Chicago Outfit Places of Origin

[B.]

Nice find.

What does it say about Jacksonville? There were at least two Tampa members living there.

[PolackTony]

Nice find.

What does it say about Jacksonville? There were at least two Tampa members living there.

I would need to go back and check for the specifics. There was a Joe Barone they were looking into in Jacksonville, and were wondering if it was Joe LaBarbera.

[JoelTurner]

Genovese member Joseph “Kid Steech” Bongiorno moved to Iowa in ~1934

Born Jan 20 1897 in Passaic, NJ to parents from Petralia Sottana, Palermo, Sicily; he had frequent run-ins with the law in the ‘20s. Notably, in 1929, he was arrested with Genovese member Angelo LaPadura for kidnapping bank official Willard Elliot.

On Dec 21 1933, he beat a murder charge with Anthony Sabio, Solly and Willie Moretti.

By Aug 30 1934, he bought a restaurant in Council Bluffs, IO. He lived there till his death.

In Iowa, he continued to face legal issues with arrests for liquor and for killing a trespasser named Lyle Hiatt in Nov 1946.

He passed away on Jun 5 1947.

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I’m not sure if Council Bluffs, IO falls under Chicago. However, the only Iowa based mafia members that I’ve heard off were Outfit guys, Charles Gioe and Louie Fratto so I’m guessing they could have operated there.

[PolackTony]

Genovese member Joseph “Kid Steech” Bongiorno moved to Iowa in ~1934

Born Jan 20 1897 in Passaic, NJ to parents from Petralia Sottana, Palermo, Sicily; he had frequent run-ins with the law in the ‘20s. Notably, in 1929, he was arrested with Genovese member Angelo LaPadura for kidnapping bank official Willard Elliot.

On Dec 21 1933, he beat a murder charge with Anthony Sabio, Solly and Willie Moretti.

By Aug 30 1934, he bought a restaurant in Council Bluffs, IO. He lived there till his death.

In Iowa, he continued to face legal issues with arrests for liquor and for killing a trespasser named Lyle Hiatt in Nov 1946.

He passed away on Jun 5 1947.

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I’m not sure if Council Bluffs, IO falls under Chicago. However, the only Iowa based mafia members that I’ve heard off were Outfit guys, Charles Gioe and Louie Fratto so I’m guessing they could have operated there.

Didn’t know that Bongiorno was connected to Council Bluffs, interesting find. As part of the Omaha area, my guess is that Council Bluffs was within the KC outfit’s orbit, as we have seen some indications of KC ties to Omaha. Chicago interests in IA were primarily based in Des Moines, though Fratto of course also had ties to KC.

Bongiorno wasn’t the only Genovese affiliate based in Council Bluffs, however. In the 1940s, at least, Lansky operated a dog track there until it was shut down by the governor. I’ve also seen FBI reports that stated that Lansky was living at a house in Council Bluffs during that period.

[JoelTurner]

Genovese member Anthony Sabio spent around 6 years, from ~1922 to Dec 1928, in Chicago. This, combined with his weight, earned him the nickname Chicago Fat.

Born Aug 13 1899 in Serino, Avellino, Campania to Antonio Sabio and Lucia Manzo; he lived in Paterson, NJ and had several arrests.

Likely ducking an indictment relating to a silk factory robbery, he appears to have fled to Chicago. Accounts differ on whether he was a Capone ally or an enemy. He was possibly involved in the April 1928 Pineapple primary. Other sources claimed that he was a member of Detroits’s Purple Gang. [I haven’t found anything on his time in the Midwest]

A likely reason that he chose Chicago was that his maternal relatives, the Manzos, were living there. His uncle, Angelantonio Manzo was living at 945 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL in 1917 when his family joined him.

His cousin, Albert Manzo, father of Gambino associate Albert “Tiny Manzo”, was naturalized in Chicago in 1927. He was living at 2244 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL. His naturalization was witnessed by Antonio Marchese (1034 Almond St, Chicago, IL) and Antonio Melino (2306 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL). He moved to Paterson, NJ in 1929 where he operated pinball machines and gay bars.

In an interview on Dec 19 1968, Albert “Tiny Manzo” claimed that his uncle Anthony Sabio tried to muscle in on Chicago’s rackets but “the Capone guys” ran him back to Paterson. I don’t know how reliable this was. His return could have been more personal; Sabio’s father fell ill and passed in Jan 1928.

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If anyone has anything on his time in the Midwest please share it

[cavita]

Genovese member Anthony Sabio spent around 6 years, from ~1922 to Dec 1928, in Chicago. This, combined with his weight, earned him the nickname Chicago Fat.

Born Aug 13 1899 in Serino, Avellino, Campania to Antonio Sabio and Lucia Manzo; he lived in Paterson, NJ and had several arrests.

Likely ducking an indictment relating to a silk factory robbery, he appears to have fled to Chicago. Accounts differ on whether he was a Capone ally or an enemy. He was possibly involved in the April 1928 Pineapple primary. Other sources claimed that he was a member of Detroits’s Purple Gang. [I haven’t found anything on his time in the Midwest]

A likely reason that he chose Chicago was that his maternal relatives, the Manzos, were living there. His uncle, Angelantonio Manzo was living at 945 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL in 1917 when his family joined him.

His cousin, Albert Manzo, father of Gambino associate Albert “Tiny Manzo”, was naturalized in Chicago in 1927. He was living at 2244 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL. His naturalization was witnessed by Antonio Marchese (1034 Almond St, Chicago, IL) and Antonio Melino (2306 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL). He moved to Paterson, NJ in 1929 where he operated pinball machines and gay bars.

In an interview on Dec 19 1968, Albert “Tiny Manzo” claimed that his uncle Anthony Sabio tried to muscle in on Chicago’s rackets but “the Capone guys” ran him back to Paterson. I don’t know how reliable this was. His return could have been more personal; Sabio’s father fell ill and passed in Jan 1928.

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If anyone has anything on his time in the Midwest please share it

Back in the 90s I spent considerable time in Chicago, particularly the Northside and I'd always drive by a restaurant on Irving called Manzo's. I always wondered if it was "connected." I wonder if it connects to this Manzo you speak of here.

[PolackTony]

Great info on Sabio. I don’t know anything myself beyond what you wrote about his time in Chicago. I had suspected that he had family in the Taylor St community, as there were other Serinesi in that neighborhood.

