General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[PolackTony]

Weird thread on GBB hahaha: http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... er=1051607

Yeah Gigi is a made guy uh huh sure dude.

Some of it valid info. Rudy Fratto, Chris Spina, Paulie Caparelli, Gigi and some other hanger ons are almost always at Capri and the Lounge next door. They are obviously all very close. Interesting you have the Cicero crew, EP Crew and Grand Ave grew hanging together on a regular basis. I will also say some heavy union guys are there too. Spina is there even more since his place Lisa’s Club Caberet closed down.

When did Spina’s club close? What happened, slow business?

[Ivan]

Weird thread on GBB hahaha: http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... er=1051607

Yeah Gigi is a made guy uh huh sure dude.

Some of it valid info. Rudy Fratto, Chris Spina, Paulie Caparelli, Gigi and some other hanger ons are almost always at Capri and the Lounge next door. They are obviously all very close. Interesting you have the Cicero crew, EP Crew and Grand Ave grew hanging together on a regular basis. I will also say some heavy union guys are there too. Spina is there even more since his place Lisa’s Club Caberet closed down.

Good stuff Patrick, I appreciate this. Do you think Paulie and Gigi are made? (And if so, when do you think they were made?) There are rumors that Paulie has been made since the Sarno days (Scott Burnstein is big on this) but most people who say he is say he got it after jail in the past few years because he stood up in jail and straightened out his wilder behavior.

[Patrickgold]

Weird thread on GBB hahaha: http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... er=1051607

Yeah Gigi is a made guy uh huh sure dude.

Some of it valid info. Rudy Fratto, Chris Spina, Paulie Caparelli, Gigi and some other hanger ons are almost always at Capri and the Lounge next door. They are obviously all very close. Interesting you have the Cicero crew, EP Crew and Grand Ave grew hanging together on a regular basis. I will also say some heavy union guys are there too. Spina is there even more since his place Lisa’s Club Caberet closed down.

When did Spina’s club close? What happened, slow business?

I think due to lack of business. The make up of the club was awkward. Very narrow place made it hard to see the music and get a drink at the bar. It had some busy days but don’t think it brought enough people in. I did hear that Jimmy Deleo’s daughter or relative bought it. They are the owner of Draft Bar on Irving and Cumberland. The new place will be called Goat Village.

[Patrickgold]

Weird thread on GBB hahaha: http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... er=1051607

Yeah Gigi is a made guy uh huh sure dude.

Some of it valid info. Rudy Fratto, Chris Spina, Paulie Caparelli, Gigi and some other hanger ons are almost always at Capri and the Lounge next door. They are obviously all very close. Interesting you have the Cicero crew, EP Crew and Grand Ave grew hanging together on a regular basis. I will also say some heavy union guys are there too. Spina is there even more since his place Lisa’s Club Caberet closed down.

Good stuff Patrick, I appreciate this. Do you think Paulie and Gigi are made? (And if so, when do you think they were made?) There are rumors that Paulie has been made since the Sarno days (Scott Burnstein is big on this) but most people who say he is say he got it after jail in the past few years because he stood up in jail and straightened out his wilder behavior.

My personal belief they are both not made. Both definitely associates that work directly with the Outfit. If Paulie is, it was after he got out of jail. Now that being said, Fratto and Spina are guys that could have made both of them getting made happen. I think Spina is made and obviously Fratto is.

[Ivan]

gonna start a change.org petition to get Paulie made

[PolackTony]

Weird thread on GBB hahaha: http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... er=1051607

Yeah Gigi is a made guy uh huh sure dude.

Some of it valid info. Rudy Fratto, Chris Spina, Paulie Caparelli, Gigi and some other hanger ons are almost always at Capri and the Lounge next door. They are obviously all very close. Interesting you have the Cicero crew, EP Crew and Grand Ave grew hanging together on a regular basis. I will also say some heavy union guys are there too. Spina is there even more since his place Lisa’s Club Caberet closed down.

When did Spina’s club close? What happened, slow business?

I think due to lack of business. The make up of the club was awkward. Very narrow place made it hard to see the music and get a drink at the bar. It had some busy days but don’t think it brought enough people in. I did hear that Jimmy Deleo’s daughter or relative bought it. They are the owner of Draft Bar on Irving and Cumberland. The new place will be called Goat Village.

From the photos I’ve seen, the vibe looked more city than suburban, so maybe it was a bad spot for it.

