Chicago Outfit Boss Succession (1986-2010)

[Adam]

Can I just say that I have gone literally decades thinking Ferriola was the boss starting in 1986 until he died. So I really appreciate this thread. If that was wrong, kind of makes Roemer out to be more of an asshole for not knowing that after claiming he had an informant at the meeting where Ferriola was made boss. And sorry if I'm a little hard on Roemer and his claims, but he said so much stuff that was wrong but was so adamant that he knew everything that was going on.

[JohnnyS]

Great job Snakes.

[Snakes]

Can I just say that I have gone literally decades thinking Ferriola was the boss starting in 1986 until he died. So I really appreciate this thread. If that was wrong, kind of makes Roemer out to be more of an asshole for not knowing that after claiming he had an informant at the meeting where Ferriola was made boss. And sorry if I'm a little hard on Roemer and his claims, but he said so much stuff that was wrong but was so adamant that he knew everything that was going on.

Roemer also said Al Pilotto was at that meeting and he was in prison at the time. To be fair to Roemer, I think he was simply dramatizing the information available to him at the time. Similar to the artistic license the agents who wrote the Paul Castellano book (Boss of Bosses) used.

[Ivan]

Similar to the artistic license the agents who wrote the Paul Castellano book (Boss of Bosses) used.

That book was actually written by a guy named Lawrence Shames, not the agents on the cover, based on interviews with them etc.

Off topic, but do you know of anything in it that's fabricated besides the Castellano bugging (which is a total fantasy in the book)?

[Snakes]

Similar to the artistic license the agents who wrote the Paul Castellano book (Boss of Bosses) used.

That book was actually written by a guy named Lawrence Shames, not the agents on the cover, based on interviews with them etc.

Off topic, but do you know of anything in it that's fabricated besides the Castellano bugging (which is a total fantasy in the book)?

The part where they bugged the house was what I was thinking of, but I'm not sure if other parts of the book were fabricated or exaggerated.

[Ivan]

Similar to the artistic license the agents who wrote the Paul Castellano book (Boss of Bosses) used.

That book was actually written by a guy named Lawrence Shames, not the agents on the cover, based on interviews with them etc.

Off topic, but do you know of anything in it that's fabricated besides the Castellano bugging (which is a total fantasy in the book)?

The part where they bugged the house was what I was thinking of, but I'm not sure if other parts of the book were fabricated or exaggerated.

From what I understand they made up all that James Bond shit for the bugging because they felt that writing the true story (fake TV repairman installing the bug while Bilotti watched him) would give away too much about the FBI's bugging methods, so I'm not sure if they fabricated anything else. That fabrication might have been just a one-off, for the reason given.

[PolackTony]

Can I just say that I have gone literally decades thinking Ferriola was the boss starting in 1986 until he died. So I really appreciate this thread. If that was wrong, kind of makes Roemer out to be more of an asshole for not knowing that after claiming he had an informant at the meeting where Ferriola was made boss. And sorry if I'm a little hard on Roemer and his claims, but he said so much stuff that was wrong but was so adamant that he knew everything that was going on.

Roemer also said Al Pilotto was at that meeting and he was in prison at the time. To be fair to Roemer, I think he was simply dramatizing the information available to him at the time. Similar to the artistic license the agents who wrote the Paul Castellano book (Boss of Bosses) used.

Roemer had also retired from the FBI in 1980, so it’s unclear in what sense he would have even had an “informant” anyway, if he actually did have someone tell him this or similar.

Roemer was not the one who started the notion that Ferriola succeeded Aiuppa, of course, as his book came out years later. The local press repeatedly referred to Ferriola as “the “heir apparent” to Aiuppa and the “boss”, “chief”, or “leader” of the Chicago mob in 1986-1987. Presumably they were getting this from LE sources, whether federal or local. But the idea was already assumed to have been a fact by outsiders before Roemer published his story.

[Antiliar]

Frank Cullotta was one of the informants who insisted that Ferriola was the boss after Aiuppa. He added that after Lombardo went to prison that he and Tony reported to Ferriola, so it seemed that he was being groomed for the top spot.

[PolackTony]

Frank Cullotta was one of the informants who insisted that Ferriola was the boss after Aiuppa. He added that after Lombardo went to prison that he and Tony reported to Ferriola, so it seemed that he was being groomed for the top spot.

But would that mean that Ferriola was necessarily being groomed to be boss rather than Spilotro and his associates being reassigned from Lombardo as their captain to Ferriola after Lombardo got sent away?

Cullotta was of course off the street in ‘82 so I don’t see why he would be relevant to a discussion of the boss succession after Aiuppa, apart from him not being a member. You know this, of course, but just for the benefit of anyone else reading who might not be clear on that.

[Waingro]

Where does it come from that Mutt and Jeff mean Sarno and Cataudella?

Not saying you're wrong or anything but I've always wondered how Mike Sarno could rise that fast.

[Snakes]

Where does it come from that Mutt and Jeff mean Sarno and Cataudella?

Not saying you're wrong or anything but I've always wondered how Mike Sarno could rise that fast.

Federal court documents. I'll post a citation when I get a chance.

[Snakes]

Where does it come from that Mutt and Jeff mean Sarno and Cataudella?

Not saying you're wrong or anything but I've always wondered how Mike Sarno could rise that fast.

Federal court documents. I'll post a citation when I get a chance.

[Ivan]

Cataudella seems like an impressively low-key for as high-ranking as he is and for how long he has been. News media has like zero interest in him.

[Waingro]

Where does it come from that Mutt and Jeff mean Sarno and Cataudella?

Not saying you're wrong or anything but I've always wondered how Mike Sarno could rise that fast.

Federal court documents. I'll post a citation when I get a chance.

Thanks

[Antiliar]

Frank Cullotta was one of the informants who insisted that Ferriola was the boss after Aiuppa. He added that after Lombardo went to prison that he and Tony reported to Ferriola, so it seemed that he was being groomed for the top spot.

But would that mean that Ferriola was necessarily being groomed to be boss rather than Spilotro and his associates being reassigned from Lombardo as their captain to Ferriola after Lombardo got sent away?

Cullotta was of course off the street in ‘82 so I don’t see why he would be relevant to a discussion of the boss succession after Aiuppa, apart from him not being a member. You know this, of course, but just for the benefit of anyone else reading who might not be clear on that.

That was Cullotta's interpretation of events. I think his opinion is relevant to the topic because in 1986 he was either giving testimony in court or being prepped to do so, and the press at that time named Cullotta and Roemer as the two sources claiming that Ferriola was the new boss. You're right that he no longer had access to inside information (and even when he did, his information wasn't always accurate), but he was an expert witness on the Chicago Outfit, and therefore his opinion carried a lot of weight.

Getting back to Roemer, in 1986 he was a consultant to the Chicago Crime Commission. I don't know either way, but it's very possible that the CCC had its own confidential informants, and if so, maybe Roemer had access to them or their information. It's also possible that he obtained information through one of his active FBI buddies. If I recall correctly, in "Man Against the Mob" or his other books on Spilotro or Accardo he claimed to have a CI, but when we look at the quality of the information he received one has to wonder if he was being fed disinformation.