Roots of the Capone Mob a.k.a. the Chicago Outfit

[Antiliar]

Villain, interesting theory on Ferraro. Hard to say with him because some of the ELSURS also suggest he had Cicero connections. Again though, you may be right.

I found something else of interest in a file I have, and that's according to a source, Charlie Fischetti had sent Johnny Drew to Vegas and he also sent Joe Aiuppa there as a bagman. Obviously if he's sending Aiuppa he had more authority than Aiuppa. Unfortunately because he died in 1951, we have a lot of gaps in our knowledge. But he appears to have been the most powerful of the Fischetti brothers. I can also state for a fact that the Fiscettis were NOT cousins of the Capones. I did their family tree and I found corroborating testimony that says they were not related. They may have called each other cousin because in Brooklyn they were neighbors. Frank Nitto, on the other hand, may have been a second or third cousin of the Capones.

[Villain]

Villain, interesting theory on Ferraro. Hard to say with him because some of the ELSURS also suggest he had Cicero connections. Again though, you may be right.

I found something else of interest in a file I have, and that's according to a source, Charlie Fischetti had sent Johnny Drew to Vegas and he also sent Joe Aiuppa there as a bagman. Obviously if he's sending Aiuppa he had more authority than Aiuppa. Unfortunately because he died in 1951, we have a lot of gaps in our knowledge. But he appears to have been the most powerful of the Fischetti brothers. I can also state for a fact that the Fiscettis were NOT cousins of the Capones. I did their family tree and I found corroborating testimony that says they were not related. They may have called each other cousin because in Brooklyn they were neighbors. Frank Nitto, on the other hand, may have been a second or third cousin of the Capones.

I believe that you're the only guy who uncovered the information regarding the Fischettis as a pure myth. To tell you the truth I havent done a lot of research regarding the brothers but I also think that, as you said, Charles had more power from the rest of the brothers. I also believe that he was one of the leading gangsters in taking over some of the unions during the 1930's. As for Rocco, he appears in the picture(under an alias) from 1932 together with Ricca, Luciano, Lansky and Agoglia.

[BillyBrizzi]

Was he the second from the right Villain? His alias was John Senna apparently.

[Villain]

Was he the second from the right Villain? His alias was John Senna apparently.

Thats right B...btw big respect for your Hoffa avatar

[Villain]

Antiliar, here are few documents regarding Campagna\s alleged one time status, his alleged Cicero connection, and after his death...maybe you already saw these but I'll try to dig up some more

https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?do ... gna_cicero

https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?do ... gna_cicero

https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?do ... gna_cicero

[Villain]

As I stated that the previous list was made quickly, mostly out of the top of my head, and so some of the previous conversations which I had with Antiliar, got me thinking to re-check some of my statements regarding some still unexplained groups within the Outfit, during the 1930’s and I found more than few mistakes. And so I’ve decided to make this timeline or list of crews from that era, which again is mainly formed by my own theories, mostly backed by available informations and so my point is do not take my word for granted. Thank you


Chicago Outfit 1930’s



NEAR WEST SIDE, LOWER WEST SIDE, ELMWOOD PARK, MELROSE PARK, STONE PARK


Taylor St.


As I previously stated that the year of 1930 was when Al Capone became the ruler of Chicago's underworld and one of his early bodyguards was Louis Campagna. According to Virgil Peterson’s testimony, Campagna originally came from Brooklyn, New York in 1928 and at first he mainly hung around Taylor and Halsted Streets in the old "bloody twentieth" ward in Chicago. There is a possibility that Campagna chose that territory because of his newly formed relationship with some of the most prominent Capone members from that area such as Tony Volpe, Paul Ricca and Lawrence Mangano. Another high level racketeer, who was previously involved with the late Jim Colosimo, was James Adduci who also joined the so-called West Side faction and by the early 1930’s, he was considered a “small time political fixer” which was obviously a false information since in 1934 he was elected to the house of representatives. The thing was that in 1930, Volpe began having deportation problems since he was born in Argentina, and so the main two groups around the Taylor St. area for the Capone Mob were led by Ricca and Campagna, who in turn operated around the Near West Side, and the other one by Mangano and Adduci, which I believe that by that time they operated mainly around the Lower West Side. By now the Chicago Outfit also managed to infiltrate in the Lawndale area obviously with the help of their Jewish members such as Jake Guzik, who in turn was originally born in that area and also Frank White. So my theory is that until the late 1930’s the possible overseer of the Lawndale area, especially the northern part, was Frank Maritote, the guy with close connections, both family and business, with the Capone family. There’s also another possibility, I mean if Ricca was the boss and Campagna the second in charge, then who took care of the Taylor St group? Or who was the so-called “acting” captain? Well my choice is either Mangano or Maritote, simply because of their arrests by the cops on many high profile meetings during that period.


