Info from San Jose informants 1960s

[B.]

So the relatively small Milwaukee Family that was subservient to Chicago was entirely Sicilian? Does that include the Boss later on named Balistrieri?
Did they ever have any Italian Americans in the Family later on that were not Sicilian?
Was the Milwaukee Family connected to a particular Mafia Clan in Sicily? Were they part of the Pizza Connection?

I don't know about 100% Sicilian, but the membership was overwhelmingly from the Bagheria area of Sicily and they maintained contact with other Bagheresi around the US, probably Sicily as well. Aiello in Chicago and some of his people were from there, so after he was murdered a number of them fled to Wisconsin where their townsmen ran Milwaukee/Madison. Balistrieri was from the Bagheria area as well. Not sure if they had any non-Sicilians later, but by the late 1960s Balistrieri was running the family like a gang and many of the old world guys were elderly or dead.

2c
1) Tampa was also said to have a council of elders, I've also heard "the chair" used for Detroit. Not sure what to make of it only to say it deserves more study.

2) The 1970's were very hard on the Mafia, within 15 years you had a large drop of of elder members nationally. The ranks were refilled with questionable results.

If that's true, this council/chair does seem to have been some kind of Sicilian practice that slipped away. Not that having a council of some kind is that unique, but this is described as a formal council within the family. In New York City after a certain point it wouldn't be practical for the administration and the large number of captains to meet and make decisions. In other families, too, their territory would be too widespread and membership possibly too large to do this practically as well. But in these small families made up mostly of Sicilians concentrated in the same area (especially Milwaukee and Tampa, who were made up mostly of men from the same town/region), it would have been easy to keep this practice up pre-1970s.

A Los Angeles informant talked about how originally induction ceremonies were supposed to have every family member in attendance. He said later this stopped because it became impractical. The Milwaukee informant also talked about a meeting called a "tourna" that was attended by all family members and says that induction ceremonies were originally held during this "tourna"; at this meeting all of the members would be polled on the new inductees. Like in Los Angeles, this informant says that this was later out of practice.

Balistrieri is said to have stopped doing both the "sagia" (chair) and "tourna" meetings, though I know he did conduct "sagia" meetings initially as some of them were recorded by the FBI.

[Confederate]

@Christie or B
Was the Milwaukee Family involved in the Pizza connection distribution of Heroin? I thought I remembered reading something about Balistrieri in that book that was written about it. You could never beat the Sicilians for organization and secrecy. I remember reading in that book how a lot of the New York Mafia guys were actually somewhat afraid of the Zips and stayed out of their way when possible.

[Angelo Santino]

Naught'ah'clueeee.... B(uelerrrrrrr!)?.

[B.]

No idea. I don't think any Balistrieri connection was mentioned in the book/articles I've read about Pizza Connection. Maybe they touched base given the midwest part of the connection, but I doubt there was much Milwaukee involvement given what an ordeal it was for Sabella/Ruggiero to reach out to Milwaukee around the same period, after the operation was under way.

[cavita]

No idea. I don't think any Balistrieri connection was mentioned in the book/articles I've read about Pizza Connection. Maybe they touched base given the midwest part of the connection, but I doubt there was much Milwaukee involvement given what an ordeal it was for Sabella/Ruggiero to reach out to Milwaukee around the same period, after the operation was under way.

If anything I think that Milwaukee, given its size, was another distribution point for narcotics in the Pizza Connection case. It also has to be noted that Emmanele Palazzolo was arrested for his part in the Pizza Connection case and he was using his pizzeria in Milton, Wisconsin as an importation/distribution center for the narcotics and Milton is only 70 miles from Milwaukee.

[Snakes]

Cavita, wasn't Rockford big into narcotics in the seventies and eighties? I also saw an eighties file that had Rockford listed as a "faction" of the Outfit although we know later that they were actually their own family.

[cavita]

Cavita, wasn't Rockford big into narcotics in the seventies and eighties? I also saw an eighties file that had Rockford listed as a "faction" of the Outfit although we know later that they were actually their own family.

They started distributing narcotics with the 1980 sanction of boss Joe Zammuto and within a few months went into it full-scale. I've continued to track this into the 1990s from FBI files. As far as a "faction" of the Outfit this is a very difficult topic to speak on. FBI files in the 1960s from an informant said they were under Chicago's umbrella as far as major disputes go but ultimately they were autonomous. I haven't seen any FBI files as yet that clearly state they are a faction of the Outfit but there was clearly cooperation between the two over the years on gambling, prostitution, etc.

A big sore point for me from my research is Nick Calabrese's testimony that the Outfit's Chinatown Crew worked with Frank "Gumba" Saladino, Joe Saladino and Frank Geraci from Rockford on a 50-50 gambling enterprise. According to Calabrese, when there was a dispute between the Rockford men and the Chinatown Crew around 1985 or so, Sam Carlisi, Jimmy Marcello and Angelo LaPietra had a sitdown in Rockford regarding the Rockford guys. Calabrese testified that the sitdown "didn't go Chinatown's way" and the three Rockford men stayed in Rockford "because that's where they belonged."

Calabrese didn't say who represented Rockford at this sitdown and because things didn't go Chinatown's way it seems clear to me that, at least in 1985, Rockford was still autonomous to have "won" a dispute with the Outfit.

[cavita]

One final note as to why Rockford officially disappeared from the FBI family charts in the 1980s is perhaps they just lumped them under the Outfit since Chicago "had" all the smaller families to the west of them anyway.

[Wiseguy]

One final note as to why Rockford officially disappeared from the FBI family charts in the 1980s is perhaps they just lumped them under the Outfit since Chicago "had" all the smaller families to the west of them anyway.

