Looking for info on Jimmie DeGeorge- Chicago

[Antiliar]

Snakes, you are correct. Nicoletti was demoted before he was killed.

[Villain]

Nicoletti had been the top guy in Melrose Park and apparently was operating like an acting underboss while Cerone was finishing his prison sentence.

Interesting things to note regarding his stature and thanks but I have to admit that I personally had different view on Nicoletti. I know that he was the top guy in MP when Aiuppa went up and I also know that he was some sort of a "leader" of the so-called hit teams within the Outfit, and on top of that read of him bI even read that he might've been the one time leader of the Grand Avenue group, allegedly somewhere around or after Gagliano's death, but I never eing acting underboss. Again, interesting thing to say and also to consider.

Regarding Cain's alleged problems, another interesting thing to note is that when in 1971, after he was released from prison, story goes that Cain was placed under Marcy and Alex, but in 1972 he decided to visit his old "pal" Giancana down to Mexico, which as you said, they previously had some sort of beef, with a proposition of selling drugs with the help of a new distributor known as Guido Fidanzi, who also planned to get involved in the narcotics business, allegedly on the request of Cain, obviously with the help of the car theft out-of-state transportation business. Fidanzi and Cain knew each other since their stay in prison and were paroled at the same time. But looks like in the end he received the middle finger and possibly got betrayed. Fidanzi was killed that same year and Cain the next one

You said "after Gagliano's death" as if Gagliano was the former leader of Grand Avenue Crew. You know much more about the Outfit History than me, but I do know that Gagliano was with Elmwood Park, NOT Grand Ave. Gagliano probably took over Elmwood Park when Cerone became part of the Administration. Every book I ever read talked about Gagliano being the right hand man of Cerone which is all Elmwood Park. However, It was stated that both Gagliano and Cerone were BORN and RAISED in the Grand Avenue neighborhood along with Accardo. Maybe that is where there is some confusion??

The old Elmwood Park crew streched along West Grand Av which was a territory under one Mike Heitler and after under Maritote and later under Accardo and Capezio. If you look at Chicagos map, you can ntice that Grand Av streches all the way to Franklyn Park, which is a territory quite near the Melrose Park area. Now, the Melrose Park area at first was controlled by Rocco DeGrazia and as for the Stone Park, Northlake and Franklyn Park areas were controlled by one of DeGrazias underlings Albert Pranno who came up with the previous boss of MP Frank Rio. So in the 1950's DeGrazia was replaced by Battaglia and Pranno by his brother Rocco. By the late 1960s both Battaglia and Rocco Pranno were in jail and the the huge territory was divided by Alderisio and Nicoletti. So some of the guys who operated around Grand Av in Franklyn Park and around MP were under Alderisios rule, and as for the rest, particularly from MP, were under Nicoletti. When the boss of the West Grand Av and Elmwood Park area Gagliano died, there was no one else to replace him and so his territory went uder the rule of of the boys from Franklyn Park Grand Av which now was all under Alderisio. When he went to jail, Aiuppa rentered the MP territory and as for the newly formed Grand Av crew, it went under Nicoletti and later under Lombardo

[Antiliar]

John Di Fronzo took over from Gagliano, and Gagliano from Cerone, who got it from Capezio. I agree that Maritote was probably a capo, but in a different crew.

[Villain]

I agree that Maritote was probably a capo, but in a different crew.

Which one, Taylor St?

[Antiliar]

I agree that Maritote was probably a capo, but in a different crew.

Which one, Taylor St?

That (the crew later headed by Buccieri) would be my guess, but haven't been able to verify.

[Villain]

I agree that Maritote was probably a capo, but in a different crew.

Which one, Taylor St?

That (the crew later headed by Buccieri) would be my guess, but haven't been able to verify.

Well if you think about it, i dont remember clearly but i think that Maritote resided near the Oak Park area and north of Berwyn and Cicero. Also I believe that during the old days William Jack White also lived in that territory and paid his tribute to Maritote. So this might be the territory or the northern part of Cicero and possibly together with Berwyn which was years later controled by Buccieri. But how do we explain Campagnas presence in that same territory which during the first half of the 1940s was ran by Giancana on Campagnas behalf? Was it taken over by the Taylor st crew during Maritotes imprisonment or maybe even earlier? According to some reports Maritote allegedly controled even the northern part of Lawndale which was later again taken over by the Taylor St group. Is it possible that Maritote was one of the big guys like D'Andrea or Campagna with larger territories rather than the usual? What about Ralph Capone and when did they managed to divide the territory or their old stronghold? Did it happen when Ralph went to Wisconsin or years earlier? And who ran the Elmwood Park group, was it Capezio or Accardo or even Benevento who was located on W Grand Av i think and on top of that was closely connected with the Northsiders? I know Capezio was older than Accardo but the younger one really quick managed to climb up the scale...something occurred during the 1930's which we dont know about or cant figure it out...