Speaking of which, was wondering about the Margaret DiVito listed as an owner of the Aberdeen Tap (C.M. Spina, Inc of course still being the license holder). I’m not certain but believe that her family is from Bari (unsurprisingly), but not sure if anyone in her family is connected (she seems to be related also to the Abrignanis from Bari).

Interesting about DeLeo’s daughter. Is Jimmy DeLeo still involved in Tavern on Rush?

For those who are reading and unfamiliar, Jimmy DeLeo is a former IL State Senator turned businessman with longstanding allegations of close outfit ties.

[Patrickgold]

Weird thread on GBB hahaha: http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... er=1051607

Yeah Gigi is a made guy uh huh sure dude.

Some of it valid info. Rudy Fratto, Chris Spina, Paulie Caparelli, Gigi and some other hanger ons are almost always at Capri and the Lounge next door. They are obviously all very close. Interesting you have the Cicero crew, EP Crew and Grand Ave grew hanging together on a regular basis. I will also say some heavy union guys are there too. Spina is there even more since his place Lisa’s Club Caberet closed down.

When did Spina’s club close? What happened, slow business?

I think due to lack of business. The make up of the club was awkward. Very narrow place made it hard to see the music and get a drink at the bar. It had some busy days but don’t think it brought enough people in. I did hear that Jimmy Deleo’s daughter or relative bought it. They are the owner of Draft Bar on Irving and Cumberland. The new place will be called Goat Village.

From the photos I’ve seen, the vibe looked more city than suburban, so maybe it was a bad spot for it.

Speaking of which, was wondering about the Margaret DiVito listed as an owner of the Aberdeen Tap (C.M. Spina, Inc of course still being the license holder). I’m not certain but believe that her family is from Bari (unsurprisingly), but not sure if anyone in her family is connected (she seems to be related also to the Abrignanis from Bari).

Interesting about DeLeo’s daughter. Is Jimmy DeLeo still involved in Tavern on Rush?

For those who are reading and unfamiliar, Jimmy DeLeo is a former IL State Senator turned businessman with longstanding allegations of close outfit ties.

Tavern on Rush closed last year. Fred Barbara, who owns the land where tavern is located, got into it with Phil Stefani and forced him to close when the lease ran up. Barbara opened his own place where Tavern use to be called Bellevue. Have not been there but heard it’s good. Barbara is an outfit guy himself so whatever connections Stefani had were not enough.

I am unsure about Divito but can ask around.

[funkster]

That RushStreet guy on GBB can't be serious, right? lol ok buddy.

I had always heard Spina also being the license holder at G&O which was obviously at Grand and Ogden. Just closed recently.

[Honk]

He’s a total jagoff fanboy

[PolackTony]

Weird thread on GBB hahaha: http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... er=1051607

Yeah Gigi is a made guy uh huh sure dude.

Some of it valid info. Rudy Fratto, Chris Spina, Paulie Caparelli, Gigi and some other hanger ons are almost always at Capri and the Lounge next door. They are obviously all very close. Interesting you have the Cicero crew, EP Crew and Grand Ave grew hanging together on a regular basis. I will also say some heavy union guys are there too. Spina is there even more since his place Lisa’s Club Caberet closed down.

When did Spina’s club close? What happened, slow business?

I think due to lack of business. The make up of the club was awkward. Very narrow place made it hard to see the music and get a drink at the bar. It had some busy days but don’t think it brought enough people in. I did hear that Jimmy Deleo’s daughter or relative bought it. They are the owner of Draft Bar on Irving and Cumberland. The new place will be called Goat Village.

From the photos I’ve seen, the vibe looked more city than suburban, so maybe it was a bad spot for it.

Speaking of which, was wondering about the Margaret DiVito listed as an owner of the Aberdeen Tap (C.M. Spina, Inc of course still being the license holder). I’m not certain but believe that her family is from Bari (unsurprisingly), but not sure if anyone in her family is connected (she seems to be related also to the Abrignanis from Bari).

Interesting about DeLeo’s daughter. Is Jimmy DeLeo still involved in Tavern on Rush?

For those who are reading and unfamiliar, Jimmy DeLeo is a former IL State Senator turned businessman with longstanding allegations of close outfit ties.

Tavern on Rush closed last year. Fred Barbara, who owns the land where tavern is located, got into it with Phil Stefani and forced him to close when the lease ran up. Barbara opened his own place where Tavern use to be called Bellevue. Have not been there but heard it’s good. Barbara is an outfit guy himself so whatever connections Stefani had were not enough.

