Kenosha/Racine

[PolackTony]

Posting some info here from the current Milwaukee thread so as not to derail that topic. While Frank Balistrieri reportedly inducted local Kenosha Calabrese mobsters Al Albano and Dominic Principe into the Milwaukee outfit in 1963, Italian OC in the Kenosha/Racine region seems to have had closer ties to Chicago for most of its history. Former Chicago associate Joe Fosco has stated that Chicago member Tony Iorii was given the Kenosha/Racine area as part of his “territory” (which apparently also included the northern Chicago suburban area of Lake County, IL, over the state line from Kenosha), which could indicate that Chicago had a formal crew/decina there in the past. Antonio Moretti Iorii was born in 1897 in Prezza, L’Aquila, Abruzzo and was the maternal uncle of Joe Fosco’s stepmother Gloria Nappi (wife of Chicago member Armando Fosco and sister of fellow member Romeo Nappi). Iorii moved to Kenosha from Chicago in 1936 and in 1952 moved on to Sarasota, Fl, where he died in 1958; Joe Fosco has stated that Romeo Nappi inherited his uncle’s territory (Romeo’s brother Ralph Nappi had also allegedly worked for Iorii until he was killed in a bar fight in the Badger Hotel in downtown Kenosha in 1941). Fosco has further stated that Romeo Nappi’s operations in WI were shut down at some time in the 1950s due to intense LE pressure on gambling rackets in the region, with Nappi subsequently taking up an important role in the Chicago outfit’s critical 1st Ward political corruption apparatus. If Chicago no longer had inducted LCN members in Kenosha by 1963, than it would fit the timeline of Balistrieri inducting a couple of guys there at that time.

Other info summarized by Milwaukee outfit researcher Gavin Schmitt (posted by B.) has suggested to me that Kenosha may have also been home to an independent local Calabrese-dominated group that may have originated as a Camorra society in the area. As late as 1980, an FBI informant claimed that the Kenosha “family” had its own succession of “capos”, who were Mainland Italians (Calabresi, Marchegiani). Based on the little that we know, it’s difficult to say whether the local Italian group in this area was formally affiliated with Chicago, or if it indeed was its own independent group with close ties to the Chicago and Milwaukee LCN Families. A similar dynamic persisted at least into the 1960s in Youngstown, OH, where a local Calabrian organization remained in close interaction with LCN members, so it wouldn’t be out of the question that a parallel situation may have held in Kenosha, where the majority of Italians were Calabresi.

Additionally, connections between Chicago Sicilians and the Kenosha/Racine area seem to have been very significant at least from the 1920s-1940s. Some of these are explored in some more detail below, as they point to broader paesani network ties extending from Chicago to Southern WI and Western NY.

[PolackTony]

Reposting from the Milwaukee thread:

Re: Kenosha

From Gavin's site:

On October 2 (or possibly 8), 1980, an informant told the FBI that Louie Volpentesta had been a “capo” in the Kenosha family of the mob, and a man named Covelli was now the figurehead. Volpentesta had worked at AMC but was also a fence and a troubleshooter. In the 1960s, the head of Kenosha mob was Dominic Tirabassi, who owned a large excavating company. The informant believed his two sons now had control of the rackets in Kenosha. The source said that Balistrieri had no control over Kenosha, and that the Kenosha family is quiet and runs more like a corporation than a criminal enterprise. [How accurate any of this is, I don’t know. Tirabassi was never investigated in the 1960s to my knowledge, though it is true his family was later involved in the scandal-plagued Dairyland Greyhound Park. I don’t know who Louie Volpentesta was, unless the informant meant Peter Volpendesta. And where does Pepe Madrigrano fit into all this?]

This was probably William "Wheezer" Covelli?

This is very interesting info. I don’t know anything about Tirabassi. I think this is a subject that really warrants some more investigation.

I’d imagine the Covelli here was Wheezer Covelli. Worth noting that Wheezer’s wife was Eleanor Venci, daughter of Antonio Venci and Angelina Principe — Angelina was a sister of Dominic Principe.

