The Chicago Outfit

[Pogo The Clown]

Repost.


Antiliar

Some of the info you want just doesn't exist. I've been working on this for years and don't have all the answers and there is debate about the early history. First, let's say that Nick Gentile is correct that Capone was made a capodecina who reported to Joe Masseria with the right to make ten men. Like I wrote elsewhere, I have other sources that support this. Then what you have is a large crew that has these eleven people at its core, but with many more working under them. We don't know who the ten men were who Capone made, but we can guess. With this in mind I think if you made your starting point 1931 you would do better. However, there are some things I can tell you.

In Chicago Heights, the first Caponite leader there was Dominic Roberto from around 1926 to 1928 (he was deported), followed by Jimmy Emery until 1957.
Rocco De Grazia was the first leader that I'm aware of in Melrose Park, but have no starting date
Tony Capezio was earliest head of the Grand Avenue crew
Guzik was the first connection guy, but I don't know when that started
Louis Campagna might have been the first Cicero leader after Capone divided up the crews. Or it could have been Ralph Capone until he went to prison. Or it could have been Frank Nitti
Ricca probably headed up the earliest Taylor Street crew that later went to Fiore Buccieri. Contrary to most who claim that Nitti was the first boss, I believe it was Ricca.

What there is of DeGeorge in the FBI files says that he was the boss of the North Side crew before Prio, but it doesn't say for how long he was the boss or if there was anyone else before him. There are only bits and pieces of DeGeorge in other people's files because the FBI destroyed his file. Maybe Pinelli was a previous North Side boss, I don't know. Vincent Benevento may have been a caporegime too, or Phil D'Andrea. The FBI also has Willie "Potatoes" Daddano as a capo covering other counties with guys like Black Joe Amato and Pasquale Clementi under him. Jimmy Belcastro may have been an early capo. "Dago" Lawrence Mangano may have been one too.

Pogo, if you want to trace things earlier then you're going to the earlier groups:
-Chicago Heights was originally the Chicago Heights Mafia with bosses such as Tony San Filippo. Don't pay attention to that stupidity that came out Laurence Bergreen that Capone was working for Frank La Porte. That's just crazy. I recommend Matt Luzi's book on Chicago Heights. It's very good and accurate (there might be a point here and there I can debate, but overall it's highly recommended). There's another book on the Heights coming out soon that Luzi recommends, and it's longer and more detailed that Luzi's account.
-The North Side crew replaced the previous occupants -- the Aiellos
-Taylor Street covered Little Italy and its previous occupants were Joe Esposito, the Genna brothers and the heads of the Chicago Mafia
-Cicero was under John Torrio after Ed Vogel invited him and Capone in when Dever became mayor. It was run by Al Capone and his brothers, but they were working for Torrio until Spring of 1925
-Capone's people were the first organized criminals to operate in Melrose Park and Grand Avenue/Elmwood Park, so De Grazia and Capezio were the first ones there.
-Capone and Torrio at first operated out of the South Side because that's where Colosimo was. The crew that was closest to where Capone operated (out of the Lexington Hotel, or even earlier to Colosimo's Cafe) was the Taylor Street crew, so it's possible that there was an extra prestige to being part of this crew for that reason.

About Ferraro, I haven't seen where any informant identified him as an underboss, so I don't know how the FBI concluded that. One informant said he was actually the boss over Cicero between Campagna and Aiuppa. I found a section of dialogue with Ferraro and Giancana where they were discussing Aiuppa and that Ferraro was going to give him an order about something. It makes sense if he was the Cicero capo like the informant claimed then he would also be direct to Giancana -- as all the capos were. The fact that Ferraro operated out of the Loop isn't relevant considering that Campagna lived in Berrien County, Michigan (after he moved from Berwyn).

Regarding Daddano, several informants talked about him being very powerful but they never ascribed a rank to him. The FBI, however, lists him as the capo of DuPage, McHenry and Lake counties several times. It seems that if he had several made guys operating under him he would be the equivalent of a capo whether or not he had the title.

When Aiuppa was boss there was a #2 - Jack Cerone, and I think Rio and Nitti were Ricca's underbosses, followed by Accardo. When Ricca retired and Accardo was made boss he picked Giancana (there might have been some importance that both of their parents came from Castelvetrano) as his underboss -- which makes me wonder, was Giancana the Taylor Street capo before Buccieri?