In addition, through the 1930’s, these two groups were led by Ricca himself and he possibly “opened their books” for the induction of new members, such as Sam Battaglia from the infamous Battaglia clan who was previously involved with the late Genna gang and also one long time but at the same time, young associate of the Capone Mob Louis Fratto. I believe that both Battaglia and Fratto were made at the same time somewhere around the mid 1930’s (1936?). Also Sam Giancana whose records say that he was allegedly sponsored by Campagna himself, right before Giancana’s departure to prison in the year of 1939. It is possible that Fratto, Giancana and Battaglia were made because of the previous murders of other members, such as Enrico Bertocchi in 1932, Rocco Belcastro who was killed in 1933, Ernest Rossi in 1934, also Paul Battaglia, Louis Schiavone and Amerigo (Americo) Bertolini, which occurred in 1939 and also John Benedetto, who was killed three years earlier in 1936. Some were even jailed such as Tony Rocco in 1934. Also by the end of the decade some older members were shelved or semi-retired or maybe they were even “sleepers”, guys such as Sylvester Agoglia. Other prominent and up and coming members of the crew during that decade were Guido DeChiaro, Mike Greco, Joe Esposito Jr, William Aloisio, Philip Mangano, Mike Pontillo, Patsy and Daniel Clementi. Also there’s another possibility that by the late 1930’s or at least early 40’s, Fratto took for Des Moines, Iowa, where he replaced another Outfit member Charlie Gioe. I believe that this shows us how powerful might’ve been the West Side faction of the Outfit during that period.


There was possibly another quite interesting high level member from the same area andcrew, who can be quite debatable and so I also want to point out another so-called theory of mine for this particular guy who possibly operated around several territories, but I believe that his main base was the Taylor St. area. The gangster for who I’m talking was one Rocco Fanelli who in turn was connected to main high level members from that area. In fact, Rocco Fanelli lived at his uncle’s house Daniel (or Frank) Fanelli, whose family and relatives owned a lot of property, such as buildings, around the Taylor St. area and across the Near West Side. On top of that, Rocco Fanelli also had connections on the South Side and Chinatown through his brother-in-law James Belcastro. Now, by 1930 Belcastro’s home territory was the South Side and had his own legitimate business in Chinatown but according to some reports, in 1931 Belcastro was shot five times but managed to survive and after that he allegedly began living at the Fanelli family’s house on Taylor St. Obviously there was some conflict going on and also obviously it didn’t involve members from the Taylor St. area but instead, it might’ve been Belcastro’s cohorts from the Chinatown and South Side areas or even Calumet City, for whom I’ll talk about later. So for further explanations, it is very important to know that Belcastro one time stayed on the West Side for awhile, at the same time when his brother-in-law Fanelli operated gambling schemes around Taylor St. and there is a strong possibility that the he also controlled his handbook operations on the Lower West Side, especially around W. Cermak Rd and W. 16th St. Belcastro also brought in two of his younger cohorts known as Jimmy Catuara and William Palermo from the South Side and proof for that is their arrest in 1932 on the city’s West Side. The confusing thing is that Fanelli operated in the 20th Ward, but there’s a strong possibility that he also hung around the South Side and Chinatown, two areas which were controlled by Belcastro’s cohorts and alleged enemies. So to me it looks like Fanelli operated both on the West and South Side, mainly because of his close connection to Belcastro, who in turn possibly made the same thing, meaning by being a South Side guy, he also took his cut from illegal operations on Taylor St through his brother-in-law. Proof for that are his numerous arrests with various criminals from the West Side area.In fact, I want to call this “South-West” connection or group. So I really don’t know if Fanelli answered to Mangano, Ricca or Campagna or even to Phil D’Andrea, who by the late 1930’s I personally consider him the crime boss of the First Ward and South Side, and also (still) possible captain of Belcastro.


