Some quite interesting story regarding the New Jersey (Newark) crew and Chicago's Gus Alex....
I already explained one part of the following story in the articles section but I never posted the files. I also found some mistakes which I made years ago in my Gus Alex article (2015/16) and so lets get everything straighten out. The whole story is divided in many different FBI files and so I think I managed to gather all information in one whole/full story.
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Although before I begin,
I want to say that some researchers on this forum didnt believe that Louis Tornabene was a made member of Chicago's Cosa Nostra. Well he obviously was (according to this 1965 info), which again means that Alex, through Ferraro, had jurisdiction over Italian made members who in turn belonged to the Ferraro/Alex group (same as Pat Marcy, John D"Arco, Bertucci, Louis Briatta etc. and also Outfit Chinatown capo Frank Caruso).
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The whole situation occurred in September 1958, when a conflict occurred between Louis Tornabene (made member under Alex and Ferraro) and one alleged New York operator (informant) who was partner with Tornabene in several gambling operations around the Loop area. Besides not giving the informant's share of the illegal proceedings, Tornabene also had some personal debt towards the informant because Tornabne allegedly had gambling problems.
Tornabene operated in Alex's district in which Alex had PRINCIPAL interest and so Tornabene kicked up to his district boss (Alex).
So before he contacted his New York people, the informant first decided to contact Chicago Outfit capo and boss of the West Side Sam Battaglia through an intermediary only known as "Pope" (described as Italian white male with age around 55) who in turn allegedly belonged to Battaglia. In fact,
Battaglia was known for having close Cosa Nostra contacts all around the Midwest and East Coast. So there was a meeting between "Pope" and the informant, in which Battaglia's guy stated that he has to receive information from both sides.
While they waited for the decision, the New York informant, because of operating in the area without Alex's permission, Tornabene (CN made member) continued extorting and also made lots of additional problems to the informant. That same month, the informant was called on a meeting which included "Pope", Tornabene and 'Chappie" aka Charles Bertucci, another of Alex's and Ferraro's enforcers.
"Pope" represented Battaglia's interests, while Bertucci represented Alex's interests.
On that same meeting it was discussed that the informant will not receive any cash from Tornabene or any expenses, and this swindle costed the informant lots of cash. Previously the informant also contacted one Outfit associate Maish Baer aka Morris Saletko, a known bookie, loan shark and burglar and according to the informant, Baer backed him up.
But even with that, the informant still lost his cash but was very surprised by the fact that Alex showed more power than Battaglia in the syndicate's setup during those days, which again shows us Alex's huge influence even during those early days.
So the only chance for the informant was to call his contacts back in
New Jersey and the New York areas, and he also hoped for them to reach Tony Accardo who, the informant believed, was the only guy who can settle the dispute.
In November 1958,
Pat Marcy contacted the informant and told him that he wanted to arrange a meeting between him and Alex. During those days Marcy acted as Alex secretary and dealt with all of Alex's meetings, again which is another proof regarding Alex having made members under his rule. So during that same meeting
Marcy ONLY made the introductions between the informant, Gus Alex and Frank Ferraro, and after that Marcy sat on a different table.
Ferraro allegedly told the informant that he was called by some people from New York and he knows all of details regarding the conflict between him and Tornabene and that everything will be taken care of, and after that the informant will have a conversation with Alex.
So later Alex called for Tornabene who in turn arrived with Charles Bertucci, and according to the informant Alex and Ferraro aggressively questioned Tornabene and threatened him more than several times, to the point where Alex became quite furious and called Tornabene (made member) a “degenerate gambler.”
From the conversation between Ferraro, Alex and Tornabene, the informant came to a conclusion that this wasnt Tornabene's first time to make a mistake like that, by gambling Outfit's money. Alex also told the informant that it was one of Tornabene's associates Bennie Bernard who allegedly destroyed the informant's office on his own, and that Bernard will be excluded from the Loop area.
Alex also spoke badly about Tornabene and told the informant that he (Alex) might take all of Tornabene's rackets, something which again shows us Alex's jurisdiction over a Italian made member from his own crew.
The informant informed his contact back in New Jersey, Salvatore Esposito, regarding the situation and the meeting he had with Alex and so the informant was told by Salvatore not give a nickel to the Outfit until the whole situation settles down. But things got worse for the informant when that same month the two brothers, Dominic and Salvatore Esposito, came from the New Jersey area to Chicago and had a meeting with the informant.
In addition, according to the informant, it seems that Salvatore Esposito was known as a quite dangerous individual.
The two brothers told him that he owed money to some unknown individual back in New Jersey which were previously invested in his Chicago operation, but the informant suspected that the brothers tried to extort him because they didnt tell him regarding the guy they worked for or were sent by. So the informant had another meeting with the brothers and he was told the same thing, meaning not to give any money to the Outfit until they see him again in Chicago after Thanksgiving.
