Confirmation of Chicago Consiglio 1969

[PolackTony]

The specificity of that description makes it apparent they are discussing an actual council and not just an assortment of leaders. They describe its role as a mediating body that can cast judgment and the bankroll could lend itself to what Bill B said about the consigliere being responsible for the war chest since we know the official consigliere and consiglio had the same/similar duties.

It seems to have been common knowledge that there was a ruling council / board / committee in Chicago, it's just most sources weren't in a position to know it was a formal consiglio as we understand it. Many times I've wanted to thank Frank Bompensiero haha but in this instance he really did tie some things together and reconcile different views of how Chicago's top leadership operated.

With respect to the council’s funds, Ricca was described a couple of times as the “treasurer” or the guy who controlled the “purse strings”.

[B.]

Makes sense he had control over it if he was the chairman of the consiglio, which we suspect to be analogous to official consigliere in Families with only one.

[Angelo Santino]

The specificity of that description makes it apparent they are discussing an actual council and not just an assortment of leaders. They describe its role as a mediating body that can cast judgment and the bankroll could lend itself to what Bill B said about the consigliere being responsible for the war chest since we know the official consigliere and consiglio had the same/similar duties.

It seems to have been common knowledge that there was a ruling council / board / committee in Chicago, it's just most sources weren't in a position to know it was a formal consiglio as we understand it. Many times I've wanted to thank Frank Bompensiero haha but in this instance he really did tie some things together and reconcile different views of how Chicago's top leadership operated.

With respect to the council’s funds, Ricca was described a couple of times as the “treasurer” or the guy who controlled the “purse strings”.

We'll talk about this next time we talk.

[PolackTony]

Now the question is who all sat on the consiglio.

Now we're moving into really speculative territory. When Willie Bioff was allegedly called to Nitto's mansion (c. 1934) for a meeting with the outfit upper brass, he named Nitto, Ricca, Phil D'Andrea, Charlie Gioe, and Louie Campagna as present. We don't know if these men constituted the Consiglio at that time, but they'd all be good bets. Rio, who died in '35, could also obviously be one, as well as Frankie Maritote. That would make 7, though we also have no idea if some of the older Sicilian members may have been elders on the Consiglio during that time, instead of some of the better-known names here.

On the subject of Chicago consiglieri.

From David P. Schippers's forward to M.D. Jones's 2019 book "Hoodlum Lawyer", on Joe Imburgio (Jones is Imburgio's grandson):

In the background, though, mostly unfamiliar to the average citizen, there existed a comparatively shadowy member of the Outfit in whom the highest echelon of the Mafia bestowed almost unquestioning trust and confidence. Insiders referred to this person as the "consigliere"[.] The individual who held this position until his mysterious death was [...] Joseph Imburgio Bulger.

It should be noted that Schippers was a former Assistant US SA who was the Chief of the US DOJ's Special Organized Crime Unit during the 1960s. He was actively involved in investigating Imburgio and was also the guy who gave Giancana immunity from self-incrimination, leading to the latter's contempt charges in 1965.

In 1934, Imburgio was President of the Village Council of Melrose Park and President of the IANU ("Unione"), so he was already a very important man. Maybe the Consiglio favored elders, and the 30-something-year-old Imburgio wasn't at the point of his tenure to be on the Consiglio at this time; I think it's a very strong bet that he was later.

Info from Sal Piscopo given in 1964. Note that the leadership of the Chicago “Brugad” was given as 7 men. On top of Bioff’s testimony as to who was present during his meetings at Nitto’s mansion, this may be the closest we’ll get to confirmation of the Consiglio during the 1930s, as we can presume that Piscopo’s Chicago knowledge was coming direct from Roselli (if I were Teddy DeRose, I’d probably make a point of noting that 4 were Sicilians and 3 Mainlanders).

[B.]

I feel Piscopo knew more about Chicago than we've seen. Maybe like Bomp there's more buried in different places or they just weren't able to get as much about that from him.

Since discovering they had a formal consiglio I've suspected the Hollywood extortion guys were on it.

[Snakes]

[PolackTony]

Yes. Forget if it was ever verified who the source was for this, but it at least supports Bompensiero reporting that Alderisio said that him and Caifano were direct with Mooney.

[Antiliar]

Yes. Forget if it was ever verified who the source was for this, but it at least supports Bompensiero reporting that Alderisio said that him and Caifano were direct with Mooney.

If they were direct to Mooney then it would have to have been after their fight that Battaglia failed to settle and required Frank Ferraro to get involved.

[PolackTony]

Yes. Forget if it was ever verified who the source was for this, but it at least supports Bompensiero reporting that Alderisio said that him and Caifano were direct with Mooney.

If they were direct to Mooney then it would have to have been after their fight that Battaglia failed to settle and required Frank Ferraro to get involved.

Their rift was reported in 1960, whereas the info Snakes posted here was from 1963, so that’s possible.

[PolackTony]

1964 intel from Maniaci on Chicago ranks:



It’s unsurprising that Maniaci would have had little organizational insight into Chicago apart from the crews who were close to Milwaukee and Rockford at the time. Funny that he saw DeMonte as a capodecina but wasn’t sure about Prio, but we know that DeMonte was in close contact with the Rockford guys so Maniaci may have gotten that impression that he was more important in formal terms than he actually was. Given that Battaglia and Alderisio were Balistrieri’s liaisons to Chicago, we have to at least take Maniaci’s account seriously and think about it. However, the investigative period covered by this report was December 1963 to May 1964, and Frank Ferraro didn’t die until August 1964, so Maniaci’s claim that Battaglia was UB doesn’t line up. One wonders if he had been told this by Balistrieri, or if it was just his personal assumption as to Batttaglia’s status (which, similar to DeMonte, could’ve also been inflated by Battaglia’s importance to Milwaukee).

