Chicago's "Junk" Crews 1975-1985

[FriendofFamily]

Back in 1983 I used to see Al Ciffo come into the Amity Boatyard almost everyday. He is the one that arranged for a new buyer to conceal it still was the old owner Little Ray Thompson. They called it: "The New Amity Boatyard".

Lawyer Convicted Of Helping Hide Assets Of Smuggling Ring Conspiracy Charge Could Mean 25 Years For Hallandale Man
August 20, 1985|By Justine Gerety, Staff Writer
Hallandale lawyer Alfred F. Ciffo was convicted Monday of helping the suspected boss of a $700 million marijuana smuggling ring hide his assets.

Ciffo, 35, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and $30,000 in fines for his conviction on one count of conspiring to impede the Internal Revenue Service and four counts of obstructing justice, according to prosecutor Richard Fishkin.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 30.

Prosecutors said Ciffo, with four other people, was involved in a conspiracy to defraud the government by helping conceal $4 million in assets for Raymond ``Little Ray`` Thompson.

A would-be Latin American dictator and a prominent Deerfield Beech lawyer, Steadman Stahl, 60, also were charged in the case.

On Aug. 8, Stahl pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice in exchange for having four other charges dropped.

During Ciffo`s trial in Miami before U.S. District Judge Lenore Nesbitt, Stahl testified that he set up a Cayman Islands corporation that masked Thompson`s ownership of a marina, Amity Yacht Center in Fort Lauderdale, from which prosecutors say he ran his smuggling operation.

Ciffo supplied an ``owner`` for the company, according to testimony.

The purported owner was former Dominican Republic Gen. Rafael Ramon Rodriguez Echavarria, who in 1962 headed a military coup that ruled the country for 48 hours. A conspiracy charge against Echavarria was dropped in March in exchange for his testimony.

According to testimony, Ciffo traveled to the Dominican Republic in spring 1983 and secured Echavarria`s signature on key documents in the corporate arrangement.

The fourth defendant in the conspiracy case, Clara Iodice, 35, of Fort Lauderdale, will be tried at a later date.

Thompson and 11 others are charged in a separate indictment with smuggling about two million pounds of marijuana into South Florida between 1978 and 1981. The group was based at the Amity Yacht Center, on Southwest 21st Avenue, according to the indictment.

[Villain]

Thanks for the cool info FriendofFamily.

According to one report, it was forbidden for the Sicilians to operate in Chicago and the nearest place which they were able to move around was O'Hare airport. As I previously stated that Chicago's part in the Pizza Connection ended up after Galante's death, obviously some allegedly continued to operate without the boss' knowledge but during the next decade, they strengthened their connections with the Latin gangs.

For example, Henry Centracchio, brother of Anthony Centracchio member of the Grand Av crew, through one Thomas Guth was connected to Jose Martinez, close to Colombian drug peddlers down in Florida such as Robert Valido and Jorge Silva.

Another individual was James Aquilla with close connection to Marco D'Amico, another member from the Grand Av group. Aquilla was connected to two drug peddlers and Outfit hitmen, known as Joseph Bravieri and Richard Zuniga. Bravieri’s Mob connections mainly came through his older brother Arthur, who used to work in the burglary business for William Daddono. And allegedly Aquilla's gang was supplied with narcotics from the same source as Centracchios.

My point is that the Grand Av crew was the leading group at the time and most of their guys were supplied by the Colombians. The other leading group at the time which was the Melrose Park crew was also involved in the operation with the help of Al Tornabene and Tony Zizzo. They also had two so-called middle men between them and the dope peddlers such as Victor Plescia and Frank Bonavalante, the main individuals who distributed their product mainly around the Cicero, Berwyn, Bridgeview and Riverside areas. In fact, according to some sources, Bonavalante was the older brother of Joey Bonavalante, who in turn was an alleged “lieutenant” under Zizzo. So Bonavolante’s main role was financing the cocaine purchases with Outfit money, in return for a share of the resale profits. As for Vic Plescia, according to the feds, he oversaw the wholesale and retail drug operation which was mainly the distribution of cocaine and even though he was headed the conspiracy, his main couriers were Nick Rizzato and Tony Grossi, who in turn traveled many times to Miami, from where they purchased dozens of kilos of the product. According to one report, Plescia acquired his product also from the same Colombian source as Centracchio’s or Aquilla's crews.

Another interesting example is Al Tocco, the boos of the Chicago Heights Mob during that time. Allegedly Tocco made connections to one Mexican drug cartel known as the Hernandez group which was based in Matamoros, Mexico, and through Texas, they managed to send large shipments of cocaine and marijuana all the way to Chicago. One of the group's main representatives in the U.S. was Manuel “Poncho” Jaramillo, the guy with close relationship to Tocco. This time there weren’t any made guys of the Outfit involved in the racket but simple, Tocco’s faction acted as a wholesale distributor to mainly two dope peddling gangs which in turn, after the distribution of the shipment, they gave a good percentage from their income to Tocco and the boys. The other interesting thing was that the Hernandez group was allegedly mostly involved with the Chicago Heights faction in money laundering operations, thus putting the dope business on second place. The drugs were mostly distributed around Chicago by one South-suburban dope dealer known as Sam Mann who was previously connected to one of Tocco's underlings William Dauber who later got himself killed. Im not sure if Mann really knew on who brought the drugs, but by the end of the day he paid his street tax to another one of Tocco’s chief enforcers, known as Clarence Crockett, for letting him operate around their territory. In other words, they sold him the drugs and later taxed him for selling it around.