Melrose Park


Another “key” group, which operated mainly around the western suburbs during the 1920’s and early 30’s, was led by Ernest Mazzone a.k.a. “West Side” Frankie Pope. This guy was involved in various rackets together with his brother Fiore “Fred” Mazzone and one Daniel Losce and they operated mainly in the Melrose Park area. In 1924, the infamous union extortionist Willie Bioff was arrested together with Mazzone and Frank Rio, who I believe came also from that same area, in which he was possibly the most powerful gangster. There’s a speculation that during that meeting, Mazzone allegedly introduced Bioff to Rio. And by the early 1930’s allegedly they were the ones who introduced Bioff to Taylor Street hoodlum Lawrence Mangano and also political fixer James Adducci, which I believe were two of the main guys who came up with the Hollywood extortion scheme. Later Frank Nitti, Campagna and Ricca were allegedly brought by Bioff’s close associate George Browne into the scheme. In March, 1934, Mazzone was riddled with machinegun bullets by two mysterious gunmen who invaded his room at the Vernon hotel, 758 West Jackson Boulevard.


Other prominent Capone members or groups around the Melrose Park area during that time were the DeGrazia brothers, Rocco, Andrew and Nick, who in turn were also closely associated with Frank Rio. Story goes that the connection came through one of Rio’s old associates Albert Pranno from the Stone Park area, who in turn was also closely associated with the DeGrazias. And there is the possibility of the existence of another smaller group which was led by Mauro Montana Jr., the son of an old time boss from that territory John Montana Sr. According to some of the previous conversations which I had with Antiliar, there’s not one strong evidence which shows us that Montana Sr. was ever connected to the Capone syndicate, although the chances for that can be quite real, since Mauro Jr. was closely connected to the syndicate and possibly controlled his own crew, including his uncle James Montana, Rocco Iacullo, Joe Severino and Anthony Palma. On the other hand, we can view the situation from a different angle, meaning, after the natural death of Frank Rio in 1935, the DeGrazia clan completely took everyone from that area under their rule, including Mauro Jr’s crew and the Stone Park crew with Albert Pranno. Also, after the conversation with Antiliar, there’s even a strong possibility that the DeGrazia clan was once in charge of the Melrose Park area even before Rio’s death.



Grand Avenue (Elmwood Park)


There was another faction in that same area which also included members who were possibly imported from different territories such as the North Side area. I believe that one of those Capone members was Tony Capezio, who in turn was considered as one of the top guys for the newly formed Grand Avenue crew, which included younger hoodlums such as Harry Belcastro (I’m not quite sure but possibly related to James Belcastro or maybe Rocco Belcastro), Tony Accardo, John DeBiase and Anthony Orlando. On top of that Capezio had many criminal connections around the Midwest and always brought them on various jobs, mainly bank robberies and murder contracts. In plane words, by now I look at Capezio more as a bank robber and professional murder orchestrator rather than big time racketeer and story goes that he somehow always remained as the main logistician in many Outfit-related slayings. So with that, we just might answer the “enigma” on how Tony Accardo went so quickly up the ladder, a guy who besides being a professional hit man, he also in charge for the many handbook operations in that area. So I believe that by the late 1930’s or early 1940’s, there’s a possibility that Accardo might’ve replaced Capezio as head of the Grand Avenue group.


I also have to add another individual to this territory, meaning the Grand Avenue area, who previously was associated with the Capone Mob and later kept his alliance with the Outfit. That individual went by the name of Vincent Benevento, a known mobster with close connections to the so-called Rogers Park group from the northern suburbs. To tell you the truth, in some of my previous work, I usually placed Benevento as member of the North Side faction but after the conversation with Antiliar, I double-checked and realized I was obviously wrong. General knowledge is that this guy was known as the “Cheese King” because of his involvement in the cheese business, especially the infamous Grande Cheese Company, and it seems like he worked closely both with Capezio and Accardo but as I previously stated, he was closer to the North Side faction. Again I have to be honest that I don’t much regarding Benevento’s past but for me personally, the only two things which connect Benevento to the Grand Avenue group are his legitimate enterprises which were located in that area and also, his alleged conflict with Accardo, which will occur a decade later.