Back in the 90s I spent considerable time in Chicago, particularly the Northside and I'd always drive by a restaurant on Irving called Manzo's. I always wondered if it was "connected." I wonder if it connects to this Manzo you speak of here.

Manzo’s on Irving was a Sicilian joint. It was started in the ‘50s by Antonino Manzo, who was a Palermitano. The owners at the time that you were going there were the Anzaldis, immigrants from Alimena, who took over the place when Antonino Manzo died in 1977. After Giuseppe Anzaldi died in 2013, Manzo’s closed.

There were Manzos involved in local government in Melrose Park, connected to the Serpicos. These Manzos I believe were from Serino.

[PolackTony]

Nicola Gentile stated that a Domenico Catalano was a "confratello" in Chicago during the time of Tony D'Andrea.

A possible match for him is the Domenico Catalano who was born in 1887 in Ciminna. He arrived in Chicago around 1905 and was naturalized in 1927 at which time he lived near Racine and Webster in Lincoln Park. This Domenico Catalano died in Chicago in 1968.

A better bet may be the Domenico Catalano who was born in 1876, also from Ciminna. There was a Domenico Catalano, born in 1876, who arrived in NOLA in 1890 from Palermo, could be him. On his WW1 draft registration (during D'Andrea's tenure as rappresentante), he was living in Mafia Ground Zero, at Milton and Hobbie in Little Sicily. In 1920, he was still living in Chicago, however in 1923 (per shipping records for his son matteo Catalano, born in Chicago in 1906) he was back living in Ciminna. D'Andrea died in 1921, so it might make sense that Catalano had to flee.

In 1919, notorious robber Santo Orlando, who the Tribune claimed had "squealed on his men", was shot to death in Chicago. At the time, the police found a card for Giuseppe Catalano, who lived in Little Sicily and was allegedly Orlando's brother-in-law, in his pocket. Orlando was also from Ciminna and arrived in NYC in 1907 for Chicago where his brother Giuseppe Orlando already lived. In 1910, Santo Orlando was living at Oak and Milton (the infamous "Death Corner"), a short block from where Domenico Catalano lived.

There was also a Filippo Catalano shot to death at 16th and State in 1910, but he was from Gioia Tauro, Reggio Calabria.

I looked into Catalano years ago and thought that the one born in 1876 was the closest match to the friend of Paolinello. I scoured the newspapers for an arrest hoping that he was arrested with someone named Paolo, but not luck. I did find a Domenico Catalano of Chicago who was arrested in New Orleans in 1909 and sentenced to 15 years at Louisiana State Prison the next year, along with Giuseppe Frangiamore and Oscar Ryan, both also of Chicago. It's possible that this is the same person, but aside from being from Chicago the newspapers don't give identifying information like ages or addresses. According to the 1910 census he was in Angola State Prison, was born in 1877 and had been married for 11 years.

Gentile noted that when he met with Chicago member Domenico Catalano to arrange the meeting with D'Andrea where Gentile argued to spare Paolo "Paolinello" Torino's life, Catalano was a business owner and Gentile met him in the rear of Catalano's store. This would exclude the Domenico Catalano born in 1887 in Ciminna, as per the 1920 census, he was still living at home with his parents and working as a street laborer for the City, while the Domenico Catalano born in 1876 in Ciminna owned a butcher shop/grocery store in Little Sicily per his WW1 draft card.

As I noted previously in another thread, the 1876 Domenico Catalano may have fled Chicago when D'Andrea was murdered and returned to Sicily. As B has also previously noted, following the murder of Ciminnese Chicago boss Rosario Dispenza, an "A. Catalano" and a "D. Catalano" were executors of his estate. That the latter was indeed the 1876 Domenico Catalano is supported by the fact that Dispenza and wife Francesca Spatafora baptized Domenico Catalano's son Matteo Rosario "Mike" Catalano (born in Chicago to Catalano's wife Concetta Ingraffia, also of Ciminna, in 1906) at San Filippo Benizi Parish. Thus, Domenico Catalano and Dispenza were cumpari. From my info, Domenico Catalano's parents were Matteo Catalano and Serafina Spatafora, so he may well have been a relative of Dispenza's wife. When Mike Catalano returned to Chicago permanently in 1923, he was accompanied by a contingent of Ingraffias, Barones, and Spataforas from Ciminna also bound for Chicago, apparent relatives of his and surnames that also connect to the Dispenzas.



Mike Rosario Catalano lived for decades on the Northside of Chicago and was involved in the heavily mobbed-up Loop parking business, first as an employee of Downtown Parking, Inc., and later as a lot owner himself. Recall that Downtown Parking was owned and operated by Nick Dispenza, Rosario's son, a one-time hoodlum turned major business and cultural figure in Chicago's Italian community, suspected of having ordered the shooting of a rival Loop parking operator (it would not at all surprise me if Nick Dispenza was a Chicago member).

viewtopic.php?p=239413#p239413

Now, as for the "A. Catalano" also listed on Rosario Dispenza's estate. B and I have previously discussed whether this may have been the Antonino Catalano, likely a relative of Domenico Catalano, born in 1853 in Ciminna to Domenico Catalano and Ida Passantino, who was the father of the younger Domenico Catalano born in 1887. Worth noting here that on the 1920 census, Antonino Catalano was employed as a confectioner, while in that same year, the 1876 Domenico Catalano was employed as a salesman for a candy company. Antonino Catalano, who died in 1934 in Chicago, married Lucia Di Bello in Ciminna, where their sons Domenico (1887), Filippo (1893), and Salvatore "Turiddu/Sam" (1898) Catalano were born before the family immigrated to Chicago and settled in Little Sicily in 1905. In 1930, Antonino and Lucia lived at 1159 W Webster in the Northside Lincoln Park neighborhood, where Antonino owned a soda parlor at the same address, while their sons lived close by on N Racine Ave (longtime Chicago member Giuseppe "Joe" Priola lived in this immediate vicinity as well).