[Pogo The Clown]

I like your new avatar.


Pogo

[Villain]

I like your new avatar.


Pogo

Thanks, love the band too

[cavita]

There's also Anthony Giannone who in 2001 was described as a foot soldier in the Elmwood Park and Bridgeport crews. He was called "an alleged drug dealer and bookie" from Bartlett, Illinois. He was charged with having more than 100 pounds of marijuana in his possession when the feds raided the Elgin home of an associate of his on June 11, 2001. Giannone was also said to have dealt in cocaine. He was convicted of theft, gambling and battery in the 1980s.

[Villain]

There's also Anthony Giannone who in 2001 was described as a foot soldier in the Elmwood Park and Bridgeport crews. He was called "an alleged drug dealer and bookie" from Bartlett, Illinois. He was charged with having more than 100 pounds of marijuana in his possession when the feds raided the Elgin home of an associate of his on June 11, 2001. Giannone was also said to have dealt in cocaine. He was convicted of theft, gambling and battery in the 1980s.

Yeah, looks like the area which allegedly gave the birth of Accardo, the guy who is followed by the "no dealing drugs" legend, continued to flourish in the business, especially the members who inherited his organization. I say "his" because Accardo was on the top administration for almost 50 years. And speaking about marijuana, dont forget another Grand Av figure Joe DiFronzo, the brother of the alleged top boss.

[Pete]

Paul carparelli who was just busted not long ago was a coke dealer and they found it on him when he was arrested. The spilotros were supposedly dealing coke and rocky infelise did time for heroin dealing and would later go on to an admin position. Dealing wasn't as rampant as ny but of course some guys were into it. I can't think of a single one who was whacked for it though and that was supposedly the rule

[Frank]

The info about Infelise being underboss of the Outfit is incorrect but he was a Capo and gaining some power when indicted.Sam Carlisi was boss and John DiFronzo was underboss,with Accardo as Consigliere. But I understand your point about drug dealing.

[Frank]

I think Charles Nicoletti might have been killed over dealing drugs.

[smoker]

Sarcinelli is still active, yeah? He was mentioned in the Polekatz controversy a few years back, wonder if he's a major player.

Also, KYUSS >>>>>>>>>>>> QOTSA

[smoker]

I think Charles Nicoletti might have been killed over dealing drugs.

Around the time of Giancana's murder, there was likely meetings with all of the old Taylor street guys. Or at least there were meetings about them, with guys on Aiuppa & Accordo's side that were still close with the Taylor Street guys (Dom Butch Blasi comes to mind). They were likely separated into two categories: guys who are willing to leave disagreements in the past, fall into line, and play ball with the new brass (which would perhaps mean working under a guy who is younger than you, and whom you aren't really familiar with), and guys who still resent the new leadership & are prime candidates to stage a coup/cause problems. Nicoletti fell into the former category, whereas Marshall Caifano fell into the latter. It could have had something to do with drugs, but if anything, it was probably that he was refusing to kick up to someone like Joe Lombardo or Jackie Cerone.

Btw, Mooney was murdered for Richie Aprile-type reasons. The new gen was afraid of him & intimidated by him. You can bet the Outfit would look plenty different today if it were he, and not Aiuppa, that took the reigns in the 70s.

[smoker]

****Caifano fell into the former, Nicoletti into the latter, is what I meant.

[smoker]

The info about Infelise being underboss of the Outfit is incorrect but he was a Capo and gaining some power when indicted.Sam Carlisi was boss and John DiFronzo was underboss,with Accardo as Consigliere. But I understand your point about drug dealing.

I believe Infelise was actually the #1 for a very (very) brief period in 1990 I want to say? But he was never the UB, as he was Ferriola's personal UB, and Infelice being UB of the entire Outfit would've meant that Ferriola would have been #1 at one point, which he wasn't, although I believe he would have been had he not passed away prematurely.

[Confederate]

There's also Anthony Giannone who in 2001 was described as a foot soldier in the Elmwood Park and Bridgeport crews. He was called "an alleged drug dealer and bookie" from Bartlett, Illinois. He was charged with having more than 100 pounds of marijuana in his possession when the feds raided the Elgin home of an associate of his on June 11, 2001. Giannone was also said to have dealt in cocaine. He was convicted of theft, gambling and battery in the 1980s.

Yeah, looks like the area which allegedly gave the birth of Accardo, the guy who is followed by the "no dealing drugs" legend, continued to flourish in the business, especially the members who inherited his organization. I say "his" because Accardo was on the top administration for almost 50 years. And speaking about marijuana, dont forget another Grand Av figure Joe DiFronzo, the brother of the alleged top boss.

I know some of you researchers don't put much stock in Bill Roemer's books. I realize that Roemer was in love with Accardo and fabricated some of the dialogue in his books. He also was prejudice against some Outfit guys. Those are his faults. However, why would he lie about the no drug dealing policy?
The guy was a top FBI agent. He ALSO stated that guys got AROUND the no drug dealing policy by LOANING money to street drug associates rather than dealing dope DIRECTLY. It seems like this thread about the junk crews goes out of its way to try and desperately prove otherwise?

[Snakes]

Roemer's first book is a valuable resource. His book on Spilotro is garbage. He was a top agent but he didn't know everything. A lot of this is stuff that has come out since he transferred out of Chicago (which I believe was in the late sixties).