Sam "Teets" Battaglia Vs. The Law & Government

[Villain]

One previous conversation got me thinking regarding some of the most the violent actions and public disregard towards the law that some Outfit members such as Sam DeStefano managed to portray and ended up in jail or free on the streets. So i thought about posting some of Teets Battaglias most notable clashes with the law, since he also was one of the most notorious members in the syndicate.

Sam Battaglia’s first big clash with the law occurred on October 6, 1930, when the wife of the Mayor of Chicago William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson, Mary Thompson, went to see a show downtown while being dressed very well and also wore expensive jewels on her neck and wrists. After finishing the show, she and her driver went home and when they pulled up at the apartment building, suddenly three men stepped out of a Nash automobile, pulled out their pistols and attacked the driver. One of the attackers kept the driver on the ground with a pistol on his head and the other two forced the Mayor’s wife into the building, pressed their guns against her forehead and told her to give them all her jewels. The criminals took off in their car and got away with 6.5-carat blue diamond ring, a 40-diamond bracelet, and a diamond brooch set. After the robbery, Mrs Thompson gave the description of a tall handsome and good looking youth with blue eyes and brown hair. The street cops suddenly realized that the person involved in the robbery was 22 year old Sam Battaglia. In no time, the cops arrested Battaglia, including few of his close associates such as William Carr, John “Red” Carr, Maurice and Richard O’Connor, Sam Messi, Dave Micoletti and Joe Catrina. The trial for Battaglia was set to be in October 1930 but there was a problem, since the court bailiffs were unable to obtain service on Mrs. Thompson, who was wanted as a main witness. Story goes that Mrs Thompson allegedly told the bailiffs that she was very ill and could not make it to the trial. So with or without the positive identification, Sam Battaglia was in court on October 10, 1930 but the thing was that the driver, who was the second witness, has been compromised during the trial and in the end, Battaglia was found not guilty. Rumours went that maybe Battaglia had some strong underworld backing or maybe he simply had a good lawyer, so in the end he was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and the missing $17,000 jewels were never recovered.


On November 29, 1930, Battaglia was riding in a car together with few of his fellow criminals like Joe Catrina, Phillip Epstein, Daniel Clementi and Joseph Pupeel. This wasn’t an ordinary ride along the streets of Chicago because the boys had a plan to do a robbery on a restaurant at W. Randolph St. In fact the boys knew that at the back of the restaurant there was a high stakes card game of commission men, but according to some newspaper reports, some “stool pigeons” or informers previously overheard their plan about robbing the restaurant and relayed it to the police. So before they arrived the cops were already in the joint and waited for the robbers to appear. When the gangsters arrived in front of the restaurant, Battaglia remained at the wheel while all of his four associates got out and went in the place with their guns on point. Suddenly all hell broke loose with the sounds of a wild revolver battle with the police. When the smoke cleared one innocent pedestrian was killed, including 55 year old Leonard Sanor, a wholesale egg dealer of Los Angeles, who happened to be at the wrong place in the wrong time. Battaglia rode off in a panic, crashed the car through a display window and ran on foot. All four of his associates were arrested and taken into custody, but on December 1, 1930, Battaglia was also taken to custody of the police and was questioned about the shooting because the cops again received info that he was in fact the fifth member of the crew. Battaglia was held in custody for over a month on suspicion that he was involved in the murder, but later he was released.


