General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[B.]

Awesome photos, Cavita.

Calabrese said after Saladino fled to Rockford that Chicago eventually allowed him to stay there. Do you know who the other Frank and Joe were? Also Saladinos? I believe Calabrese said one or both of them were Gumba's cousins.

[Snakes]

Awesome photos, Cavita.

Calabrese said after Saladino fled to Rockford that Chicago eventually allowed him to stay there. Do you know who the other Frank and Joe were? Also Saladinos? I believe Calabrese said one or both of them were Gumba's cousins.

Joe was definitely Joe ("Lead Pipe?") Saladino. I'm not sure about the Frank if it wasn't Gumba. I think Buscemi was dead by then

[B.]

Thanks buddy.

From the way Calabrese explained it, Gumba was on record with the Chinatown crew in Chicago before he fled but the other Frank and Joe in Rockford were still Rockford associates working with the Chinatown crew hence Rockford winning the sitdown to claim them.

[cavita]

Awesome photos, Cavita.

Calabrese said after Saladino fled to Rockford that Chicago eventually allowed him to stay there. Do you know who the other Frank and Joe were? Also Saladinos? I believe Calabrese said one or both of them were Gumba's cousins.

One was Frank Geraci, who was a fireman and the other was Joe Saladino who was not related to Gumba in any way. Joe Saladino's father was from Marsala, SIcily and his mother from Casteldaccia, Sicily while Gumba's parents were from Roccamena, Sicily.

[PolackTony]

Awesome photos, Cavita.

Calabrese said after Saladino fled to Rockford that Chicago eventually allowed him to stay there. Do you know who the other Frank and Joe were? Also Saladinos? I believe Calabrese said one or both of them were Gumba's cousins.

One was Frank Geraci, who was a fireman and the other was Joe Saladino who was not related to Gumba in any way. Joe Saladino's father was from Marsala, SIcily and his mother from Casteldaccia, Sicily while Gumba's parents were from Roccamena, Sicily.

Thanks for clearing that up. Nicky C did state that one of the Rockford guys (“Frank and Joey”) was Gumba’s cousin, but maybe people said that even if it wasn’t true just because of the shared surname coincidence.

[cavita]

I never did figure out who these guys were however. I assume they're Chicago guys....the photos were from April 13, 1989 and were also displayed at the Family Secrets trial. Anyone know?

[funkster]

Cavita, not sure ive seen those photos can you post them?

Jimmy Marcello always struck me as a very smart guy and his family was involved for a long time, would be amazing to hear the stories he could tell.

April 20, 1989

Ah yes I’ve seen them, thanks for reposting.

[funkster]

I never did figure out who these guys were however. I assume they're Chicago guys....the photos were from April 13, 1989 and were also displayed at the Family Secrets trial. Anyone know?

From my phone, could be way off, guy on top looks kind of like solly and bottom one on the right looks like rocky. Could be way off though.

[funkster]

Sorry Cavita catching up after preparing for a trip, I meant the surveillance at the funeral of aiuppa

[Snakes]

I never did figure out who these guys were however. I assume they're Chicago guys....the photos were from April 13, 1989 and were also displayed at the Family Secrets trial. Anyone know?

I think top is Solly D. Bottom is Marcello (left) and Infelise (right)

[PolackTony]

I never did figure out who these guys were however. I assume they're Chicago guys....the photos were from April 13, 1989 and were also displayed at the Family Secrets trial. Anyone know?

I think top is Solly D. Bottom is Marcello (left) and Infelise (right)

Agreed on all three guys.

[B.]

Forgot to mention another good part from the Calabrese testimony is when he says his brother was upset when they made DiFiorti because he's only half-Italian. Frank felt if they made a half-Italian, they should also make Jarrett because he was half-Italian. Don't know if it's verified DiFiorti was half, but looks like when Chicago made exceptions they did it with guys who had Italian fathers. Apparently wasn't an option to propose Jarrett.

Calabrese said nothing about Marcello's heritage despite being so close to him and gossiping about other half-Italians with his brother. Tells us it wasn't well-known or discussed about Marcello.

[PolackTony]

Forgot to mention another good part from the Calabrese testimony is when he says his brother was upset when they made DiFiorti because he's only half-Italian. Frank felt if they made a half-Italian, they should also make Jarrett because he was half-Italian. Don't know if it's verified DiFiorti was half, but looks like when Chicago made exceptions they did it with guys who had Italian fathers. Apparently wasn't an option to propose Jarrett.

Calabrese said nothing about Marcello's heritage despite being so close to him and gossiping about other half-Italians with his brother. Tells us it wasn't well-known or discussed about Marcello.

