General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[PolackTony]

Interesting. If his family is from Taylor street then he at least knows Jimmy I. That’s for sure . I’m not sure exactly where I first heard he was related so it might not be true. I also remember Don Heroin wrote about this place in one of his books. I will have to look in it and see if there is any further insight.

Yeah and it sounds like he had a reputation when he was younger as a rough guy (the part about him leaving calling cards with a funeral wreath on them was a great touch lol). Wonder who he was working for when he got pinched for roughing someone up collecting a debt. The Sun-Times reported that it was related to a Fulton St meat market, but I didn’t see any mentions of it in the papers or any case files online when I looked.

[NorthBuffalo]

Anthony Vaughn is Inendino's cousin per Don Herion. It is in Herion's book Polack.

[NorthBuffalo]

Interesting. If his family is from Taylor street then he at least knows Jimmy I. That’s for sure . I’m not sure exactly where I first heard he was related so it might not be true. I also remember Don Heroin wrote about this place in one of his books. I will have to look in it and see if there is any further insight.

Yeah and it sounds like he had a reputation when he was younger as a rough guy (the part about him leaving calling cards with a funeral wreath on them was a great touch lol). Wonder who he was working for when he got pinched for roughing someone up collecting a debt. The Sun-Times reported that it was related to a Fulton St meat market, but I didn’t see any mentions of it in the papers or any case files online when I looked.

Here is the indictment - guys are saying Vincent Lima was Martin Accardo's nephew or some connection to him:
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5 ... w-vincent/

[PolackTony]

Interesting. If his family is from Taylor street then he at least knows Jimmy I. That’s for sure . I’m not sure exactly where I first heard he was related so it might not be true. I also remember Don Heroin wrote about this place in one of his books. I will have to look in it and see if there is any further insight.

Yeah and it sounds like he had a reputation when he was younger as a rough guy (the part about him leaving calling cards with a funeral wreath on them was a great touch lol). Wonder who he was working for when he got pinched for roughing someone up collecting a debt. The Sun-Times reported that it was related to a Fulton St meat market, but I didn’t see any mentions of it in the papers or any case files online when I looked.

Here is the indictment - guys are saying Vincent Lima was Martin Accardo's nephew or some connection to him:
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5 ... w-vincent/

Great info, thanks for posting the indictment.

Vincent LeRoy Lima (d. 2015) was the meat wholesaler who hired Vaughan for collections. Lima was from an important Grand Ave Sicilian family. His father, Vincenzo "Jim" Lima, was from Palermo City and operated a coal supply and trucking company in Chicago. Interestingly, Vincenzo's 1926 naturalization was witnessed by a Sam LoVerde, who I believe was Salvatore LoVerde, born in 1900 in Brancaccio, Palermo, either a cousin or nephew of Brancaccio/Chicago boss Salvatore "Totò" LoVerde (Totò LoVerde's relatives in Chicago settled in the Grand Ave Patch, where he first arrived in 1911 as a teenager before returning to Palermo). Vincent Lima, who was born in Chicago in 1926, married Mary Antoinette Capone, who was totally unrelated to the famous Capones. Both sides of her family, the Capones and Raimondis, were, however, prominent Grand Ave families from Termini Imerese. Mary Capone's uncle was Mickey Capone, who I mentioned in a prior post, while her brother was the Frank Capone also mentioned in the same post:

Frank Bompensiero mentioned August Phillip Caponi aka “Mickey Capone”, a wealthy produce distributor from Chicago, as his close friend and Joe Zerrilli’s primary produce contact:



No relation to those other Capones. August Caponi was born in 1911 in Chicago to Filippo Capone and Antonina DiCola of Tèrmini Imerese, who immigrated to Chicago in the 1880s along with a number of relatives. August grew up on Erie in the Grand Ave Patch before later moving to Augusta and Kedzie in Humboldt Park, and worked for his family’s long-standing produce business. He moved to CA in the 40s and died in San Diego in 1982. If he was closely connected to Bomp and Zerilli, I’d expect that his family was probably connected in Chicago.

This reminded me that many years ago I had heard about some Capones, said to be completely unrelated to Al Brown, who were huge produce big shots in Chicago. Frank Capone, who died in 2019, was a major force in Chicago’s produce industry, as the long time head of produce for Dominick’s Finer Foods. Looks like Frank Capone was the son of “Mickey Capone’s” younger brother Tony Capone and Josephine Raimondi (another family from Tèrmini). Frank started out working on the South Water St market in the Loop for the LaMantia Bros. Arrigo Co., which for decades was the largest produce brokerage company in the US (buying from producers and selling to supermarket chains); the LaMantia (intermarried with Battaglias) and Arrigo families were, of course, also from Tèrmini.

I was not able to confirm any specific familial relationships between the Accardos and either the Limas or Capones, though all three families were Sicilian families living by Grand Ave back in the day and might very well have longstanding ties.

