General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[NorthBuffalo]

Picked this anecdote up in a legal article by Richard Lindberg - curious if anyone has more info on 'Operation Colossus' as its the late 1980s and would assume many of these key individuals would still be around. Its difficult to find anything as the WW2 operation of the same name clogs any search.

In 1988,the Chicago Police Department Intelligence Section obtained itsrst non- consensual telephonic overhear commonly known as a ‘wiretap’. This major investigation, code named ‘Operation Colossus’, resulted in the arrest of twenty-one organized crime figures and associates for calculated criminal drug conspiracy. This case was very significant in its use of electronic interceptions, including thirty consensual overhears as well as uncovering links between traditional mob elements in Chicago and newly arrived immigrants from Sicily and mainland Italy.

[NorthBuffalo]

I'll add I understand this is the Pizza Connection case, which snared Pietro Alfano in Rockford - but I never note any explicit connections to Chicago and if the CPD had their own investigation, there must have been much more going on. Philadelphia PD had their investigation (Iron Tower) and Buffalo PD (Buscio) - I've read about those within the court docs. There is nothing on 'Colossus' out of Chicago and CPD included.

[PolackTony]

There’s a thread discussing this and related intel in light of the little that we know about these activities:

viewtopic.php?p=179833#p179833

[Patrickgold]

Great background as always PolackTony on Carparelli's in-laws. I'm told she's a cousin of Nick and Solly Cataudella as well - the Wasz family are also cousins as is Vito Scavo, Joe Fosco's old nemesis. There was a group of Cataudella cousins who pulled a similar eBay scam and were indicted.

You would think Paulie is not the most popular guy around right now. He's quite well-known, got a lot of these guys indicted by being sloppy - brought in the main informant himself (George Brown) and he seems to have clearly been on the outs with his wife's family, who include some notable people. I wonder if he's still around these guys or just a crash dummy.

Paulie is still around a lot of these guys. He’s at Capri all the time in the company of Rudy Fratto, Chrissy Spina and obviously Gigi. He also hangs with Louie Rainone who he grew up with. I would say he is back in good graces. He definitely likes being a gangster and is willing to get his hands dirty so he’s not going anywhere unless he gets pinched.

Spina and Fratto would be two key guys today and from different crews. I'm surprised they would meet in public like that - always assumed these Chicago guys are quite low-key and cautious. They seem to only meet in Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks parking lots.

You got members of three crews meeting there at one time, Cicero, EP and Grand. I found that interesting too. It actually is a good place to meet bc it is loud. A mic would have a hard time picking up what people say bc of the noise.

I'm not sure its the mic they need to be weary of its the surveillance of them meeting - that's conspiracy and shows an organized enterprise. Even in the labor unions guys like Joe Belli would literally meet on the street with DiFronzo to make it always appear they bumped into each other, which is how they explained things during that investigation in the 1990s or meet at houses DiFronzo owned that were being rented in Elmwood Park. In this day and age, I would think guys are exceptionally cautious. That said, maybe the FBI isn't tailing these guys like they used to during the DiFronzo days.

My take is that meeting in a busy restaurant is similar in terms of cover.

Some guy from one table passes by another table, stops and chats for a couple of minutes, moves on. Two guys sit down together at the bar, watch the Bears lose again.

“You were surveilled meeting with Joe Blow on such and such date…


What meeting? What Joe Blow? That guy in the restaurant, you say? I don’t even know who he is. I can’t stop someone from striking up a conversation with me in public.”

1)Spina is extremely cautious when conducting meetings. It’s not gonna happen like that. It’s not the 70’s.
2) Spina is not the head of grand ave. We all
Know who that is.
3) Nobody of any importance from other crews is meeting with
fratto. He’s a magnet for trouble and is seen a goof.

Really interesting. Thank you for sharing.

My sources also say the same - Spina would not be caught dead near Fratto or Gigi Rovito or meeting at a restaurant that's known to be owned by guys like that. This was the same source who sent me links to those photos with the Spina brothers at the Fra Noi event I posted a while back.

I hate to say it but your sources are dead wrong on this one. I have personally with my own eyes seen Spina sitting at the same table as Fratto with Gigi in the room. Does that mean they are conducting business? No. Maybe they are just enjoying the night out. But they are friends. I have also seen Spina with Paulie C. So take that for what’s it worth. He’s not that low profile of a guy. He opened up a nightclub and was there every night until it closed.