Has anything ever surface indicating that Covelli was ever made? The CI above stating that Balistrieri had no control over Kenosha wouldn’t seem to fit with him apparently inducting two of the main Calabresi there.

From my understanding is that Kenosha was always closer to Chicago than it was Milwaukee. There was even talks of some conflict between Kenosha and Milwaukee with Chicago backing Kenosha

There was a strong basis for close connections to Chicago. The majority of Italians in Kenosha (and I believe Racine as well) were Calabresi from the Marano area of Cosenza province. This same area had a large settlement in Chicago and many guys in the Chicago outfit had ancestry from there. We also see early on a number of Chicago Sicilians with close ties to Kenosha/Racine, such as the Virrusos, Vitellos, Toto LoVerde, and the Argentos. Racine had some Milwaukee affiliated guys there as well, around 1930 — Angelo LaMantia and Johnny Massina (who were both from Altavilla Milicia and had previously lived in Chicago).

Thanks to Antiliar for reminding me that Joe Fosco has stated that Tony Iorii was put in charge of the Kenosha/Racine territory for Chicago. Seems like he may have had a crew based there. The Kenosha papers stated that Tony Iorri relocated to Kenosha from Chicago in 1936 and remained until 1952, when he moved to FL. Maybe Chicago’s crew there disbanded at this time, unless Iorii was succeeded by someone else that we don’t know of. If Chicago no longer had a formal presence in Kenosha by the early 60s, it could make sense that Milwaukee made a couple of guys there under Balistrieri (who of course also had a close relationship to Chicago; maybe Chicago allowed him to extend Milwaukee’s presence in Kenosha).

The info that Gavin Schmitt reported that B posted is very interesting and would seem to really make the picture more complicated, as that account makes it seem as if Kenosha had its own “family” with its own boss as late as 1980; no other info would point to there having been an independent LCN Family, so this is likely referring to a Calabrian organization. We know that in the 1960s, a Calabrian Camorra organization persisted in Youngstown alongside and closely intertwined with LCN, so it wouldn’t be out of the question that something similar was going on in Kenosha.

[PolackTony]

Re: Kenosha

From Gavin's site:

In the 1960s, the head of Kenosha mob was Dominic Tirabassi, who owned a large excavating company. The informant believed his two sons now had control of the rackets in Kenosha. The source said that Balistrieri had no control over Kenosha, and that the Kenosha family is quiet and runs more like a corporation than a criminal enterprise.

On his WW2 draft card, Domenico Amadeo Tirabassi stated that he was born in 1895 in Rome. I believe that his family was from Ascoli Piceno, Marche (another area that a number of Chicago guys came from), as there were a bunch of Tirabassis from Ascoli Piceno in Melrose Park. In the 1940s, the Kenosha papers reported that Tirabassi and his wife Amelia Russo (born in Kenosha to parents from Rende, Cosenza) held an anniversary party with hundreds of guests including attendees from Chicago, Melrose Park, Milwaukee, Racine, so the Tirabassis in MP were likely his relatives.

Tirabassi operated a major construction and sewer excavation contracting company in Kenosha for decades, and his name was frequently in the local papers in relation to contracts and real estate deals. The worst criminal activity reported seems to have been a 1939 pinch for parking on the wrong side of the street. In the 1950s it was reputed that Tirabassi was corrupting officials in the Kenosha Department of Public Works for contracts, though an investigation later found no wrong-doing beyond personal friendships. Tirabassi doesn’t appear at all in Schmitt’s summary accounts of Kenosha OC.

One of Tirabassi’s employees was Tony Capponi, however, and Capponi was definitely involved in OC. In the early 1940s, he was busted as part of a major illegal alcohol ring under Red Covelli that allegedly operated 6 large still in the Kenosha area and primarily supplied Cicero. One of the partners in the ring was an Alphonse Caruso of Rockford, and another was Eugene Presta of Chicago (Grand Ave guy from Cosenza; busted previously in 1927 for operating a big still at Milwaukee Ave and Augusta).