From at least 1953 or earlier to when Accardo stepped down in 1956/57 Giancana was his underboss, so I was wondering if he was the Taylor Street capo before that. He was released from prison in 1942 and according to some sources was made before he went to prison in 1939. So if he was a capo it wasn't for very long before he became Accardo's underboss. Accardo became boss in 1947.

On Ferraro, I wasn't going by Roemer's book but by the actual transcripts, and in those transcripts it looks like Ferraro was going to give Aiuppa an order.

Cavita

Frank LaPorte (real name Liparota) was put in charge of slots and handbooks in the Heights by Jim Emery. LaPorte took over as boss in 1957 but I don't think he was anything but a soldier before then. And yes, Emery's real name was Vincenzo Ammirati and he was Calabrian

Pogo

So a rough breakdown for the late 20s/early 30s would look like this.


Boss: Al Capone
UnderBoss/#2: Frank Nitti?
Connection Guy's: Jake Guzik


Street Crews:
Taylor Street: Paul Ricca (possibly)
Melrose Park: Rocco DeGrazia (possibly)
Grand Avenue: Tony Capezio
Cicero: Louis Campagna or Ralph Capone. Possibly Frank Nitti before that.
Chicago Heights: Domenico Roberto (1926-1928) followed by Jimmy Emery (Wasn't his real name Vincenzo Ammeratto?)


Checking my records I have a Bruno "The Bomber" Roti being the Crew Boss over Chinatown/26th Street in the 20s and 30s and Frank LaPorte as Capone's top advisor from 1928-1931? Is any of this accurate?

Chicago

Agree with everything you said except Daddano. It's true he was a very powerful made guy. He was first among equals with the made guys or upper management.
However, at the end of the day, Willie was under Battaglia. He was out in DuPage County but was with Battaglia.
I believe he was so prominent for awhile (before he went to jail in the 1960's) that the Feds believed he was a Boss (Capo) they also believed this of Chuckie English because he was direct with Giancana. they also believed this of Ferraro who was also direct with Giancana. These guys were strong made guys who ran their own Sub crews and were very prominent.
However, there were only about 6 crews and Daddano and English were not Bosses of any of these 6 and Ferraro was not the #2. I asked my uncle about Ferraro when Roemer's book came out just like I asked him about the 1983 Chart, and He told me specifically that Daddano was under Battaglia and that Ferraro was not the #2.
It was actually Battaglia. That's why when Giancana left, Battaglia became the Top Boss. Make sense?
Ovid Demaris, Who wrote a very good Book called Captive City, said the same thing.

Side note: There really was no official #2 because the top three were Ricca, Accardo & Giancana.
However, in terms of Practicality and Power, Battaglia was the UNOFFICIAL #2 and was next in line to be Top Boss which is exactly what happened when Giancana left.

Absolutely 100% yes. Giancana was the Boss (Capo) of Taylor St. before 1957. Then, in 1957, Bucciere became Capo of Taylor St. But, remember the Chicago formula, Bucciere & Battaglia assisted Giancana in running both the Taylor St. & Melrose Park Crews, All those guys were HIS guys at the end of the day. That's why Daddano, Nicoletti, Alderisio, etc. were all in direct contact with both Batttaglia & Giancana. Giancana kept his Taylor St. men very close to him.

Ferraro was never the Capo (Boss) of Cicero with made guys and soldier/associates under him.
No, it was Auippa for a VERY long time. In Roemer's Book, Giancana is talking to Ferraro ABOUT Auippa and is telling him that if Auippa can't do better in Cicero, then he can't do better anywhere because Cicero is a great area.
It was more like Shop talk.
Also, Giancana could pass an order through any made guy who was one of his Taylor St. men or one of the other made guys direct with him to somebody else in the Outfit.
Many times an order would come from Chuckie English to the Elmwood Park Crew about the Juke Box Machines that Gagliano and English were involved with together. It would NOT be English giving the order, it would be English PASSING the order to Cerone or Gagliano. Big difference.
How do I know? because My uncle was also a Juke Box Machine Collector along with being a Juice Collector.

Ferraro PASSING an order to Auippa is what happened. Ferraro was direct with Giancana and had been direct with Accardo & Ricca previously. The guys working in Ferraro & Alex's sub crew were not considered made guys. They were ordinary Bookmaking guys. Ferraro was a political guy similar to Marcy, except he didn't have an office right in the middle of everything like Marcy.
Again, just because a guy like Marcy or Ferraro or English PASS an order along, doesn't make them a Capo or an Underboss.

