On This Day April 11, 1991 - Rockford LCN Bombing

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The evening of April 11, 1991 began promisingly for David Hall at his 2727 Edgewood Drive home in Rockford. Hall was hosting a high stakes gambling game that night as he had two to three times a week and had many participants show up that night. The game had been going on for a while when sometime around 11:20 p.m., the doorbell rang and Hall went to the door and asked “Who’s there?” but received no reply. It was then that some of the players noticed a smell like something electrical was burning so a couple of them got up to check the outlets and stove. Just then there was a loud and powerful explosion that blew Hall backwards and down the stairs. Stefanos Christidis, 55, who had just walked up to the porch and was the one who rang the doorbell was more severely hurt so someone put a blanket over him while the police and paramedics were called.
Soon afterwards, Hall was interviewed by the FBI and they reported that although Hall “made and proofread a statement of what had happened, he would not sign it because we (the law) could not provide [him] with enough security 24 hours a day to protect him and it wasn’t worth getting hurt over. [Hall] read the statement attached and stated it was correct but again stated he would not sign it.”

Who or what was David Hall so afraid of? It seemed that in the months leading up to the bombing Sebastian “Knobby” Gulotta had kept telling Hall that “the boys wanted a piece of the action” and that they wanted 30 percent of the rake from his card game. About two or three weeks before the bombing Gulotta called Hall up and told him, “You’re out of business.” Who exactly was Sebastian Gulotta? The FBI had been keeping tabs on him since the mid-1960s noting that he became a fully initiated member of the Rockford LCN in January 1965 after the murder of Charles LaFranka. Rockford Police had reported that by the early 1980s Gulotta had been bumped up to the capo position which included the responsibility of making collections of the “street tax” for all illicit operations in the Rockford area including the floating poker games.

The FBI interviewed many people confidentially, one cooperating witness in particular stated there were some “Greenhorns” in the area that may have had something to do with the bombing. This individual’s meaning of Greenhorns was that it referred to “people from Sicily” and he was not sure where the label came from but that’s what he had heard. He stated these so-called Greenhorns owned some ma and pop type pizza parlors around town and were trying to expand their businesses. Two of the pizza parlors that he was aware of were Sam’s Pizza on Charles Street and Gerry’s Pizza on East State Street.

Further, he stated that these people were in a position to bring heat down whenever they wanted and they also had a good-sized card game at times in one of the back rooms at their pizza place that brought in some outsiders.

Sources also stated that it was widely rumored that Gulotta and his associates were responsible for the bombing of a Little Caesar’s Pizza restaurant at 617 Harlem Road in Machesney Park on December 18, 1983. Later FBI files stated that the reason for this bombing was a message that there was to be no competition near the Sam’s Pizza down the road at 1031 Harlem Road.

Apparently, what came out from interviews with many people was that there were many, many floating poker games all over the Rockford area that were connected to the Rockford LCN and these games had been going on regularly for the previous 30 years. Besides games in and around Rockford, there were high stakes games played at various Holiday Inns in Crystal Lake and Itasca, Illinois and other Holiday Inns in Lake County and at times in Milwaukee and Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Reports of Gulotta “and his goons” arriving at a poker game hosts’ place of business or house and not leaving until they obtained an agreement of 30 percent of the rake of that particular game was becoming all too common. One particular source advised, “GULOTTA had informed [the source] that he (GULOTTA) “represented a strong organization,” that he (GULOTTA) was “now a partner” (in the illicit gambling business) and that he wanted “30 percent of the proceeds” from the gambling business.”

The source advised he suspected that GULOTTA was a member of the “mafia” based upon GULOTTA’s reference to being a member of a “strong organization” and demanding 30 percent of the proceeds from his associates gambling business.