NEAR SOUTH SIDE AND LOOP, CHINATOWN AND SOUTH SIDE, CALUMET CITY


Near South Side and Loop


According to few available documents, after the Capone Mob and the establishment of the newly formed Chicago Outfit, by the mid 1930’s the boss of the First Ward was Phil D’Andrea, a Sicilian gangster with long ties to the Capone. By this time he even became the president of the infamous Unione Siciliani organization, which by now wasn’t that much important. But the important thing was that D’Andrea was closely connected to the First Ward, again with the help of Jake Guzik, who in turn was D’Andrea’s long time associate from the same area. So D’Andrea’s territory was divided in three areas, including the Near South Side and Loop which was directly under his control, obviously with Guzik’s help, also Chinatown and the South Side territory which was allegedly led either by one of his soldiers known as Bruno Roti or maybe even James Belcastro, who as I previously stated had problems during the beginning of the decade, and also the Calumet City area.


Chinatown and South Side


Some of the most prominent crew members from this area, besides Roti and Belcastro, were James Catuara, Mike DeStefano, John Ferraro, Louis DeLuca, Frank Tallarico, Angelo Lucci and Dominic Valera. Even though Belcastro was considered one of the most lucrative members from this group mainly because of his additional West Side connections, still after the murder attempt on his life in 1931, story goes that Roti was the leading member of the group, right under D’Andrea. In addition, by the late 1930’s this group also opened their books and possibly indicted new members such as Rocco De Stefano, son of Mike DeStefano, or Joseph Vinci, member of a previously exterminated criminal clan from the southern suburbs. As I previously stated that the first interesting thing about this faction was their West Side connection which was obviously established by few underworld connections, which obviously one was D’Andrea who had close ties with two West Side bosses such as Frank Rio and Paul Ricca, and the second which was the already mentioned Fanelli-Belcastro connection. To tell you the truth, I really do not believe that D’Andrea’s powerbase were the Italian gangsters, mostly because of the powerful non-Italian criminal elite which were associated with them. I’ll just name few of them so you can form the whole picture, which included the whole Guzik family, Hyman Levine, Sam Hunt, Ralph Pierce, Murray Humphreys and the Alex family.


Calumet City


The second interesting fact was that by now D’Andrea also had jurisdiction over the Calumet City area, which during the early 1930’s was controlled by the Genaro clan, real name Annerino, another old time Capone allies, which included Joe and John Genaro, as Joe a.k.a. “Pepe” being the leader of the group. The legend says that the Genaro group almost completely eliminated one the previous clans, the so-called Vinci clan, which operated on the same territory but secretly plotted against the Capone Mob. One of the remaining members from that group who joined the Outfit was the previously mentioned Joseph Vinci. Few other most prominent members of the Genaro group were the Bruno brothers, Albert and Guy, Frank “Dago” Costello and Otto Graziano. Also, the Genaro boys were closely allied with some of the boys from the 20th Ward such as Rocco Fanelli, James Belcastro and one non-Italian crime boss from the West Side known as Mike Heitler. Proof for that are the many reports of Genaro’s involvement in many political kidnappings around the 20th Ward. In fact, story goes that by the mid 1930’s Heitler was the guy who introduced the Genaro boys to the whole West Side hierarchy, especially Lawrence Mangano and some members from the Grand Avenue crew such as Tony Accardo. Even though they were considered loyal, still in March, 1931, the same year when Belcastro was also attacked, John Genaro was shot to death and the Roti group was accused and arrested for the killing. Obviously there was some conflict going on within the faction and obviously D’Andrea was unable to control it. Four years later, in 1935 his brother Joe Genaro was also killed and the so-called “hit team” was made of Roti’s men such as Tallarico and one Thomas Spalla. In other words, this was the end of the Genaro clan and by the end of the decade, the Calumet City area was still under the D’Andrea faction.