In 1931 on New Year’s Eve, Battaglia, George Busk and one other individual wanted to rob the C&O café, a North Clark St. cabaret. The C&O was owned by John Connors who was the brother of a big political boss William Connors of the Near North Side. The gangsters walked in with their pistols and ordered everybody to get down on the floor. The problem was that two of the guests were police detective Martin Joyce and patrolman John Maier who were enjoying the evening with more than few drinks. When the cops saw the robbers, detective Joyce pulled out his gun and told them to surrender. It was a wrong move because Battaglia suddenly fired few shots, thus wounding Joyce in the belly and also wounding Maier in the leg. The club's merrymaking turned into a bedlam, as screaming patrons sought refuge behind chairs and booths. Maier managed to pull his gun and took a shot at the gangsters. The bullet shattered the teeth of George Busk while one guest who wanted to be hero floored Busk with a diving tackle but got shot in the abdomen. It was a bloody massacre and right after the shooting, Battaglia and the rest of his cohorts fled the scene but later he and Busk were arrested and Busk was reported dying from bullet wound which he received it during the shooting, but later survived. Rumors spread around that remnants of the North Side Italian gang known as the Aiello crime family, paid Battaglia and his gang to shoot up the C&O café, after the death of their gang’s leader Joe Aiello, because the owners of the joint had dropped the Aiello’s and switched their liquor purchases to the Capone gang. This information was developed by the Secret Six organization which was formed by six influential businessmen in Chicago who organized the business community against Al Capone. Later Battaglia was released on bond and was set to appear in court and in the end the judge reduced the charge of assault with intent to kill to assault with a deadly weapon and Battaglia was sentenced to a year in the Bridewell Prison.


In May, 1961, Sam Battaglia and his mistress were driving in their 1960 maroon Oldsmobile towards Bloomingdale, Illinois. They were returning from an outing at Battaglia’s Free Meadows farm. While approaching the small town, Battaglia pressed hard on the accelerator and the car darted in and out of the holiday traffic. Police Chief George Mueller of the Bloomingdale police took notice of this and began a pursuit of Battaglia on Lake Street. While he was chasing Battaglia, the cop radioed to Sgt. Richard Loy for assistance. The pursuit continued for more than a mile before the cops managed to curb Battaglia’s car at Lake and Bloomingdale road. Battaglia stepped out of his car and instantly started cursing and yelling at the cops. Chief Mueller said to Battaglia that he was speeding, and Battaglia replied “You’re a liar!” Furthermore Battaglia called the cops "a couple of keystone cops". Miss Kalivoda sat calmly in the car while Battaglia continued to curse the cops and also refused to show his driver license. After a while Chief Mueller had enough of Battaglia’s behaviour and said “You’re going to jail” and Battaglia again replied “Try and put me there.” So the cops started to push Battaglia across the street to Bloomingdale’s one room police station and locked him up in a single cell. Battaglia cursed and fumed there for more than an hour while the cops wrote out charged for driving 70 miles an hour in a 50 mile zone, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and disobedience of a police officer. Police Magistrate James Bell fixed Battaglia’s bond at $417. The still cursing Battaglia opened his wallet and produced the $417, and Chief Mueller estimated that at least $2,000 remained. Battaglia with some parting shots of profanity stomped out of the police station and drove away at a normal rate of speed. So this “adventure” ended ignominiously for the pair because of Battaglia’s terrible temper. But because of that kind of temper, three months later Battaglia’s reputation as one of the toughest gangsters was shattered to pieces by an ordinary Chicago police sergeant.


On August 22, 1961 police sergeant Francis Nash and his partners detectives John Zitek, Maurice Guerin and Frank Kenny set out to look over a mob conference between Giancana, Battaglia and other Outfit chiefs. The meeting was said to have been arranged by Giancana to discuss measures to head off police investigations of eight recent gang murders which have been linked with the Outfit’s juice operators. The meeting was in adjournment by the time Nash and his squad arrived at Giancana’s residence. So the police squad checked few more suburban gang hangouts and then headed back to Chicago thru Oak Park. When they arrived in Oak Park, the cops saw Sam Battaglia and Rocco Salvatore sitting in a car near Battaglia’s residence. When the two hoodlums spotted the police squad they sped off with their car with the detectives in pursuit. The chase went at high speed for more than a mile until Salvatore slammed his car to a stop in an alley near Elmwood Av. and Division St. in Oak Park. Nash’s squad was close behind. Suddenly out of the car came Battaglia and in his own style he started to curse at the cops. He approached Sergeant Nash and attempted to tear his shirt and challenged him to a fight. Battaglia attacked with two wild haymakers, which missed and then Nash pushed him away with a light left jab. Battaglia, who outweighed Nash by 20 pounds, fell to the ground and cried out “Don’t hit me, don’t hit me again, you’ll kill me!” Meanwhile, Salvatore ran down the alley shouting “Robbers, robbers!” It was a very hilarious situation. A near resident who witnessed the situation called the cops who took the four policemen and the two hoodlums into the Oak Park police station. Story goes that at the police station Salvatore said to his boss that they should retaliate but Battaglia replied “Forget about the whole thing. I don’t want any trouble over this. I don’t want any part of those Chicago coppers.”