Thanks for the info. Barbara is a name that I haven't seen in a while now. The guy has to be totally fucking loaded, wonder what all he and his relatives have their hands in today. I also note with appreciation that The Bellevue makes a point of highlighting that the mozzarella they use on their pizza comes from the Grande Cheese Co, fitting given the Rush St location.

For those reading who are unfamiliar: Fred Bruno Barbara is a Southside trucking magnate, with a long history of familial connections to the City of Chicago's Streets and Sanitation Department that enabled him to acquire lucrative contracts with the City that he parlayed into a major transport and waste management portfolio. Despite his business success, Barbara has also been known as an outfit associate for decades. In July of 2007, Nick Calabrese testified during the Family Secrets trial that Barbara participated with Angelo LaPietra and Jimmy "Poker" DiForti in the bombing of Horwath's Restaurant on Harlem Ave in Elmwood Park in the early 1980s (shuttered in 2004, Horwath's opened in 1931 and was notorious as a hangout for outfit guys in the '70s and '80s -- Chicago member Chuckie English was gunned down in Horwath's parking lot in 1985). In 1983, Barbara was indicted for his role in a juice loan operation along with Frank "Toots" Caruso, Joseph "Shorty" LaMantia, and Shorty's adopted son, Aldo Piscitelli Jr (though a clerk for the City of Chicago who moonlighted as a bookmaker and was on the hook to the Chinatown crew for juice loans wore a wire on them, the defendants in this case were subsequently acquitted). Despite his well-known affiliation with the mob, Fred Barbara has maintained close friendships with City political leaders, including former Mayor Richard M "Da Kid" Daley and top Daley political advisor Tim Degnan. All of these men, of course, grew up in Bridgeport. Richie Daley's brother John Daley married Mary Lou Briatta, daughter of onetime Loop gambling overseer Luigi "Lou" Briatta (Lou Briatta's son, Cosmo Briatta, a scandal-plagued asset manager for the City of Chicago, also married Richie Daley's 2nd cousin, Mary Daley, who was a director of the City Traffic Court, while Chicago LCN member and former 1st Ward Alderman John D'Arco Sr married Lou's sister, Antoinette Briatta -- their son John D'Arco Jr was convicted on corruption charges in the early 90s with Pat Marcy and Barbara relative Fred Roti; I could go on with these connections, of course, but just wanted to give the reader a sense of how intertwined family and power was in Chicago for many decades).

Like the Briattas, the Barbaras are Calabrese. Fred Bruno Barbara was born in 1947 in Chicago to Antonio Bruno "Anthony" Barbara and Josephine Roti. Anthony Barbara was born in 1928 in Chicago to Fortunato "Fred" Barbara of Simbarìo and Immaculata "Emma" Spina, born in Chicago to Antonio Spina and Maria Andriacchi of Simbarìo. Josephine Roti was a daughter of Chinatown capodecina Bruno Roti Sr, of Simbarìo, Vibo Valentia, Calabria (the founding President of the Società San Rocco Di Simbarìo and a major player for decades in what became Streets and San, paving the way for dozens of his relatives to acquire jobs with the City over the years while others acquired contracts for their businesses with the City), a sister of Chicago LCN member and former 1st Ward Alderman Fred Bruno Roti, and a sister-in-law of Chinatown capodecina Frank "Skids" Caruso. Thus, Fred Barbara is a grandson of Bruno Roti, a nephew of Skids Caruso and Fred Roti, and a first cousin of Toots Caruso (suspected to have been the Chinatown captain in more recent years).

Anthony Barbara, who died in 2015, was the longtime owner-operator of the A. Barbara Trucking Co., which began doing business with the City of Chicago in the 1950s. In 1966, he came under investigation when Mayor Richard J "Hizzoner" Daley and IL state authorities began digging into shenanigans with vehicles rented by private companies to the City of Chicago. Anthony Barbara was found to have been renting out a fleet of unlicensed, poorly maintained tow trucks to the City. When questioned by Tribune reporters, Barbara responded by "bragging" about his political connections and marriage into the Roti family (another of Anthony's brothers-in-law, Bruno Roti Jr, was then working as a lieutenant in the IL Secretary of State's vehicle licensing investigations department, naturally). Fred Barbara spun off his own trucking outfit, F. Barbara Trucking Co, and came under public scrutiny in 1980 when a Cook County grand jury began investigating private companies overbilling the City for snow removal services following the historic blizzard of 1979. Although Alderman Fred Roti denied having anything to do with Fred Barbara having obtained his snow removal contract with the City, it was reported that payments to Barbara and a number of other clout-heavy trucking companies under investigation for overcharging the City were approved and ordered by Roti's political protege, then-City Comptroller Anthony Fratto under his former title of Deputy Commissioner of Streets and San (another Bridgeport native, his family was from Sorbo San Basile, Catanzaro, and related to the Scalises and Maidas; I also believe that his father, Anthony Fratto Sr, was a cousin of Calabrian narcotics trafficker Aldo Fratto, murdered in Chicago in 1982), and that Roti's son Bruno, disgraced former CPD employee, was employed by F. Barbara Trucking as part of his sentencing to a Federal work release program for his prior conviction on extortion charges (another of the companies under investigation and facing potential Federal charges in this case was, of course, A. Barbara Trucking).