Giancana was the Boss of Taylor St. all by himself from 1942 to 1947.
In 1947, he became the #2, but was still the Boss of Taylor St. with Bucciere as his personal underboss.
In 1957, Giancan became #1, but was still the Boss of Taylor St. and Melrose Park with Bucciere and Battaglia as his personal underbosses.
Melrose Park Crew at that time was just another extension of the Taylor St. Power Base.
If you stop and think about it, and do not equate it to New York, you will see it very clearly.

The #1 & the #2 NEVER give up their Crew completely to someone.

That's why in 1992, when they indicted Carlisi, Marcello etc. They called it the Sam Carlisi Street crew even though he was the #1. See the point?

[Pogo The Clown]

Cavita

The following is from a 11/13/1964 FBI file on Jackie Cerone and Frank Ferraro referencing a problem with the Rockford family. It’s interesting to see here that Ferraro is referred to as the underboss of Chicago but even that is suspect.

It is noted that on that date (10/3/1960) source received information as a result of a conversation between Chicago top hoodlum JACK CERONE and FRANK FERRARO. It is noted that at the time FERRARO was the underboss of the Chicago group. For the information of the Bureau, the following conversation was set out in remyairtel:

CERONE: “I got a call this morning FRANK… The boss in Rockford called me last night…. So he calls me last night and said he had to see me, so he stopped by on the way home and before I called you I called West to see if I could get a hold of MOE. MOE’S out of town. So you’re the next man, anyway he explained to me this morning, one of his fellows, three fellows came out to Rockford, two Americanized boys and one Italian boy came out to Rockford and said they wanted to see him and he says he is going to shoot one of his fellows.

FERRARO: He’s going to shoot one of his fellows?

CERONE: Yeah. He brought the fellow in town and put the underboss and him. I got him on the phone. I listened to the story and said well, I’ll try and contact you. First he said I’ll try to go to Calumet City, will you call the boss out there. I said well the proper way to do it is to see MOE. He said that want you to do… He wanted me to meet LA PORTE so I said he’s out of town, so I said I’d call the next fellow to him, which would be AL. So AL is coming to town and has a date with GUSSIE at 11:00. He got a date. So he’ll be here at 11:00. These fellows are standing by at a phone number where I can call them and they’ll come wherever you want to meet them. So I can introduce you to them.

FERRARO: The guy died, then who took over?

CERONE: Rockford? JOE ZERULLO (Phonetic). He said he met you. JASPER is the underboss. JOE ZERULLO (Phonetic) is the boss.

FERRARO: Whose the other guy that died?

CERONE: I don’t know so I got them standing by. So I got them standing by the phone booth. Diversey 8-8609, Halsted and Diversey. They’re with some fellow of mine. One of our fellows.”

Following additional conversation in this regard CERONE and FERRARO then agreed to meet the above-indicated individuals in the Croyden Hotel on the Near North Side of Chicago. This meeting was observed by SAS RALPH R. HILL and DENNIS W. SHANNAHAN and it was noted CERONE and FERRARO met with HY GODFREY, bodyguard of all Chicago hoodlums, with three other white males in the lobby of the Croyden Hotel on 10/3/60. Following the meeting CERONE subsequently drove off in a Cadillac registered to J.W. Marinelli in Rockford, Illinois.

The above reference to MOE is obviously a reference to Chicago top hoodlum SAM GIANCANA, the boss of the Chicago group. Obviously when contacted CERONE attempted to put these individuals in touch with GIANCANA as the boss. Then when unable to contact GIANCANA, FERRARO being “next man” or the underboss, CERONE then placed the problem in with FERRARO.
The reference to Calumet City and to LA PORTE is obviously a reference to Chicago top hoodlum FRANK LA PORTE who is the organized hoodlum in charge of the area including Calumet City, Illinois.

It is noted that when initially received the Chicago Office interpreted the reference to JOE (ZERULLO) (Phonetic) as being a reference to JOE ZITO inasmuch as the Chicago Office was cognizant that ZITO was a hoodlum in the Rockford, Illinois area. However, in view of the above information received from MI-CTE it is now apparent that the reference to JOE (ZERULLO) was in actuality a reference to JOE ZAMMUTO. This, then, would confirm the information recently obtained from MI-CTE. The reference to JASPER as being the underboss is obviously a reference to JASPER CALO. CALO is a Rockford hoodlum who had authority in Rockford until he recently returned to his native Sicily. BUSCEMI, according to the information received from MI-CTE, apparently has taken CALO’S place as the underboss in Rockford.