One of those that was noted as being an “enforcer/collector for (this strong organization) for monies owed in relation to gambling, prostitution, or drug debts, drove a 1989-1990 black Cadillac Eldorado” was clearly Frank “Gumba” Saladino. Other FBI files from the time noted that Saladino drove this exact car during this time period and those in and around Rockford knew that when Saladino entered a strip club or other illicit business, he was there to collect money. Saladino had been one of those named in the Family Secrets trial in Chicago who had died right before FBI agents could arrest him for his involvement in murders and gambling violations while involved with the Chicago Outfit.

At the Family Secrets trial, the FBI displayed surveillance photos from 1989 of Saladino and another Rockford LCN-connected individual named Salvatore Galluzzo. The photos seemed to show Saladino walking behind Galluzzo in a position of deference leading one to believe that perhaps Galluzzo was an upper echelon member. Galluzzo had been noted as a Rockford LCN member as far back as the early 1980s and some had thought he earned his membership with the murder of Rockford LCN member Joe Maggio in 1980.

FBI agents doggedly surveilled Galluzzo, his brother Natale, Saladino, Gulotta and many, many others all over Rockford and the surrounding areas. These surveillances and interviews of many witnesses turned up information that the Rockford LCN was controlling not only illegal gambling, but they were involved in extortion, narcotics, counterfeiting and prostitution. It was long known by the FBI and those in Rockford that the undisputed boss in Rockford was Joe Zammuto until his death in May 1990 at the age of 94. One confidential witness stated that “during the tenure of Mr. Joe, the atmosphere within the “mob” was live and let live,” however about six to twelve months after his death, Gulotta started letting it be known they wanted a portion of all the action.

It seemed that the “live and let live” days of the Rockford LCN was over and the remaining members were running a tighter ship. The FBI noted that “GULOTTA is a long-established and currently active member in the Rockford LCN, and has historically been socially and professionally linked to Rockford LCN figures in relation to his extensive gambling activities and as a “collector” of monies for the Rockford LCN.” The cooperating witness went on to say that Gulotta “works for people that are higher up in the group than him.”

Continuing their investigation into March 1993, the FBI interviewed a cooperating witness who told them “a high-stakes poker game which was held in various locations around the Rockford, Illinois, area, primarily in hotel rooms. Each player had to have $5,000.00 minimum to get into the games. Pots were no limit, and “table stakes” (the amount of money the player brought to the game with him) determined the player’s limit. The CW required players to buy chips with the money they brought to the game, thereby indicating to him the amount of money each player had.” The source also stated that some bookies in Rockford, Illinois handle as little as a few thousand dollars a week, while others handle as much as $70,000 to $80,000 a week.

With that, the FBI sent out information on Gulotta to other field offices they started their heading in this way: “For the information of Legats, Bonn, Brussels, Ottawa, and Rome, the captioned subject is a suspected member/enforcer of the Sicilian Mafia faction in Rockford, Illinois. Instant matter was opened in May, 1991, and was predicated based upon a bomb that exploded at the site of a high stakes poker game, seriously injuring two of the participants. Investigation determined that in the weeks prior to the bombing, captioned subject had been involved in attempts to extort “street tax” from the host of the game, who refused to pay. Numerous sources believe the subject to be responsible for the bombing. Recent investigation centers around the discovery of a newly established meeting site, a location frequented by most of the individuals suspected of being Sicilian Mafia members in the Rockford, Illinois, area. Activity at this location is consistent with that of illegal gambling/bookmaking, but additional details recently obtained point to these individuals’ involvement in narcotics activity.”

In October 1993 the Illinois Department of Revenue and FBI were investigating the Rockford LCN and “targeting the owners/operators and employees of Rockford Casino Players for their operation of an illegal gambling business in the guise of “casino night” fundraisers for charitable organization through violation of federal mail fraud statutes.” By June 1995 they finally raided three such “casino nights” in Rockford, Schaumburg and Des Plaines and these gambling ventures seemed to be a partnership between the Rockford LCN and Chicago Outfit as one of those arrested was Joseph A. Zeno, age 60, out of Melrose Park who at the time was connected to the Elmwood Park crew.