Following his acquittal on the 1983 extortion charges, Fred Barbara began moving heavily (pun intended) into waste management. In 1986, a Tribune investigative piece exposed that private trucking firms contracted to haul waste by Streets and San were routinely overloading trucks to the point of damaging Chicago's road infrastructure (which, as the Tribune made sure to point out, was itself the responsibility of Streets and San to repair and maintain). F. Barbara Trucking had obtained a major contract with Streets and San that year and in just a couple of months in 1986 was found to have transported thousands of overweight loads of waste from a City processing facility without any repercussions or oversight. It was also revealed that in an attempt to skirt the mandate by the administration of Mayor Harold Washington to steer City contracts to minority and women-owned businesses, Fred Barbara and his wife, Lisa Humbert, set up "Karen's Kartage Co." to funnel subcontracted waste hauling jobs from F. Barbara Trucking. F. Barbara was later investigated several times for campaign donations to Streets and San administrators and Mayor Eugene Sawyer (shockingly, Sawyer and his relatives also had stakes in trucking companies awarded City contracts, while brother Charles Sawyer was under investigation for taking bribes from an FBI undercover agent and receiving money from his brother's campaign coffers). In 1988, a number of black Aldermen raised an outcry when Fred Barbara, with his company now renamed Fred B. Barbara Trucking Co., had been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract by the City to haul ash despite a minority-owned firm having put in a much lower cost bid.

In 1993, Fred Barbara was named Man of the Year by the Italian-American Executives of Transportation (IAET), which noted that Fred B. Barbara Trucking ran a fleet of 110 trucks with contracts for municipal, residential, and construction site waste hauling. By this time Barbara also operated the Shred-All Recycling and Disposal Company along with Allied Waste Management, and in 1996 sold his companies to American Disposal Services, Inc., for $58 million, while staying on as an "operations analyst" drawing a monthly salary with Allied.

As I've discussed previously, the City of Chicago's scandal-ridden Hired Truck Program was brought to an end following a 2004 exposé series in the Chicago Sun-Times, "Clout on Wheels" (they should've won a Pulitzer just for the name), which delved into the familial links and mob-ties of companies awarded City contracts for hired trucks by former Streets and San employee and Chinatown crew associate Nick "The Stick" LoCoco (LoCoco then died in 2004 before he could appear in court to face charges in what was ruled an accidental death when he reportedly fell from a horse). Among the outfit-tied firms involved in the program were Jimmy Inendino's JMS Trucking and Andrich Trucking, owned by Roti-Barbara paesan' Donald Andriacchi, nephew of Joey A (viewtopic.php?p=264629#p264629). Roti-Barbara companies involved included Anthony Barbara's A. Barbara Trucking Co., Karen's Kartage, then operated by Fred's brother Bruno Barbara and thus longer even pretending to be a woman-owned business, and Miffy Trucking, part of a network of cartage companies owned by Frank Roti, first cousin of Fed Barbara and Toots Caruso. In the 2000s, Allied Waste received lucrative contracts to handle the City of Chicago's failed, clown-car-esque boondoggle "Blue Bag" recycling program, despite the fact that Fred Barbara and close associate and partner Thomas Volini, former President of Continental Waste, had recently been sued IL States Attorney Lisa Madigan for illegal waste dumping in Kankakee County. In 2012, it came out that Allied Waste was up to its old shell games, using fake minority-owned firms to handle subcontracted City waste hauling contracts to the tune of $100s of millions; despite paying an $11 million penalty for these shenanigans and bad publicity around heavy campaign contributions to the corruption-plagued Hispanic Democratic Organization, Allied managed to continue scoring lucrative waste hauling contracts with the City during the 2010s.