In February 16, 1967, Chicago Outfit boss Sam Battaglia and his driver Joe Rocco were on their way to his farm in Pingree Grove. Battaglia was not surprised, however, when he stopped at a roadside telephone on the way to his 400-acre farm and called a lookout he had at 25th Avenue and Lake Street in Melrose Park and was told he was being followed by a strange car. This time it was the IRS agents' turn to be surprised. Of the 11 cars each containing two agents that were tailing Battaglia, all avoided the intersection in Melrose Park except one car containing agents not familiar with the case. Someone had forgotten to tell them Battaglia had a lookout there. Joe Rocco, Battaglia's driver, took evasive action. The agents didn't know it until later, but under the hood of the Ford station wagon Joe drove with such skill was a souped-up Thunderbird engine. Up one street and down another he sped, through one suburb after another. The agent in the IRS lead car had picked up police cars from Schiller Park, Melrose Park, and Northlake. He was speeding along North Avenue at 90 miles an hour but the Northlake police car was gaining on him. Battaglia and his driver sped through a toll plaza near Rockford without stopping to pay the toll. Four cars in radio communication were right on his tail and they sped through at 80 miles an hour speed without stopping. The gangsters started playing games with the agents by cutting thru to the opposite lanes at emergency crossings and heading the opposite direction. As they all went south they passed other state police cars, notified by the toll plaza, which were heading north. Battaglia was finally tired of the game and his driver left the toll road and drove sedately into Marengo, where the agents telephoned Hanrahan, learned the indictment had been returned, and placed Battaglia in handcuffs. Newspaper stories of Battaglia's indictment and arrest said merely that he was apprehended in Marengo by federal agents after a high speed chase on the toll road.

[Frank]

Really enjoyed reading this.

[Villain]

Really enjoyed reading this.

Thats great man. Battaglia was one helluva individual and almost disrespectful as the style of DeStefano. Also according to Mob lore, during one occasion, Battaglia brought a debtor to the basement of the Casa Madrid and was beating him for hours. One of the mob guys who witnessed the savage thrashing of the victim, had the nerve to question Battaglia on how was he handling the guy who owed him. Battaglia became angry and yelled at him "Shaddup, or I'll bust ya in da teets!" By "teets" he obviously meant teeth. Some Italians, especially Sicilians, can’t pronounce the word “teeth” so they say “teets”. The nickname stuck for the rest of his life. He was also known for chasing debtors by himself around the streets of Melrose Park and gave them the “bust ya in the teets” treatment publicly in front of everyone in the neighborhood.

[Camo]

I've read that story before and i thought he meant "I'll bust you in the tits."

Great stuff, Villain.

[BillyBrizzi]

Really enjoyed reading this.

Thats great man. Battaglia was one helluva individual and almost disrespectful as the style of DeStefano. Also according to Mob lore, during one occasion, Battaglia brought a debtor to the basement of the Casa Madrid and was beating him for hours. One of the mob guys who witnessed the savage thrashing of the victim, had the nerve to question Battaglia on how was he handling the guy who owed him. Battaglia became angry and yelled at him "Shaddup, or I'll bust ya in da teets!" By "teets" he obviously meant teeth. Some Italians, especially Sicilians, can’t pronounce the word “teeth” so they say “teets”. The nickname stuck for the rest of his life. He was also known for chasing debtors by himself around the streets of Melrose Park and gave them the “bust ya in the teets” treatment publicly in front of everyone in the neighborhood.

Great anecdote and a once again a fine article V.

[Villain]

Thanks fellas.

Btw do you guys know how Battaglia met his mistress or the love of his life?