[NorthBuffalo]

Did Martin Accardo really own JP Graziano on Randolph? My nephew sends me their italian beef kits and they are top notch - he says its a Chicago staple. Apparently Martin Accardo was the original silent owner in JP's and multiple meat distributors - I've ready very little about the brother of Tony Accardo - I was surprised to read he was even a mobster. You wonder if it was bc of his brother or if he was a bonified low-key guy himself.

Going back to the indictment, what a wild fucking story that was to read.

[PolackTony]

I don't recall having come across anything specifically confirming Martin Accardo being involved with Graziano's, but it's certainly possible. If he was involved in meat distribution, then a close connection to Vincent Lima would also make sense.

Graziano's was founded in 1933 by Vincenzo Graziano of Bagheria. "Don Vincenzo" lived at this address (the building in between where Oggi and Bella Notte were recently located, on Grand just east of Noble) with his wife, Anna Morici, also of Bagheria. This happened to be the same block where the Accardos had lived for years and where Tony and Martin Accardo grew up. Graziano was put into business by his in-laws, the Moricis, a mobbed up family who operated a major wholesale grocery and macaroni manufacturing business, Morici Bros (later the Chicago Macaroni Company). His father-in-law was Alfio Morici, whose brothers Agostino and Antonio were wealthy mafiosi-businessmen gunned down in early 1926 in the aftermath of the Genna conflict and ensuing rounds of mafia warfare in Chicago. The Moricis were headquartered out of Washington and Desplaines, in the same Near Westside wholesaling district where Graziano would later move his business. I've covered a number of details surrounding the Moricis in previous posts, but they were close to Tony Lombardo (brother Giuseppe Lombardo was employed by the Moricis as their general sales manager), and have numerous intermarriages with families whose names figure prominently in Bagherese mafia networks (Anna Morici's mother was a Mineo, for example, and the family was also related to Morreales, Tripolis, and Tomasellos). Obviously, Vincenzo Graziano was someone who would have had ties to the mafia, both due to familial/hometown connections as well as his line of business. Also worth noting that the Moricis were tied to the notorious Chicago mafioso Pietro Montalbano, who may have wound up killing them. Montalbano was a native of Castelvetrano, the hometown of the Accardos.

Leonardo "Martin Leo" Accardo was a pretty low-key guy and there really isn't much information about him available. He was six years older than his brother and born in Castelvetrano, though he arrived in Chicago when he was a young kid. He was called a "Capone henchman" in 1931 when he was pinched for forcing a restaurant owner in North suburban Glenview to buy booze from the "Capone gang". In 1942, he listed James Betini, longtime President of the Suburban Transit bus company, as his boss. Later investigations revealed that Martin's primary source of income was, however, operating a major sportsbook out of his club, the Circle Lounge, located at Cermak Rd And Central in Cicero. While Martin lived in Cicero at the time, he also maintained a fancy second home in Coral Gables, as revealed in 1949 by the Miami Crime Commission (hey, it sure beats Cicero). In 1951, his ex-wife claimed that Martin Accardo had bankrolled a shortlived Miami newspaper with a $100k loan (the first edition of the paper was headlined by an editorial extolling the virtues of Frank Costello lol). When Martin refused to testify before a Senate committee investigating the allegations, he was jailed for one year on contempt. In 1954, he pled guilty to tax evasion charges and did three years in Terra Haute. In 1962, he was pinched again with Frank Santucci, Vito Lombardi, and Franklin Park lounge operator Constantino di Stasio for a stolen rare coins ring. In 1963, Martin Accardo was recorded by an illegal FBI bug in Giancana's HQ at the Armory Lounge discussing Giancana and Tony Accardo's anti-narcotics stance with Chuckie English and unnamed interlocutors. Unfortunately, I've only seen a summary of this and not a transcript, which might have otherwise shed light on Martin's formal relationship to the organization. In his later years, he underwent a protracted illness and died in 1980. In 1981, the Tribune cited Federal agents as claiming that Martin Accardo had been linked to "Florida and East Coast mob activities". My hunch is that there was more to Martin Accardo than the little bits that have come to light.

[NorthBuffalo]

Great information on Martin Accardo Polack - Thank you. Here is what I found on Mary Farrell that confirms he owned JP Graziano Grocery and several other meat distributors in Fulton Market - not sure if this link works or not but it can be found by searching his name. Its quite interesting Martin Accardo did prison time and you wonder if he had a cake walk in there given his brother. He sounds like a bonified gangster himself - a bit more rough around the edges even and definitely low-key. Was he a secret advisor to his brother perhaps? Its interesting we see so many pics of Accardo with Outfit guys and never one with his brother.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... Accardo%22

[Patrickgold]

Did anyone see Scott B’s recent article on Wayne Bock? Looks like Bock was exiled from Chicago by Joey Lombardo for dealing drugs. Does not mention exact years but I’m guessing it has to be 1990s or 2000s. If this is true, it shows Lombardo still had power up until family secrets. Bock has always been a figure of interest for me since he was a non Italian and because of his background as a professional wrestler and football player. Always wondered what happened to him and why he disappeared from the Chicago scene after the 1980s. This makes sense. He ended up dying in Wisconsin in 2016.