CHICAGO HEIGHTS & JOLIET


Story goes that after Prohibition, the Chicago Heights crew was one of the most sophisticated factions of the Outfit, mostly because they remained under the radar for most of the time and so they made a lot of money from bootlegging booze and later invested in slot machine operations, controlled labor rackets and extorted many clubs and other forms of joints in their own area. As I previously explained that after the elimination of the so-called Sicilian Mafia in that area, the prime crime boss was Dominic Roberto. He had a quite large crew under his rule, including Jim Ammirati, Phil Bacino, John Roberto, Joe Guzzino, Frank LaPorte, Nick Neroni, Sam Costello, Nick Costello, Joe DiGiovanni, Luigi Onofrio, Chris Giordano, and George Montesanti. The interesting situation during this period with this gang was that they slowly began entering different territories such as Joliet, Illinois but by the mid 1930’s their top boss Roberto was deported to Italy and succeeded by Jim Ammirati a.k.a. Jim Emery. So usually in the underworld when the top guy is removed out of various reasons, the new guy begins to experience huge problems with some of the less respectable members. For example by the end of the decade, some sort of internal war occurred within the faction, which resulted with the death of their Sicilian cohort Sam Costello in 1938. After Costello’s murder, the rest of the remaining brothers and cohorts were forced to become legit.


Joliet, Illinois

During this period this area was mostly considered as “open territory” in the eyes of the Outfit’s top administration but the Chicago Heights crew intensively began importing their own associates around the territory such as Dennis Kelly, Francis Curry and Daniel McElroy, who in turn were allegedly overseen by one Joe Stella.


CICERO


During the days of Prohibition, the Cicero area was the so-called stronghold for the old Capone Mob and many high profile members had their operations around the area. But after few “small” changes, such as the end of Prohibition, the imprisonment of Al Capone and the rise of the West Side faction, the Cicero area slowly began to loose its “shine” in organizational meaning. For example, the only high level Italian criminals who remained in the territory were all close Capone loyalists, including his brothers Ralph and John Capone, James Mondi and Vincenzo Gibaldi a.k.a. Jack McGurn. The interesting this with this group was that during the 1930’s, the main guys within the group were in fact the non-Italian members, including Claude Maddox and Willie Heeney. These guys were also “leftovers” from the Capone gang but the different things was that they were the ones who mostly brought other members within the group, mainly from Italian descent. Few other most prominent members within the group were Pete Pizzo, Dominic Monaco and Sam Aiuppa, and also two younger, up and coming associates or possible members, Joey Aiuppa, younger brother of Sam Aiuppa, and also Robert Ansani, both young criminals who allegedly came under the auspices of Claude Maddox and the partnership with another non-Italian member Joe a.k.a. Fifke Corngold. They even killed two of their non-Italian crew members who back in the 1920’s were imported from nearby Midwest cities, including Ray Nugent (1931) and Fred Goetz (1933).


Story goes that during this period Maddox’s power mostly came from his close association with the West Side faction and proof for that were his constant meetings with faces such as Rocco DeGrazia, Tony Capezio or Lawrence Imburgio. So with names such as DeGrazia and Capezio, obviously Maddox’s or Heeney’s job was to kill people, which in reality they really did. My opinion or another theory is that the Cicero crew was the first “sign” for the falling of the old guard. I mean, first of all they had non-Italian guys involved in the main jobs and top of that, many of the “old” guys began to fall. For example, story goes that Jack McGurn, former South side member, was shelved by 1933 and later allegedly was accepted into the Cicero crew by Willie Heeney. No matter what he did, story goes that he was a “lowlife” and three years later, in 1936, McGurn went bowling at the second floor of the Avenue Recreation Rooms on 805 North Milwaukee Avenue which was owned by one Taylor Street member Willie Aloisio. So in no time McGurn was shot to death right there on the spot by his bowling buddies William White and Claude Maddox. Obviously, both of White’s and Aloisio’s presence shows us another proof that the West Side faction was in charge of the whole organization, meaning one was part of the hit team and the other one was the host. In addition, story goes that by 1939, the alleged leader of the Cicero crew Ralph Capone also began to feel pressure from his West Side cohorts and began planning for relocation to Wisconsin, a known Mob “heaven” at the time.


NEAR NORTH SIDE, LAKE VIEW & ROGERS PARK


Now, we’re going to transfer to the other side of town, or as I want to call it, the territory where the old Chicago’s Sicilian Mafia was born and that is the North Side area. I mean don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all about the Aiello’s or Drucci’s, but instead during this decade there were other more powerful factions which aligned themselves with the Outfit. After the murders of many North Side Mafiosi and also non-Italian gangsters, the Outfit’s top administration allegedly divided the whole territory in three areas, such as the Near North Side, which was headed by one quite known Outfit member such as Frank Nitto, also the Lake View territory which was headed by the Fischetti brothers, and in the end, the Rogers Park and Evanston areas which were allegedly overseen by James DeGeorge.