Worth noting again in this context that the Ventura brothers (Floyd and Emanuele) were from Ascoli Piceno and were working in illegal alcohol operations in Kenosha during this period with Gaetano Vitello Jr of Chicago (nephew of former Unione Siciliana President Constantino Vitello of Grotte, Agrigento). After getting pinched in raids, Floyd was murdered in 1945, with Vitello suspected of ordering the hit. Vitello and the Venturas had been busted for operating a major still in Kenosha and transporting liquor from Kenosha to Skokie; Vitello caught a serious felony case from this, so the hit on Floyd Ventura was probably retribution for the bust. Soon after, Kenosha big shot Red Covelli was murdered, which makes me wonder if fall-out from the alcohol busts led to Chicago whacking some of these Kenosha guys.

Other Chicago partners involved in the Kenosha booze ring with Vitello and the Venturas were Sam Forestieri, Mike Vella, and Sam Iaquinta. Forestieri I believe was Salvatore Forestieri, from Cefalà Diana and brother of Francesco and Ciro Forestieri, big Benton Harbor/Chicago bootleggers who were tied to Phil Bacino (covered recently elsewhere here). Iaquinta was very likely related to the Iaquintas from Roccabernarda, Crotone, Calabria who were already heavily involved in Calabrian OC in Kenosha in the 1900s-10s. Vella was probably the Michele Vella born in 1902 in Grotte, Agrigento (the Vitello’s hometown) who lived in Little Sicily. He was presumably a relative (possibly a brother) of the Giovanni Vella shot and killed in August 1928 in his butcher shop on the 400 block of W Division (Aiello Ground Zero).

[PolackTony]

In the recent thread on Salvatore LoVerde, I discussed the bust of a huge “Capone syndicate” alcohol ring in 1930 allegedly under the direction of LoVerde (using the alias Frank LaCort), the Argento brothers, and Giuseppe Almanza. The ring was charged with operating as many as 20 stills in Racine, Kenosha, and Cicero. “Don Peppino” Almanza was a merchant and business partner in an import company with the Argentos that was used to supply sugar to the stills. Don Peppino, from Campobello di Mazara/Castelvetrano, had previously been named in the Chicago papers as a member of the “Sicilian Quarto” (allegedly an elite circle of men directing the mafia in Chicago; possible early reference to the Chicago Consiglio) based on Taylor St alleged to have ordered the hit on Henry Spingola and linked to the infamous Antonino “Cavaliero” Spano of Marsala. The names of the men busted on both sides of this major Chicago operation were reported as below.





Agostino Lalomia of Buffalo was from Canicattì, which is very significant given that the leaders of this ring were said to be the Argento brothers from Canicattì, while Roy Carlisi was also involved (obviously another major Chicago-Buffalo link). The Vellas noted above in connection to Kenosha also had close ties to Buffalo (Buffalo had a major colony from Grotte, and there were also Vitellos from Grotte in Buffalo who may have been related to the Chicago Vitellos).

It’s unclear to me who the Vitello busted in Racine was, given the butchered name; he may have been one of the Chicago Vitellos (Giuseppe Vitello), but there were also Vitiellos in Racine from San Vincenzo La Costa, Cosenza.

Salvatore Furnari of Racine was from Canicattì.

Santo Vassallo of Racine was from Montelepre and was married to a Serafina Bruno, born in Naro, Agrigento; her father Giuseppe Bruno from Canicattì was the Joseph Bruno named above. Giuseppe’s son Gaetano “Tom” Bruno, born in Naro, was married to a Furnari from Canicattì. Giuseppe Ingrasci of Racine was born in Sutera, Caltanissetta, and had ties to Chicago, Buffalo, and Western PA; his wife was Maria Bruno, another sister of Gaetano Bruno. Ernesto Nilo of Racine was from Canicattì; he was married to yet another Bruno sister.