[NorthBuffalo]

Wayne Bock was in Florida doing Outfit business through the 1990s - he was linked heavily to Joe Sonken's famous restaurant and was surveilled taking meetings at Aiuppa's condo in Hollywood, FL with Rocco Infelise. I think Bock was under Carlisi/Ferriola/Infelise - not Grand Avenue.

Bock was also a graduate of University of Illinois where he was on a football scholarship.

[Cosmik_Debris]

Great information on Martin Accardo Polack - Thank you. Here is what I found on Mary Farrell that confirms he owned JP Graziano Grocery and several other meat distributors in Fulton Market - not sure if this link works or not but it can be found by searching his name. Its quite interesting Martin Accardo did prison time and you wonder if he had a cake walk in there given his brother. He sounds like a bonified gangster himself - a bit more rough around the edges even and definitely low-key. Was he a secret advisor to his brother perhaps? Its interesting we see so many pics of Accardo with Outfit guys and never one with his brother.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... Accardo%22

That's pretty interesting. Martin Accardo was definitely under the radar. I think I've only seen two pictures of him and one was doing a perp walk.

I would love to know the relationship between the two. You're right, with all the pictures of Tony Accardo with his family, other mobsters, etc., it's amazing there isn't one of the two of them together.

[funkster]

Interesting stuff as always. For NB, JP Grazianos has been the hot spot more for deli sandwiches as opposed to beefs. They are kind of seen as a higher end sandwich shop. Helps they are in the red hot Fulton market area.

Interesting note from Cooley who claims that recently convicted Burke handed out jobs to the outfit.

https://x.com/jmetr22b/status/1805670115549032464?s=46

[Patrickgold]

Wayne Bock was in Florida doing Outfit business through the 1990s - he was linked heavily to Joe Sonken's famous restaurant and was surveilled taking meetings at Aiuppa's condo in Hollywood, FL with Rocco Infelise. I think Bock was under Carlisi/Ferriola/Infelise - not Grand Avenue.

Bock was also a graduate of University of Illinois where he was on a football scholarship.

Sonken died in 1992 I believe. Wayne had a house down in Florida at least since the 80s. Scott mentions in his article that he was a driver for Carlisi/Ferriola/Infelise. He worked heavily with Schweihs so that is probably where the grand Ave connection came from even those Schweihs claimed to Red that he was his own crew. I get the idea that he was used by whoever needed heavy work and might have been at the orders of the admin.

[PolackTony]

Great information on Martin Accardo Polack - Thank you. Here is what I found on Mary Farrell that confirms he owned JP Graziano Grocery and several other meat distributors in Fulton Market - not sure if this link works or not but it can be found by searching his name. Its quite interesting Martin Accardo did prison time and you wonder if he had a cake walk in there given his brother. He sounds like a bonified gangster himself - a bit more rough around the edges even and definitely low-key. Was he a secret advisor to his brother perhaps? Its interesting we see so many pics of Accardo with Outfit guys and never one with his brother.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... Accardo%22

Great find and good info here. Vincenzo Graziano I believe was also very active in the San Giuseppe di Bagheria Society for many years, and the President of that Society for some time was Chicago LCN member "Little Joe" Aiello. Vincenzo Graziano I believe was also very active in the San Giuseppe di Bagheria Society for many years, and the President of that Society for some time was Chicago LCN member "Little Joe" Aiello. One would also imagine that he had some relationship to Chicago LCN member Sam Aiello as well. That Martin Accardo was the "real" operator of Graziano's makes it seem very likely that the claims that Martin Accardo was also closely tied to Vincent Lima are also true. Vincenzo Graziano got his start in the grocery business via his in-laws, but it would seem that after they were slain he wound up being backed by the Accardos later in his own business (again, seems not at all coincidental that the first location of his store was on the same block of Grand Ave where the Accardos had lived). Recall also that Tony Accardo was very close personally to several successful Grand Ave Sicilian businessmen himself, such as grocer Rosario Marino and wine producer/importer Antonino Paternò, who founded Armanetti liquors (Italian LE was actively investigating Paternò's ties to the Sicilian mafia related to his Italian wine holdings in the 1960s-70s).