Near North Side


As I previously stated, after the elimination of many gangsters around the whole North Side area, during the early 1930’s the Chicago Outfit began taking over those dead individuals’ illegal operations with their own members. For example, I believe that after the murder of one non-Italian gangster from that area known as Matt Kolb, the unofficial captain for the Outfit in that same territory became Frank Nitto. I say “unofficial” mainly because by 1934, Nitto had both legal and health problems, mainly because he spent 18 months in jail and was also heavily wounded during a murder attempt on his life. So by the mid 1930’s Nitto was allegedly in charge of the so-called North LaSalle Division, mainly because all of the crew members, including Nitto, had their own offices and illegal operations around that same area. For example, Nitto had his own office at 221 N. LaSalle Street and he also had another joint at 1232 North Clark Street. Even though he controlled various handbook and slot machine operations in that area, still Nitto’s crew was mainly involved in the union extortion business and semi-legit enterprises, which included few old time racketeers from the old Colosimo a.k.a. Torrio gangs, such as Mike Carrozzo and Joe Fusco, and also Anthony D’Andrea, Louis Romano and Joe Moreschi. To tell you the truth, during the second half of the 1930’s this might’ve been one of the most lucrative and corruptive crews for Chicago’s crime syndicate.


Rogers Park & Evanston


This particular faction might’ve been one of the oldest and mostly Sicilian “infested” crime group within the Chicago Outfit. To tell you the truth I’m not sure about the origins of this faction, nor about its first leaders during this particular decade which was 1930’s. So in plane words this is going to be mostly a theory on what did hierarchy looked like within the crew. My guess is that this group was possibly formed by three old criminal factions from that area, including the Dispenza gang, the Gloriana gang and in the end, the Aiello crime family. As we known that by the beginning of the decade, most of these groups were eliminated or sent to jail and so some of the remaining members joined the Capone Mob or the newly formed Chicago Outfit, and some fled to other Midwest cities such as Milwaukee or Kansas City, and some even fled to the east coast. So I can make only a list for those who joined or previously belonged to the Outfit since, as I previously stated that I’m not quite sure regarding the hierarchy during that time period. For example, few of the top guys during that period were James DeGeorge, who some sources say was a long time Capone associate, and two other racketeers known as Thomas Oneglia or Neglia and Ross Prio, both with close connections to Benevento from the Grand Avenue area. So this previous statement brings another theory of mine, meaning Benevento might’ve been the main guy who previously introduced these fellas to the Capone Mob. This can be proven with Prio’s illegal or legal establishments around the Near West Side, such as the Uptown-Chicago Diary Company at 3639 Harrison Street and also a bootlegging factory, which was located at 2014 West Kinzie St. They even had their operations around the Near North Side, which a decade later will become their own territory. Some of the most prominent members from this group were Dominic Nuccio and Dominic Brancato, both possible and former members of the old Gloriana gang including Prio, Dominic DiBella who was also possibly former member of the Aiello crime family, also Benevento’s alleged nephew Nick DeJohn, Ben Spinato who in turn was DeGeorge’s personal driver, James DeAngelo, Sam Gervase, Onofrio Vitale and Jimmy Allegretti. Also, because of my previous conversation with Antiliar, I deliberately left out Tony Pinelli from this organization, even though he was somehow related to DeGeorge and also close associate of all these previously mentioned fellas. So Pinelli might’ve been mainly associated with Benevento from the Grand Avenue area but who knows, maybe he was a legit Rogers Park crew member?! In addition, I also think that by the late 1930’s Pinelli was residing in California.