[Villain]

I have to correct myself regarding my previous statement regarding White giving tribute to Maritote since I double-checked and its wrong but instead it was Louis Romano, who received tribute both from White and Maddox (Cicero). Now, Romano was allegedly with Nitto (near north side) i think and so this makes things even more complicated lol

[Frank]

The Outfit is really confusing in trying to piece their history together. They must have drove law enforcement nuts.And us too.

[cavita]

Also cavita is right regarding the presence of some Sicilian group on Chicagos turf. It seems that this new Sicilian faction had the approval from the Outfit’s top administration to deal their narcotics on Chicago’s territory, as long as they stayed away from their sight and it didn’t involve any of their members or associates. But still according to some reports, like any other greedy criminal machine, the Outfit always had its own “outlaws”. 

Villian-

I know you love these "connections" with Chciago so I’ve tried to research the Midwestern families and their connections to the narcotics trade which would really cover the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Springfield and Madison were dead by then and I haven’t looked into Milwaukee yet, so that pretty much left Rockford to be involved which because of their Sicilian connections they were able to be a distribution center. Besides the 1990s Rockford tie in and arrests to the Spatola and Inzerillo crime families in Sicily I mentioned before were the following major ones:

In November 1981 the FBI was turned on to the presence of a huge cocaine ring running from Rockford to Chicago to Las Vegas. In May 1982, federal agents arrested close to a dozen people in connection with this cocaine ring. Arrested were John Leombruni, 32; his brother Michael, 30, John J. Schiro, 23, John Bartelli, 36, Jack Richardson, 26, Dennis Salsbury, 32, Luke Cannella, 25, Israel R. Campello, 41, Manuel Martin Gomez, 33 of Chicago, Ruben Yanez and police radio dispatcher Susan Wisniewski, 25. At the time, agents stated that Leombruni was the biggest cocaine dealer in Rockford and in his younger years may have been a member of the Latin Counts street gang in Rockford which had its beginnings in the late 1950s in Rockford and started as primarily an Italian gang. In other cities across the U.S., these teen street gangs were a fertile recruiting ground for the Mafia looking to boost their ranks and find dependable young toughs and perhaps cultivate them into mob membership.

Although not admissible in court, the FBI privately acknowledged there was definite mob involvement in this cocaine case and this was backed up by court-approved wiretaps.

An interesting link between the April 1980 murder of Rockford LCN member Joe Maggio and possibly John Leombruni is an October 20, 1981 FBI file. Maggio’s heavily redacted file read, in part, that an individual “was instructed by his “associates” in either Las Vegas or Los Angeles that Maggio had to be killed” and that this individual’s “associates” are members of the LCN.” This is interesting in that right before Leombruni started his full scale cocaine distribution in Rockford he was living in Las Vegas but according to sources had been “run out by that city’s Mafia chief.” The only possible Mafia chief in Vegas at that time was Tony Spilotro. Leombruni’s drug dealing there could have caused problems for Spilotro’s interests and he may have warned Leombruni to stay away. Also interesting to note is that cocaine ring member Luke Cannella was the nephew of deceased Rockford mob member Phil Cannella and Luke told investigators, “He (Leombruni) told me some guys were gonna kill him- or run him out of town- if he ever did some drugs in Las Vegas.”

The reason for Maggio’s murder was explained in a February 17, 1981 FBI file in this way: “Investigation by Chicago to date reveals that in February, 1980, Maggio had met several times with Joseph Zammuto, boss of the Rockford LCN group, in Florida. Several days after these meetings, Maggio returned to Rockford and within two days (Maggio’s daughter)[KATHLEEN] was severely beaten by [STEVEN DAVIS] a Rockford narcotics dealer related to Zammuto who accused her of stealing narcotics. Maggio was furious over the beating and openly exchanged threats with [DAVIS] for a two-month period prior to his death. [REDACTED] advised that [REDACTED] and others had been dealing in narcotics with the sanction of Zammuto and this group and it is believed that Maggio was killed as a result of his objection to LCN entry into the narcotics business in Rockford. Joseph Zammuto has been confirmed as absolute boss of the Rockford LCN group. It has been established that the Rockford LCN met in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in February, 1980, and that [REDACTED] began dealing in narcotics in Rockford in August, 1980, with Zammuto’s sanction.