Angelo Puma was from Canicattì and had close ties to Buffalo. He owned an Italian restaurant and cigar store in Racine and was busted there in 1922 for carrying a concealed firearm and in 1925 for bootlegging. His wife was Carmella DiPasquale, who was born in Milwaukee to parents from Catania and Ragusa. He died in 1930 following the liquor busts after a car accident while driving to Chicago.

Gaetano Scupino was from Canicattì and lived in Cicero like his paesani the Carlisis; I believe that he was also connected to Gloversvile, NY, where the Carlisis and Tornabene also had strong links.

Diego LoGiudice was born in 1879 in Canicattì and married Marta Caramanna of Canicattì in NYC; son Vincent LoGiudice was born there in 1909 and the family soon moved to Chicago. In 1930, they were living in W Wolfram in Lakeview on the Northside; Diego stated that he worked as a real estate broker (could’ve been involved also in acquiring the properties that this ring was using to operate stills). Son Vincent LoGiudice later died in 1941 while incarcerated at Leavenworth.

Carmelo Gentile was born in 1875 in Canicattì and settled in Little Sicily in Chicago in 1913. His mother seems to have been Giuseppa Drago, and thus I believe he was the half-brother of Giuseppe Carlisi and uncle to Roy and Sam Carlisi. Carmelo married his wife Vincenza Cani in Canicattì. When Gentile was naturalized in Chicago in 1926, one of his witnesses was Luigi LaTona who lived by Taylor St and was from Serradifalco, Caltanissetta (another comune closely tied to Buffalo, Serradifalco is very near to both Canicattì and Grotte as well as Sutera, where Giuseppe Ingrasci was from). A father and son pit of Salvatore LaTonas from Serradifalco were notorious mafiosi in Rochester in the 1920s (they seem to have had a Luigi LaTona in their line, so they may have been cousins of the Chicago guy). Luigi LaTona also had close family connections to Pittston, PA, which also had a major colony from Serradifalco and a number of important mafiosi from there and neighboring Montedoro.

Salvatore Giardina was born in 1882 in Canicattì and settled in Chicago in 1906. His wife Maddalena Nicosia was also from Canicattì. In 1930, they lived on the Far NW Side of Chicago and Salvatore owned a construction contracting company. Their daughter Florence Giardina married Salvatore “Sam” Nicosia Jr, who was born in Canicattì and had lived in Gloversville, NY, before moving to Chicago. Sam and Florence moved to Berrien County, MI, around 1940 (where Francesco Forestieri, brother of the Salvatore Forestieri mentioned above, had close ties). Worth noting here that Chicago member Calogero “Charlie” Nicosia was born in 1916 in River Forest to parents from Canicattì (his father was also named Salvatore Nicosia and they may have been relatives of the other Nicosias) who had previously lived in Pittston/Berwick, PA, before moving to Chicago. Charlie Nicosia was an attorney in the IL States Attorney’s office and a major political liaison for the Chicago outfit with Pat Marcy. In the 1950s, both Charlie and Sam Nicosia Jr were named as committee members in the Italo-American National Union (the “Unione Siciliana”).

Another daughter of Salvatore Giardina, Helen Giardina, married Vincenzo “James” Virrusso of Cicero; born in 1911 in Pietraperzia, he was the kid brother of infamous Chicago member Santo Virrusso. The Virrusos also seem to have had close ties to Kenosha, and Salvatore LoVerde used the Virrusso’s Cicero address when he was naturalized under a false name in 1930, again connecting back to the Racine liquor ring. In yet another connection to the Racine ring, in 1941 James Virruso was employed by the Italian Bakers Association; Chicago Canicattese mafioso and Racine ring leader Cipriano Argento had been head of this Association in the 1930s when he was murdered (apparently by Jim DeGeorge, who also had strong connections to WI).

Virgilio Quadracci was a grocer in Racine, born in 1881 in Amelia, Umbria, in Central Italy.

Discussion of the Vitellos, Argentos, and Virrussos can be found in the LoVerde thread:
viewtopic.php?p=239073#p239073

[cavita]

Another thing to consider was that Jimmy "The Bomber" Catuara was first cousins with Angelo Tarallo of Kenosha. Tarallo was a main player in Kenosha before he was killed in April 1932 driving north out of Oregon, Illinois after delivering a load of alcohol.