Post the picture from the Fra Noi again. I must have missed it.

[NorthBuffalo]

Great background as always PolackTony on Carparelli's in-laws. I'm told she's a cousin of Nick and Solly Cataudella as well - the Wasz family are also cousins as is Vito Scavo, Joe Fosco's old nemesis. There was a group of Cataudella cousins who pulled a similar eBay scam and were indicted.

You would think Paulie is not the most popular guy around right now. He's quite well-known, got a lot of these guys indicted by being sloppy - brought in the main informant himself (George Brown) and he seems to have clearly been on the outs with his wife's family, who include some notable people. I wonder if he's still around these guys or just a crash dummy.

Paulie is still around a lot of these guys. He’s at Capri all the time in the company of Rudy Fratto, Chrissy Spina and obviously Gigi. He also hangs with Louie Rainone who he grew up with. I would say he is back in good graces. He definitely likes being a gangster and is willing to get his hands dirty so he’s not going anywhere unless he gets pinched.

Spina and Fratto would be two key guys today and from different crews. I'm surprised they would meet in public like that - always assumed these Chicago guys are quite low-key and cautious. They seem to only meet in Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks parking lots.

You got members of three crews meeting there at one time, Cicero, EP and Grand. I found that interesting too. It actually is a good place to meet bc it is loud. A mic would have a hard time picking up what people say bc of the noise.

I'm not sure its the mic they need to be weary of its the surveillance of them meeting - that's conspiracy and shows an organized enterprise. Even in the labor unions guys like Joe Belli would literally meet on the street with DiFronzo to make it always appear they bumped into each other, which is how they explained things during that investigation in the 1990s or meet at houses DiFronzo owned that were being rented in Elmwood Park. In this day and age, I would think guys are exceptionally cautious. That said, maybe the FBI isn't tailing these guys like they used to during the DiFronzo days.

My take is that meeting in a busy restaurant is similar in terms of cover.

Some guy from one table passes by another table, stops and chats for a couple of minutes, moves on. Two guys sit down together at the bar, watch the Bears lose again.

“You were surveilled meeting with Joe Blow on such and such date…


What meeting? What Joe Blow? That guy in the restaurant, you say? I don’t even know who he is. I can’t stop someone from striking up a conversation with me in public.”

1)Spina is extremely cautious when conducting meetings. It’s not gonna happen like that. It’s not the 70’s.
2) Spina is not the head of grand ave. We all
Know who that is.
3) Nobody of any importance from other crews is meeting with
fratto. He’s a magnet for trouble and is seen a goof.

Really interesting. Thank you for sharing.

My sources also say the same - Spina would not be caught dead near Fratto or Gigi Rovito or meeting at a restaurant that's known to be owned by guys like that. This was the same source who sent me links to those photos with the Spina brothers at the Fra Noi event I posted a while back.

I hate to say it but your sources are dead wrong on this one. I have personally with my own eyes seen Spina sitting at the same table as Fratto with Gigi in the room. Does that mean they are conducting business? No. Maybe they are just enjoying the night out. But they are friends. I have also seen Spina with Paulie C. So take that for what’s it worth. He’s not that low profile of a guy. He opened up a nightclub and was there every night until it closed.

Post the picture from the Fra Noi again. I must have missed it.

The Peak -a-boo lounge is that the nightclub you are referring to? He says Spina splits time between Florida and a nice house in west town. If he eats in public its outside at 'Mart Anthony' bc he lives in walking distance (Green Street).

[Patrickgold]

Great background as always PolackTony on Carparelli's in-laws. I'm told she's a cousin of Nick and Solly Cataudella as well - the Wasz family are also cousins as is Vito Scavo, Joe Fosco's old nemesis. There was a group of Cataudella cousins who pulled a similar eBay scam and were indicted.

You would think Paulie is not the most popular guy around right now. He's quite well-known, got a lot of these guys indicted by being sloppy - brought in the main informant himself (George Brown) and he seems to have clearly been on the outs with his wife's family, who include some notable people. I wonder if he's still around these guys or just a crash dummy.