Maybe why Frank "Gumba" Saladino was later indicted as a member of the South Side/26th crew in the Outfit.

[cavita]

One final note as to why Rockford officially disappeared from the FBI family charts in the 1980s is perhaps they just lumped them under the Outfit since Chicago "had" all the smaller families to the west of them anyway.

Maybe why Frank "Gumba" Saladino was later indicted as a member of the South Side/26th crew in the Outfit.

Yes, true. And we all know regarding the Outfit that "member of a crew" doesn't necessarily mean "fully-initiated made member."

[Angelo Santino]

So the relatively small Milwaukee Family that was subservient to Chicago was entirely Sicilian? Does that include the Boss later on named Balistrieri?
Did they ever have any Italian Americans in the Family later on that were not Sicilian?
Was the Milwaukee Family connected to a particular Mafia Clan in Sicily? Were they part of the Pizza Connection?

I don't know about 100% Sicilian, but the membership was overwhelmingly from the Bagheria area of Sicily and they maintained contact with other Bagheresi around the US, probably Sicily as well. Aiello in Chicago and some of his people were from there, so after he was murdered a number of them fled to Wisconsin where their townsmen ran Milwaukee/Madison. Balistrieri was from the Bagheria area as well. Not sure if they had any non-Sicilians later, but by the late 1960s Balistrieri was running the family like a gang and many of the old world guys were elderly or dead.

2c
1) Tampa was also said to have a council of elders, I've also heard "the chair" used for Detroit. Not sure what to make of it only to say it deserves more study.

2) The 1970's were very hard on the Mafia, within 15 years you had a large drop of of elder members nationally. The ranks were refilled with questionable results.

If that's true, this council/chair does seem to have been some kind of Sicilian practice that slipped away. Not that having a council of some kind is that unique, but this is described as a formal council within the family. In New York City after a certain point it wouldn't be practical for the administration and the large number of captains to meet and make decisions. In other families, too, their territory would be too widespread and membership possibly too large to do this practically as well. But in these small families made up mostly of Sicilians concentrated in the same area (especially Milwaukee and Tampa, who were made up mostly of men from the same town/region), it would have been easy to keep this practice up pre-1970s.

A Los Angeles informant talked about how originally induction ceremonies were supposed to have every family member in attendance. He said later this stopped because it became impractical. The Milwaukee informant also talked about a meeting called a "tourna" that was attended by all family members and says that induction ceremonies were originally held during this "tourna"; at this meeting all of the members would be polled on the new inductees. Like in Los Angeles, this informant says that this was later out of practice.

Balistrieri is said to have stopped doing both the "sagia" (chair) and "tourna" meetings, though I know he did conduct "sagia" meetings initially as some of them were recorded by the FBI.

Remember Scott's "Counselor Emeritus", that's what I believe to be similar. That term was an outside coinage but their functions are similar. The boss has been referred to as The Chair, I believe that came out during the Tocco trial.

Acceturo or some Jersey informant recounted his ceremony under Corallo, everyone joined hands forming a circle and "the affairs are open/closed." Five Families by Raab covered it in the beginning of the book I believe. That practice goes back to these groups originally being smaller. Today it is impractical, 200 is less feasible than 20 men holding hands. But yes, there is symbolism to every member attending a meeting which is rooted in Sicily. But those terms are new territory to me.

I can make the case that the entire western Sicilian mafia was connected before people began immigrating to the USA, and the hierarchy keeps popping up enough to make me believe they all shared it. But each group is free to improvise (within reason). It's been so long that I don't recall from memory where each group was but in the 1800's there was the Stuppaghiari, stiddari and several others. I seem to recall the Beati Paoli being a work of fiction but double check that. It's possible certain areas had different "traditions" but terminology keeps popping up. Take stiddi or stars. In 1800's Stiddari in Sicily was a "proto-mafia"; stars were also used in prison Camorra tattoos; the 5-points gang of NYC influenced by Italian criminal culture used a 5 point star (Luciano had a 5 point star tattoo on his arm), in the 80's Sicily there was a separate rebel mafia the Stidde. All these examples are totally unrelated to one another, but it does show reoccurring themes borne out of Italo criminal culture. Similar as the custom of Italians ejaculating into the street and the farthest shooting member wins, happened in Naples, NYC and Chicago. I think I once even read Giancana did that as a kid, if true, that's a thing that goes back to Neapolitan criminal culture. Thank goodness that died out as a thing.

[Snakes]

Rockford was definitely considered a faction of the Outfit by the FBI in the mid-eighties. What faction means in LCN/FBI-speak I do not know exactly, but will let you know if I come across anything else.

[cavita]

Yes, I'd love to see that file you have talking about that... I also have some files from '94 where it appeared the "Rockford Family" as the FBI put it was partnering with Chicago on some charitable gambling fundraisers but the Rockford Family was siphoning off some of the money. There were some arrests in this case that included Rockford and Chicago guys including Joe Zeno from the Elmwood Park crew

[Confederate]

Rockford was definitely considered a faction of the Outfit by the FBI in the mid-eighties. What faction means in LCN/FBI-speak I do not know exactly, but will let you know if I come across anything else.

How could a seperate Family with a Boss be considered a faction of the Outfit? In Roemer's first book, which was the best one, he never mentioned such a thing. If they were a faction of the Outfit, they would be listed like a crew. Even Nick Calabrese mentioned the 6 or 7 seven different Crews and not one of them was Rockford. I don't see or understand how Rockford would be considered a faction of the Outfit. Just because they partnered with the Outfut on a couple things wouldn't make them a faction. Kansas City and Milwaukee partnered with the Outfit on a few things also. Does that mean they were factions of the Outfit? i think not.

[Snakes]

You're right, I just made it all up.