Lake View


In one of my previous conversations, I’ve managed to conclude that I made an obvious mistake by placing the Fischettis in the Southwest area after the 1920’s. I mean previously, during the days of Prohibition, two of the brothers operated in that area but by the mid 1930’s they transferred far north. In fact, it was the time when the Outfit slowly took over the whole North Side. Many of the records show that both Charles and Rocco Fischetti operated mainly around the area of Diversey and Belmont, and also the whole Lake View territory. Some reports say that the brothers went even far as Deerfield, Ill, where they operated the infamous Vernon Country Club, one of the most lavish gambling establishments from that time period. Now, I’m not sure if the brother controlled some particular group, mainly because I personally can’t find anyone. For example, their third brother Joe Fischetti came to Chicago from New York during the early 1930’s and operated large handbook operations for his two brothers and another one Dominick DiNardi, who might’ve been an enforcer for the trio. By the end of the decade some records show that the brothers entered in Evanston, which in turn was allegedly an area ran by the DeGeorge/Prio group and also in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where they operated mostly coin machine schemes.



Next are the 1940’s…

[willychichi]

Great read thanks Villain

[Villain]

Great read thanks Villain

Youre welcome willyc

[Antiliar]

Villain, if you haven't already picked up a copy, you should get John Binder's new book. I don't agree with everything in it, but it's definitely informative.

[Villain]

Villain, if you haven't already picked up a copy, you should get John Binder's new book. I don't agree with everything in it, but it's definitely informative.

Thanks for the info Antiliar and believe me I will. I have much respect for Binder out of all generally known Chicago Mob authors, especially for the old era but the thing is I have a sort of problem and that is, I rarerly read books. I dont know, maybe its because of an old "trauma" which I had when I first started getting interested in the Mob especially New York. I mean most of the books which I read later came up to be half-fiction and they all started with a similar sentence such as"Luciano created the commission" and the worst thing is that the myth still exists even today. When I turned to the Chicago boys, I read Luzi, Roemer, Russo, Giancana Jr. and Binder and it was a little bit different. I mean ok, you can obviously tell that sometimes Roemer was also telling fisherman's stories but its different. That is why I mostly relay on old newspaper clips, which all should be taken with a few grains of salt, and also government files, obviously only the ones which I can get my hands on. Blessed are some of the people who are sending me the files for which I have to wait...i dunno...10 years maybe?! Im always offering some cash because I know that those things cost, but hey believe me there are still some quite nice folks on this dirtbal lol.

As for relatives, I can hardly find anyone these days who really knows something regarding their ancestors...

Btw, in the next few days I'll post my theory on the Outfit's hirearchy during the 1940's, especially the Taylor St crew, and I would love to hear your honest opinion

[cavita]

Villain, if you haven't already picked up a copy, you should get John Binder's new book. I don't agree with everything in it, but it's definitely informative.

Antiliar, I just finished Binder's book and was wondering what points of his do you disagree on?

[Antiliar]

There's a couple things, like the Frank Nitto as Capone's successor that we discussed, and his conclusion that the street crews weren't created until the 1960s (judging from what you've been writing, you and I agree that the crews were formed at least by the 1930s, if not by the 1920s). He relies more on newspaper articles than I do, so we reach different conclusions. I think it's more effective to try to obtain insider information from government informants, trial testimony, and relatives who may have passed-down information.

I noticed you posted some links about Louis Campagna to the Mary Ferrell site. Go back and look at those and try to come up with a timeline. You'll notice that some things don't fit if Campagna was the boss for only a few months before he died in 1955. Especially since we know that Accardo was the boss from around 1947 to 1957, before he retired and Giancana stepped up. In my opinion, Campagna was the senior adviser, the CEO, and Accardo and Giancana were like presidents. In Chicago, the president-boss was the day-to-day boss and also attended Commission meetings as the Chicago representative. But the person who ultimately set policy and made final decisions was the CEO-boss. (These aren't real titles, of course, just explanatory descriptions.) After Campagna died, Ricca became the CEO-boss and held the position until he died in 1972. So what was Ricca when Campagna was still alive and Accardo was the day-to-day boss? I suggest he would have been like a "junior" senior adviser, or a Vice-CEO. Then when Accardo retired, he became the "junior" senior adviser to Ricca. Since the bosses made most of the decisions, the senior advisers would have been hands-off, providing counsel to the bosses. Rarely would they make an executive decision to override the boss, but if they believed it was necessary they would do it. The bosses also took most of the heat and would be more visible, while to the outside the senior advisers looked like they were retired yet keeping in touch with their friends. Of course this is a theory, but I think it fits all of what we know very well.