Now, confectioners and soda purveyors were, of course, often a red flag for bootlegging, and the Catalanos were no exception. In 1930, the Chicago Tribune noted that Sam Catalano was a rising force in bootlegging on the Northside and suspected of having ordered the September 1930 attack on Giuseppe Martilotta, reportedly a rival "Westsider". Martilotta, who was born ~1896 in San Marco Argentano, Cosenza, and arrived in Chicago in 1914, lived at Roosevelt and Paulina near the Taylor St Patch and was shot by a gunman at Dayton and Halsted in Lake View, near the Catalanos' Lincoln Park base (San Marco Argentano neighbors Roggiano Gravina, hometown of Genna-in-laws the Spingolas and Vincenzo Abbollito, a suspected early KC member). Martilotta called for Sam Catalano to visit him at the Bridewell Hospital upon which CPD detained Catalano, accused him of involvement in the shooting, and executed a raid of the Catalanos' business at 1159 Webster, where they seized illegal alcohol. Martilotta, who survived the shooting, was an employee of the Morici Bros grocery wholesale business; his former bosses Agostino and Antonino Morici of Bagheria were, of course, murdered in 1926 on the Westside in the aftermath of the Genna et al drama.

In November of 1930, CPD raided a "machine gun nest" set up in a vacant apartment in a building facing 2151 N Racine, where Sam Catalano lived around the corner from his father and the soda parlor. Police were tipped off to the nest after a neighbor saw a man drop a machine gun in the stairwell and phoned it in, upon which CPD found two machine guns set up on tripods in the apartment and trained on the Catalano building. CPD claimed that the nest was erected by two "Sicilian" "Capone gangsters", with informants stating that the Catalanos had been marked for death as "henchmen" of the "Aiello-Moran" faction and, likely, in retaliation for the prior Martilotta shooting. It would appear that Sam Catalano narrowly missed meeting the same fate that Joe Aiello had himself recently met. The Tribune noted the "Catalano brothers" as Sam, Dominick, Phillip, and Tony. As the three brothers did not have a sibling named Tony, the latter was presumably either their father Antonino, who owned the soda parlor that Sam was apparently using as a base of operations, or Filippo's son Anthony, who was in his early 20s at the time.

Having survived the events of 1930, the Catalanos remained in Chicago, where father Antonino died in 1934. Sam Catalano had married Filippa "Phyllis" De Caro of Palermo City in 1920, and in 1940 they lived at California and Lunt in the Far Northside West Ridge neighborhood, two blocks west of the former Joe Aiello mansion; Sam was employed as the president of a "financial company". Sometime in the 1950s, the couple moved to Los Angeles, where Sam died in 1960 and Phyllis in 1962. Middle brother Filippo seems to have died in Chicago in 1939, while elder brother Domenico died in 1968 in Chicago. He had married his wife, Audenzia Cinelli Mistretta of Menfi, in Chicago in 1911, and in 1940 they were still living on the 2100 block of N Racine, with Domenico employed as a construction laborer. In 1934, Domenico's sons Anthony and Dominick Joseph were arrested and charged with the murder of 21-year-old Charles Ripke, along with their cousin Anthony Catalano, son of Filippo Catalano. Ripke was shot and killed earlier that year in what was described as a neighborhood street fight, and the Catalano youths had apparently fled the city with the authorities on their trial, only to resurface and be apprehended at the funeral of their grandfather Antonino.

Frank Loverde was born 1904 in Chicago to Stefano Lo Verde and Domenica Maisano of Piana dei Greci (today Piana degli Albanesi; another Arbereshe town), Palermo province. His brother, George Loverde -- co-founder of Gino's East pizzeria -- was born in Piana dei Greci in 1907.

During the night of December 7th 1915, alleged "Black Handers" targeted the Little Sicily butcher shop of Stefano LoVerde on the 900 block of N Townsend. A bomb exploded in the basement of the shop and threw the family (including a young Butch LoVerde) from the beds in the apartment upstairs. Also thrown from their beds (the blast was reported to have woken the whole neighborhood up) were the LoVerdes' next door neighbors, the Sciortinos. Father Tommaso "Thomas" Sciortino, who was born in 1886 in Bagheria, owned a grocery store on the same block.

As noted above, Sam Catalano was living at 2151 N Racine in 1930 when he was allegedly targeted by Caponite snipers, while his brother Domenico lived in another building on that block. Sam Catalano's neighbors were Stefano, Domenica, and young Frank LoVerde, the latter a later Chicago member, who lived in an adjacent apartment at 2151, while Frank and George Loverde's oldest brother Vito lived next door in 2149.


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Given the likely ties to Rosario Dispenza and later events -- along with the fact that their likely relative, the older Domenico Catalano who returned to Ciminna following D'Andrea's murder, was a known Chicago member -- I'd think that at least Antonino and Sam Catalano should be suspected of having been Chicago members.

[PolackTony]

in September of 1926, local boys discovered a decomposing body in a cistern well in Palos Township in Southwest Cook County. Police recovered the weighted corpse of 36-year-old Anthony Cuiringione [sic] from the well; autopsy and investigation indicated that he had been starved and brutally tortured for weeks before finally dying from head wounds. Said to use the alias "Tommy Ross", Cuiringione was well-known as a "henchman" of the "Capone gang", reportedly serving as Al Capone's chauffeur and bodyguard at the time of his kidnapping and murder. When asked by reporters about the brutal crime, Capone reportedly responded: "They call me heartless, don't they? This boy was tortured to make him tell my business" (I note the irony here that the guy Capone referred to as a "boy" was the same age as him). The papers speculated that Cuiringione had been kidnapped by either the Moran-Weiss-Drucci or the Saltis-McErlane group, allied in a vicious battle with the Capone group at the time (while Capone biographer Laurence Bergreen claimed that the Moran-Weiss-Drucci Northside group was responsible, John Binder correctly notes that Cuiringione was found in the SW suburbs, at the time controlled by Joe Saltus). A week after Cuiringione's body was recovered, the Capone launched an attack on Weiss and Drucci on the Northside, with the latter managing to drive off the assailants, who included Paul Ricca, nabbed by police at the scene. Soon after, the Northsiders launched their infamous assault on Capone's Hawthorne Hotel base in Cicero, where Ricca was shot and wounded.