The above telephone number checks out to a tavern called George’s Place at 2733 North Halsted in the immediate vicinity of Diversey and Halsted on the Near North Side of Chicago. It is noted that the license listed to J.W. MARINELLI is obviously for an automobile registered to Rockford hoodlum JOE MARINELLI, also known as “Gramps” and “Pops” MARINELLI, a Rockford hoodlum.
It is of interest to note that FRANK FERRARO, being the underboss of the Chicago group in 1960, was unaware of the identity of the boss and underboss in Rockford and had to request information from CERONE. This would be an indication that there is no close tie up between the Chicago group and the Rockford group.

It would appear obvious that the information provided by MI-CTE and the information obtained in October, 1960, by CG 6343-C are in consonance with each other.

Antiliar

Don't know about Fischetti. He seems to have had more authority than his brothers Rocco and Joseph. Before moving to Miami they lived he lived in the Near North Side and appeared to answer to the bosses. He might have been one of those guys who were direct with the boss, but it's speculation on my part.

McGurn was a made member of the Grand Avenue/Elmwood Park crew under Capezio. His associates included Accardo and Charles Gioe, who were also part of that crew. So you may ask what was Accardo then? I think he was Capezio's top lieutenant in the same way Joe Gags was the top lieutenant to Cerone and would be his acting capo when he wasn't around. When Capezio died in 1955 he was replaced by Cerone since Accardo was the Outfit boss at that time.

While Ferriola was alive the FBI thought he was the boss, but it was later determined that he was never the top boss. This was known as far back as 1993: http://www.leagle.com/decision/19932301 ... 20INFELISE. Here's another case from 1997: ↓http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1316784.html. Then in 2003 you can see that Ferriola was not listed as a top boss: http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/indict/ ... ecrets.pdf. The newspapers have a history of not correcting their information, and a lot of the books out there are written by reporters. The Outfit has a history of not correcting the media's mistakes. After all, why should it. It gives them a good laugh to see they have a capo or a street boss named as the top boss. While the media repeatedly said that Nitti was the top boss, it was Ricca who sat on the Commission and working in the background. I think based on the totality of the evidence that after Capone, Ricca was the top boss and Rio, then Nitti, then Accardo served as his underboss. Campagna is the question mark. This is speculation, but I am certain that he was the first Cicero boss after the Capones themselves, but he might have moved to become the consigliere at a certain point. One person who witnessed this reported that Campagna gave an order to Giancana AND Nitti while they were visiting him in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where he had a large estate (fun fact: this estate was later purchased by boxer Muhammad Ali). There are others who said that Campagna was one of the top guys giving orders. Anyway, this brings the question that if Campagna went from capo to consigliere, who was the consigliere before him? I'd like the answer to that too, but as I said it's speculation.

Ivan

I've read in a couple sources (forget which ones) that Rio was the first number two under Capone, and was later "outstripped" by Nitti when Nitti proved to be more capable.

Christ Christy

Have we ever come up with a list of names of the various Chicago groups for this era? Off the top of my head...

Chicago Heights
-Sicilian Mafia
--Tony San Filippo

-Caponites
--Dominic Roberts
--Jimmy Emery
--Frank Lo Porte

Chicago
-Sicilian Mafia / North Side-Taylor
--Phil D'Andrea
--Mike Merlo
--The Gennas
--The Aiellos
--The Cardinellis
--Joe Espositio
--Tony Lombardo

-The Moran Gang (didn't factor directly into the future outfit of 1931)
--?

-Caponeites / Cicero
--The Capones
--Paul Ricca
--Frank Nitti

[Pogo The Clown]

Antiliar

This is a possible succession. Thoughts?

Taylor Street:
1931-1932: Paul Ricca (became boss)
1932-1945: James Belcastro (died)
1945-1947: Sam Giancana (became underboss)
1947-1951: Leonard Caifano (killed)
1951-1973: Fiore Buccieri

Snakes

The original Taylor Street (West Side) crew became two crews sometime in the mid-to-late fifties; Melrose Park (Battaglia, west suburbs) and Taylor Street (Buccieri, near West Side, some South Side). They eventually evolved into the modern-day Grand Avenue and 26th St./South Side crews, respectively.

