On the evening of February 15, 1997 an Illinois State Trooper had stopped a black Cadillac for speeding near the intersection of East State Street and Fairview Avenue. Finding the driver to be Joseph W. Saladino, longtime Rockford resident, the trooper must not have liked the answers given to him and proceeded to search the vehicle. Upon opening the trunk, you can imagine the trooper’s surprise at what he found inside-a loaded .380 Auto Caliber Colt government model semi-automatic pistol, an unloaded .357 Magnum Colt Trooper MKIII revolver, an unloaded 9mm Luger Cobray fully automatic machine pistol with no serial number, in excess of 400 rounds of ammo, two books on how to make silencers, a book on machine lathes, a billy club, two “slim jims,” two bolt cutters, a tree trimming saw, a butcher knife, a pipe wrench, a stocking cap and two face masks. Saladino was promptly arrested and posted the necessary bail quickly. In 1998 he was sentenced on these charges, but his attorney successfully appealed and the case languished in the courts for years. One had to wonder what was Saladino doing with these items and where was he going?
To back up a bit, who was Joe Saladino? Saladino was born in Rockford to Joe and Grace Saladino and was immediately around the Italian LCN element from the beginning. Saladino’s grandfather was Joseph Guttilla, an early Rockford LCN member. Additionally, Saladino’s uncle was Augie Maniaci, a made member of the Milwaukee LCN family who lived in Rockford for a few years in the 1930s and continued to make frequent trips back to Rockford to visit family and the Rockford LCN members who he had become close with.
Joe Saladino’s first brush with the law came at the age of 17 on November 10, 1962 when he was arrested along with Frank G. Saladino, 16, and John T. Tassoni, 18, for creating a disturbance at the Skeet Drive-In at Auburn Street and Rockton Avenue. Tassoni would become Saladino’s future brother-in-law and Frank Saladino would come to be known as a feared gambling collector and hitman for the Chicago Outfit.
Problems for Joe and Frank would become more serious on the evening of July 28, 1964 when the two men offered a ride to 19 year old Carolyn Blades. Carolyn was waiting for a bus on Montague Street when the two Saladino men pulled up. Blades agreed to join the two and they stopped off and bought some beer. The two Saladino men then drove Blades out to a country road where they took turns beating and raping her. Blades had recognized Frank Saladino and after some investigation, the two men were arrested, found guilty and ordered to serve 3-10 years in the Illinois State Penitentiary. On November 27th both Joe and Frank Saladino arrived at Pontiac Prison to start their terms and on March 11, 1968 both were released from prison and rejoined their friends and family in Rockford.
Joe managed to stay out of trouble until July 24, 1974 when a Rockford police officer attempted to arrest him for breaking a mirror in a local restaurant bathroom. Saladino pushed the officer and said he would only be arrested if he were knocked out. The officer then obliged and hit Saladino on the chin, knocking him out. Also arrested during this disturbance were Saladino’s brother Peter, 23, and John P. Giacomazzo, 21.
Joe kept quiet for a few years until he was arrested again on October 12, 1982 on battery charges but he paid a $90 fine for this and was sentenced one year’s court supervision. On February 27, 1983 both Joe and Frank Saladino were in Joe’s vehicle when it rear-ended a car driven by Joseph Graceffa. A passing police officer pulled over to investigate and Joe became belligerent and was arrested for disorderly conduct. Another fine followed and Joe was free to go about his business which just happened to be gambling collections and bookmaking.
Through all these scrapes with the law Joe kept close to his friend Frank Saladino, who by this time had committed murder on behalf of the Chicago Outfit’s Southside/Chinatown crew. Frank was also collecting gambling debts and street tax from the various strip clubs and adult bookstores for the Rockford LCN while Joe had begun coming into his own as a bookmaker and loanshark.
On January 25, 2005 Joe Saladino began serving 27 months in prison in federal prison in Sandstone, Minnesota from his 1997 weapons charges. During his time there, the federal government unleashed their charges on the Chicago Outfit in the form of the Family Secrets case. It was this case that saw Frank “Gumba” Saladino charged in connection with murders associated to the Southside/Chinatown crew from Nick Calabrese’s testimony. Frank, however, would be found dead inside the Super 8 Motel in Hampshire, Illinois by federal agents on April 25, 2005. Among the possessions in Saladino’s room was $80,000- some of it in the form of personal checks. Sources have stated that the money in Saladino’s room was the proceeds of gambling monies collected, but on behalf of whom? By this time Frank was more involved in Rockford’s business and a 2002 “threat assessment” to Outfit informant Nick Calabrese stated that Frank “was a member of the Calabrese Street Crew in the 1980’s and was responsible for collections of juice loans and street tax. Saladino is currently involved with the Rockford family of the LCN and information has been obtained which indicates that Saladino is the Boss of the Rockford Family.” Whether Saladino was indeed the boss or it was what Nick Calabrese was led to believe is still not clear, however.