Paulie is still around a lot of these guys. He’s at Capri all the time in the company of Rudy Fratto, Chrissy Spina and obviously Gigi. He also hangs with Louie Rainone who he grew up with. I would say he is back in good graces. He definitely likes being a gangster and is willing to get his hands dirty so he’s not going anywhere unless he gets pinched.

Spina and Fratto would be two key guys today and from different crews. I'm surprised they would meet in public like that - always assumed these Chicago guys are quite low-key and cautious. They seem to only meet in Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks parking lots.

You got members of three crews meeting there at one time, Cicero, EP and Grand. I found that interesting too. It actually is a good place to meet bc it is loud. A mic would have a hard time picking up what people say bc of the noise.

I'm not sure its the mic they need to be weary of its the surveillance of them meeting - that's conspiracy and shows an organized enterprise. Even in the labor unions guys like Joe Belli would literally meet on the street with DiFronzo to make it always appear they bumped into each other, which is how they explained things during that investigation in the 1990s or meet at houses DiFronzo owned that were being rented in Elmwood Park. In this day and age, I would think guys are exceptionally cautious. That said, maybe the FBI isn't tailing these guys like they used to during the DiFronzo days.

My take is that meeting in a busy restaurant is similar in terms of cover.

Some guy from one table passes by another table, stops and chats for a couple of minutes, moves on. Two guys sit down together at the bar, watch the Bears lose again.

“You were surveilled meeting with Joe Blow on such and such date…


What meeting? What Joe Blow? That guy in the restaurant, you say? I don’t even know who he is. I can’t stop someone from striking up a conversation with me in public.”

1)Spina is extremely cautious when conducting meetings. It’s not gonna happen like that. It’s not the 70’s.
2) Spina is not the head of grand ave. We all
Know who that is.
3) Nobody of any importance from other crews is meeting with
fratto. He’s a magnet for trouble and is seen a goof.

Really interesting. Thank you for sharing.

My sources also say the same - Spina would not be caught dead near Fratto or Gigi Rovito or meeting at a restaurant that's known to be owned by guys like that. This was the same source who sent me links to those photos with the Spina brothers at the Fra Noi event I posted a while back.

I hate to say it but your sources are dead wrong on this one. I have personally with my own eyes seen Spina sitting at the same table as Fratto with Gigi in the room. Does that mean they are conducting business? No. Maybe they are just enjoying the night out. But they are friends. I have also seen Spina with Paulie C. So take that for what’s it worth. He’s not that low profile of a guy. He opened up a nightclub and was there every night until it closed.

Post the picture from the Fra Noi again. I must have missed it.

The Peak -a-boo lounge is that the nightclub you are referring to? He says Spina splits time between Florida and a nice house in west town. If he eats in public its outside at 'Mart Anthony' bc he lives in walking distance (Green Street).

The Peak-a-boo is a strip club in Florida close to st Petes. There use to be one in Lake Worth on the other side of Florida near Lauderdale. That could be Outfit connected. Frank Schweihs son was involved in strip clubs in that area.

I saw Spina and Fratto together at Are We Live next to Capri. Spina’s club was called Lisa’s Club Cabaret on Cumberland in Norridge. It was open for about a year before closing. Spina has properties all over the city and suburbs. I know he goes to carmine’s in Rosemont with Tony D and company too. Don’t know why your source is making him out to be a hermit bc he is far from that.

[falco]

peek-a-boo bar is now the aberdeen tap. i think spina owns the building.

[NorthBuffalo]

peek-a-boo bar is now the aberdeen tap. i think spina owns the building.

That's what he's referring to - Peak a Boo is where Spina used to be a lot. He was then at Aberdeen until a police incident with a kid getting hit by a car outside of the bar. His Company is CM Spina Inc. and they indeed own quite a bit of real estate but he's not aware of the place in Norridge - I do see its video gambling license online so wouldn't doubt its connected.

To be clear this guy doesn't say Spina is a hermit - just that he's more careful and low key and he's adamant he wouldn't be around Rovito. That said the Fra Noi photos are the Greco and Sons Xmas party and I know Rovito is connected there but who knows.

Per my source, Chris Spina and brother Anthony along with several Cicero people:
https://franoi.com/food/greco-sons-spre ... day-cheer/

[Richards_bar]

peek-a-boo bar is now the aberdeen tap. i think spina owns the building.

