this question during that period comes from Teddy DeRose, in 1964. DeRose was not a member, but he had been an associate in Chicago since the late 1920s and claimed to have known both Capone and Tony Lombardo. While he garbled a couple of historical details, he clearly did know a lot about the history of the Chicago family -- for example, he knew that Mike Merlo had been a boss before Lombardo; he knew that the camorra was from Naples and the mafia from Sicily, originally; that some Chicago members were Sicilian and others weren't; and that the Chicago family was headed by a ruling "committee". He was clearly aware of and attuned to details like this that were more nuanced than simple criminal activities. He referred to the Chicago organization as "the Life" or "the Family", and was clear that a formal initiation occurred when a guy was admitted to this organization, with at least an oath being administered (guys weren't just told "you're in", or something). That's already more formal than the picture that Maniaci gave for Milwaukee in the 60s. So we know that at least that much happened; we don't know for sure whether or not guys had their fingers pricked or burned a card at these things. Presumably, if that did occur, DeRose may not have been in a position to know every detail of what happened behind closed doors; it's amazing that he knew as much as he did as an associate (probably due to his long career and that he intentionally passed himself off as an Italian). But I think we can say that there was a formal, ceremonial initiation with an oath, at the least.

[cavita]

We don't have a thread for Milwaukee; for comparative purposes considering the topic, it makes sense to post here anyway.

In 1963, Maniaci told the Feds that there was no oath or ritual involved in being made into the Milwaukee outfit; rather, a guy was made at an informal party. Interestingly, Maniaci also claimed that one had to be of Sicilian descent to hold a leadership position within the family. When MPD revealed after the Valachi hearings aired that they had possession of intel stating that the traditional mafia induction ceremony was done in Milwaukee, Maniaci denied this to the FBI, telling them that he was not aware that this was practiced there and that he had undergone no ritual initiation when he was made.






Unlike some of the earlier Chicago CIs (who may have used "membership" to refer to associates who belonged to outfit crews), there is no question here that Maniaci is referring to being made into cosa nostra. So, either he was being deceptive, or so far as he knew, Milwaukee not only didn't do the blood-and-fire, they didn't even do a formal oath (such as Teddy DeRose stated was done in Chicago, or that the DeCavs were doing in the 70s).

Interesting that a heavily Sicilian LCN family would shun the ceremonies. Usually the opposite. I think Milwaukee was very much set up like the Outfit. Actual made members were almost always in a leadership position or a top earner. The work force consists of mostly associates and non made members. I think Milwaukee definitely had a recruitment problem. Balistrieri told Donnie Brasco that they needed some young blood to fill in the ranks because all the current members were old. and that is why those New Yorkers were invited to work with them.

Also, I know there has been talk about the Outfit ceremony before and that some people think that there was always a ceremony while others think that it started in the 70s. I am under the belief that there was none until the 70s or it stopped sometime in the 40s or 50s and restarted in the 70s. Roemer had top CIs including Butch Blasi supposedly and I think Roemer would have known. Include that with the bug they had unless Blasi purposely mislead Roemer like he did with the Giancana hit.

Question for Cavita, Im almost positive Rockford did the ceremony bc of the heavy Sicilian influence including having actual mafia members from Sicily in their organization. Is there any evidence that they did or did not do the ceremony? Considering they were heavily Sicilian I would think yes but after seeing this Milwaukee file who knows.

I have never seen any evidence or indication in any of my FBI files that Rockford had a traditional making ceremony but it wouldn't surprise me given the fact they were heavily Sicilian. I have to remember that most of the family history was filled in by Augie Maniaci and without him exposing himself by asking too many questions, he most likely didn't prod the Rockford members for info on their making ceremonies.

[Coloboy]

Fascinating stuff guys.

It seems much more likely that the outfit had a formal induction throughout their entire history as opposed to not. Not to say it was the same as New York with the gun etc. always, but as selective and protective as they were of the organization in general it seems likely that there would be something formal when somebody was brought into the fold.

[B.]

The other thing is if Chicago did skip the traditional ceremony during certain periods, when and why? The narrative around this used to be that Capone and/or his successors looked down on the mafia and its customs, but now we have the early 1970s informant (Gianola?) saying his older Sicilian relatives were made informally upon coming to Chicago. So I don't think we can say it was just a Sicilian vs. American thing, but something that may have been happening much earlier on even within the Sicilian faction.

[Snakes]

The other thing is if Chicago did skip the traditional ceremony during certain periods, when and why? The narrative around this used to be that Capone and/or his successors looked down on the mafia and its customs, but now we have the early 1970s informant (Gianola?) saying his older Sicilian relatives were made informally upon coming to Chicago. So I don't think we can say it was just a Sicilian vs. American thing, but something that may have been happening much earlier on even within the Sicilian faction.

I can see them doing an informal one at times, and a formal one at others. Pretty much like most of the other families at various times in their history. I mean, if a family like the Bonannos can just pull over to the side of the road and tell a guy he's made and it counts, then I'm not sure anyone can make a big deal about how little tradition Chicago used when they made guys. After I read about that (and other examples of "non-traditional" making ceremonies), I attached less uniqueness to Chicago as an LCN family -- at least as far as initiation went.