[Ivan]

Very good article on the Scott Site about the gaming control board revoking Jeff Bertucci's license for his Outfit ties, now claiming that having granted it to him in the first place was an error/oversight.

[Patrickgold]

This is an interesting case with outfit ties. Bobby Siegel testified in the family secrets trial. Anyone familiar with the other names? Francis Mazza was connected to Tony Dote’s bookmaking operation. Article will be posted below.

Arrest of 84-year-old for Saugatuck bank heist sparks memories, movie comparisons

Published: May. 16, 2008, 9:40 a.m.
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By Nate Reens | nreens@mlive.com
SAUGATUCK -- The 1991 robbery of Citizens Trust and Savings Bank here had all the makings of a movie script.

• A small-town bank flush with merchants' cash from the Labor Day weekend.

• An intricate, practiced plan that netted a $359,268 pay day.

• Mob ties, with the ringleader looking to become a "made man."

Now, 17 years later, the final credits roll and an elderly man on the lam is busted.

It's a happy ending for everyone but Carmine Jannece, the 84-year-old Chicago man living home free until federal agents hooked him a decade after his accomplices were imprisoned.At the start, the crooks wrote the script.

"They hit the mother lode, and they executed a plan perfectly," said Eugene Debbaudt, who worked only on the robbery for nearly 10 months. "It was the most sophisticated, professional and most fascinating bank robbery I've ever worked on.


"Usually, these things are helter-skelter, spur-of-the-moment crimes where people get the courage in the parking lot. Not this one.

"They planned it for months. They did dry runs to make sure they had it right. I have nothing but disdain for criminals who put people's lives at risk, but there were some who admired the work they did."

The robbery drew comparisons to the 1991 film "Point Break" -- Debbaudt assigned an agent to view the movie for connections -- but, apparently, the robbers drew nothing more from the film than the idea of using masks of former presidents.

With the final robber caught, the whole story is clear. Jannece in April pleaded guilty in a Chicago federal court that he was part of the scheme along with Eugene DeRoy, Robert Siegel and Francis Mazza.

Mazza, hoping to become a mob boss, was the ringleader of a band that may have swiped up to $25 million in cash and jewels across the nation, said Debbaudt, now retired from the FBI.

Jannece's three co-conspirators were convicted a dozen years ago. Each have been released from prison, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Web site. Siegel, a relative of noted mobster Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, is in a witness protection program.


Jannece, lookout and getaway driver, could go away for up to nine years.

According to ABC 7 news in Chicago, Jannece's son says his father told him he was exposed when he tried to renew his driver's license.

In Saugatuck, the gang monitored the bank for months and knew the day after Labor Day would be the prime moment, Debbaudt said.

Before extensive debit and credit card use, cash was prevalent, and Citizens was literally the only bank in town, with two staff at opening.

The robbers called in a fake car crash on the other side of Saugatuck and watched as the police chief and only cop on duty, Lyle Jones, drove out. The robbers had timed it. It was at least an eight-minute drive for Jones to get across the Blue Star Highway bridge and back.

Swinging into action, they walked through a door they had opened the night before and forced teller Pat Diepenhorst to the ground and manager Frank Wicks inside the vault, guns to their heads.


"It wasn't until afterward when your mind starts playing games with you and you wonder 'what if' that I was scared at all," Diepenhorst said Thursday from her Allegan County home. "In the moment, I was very calm. But for a couple months after that, there was a sound of the door opening early that spooked me.

"I knew they'd get this last guy sooner or later. For me, it's been over for years."

Diepenhorst went on to work at the bank until retiring in 2004.

"I hope they had fun spending it. That kind of money isn't going to last too long when you split it four ways and you're going to do a lot of time for it. I could have spent it in a weekend."

Wicks worked at the bank another year. He died last June.

After the robbery, his widow, Lorraine Wicks, said he wouldn't enter the bank without driving around the parking lot several times looking for unusual activity.

"(He) never talked much about it, didn't want to relive it."


And, for a while, he felt like a suspect. He and his wife went on a planned Las Vegas vacation weeks after the robbery.

"We felt there were eyes on us on the plane and around town," she said.

Court records show the four robbers divided the money at a Saugatuck condominium. DeRoy left and reported back the roads were clear, a sign that Jannece and Mazza could depart. Siegel stayed and later joined the group in Chicago.

Debbaudt, who recently announced his candidacy for Kent County sheriff, laughed when informed Thursday of the arrest and guilty plea from Jannece. He thought the final suspect had died.