In another possible tie in to connections to possible drug cartels is the March 12, 1991 arrests of twenty-seven people that were indicted by a U.S. District court grand jury on charges to distribute cocaine in the Rockford area and southern Wisconsin. This conspiracy, according to federal prosecutors, started on January 1, 1986 and was called the “Mauerman Organization” as it included many members of the Mauerman family. Edward P. Mauerman, Jr. was called the drug ring’s kingpin and this organization brought more than 176 pounds of cocaine into the Rockford area over the next five years. Mauerman was friends in Florida with two brothers named Ramon and Juan Castellanos who used to live in Belvidere, Illinois. The Castellanos brothers and Mauerman arranged to have the cocaine shipped north to Rockford through various couriers and once in Rockford, the cocaine would be repackaged at different locations and then distributed throughout Rockford and southern Wisconsin. One of these locations that the cocaine was repackaged at was Jackson Auto Sales on 11th Street. Jackson Auto Sales was owned by William Spears who also owned the Pizza Joint next door that FBI files stated was “a known hangout for Rockford LCN members.” Over the years Spears has been continuously arrested for narcotics trafficking and weapons charges. Most recently on April 21, 2016 Spears was arrested again for manufacturing and delivering cocaine and cannabis, possession of cannabis, aggravated unlawful use of a loaded weapon in his vehicle, and being an armed habitual criminal.

I have yet to research the Castellanos brothers and to see what, if any, connection they have to a larger cartel but it seems that the Chicago Outfit had to be getting a cut of some type of money from the profits of narcotics trafficking and it’s just a matter of finding out who the points of contact were in Chicago at the time.

[Villain]

Also cavita is right regarding the presence of some Sicilian group on Chicagos turf. It seems that this new Sicilian faction had the approval from the Outfit’s top administration to deal their narcotics on Chicago’s territory, as long as they stayed away from their sight and it didn’t involve any of their members or associates. But still according to some reports, like any other greedy criminal machine, the Outfit always had its own “outlaws”. 

Villian-

I know you love these "connections" with Chciago so I’ve tried to research the Midwestern families and their connections to the narcotics trade which would really cover the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Springfield and Madison were dead by then and I haven’t looked into Milwaukee yet, so that pretty much left Rockford to be involved which because of their Sicilian connections they were able to be a distribution center. Besides the 1990s Rockford tie in and arrests to the Spatola and Inzerillo crime families in Sicily I mentioned before were the following major ones:

In November 1981 the FBI was turned on to the presence of a huge cocaine ring running from Rockford to Chicago to Las Vegas. In May 1982, federal agents arrested close to a dozen people in connection with this cocaine ring. Arrested were John Leombruni, 32; his brother Michael, 30, John J. Schiro, 23, John Bartelli, 36, Jack Richardson, 26, Dennis Salsbury, 32, Luke Cannella, 25, Israel R. Campello, 41, Manuel Martin Gomez, 33 of Chicago, Ruben Yanez and police radio dispatcher Susan Wisniewski, 25. At the time, agents stated that Leombruni was the biggest cocaine dealer in Rockford and in his younger years may have been a member of the Latin Counts street gang in Rockford which had its beginnings in the late 1950s in Rockford and started as primarily an Italian gang. In other cities across the U.S., these teen street gangs were a fertile recruiting ground for the Mafia looking to boost their ranks and find dependable young toughs and perhaps cultivate them into mob membership.

Although not admissible in court, the FBI privately acknowledged there was definite mob involvement in this cocaine case and this was backed up by court-approved wiretaps.