[PolackTony]

Another thing to consider was that Jimmy "The Bomber" Catuara was first cousins with Angelo Tarallo of Kenosha. Tarallo was a main player in Kenosha before he was killed in April 1932 driving north out of Oregon, Illinois after delivering a load of alcohol.

Thanks for this. Angelo Tarallo was born about 1895 in Sant’Angelo Muxaro, Agrigento, to Gaetano Tarallo and Margherita Catuara. Angelo arrived in Chicago in 1910 with his mother and brothers Carmelo and Giuseppe; father Gaetano was already living at 2520 S Lowe in Bridgeport. The Catuaras lived on the 2700 block of S Lowe. Angelo married Angelina Mongiovi, born 1909 in Sant’Angelo; their first kid Thomas Tarallo (later a CPD cop) was born in Chicago in 1925, while daughter Margaret Tarallo was born in 1931 in Kenosha.

As you noted, Angelo Tarallo was attacked in a high speed car chase near Oregon, IL, in April 1932 and hit with ~22 shotgun slugs. Police at the time claimed that Angelo’s nickname was “The Immune”, as he had allegedly survived several prior hit attempts and had not been convicted in several criminal cases. He was said at the time to operate a major still in Kenosha, and investigators theorized that Tarallo was killed due to “muscling in” on bootlegging territory in the Rockford area, though they had almost nothing to go on for the case. Some ‘Medigan named Cale Sherwood from Peoria was initially held as a suspect but released. That Tarallo already had ties to the Rockford area is suggested by the fact that his brother Joe Tarallo had been arrested on a stolen car charge for a vehicle apparently stolen in Rockford and then driven to Kenosha in 1926. That same year, Angelo Tarallo was busted transporting booze in Lake County, IL. The local paper reported that he was a resident of Milwaukee at that time (I’ve seen no evidence that he lived in Milwaukee, but who knows) and that he has been carrying Chicago liquor to supply the WI market. Later in the 1920s, Angelo Tarallo was pinched for concealed weapons and robbery charges in Kenosha. A few days after he was killed, his vacant Kenosha home was ransacked and torched (Angelina and their kids had moved back to Chicago when Angelo was murdered).

Local papers reported in 1937 that a “traveling magical apparatus salesman” originally from Salem, SD, named John Bernard Gifford, aka Frank Travers, was busted in NC and was wanted by the FBI and IL police as a suspect in the Angelo Tarallo murder. Gifford apparently initially admitted to the Tarallo murder and then recanted. Not sure what happened with him, but he was also said to have been suspected in several murders around the country, including of two “Italians” in California.

Brother Joe Tarallo married Angelo’s widow Angeline in 1934 in Chicago. Joe also carried on the family business long after Prohibition, as he was busted for running a huge still at 2540 S Canal and was said to be the head of a “gang” of 20 men. Joe Tarallo died in Chicago in 1963.

Please let me know if you have any specific info indicating that Jimmy Catuara and Angelo Tarallo were first cousins. I believe that they were related, but they don’t seem to have been first cousins. Angelo’s mother, Margherita Catuara, who died in Chicago in 1951, was the daughter of Carmelo Catuara and Vincenza Arnone of Sant’Angelo. Jimmy Catuara’s father was also named Carmelo Catuara (died in Chicago in 1945), but he was not a brother of Margherita as his parents were Vincenzo Catuara and Maria Angela Spoto. The shared given name Carmelo (also one of Angelo’s brothers) would suggest that they may have been cousins of some sort.

The Tarallo stuff is useful for situating Jimmy Catuara within a wider pattern of early mafia activity; I would think it’s very likely that he cut his teeth in the mob working with the Tarallos, whether in Bridgeport or WI, as Angelo was 10 years his senior and their families were almost certainly closely connected. Chicago had a sizable community of immigrants from Sant’Angelo Muxaro, and they had their own paesan’ Society, so it’s unsurprising but good to note that there were several of them apparently involved with the mafia.

