New TMA Episode - Chicago late 80's/90's

[Snakes]

Yeah, I'm the redneck lol

My guy, you sound fine. I listen to you and I hear an expert. I don't hear a hick or a redneck. Your detailed explanation of things captivates the audience, myself included. You guys nailed this episode!

Ha, I like to be self depreciating. Just funny we have someone from Elvis country talking about mobsters

[PolackTony]

I'm one of the newcomers referenced above. Been on a TMA binge the last few months and was Lucky enough to catch it Live yesterday. My first Live due to living in Sweden..

Hey buddy, welcome to the BHF. Great having your comments on the live chat last night.

You asked about Swedish mob associates in the US, and I told you that I couldn’t think of any offhand. You might be interested to know, however, that Chicago member Phil D’Andrea (nephew of the former boss Antonino D’Andrea), as well as possible member and Capone driver Antonino Cirrincione, married Swedish-American women. The Far Northside of Chicago, where the Swedish community is concentrated, also historically had a lot of Sicilians, so there may have been more examples of connections that we aren’t aware of.

[Proletarian187]

What was Aleman's most lucrative rackets? Since you rarely get paid for violence.. He's a fascinating guy, seems very normal yet totally deranged if that makes sense.. Gary Jenkins turned me on to him years ago.

If he was eligible for membership I can totally see him reaching at least capo right? Maybe even higher?

[Proletarian187]

Thank you Tony! I was afraid I was hijacking the chat in all my excitement haha..

[Ivan]

Just funny we have someone from Elvis country talking about mobsters

I mean, like, there was a Birmingham, Alabama family.

Also as far as accents from the Southeast USA you've got nothing on this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gdgwpci-ZI

Anyway I'm half redneck in real life (father's an Appalachian guy) so you're not alone here.

You asked about Swedish mob associates in the US, and I told you that I couldn’t think of any offhand.

Jimmy "The Swede" Morand, lesser American Boy and St. Valentine's Day Massacre lookout alongside Byron Bolton is a possibility. Also wouldn't be shocked if some of the other American Boys had partial Swedish heritage.

[Ivan]

Carbine genius

Love the JR Russo reference in your sig

[funkster]

Yeah, I'm the redneck lol

My guy, you sound fine. I listen to you and I hear an expert. I don't hear a hick or a redneck. Your detailed explanation of things captivates the audience, myself included. You guys nailed this episode!

Ha, I like to be self depreciating. Just funny we have someone from Elvis country talking about mobsters

I think it's even funnier when you hear someone with an English accent doing it

[Proletarian187]

I wouldn't expect there to be a bunch of Swedes involved in rackets. We're mostly known as very hard working honest people but where there is poverty there will be crime. And boy were the Swedes who emigrated poor..

The wave started because of famine due to extremely cold weather in the late 1860's.. A mini-version of the irish potatoe famine if you will. I would guess the swedish criminal element (if one existed) in Chicago was mainly desperate street crimes on a low level.

Chicago had the biggest swedish population after Stockholm back then so a few rotten apples were bound to appear. A lot of those people came from seriously rural areas, real f-ing peasants, so some farm strength brutes must have been around.

Sorry about OT, fell into a rabbit hole last night about Andersonville which seems to have been THE swedish stronghold.

[PolackTony]

What was Aleman's most lucrative rackets? Since you rarely get paid for violence.. He's a fascinating guy, seems very normal yet totally deranged if that makes sense.. Gary Jenkins turned me on to him years ago.

If he was eligible for membership I can totally see him reaching at least capo right? Maybe even higher?

Harry Aleman was involved in the juice racket, as well as armed robberies/hijacking. Typical MO for a knock around, enforcer-type guy in Chicago.

He did not qualify for membership and no member sources have ever identified Harry Aleman as a made guy. The few examples we have of half-Italians that got made in Chicago, who were clearly seen as exceptions to the rule, were Italian on their father’s side (and the best known examples being Jimmy Marcello, who was raised by his Italian stepmother who was the mother of Mickey Marcello, and Jimmy DiForti, whose non-Italian “mother” might not have even been his actual birth mother, so they’re both sort of muddled cases), same as in NYC and other Families. During most of his career during the 60-70s, Aleman was an associate in a sub-“crew” answering to Joe Ferriola, who was a soldier at least until Torello died. Assuming that Ferriola succeeded Torello as capodecina, Aleman was then presumably direct with the captain.