DeGrazia ran Melrose Park until Giancana came to power and started installing his guys in all the top spots. Battaglia was placed at the head of Melrose Park and then Phil Alderisio took it over when Battaglia became boss. After Alderisio went to prison and died, Lombardo rose to the top of that crew and moved his "base of operations" a little further east, closer to his home on Grand Avenue, at which point the crew became known by that moniker. By the late seventies, Aiuppa (now boss of the entire Outfit), had moved Carlisi into the Melrose Park void which had been recently vacated when Lombardo shifted his power base. Carlisi got his own crew and ran the Melrose Park area until he became boss and left it to Jimmy Marcello. However, that crew got hammered by indictments in the early nineties and was effectively dismantled. Most of their rackets were then taken over by the Cicero guys.

Cortina ran a huge sportsbook on the West Side with Don Angelini that may or may not have reported straight to the top. He was never a part of Grand Avenue.

Centracchio is more of a mystery as he started out with Grand Avenue under Lombardo and then moved to the West Side (Cicero) to run things in the nineties when so many guys were locked up, at least from what I can gather. Most of his activity in that time period was in the western suburbs, particularly Melrose Park, Stone Park, Franklin Park, and Northlake.

I know that a lot of law enforcement guys were lumping Grand Avenue in with the Elmwood Park/North Side crew in the nineties because they believed it had been absorbed by that group. However, there has been evidence that the crew is still alive and active, particularly with the recent bust concerning Panozzo and Koroluk.

Eboli took over until he died in '87 and then Jimmy Cozzo took over until Lombardo got out of prison in '92. Even though Lombardo was more hands off by that point, nobody sneezed on Grand Avenue without his permission until he went back to jail.

Chicago

Not sure if Gianacana's personal underboss in 1947 (for Taylor St.) was Leonard Caifano. It could have been as Giancana did love this guy. Look up Fat Lenny's birthdate. It was either Fat Lenny or Bucciere.
Battaglia was already in the West Suburbs.

However, don't overlook the main point:
Giancana was the #2 AND still the Boss of the West Side (Taylor St) & the West Suburbs (Melrose Park).
Either Fat Lenny (first) then Bucciere (second) were his personal underbosses for Taylor St.
Battaglia was his personal underboss for Melrose Park

The #1 & the #2 never give up their Crew entirely.
I'm not sure if you are seeing that point or are trying to make Chicago fit into the New York way where
the Boss the gives up his Crew to another guy when he becomes part of the Administration?
It doesn't happen that way in Chicago. Never did.

Antiliar, Not to stray too far away from the Taylor St. succession, another thing you could look up for more verification is the Chicago Bosses meetings that would occasionally take place in the old days before 1985.
That " Last Supper " Picture taken by Blasi around 1976 pretty much says it all.

If you can find the picture and post it, that would be good.
I heard it referred to as a Boss's Meeting.
Black Angelo called it a Chicago Commission meeting but I think he was just using the word Commission and sticking Chicago in front of it.
If you notice, it wasn't a meeting with ONLY Accardo, Auippa & Cerone. It was a full Boss's meeting with ALL the Chicago Bosses.

Accardo Semi-Retired Top Boss
Auippa #1, Boss of Cicero (Joe Ferriola, Personal Underboss to Auippa, not present)
Cerone #2, Boss of Elmwood Park (John DiFronzo, Personal Underboss to Cerone, not present)
Lombardo, Boss of Grand Ave.
Torello, Boss of 26th St.
Solano, NEW Boss of North Side/Rush St.
Pilotto, Boss of Chicago Heights

The full reconstituted Melrose Park Crew had not yet come into complete fruition in 1976 with Carlisi.

Dominic DiBella was present but was dying of cancer. The meeting was to officially recognize Vince Solano as
the new Boss of the North Side/Rush St. Crew.
Joey DiVarco was also present as he was to be Solano's replacement if anything happened to him.

Joe Amato was there to semi-retire. He was a strong made guy who ran a sub crew and I believe was direct with the Top Bosses.

Snakes did a good job of explaining it. I know it's confusing.
Just to add to it, think of it this way.

1). The Taylor St. Crew went out of power and basically no longer existed by 1969.
2). The remaining guys went in one of three directions:
a). Into the reconstituted Grand Ave Crew under Lombardo, or
b). Into the 26th St. crew under Bucciere who was sick ( Torello took over even before Buccirere died), or
c). Were direct with Auippa/Cerone.

As you can see, there was a huge Power Change/Shift within the Outfit around this time because
Giancana was gone, Battaglia was gone, Alderisio was gone (jail, and then died), Bucciere had stomach cancer, Daddano was gone (jail) etc.