Based on what was published in the papers, it’s unclear to me who exactly the Tarallos were working with in WI in terms of Italians (there were some non-Italians named who they seem to have been doing business with). The info from prior posts may help to shed light on Tarallo and Catuara’s possible connections. The big 1930 Chicago-WI operation mainly involved men from Western Agrigento and neighboring Caltanissetta. The Argentos, who were from Canicattì and based in Bridgeport, were stated to have been high-level leaders. Their command center was alleged to have been the Italian Manufacturing and Importing Co, which the Argentos operated with the Trapanese Giuseppe Almanza, located at 26th St and Wallace, immediately around the corner from where the Tarallos lived on Lowe. Sant’Angelo Muxaro is not far from Grotte (where the Vitellos and Vellas, who were also connected to bootlegging in Kenosha, were from) and that general broader Western AG area (it’s basically a suburb of San Biagio Plàtani, which had and continues to have an important colony in Chicago), so it seems unlikely to me to have been coincidence that all of these Agrigentini had close ties to both Bridgeport and WI during the same period. Possible that the Tarallos were some of the Argentos’ men responsible for Kenosha, where the 1930 ring was also reputed to have controlled still operations.

[cavita]

Unfortunately I can't confirm the first cousins status as my genealogy program has been on the fritz and I had it in my head they were first cousins, but undoubtedly they were related. Tarallo got hung up I believe in a movie theater robbery with the Dotz brothers. One of the Dotz' was a liquor spotter in Rockford and he and the brother were .shot at in 1926. Phil Caltagerone, George Saladino and Tony DiGiovanni were arrested and went on trial but were found not guilty. Perhaps the Dotz' hooked up with Angelo through the Tarallo brother that was in Rockford.

[PolackTony]

Unfortunately I can't confirm the first cousins status as my genealogy program has been on the fritz and I had it in my head they were first cousins, but undoubtedly they were related. Tarallo got hung up I believe in a movie theater robbery with the Dotz brothers. One of the Dotz' was a liquor spotter in Rockford and he and the brother were .shot at in 1926. Phil Caltagerone, George Saladino and Tony DiGiovanni were arrested and went on trial but were found not guilty. Perhaps the Dotz' hooked up with Angelo through the Tarallo brother that was in Rockford.

They were almost certainly relatives (probably second cousins). Given their close neighborhood connections as well as the shared Catuara surname, I don’t doubt that they would’ve thought of each other as cugini even if the actual relation was a bit more distant.

Yes, the theater robbery with the Dotz Bros was the case I briefly noted above. As with the others, Angelo was acquitted. While Kenosha’s Italian community was very strongly Calabrese, there were a smattering of Sicilians there, including some Salamones from Aragona. Sant’Angelo and Aragona are very close, so it’s unsurprising that the Tallaros also had connections to Rockford.

[PolackTony]

Info from the FBI on Kenosha in the early ‘60s.

In 1961, it was reported that Gus Alex was spotted conducting business on a dock at Kenosha, related to an international ship arriving with supplies for a Wilmette, IL-based jukebox company. That same year, Alex and Ross Prio were alleged to have been concerned about Milwaukee encroaching on Chicago interests in Kenosha. If, as Fosco claims, the Iorii/Nappi “crew” in Kenosha had been shut down in the 50s, it’s possible that remaining Chicago interests in Kenosha were put under Prio (who was also said in this period to have had a mansion/safehouse in Lake Geneva, WI, legally owned by the widow of Gaetano Oneglia).



In January of 1963, Kenosha juke box operator Tony Biernat was killed, allegedly by the Milwaukee outfit. Biernat was reputed to have been an associate of Gus Alex and Lake County-based Chicago associate Eddie Vogel; Steve DiSalvo along with Al Albano and Dom Principe of Kenosha were suspects in the Biernat murder. Likely that Albana and Principe may have “made their bones” with the Biernat hit, as Maniaci reported that they were inducted into the Milwaukee outfit in March 1963 in a ceremony along with Bennie DiSalvo and Harry D’Angelo.