From my info, "Cuiringione" was Antonino Cirrincione, who I believe was born in 1889 in Ciminna to Antonino Cirrincione and Vita Catalano. The family immigrated to NYC, where Antonino Sr worked as a shoemaker; in 1905 the Cirrinciones lived at 95 Tillary St in Downtown Brooklyn. Antonino Sr seems to have died in 1915, and Antonino Jr may have left for Chicago around this time. A WW1 draft card has "Anthony Ciurringione" [sic], born in 1889, living in Burnham, IL, and working as a chauffeur. Burnham, a suburb immediately south of the City of Chicago, was a notorious center for vice controlled by Johnny Torrio, who reportedly took over the town in 1916 following crackdowns on vice in the City. In 1924, Cirrincione married Esther Wallin, born in Rockford to Swedish parents. On her husband's 1926 death record, she gave their address at Saginaw Ave and 92nd St on the Far Southside of Chicago, near Burnham. Cirrincione's occupation at the time of his death was given as a wholesale cigar jobber. Given his apparent background, I'd suspect that Cirrincione may well have had connections to Torrio and Capone back in Brooklyn and relocated to Chicago to work for Torrio. As should be obvious from this thread, however, Chicago also had a major colony of Cimminesi, including numerous Catalanos and Cirrinciones who may well have been relatives of "Tommy Ross".

[PolackTony]

Cross-posting this from the Buffalo 1963 thread:

Another confirmed member was Joseph "Chicago Joe" Sciales who was in the decina of Roy Carlisi.

Born in Palazzo Adriano in 1908, lived in Chicago into the mid-1930s, then ended up in Buffalo but was buried in Chicago. His mother was Fortunata Schiro and father was Giovanni Sciales.

I’ve seen vague claims as to a “Joe Sicalzi” [sic], alleged to have been a bodyguard and driver for Capone, who supposedly left Chicago sometime in the mid-1930s. As “Sicalzi” clearly wasn’t the actual surname, I’m wondering now if this guy was actually Joe Sciales.

Recall that in a post above, the Catalanos from Ciminna were living on the 2100 block of N Racine in Lincoln Park in 1930, neighbors also of the LoVerdes from Piana dei Greci.

In 1930, Michele Sciales, an older brother of Joe Sciales was living on the same block, and another brother, Mariano “Henry” Sciales lived around the corner on Seminary and Webster. Michele Sciales was married to Eleana “Lena” Glaviano, also of Palazzo Adriano. She was a younger sister of Vincenzo Glaviano aka “Charles Gloriana” of the “Gloriana Gang” in Little Sicily, and Gloriana was a witness also to Mariano Sciales’ 1927 naturalization.

Unlike his older brothers, Joe Sciales lived on the Southside, giving his address as 236 W 25th St in Chinatown when he submitted his naturalization papers in 1934, before relocating to Buffalo at some point after.

[PolackTony]

Ernest Rocco Infelise was born in 1922 in Keewatin, way up in the taiga zone of Northern Minnesota. His parents were Pietro Infelise of Piane-Crati, Cosenza province and Marietta Molinari of Pianopoli, Catanzaro (near Lamezia Terme where the Rubertos and Liparotas were from). Rocky's parents had arrived in St Paul (which had a sizeable Calabrese community) in the 1910s. Pietro worked on the railroads, which presumably led him to the wilderness of northern MN and WI. Pietro died in Superior, WI in 1963, which is where the family was living by 1930. This Infelise family has had remarkably good genealogy done, and it seems they trace back in Piane Crati as far as the 1700s. There were also a bunch of Infelises from Piane Crati who settled in Chicago, which likely explains how Rocky wound up there, as most of his immediate family seems to have stayed up in WI. In 1936, Rocky's sister Edith "Eda" Infelise married John Tosto of Chicago, whose parents were also from Piane Crati. Following his stint in WW2, Rocky was living in Cicero in 1945 with his sister as his closest relative.

In 1935, Fedele Infelise was President of the Società Santa Barbara di Piane Crati in Chicago (Santa Barbara being the patron of Piane Crati). Fedele was born in 1877 in Piane Crati to Francesco Infelise and Caterina Maria Tosto and married Giuseppina Lucente of Piane Crati in Chicago in 1906. These Infelises lived in the Taylor St Patch, with Fedele working as a carpenter and mechanic. While I wasn't able to establish an exact link to Rocky's father Pietro Infelise, that they were cousins of some sort is supported by the shared use of given names like Gaetano in both families. Both Infelise lines also had repeated intermarriages with Tostos in Piane Crati. Fedele Infelise's mother was a cousin of Gabriele Tosto, father of Rocky Infelise's brother-in-law Gennaro "John" Tosto; in turn, Gabriele Tosto's mother was Maria Raffaella Infelise, an aunt of Pietro Infelise (and thus, Gennaro Tosto and his wife Eda Infelise were also cousins).

When Phil Bacino was naturalized in Chicago in 1931, one of the witnesses was Fillipo Cusumano (who I believe was a paesan' of Bacino from Ribera), as noted above. The other witness was a guy named Peter Lavorata, who pretty clearly was the same Peter Lavorata living on the 1800 block of N Winchester, in the immediate vicinity of Patsy LoLordo's home and social club at North Ave and Winchester. He was born Pietro Lavorato in 1893 in Piane Crati, Cosenza province (the hometown also of Rocky Infelise's parents), and had arrived in Chicago in 1910 with his family. By 1917, they were living near Winchester and North Ave, where Peter Lavorata remained until he moved farther out in the 1950s. Lavorata was the longtime clerk of the Cook County Grand Jury and a Democratic precinct captain in the 32nd Ward for over 50 years, running for several offices and being actively involved in helping to run the campaigns of others. Lavorata and his wife, Josephine Anzalone, were noted for decades as also being highly active in Chicago's important Italian social institutions, with Lavorata a member of the Advisory Board of Villa Scalabrini, and a member of the Ferra Lodge of the IANU (the "Unione Siciliana"), UNICO, The Sons of Italy, and The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans. When the FBI was looking into Bacino's background in 1966 (following the identification of him as a member when the Feds captured discussion of Bacino via their bug in Sam DeCavalcante's office), they noted that Peter Lavorata had been on the executive committee of The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, serving as a representative for the Vicari Society of Chicago. While this might seem strange for a Calabrese, Lavorata's wife was Giuseppa Anzalone Lucchese, of Vicari (her first husband was a Giuseppe Lucchese, also apparently from Vicari). Peter Lavorata died in 1977.