Well one Ralph DelGenio, who worked as a truck driver, was also known as money collector for many Outfit’s loan sharks, especially for the Sam Battaglia group. But one day DelGenio made a huge mistake by not bringing a $100,000 of loan collections and story goes that his son Frederick DelGenio was responsible for the missing cash. The cash reportedly was stolen and hidden by Frederick with out the knowing of his father. So his father was picked up by Battaglia’s goons and was taken to a basement for questioning regarding the stolen cash. On June 20, 1961 Ralph DelGenio was found in his auto parked on the edge of the Loop. He had been beaten and kicked to death, allegedly by Battaglia himself. The problem was that before killing him, Ralph allegedly gave Battaglia information that his son Frederick was dating a local girl and that maybe she knew where the cash was hidden and was possibly responsible for it. After the murder of Ralph, his son Frederick went to prison in Texas for robbery, so Battaglia decided to pay a visit to the girl. You see, he possibly planned to kill the girl, since he and Marshal Caifano were once the main suspects in the brutal murder of woman which occurred almost 20 years back, but when Battaglia saw the girl for the first time, he already forgot about the money because he was looking at a 28 year old 5 feet tall blue-eyed blonde bombshell and fell in love immediately. The name of the girl was Darlene Fasel Kalivoda and she was the daughter of a very wealthy River Forest industrialist, who disowned his daughter because of her association with hoodlums. So she became Battaglia’s mistress for many years to come. Battaglia employed her as a receptionist and secretary for Leo Rugendorf at the Twin Food Company and also bought her a nice house on North Harlem Avenue in Elmwood Park. Battaglia began showing off to Miss Kalivoda by making her his constant companion on journeys to many gambling joints around Melrose Park, in which sometimes he personally picked up the day's take. At the end of the day the pair usually enjoyed a nice dinner at the North Avenue Steak House which was located at 8500 West North Av. in Maywood, Illinois. Thats real destiny lol

[Frank]

Really enjoyed reading this.

Thats great man. Battaglia was one helluva individual and almost disrespectful as the style of DeStefano. Also according to Mob lore, during one occasion, Battaglia brought a debtor to the basement of the Casa Madrid and was beating him for hours. One of the mob guys who witnessed the savage thrashing of the victim, had the nerve to question Battaglia on how was he handling the guy who owed him. Battaglia became angry and yelled at him "Shaddup, or I'll bust ya in da teets!" By "teets" he obviously meant teeth. Some Italians, especially Sicilians, can’t pronounce the word “teeth” so they say “teets”. The nickname stuck for the rest of his life. He was also known for chasing debtors by himself around the streets of Melrose Park and gave them the “bust ya in the teets” treatment publicly in front of everyone in the neighborhood.

Wasn't the Battaglia Bros originally associated with the Gennas or Aiello? I forgot the particulars. I know one of the Battaglia Bros was killed by the Outfit. Do we have a year in which Sam came over to the Outfit. And do we know what year he was Made??

[Villain]

Really enjoyed reading this.

Thats great man. Battaglia was one helluva individual and almost disrespectful as the style of DeStefano. Also according to Mob lore, during one occasion, Battaglia brought a debtor to the basement of the Casa Madrid and was beating him for hours. One of the mob guys who witnessed the savage thrashing of the victim, had the nerve to question Battaglia on how was he handling the guy who owed him. Battaglia became angry and yelled at him "Shaddup, or I'll bust ya in da teets!" By "teets" he obviously meant teeth. Some Italians, especially Sicilians, can’t pronounce the word “teeth” so they say “teets”. The nickname stuck for the rest of his life. He was also known for chasing debtors by himself around the streets of Melrose Park and gave them the “bust ya in the teets” treatment publicly in front of everyone in the neighborhood.

Wasn't the Battaglia Bros originally associated with the Gennas or Aiello? I forgot the particulars. I know one of the Battaglia Bros was killed by the Outfit. Do we have a year in which Sam came over to the Outfit. And do we know what year he was Made??

The Battaglia family first arrived in Kenosha, Wisconsin and later moved to Chicago on the Near West Side part of the city, particularly around.Taylor Street. Two of Sam's older cousins, Paul and August “Augie” Battaglia were allegedly the first members of the Battaglia clan who entered in the world of crime and later brought all of their younger cousins into that same world. During Prohibition, Paul Battaglia was allegedly associated with Angelo Genna since both gangsters were together arrested in 1923 for carrying a concealed weapons. When Joe Aiello from the North Side eliminated Angelo Genna, his territory, meaning the Taylor St area went under Aiello.