Interestingly, Maniaci thought that both Alderisio and Caifano were captains at this time. Again, it makes a big difference whether Maniaci knew this for a fact or if it was just his impression. Was Maniaci introduced to them as capidecina, or told of their status by Balistrieri or a Chicago member, or was he just inferring it based on his perception of their stature? In both 1968 and 1969, Bomp reported to the FBI that “to his knowledge” Alderisio was a soldier, and then additionally reported in ‘69 that Alderisio had stated that “in the past” he had been direct with Giancana along with Caifano. Presumably, that arrangement changed at the very latest sometime after Giancana fled the country, but we don’t know the exact time period that “in the past” denoted. In ‘69, Bomp was responsible for formally introducing Alderisio and Frattiano as members, so one would think if Alderisio was a capo by that point Bomp would’ve known. But, it’s also possible that Alderisio had been bumped up to capo (official or acting) by then and hadn’t been yet reintroduced as such to Bomp by a third party (LaPorte would’ve been in the position to do so, we can assume, but maybe it just hadn’t happened up to that point; though I’d also think that LaPorte probably would’ve told Bomp if Alderisio had been bumped up anyway, but who knows).

Now, one possibility is that Maniaci could’ve been aware that both Alderisio and Caifano answered directly to Giancana and thus assumed that both men were capidecina. I’m reminded of Nick C’s testimony, where he didn’t know for a fact whether Eboli had been a capo or not, but thought that he might have been because he seemed to answer to no one but Aiuppa; again, that could be consistent with a guy being a captain but also consistent with him being a soldier direct with the boss.

[B.]

New Orleans hoodlum Sam DiPiazza was recorded saying he had to meet with the "Supreme Council" in Chicago in relation to a financial matter and the only one not there was the "big man". Seems odd he'd have access to the consiglio but he did have Marcello's backing so maybe that played a role. Or he was just referring to a general group of Chicago mafiosi as the "Supreme Council" but it's an interesting choice of words.

[PolackTony]

New Orleans hoodlum Sam DiPiazza was recorded saying he had to meet with the "Supreme Council" in Chicago in relation to a financial matter and the only one not there was the "big man". Seems odd he'd have access to the consiglio but he did have Marcello's backing so maybe that played a role. Or he was just referring to a general group of Chicago mafiosi as the "Supreme Council" but it's an interesting choice of words.

Interesting find. What year was this?

[B.]

From May 1964. DiPiazza was talking to non-Italians and said he was in New Orleans when he was told to go to Miami where two people took him to Chicago to see the "Supreme Council". He left a list of the two guys' names with a friend in case he didn't come back.

DiPiazza most likely wouldn't have been made at this time but Bill Feather lists him and some internet lists have his son as a later member. He was a big gambler under Marcello.

[PolackTony]

Interesting reference to Giancana being on the Chicago "Commission" (1964), though there then seems to be some confusion between the Chicago "Commission" and the national Commission. This may reflect what we've seen from other sources -- that the Family Consiglie were seen as analogous to the Commission, but at a different level of organization/representation:

[davidf1989]

1964 intel from Maniaci on Chicago ranks:



It’s unsurprising that Maniaci would have had little organizational insight into Chicago apart from the crews who were close to Milwaukee and Rockford at the time. Funny that he saw DeMonte as a capodecina but wasn’t sure about Prio, but we know that DeMonte was in close contact with the Rockford guys so Maniaci may have gotten that impression that he was more important in formal terms than he actually was. Given that Battaglia and Alderisio were Balistrieri’s liaisons to Chicago, we have to at least take Maniaci’s account seriously and think about it. However, the investigative period covered by this report was December 1963 to May 1964, and Frank Ferraro didn’t die until August 1964, so Maniaci’s claim that Battaglia was UB doesn’t line up. One wonders if he had been told this by Balistrieri, or if it was just his personal assumption as to Batttaglia’s status (which, similar to DeMonte, could’ve also been inflated by Battaglia’s importance to Milwaukee).

Interestingly, Maniaci thought that both Alderisio and Caifano were captains at this time. Again, it makes a big difference whether Maniaci knew this for a fact or if it was just his impression. Was Maniaci introduced to them as capidecina, or told of their status by Balistrieri or a Chicago member, or was he just inferring it based on his perception of their stature? In both 1968 and 1969, Bomp reported to the FBI that “to his knowledge” Alderisio was a soldier, and then additionally reported in ‘69 that Alderisio had stated that “in the past” he had been direct with Giancana along with Caifano. Presumably, that arrangement changed at the very latest sometime after Giancana fled the country, but we don’t know the exact time period that “in the past” denoted. In ‘69, Bomp was responsible for formally introducing Alderisio and Frattiano as members, so one would think if Alderisio was a capo by that point Bomp would’ve known. But, it’s also possible that Alderisio had been bumped up to capo (official or acting) by then and hadn’t been yet reintroduced as such to Bomp by a third party (LaPorte would’ve been in the position to do so, we can assume, but maybe it just hadn’t happened up to that point; though I’d also think that LaPorte probably would’ve told Bomp if Alderisio had been bumped up anyway, but who knows).

Now, one possibility is that Maniaci could’ve been aware that both Alderisio and Caifano answered directly to Giancana and thus assumed that both men were capidecina. I’m reminded of Nick C’s testimony, where he didn’t know for a fact whether Eboli had been a capo or not, but thought that he might have been because he seemed to answer to no one but Aiuppa; again, that could be consistent with a guy being a captain but also consistent with him being a soldier direct with the boss.

Thanks for the interesting information and was Bomp involved with Laporte and Fratianno in a trucking operation in California? Also was Alderiso an associate of Tony Spilotro who did the M and M murders with him?