So this is my FINAL statement regarding the non-Italian faction in the Chicago Outfit and their OFFICIAL positions within the organizational structure of the Outfit, or as some call it the Chicago "Mafia"...
First ill give evidence regarding the non-Italians having their own spot on the Outfit's board of directors (or as some call it "consiglio") and after that ill show you evidence regarding Alex receiving much higher position within the organization.
Some mob researchers doesnt appreciate the info which was given by Outfit members such as Ralph Pierce, mainly because they were non-Italian, and I personally respect that but some of them forget that the Chicago "family" had more non-Italian "members" involved in the inner workings of the organization, than Italian made members who in turn always held the top spots and it seems that nobody disputes that fact. The information coming from a Italian made member holds more weight than the information from a Mob associate BUT, the point here is that the Chicago Outfit was different than most of the Sicilian or Mafia families around the US.
Again as I previously stated that some Mob researchers forget that mobsters such as Ralph Pierce were with the Outfit since the late 1920's and early 30s, or in other words they witnessed the Capone mob and all of the "evolution" of the organization that occurred during the following decades. I personally (and numerous other researchers also) appreciate the info which was given by someone who was in the Outfit for almost 50 years and on top of that we have Pierce being present on numerous top level meetings during the 1950's and 60's which included top bosses such Paul Ricca and Tony Accardo, situations which informants such as Butch Blasi, Ted DeRose or Lenny Gianola never experienced.
Back in those days the Chicago Outfit had many non-Italians as high ranking personas so it was not your traditional Sicilian Mafia. It has been very diverse but still it operated under the principals of Southern Italian organized crime. Some of the non-Italian district bosses were not “made” guys but they were not associates either. They were considered as members of the Outfit but not the national Cosa Nostra organization. It was like two parties in one organization with the Italians at the top, obviously because we are talking about the American-Italian Mafia here and the Outfit was part of it.
Back in 1962 the feds recorded a conversation with the help of a hidden wiretap, between Outfit made member and big shot Jack Cerone and Dave Yaras. Cerone bragged about some killings that he and his partner Johnny Whales, a Polack, pulled off in the old days. Unfortunately, one day Johnny allegedly went off his rocker and disappeared. He allegedly had become afraid of the Italians and told Cerone he feared that someone was trying to kill him. Than Cerone reminded Yaras that besides Italians, the Outfit also had Jews, Polacks etc., meaning the Chicago Outfit was a multi-ethnic organization.
This means that non-Italian top guys like Pierce, Patrick, Kruse etc. had their own territories and crews and were considered as district bosses who in turn mainly answered to their Italian or non-Italian representatives on the Outfit's board of the directors, such as Guzik, Humphreys, Alex etc.
Not all non-Italian crew bosses answered to the same representative since we have non-Itals from other crews such as the North Side or Chicago Heights who never interacted with the non-Italian bosses from the South Side group which in fact was the leading non-Italian group, meaning there wasnt some type of non-Italian group that was represented by one non-Italian boss on the Outfit's board of directors. Instead, if there was one high level non-Italian boss in one of the four factions, who was more powerful and respected by the rest of the Italian members from his own group, he usually received a seat on the Outfit's BOD and received authority over Italian made members, including soldiers and capos.
For example Jake Guzik was probably one of the first non-Italian bosses of the old Capone mob, later known as the Chicago Outfit, who probably held positions on both the Outfit's BOD and as boss of the Loop and the First Ward. When Guzik died in 1956, his position on the Outfit's BOD was taken by Murray Humphreys (one of the crew bosses who also belonged to the South Side group, same as Guzik) while Gus Alex took over Guzik's interests in the Loop and First Ward. So there were two different positions.
Now, here's one file regarding Humphreys having some high level spot, a position which required presence of the Outfit's family boss and other members, both made and non-Italian (besides having a seat on the BOD, Humphreys allegedly also had the last word on all union matters):
As we can see after the death of Humphreys, Gus Alex took his position and became representative on the Outfit's BOD, but these next files shows us that by the early 70's Alex received even more influential position than the previous one. The informant gave us so much details about it that doesnt make any difference if he was Italian made member or non-Italian Outfit member.
And also giving advice regarding policy of the organization aka involvement in narcotics....