After the murder of Joe Aiello, in 1931 remnants from the Aiello North Side mob allegedly paid the Battaglias to shoot up the C&O café, since the owners switched their alliance to the Capone gang and the info came from the Secret Six organization which was formed by six influential businessmen in Chicago who organized the business community against Al Capone, which still can be suspicious. So this means that during that period possibly the Battaglias might've been on the opposite side but by 1932 they were with the Capone Mob since Louis Campagna completely entered the Taylor St area. This might've been the turning point for the Battaglias since that same year Frank Battaglia was taken for a ride and killed, since he allegedly was behind the unauthorized robberies and shootings.

Proof for that is Sam Battaglias sudden change of his business buddies such as Louis Fratto, Ted Virgillio, John Wolek, Tony Pinna and Vito Messino, all associates or runners for the Capone Mob. In fact, I believe that Louis Fratto was Battaglias main connection to Campagna and the Outfit and they remained friends their whole lives which is well documented. Another proof for that is one wiretapped conversation between Battaglia and Murray Humphreys, in which Humphreys reffered to Battaglia “…and than of course Mooney (Sam Giancana), of course you cant blame it on them, because they weren’t around like you and I were in the old days. They don’t know the inner workings, you know.” So I see this statement which was made by Humphreys that Battaglia was in the "inner workings" of the Chicago Outfit before Giancana. So if this is true, then Giancana was allegedly sponsored by Campagna in 1939 before going to jail, which possibly means that Battaglia was made or maybe simply brought in the Outfit previous of that, somewhere around the early or mid 30s, although this is just a theory based on the previous infos.

[AlexfromSouth]

Great stuff Villain.

[Frank]

Thanks Villain, and yes with Humphreys saying that it appears early to mid thirties. I take it that Battaglia also had a good relationship with Ricca and Accardo.

[Villain]

Thanks Villain, and yes with Humphreys saying that it appears early to mid thirties. I take it that Battaglia also had a good relationship with Ricca and Accardo.

@Alex thanks buddy

@Frank yeah he was good with both elders, especially Ricca. You see, according to my research, when Accardo briefly stepped down as boss in 1952 mostly because of the meat scandal, it seems that there was some hidden conflict between him and Ricca. One proof for that was when in 1953 two North Side members Paul “Needle Nose” Labriola and Jimmy Weinberg planned the potential murder of the infamous Capone lawyer Abraham Teitelbaum. The thing was that Teitelbaum was president of the thriving Chicago Restaurant Association and Labriola and Weinberg wanted a piece of it. Both gangsters were backed by Accardo and also the South Side faction with Sam Hunt and Bruno Roti Sr and also Ross Prio from the North Side. Now, when Labriola and Weinberg were making arrangements for setting up their beverage association, Hunt and Roti advised them that they should get in touch with Giancana’s representative on the West Side Sam Battaglia and inform him that their association was coming in his territory, and that he and Giancana are going to get their share.

But the reality was that the West Side faction was about to receive a much lesser share than the rest of the factions. So the three bosses advised Labriola that their names should be kept out of any conversation and if they wanted to send a message they should contact a courier of Sam Hunt. According to some sources, even Accardo secretly took a cut from the double cross scheme.

The only problem that the bosses had, was by keeping the “double cross” cash only for themselves, meaning guys like Guzik and Humphreys were not informed about the operation or any other member of their crew. But the first guy who received the information about the double scheme was in fact Gus Alex because Labriola and Weinberg were not the kind of people who kept their mouths shut and revealed the information to one of their crew members Nick Kokenes. You see, Kokenes was with the Labriola gang since the early 1940’s which was involved in many burglaries at the time but the most important thing was that Alex was very close to Kokenes, since he was the godfather of one of Kokene’s children. Out of jealousy Kokenes probably told Alex about the scheme and so “somebody” sent a message to Battaglia about the problem. So Battaglia quickly called Labriola and Weinberg for a sit down just to see if the information was true. Then the duo made a huge mistake by threatening Battaglia with the information that behind their operation stood Roti and the organization. They thought that since Battaglia was on lower level, and when hearing Roti’s name, he would back off. But they were wrong and this became a huge problem for the organization because if the West Side crew decided to go to war, all of the Outfit’s operations would be jeopardized. Men like Roti, Hunt and Prio were just too important for the organization and it would’ve been a shame if something happened to them.