"That's the thing about the FBI. The agency never forgets and never gives up."

[Patrickgold]

7 charged in sports betting ring

April 29, 2000

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH STAFF REPORTER

Seven Chicago area men are accused of running a sports betting ring that netted $2 million over three years.

At least two of the men have been convicted of mob-related crimes. All have colorful nicknames, such as "Hotdogs," "Sponge," "Rags" and "Baldy."

The men used cell phones to relay bets to Las Vegas on pro and college football, basketball, hockey and baseball games, said U.S. Attorney Scott Lassar and Kathleen McChesney, special agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office.

Six of the seven men appeared in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Friday. Five were released on $50,000 bail each, charged with racketeering and gambling.

The sixth, Anthony R. "Seymour" Dote, 48, formerly of Elmwood Park, remains in custody from a 1995 conviction for running a similar illegal sports bookkeepping enterprise. He was the organizer and leader of this one from 1994 until he went to prison in 1996, prosecutors said.

The seventh man, Francis Patrick "Cosmo" Mazza, 48, also formerly of Elmwood Park, remains in jail for bank robberies in 1991 in Berwyn and Saugatuck, Mich. Mazza allegedly managed the enterprise from 1994 to 1996, when he went to prison, getting the point spreads from Las Vegas and leaving the information on telephone answering systems.

With Dote and Mazza in prison, Donald F. "Sponge" Scalise, also known as "Rags," 61, of Wood Dale and Dote's brother Carl, 51, of Elmwood Park took over the operation, which lasted through 1997, prosecutors said.

The others appearing in court Friday included Jack "Baldy," Cozzi, 44, of Chicago; Sherman "Hotdogs" Goldman, 70, of Glenview, and Frank J. "Captain" Adamo of Chicago.

Cozzi and Goldman took the bets, and Adamo kept the books and reported the results via fax to the other members, prosecutors said.

Asked if all seven men were mobsters or if the bookkeeping operation was a venture of organized crime, Lassar said, "That's not alleged."

Prosecutors hope to use forfeiture laws to recoup the $2.1 million from the men's bank accounts, real estate holdings and other sources, Lassar said.

[Snakes]

Thanks, I knew Mazza was involved in the robberies and sportsbook, but that's the first I've heard of his ambitions to become a "made guy" or "mob boss" because of it. I wonder if those aspirations ever came true? It wouldn't surprise me.

[Patrickgold]

Weird thread on GBB hahaha: http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... er=1051607

Yeah Gigi is a made guy uh huh sure dude.

Some of it valid info. Rudy Fratto, Chris Spina, Paulie Caparelli, Gigi and some other hanger ons are almost always at Capri and the Lounge next door. They are obviously all very close. Interesting you have the Cicero crew, EP Crew and Grand Ave grew hanging together on a regular basis. I will also say some heavy union guys are there too. Spina is there even more since his place Lisa’s Club Caberet closed down.

When did Spina’s club close? What happened, slow business?

I think due to lack of business. The make up of the club was awkward. Very narrow place made it hard to see the music and get a drink at the bar. It had some busy days but don’t think it brought enough people in. I did hear that Jimmy Deleo’s daughter or relative bought it. They are the owner of Draft Bar on Irving and Cumberland. The new place will be called Goat Village.

From the photos I’ve seen, the vibe looked more city than suburban, so maybe it was a bad spot for it.

Speaking of which, was wondering about the Margaret DiVito listed as an owner of the Aberdeen Tap (C.M. Spina, Inc of course still being the license holder). I’m not certain but believe that her family is from Bari (unsurprisingly), but not sure if anyone in her family is connected (she seems to be related also to the Abrignanis from Bari).

Interesting about DeLeo’s daughter. Is Jimmy DeLeo still involved in Tavern on Rush?

For those who are reading and unfamiliar, Jimmy DeLeo is a former IL State Senator turned businessman with longstanding allegations of close outfit ties.

Tavern on Rush closed last year. Fred Barbara, who owns the land where tavern is located, got into it with Phil Stefani and forced him to close when the lease ran up. Barbara opened his own place where Tavern use to be called Bellevue. Have not been there but heard it’s good. Barbara is an outfit guy himself so whatever connections Stefani had were not enough.

Thanks for the info. Barbara is a name that I haven't seen in a while now. The guy has to be totally fucking loaded, wonder what all he and his relatives have their hands in today. I also note with appreciation that The Bellevue makes a point of highlighting that the mozzarella they use on their pizza comes from the Grande Cheese Co, fitting given the Rush St location.