In 1964, Maniaci reported that Frank Balistrieri was a partner of Wheezer Covelli’s jukebox interests in Kenosha, and in 1963 it was reported that John Rizzo had sought permission from Steve DiSalvo to collect street tax from local Kenosha gambling operations on behalf of the Milwaukee outfit; Rizzo was also alleged to have been seeking to organize Kenosha gambling under one centralized book. In the same time period, a CI (apparently not Maniaci) also claimed that Kenosha OC had undergone a “split”, with the Covelli/Rizzo group under Milwaukee and another group remaining under Chicago. Given Balistrieri’s close ties to Chicago (Maniaci claimed that Balistrieri conferred with Chicago instead of his own outfit’s traditional Consiglio when making important decisions), the installation of Balistrieri as boss likely smoothed out tensions over Kenosha and Milwaukee and Chicago seem to have shared the territory. Given that Chicago was Milwaukee’s Avugad, I’d suspect that Balistrieri would’ve asked for Chicago’s blessing to induct Albana and Principe in Kenosha (a la Cleveland going to Tony Salerno to approve their inductions.)

[cavita]

So, a couple more things on Tarallo; a farmer reported seeing the car chasing Tarallo that day and said the vehicle was a dark Cadillac sedan that bore Rockford license tags. Authorities had stated that the previous year Tarallo had a load of his alcohol hijacked near Rockford. Additionally, Tarallo's sister lived just a few houses away from Rockford LCN boss Tony Musso and if I remember correctly, she was married to a Salamone, I'll have to check.
This may be a stretch as well but you noted that Tarallo's wife was a Mongiovi. I bring this up because in November 1932 Rocco Siciliano was arrested in Rockford for transporting alcohol and carrying weapons along with a Frank Mungiovino, as the papers reported. Siciliano was found murdered in a ditch near Broadwell, Illinois in July 1933 and he was connected to the Springfield element but I have never found anything on this Mungiovino character and when I saw your post, wondered if his name was really Mongiovi.

[cavita]

So, a couple more things on Tarallo; a farmer reported seeing the car chasing Tarallo that day and said the vehicle was a dark Cadillac sedan that bore Rockford license tags. Authorities had stated that the previous year Tarallo had a load of his alcohol hijacked near Rockford. Additionally, Tarallo's sister lived just a few houses away from Rockford LCN boss Tony Musso and if I remember correctly, she was married to a Salamone, I'll have to check.
This may be a stretch as well but you noted that Tarallo's wife was a Mongiovi. I bring this up because in November 1932 Rocco Siciliano was arrested in Rockford for transporting alcohol and carrying weapons along with a Frank Mungiovino, as the papers reported. Siciliano was found murdered in a ditch near Broadwell, Illinois in July 1933 and he was connected to the Springfield element but I have never found anything on this Mungiovino character and when I saw your post, wondered if his name was really Mongiovi.

Tarallo's sister Vincenza married Philip Salamone. She died in 1981 never remarrying and Philip died in Los Angeles in 1930.

[cavita]

The Kenosha theater robbery left to right;
Alex Dotz, Angelo Tarallo, James Martin, Victor Corbelli and Joe Tarallo.

[PolackTony]

The Kenosha theater robbery left to right;
Alex Dotz, Angelo Tarallo, James Martin, Victor Corbelli and Joe Tarallo.

Great pic. Wonder if Joe Tarallo could’ve been made later. He seems to have been an important guy around 1940 in Bridgeport.

[cavita]

The Kenosha theater robbery left to right;
Alex Dotz, Angelo Tarallo, James Martin, Victor Corbelli and Joe Tarallo.

Great pic. Wonder if Joe Tarallo could’ve been made later. He seems to have been an important guy around 1940 in Bridgeport.

Possibly.... that Corbelli was out of Racine but I couldn't find anything on him after this theater robbery. James Martin is too common of a name to try and track down I imagine.

[cavita]

Kenosha gambling bust 1965