You beat me to the punch on this one again, lol. Was going to reference Nicky C's comments about Di Forti and Jarrett. Apart from maybe Aiuppa and Carlisi, I rather doubt that people were aware that Jimmy Marcello's Italian stepmother was not his real mother, and I really doubt that he would've gone around telling anyone. A guy like Jarrett, even if he was culturally as-or-more Sicilian than any of them, could never even be on the radar as a member.

I've been looking into Jimmy "Poker" Di Forti, and his background is still murky to me. He was James Anthony Di Forti, apparently born in 1944 in Chicago (died in 2000), though I can't find a birth record for him. His father was James Vincent Di Forti, born in 1913 in Chicago. Per later obituaries, Poker Di Forti's mother was a woman from MO named Grace Beach. But, she only married James Vincent Di Forti in 1949. Either she bore Poker out of wedlock, or she was not his birth mother. Now, James Vincent Di Forti was himself a hoodlum who caught some robbery charges in 1935; in 1940, he was incarcerated in Pontiac. On his WW2 draft card, he was back out of the can and living at 63rd and Kilpatrick, on the SW Side. But, the 1940 census for him at Pontiac states that he was already married, so whoever that woman was (haven't found a record yet) may have been Poker's mother.

James Vincent's birth record states that his mother was Rosa Mangano and his father was also named James Vincent Di Forti; both are stated as from "Palermo". I cannot find any records for a Vincenzo/James/Vincent Di Forti in Chicago to match his father; or any Di Forti, for that matter. Now, as it turns out, the family moved to NYC. In September 1931, "grape racketeer" Vincent Genova was shot to death in his apartment on St Marks Pl in Manhattan -- it was stated that he was a "big distributor", who had sold a "lucrative" restaurant business the year before. It was hypothesized that Genova was murdered due to territorial rivalries with other racketeers. The NY Daily News noted that his wife was named Rose and that they had five children. Based on obituaries and documents, I can confirm that these were James Vincent Di Forti (the son) and his 4 younger siblings, the latter of whom all used the Genova surname. Now, maybe James Vincent had a different birth father; but, again, I haven't been able to find any document for a "Di Forti" in Chicago.

Now, a few days after Vincent Genova was murdered, the local papers in the Wilkes-Barre/Pittston area reported that local police were informed by NY that Vincent Genova was the same guy as a "James Cattalino", who had been arrested earlier in 1931 in Plymouth, PA, following an attempted attack on him by three men in a car (which was later found to contain pistols and a sawed-off shotgun). "Cattalino" was arrested with a "James Zannetti" at the home of a "Paul Nochnilla". "Cattalino" and "Zannetti" were alleged to have both been members of the "Capone gang" in Chicago, who had recently relocated to Plymouth after being chased from Chicago at the hands of "gun men". "Cattalino" was released from jail on the condition that he leave Luzerne County; it was also reported that "Cattalino" was known to use several aliases. I think it's very likely then that "James Vincent Di Forti, Sr" was the same guy. Since Cattalino/Genova/Di Forti reportedly had fled Chicago to the Pittston area for refuge, it's worth noting that some Ancestry.com family trees have "Vincenza Genova" and wife "Rosa Manganaro" as James Vincent Di Forti's (the son) parents, both born in San Cataldo, Caltanissetta, which had a major settlement in the Pittston area. I'm not 100% sure if it's true, as I'd need to personally make sure that the documents line up for them. But the link to Luzerne County (which the Ancestry trees don't reflect or record) makes it seem like it's not just made up or erroneous. Genova is definitely a surname in San Cataldo, also.

Either way, the "Vincent Genova" killed in 1931 was buried in Mt Carmel Cemetery in suburban Chicago, so the guy was definitely from Chicago. In 1940, widow Rosa was living in Chicago, at the same 63rd & Kilpatrick address that James Vincent Di Forti (son) was living at after he was released from Pontiac; this was also the former address listed for "Vincenzo Genova" on his 1931 NYC death record (the record also gives his mother's name as Maria "Vutera", which was probably Butera; Butera is also well-documented in San Cataldo, though present in many other areas in Sicily). Maybe the son was like the dad and used aliases, thus I haven't found earlier marriage and/or divorce records for him? Not sure. And I don't know for sure whether Poker Di Forti was really half-Italian. Possibly because his father's wife was 'Medigan, even if she was not his real mother, people thought he was half? Hard to say at this point.

Haven't finished really digging into this family yet, but since it came up I thought I'd post what I have thus far. Looks like they were probably (at least) three generations connected to the mob.

[B.]

Wild stuff. A lot more than I expected going on in his history.

[cavita]

Sorry Cavita catching up after preparing for a trip, I meant the surveillance at the funeral of aiuppa

I was referring to the surveillance from the funeral of Rockford LCN consigliere Joe Zito- Sam Carlisi and Joey Aiuppa attended. I can't post the photos at this point.