For those reading who are unfamiliar: Fred Bruno Barbara is a Southside trucking magnate, with a long history of familial connections to the City of Chicago's Streets and Sanitation Department that enabled him to acquire lucrative contracts with the City that he parlayed into a major transport and waste management portfolio. Despite his business success, Barbara has also been known as an outfit associate for decades. In July of 2007, Nick Calabrese testified during the Family Secrets trial that Barbara participated with Angelo LaPietra and Jimmy "Poker" DiForti in the bombing of Horwath's Restaurant on Harlem Ave in Elmwood Park in the early 1980s (shuttered in 2004, Horwath's opened in 1931 and was notorious as a hangout for outfit guys in the '70s and '80s -- Chicago member Chuckie English was gunned down in Horwath's parking lot in 1985). In 1983, Barbara was indicted for his role in a juice loan operation along with Frank "Toots" Caruso, Joseph "Shorty" LaMantia, and Shorty's adopted son, Aldo Piscitelli Jr (though a clerk for the City of Chicago who moonlighted as a bookmaker and was on the hook to the Chinatown crew for juice loans wore a wire on them, the defendants in this case were subsequently acquitted). Despite his well-known affiliation with the mob, Fred Barbara has maintained close friendships with City political leaders, including former Mayor Richard M "Da Kid" Daley and top Daley political advisor Tim Degnan. All of these men, of course, grew up in Bridgeport. Richie Daley's brother John Daley married Mary Lou Briatta, daughter of onetime Loop gambling overseer Luigi "Lou" Briatta (Lou Briatta's son, Cosmo Briatta, a scandal-plagued asset manager for the City of Chicago, also married Richie Daley's 2nd cousin, Mary Daley, who was a director of the City Traffic Court, while Chicago LCN member and former 1st Ward Alderman John D'Arco Sr married Lou's sister, Antoinette Briatta -- their son John D'Arco Jr was convicted on corruption charges in the early 90s with Pat Marcy and Barbara relative Fred Roti; I could go on with these connections, of course, but just wanted to give the reader a sense of how intertwined family and power was in Chicago for many decades).

Like the Briattas, the Barbaras are Calabrese. Fred Bruno Barbara was born in 1947 in Chicago to Antonio Bruno "Anthony" Barbara and Josephine Roti. Anthony Barbara was born in 1928 in Chicago to Fortunato "Fred" Barbara of Simbarìo and Immaculata "Emma" Spina, born in Chicago to Antonio Spina and Maria Andriacchi of Simbarìo. Josephine Roti was a daughter of Chinatown capodecina Bruno Roti Sr, of Simbarìo, Vibo Valentia, Calabria (the founding President of the Società San Rocco Di Simbarìo and a major player for decades in what became Streets and San, paving the way for dozens of his relatives to acquire jobs with the City over the years while others acquired contracts for their businesses with the City), a sister of Chicago LCN member and former 1st Ward Alderman Fred Bruno Roti, and a sister-in-law of Chinatown capodecina Frank "Skids" Caruso. Thus, Fred Barbara is a grandson of Bruno Roti, a nephew of Skids Caruso and Fred Roti, and a first cousin of Toots Caruso (suspected to have been the Chinatown captain in more recent years).

Anthony Barbara, who died in 2015, was the longtime owner-operator of the A. Barbara Trucking Co., which began doing business with the City of Chicago in the 1950s. In 1966, he came under investigation when Mayor Richard J "Hizzoner" Daley and IL state authorities began digging into shenanigans with vehicles rented by private companies to the City of Chicago. Anthony Barbara was found to have been renting out a fleet of unlicensed, poorly maintained tow trucks to the City. When questioned by Tribune reporters, Barbara responded by "bragging" about his political connections and marriage into the Roti family (another of Anthony's brothers-in-law, Bruno Roti Jr, was then working as a lieutenant in the IL Secretary of State's vehicle licensing investigations department, naturally). Fred Barbara spun off his own trucking outfit, F. Barbara Trucking Co, and came under public scrutiny in 1980 when a Cook County grand jury began investigating private companies overbilling the City for snow removal services following the historic blizzard of 1979. Although Alderman Fred Roti denied having anything to do with Fred Barbara having obtained his snow removal contract with the City, it was reported that payments to Barbara and a number of other clout-heavy trucking companies under investigation for overcharging the City were approved and ordered by Roti's political protege, then-City Comptroller Anthony Fratto under his former title of Deputy Commissioner of Streets and San (another Bridgeport native, his family was from Sorbo San Basile, Catanzaro, and related to the Scalises and Maidas; I also believe that his father, Anthony Fratto Sr, was a cousin of Calabrian narcotics trafficker Aldo Fratto, murdered in Chicago in 1982), and that Roti's son Bruno, disgraced former CPD employee, was employed by F. Barbara Trucking as part of his sentencing to a Federal work release program for his prior conviction on extortion charges (another of the companies under investigation and facing potential Federal charges in this case was, of course, A. Barbara Trucking).