I believe it was called pinky’s not peek-a-boo.

[falco]

peek-a-boo bar is now the aberdeen tap. i think spina owns the building.

I believe it was called pinky’s not peek-a-boo.

https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Maga ... ink-Local/

[PolackTony]

Mart Anthony's is, of course, on Racine and Hubbard, two blocks west of The Aberdeen Tap. I see no reason to doubt that Spina is a sociable guy who could frequent a number of different restaurants.

Given that I recently posted about Bennie Filicchio, worth noting that Mart Anthony's was founded in 1981 (originally on Randolph before moving to Hubbard in the 2000s) by Martin Anthony Campo. The Campos are an old-school Sicilian Taylor St family from Sciacca. Martin's father was Giacomo "Jack" Campo, born in 1913 in Chicago to Mario Campo of Sciacca and Concetta Viverito of Termini Imerese. Mario Campos's brother, Michaelangelo Campo, was married to Maria Filicicchia of Termini Imerese, paternal aunt of Bennie Filicchio:

viewtopic.php?p=280507&hilit=filicchio#p280507

[NorthBuffalo]

peek-a-boo bar is now the aberdeen tap. i think spina owns the building.

I believe it was called pinky’s not peek-a-boo.

https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Maga ... ink-Local/

‘I have a great name for this place. Call it da Peek-a-Boo,'” Spina says in his thick Chicago accent. Amazing he would get quoted in something like that.

[PolackTony]

Mart Anthony's is, of course, on Racine and Hubbard, two blocks west of The Aberdeen Tap. I see no reason to doubt that Spina is a sociable guy who could frequent a number of different restaurants.

Given that I recently posted about Bennie Filicchio, worth noting that Mart Anthony's was founded in 1981 (originally on Randolph before moving to Hubbard in the 2000s) by Martin Anthony Campo. The Campos are an old-school Sicilian Taylor St family from Sciacca. Martin's father was Giacomo "Jack" Campo, born in 1913 in Chicago to Mario Campo of Sciacca and Concetta Viverito of Termini Imerese. Mario Campos's brother, Michaelangelo Campo, was married to Maria Filicicchia of Termini Imerese, paternal aunt of Bennie Filicchio:

viewtopic.php?p=280507&hilit=filicchio#p280507

Also worth noting that the Aberdeen Tap's address, 440 N Aberdeen (btwn Hubbard and Grand) seems to have a long history of being connected to the mob. The same block was one of the most notorious in the history of the Chicago mafia, having been the home base of Vincenzo Benevento and the scene of some important murders, including those of mafiosi Tony Genna, Giuseppe Saitta, and Domenico Scaduto. In 1958, Jimmy Cozzo was using it as his address. Prior to that, I believe that it was owned by Maria Demma, widow of produce merchant Gioacchino "Jack" Corrao, both of Termini Imerese. They were the parents of the notorious Carrao [sic] brothers, vicious hoodlums in the 1910s and 1920s. Saverio "Charles" Carrao made the papers several times for armed robberies and a "reign of terror" where he allegedly led a series of bombings and attacks on local businesses being extorted. Saverio Carrao was shot to death in 1926 on Grand Ave, around the corner from Aberdeen, almost exactly a year after his cousin Otto Carrao was killed on Grand and Carpenter (around the corner the other way). Saverio's brother Giuseppe "Joseph" Carrao was arrested several months after Saverio's murder on armed robbery and weapons charges, while another brother Gioacchino "Jack" Jr was arrested around the same time for extorting a local businessman. I *believe* that Jack and Joseph Carrao may have also been murdered, as they both died young in the 1930s. Gioacchino Corrao Sr's sister was Vincenza Corrao, who married Michele Gentile, also of Termini. They lived on the same block of Aberdeen and were the parents of Michael "Mickey Gentile", the grandfather of brothers Jeff and Michael Gentile. These two penned the 2020 book "Mob Adjacent: A Family Memoir" about their family's history of personal connections to mobsters, including Grand Ave locals like Benevento and the Cerones.

[Patrickgold]

peek-a-boo bar is now the aberdeen tap. i think spina owns the building.