Interesting to note that Bacino seems to have been connected with a Mainlander (one who was clearly plugged in with local political and social institutions) basically from his arrival in Chicago. I'd very much suspect that, given the close neighborhood proximity, Lavorata already had ties to men like LoLordo (who had his own Italian-American Social Club, of course), DeGeorge, and Nick Diana.

I've previously discussed Pietro Lavorata, a local politician with longstanding ties to the Riberese network in the Wicker Park/Humboldt Park area (Lolordo, Bacino, DeGeorge, et al).

Naturally, there were repeated intermarriages between both Infelise/Tosto lineages and Lavoratas. From my info, Pietro seems to have been a brother of Carmella Lavorata, the mother of Gennaro Tosto (which would make Pietro Lavorata an uncle-in-law, I guess, of Rocky Infelise).

Chicago aficionados will fondly remember Greg Tosto (d. 2018), minor internet gadfly, owner of the Illinois State Insurance Company, and pal of mobbed-up former IL State Rep and Elmwood Park Village President Angelo "Skip" Saviano. Greg's father, Peter Tosto, was the son of Gennaro Tosto and Eda Infelise. Greg was thus the great-nephew of Rocky.

[PolackTony]

Chicago aficionados will also be familiar with the name Edward Gobbo from recent news. Gobbo, a former truck driver for Streets and San turned real estate developer, was partnered with Alex Pissios of Cinespace Studios in developing residential properties on the Near Westside. The two used loans to this end from the shady Bridgeport-based Washington Federal Bank for Savings, whose President, John Gembara, hung himself in 2017 as Federal investigators were preparing to shut the bank down. Notably, Gobbo continued to receive millions in loans from Washington Federal even after declaring bankruptcy in 2012 and revealing that he was $12mil in debt on unpaid loans to the bank.

It has been reported by the local papers that Ed Gobbo is a nephew of the infamous Bill Hanhardt, highly decorated CPD Chief of Detectives/outfit associate. I've also seen it claimed that Hanhardt was half-Irish and half-Sicilian. While the first claim is true, the second isn't, though Hanhardt's upbringing and personal connections probably led people to assume that he was half-Sicilian.

William Hanhardt was born in 1928 in Chicago, the youngest of three children of Edward Joseph Hanhardt Sr and Sarah DiGilio. Edward Sr was born in Chicago in 1903 to Swiss/German parents. Sara was born in Chicago in 1906 to a family from Marsicovetere, Potenza, Basilicata, unlike the majority of Italians on the Near Northside, who were, of course, Sicilian. In 1930, the family lived on the 700 block of W Reese, later renamed Evergreen, and Edward Sr worked as a packer in a tomato canning factory; the block was later torn down following the construction of Cabrini-Green, eventually housing the former Near North High School (which had replaced the shuttered Cooley High, immortalized in a 1975 film of the same name, in 1979). In 1942, William's older brother Edward Jr (b. 1927 -- d. 1966) was noted as a founder of the Stanton Gents Social Athletic Club, named after Stanton Park, across the street from the Hanhardts' home on Evergreen. Founded under park director John Michael "Jack" Merlo for neighborhood youth, other founding officers included Carmello Fortuna, Carlino Flossi, Tony Gagliano, and Jasper Montalbano. Born in 1912 in Chicago, Jack Merlo was the son of former Chicago boss Mike Merlo and his wife Maria Pecoraro. While Edward Jr died young, his widow, Kay joined CPD, like her brother-in-law William, eventually making sergeant.

Ed Gobbo's mother, Marie "Mamie" Hanhardt, born in 1926, was the eldest of the Hanhardt siblings. In 1956, she married Vito Gobbo Jr, who was born in Chicago in 1915 to Participazio Vito "Victor" Gobbo and Vita LaPorta, both of Ciminna. As has been noted on the board previously, the mother of Ciminna members Salvatore "Saca" and Onofrio Catalano (the latter rising to become boss of the Ciminna Family, while the former was recalled by Gioacchino Pennino as having told him older Chicago history about toto Loverde and Al Capone) was a Rosa La Porta (a Luigi La Porta was also the leader of revolutionary forces in Ciminna during the revolt against Bourbon rule in 1848). While Catalano is one of the single most common surnames in Ciminna, La Porta is not, which strengthens the likelihood that Saca and Onofrio Catalano's mother may have had relatives in Chicago.

In 1919, notorious robber Santo Orlando, who the Tribune claimed had "squealed on his men", was shot to death in Chicago. At the time, the police found a card for Giuseppe Catalano, who lived in Little Sicily and was allegedly Orlando's brother-in-law, in his pocket. Orlando was also from Ciminna and arrived in NYC in 1907 for Chicago where his brother Giuseppe Orlando already lived. In 1910, Santo Orlando was living at Oak and Milton (the infamous "Death Corner"), a short block from where Domenico Catalano lived.

In 1910, Vita LaPorta and her family (her parents were Vito LaPorta and Giuseppa Pampinella) lived in the same building on Milton as their paesan' Santo Orlando.

In 1940, the Gobbos lived at Dickens and Sheffield in Lincoln Park, in the immediate vicinity of the bootlegging Catalanos from Ciminna discussed above; Victor worked as a coal dealer and building porter, while young Vito started as a truck driver for the coal company that his father ran with their fellow paesan' Vito Putrone (he may have also been a relative, as Victor used the apparent compound “Putrone Gobbo” on one document. Gobbo is not at all a common surname in Ciminna, or anywhere else in Sicily for that matter, so it’s possible that the Gobbos were originally Putrone). By 1950, Vito Gobbo was working as a Deputy Cook County Sheriff and in the following years was noted as operating parking lots in the City. The latter is significant given the heavy involvement of his paesani the Dispenzas and Catalanos in the mobbed-up parking business. Vito Gobbo died in Chicago in 2001.

As a side note, Ed Gobbo's daughter Gabriella married Jake Smith, the co-founder of protein bar concern RxBar, and the couple purchased a Winnetka mansion recently that was the priciest home sold in Chicagoland this year, brokered by Ed Gobbo, of course.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... i=89978449

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... i=89978449

[PolackTony]

Part 1/2

Joseph Victor "Kong" Calato was born in 1950. At the time of his arrest in 1984 on gambling charges with Caesar DiVarco and Ronnie Ignoffo, it was noted that Calato lived in River Grove. This matches a 21-year-old Joseph Calato residing in River Grove mentioned in a (non-crime-related) 1971 Tribune article. Based on this info, Joe Kong's parents were Filippo "Phillip" Calato and Carmella "Carmen" Luglio.