Again with nowhere to go,
the East Coast operator (informant) asked for some of the high level Cosa Nostra members back in Newark to intercede for him with Gus Alex. The informant also went to New Jersey on his own, and contacted one of the top level guys in Newark Louis "Coca Cola" DeBendetto who in turn only asked if the informant knew Chicago's Marshall Caifano and that was it. Later the informant also had a meeting with Salvatore Esposito.
In the next file we can see that in December 1958 (two months after the conflict occurred), the East Coast faction sent for one guy named
Antonio "Tony" Trombina (?) arrived in Chicago and told the informant to get in touch with Gus Alex right away and to call for a meeting. Another individual present with the two was one of the Esposito brothers Dominic.
This next file shows us that the informant told Trombina that he was going to contact
Pat Marcy, who in turn was the only guy who was able to arrange a meeting with Alex. With that information, Trombina was quite surprised that a politician will arrange a meeting between the two, which means that Trombina possibly didnt know that Marcy was a Cosa Nostra made member, but the informant told him that was the only protocol in Chicago so they can get in touch with Alex. At first, Marcy allegedly advised them that Alex was very hard to reach but he will call them back in few minutes.
When Marcy called back, according to the informant,
Trombina grabbed the phone and started talking to Marcy in Italian and informed him that he was sent by "Toto" or "Tata" from New York, a good friend of his. I believe that from this example we can see a standard protocol in which Trombina points it out to Marcy that he (Trombina) was probably close with a high level CN member from the East Coast.
Again, Marcy told Trombina that he will call back and so after few minutes
Frank Ferraro (the Outfit's underboss at the time) was on the phone and a sitdown was arranged that same day at the Normandy Lounge.
So, the informant together with Trombina and Esposito went to the joint and few minutes later Frank Ferraro, John D'Arco and Pat Marcy (all high level made members) also entered the joint.
Ferraro was introduced to Trombina and so they went and sat on a table, while the rest of the attendees waited on different tables. This again shows us some type of protocol when a high level Cosa Nostra member (such as Ferraro) is present on a sitdown and talks only to the member who in turn is either on a near level or simply also belonged to the Cosa Nostra organization.
After several minutes, Gus Alex entered the joint and sat on the SAME TABLE with Ferraro and Trombina, something which again shows us Alex's high stature within the Outfit and the respect which he constantly received. After 20 minutes talk, they also called for Esposito to join them on the table.
After an hour, the informant was called to talk to Alex who "DOMINATED" the conversation, which means Alex was an OC leader who had much higher stature than the informant at the time and on top of that same informant was in Alex's territory. So Alex was able to control the whole conversation and explained to the informant on how Chicago's protocols went down.
Alex told the informant that nobody operates in his districts without his "ok" and that the money the informant earned either went to Alex or Ferraro. Alex also told the informant that he had plenty of time in finding the money, something the informant himself realized that even though he was backed by his cronies back in New York, still he was placed in Alex's pocket and was obliged to kick up money to him, too.
In the following convo we can se Alex explaining the protocol that went between him (Alex) and Tornabene for example. Alex also asked the informant on how he operated his racket and that Alex will send some people, which meant that Alex completely took over the informant's operation, but he (Alex) never forgot about Tornabene's mistakes.
According to some sources, Tornabene owed $75,000 for the scheme and another $10,000 for the gambling dispute and he also he owed to Alex $60,000, and another $15,000 to Joey DiVarco, a known North Side Outfit made guy, and another $10,000 to one Outfit associate known as Robert Stein. It seems that besides other Outfit figures, Tornabene was also in debt to DiVraco and Stein. As additional info, Tornabene and DiVarco were first cousins since their mothers were sisters.
Because he allegedly forced Tornabene to pay his debts, it seems that Alex remained in a good relationship with his associates on the East Coast or the New Jersey area since according to one informant, the following year or in December 1959 after the Roger Touhy murder, Alex was allegedly hiding somewhere around the New Jersey area (probably Newark). In 1960, Alex was about to visit one "unknown town" in New Jersey which I believe was Newark, and in 1961 he was again in New Jersey.
So in the next few years Tornabene sold or burned almost every joint that he previously owned, obviously for the insurance money. As it was expected, the remaining of Tornabene’s operations and his stature within the Outfit were taken over by Bertucci. After the situation settled down, it seems that Tornabene (made member) was ousted from the organization by Alex and the Outfit.
In 1962, Alex ordered Marcy and D'Arco to close down all strip joints in the Loop area because of the huge pressure from the feds, exept for one which belonged to Tornabene who at the time was still in huge debts to the Outfit and Alex, and so he was forced to work it out.
Besides Charles Bertucci, by 1965 it seems that the rest of Tornabene's remaining operations were also taken over by his brother Anthony who in turn again answered to Alex.
It seems that by the late 60's and early 70s, Louis Tornabene possibly paid off his debts and was really ousted from the organization since he had only one legitimate job.