Auippa/Cerone then cleaned house a little by killing a few left over Taylor St. men:
1). DeStefano
2). Giancana ( when he returned)
3). Nicoletti
4). English

Joey Lombardo, Turk Torello, Angelo LaPietra & Skids Caruso were original Taylor St. crew men who " saw the light ".
Marshall Caifano basically disappeared down to Florida for a long time if memory serves me correctly.
Lombardo was easy because he was born and raised on Grand Ave anyway.

As far as Chuckie English. Who knows? I can tell you this:
There was never any love between him & Auippa/Cerone.
He viewed them as vastly inferior to Gianacana.
He probably did something and that's what gave Auippa/Cerone their justification.

I agree that he was not dangerous like DeStefano or Nicoletti.

[Pogo The Clown]

Christy

I can't help but wonder if The Outfit was an organization that kept changing the way it operated at certain points.

The Modern Outfit was formed between 1928-1931. Al Capone's reign was very short lived, so that left Ricca, Nitti and Compagna to clean up the mess from the 1920's. As representatives of the mafia in Chicago they would have to have an administration that translated with other cities. But as local leaders, they had several different groups under the umbrella that needed to be placated. Not to mention that this merger in the 20's brought in enough non-Mafia Sicilians and mainlanders, that they and the people under them (associates who would later be members) would make abiding by a traditional mafia setup would be seen as irrelevant. The original Sicilian Mafia members fled, retired or toed the line but their prominence faded with Aiello just like it did in the Genovese family when Terry Burnes was murdered. Signaled an end of an era. But whatever choices, decisions made by Ricca, Nitti, and a few others probably dictated the course of the Outfit from 1930-1972.

But then after Appalachin, Chicago started their own Commission which had the Chicago captains/Bosses meeting ad hoc. This may have had some impact on the way things were managed.

After Ricca died in 72, Accardo became the top statesmen, and they cleaned house and implemented changes. Taylor Street was broken up several ways, the power shifted.

And at some later point, the crews got reduced from 5 to 3? And news of them just disappeared entirely until the Family Secrets case, where they tried people on 30 year old murders.

Snakes

I'll try by best to give a rundown of Outfit leadership from the late fifties to today:

By the late 1950's, Giancana's Taylor Street crew was the premiere power and biggest moneymakers in the Outfit. Ricca recognized this power and appointed Giancana to the position of boss over the entire Outfit to replace Accardo, who had recently stepped down as boss to take a lower profile, possibly on the advice of Ricca. (I have also heard that Giancana replaced Campagna, who had recently died)

Ricca was now the chairman and held final say on most major decisions although he let Giancana run the Outfit with little interference. Accardo, now semi-retired, was a sort of vice-president who would also weigh in on major matters, although his true power during this time period has always been in question.

When Giancana was sent to prison for refusing to testify before a grand jury in 1966 it was decided that he would step down as boss (either by his own choice, on the orders of Ricca/Accardo, or a combination of the two) and move to Mexico to avoid harassment from the government. Sam Battaglia would now step up as boss of the Outfit, although his reign would last for less than a year, as he was jailed in 1967 and would die behind bars in 1973.

The next logical successor was Fiore Buccieri, but his health was slowly declining and it was decided instead that Jack Cerone would succeed to the throne. This was good news for Accardo; Cerone was his protege and he had been pushing him for a higher position for several years. Cerone would manage to last almost three years as boss until he was imprisoned in 1970 on a massive, Outfit-wide gambling sting. With Buccieri's health getting worse and worse, and guys like Ross Prio and Frank LaPorte getting on in years, there was really only one logical choice left to become the Outfit's new boss: Joey Aiuppa.

Aiuppa, who had been boss of Cicero for the last dozen or so years, had managed to make what was thought to be an unprofitable territory into a moneymaking machine, and in so doing, endeared himself to the Outfit heads as the most suitable replacement for Cerone as boss. To assist in this changeover, it was necessary that Accardo take a more active role in the day-to-day operations of the Outfit, at least until Aiuppa was firmly entrenched as boss. Additionally, Ricca, now in his early seventies and in deteriorating health, removed himself almost completely from the scene.

With most of the old Taylor Street powerbase dead or in jail, Aiuppa was able to reorganize the Outfit in the span of a few years, appointing loyal, younger members to head the street crews and shelving or disposing of those members who refused to go along with the changes.

By the mid-seventies, Aiuppa was now the undisputed boss, and with Cerone back out of jail and acting as the Outfit's #2, Accardo was able to again step back into almost permanent retirement in Palm Springs, only inserting himself into advising on major decisions. Aiuppa and Cerone ruled for more than a decade until Operation Strawman, the federal investigation into casino skimming in Las Vegas, devastated the Outfit's leadership structure, sending Aiuppa and Cerone to prison in 1985.