[Snakes]

That always confused me too, Antilliar. The informant said Campagna was boss for a "few months" after Nitti died until his (Campagna's) own death, but Campagna died ten years after Nitti.

[Villain]

There's a couple things, like the Frank Nitto as Capone's successor that we discussed, and his conclusion that the street crews weren't created until the 1960s (judging from what you've been writing, you and I agree that the crews were formed at least by the 1930s, if not by the 1920s). He relies more on newspaper articles than I do, so we reach different conclusions. I think it's more effective to try to obtain insider information from government informants, trial testimony, and relatives who may have passed-down information.

I noticed you posted some links about Louis Campagna to the Mary Ferrell site. Go back and look at those and try to come up with a timeline. You'll notice that some things don't fit if Campagna was the boss for only a few months before he died in 1955. Especially since we know that Accardo was the boss from around 1947 to 1957, before he retired and Giancana stepped up. In my opinion, Campagna was the senior adviser, the CEO, and Accardo and Giancana were like presidents. In Chicago, the president-boss was the day-to-day boss and also attended Commission meetings as the Chicago representative. But the person who ultimately set policy and made final decisions was the CEO-boss. (These aren't real titles, of course, just explanatory descriptions.) After Campagna died, Ricca became the CEO-boss and held the position until he died in 1972. So what was Ricca when Campagna was still alive and Accardo was the day-to-day boss? I suggest he would have been like a "junior" senior adviser, or a Vice-CEO. Then when Accardo retired, he became the "junior" senior adviser to Ricca. Since the bosses made most of the decisions, the senior advisers would have been hands-off, providing counsel to the bosses. Rarely would they make an executive decision to override the boss, but if they believed it was necessary they would do it. The bosses also took most of the heat and would be more visible, while to the outside the senior advisers looked like they were retired yet keeping in touch with their friends. Of course this is a theory, but I think it fits all of what we know very well.

That's the greatest theory of them all, meaning the one which holds water the most amd believe me I agree with you on most of your statement. But I have a little bit different view regarding the Outfit's top hirearchy during the early or mid 1950's and that is the general or maybe even mythical one, meaning one chief executive and one top boss and everything else below them including underboss advisor etc. I believe that after the Hollywood convictions and early releases, the Outfit's hirearchy has changed a lot. I can explain that when in 1952 (the possible year when things cooled off for Ricca and Campagna), Accardo began having quite a problems with the horse meat racket and according to one wiretapped convo between two "unknown" Outfit members "Accardo picked too many lugs, too many palookas, like that Siciliano. We should have put that guy’s legs in cement.", which means that they were quite unsatisfied with Accrdo's actions. So Accardo's guy took the rep instead of him but the main problem was that during the trial many profile Outfit members were mentioned, including Ricca and Campagna, which made the scandal national, since their names were quite known from the previous Hollywood scheme. So it was a very sensitive time period for Ricca to get further involved in trouble. Also, the alleged murder attempt on Accardo which allegedly occurred in May, 1954. He was in the same car with Giancana, Cerone and Battaglia and maybe the bullet was meant for someone else, but my personal belief is that by the end of that year, Accardo took a step back as an advisor or underboss or maybe even as semi-retired boss, a position which can be seen quite often within the organization during the old days and also sounds more real to me. So maybe that same year or at the beginning of the next one Campagna took the position as chief executive for the organization and Ricca remained as the top boss. And to tell you the truth, according to my "timeline", the so-called statment by the informant that "Campagna took over for several months" might fit perfect since the old boss died in May, 1955. After the death of Campagna, obviously his underling Sam Giancana took over as the chief executive. It is also possible that the "tradition" might've been also present in the Accardo/Aiuppa situation in later years. This is just a theory, not a fact lol

Regarding the Campagna document, it is clearly quite confusing but it is also very possible that the informant might've mixed up few things or maybe even the agent who wrote it down.

[Snakes]

I think that informant was Blasi, which means he may not have an entirely accurate picture of the situation prior to Giancana taking charge and may only be going off of what he has heard or been spoken to about. Just a guess on my part.

Also, I've always subscribed to the top boss/CEO theory too, although Campagna holding that position never really occurred to me. I guess it would run Campagna-Ricca-Accardo, like Antilliar said. After that, I'm not sure if it was in use because most of the senior guys were in prison or close to it by the time Accardo died.