Carmella Luglio was born in 1910 in Chicago to parents from Capizzi, Messina, also the hometown of he LaPietras. As with their other paesani and the larger community from neighboring Nicosia, Enna, the Luglios settled in Chinatown (in the Luglio's case, at 24th Pl & Stewart).

Filippo Calato was born in Chicago in 1901 to Gaetano Calato and Fortunata Calato (her maiden name) of Vicari, Palermo province. The couple arrived in Chicago in 1900. In 1901, Filippo was baptized at the Blessed Assumption Italian Parish on the Near Northside, with Vincenzo Nuccio and his wife Angelina Bucaro, both of Vicari, as his godparents. As it turns out, Fortunata Calato was the older sister of Maria Calato. mother of Chicago member Dominic Nuccio. In turn, Vincenzo Nuccio was the younger brother of Filippo Nuccio, Dom Nuccio's father and the husband of Maria Calato. Thus, Dom Nuccio, was Joe Kong's first cousin once removed. Possible that these Nuccios were also related to Maria Diadora Macaluso, mother of Chicago member Tony DeMonte, as she seems to have been from Campofelice di Fitalia (which neighbors Vicari) and her mother was a Nuccio. Also worth noting that Fortunata and Maria Calato's mother was a Farina, while their brother Francesco Calato married a Farina from Vicari in Chicago; the Marsalas, who controlled the mafia in Vicari for decades in the 20th century, are intermarried with Farinas. Further, the Calatos in Chicago have Pecoraro in-laws from Vicari, and Chicago boss Michele Merlo's wife was Maria Pecoraro from Vicari.

To revisit this. In 1984, years of investigation by the IRS and DOJ culminated in the bust of a major and longstanding sportsbook operation under DiVarco and Jasper Campise. Indicted along with DiVarco were LCN associates Joseph Calato, Ronald Ignoffo, Santo LaMantia, Steven Soupos, Marshall Portnoy, and Warren Winkler. The operation consisted of two wirerooms, one supervised by LaMantia -- with Calato, Ignoffo, and Soupos serving as clerks and collectors -- and the other by Portnoy and Winkler (who also utilized independent bookies to place bets for them). Campise was, of course, dead by the time the indictments hit, having been trunk-musicked in July of 1983. Also deceased was Victor LoCallo, who had died in 1980, described by the DOJ as the "comptroller" of the overall operation under DiVarco and Campise. All of the indicted conspirators apart from LaMantia were convicted in January 1985 after a 6-week trial. Along with the fallout from the failed hit attempt and subsequent cooperation of Ken Eto (who of course also provided critical testimony and intel in the DiVarco case), this case was a serious blow to the Prio/Solano crew.

I've covered the backgrounds of Joe Kong and Ronnie Ignoffo (whose father was Roland Salvatore "Goldie" Ignoffo, born in Chicago to parents from Sambuca, while his mother Christine Nappi was a sister of Chicago LCN member Romeo Nappi) already. Santo LaMantia was born in Chicago in 1935 to Angelo James "Curly" LaMantia and Violetta Serritella, both from the Grand Ave Patch. Violetta was born in Chicago in 1914 to Antonio Serritella, of Muro Lucano, Potenza, Basilicata (the hometown of the Cerones and Capezios), and Carmella Garamone, born in Chicago to parents from Anzi and Calvello, Potenza province. The Serritellas lived at 1208 W Grand Ave, where Imperial Hardware (rumored to be an outfit hangout in recent years) is located today. Angelo LaMantia was unrelated to the infamous Angelo LaMantia, who was from Altavilla Milicia, or the various branches of LaMantias in Chicago from Termini Imerese. He was born in Chicago to produce salesman Santo Damiano LaMantia and Giuseppina D'Amico, who lived for decades at Grand and Curtis (today Aberdeen St), the storied block where Vincenzo Benevento was based and where Antonino Genna was killed in 1925. Santo was from Monreale, while per my info, Giuseppina was born in Villabate to Giuseppe D'Amico of Villabate and Angela Maggiore of the nearby Brancaccio district of Palermo. Giuseppina arrived in NYC from Villabate in 1911, bound for Chicago where her brother, Antonino D'Amico, lived at Curtis and Ohio in the Grand Ave Patch, one block up from Grand Ave. As discussed before, Chicago/Brancaccio boss Salvatore LoVerde initially arrived in Chicago in 1911 as well, and his LoVerde relatives from Brancaccio also lived at Ohio and Curtis, so we can presume that they were closely connected to the D'Amicos.

viewtopic.php?p=239073#p239073

Also worth noting that the La Mantia surname has been connected to the mafia in Monreale going back to the 19th century. Rosario LaMantia was a very early pentito who informed to the authorities about the mafia in Monreale and New Orleans in 1878, while 19th-century Monrealese NOLA mafia leader Salvatore Matranga's mother-in-law was a LaMantia. Santo LaMantia had lived in NOLA before relocating to Chicago.

As discussed previously here, in 1936 Domenico Scaduto, a recent immigrant from Villabate, was executed by sawed-off shotgun in a poolroom at Grand and Curtis, where he was said to have been living with Santo LaMantia and Giuseppina D'Amico, described as his aunt and uncle. Scaduto's brother Giuseppe Scaduto had been killed in Brooklyn earlier in the year, allegedly by John Misuraca and Salvatore Lombardino, at which point Domenico fled to Chicago. Misuraca and Lombardino were close associates of Profaci cousin Nello Cammarata, who had close ties to Chicago for decades, while Profaci himself had, of course, lived in Chicago before relocating to Brooklyn. The Scaduto brothers' father was Agostino Scaduto, while, per my info, their mother, Francesca D'Amico, was indeed a sister of Antonino and Giuseppina D'Amico in Chicago. We've discussed the Domenico Scaduto incident before, which would appear to have been related to a conflict within the network of Villabatesi, the attack on Newark boss Gaspare D'Amico and his father Domenico in 1937, and the subsequent dissolution of the Newark Family. The Newark D'Amicos were, of course, from Villabate as well, and likely relatives of the D'Amicos discussed here, though an exact relation is not apparent to me as of yet.

viewtopic.php?p=228253#p228253

After his acquittal on gambling charges in 1985, the younger Santo LaMantia moved to Vegas, where he seems to still be alive at 88.