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

The entire report that you shared is a very interesting read. It was a 1963 statement that a guy named Frank Marco DiLeonardi gave to the FBI about how his attempt at starting a restaurant, LaBella Villa, in Melrose Park in 1957 fell victim to a "web" of outfit-connected business interests that quickly engulfed and strangled him. DiLeonardi was set to buy an existing liquor license for the address from the building's owner, but then a week before the restaurant opened, an irate Frank Cerone showed up claiming that the liquor license belonged to someone else and directing DiLeonardi to consult Melrose Park realtor Joe Cullotta (a close associate of Joe Imburgio Bulger and a possible relative of Frank Culotta's father Joseph Culotta, as both families were from Cefalù). Cullotta told DiLeonardi that another liquor license could be purchased instead, for a jacked-up price, naturally. DiLeonardi said that he couldn't afford the new price and refused. He said that he was then "summoned" to meet with Rocco DeGrazia at DeGrazia's Melrose Park gambling establishment, the Casa Madrid, where DeGrazia was able to arrange a license for DiLeonardi.

A week after LaBella Villa opened, Jack Cerone (who DiLeonardi said introduced himself as a "beer salesman and golfer" lol), showed up and demanded a private room for an all-night party, accompanied by Tony and Martin Accardo, Phil Alderisio, Phil Mesi, Jimmy Cerone, and "some women". The next day, Jack Cerone contacted DiLeonardi and instructed him that he was to start selling Fox Head 400 brand beer supplied by Dominic Volpe's Premium Beer Sales. DiLeonardi protested that he wished to serve his customers whatever beer they requested, but was told to carry the beer anyway. The next day, a shipment of Fox Head 400 arrived at LaBella Villa. DiLeonardi contacted the distributor, West Town Distributing, and complained that he had never ordered the product, but was told to keep it and then call back when he needed to replenish it. DiLeonardi stated that thereafter, Jack Cerone and Tony Accardo would regularly stop in at the restaurant to ask him about his beer sales. DiLeonardi was also contacted by August "Red" Passarella, another close associate of Tony Accardo, who started "suggesting" which brand of Scotch DiLeonardi should serve.

Other services were foisted upon DiLeonardi in a similar fashion. A week after opening, Frank Cerone stopped in and told DiLeonardi that a better sign would help his business -- soon after, Jimmy Cerone, a salesman for the Rite-Lite Neon Sign Company, contacted DiLeonardi and informed him that he already had a new sign designed for LaBella Villa and quoted DiLeonardi an "extremely high" price. When DiLeonardi refused, Jimmy Cerone then tried to convince him to pay on the installment plan, which DiLeonardi also refused. Mike Russo started showing up telling DiLeonardi that his driveway and parking lot needed to be resurfaced and that he should use Russo's construction business for the work. LaBella Villa's deserts were supplied by Frank Messessa's Candy Kitchen Ice Cream Company, while DiLeonardi was pressured to use Martin Accardo's J.P. Graziano for meat and Dick Tranchina at the Chicago Produce Company for produce. Over the first year of business, Jack and Jimmy Cerone began holding increasingly lavish, expensive, and long lasting private parties regularly at LaBella Villa, which had the effect of heavily stressing the small business's staff and supplies and driving away much of DiLeonardi's non-mob-connected customers, to the point that the restaurant soon became dependant on an outfit clientele for its business. Then, the Cerones suddenly quit holding parties at the establishment, leaving the restaurant with almost no income and forcing DiLeonardi to approach Frank Cerone for a small loan to keep the business operating. Cerone agreed, but also stipulated that DiLeonardi would have to start using jukeboxes supplied by Julius Zimberoff at Apex Amusement Company, with 50% of the jukebox revenue going to Zimberoff and the other 50% going to pay off the loan. Soon, DiLeonardi was awash in debt and with creditors on his heels tried to secure another loan from Frank Cerone, who refused on the grounds that DiLeonardi hadn't paid off the principal on the first loan yet. DiLeonardi was soon contacted by Melrose Park Attorney Steve Anselmo and dessert supplier Frank Messessa, who then brought DiLeoanardi to meet Peter Giachini, President and Chairman of the Maywood Proviso State Bank, who floated DiLeonardi a $2000 loan on condition that the business account for LaBella Villa be transferred to the bank.

DiLeonardi began scrutinizing his invoices and realized that he was being overcharged for desserts by Frank Messessa, who when confronted replied "I did you a favor, now you do a favor for me". DiLeonardi contacted several other Italian ice cream manufacturers, but they all refused to do business with him once he admitted that he was being supplied by Messessa. He was similarly roundly rejected by alternate "legitimate" (i.e., non-outfit-controlled) meat, produce, linen, and construction companies when he attempted to request their business after it became clear that the suppliers initially foisted upon him were routinely overcharging him and providing inferior products and services. By early 1958, LaBella Villa went under, leaving DiLeonardi unemployed and responsible to creditors.