At any rate, on February 1, 2006 federal agents made another move and with the help of local police in Rockford, they swooped in early in the morning and arrested nine Rockford-area men they tried to connect with Chicago’s “Family Secrets” case. The FBI said with these arrests they wanted to prove Rockford’s involvement with the Outfit’s gambling operation involving the Southside/Chinatown crew’s rackets from years before when Frank Saladino was making collections. The FBI charged that the gambling operation started in the early 1980s and continued up until at least May 2002 and included five years of surveillance on the group which was performed by the FBI and Rockford police. Frank Saladino was named as an unindicted co-conspirator as he had died the year before, but he was the link between the other Rockford men and the Chicago Outfit. Others arrested were Frank C. Giardono, 69, John “Tiger” Frisella, 57, John “Don Finooch” Salamone, 27, Joe “Pep” Fiorenza, 60 and his sons Nick, 38 and Rick Fiorenza, 36, Charles Purin, 62, Nick Provenzano, 44 and Joe W. Saladino, 60, who was still in prison in Sandstone, Minnesota.
Because of Frank Saladino’s death, the presiding judge stated that this gambling operation couldn’t be tied to the larger Family Secrets operation and had to be tried separately. When all was said and done, all the remaining men involved were given fines, probation and community service, with the exception of Joe Saladino, who had another three months added to his sentence. Joe was also given three years’ supervised release and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.
In Frank Giardono’s guilty plea agreement it stated in part that “The operation of this illegal gambling business, among other things, used clerks to accept wagers, assigned number designations to bettors, obtained telephones in nominee names, and paid commissions to agents of the gambling business, in addition to paying and collecting money from bettors. Defendant Giardono further acknowledges that Joseph Saladino and John Frisella for a period of time used a sports bookmaking “wireroom” at an apartment located at 1912 17th Avenue, Apartment #1, Rockford. This apartment was mainly used by Frisella and Saladino, and at times others, for the illegal gambling business, during bookmaking hours during weekday evening hours and on the weekends. Two land-line telephones inside this apartment were used in the illegal gambling business as well as a fax machine. The phones were listed under the name of Joesph Saladino’s live-in girlfriend. The daily activities of the illegal sports bookmaking operation were conducted and controlled by Joseph Saladino, with assistance by Frisella.”
Giardono happened to be the stepson of longtime Rockford LCN capo Charles Vince and at various times it was reported that Vince may have also been underboss at one point and acting boss before his death in 1994. Giardono had been hosting high stakes poker games on behalf of the Rockford LCN as far back as the early 1970s so his gambling expertise and pedigree worked well with Saladino.
In Jeff Coen’s book about the Family Secrets case according to Nick Calabrese, he stated that he and his brother Frank would drive well into the Chicago suburbs and pick up gambling proceeds from three men he knew to be 50-50 agents of theirs in Rockford- Frank “Gumba” Saladino, Frank Geraci and Joe Saladino. Calabrese had stated that at some point in the 1980s the three men broke off from the Chintaown crew in fear for their lives. Why this was, it was never explained but Calabrese said a sitdown in Rockford was necessary to try and get the three men back with the Chinatown group. The sitdown was attended by Sam Carlisi, Jimmy Marcello and Angelo LaPietra but it wasn’t explained who represented the Rockford men. The sitdown obviously happened before LaPietra went to prison in March 1986, so it was likely the Rockford men were represented by Rockford boss Joe Zammuto and underboss Frank Buscemi. Zammuto was close to Joey Aiuppa and Buscemi had lived in Chicago prior to moving to Rockford and had worked under the Outfit’s Jimmie DeGeorge. Calabrese said the sitdown didn’t go their way and the three Rockford men stayed in Rockford “because that’s where they belonged.”
An interesting sidenote about Joe Saladino is that when all the information was coming out on the Rockford men and their alleged involvement with the Outfit, a letter arrived at the offices of one of the local newspapers addressed to one of its reporters. The letter was from a retired Winnebago County Sheriff’s Deputy and outlined some of the corruption within the sheriff’s department, but the most interesting item was that the deputy applauded the investigation into local organized crime and had stated that Saladino was currently a “field lieutenant” with the Rockford LCN. Whatever Joe’s status is these days he continues to be seen around Rockford at the local off-track betting facility and various social clubs.
February 15, 1997- Rockford's Joe Saladino
Moderator: Capos
Re: February 15, 1997- Rockford's Joe Saladino
Good info. Thanks, cavita. Joe Saladino a made guy?
Re: February 15, 1997- Rockford's Joe Saladino
Based on the retired deputy's comment, I would have to say yes. That is a sticking point since there is supposed to be no more "family" in Rockford. According to police reports and the FBI, Sebastian Gulotta was a "lieutenant" as early as 1984 and most likely remained so up until his death in 2000. Gulotta was still overseeing gambling collections well into the mid 90s according to the FBI and indications are that he was using Frank "Gumba" Saladino as one of his enforcers. Perhaps Joe Saladino took over that position upon the death of Gulotta? It's still very confusing.
My intention years ago was to research the smaller families because I thought them interesting and that it would be easier since they were small. I started with Rockford and here it is years later and I'm still looking into them because their connections were so widespread and they are still a bit of a mystery.
Re: February 15, 1997- Rockford's Joe Saladino
They suffer from "Outfit Syndrome."
The closer a family is to Chicago, the more difficult it is to understand.
The closer a family is to Chicago, the more difficult it is to understand.
Re: February 15, 1997- Rockford's Joe Saladino
I wish I could get better info however. I requested a file for a guy that died a couple years ago and he was investigated by the feds in a cases from the 1990s through 2007 yet what I received from his FBI file stops in the mid 1980s. Very frustrating.