[B.]

Excellent work. In addition to Villabate having strong ties to Bagheria, it's becoming more evident that Joe Profaci had a more concrete compaesani element he mingled with when he lived in Chicago. The D'Amico name immediately jumped out for obvious reasons. You also have Joe Priola from Ficarazzi which is essentially Villabate.

It's not just the overwhelming importance of the eastern provincial "triangle" towns like Bagheria, Termini, and Ciminna but the eastern part of Palermo city from Brancaccio through Villabate looks to have provided a gateway of connections that ran from the city itself to the outlying coast.

[PolackTony]

Part 2/2

In 1984, years of investigation by the IRS and DOJ culminated in the bust of a major and longstanding sportsbook operation under DiVarco and Jasper Campise. Indicted along with DiVarco were LCN associates Joseph Calato, Ronald Ignoffo, Santo LaMantia, Steven Soupos, Marshall Portnoy, and Warren Winkler. The operation consisted of two wirerooms, one supervised by LaMantia -- with Calato, Ignoffo, and Soupos serving as clerks and collectors -- and the other by Portnoy and Winkler (who also utilized independent bookies to place bets for them). Campise was, of course, dead by the time the indictments hit, having been trunk-musicked in July of 1983. Also deceased was Victor LoCallo, who had died in 1980, described by the DOJ as the "comptroller" of the overall operation under DiVarco and Campise. All of the indicted conspirators apart from LaMantia were convicted in January 1985 after a 6-week trial. Along with the fallout from the failed hit attempt and subsequent cooperation of Ken Eto (who of course also provided critical testimony and intel in the DiVarco case), this case was a serious blow to the Prio/Solano crew.

Again, in 1984 the G described Victor LoCallo as having been the "comptroller" of the DiVarco/Campise gambling operation until his death from natural causes in 1980 (we can assume that this indicated that LoCallo was tasked with supervisory and accounting responsibilities over the operation and its two wings).

Victor Albert LoCallo was born Vito LoCallo in 1917 in Chicago to Francesco LoCallo and Vita "Victoria" Guzzardo. Victoria was born in 1901 in NOLA to Salvatore Guzzardo and Caterina Gagliano of Sambuca; the family moved to Chicago when she was a child, settling in Little Sicily. Francesco was born in 1896 in Ciminna to Vito Alberto Locallo and Francesca Santoro; the family emigrated to Chicago when he was a youth, at which time Francesco stated that his last residence was in Bagheria (the "LoCallo" surname isn't recorded in Ciminna and I suspect that the surname may have originally been LoGalbo from Bagheria), settling on Townsend St in Little Sicily, where a cluster of other Ciminnesi lived. I recently discussed the Catalano brothers from Ciminna, a bootlegging clan who were targeted by a failed Capone-faction machine gun attack near their apartments on the 2100 block of N Racine in Lincoln Park in 1930. In the 1930s, the LoCallos lived on this block, in an apartment in the same building as one of the Domenico Catalanos (b. 1887): viewtopic.php?p=270017&hilit=catalano#p270017.

Another interesting figure in the FBN book was Joseph Purpura, stated by the FBN to have been involved in horse racing nationally, residing in Florida but with a home in Revere, MA, and with close ties to Ray Patriarca and other "mafia racketeers", though without any known criminal record.

He was born Giuseppe Purpura in 1897 in Carini, and arrived in NYC in 1921, subsequently moving to Chicago. In 1940, he was naturalized in Chicago, living at 55th and Talman in the Gage Park neighborhood on the SW Side (an area that was a secondary settlement for a number of Italians from Taylor St and which had previously been associated with the Gennas). His WW2 draft registration in 1942 had him at the same address, though he stated that he was employed by the Tropical Race Track in Coral Gables, FL. It would seem that he moved to FL around this time. I was unable to confirm what happened with Purpura, as I never found a death record for him. As the FBN stated that Purpura traveled to Italy and that his mother was living in Palermo, I suspect that he may have returned to Sicily later in life. It's also unclear to me what familial ties, if any, Purpura may have had in Chicago. There were produce-wholesaling Purpuras in Chicago who were accused of "Black Hand" extortion in 1911, but they were from Termini Imerese, not Carini.

Now, Purpura's 1940 naturalization was witnessed by Leonardo Franzone and Leonardo's daughter Katherine Franzone Amari, both living near Hudson and Elm in Little Sicily. Leonardo Franzone was from Borgetto and the brother of Salvatore Franzone, father of Vincenzo "Jimmy" Franzone (who Fratianno identified as a Chicago capodecina). In 1930, Leonardo, a clerk for the Republican Party in the 42 Ward, was one of a dozen men in Little Sicily indicted for election fraud in the state senate race. Also indicted was a Joseph DiBella, who may have been Dom DiBella's father Giuseppe Dibella.

Leonardo Franzone's wife was Rosaria Frisina, also of Borgetto. Daughter Katherine married Joseph "Red" Amari, born in 1915 in Trinidad, CO, to Francesco Amari of Ribera and Angelina Cina, of Calamonaci. Francesco Amari witnessed the naturalization of Francesco DeMonte, father of Anthony "Tony Mack" DeMonte. Joseph Amari was busted with a robbery crew in 1934 for the hold-up of a Northside restaurant, and in 1951 for taking bets at Rush and Walton.

Another daughter was Sophie Franzone, born in 1915 in Chicago. She married Anthony "Tony" DiJohn, brother of Nick DeJohn. Tony DiJohn, who died in 1975 in Chicago, was busted in 1957 in a Northside gambling raid. We know that Jimmy Franzone was said to have worked for Nick DeJohn, but now we can see the familial links between these men, as DeJohn's brother married Franzone's first cousin.