Soon, Jimmy Cerone offered DiLeonardi a job at the Lowenbrau Restaurant in the Chicago loop, which was closely connected to Dom Volpe. With creditors suing him and his accounts in arrears, Jimmy Cerone instructed Dileoanrdi to talk to attorney Joe Imburgio Bulger, who, upon meeting DiLeonardi, simply smiled and told him to forget all about his legal troubles, which thereafter vanished. DiLeonardi was then, under Bulger's legal backing, roped into being the front operator of the Clark House restaurant, located in the Loop across the street from Chicago City Hall and the Cook County Building. The Clark was frequented by Gus Alex and Lou Arger, while Nick Campi operated a lucrative sportsbook out of the restaurant for a clientele largely composed of judges and attorneys (DiLeonardi stated that he was paid a small sum of money by Campi in return for "not being in the wrong place at the right time"). After the Cook County Sheriff's department ordered Campi to shut down his book, DiLeonardi left the Clark but was unable to secure adequate employment and eventually was directed by Jimmy Cerone to the River Road Motel in the burbs, operated by Giancana's half-brother "Charles Kane" Giancana and a prime base of operations for Jack Cerone. DiLeonardi subsequently went to work at the Villa Moderne lounge, owned by Gus Alguer, until it was torched for insurance fraud, at which point DiLeonardi seems to have finally hit his last straw and approached the FBI to become a confidential informant. An amazing story all around that gives us some great insight into how the mafia business network operated in Chicago back in the day.

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

Interesting to note that Martin Accardo was attending these private parties while the other men attending seem to have all been made guys. Martin may not have ever needed to be made, given who his brother was, but he was also the elder brother and I have long wondered if Martin -- or even their father Francesco -- had been involved before Tony was. Recall also that Francesco Accardo's NW Side home was hit with a bomb in 1929. While this may have been launched by the Aiello faction due to Tony Accardo already being a known "Capone gunman", but it has made me suspect that there was more to the Accardo family connections to the mafia than we would otherwise know.

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

Note also that one of the outfit-connected suppliers foisted upon Frank DiLeonardi was produce wholesaler Dick Tranchina. I've discussed the Tranchinas before, as they were another prominent Sicilian Grand Ave family from Termini Imerese. The Tranchinas were related by marriage to both Lee Magnafichi and Johnny DeBiase. Dick Tranchina was the son of Antonio "Tony" Tranchina, who was a son of Vincenzo Tranchina from Termini and another sibling of Bernard and Elizabeth Tranchina mentioned below. Dick Tranchina was thus also the first cousin of Mike Magnafichi's mother.

In 1962, Lee Magnafichi married Geraldine Tomaselli, mother of Mike Mags, at the Church of the Holy Ghost in Wood Dale. At the time, the couple lived at 306 Poplar Ave in Bensenville (recall that it was later alleged by Joe Fosco that the home in Bensenville where the Spilotro brothers were killed in 1986 belonged to Jimmy Tomaselli, Lee's BIL). Geraldine Tomaselli was born in 1936 in Chicago to Frank Alaimo Tomaselli and Elizabeth Trankina. Frank Tomaselli was born in 1909 in Chicago to produce merchant Giuseppe Alaimo Tomaselli, of Termini Imerese, and Maria Moscato, born in Chicago to parents from Oliveto Citra, Salerno. Both families lived near Taylor St, and Giuseppe's father, Francesco Alaimo Tomaselli, was a longtime produce commission merchant at the South Water St Market. Elizabeth Trankina was born in 1912 in Chicago to Vincenzo "Vincent James" Tranchina (the spelling of the surname was later changed in Chicago), of Termini Imerese, and Anna Cristofani, born to Toscano parents in Chicago. Vincenzo Trankina was also a commission merchant on South Water St, who founded the J. Trankina & Co. produce wholesaling house. The Trankinas moved from Taylor St to Grand Ave, and from there to Oak Park. In 1920, Vincenzo Trankina and Giuseppe Tomaselli were among the influential Italians who organized an "Italian Club" advocating for the campaign for IL States Attorney of Robert Crowe, a notoriously scandal-plagued and mafia-connected judge. Among the other men in this group were Unione Siciliana leader, and possible mafioso, Constantino Vitello, Arturo Ansani, father of Chicago member Bobby Ansani, and Chicago Heights Family leaders Antonio San Filippo and Filippo Piazza (more info here in the Totò Loverde thread: viewtopic.php?p=239875#p239875).