The FBI continued investigating the bombing of David Hall’s residence, illegal gambling, narcotics and extortion in Rockford but ultimately the Assistant United States Attorney declined prosecution based on a lack of evidence and the unwillingness of witnesses to fully cooperate. Having escaped prosecution, Gulotta himself died on March 15, 2000 at his winter home in Mesa, Arizona

[Honk]

Love you Rockford stuff. That area and the far N suburbs of Chicago always interested me. Northern Lake county was always outfit controlled but I often wonder how the small
Towns in between Island Lake/Libertyville had overlap between the Outfit and the Rockford family.

[cavita]

Love you Rockford stuff. That area and the far N suburbs of Chicago always interested me. Northern Lake county was always outfit controlled but I often wonder how the small
Towns in between Island Lake/Libertyville had overlap between the Outfit and the Rockford family.

Interestingly Outfit lawyer/informant Robert Cooley was asked about Rockford in a taped October 11, 2004 interview and he said John DiFronzo had crews openly working in Rockford. Under DiFronzo, Marco D’Amico had a major crew working the Rockford area and they had some illegal gambling interests

Another interview with him from April 25, 2005 Cooley said the FBI had a report in 1993 where they were naming people from organized crime that were working in the Rockford area under the Elmwood Park crew and this was a part of Solly DeLaurentis territory. They had a number of strip joints operating there and that Frank "Gumba" Saladino worked under Marco but did more killing under the South Side Crew. Cooley said he represented some people on a casino bust and that Solly was arrested during this bust and it was sometime in the 1970s

[PolackTony]

Love you Rockford stuff. That area and the far N suburbs of Chicago always interested me. Northern Lake county was always outfit controlled but I often wonder how the small
Towns in between Island Lake/Libertyville had overlap between the Outfit and the Rockford family.

Interestingly Outfit lawyer/informant Robert Cooley was asked about Rockford in a taped October 11, 2004 interview and he said John DiFronzo had crews openly working in Rockford. Under DiFronzo, Marco D’Amico had a major crew working the Rockford area and they had some illegal gambling interests

Another interview with him from April 25, 2005 Cooley said the FBI had a report in 1993 where they were naming people from organized crime that were working in the Rockford area under the Elmwood Park crew and this was a part of Solly DeLaurentis territory. They had a number of strip joints operating there and that Frank "Gumba" Saladino worked under Marco but did more killing under the South Side Crew. Cooley said he represented some people on a casino bust and that Solly was arrested during this bust and it was sometime in the 1970s

Right. Going further back, you had guys like Chicago member Crackers Mendino and Chicago associate Lester Kruse with major racket territories up in Lake County as well. Lake County communities such as Highwood also had a local Italian population of their own, largely of Calabrian origin. These Calabresi of course had close ties to their compaesani in Kenosha (where we have some vague suggestions that a Calabrian Camorra/'ndrangheta group may have remained active in some form well into the late 20th century, likely similar to the situation in Youngstown, OH) and in the Taylor St community. These ties could well be relevant to the later Lake County history, as it was likely part of the context for the relocation of the DeLaurentis family from Taylor St up to Lake County (they had partial Calabrese ancestry, of course); Marco D'Amico, in turn, was originally a Taylor St guy before going with DiFronzo, and we know that Marco was close to Solly D from their youth. In later decades, from what we know, Lake County seems to have been jointly operated by Elmwood Park and Taylor St/Cicero guys, as you note above.

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This reminds me of, some I can recall off the top of my head, suspicious fires and arsons linked to the Rockford LCN:

1920s and 1930s numerous bombings of houses involved in bootlegging

November 26, 1931 the Tony and Joe Tangorra grocery store at 2029 7th Street was bombed. Two girls saw two men place the bomb and speed away in a large green sedan.

