Aunt+Baby wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 3:59 am
The brutal 1994 murder of zip Giuseppe Vicari has always fascinated me. He was beaten & shot inside his cafe on the west side of the city. I have no idea on the background
Apparently he had been arrested the year before on gambling charges and also had poker machines in his basement. Maybe he wasn't cutting the proper people in on the street tax? Where was he from originally?
I believe that he was from Altavilla Milicia.
I’ve discussed him a bit before on an another thread. At the time of his death, owner of La Casa del Caffe, at Harlem and Balmoral on the Far NW Side. I doubt very much myself that he was killed like that over money. Most likely, he was either talking, or someone at least thought he was. He was busted in 1992 as part of the “Operation Espresso” raids on gambling operations in suburban Italian-owned cafes and social clubs, along with guys like Pietro LaBalestra, Ottavio Volpe, Tommaso Lappo, Carlo Fucarino, and Calogero Pedone, all of whom operated establishments with gambling machines. These guys were a mix of Siciliani and Baresi (LaBalestra, Lappo, and Volpe are Baresi, while Pedone was from Marsala [d. 1995, natural causes] and Fucarino was from Bagheria [d. 2009]. Good chance IMO that Vicari’s murder was related to the fallout over those raids. Obviously, the murder was never solved and investigators never released any suspected motives to the public.
Last edited by PolackTony on Wed May 21, 2025 10:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Hey, hey, hey — this is America, baby! Survival of the fittest.”
Aunt+Baby wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 3:59 am
The brutal 1994 murder of zip Giuseppe Vicari has always fascinated me. He was beaten & shot inside his cafe on the west side of the city. I have no idea on the background
Apparently he had been arrested the year before on gambling charges and also had poker machines in his basement. Maybe he wasn't cutting the proper people in on the street tax? Where was he from originally?
I believe that he was from Altavilla Milicia.
I’ve discussed him a bit before on an another thread. At the time of his death, owner of La Casa del Caffe, at Harlem and Balmoral on the Far NW Side. I doubt very much myself that he was killed like that over money. Most likely, he was either talking, or someone at least thought he was. He was busted in 1992 as part of the “Operation Espresso” raids on gambling operations in suburban Italian-owned cafes and social clubs, along with guys like Pietro LaBalestra, Ottavio Volpe, Tomasso Lappo, Carlo Fucarino, and Calogero Pedone, all of whom operated establishments with gambling machines. These guys were a mix of Siciliani and Baresi (LaBalestra, Lappo, and Volpe are Baresi, while Pedone was from Marsala [d. 1995, natural causes] and Fucarino was from Bagheria [d. 2009]. Good chance IMO that Vicari’s murder was related to the fallout over those raids. Obviously, the murder was never solved and investigators never released any suspected motives to the public.
Interesting. There are some Pedone people living in the Rockford area that hail from Marsala/Petrosino
Aunt+Baby wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 3:59 am
The brutal 1994 murder of zip Giuseppe Vicari has always fascinated me. He was beaten & shot inside his cafe on the west side of the city. I have no idea on the background
Apparently he had been arrested the year before on gambling charges and also had poker machines in his basement. Maybe he wasn't cutting the proper people in on the street tax? Where was he from originally?
I believe that he was from Altavilla Milicia.
I’ve discussed him a bit before on an another thread. At the time of his death, owner of La Casa del Caffe, at Harlem and Balmoral on the Far NW Side. I doubt very much myself that he was killed like that over money. Most likely, he was either talking, or someone at least thought he was. He was busted in 1992 as part of the “Operation Espresso” raids on gambling operations in suburban Italian-owned cafes and social clubs, along with guys like Pietro LaBalestra, Ottavio Volpe, Tomasso Lappo, Carlo Fucarino, and Calogero Pedone, all of whom operated establishments with gambling machines. These guys were a mix of Siciliani and Baresi (LaBalestra, Lappo, and Volpe are Baresi, while Pedone was from Marsala [d. 1995, natural causes] and Fucarino was from Bagheria [d. 2009]. Good chance IMO that Vicari’s murder was related to the fallout over those raids. Obviously, the murder was never solved and investigators never released any suspected motives to the public.