One of the witnesses to Lee Magnafichi and Geraldine Tomaselli's 1962 marriage was Bernard Trankina, an uncle of Geraldine and half-brother of Elizabeth Trankina. Bernard Trankina was born in 1929 to Vincenzo Trankina and Angelina DeBiase, who Vincenzo married after Anna Cristofani died in 1918. Angelina DeBiase was born in 1895 in Chicago to Antonio DeBiase and Raffaela Mazzone, of Oliveto Citra. She was the older sister of Chicago member Giovanni "Johnny Bananas" DeBiase, born in Chicago in 1901 (at the beginning of this thread, I stated that Johnny DeBiase's parents were from Napoli, as many of their documents just say "Naples", which was often the case for immigrants from Campania). The DeBiases settled initially by Taylor St, before relocating to Artesian Ave in the Smith Park section of the Grand Ave Patch. In the early 1960s, when Johnny DeBiase was pinched on gambling charges (and was also named as the "bankroll" for a crew of hijackers and burglars), he was living in Oak Park, near his in-laws, the Trankinas, and claimed to police that he was legally employed as a produce merchant. In the 1970s, after the FBI had identified Johnny DeBiase as a Chicago LCN member, it was reported in a file that he was believed to secretly be the owner of Menotti Plumbing and Heating, at 2350 W Grand Ave; an apartment in this building above the plumbing store was previously used as a wireroom raided in 1964. Menotti Plumbing was next door to Armanetti Liquors, owned by Accardo associate and major wine importer Antonino Paternò, who was being investigated by Italian LE in the 70s for connections to the mafia in Sicily, as well as the grocery store of Rosario Marino of Cefalù, another Accardo associate who accompanied Accardo, Nick Nitti, and Al Meo on their trip to Italy in 1973 (viewtopic.php?p=232539#p232539). Johnny DeBiase, who was said by Freddie Pascente to have been the early mentor of Joey Lombardo, died in Oak Park in 1983.

[Cosmik_Debris]

Pretty good read.

Looking for Al Capone--A man named Al Brown was arrested in Burnham in 1921. Was he actually the notorious gangster?

https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-maga ... al-capone/

[NorthBuffalo]

Great information on Martin Accardo Polack - Thank you. Here is what I found on Mary Farrell that confirms he owned JP Graziano Grocery and several other meat distributors in Fulton Market - not sure if this link works or not but it can be found by searching his name. Its quite interesting Martin Accardo did prison time and you wonder if he had a cake walk in there given his brother. He sounds like a bonified gangster himself - a bit more rough around the edges even and definitely low-key. Was he a secret advisor to his brother perhaps? Its interesting we see so many pics of Accardo with Outfit guys and never one with his brother.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... Accardo%22

Great find and good info here. Vincenzo Graziano I believe was also very active in the San Giuseppe di Bagheria Society for many years, and the President of that Society for some time was Chicago LCN member "Little Joe" Aiello. Vincenzo Graziano I believe was also very active in the San Giuseppe di Bagheria Society for many years, and the President of that Society for some time was Chicago LCN member "Little Joe" Aiello. One would also imagine that he had some relationship to Chicago LCN member Sam Aiello as well. That Martin Accardo was the "real" operator of Graziano's makes it seem very likely that the claims that Martin Accardo was also closely tied to Vincent Lima are also true. Vincenzo Graziano got his start in the grocery business via his in-laws, but it would seem that after they were slain he wound up being backed by the Accardos later in his own business (again, seems not at all coincidental that the first location of his store was on the same block of Grand Ave where the Accardos had lived). Recall also that Tony Accardo was very close personally to several successful Grand Ave Sicilian businessmen himself, such as grocer Rosario Marino and wine producer/importer Antonino Paternò, who founded Armanetti liquors (Italian LE was actively investigating Paternò's ties to the Sicilian mafia related to his Italian wine holdings in the 1960s-70s).

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

The entire report that you shared is a very interesting read. It was a 1963 statement that a guy named Frank Marco DiLeonardi gave to the FBI about how his attempt at starting a restaurant, LaBella Villa, in Melrose Park in 1957 fell victim to a "web" of outfit-connected business interests that quickly engulfed and strangled him. DiLeonardi was set to buy an existing liquor license for the address from the building's owner, but then a week before the restaurant opened, an irate Frank Cerone showed up claiming that the liquor license belonged to someone else and directing DiLeonardi to consult Melrose Park realtor Joe Cullotta (a close associate of Joe Imburgio Bulger and a possible relative of Frank Culotta's father Joseph Culotta, as both families were from Cefalù). Cullotta told DiLeonardi that another liquor license could be purchased instead, for a jacked-up price, naturally. DiLeonardi said that he couldn't afford the new price and refused. He said that he was then "summoned" to meet with Rocco DeGrazia at DeGrazia's Melrose Park gambling establishment, the Casa Madrid, where DeGrazia was able to arrange a license for DiLeonardi.

A week after LaBella Villa opened, Jack Cerone (who DiLeonardi said introduced himself as a "beer salesman and golfer" lol), showed up and demanded a private room for an all-night party, accompanied by Tony and Martin Accardo, Phil Alderisio, Phil Mesi, Jimmy Cerone, and "some women". The next day, Jack Cerone contacted DiLeonardi and instructed him that he was to start selling Fox Head 400 brand beer supplied by Dominic Volpe's Premium Beer Sales. DiLeonardi protested that he wished to serve his customers whatever beer they requested, but was told to carry the beer anyway. The next day, a shipment of Fox Head 400 arrived at LaBella Villa. DiLeonardi contacted the distributor, West Town Distributing, and complained that he had never ordered the product, but was told to keep it and then call back when he needed to replenish it. DiLeonardi stated that thereafter, Jack Cerone and Tony Accardo would regularly stop in at the restaurant to ask him about his beer sales. DiLeonardi was also contacted by August "Red" Passarella, another close associate of Tony Accardo, who started "suggesting" which brand of Scotch DiLeonardi should serve.