I've discussed Francesco Amari of Ribera before, as he witnessed the naturalization of Francesco DeMonte (father and grandfather, respectively, of Chicago LCN members Tony and Frank DeMonte), while his son Joe "Red" Amari was with the Prio crew and married a daughter of Leonardo Franzone of Borgetto (and thus was a cousin-in-law of Chicago LCN member Jimmy Franzone). Victor LoCallo married Mary Amari, who was a daughter of Francesco Amari and a sister of Red Amari. Another sister, Mildred Amari, married John Guzzardo, who was born in Chicago to Giuseppe Diego Guzzardo and Teresa Puccio of Sambuca, likely a relative of Victor LoCallo's mother's family. In 1915, John's eldest sister, Josephine Guzzardo, married Giuseppe Priolo of Ciminna in San Filippo Benizi Parish in Little Sicily. Giuseppe Priolo was the son of Filippo Priolo and Giovanna Ingraffia, and the adoptive brother of Ross Prio.

Today, multiple members of the Amari and LoCallo families work for the firm of Amari & Locallo, a real estate tax assessment appeal firm with ties to former officials in the IL State Assessor's Office (which itself has had a history of past scandals involving affiliates of the Chicago outfit employed by the office). Co-managing partner Leonard Amari, President of the Board of Trustees of the firm, former President of the Illinois Bar Association, former board member of Delaware Place Bank, and former President of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, is a son of Red Amari and Katherine Franzone. Leonard Amari was also a founding leader of the Sicilian American Cultural Association of Chicago (SACA) in 1994, which also operates the Sicilian Heritage Museum in the suburb of Stone Park and is one of the constituent institutions of Chicagoland's Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans (JCCIA).

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The 1984 bust of the DiVarco gambling operation was based on years of Federal surveillance and intel, going back to the 70s and stemming from investigations of Prio crew control of race wire reports. Likely, this in turn stemmed from the 1967 Federal bust of a multistate racing wire service ring controlled by Ross Prio and Chicago LCN member Ernest Sansone (a close associate of Gaetano Morgano). Three years of investigations by the FBI led to a series of raids in Chicago, targeting the operation which was alleged to have controlled racing wire reports for national horse races to hundreds of bookmaking and policy/numbers operations across the Midwest, who reportedly paid $300 a week for the service. Sansone was indicted as the ringleader, along with his "right-hand man", James Marcello of the Northwest Side (totally unrelated to Jimmy Marcello, as this James Marcello was of Lucano ancestry); Southside gambling operators Milton "Big Poison" Ruthstein and Alfred Emody; and presumed Prio crew associates Victor LoCallo (then living at McLean and Humboldt Ave in Logan Square), Russell Scimeca, Pasquale "Patsy" Faraci, and Joseph Vazzano, all of the Northside. All were convicted, with Sansone and Marcello receiving short prison sentences and the others probation.

I've briefly discussed Sansone before. Born in Chicago in 1903 to Errico Sansone and Angela Nasti of Napoli, he was closely associated with rackets in Northwest Indiana over his long career (we don't know who he was assigned to, but probably reported to Gaetano Morgano and Tony Pinelli). Sansone's wife was Carmela "Mildred" Perconti, born in 1915 in Chicago to Paolo Perconti and Santina Vasile of Bivona, Agrigento (these latte two were married in 1915 at San Filippo Benizi, and by happenstance, the entry for their marriage appears on the same page of the parish records as the wedding of Giuseppe Priolo and Josephine Guzzardo noted above, which occurred the next day). The Percontis subsequently moved to Gary, where Paolo became known as a major underworld figure, described by the papers as the "acknowledged boss of Gary bootlegging" when he was murdered in a volley of shotgun blasts in February of 1930. According to Gary LE, the widowed Santina swore revenge and marshaled Perconti's men to continue their bootlegging operations and assail their rivals, until she was in turn killed by shotgun-wielding assailants in 1931, along with one her husband's "heavy men", Tony Greco (born in Las Animas County, CO, to parents from Bivona). Although involved with Gary rackets, Sansone lived in the Forest Glen neighborhood on the Far NW Side of Chicago (he died in 1975, while Mildred died in 1970, while Ernest was serving his sentence for the wire service bust).

Russell Scimeca (d. 2002) was Sansone's son-in-law, having married daughter Sandra Sansone in 1959. He was born in 1932 in Chicago to Vito "Victor" Scimeca and Antonia "Nettie" Costa. Nettie Costa was born in 1907 in the coal mining country in Jackson County, Downstate IL (next to Williamson County, which had an early mafia presence), to parents from Palazzo Adriano. Victor Scimeca was born in 1907 in Chicago to Rosario Scimeca and Paola Dispenza of Ciminna. Paola was the elder sister of Chicago boss Rosario Dispenza. Rosario's father was also named Vito Scimeca, and a Vito Scimeca who was presumably a cousin was noted as the President of the Società San Vito di Ciminna in Chicago and an official in the Unione Siciliana in 1917.

Pasquale Faraci (d. 2004) was born in Johnstown, PA, in 1921 to Pietro Faraci and Rosa Gutilla of Ciminna. The family relocated to Chicago's Little Sicily soon after, where Pietro opened a grocery store on Oak St. Pasquale's sister Frances Faraci married Calogero "Carl" Scimeca, son of Benedetto Scimeca of Ciminna and Lucia Solleotto of Piana dei Greci and a first cousin of Russell Scimeca.

Joseph Vazzano (d. 2000) was said to have been a close associate of Ross Prio and had been pinched previously in a CPD gambling raid in 1965. At the time of the 1967 bust, he was living at Campbell and Peterson in West Ridge, two blocks from where Prio and Gaetano Oneglia had lived before. He was born in 1904 in NYC to Giuseppe Vazzano and Rosaria Corrò, who had recently arrived from Ventimiglia di Sicilia. The Vazzanos decamped to Chicago, where they lived on Armitage Ave near the cluster of Cimminesi around Racine Ave. In 1925, Joe Vazzano married Frances Scimeca, daughter of Rosario Scimeca and Paola Dispenza, an aunt of Russel Scimeca.

---------------

This two-part examination of the figures involved in the 1967 and 1984 gambling busts underscores how closely the Prio/Solano crew adhered to a network of affiliation strongly grounded in families from Agrigento and Eastern Palermo province, with connections going back to Rosario Dispenza. As usual, we can presume that the connections traced out here include only a subset of the manifold ties of hometown, blood, marriage, and neighborhood that have shaped the patterns of recruitment and affiliation across Chicago's history.