An interesting link between the April 1980 murder of Rockford LCN member Joe Maggio and possibly John Leombruni is an October 20, 1981 FBI file. Maggio’s heavily redacted file read, in part, that an individual “was instructed by his “associates” in either Las Vegas or Los Angeles that Maggio had to be killed” and that this individual’s “associates” are members of the LCN.” This is interesting in that right before Leombruni started his full scale cocaine distribution in Rockford he was living in Las Vegas but according to sources had been “run out by that city’s Mafia chief.” The only possible Mafia chief in Vegas at that time was Tony Spilotro. Leombruni’s drug dealing there could have caused problems for Spilotro’s interests and he may have warned Leombruni to stay away. Also interesting to note is that cocaine ring member Luke Cannella was the nephew of deceased Rockford mob member Phil Cannella and Luke told investigators, “He (Leombruni) told me some guys were gonna kill him- or run him out of town- if he ever did some drugs in Las Vegas.”

The reason for Maggio’s murder was explained in a February 17, 1981 FBI file in this way: “Investigation by Chicago to date reveals that in February, 1980, Maggio had met several times with Joseph Zammuto, boss of the Rockford LCN group, in Florida. Several days after these meetings, Maggio returned to Rockford and within two days (Maggio’s daughter)[KATHLEEN] was severely beaten by [STEVEN DAVIS] a Rockford narcotics dealer related to Zammuto who accused her of stealing narcotics. Maggio was furious over the beating and openly exchanged threats with [DAVIS] for a two-month period prior to his death. [REDACTED] advised that [REDACTED] and others had been dealing in narcotics with the sanction of Zammuto and this group and it is believed that Maggio was killed as a result of his objection to LCN entry into the narcotics business in Rockford. Joseph Zammuto has been confirmed as absolute boss of the Rockford LCN group. It has been established that the Rockford LCN met in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in February, 1980, and that [REDACTED] began dealing in narcotics in Rockford in August, 1980, with Zammuto’s sanction.

In another possible tie in to connections to possible drug cartels is the March 12, 1991 arrests of twenty-seven people that were indicted by a U.S. District court grand jury on charges to distribute cocaine in the Rockford area and southern Wisconsin. This conspiracy, according to federal prosecutors, started on January 1, 1986 and was called the “Mauerman Organization” as it included many members of the Mauerman family. Edward P. Mauerman, Jr. was called the drug ring’s kingpin and this organization brought more than 176 pounds of cocaine into the Rockford area over the next five years. Mauerman was friends in Florida with two brothers named Ramon and Juan Castellanos who used to live in Belvidere, Illinois. The Castellanos brothers and Mauerman arranged to have the cocaine shipped north to Rockford through various couriers and once in Rockford, the cocaine would be repackaged at different locations and then distributed throughout Rockford and southern Wisconsin. One of these locations that the cocaine was repackaged at was Jackson Auto Sales on 11th Street. Jackson Auto Sales was owned by William Spears who also owned the Pizza Joint next door that FBI files stated was “a known hangout for Rockford LCN members.” Over the years Spears has been continuously arrested for narcotics trafficking and weapons charges. Most recently on April 21, 2016 Spears was arrested again for manufacturing and delivering cocaine and cannabis, possession of cannabis, aggravated unlawful use of a loaded weapon in his vehicle, and being an armed habitual criminal.

I have yet to research the Castellanos brothers and to see what, if any, connection they have to a larger cartel but it seems that the Chicago Outfit had to be getting a cut of some type of money from the profits of narcotics trafficking and it’s just a matter of finding out who the points of contact were in Chicago at the time.

Thanks for the quality info cavita.

Spiloto was in the dope business since 1968, when Giancana managed to create the Mob's new drug route from the Philippines with the help of Chinese crime syndicates in Hong Kong or Macao who operated independently from the Triads. This is the myth right here where many authors state that Giancana was directly connected to the Triads which is not true. Through the the Pacific Ocean the dope arrived in Mexico where it was welcomed by local gangs who were paid by Jorge Castillo, Giancana's lawyer and accomplice. So Mexico was used only as transition point and so the border with Arizona at the time was controlled by 23 major smuggling rings which operated through the corridor and five of those were controlled by Cosa Nostra crime families from New York City, such as the Gambinos and Bonannos, and also Tampa, Detroit and most of all Chicago. Before becoming the Outfit’s main enforcer in Las Vegas, Spilotro’s job was being one of the main overseers of the narcotics shipment which went through the Arizona area and then straight to Chicago. According to the FBI, the full extent of the operation was not known, but some government investigators had documents that the gang supplied a major portion of hard drugs for the Chicago market and possibly for some of the smaller Midwest cities.