Other services were foisted upon DiLeonardi in a similar fashion. A week after opening, Frank Cerone stopped in and told DiLeonardi that a better sign would help his business -- soon after, Jimmy Cerone, a salesman for the Rite-Lite Neon Sign Company, contacted DiLeonardi and informed him that he already had a new sign designed for LaBella Villa and quoted DiLeonardi an "extremely high" price. When DiLeonardi refused, Jimmy Cerone then tried to convince him to pay on the installment plan, which DiLeonardi also refused. Mike Russo started showing up telling DiLeonardi that his driveway and parking lot needed to be resurfaced and that he should use Russo's construction business for the work. LaBella Villa's deserts were supplied by Frank Messessa's Candy Kitchen Ice Cream Company, while DiLeonardi was pressured to use Martin Accardo's J.P. Graziano for meat and Dick Tranchina at the Chicago Produce Company for produce. Over the first year of business, Jack and Jimmy Cerone began holding increasingly lavish, expensive, and long lasting private parties regularly at LaBella Villa, which had the effect of heavily stressing the small business's staff and supplies and driving away much of DiLeonardi's non-mob-connected customers, to the point that the restaurant soon became dependant on an outfit clientele for its business. Then, the Cerones suddenly quit holding parties at the establishment, leaving the restaurant with almost no income and forcing DiLeonardi to approach Frank Cerone for a small loan to keep the business operating. Cerone agreed, but also stipulated that DiLeonardi would have to start using jukeboxes supplied by Julius Zimberoff at Apex Amusement Company, with 50% of the jukebox revenue going to Zimberoff and the other 50% going to pay off the loan. Soon, DiLeonardi was awash in debt and with creditors on his heels tried to secure another loan from Frank Cerone, who refused on the grounds that DiLeonardi hadn't paid off the principal on the first loan yet. DiLeonardi was soon contacted by Melrose Park Attorney Steve Anselmo and dessert supplier Frank Messessa, who then brought DiLeoanardi to meet Peter Giachini, President and Chairman of the Maywood Proviso State Bank, who floated DiLeonardi a $2000 loan on condition that the business account for LaBella Villa be transferred to the bank.

DiLeonardi began scrutinizing his invoices and realized that he was being overcharged for desserts by Frank Messessa, who when confronted replied "I did you a favor, now you do a favor for me". DiLeonardi contacted several other Italian ice cream manufacturers, but they all refused to do business with him once he admitted that he was being supplied by Messessa. He was similarly roundly rejected by alternate "legitimate" (i.e., non-outfit-controlled) meat, produce, linen, and construction companies when he attempted to request their business after it became clear that the suppliers initially foisted upon him were routinely overcharging him and providing inferior products and services. By early 1958, LaBella Villa went under, leaving DiLeonardi unemployed and responsible to creditors.

Soon, Jimmy Cerone offered DiLeonardi a job at the Lowenbrau Restaurant in the Chicago loop, which was closely connected to Dom Volpe. With creditors suing him and his accounts in arrears, Jimmy Cerone instructed Dileoanrdi to talk to attorney Joe Imburgio Bulger, who, upon meeting DiLeonardi, simply smiled and told him to forget all about his legal troubles, which thereafter vanished. DiLeonardi was then, under Bulger's legal backing, roped into being the front operator of the Clark House restaurant, located in the Loop across the street from Chicago City Hall and the Cook County Building. The Clark was frequented by Gus Alex and Lou Arger, while Nick Campi operated a lucrative sportsbook out of the restaurant for a clientele largely composed of judges and attorneys (DiLeonardi stated that he was paid a small sum of money by Campi in return for "not being in the wrong place at the right time"). After the Cook County Sheriff's department ordered Campi to shut down his book, DiLeonardi left the Clark but was unable to secure adequate employment and eventually was directed by Jimmy Cerone to the River Road Motel in the burbs, operated by Giancana's half-brother "Charles Kane" Giancana and a prime base of operations for Jack Cerone. DiLeonardi subsequently went to work at the Villa Moderne lounge, owned by Gus Alguer, until it was torched for insurance fraud, at which point DiLeonardi seems to have finally hit his last straw and approached the FBI to become a confidential informant. An amazing story all around that gives us some great insight into how the mafia business network operated in Chicago back in the day.

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

Interesting to note that Martin Accardo was attending these private parties while the other men attending seem to have all been made guys. Martin may not have ever needed to be made, given who his brother was, but he was also the elder brother and I have long wondered if Martin -- or even their father Francesco -- had been involved before Tony was. Recall also that Francesco Accardo's NW Side home was hit with a bomb in 1929. While this may have been launched by the Aiello faction due to Tony Accardo already being a known "Capone gunman", but it has made me suspect that there was more to the Accardo family connections to the mafia than we would otherwise know.