December 25, 1931 the Tangorra store at 2029 7th Street was bombed again.

March 27, 1932 the Tangorra store at 2029 7th Street was bombed for the third time in six months. Tony Tangorra said he had been threatened within the previous two weeks by extortionists demanding $2,000. The Tangorra grocery was found to be a large fencing operation.

June 18, 1957 Alderman Eric Anderson’s home was bombed, permanently disfiguring his wife. Rockford LCN associate and political fixer Peter Scifo was suspected in this and it was thought it was due to Anderson exposing Scifo as “Mr. X” during a taxi cab license scandal from the year before.

October 17, 1965 suspicious fire at the Red Coach Inn, south of Rockford. Owner Nino Germano was alleged to be a Rockford LCN front

June 18, 1967 Phillip and Frank Vella of Philipo’s Restaurant at 4239 Charles Street had a fire sweep through the business doing extensive damage. The restaurant had been open only one week when the fire happened and fire investigators said the fire was suspicious. Both Vella brothers were Rockford LCN bookmakers

August 31, 1970 suspicious fire at The Manor in Beloit, Illinois. Owner Nino Germano was alleged to be a Rockford LCN front

February 19, 1977 a house at 7103 E. State Street which was owned by Frank Vella caught fire. State fire investigator said the fire was suspicious in nature. Vella was a known Rockford LCN bookie and associate

February 5, 1979 attempted arson at Nite and Day Disco 1051 W. State Street owned by Rockford LCN associate Salvatore Galluzzo

February 12, 1979 successful arson at the Nite and Day Disco destroyed the business. The FBI suspected the fire was set in order to transfer the liquor license to the Plaza Suite, a nightclub secretly owned by underboss Frank Buscemi

August 19, 1982 arson destroyed the house at 1028 Ferguson Street owned by LCN associate Natale Galluzzo. Natale was initially arrested but charges were ultimately dropped and suspiciously the city of Rockford bought the empty lot from Galluzzo after the building was razed

November 5, 1983 Andrew Ingarra’s restaurant, The Marsala Restaurant, at 326 State Street in Beloit, Wisconsin was gutted by an arsonist. Ingarra was a relatively recent Sicilian immigrant who had business dealings with LCN capo Sebastian “Knobby” Gulotta

December 19, 1983 two pipe bombs damaged the Little Caesar’s Pizza storefront at 617 Harlem Road. FBI files stated this was retaliation for opening up close to LCN owned Sam’s Pizza down the street

May 27, 1984 Andrew Ingarra’s restaurant once again was destroyed by an arsonist when a bomb went off at 11:54 p.m. in the main dining room area.
May 17, 1988 pipe bomb damaged an office at Rondinella Foods 1128 S. Winnebago Street. Rondinella was a food import/distribution business owned by LCN underboss Frank Buscemi. Buscemi died the previous December and it was thought this was a message sent to Buscemi’s sons from the new regime

April 27, 1989 a Molotov cocktail thrown into R Place Bar 3411 Auburn Street owned by Peter Leggero doing $75,000 damage. Michael Burris was convicted of this and said Harold Dishman hired him to torch this competing business. Burris claimed Dishman paid others to burn down other businesses. Dishman was said to have LCN connections or was possibly a front himself

April 12, 1990 a fire ripped through Harold Dishman’s Anytime Club causing $30,000 damage.

July 23, 1990 another fire swept through Harold Dishman’s Anytime Club doing $150,000 damage.


April 11, 1991 a pipe bomb damaged the home of David Hall, 2727 Edgewood Drive who was hosting high stakes poker games and had resisted paying the street tax to LCN capo Sebastian “Knobby” Gulotta

April 2, 1995 suspicious fire at the Wagon Wheel Resort in Rockton, Illinois. The Wagon Wheel Resort was said to be owned by a series of fronts for the Rockford LCN and this business was mentioned in FBI files of LCN capo Sebastian “Knobby” Gulotta