Following his acquittal on the 1983 extortion charges, Fred Barbara began moving heavily (pun intended) into waste management. In 1986, a Tribune investigative piece exposed that private trucking firms contracted to haul waste by Streets and San were routinely overloading trucks to the point of damaging Chicago's road infrastructure (which, as the Tribune made sure to point out, was itself the responsibility of Streets and San to repair and maintain). F. Barbara Trucking had obtained a major contract with Streets and San that year and in just a couple of months in 1986 was found to have transported thousands of overweight loads of waste from a City processing facility without any repercussions or oversight. It was also revealed that in an attempt to skirt the mandate by the administration of Mayor Harold Washington to steer City contracts to minority and women-owned businesses, Fred Barbara and his wife, Lisa Humbert, set up "Karen's Kartage Co." to funnel subcontracted waste hauling jobs from F. Barbara Trucking. F. Barbara was later investigated several times for campaign donations to Streets and San administrators and Mayor Eugene Sawyer (shockingly, Sawyer and his relatives also had stakes in trucking companies awarded City contracts, while brother Charles Sawyer was under investigation for taking bribes from an FBI undercover agent and receiving money from his brother's campaign coffers). In 1988, a number of black Aldermen raised an outcry when Fred Barbara, with his company now renamed Fred B. Barbara Trucking Co., had been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract by the City to haul ash despite a minority-owned firm having put in a much lower cost bid.

In 1993, Fred Barbara was named Man of the Year by the Italian-American Executives of Transportation (IAET), which noted that Fred B. Barbara Trucking ran a fleet of 110 trucks with contracts for municipal, residential, and construction site waste hauling. By this time Barbara also operated the Shred-All Recycling and Disposal Company along with Allied Waste Management, and in 1996 sold his companies to American Disposal Services, Inc., for $58 million, while staying on as an "operations analyst" drawing a monthly salary with Allied.

As I've discussed previously, the City of Chicago's scandal-ridden Hired Truck Program was brought to an end following a 2004 exposé series in the Chicago Sun-Times, "Clout on Wheels" (they should've won a Pulitzer just for the name), which delved into the familial links and mob-ties of companies awarded City contracts for hired trucks by former Streets and San employee and Chinatown crew associate Nick "The Stick" LoCoco (LoCoco then died in 2004 before he could appear in court to face charges in what was ruled an accidental death when he reportedly fell from a horse). Among the outfit-tied firms involved in the program were Jimmy Inendino's JMS Trucking and Andrich Trucking, owned by Roti-Barbara paesan' Donald Andriacchi, nephew of Joey A (viewtopic.php?p=264629#p264629). Roti-Barbara companies involved included Anthony Barbara's A. Barbara Trucking Co., Karen's Kartage, then operated by Fred's brother Bruno Barbara and thus longer even pretending to be a woman-owned business, and Miffy Trucking, part of a network of cartage companies owned by Frank Roti, first cousin of Fed Barbara and Toots Caruso. In the 2000s, Allied Waste received lucrative contracts to handle the City of Chicago's failed, clown-car-esque boondoggle "Blue Bag" recycling program, despite the fact that Fred Barbara and close associate and partner Thomas Volini, former President of Continental Waste, had recently been sued IL States Attorney Lisa Madigan for illegal waste dumping in Kankakee County. In 2012, it came out that Allied Waste was up to its old shell games, using fake minority-owned firms to handle subcontracted City waste hauling contracts to the tune of $100s of millions; despite paying an $11 million penalty for these shenanigans and bad publicity around heavy campaign contributions to the corruption-plagued Hispanic Democratic Organization, Allied managed to continue scoring lucrative waste hauling contracts with the City during the 2010s.

Very good write up Tony. I know people that know Barbara and let’s just say he is not a guy I would want to be on his bad side. A serious individual. I would not be surprised if he is made.