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

Note also that one of the outfit-connected suppliers foisted upon Frank DiLeonardi was produce wholesaler Dick Tranchina. I've discussed the Tranchinas before, as they were another prominent Sicilian Grand Ave family from Termini Imerese. The Tranchinas were related by marriage to both Lee Magnafichi and Johnny DeBiase. Dick Tranchina was the son of Antonio "Tony" Tranchina, who was a son of Vincenzo Tranchina from Termini and another sibling of Bernard and Elizabeth Tranchina mentioned below. Dick Tranchina was thus also the first cousin of Mike Magnafichi's mother.

In 1962, Lee Magnafichi married Geraldine Tomaselli, mother of Mike Mags, at the Church of the Holy Ghost in Wood Dale. At the time, the couple lived at 306 Poplar Ave in Bensenville (recall that it was later alleged by Joe Fosco that the home in Bensenville where the Spilotro brothers were killed in 1986 belonged to Jimmy Tomaselli, Lee's BIL). Geraldine Tomaselli was born in 1936 in Chicago to Frank Alaimo Tomaselli and Elizabeth Trankina. Frank Tomaselli was born in 1909 in Chicago to produce merchant Giuseppe Alaimo Tomaselli, of Termini Imerese, and Maria Moscato, born in Chicago to parents from Oliveto Citra, Salerno. Both families lived near Taylor St, and Giuseppe's father, Francesco Alaimo Tomaselli, was a longtime produce commission merchant at the South Water St Market. Elizabeth Trankina was born in 1912 in Chicago to Vincenzo "Vincent James" Tranchina (the spelling of the surname was later changed in Chicago), of Termini Imerese, and Anna Cristofani, born to Toscano parents in Chicago. Vincenzo Trankina was also a commission merchant on South Water St, who founded the J. Trankina & Co. produce wholesaling house. The Trankinas moved from Taylor St to Grand Ave, and from there to Oak Park. In 1920, Vincenzo Trankina and Giuseppe Tomaselli were among the influential Italians who organized an "Italian Club" advocating for the campaign for IL States Attorney of Robert Crowe, a notoriously scandal-plagued and mafia-connected judge. Among the other men in this group were Unione Siciliana leader, and possible mafioso, Constantino Vitello, Arturo Ansani, father of Chicago member Bobby Ansani, and Chicago Heights Family leaders Antonio San Filippo and Filippo Piazza (more info here in the Totò Loverde thread: viewtopic.php?p=239875#p239875).

One of the witnesses to Lee Magnafichi and Geraldine Tomaselli's 1962 marriage was Bernard Trankina, an uncle of Geraldine and half-brother of Elizabeth Trankina. Bernard Trankina was born in 1929 to Vincenzo Trankina and Angelina DeBiase, who Vincenzo married after Anna Cristofani died in 1918. Angelina DeBiase was born in 1895 in Chicago to Antonio DeBiase and Raffaela Mazzone, of Oliveto Citra. She was the older sister of Chicago member Giovanni "Johnny Bananas" DeBiase, born in Chicago in 1901 (at the beginning of this thread, I stated that Johnny DeBiase's parents were from Napoli, as many of their documents just say "Naples", which was often the case for immigrants from Campania). The DeBiases settled initially by Taylor St, before relocating to Artesian Ave in the Smith Park section of the Grand Ave Patch. In the early 1960s, when Johnny DeBiase was pinched on gambling charges (and was also named as the "bankroll" for a crew of hijackers and burglars), he was living in Oak Park, near his in-laws, the Trankinas, and claimed to police that he was legally employed as a produce merchant. In the 1970s, after the FBI had identified Johnny DeBiase as a Chicago LCN member, it was reported in a file that he was believed to secretly be the owner of Menotti Plumbing and Heating, at 2350 W Grand Ave; an apartment in this building above the plumbing store was previously used as a wireroom raided in 1964. Menotti Plumbing was next door to Armanetti Liquors, owned by Accardo associate and major wine importer Antonino Paternò, who was being investigated by Italian LE in the 70s for connections to the mafia in Sicily, as well as the grocery store of Rosario Marino of Cefalù, another Accardo associate who accompanied Accardo, Nick Nitti, and Al Meo on their trip to Italy in 1973 (viewtopic.php?p=232539#p232539). Johnny DeBiase, who was said by Freddie Pascente to have been the early mentor of Joey Lombardo, died in Oak Park in 1983.

That's a great write up and quite interesting the connections today vs. 50-70 years ago. I was acquainted with a relative of 'Sam Mesi' in Chicago who was a labor representative and would always say that Tony Accardo was his Godfather - and he would always think it was hilarious to say that line.

Is there any information out there about Tony Accardo's father having mob links? If his two sons went into the life you have to wonder if he was connected in the old country or knew Capone/Torrio himself.