I believe it was called pinky’s not peek-a-boo.

https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Maga ... ink-Local/

‘I have a great name for this place. Call it da Peek-a-Boo,'” Spina says in his thick Chicago accent. Amazing he would get quoted in something like that.

Ah ok. You said Peek A Boo and Florida so I automatically thought about the strip club. I never went to the peek a boo on Aberdeen. Maybe I heard about it back in 2008 but don’t remember hearing about it now. It sounds like it didn’t last long which is similar to his ill fated nightclub in Norridge called Lisa’s Club Cabaret. Maybe he’s not the best person to open a nightclub. Wonder if there is some type of scam he could be pulling by opening these short lived night clubs. I found this about Peek A Boo on google:

PEEK-A-BOO BAR & GRILLE

This short-lived West Town bar didn’t last long, perhaps because it tried to be an upscale Wicker Park-like lounge with garage door front windows that open in summer for a working class neighborhood unwilling to pay for $5 bottled beer, so please share with us whatever you know about the bar.

[7digits]

If you read this and listen to the Feds outfit seems active like they’ve always been, there’s clearly a world of social clubs and card games and loan sharking and Italian America and Italian mobsters

The first objection in the recent extortion trial of Addison businessman Gene “Gino” Cassano came about five seconds into opening statements, when a prosecutor mentioned the term “juice loan.”

Three days later, the proceedings abruptly ended in a mistrial after an FBI agent testified he was assigned to investigate “organized crime,” a term the judge had explicitly barred to avoid prejudicing the jury.

By the time the agent uttered those words, though, the underworld flavor of the madcap case was hardly a well-kept secret.

For days, the jury had listened to testimony about high-interest loans, a brutal assault over one alleged debt, bookies, illegal sports gambling, and off-the-books gaming machines that populate Italian-American social clubs across the Chicago area.

While the charges against Cassano and his associate, Gioacchino “Jack” Galione, make no mention of the mob, records reviewed by the Tribune since the trial ended March 8 show the underlying investigation specifically targeted the upper-echelon members of the Chicago Outfit.

The FBI had been authorized to wiretap phones as far back as 2016 as it attempted to build racketeering cases involving the Outfit’s notorious Elmwood Park and Grand Avenue street crews, a federal judge revealed in an opinion last year in a related case against one reputed bookie.

Among those under investigation were a close relative of Outfit loan shark Joseph “Joe Gags” Gagliano, a twice-convicted mob bookmaker reputed to be a “capo” in the Elmwood Park crew, and gambling chief Marco “The Mover” D’Amico, the onetime second-in-command in Elmwood Park who died in 2020 at age 84, the records show.

The investigation was focused on two of the Outfit’s bread-and-butter rackets: Prostitution and gambling, according to the court records. It involved secret recordings of a now-convicted West Side madam who was suspected of paying protection money to an organized crime figure, wiretapped conversations between Cassano and other members of an alleged offshore sports gambling ring, as well as FBI surveillance of meetings where agents allegedly watched participants make cash pickups, the records say.

The hundreds of pages of Title III affidavits submitted by the FBI in 2016 also tied the current targets to the Outfit’s long and sordid history in Chicago, including some of the top mob bosses at the center of the landmark “Family Secrets” case.

Cases have emerged

So far, a handful of criminal cases have surfaced from the investigation, including the pending charges against Cassano, which allege he and Galione conspired to use extortionate means to collect a $10,000 juice loan from a victim who was allegedly beaten by Galione in 2016.

Also charged were the madam, Jessica Nesbitt, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year to probation, and Frontier, an alleged member of a connected gambling ring who pleaded guilty in January and is awaiting sentencing, records show.

But no sweeping “Family Secrets 2” racketeering indictment tying those individual cases to organized crime was ever brought, and it’s unclear if that aspect of the probe is still ongoing.

Trial evidence

Evidence at trial showed that Cassano, 55, was involved in sports gambling. But he also has operated a variety of legitimate businesses over the years, including restaurants, coffee shops and a logistics firm.

Cassano is also the president of Games Gone Wild, a company based in Norridge that leases so-called sweepstakes machines to area businesses.

Since the machines can be played for free, the machines are not considered gambling devices. But the machines are largely unregulated and have been known to have links to organized crime, a link that federal authorities were investigating around the same time Cassano was indicted in 2021.