Sam Carlisi (with Joe Ferriola possibly preceding him before health problems forced him to step down) now ascended to the top spot. John DiFronzo was appointed underboss. In late 1992, Carlisi and DiFronzo were both indicted on separate charges and were both convicted and sent to prison. Whereas Carlisi would die there in 1997, DiFronzo would be released in 1994 on appeal and apparently assume the top spot in the Outfit. In the interim, Joey Lombardo had been released from prison and possibly served as boss until DiFronzo was released, whereupon he went into semi-retirement, acting in an advisory role, much as Accardo (who had died in 1992) had done for years before him.

Most sources maintain that DiFronzo was head of the Outfit throughout the nineties and into the new millennium. There is speculation that he stepped down soon after James Marcello was released from prison and allowed him to become boss in his stead, although definitive proof has never been provided concerning this, especially since Marcello was free for only a year and a half before being indicted with Lombardo and others in Family Secrets. DiFronzo, escaping indictment himself in that case, has almost certainly stepped down in the time since, as he is very wealthy and now in his mid-eighties. Much speculation exists as to who heads the Outfit now, although Sal DeLaurentis (Solly D) is one of the more popular choices, as he was an influential figure on the streets before his long imprisonment in the nineties and early 2000's.

Ferriola (along with guys like Torello, Lombardo, and the LaPietras) were originally Taylor Street guys but were part of the younger generation. They knew that in order to survive and thrive in the new regime under Aiuppa and Cerone they needed to play ball. They were rewarded for their loyalty by taking over territories and crews vacated by the old guard.

Michael Spano may have ran the crew after Infelise was imprisoned, but Spano himself was imprisoned not long after; 1992, I believe. Tornabene came out of retirement and may have helped run the crew until Marcello got out of prison. Marcello then briefly ran Cicero (and possibly the entire Outfit) until he was jailed again in Family Secrets, this time for good. At this point, Mike Sarno ran the crew until Solly D was released. Jimmy Inendino or Sal Cataudella may run the crew now if Solly D is boss.

[Pogo The Clown]

Pogo

All this early Chicago talk has got me interested in the prohibiton era again. I did some digging around and compiled a list of the various gangs and groups that were active in Chicago after Prohibition wnet into effect and after Big Jim Colosimo was whacked. Looking at the list it is no wonder that Chicago was such a war zone with the constant fighting and killings. The endemic political and police corruption in Chicago only exasperated the chaos.


I'm sure I'm missing some. Any additions or corrections welcome.


Southside:
John “Johnny the Fox” Torrio (The Outfit/Southside Gang)
Edward “Spike” O’Donnell (The Southside O’Donnell Brothers)
Joseph “Polack Joe” Saltis – Southwest Side
Ralph Sheldon – Southwest Side
Ragen’s Colts – Southwest Side/Stockyards


Northside:
Dion O’Banion (The Northsiders) – 43rd and 44th Ward
Claude “Screwy” Maddox (Circus Café Gang)
‘Bloody’ Angelo Genna (The Genna Family) - Little Italy
Salvatore “Sam” Cardinelli (The Cardinelli Gang) – Little Italy


Westside:
Antonino “Tony” San Filippo (Chicago Heights Family) - Chicago Heights
Myles O’Donnell (The Westside O’Donnell’s)
Terry “Machine Gun” Druggan and Frank Lake (The Valley Gang) – Bloody Maxwell section on 15th street
Edward "Eddie" Vogel – Cicero

Christy

The North Side had a Mafia Family going back to at least 1910, confirmed, 1890 suspected. This Family, like the Chicago Heights Family, was a traditional Sicilian Mafia Family with the same set up you see in NY and Sicily: Boss, Under, etc.

James Colosimo had his own autonomous non-Mafia group. This is where Torrio and Capone came up.

In Chicago Heights there was Dominic Ruberto, who eventually became affiliated with Capone. I'm not certain they started out as one group.

North Side Chicago. But I don't believe the Gennas perated directly from the same area. It appears that the city Mafiosi were all connected, the bulk of them were in the North Side but Chicagoans moved around. The neighborhoods were not like your ethnic enclaves in NY. Even the Little Italy in the 1920's still had other ethnicities living there and vice versa with Italians in other sectors.

Antiliar

There was no North Side Family. There was one Chicago Mafia for the entire city, and yes, D'Andrea was the boss at that time.