The problem escalated even further when Labriola began using Accardos name and establish his operations on the West Side without the approval of Giancana and Battaglia. So thats when Battaglia decided to take this problem to the higher ups, not Accardo but Paul Ricca. By now Battaglia had a very close relationship with Ricca so he decided to ask the top guy of the organization to settle the problem. So Ricca advised Roti and Hunt to withdraw their support for Labriola and Weinberg. Roti and Hunt had a good reason to withdraw their support and turn their backs because their involvement was already exposed by Labriola and Weinberg. Ricca realized that if Hunt or Roti still supported the operation there was going to be an all out war. As for Roti and Hunt they already had things pretty well wrapped up so they didn't want any violence because it brought a lot of heat on their operations.

So heres when Alex received the role as a mediator between the factions and created his close relationship with the West Side. According to one statement, Weinberg personally asked Alex if he could smooth things over with the West Side crew. But he was swindled because the bosses made a final decision that Labriola and Weinberg were the only ones involved in the double cross and acted on their own. So my opinion is that Alex was the one who lured Labriola and Weinberg to their demise by organizing a non-existing sit down between the opposite factions. On March 15, 1954 the police found the two “sacrificial lambs” Paul Labriola and James Weinberg garrotted and stuffed together in a car trunk.

The problem did not end up there since allegedly there was still some hidden hatred between Ricca and Accardo since the second allegedly made another mistake, meaning first with the meat scandal and now this. So in May, 1954 or two months later after the deaths of Labriola and Weinberg, according to one Chi Tribune article, Johnny Torrio and Tony Ricci came from Ne York to Chicago to patch up the differences between Accardo and Ricca. So when Tony Capezio died in 1955, out of respect, Accardo again received the boss position and again out of respect, Alex also received the First Ward and Loop but since he wasnt Italian, Frank Ferrraro was placed as the representative, while Battaglia received Melrose Park.

[Confederate]

Very good as usual. When do you think Ferraro became the underboss of the entire Outfit? According to Ovid Demaris, Battaglia was the #2 which makes sense because Battaglia was more powerful. However, you guys say it was Ferraro. I'm not disputing it, just wondering about the time frame. Maybe Battaglia became #2 in 1964 after Ferraro died?

[Frank]

Very good as usual. When do you think Ferraro became the underboss of the entire Outfit? According to Ovid Demaris, Battaglia was the #2 which makes sense because Battaglia was more powerful. However, you guys say it was Ferraro. I'm not disputing it, just wondering about the time frame. Maybe Battaglia became #2 in 1964 after Ferraro died?

Yes he became Underboss when Ferraro died.

[Villain]

Very good as usual. When do you think Ferraro became the underboss of the entire Outfit? According to Ovid Demaris, Battaglia was the #2 which makes sense because Battaglia was more powerful. However, you guys say it was Ferraro. I'm not disputing it, just wondering about the time frame. Maybe Battaglia became #2 in 1964 after Ferraro died?

It was politics meaning Roti Sr was also still very powerful individual and the so-called First Ward and Loop crew were previously connected to the South Side "Mafia". So it was important for the Outfit to include someone from these factions at the top. Also the number two spot was already once held by the First Ward and South Side with Phil D'Andrea and later Ferraro simply inherited it in 1956/57 from Sam Giancana by previously becoming the capo of the First Ward and Loop, as a favour for the previous case.

Rocco DeGrazia was simply pushed away and Battaglia received a larger crew and territory such as MP Park, Stone Park, Nothlake and Franklin Park and also received jurisdiction over other Italian and non-Italian crews. So this means that he was also greatly awarded by Ricca and Giancana for being loyal to the West Side. In other words it was too early for Battaglia in 56/57 to become the underboss and thats why he didnt receive the First Ward, not until 1964 when he placed Alderiso there.

[Frank]

Thats interesting. I wonder if Ricca death had anything to do with the switch to Elmwood Park ,with Cerone becoming underboss.