42 Years Ago Today

[cavita]

On May 26, 1982 officials from the FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Rockford Police and Winnebago County Sheriff’s departments arrested nine people in what they claimed was a breakup of a “significant cocaine cartel” between Rockford, Chicago and Las Vegas. Eight were Rockford residents and one was a Chicago resident and still being sought were two additional Rockford residents as well as one Las Vegas resident. Ultimately those arrested and charged in the case were;

John S. Leombruni, 32, Rockford
Michael F. Leombruni, 30, Rockford
John Bartelli, 36, Rockford
John J. Schiro, 22, Rockford
Luca Cannella, 25, Las Vegas
Jack Richardson, 26, Rockford
Dennis L. Salsbury, 32, Rockford
Susan Wisniewski, 25, Rockford
Israel R, Campello, 41, Rockford
Manuel M. Gomez, 33, Chicago
Jon Kaemmerlen, 27, Rockford
Rubin Yanez, Jr., 32, Rockford

FBI Special Agent in charge of the Chicago office, Edward Hegarty said Chicago was used as the staging area to distribute cocaine to Rockford distributors and the Rockford dealers accepted phone orders from various places in the city. Hegarty declined to say if the group was controlled by the Chicago Outfit but said, “The very distribution of drugs is a clear organized crime act and we’re talking about that here.” He also said the investigation had been going on intensively since February and would not have been possible without telephone wire taps but that the investigation began in November 1981.

John Leombruni was singled out as the ringleader and was described as “a major cocaine dealer” and was assisted by his girlfriend Susan Wisniewski, who was a police radio dispatcher and allegedly let the group know of pending raids through her employment. Michael F. Leombruni was John’s younger brother and John Bartelli had been a confirmed member of the Latin Counts street gang in Rockford in 1964 when he was arrested for knifing Frank Munday during a fight. Cannella happened to be the nephew of Rockford LCN member Phil Cannella who died in Rockford in 1971.

To back up a bit, the Rockford LCN had only begun dealing in narcotics in February 1980 when Rockford LCN boss Joe Zammuto had a series of meetings at his winter home in Hollywood, Florida and informed the members they would be distributing drugs. All were in agreement except LCN member Joe Maggio who voiced his extreme displeasure. Figuring they would have a problem with Maggio’s outspokenness, he was murdered gangland style just two months later in April 1980. An interesting link between Joe Maggio’s murder and possibly John Leombruni is an October 20, 1981 FBI file. Maggio’s heavily redacted file read, in part, that an individual “was instructed by his “associates” in either Las Vegas or Los Angeles that Maggio had to be killed” and that this individual’s “associates” are members of the LCN.” This is interesting in that right before Leombruni started his full-scale cocaine distribution in Rockford he was living in Las Vegas but according to sources had been “run out by that city’s Mafia chief.” The only Mafia chief in Vegas at that time was Tony Spilotro, who was sent there to oversee the Chicago Outfit’s interests. Leombruni’s drug dealing there could have caused problems for Spilotro’s interests and he may have warned Leombruni to stay away.

In the years after this investigation and prosecution, the FBI privately acknowledged there was definite mob involvement in this case but this information was not admissible in court.

Some other interesting connections were that Manuel Gomez was a brother to Armando Gomez, who married into the Schiro family. In April 1983 Armando was indicted on cocaine conspiracy and possession charges along with Carlos Gonzalez, Ramon Dominguez and Ruben Legras, all of Chicago. Esmerido “Bebe Galvan” Olamendi, 41, was a major drug supplier to this particular Rockford ring and was also arrested and charged with heroin distribution, holding an FBI witness-informant at gunpoint and interstate flight to avoid prosecution. Authorities had said the investigation led them to Chicago, Florida and South America. This investigation could very well have been further fallout from the Leombruni-run operation.

Jon Kaemmerlen was arrested again on April 9, 1987 and charged with unlawful possession of cocaine with intent to deliver when authorities found more than three pounds of cocaine with a street value of $480,000 in his possession. Additionally, in May 2003 Kaemmerlen had sold his residence on Maple Avenue in Machesney Park, Illinois to Joseph “Pep” Fiorenza who was connected to the Rockford LCN as a 2006 gambling bust would show.

While John Leombruni was living in Las Vegas he first met James Herman, who was known by his drug-dealing friends as “the fat man.” Herman was living in St. Louis and had learned Leombruni was dealing in cocaine so the two made arrangements where Herman would call Leombruni from St. Louis and arrange drug buys and between December 1978 and March 1979 he bought cocaine from Leombruni four times at a rate of $23,000 a pound. Herman turned federal informant for the DEA after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Georgia in 1980. Though it was never revealed how authorities were turned on to the Rockford LCN cocaine ring, it was most likely due to the cooperation of James Herman.
Now what very well could have happened was that Leombruni was running independent while in Las Vegas and was then kicked out of that city where he then moved back to Rockford. After the Rockford LCN started distributing narcotics in February 1980, and knowing Leombruni was a major dealer, they could have strong-armed him into working and distributing under them, especially given the longstanding connection between the Rockford LCN and Chicago Outfit.

[furiofromnaples]

Its know how much profitable was the drug ring?

[Snakes]

Great info. Thanks for posting