Interesting. There are some Pedone people living in the Rockford area that hail from Marsala/Petrosino
Yes, very likely related. As we’ve discussed before, there is a whole extended network of “second wave” Marsalesi across Northern IL and Southern WI.
Calogero Pedone was an older guy and had arrived in Chicago in the 1960s. At the time of the gambling raids, he was described as having been the President of the “St Anthony’s Social Club” in Addison, which he was using to operate gambling machines. I’ve wondered if this was a Marsalese club. While he isn’t the patron saint of Marsala, there is a strong popular cult around Sant’Antonio di Padova there, with the old church in the historic center of Marsala dedicated to Sant’Antonio.
"Hey, hey, hey — this is America, baby! Survival of the fittest.”
That is beyond interesting. It’s fascinating. The suburbs there seem to be havens for zips and native ItaliAN OC. Very curious to see where this leads.
And they were all hived up in the same property?
I dunno a lot about native Italian OC. Given where they hail from, who could possibly be their “bosses”?
Snakes wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 10:25 am
It was also on Reddit. In my experience, if privacy is expected, pics shouldn't be posted on Facebook, whether it's in a private group or not. There's no way for us or any of the mods to know that.
Yep, that's the truth. I shared a family photo (my current picture here) and it got blasted out all over. One dude even claimed it was his. There's really no expectation of privacy any longer.
Aunt+Baby wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 12:54 pm
That is beyond interesting. It’s fascinating. The suburbs there seem to be havens for zips and native ItaliAN OC. Very curious to see where this leads.
And they were all hived up in the same property?
I dunno a lot about native Italian OC. Given where they hail from, who could possibly be their “bosses”?
Presumably — assuming that these people are connected to OC back home — one of the Camorra clans active in the suburbs and towns to the north of the actual city of Napoli, an area that has strong and longstanding ties to Chicagoland (Acerra, Marigliano, Scisciano, etc.). This entire area is a major hotbed of Camorra activity.
I’ve posted about this before, but Italian LE had previously documented in the 2000s that affiliates of the Liciardi clan/Alleanza di Secondigliano were active in operating clothing boutiques in Chicago (based in the northern suburbs of Napoli, these organizations were the primary inspiration for the storylines in the Italian TV series Gomorrah). It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if people affiliated with them or one of the other clan networks active in that area of Campania have been involved in stuff like moving counterfeit and/or stolen goods around Chicagoland in the years since. Speculative, but if I had to bet, I’d bet that’s directionally correct, at least.
"Hey, hey, hey — this is America, baby! Survival of the fittest.”
NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 12:58 pm
Very interesting! That whole Glendale/Itasca/Wood Dale/Addison/Bloomingdale/Roselle area still has lots of off the boats
Absolutely; many many families with direct immigration ties to Italy (Sicily, Puglia, Campania, Calabria, Basilicata, Molise) in those towns.
"Hey, hey, hey — this is America, baby! Survival of the fittest.”
Snakes wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 10:25 am
It was also on Reddit. In my experience, if privacy is expected, pics shouldn't be posted on Facebook, whether it's in a private group or not. There's no way for us or any of the mods to know that.
Yep, that's the truth. I shared a family photo (my current picture here) and it got blasted out all over. One dude even claimed it was his. There's really no expectation of privacy any longer.
NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 12:58 pm
Very interesting! That whole Glendale/Itasca/Wood Dale/Addison/Bloomingdale/Roselle area still has lots of off the boats
Absolutely; many many families with direct immigration ties to Italy (Sicily, Puglia, Campania, Calabria, Basilicata, Molise) in those towns.
A guy I work with off the boat lives in Addison. Very big presence for sure.