The only guy of maternal half-Italian ancestry in Chicago who *MAY* have been made was Dick Cain, who at least told the FBI that he was made (though Cain was also, basically, a career con-man), and was also identified as a member by a couple of still-unknown, ostensibly member, sources (though these sources also ID’d guys who we know for a fact weren’t made at the time they were talking, so…). Cain was also a muddled case, as he told people that his Irish father was his stepfather and spoke fluent Italian. He was so convincing that the FBI and immigration authorities actually believed that he was an illegal alien born Riccardo Scalzitti and were looking into attempting to deport him. His mother was from a well-known Taylor St Family, the Scalzittis, so I’d think it was known in the community that his dad was Irish, but again, he was a very slick and intelligent guy and may have convinced everyone that his real dad was Italian.

[Proletarian187]

Great info, thanks.

Just to be clear, I was aware Aleman wasn't eligible due to being half italian. I was more hypothetically wondering about his status and what could have been had he been born 100% italian.

With his ties to Ferriola and his involvement in a heavy crew like The wild bunch it seems he would have been made if possible no? And maybe even Capo-material?

I know it's all coulda, woulda, shoulda but anyway. We briefly touched on him yesterday as well as J. Marcello slipping thru the net which is fascinating.. An uncharacteristic lapse in Outfit MO perhaps.

[Proletarian187]

Stop me if I get too chatty and OT (or if you wanna answer in DM so I don't hold the thread hostage) but do we know anything about italian assimilated jews with italian surnames being made? In Sicily or America..

After all, there were jews living in Italy for many centuries and if they converted/assimilated there should be examples in Cosa Nostra?

I believe Luca Changratta in the show "Peaky blinders" allude to there being "undercover" jews in the mafia. It's fiction of course but there are real historical characters/names in the show such as Sabatini from London etc... Especially since a jew living under Mussolini might consider changing names etc..

[B.]

Phil Abramo of the DeCavalcantes is allegedly a Jewish Italian and his surname definitely suggests it but I'm not sure it's been confirmed.

There were many ethnic Albanians (Arbereshe) from Italy who were made in Sicily and the US. Nicolo Schiro the early Bonanno boss is the best example but I've found a number of made members from comuni like Piana dei Greci, Palazzo Adriano, and other interior Arberesh colonies who had Albanian heritage. Since these guys grew up in Sicily or had families who were geographically and culturally Sicilian I figure they were welcomed in but it raises questions as to when this was first allowed and what kind of issues it presented since the mafia is fundamentally conservative and elements within it always resist change, especially on ethnic grounds. Should say too that although they shared a cultural affinity with other Sicilians, these Arberesh communities also maintained many Albanian cultural practices that are still present in those comuni today.

[Proletarian187]

I mean, after a long enough time you just gotta let a jew or an albanian be an italian right? Haha.. There's an active Genovese called Albanese for example.

After all, a lot of sicilians probably have moorish, arab and maybe even ottoman (turkish) blood in them if they took a DNA test right?

Some Barese mobsters probably have croatian/proto yugoslavian heritage due to the Dalmatian sea connection. It's a two hour boat ride to Croatia from Bari. My wife is from southern Bosnia so I travel the south Balcans quite a lot. Lots of variations of Italian names on the coast of Dalmatia. A good friend of mine is Croatian and his name is Luca Baresic.. Must be italian originally. That migration would have gone both directions..

[quadtree]

In the context of mafia associated with Swedish roots, it is strange that no one mentions Frank Erickson, who was allegedly half Swedish, half Irish. He was associated with Arnold Rothstein and was clearly an LCN associate. An influential bookmaker with connections at the very top of the mafia.

[Ivan]

Lots of variations of Italian names on the coast of Dalmatia. A good friend of mine is Croatian and his name is Luca Baresic.. Must be italian originally. That migration would have gone both directions..

Yeah there's lots of overlap and blending between Italy and Croatia/Slovenia in Dalmatia, Istria, etc. due to shifting borders, proximity, and interbreeding.

These people, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istrian_Italians

Or the big Croatian and Slovenian minorities in Trieste.