The Chicago Mafia included the North Side AND Taylor Street and anywhere else members belonged, but the Gennas operated out of Taylor Street and Blue Island Avenue.

About the Cardinelli gang, the leader's name was really Salvatore Cardinale and the newspapers gave his name as Cardinella or Cardinelli (usually Cardinella). They called his group "Camorra," but that was the label of the day. He was actually Sicilian and came from Bivona. Some of the other members of his group have typical Sicilian names like Orlando and Sansone. For all we know they could have been a Mafia crew too.

Yes, there was a separate Mafia Family until the mid-1920s when the Caponites led by the threesome of Dominick Roberts (Domenico Ruberto), Jimmy Emery and Frank La Porte replaced them and merged with the remnants of the C.H. Mafia Family. The Chicago Mafia Family was headquartered in Little Italy and the North Side, and it merged with the Capone Outfit in 1931. So in 1931 Capone controlled Chicago, the Heights and many of the surrounding cities and counties, including Gary and Hammond, Indiana.

So here would be a timeline:
1920: Big Jim Colosimo slain. John Torrio takes over.
1924: Torrio takes over Cicero.
1925: Torrio almost killed. Leaves his "empire" to Al Capone.
1926: Chicago Heights Mafia merges with Capone Outfit under Roberts, Emery and La Porte.
1931: Al Capone recognized by Salvatore Maranzano as Chicago boss. Puppet boss Salvatore Loverde steps down.

Dwalin

have been searching through some articles on newspaperarchive.com and there seems to be at least one Slavic gang in East Chicago in the late 20s: there are a few articles mentioning a bootlegger Nick Sudovich (said to be an ally of Al Capone) who was convicted for ordering the murder of somebody named Uron Marovich, and was deported after serving only 2 years. Unfortunately, there is extremely few information on internet.
One absurd thing: in one of the articles Sudovich is said to be a "local politician" and at the same time that he lived in the USA for 17 years without even becoming a citizen. How the hell does that make sense? You can't officially do politics in a country without being its citizen.

[Meatball]

Saw this in today's Chicago Tribune...

[Snakes]

I still agree with most of what I said in my post above excepting two statements:

1. Ferriola was definitely not boss between Aiuppa and Carlisi.
2. I am doubtful that Cerone served as boss after Battaglia was jailed. He had already been indicted by that point and was free on bond so it was probably decided to delay his appointment. From what I have seen of this time period, Accardo ruled more directly than he had in previous years until Aiuppa took over in the mid-70's. I believe this was Antilliar's view as well, I was just slow to agree with him lol.

[Pete]

I still agree with most of what I said in my post above excepting two statements:

1. Ferriola was definitely not boss between Aiuppa and Carlisi.
2. I am doubtful that Cerone served as boss after Battaglia was jailed. He had already been indicted by that point and was free on bond so it was probably decided to delay his appointment. From what I have seen of this time period, Accardo ruled more directly than he had in previous years until Aiuppa took over in the mid-70's. I believe this was Antilliar's view as well, I was just slow to agree with him lol.

Don't know why people won't just accept ferriola was never the boss. It was out out there by the only made members who have talked both nick calabrese and mike mags stated carlisi took over for aiuppa in 86. Can't fathom how people would trust the old fbi reports stating ferriola was the boss instead of listening to actual members who knew

[cavita]

I still agree with most of what I said in my post above excepting two statements:

1. Ferriola was definitely not boss between Aiuppa and Carlisi.
2. I am doubtful that Cerone served as boss after Battaglia was jailed. He had already been indicted by that point and was free on bond so it was probably decided to delay his appointment. From what I have seen of this time period, Accardo ruled more directly than he had in previous years until Aiuppa took over in the mid-70's. I believe this was Antilliar's view as well, I was just slow to agree with him lol.

Don't know why people won't just accept ferriola was never the boss. It was out out there by the only made members who have talked both nick calabrese and mike mags stated carlisi took over for aiuppa in 86. Can't fathom how people would trust the old fbi reports stating ferriola was the boss instead of listening to actual members who knew

It is true that even FBI reports can be erroneous, especially the older ones when they were struggling to get whatever info they could get their hands on. It wasn't (and still is) an exact science

[Antiliar]

I still agree with most of what I said in my post above excepting two statements:

1. Ferriola was definitely not boss between Aiuppa and Carlisi.
2. I am doubtful that Cerone served as boss after Battaglia was jailed. He had already been indicted by that point and was free on bond so it was probably decided to delay his appointment. From what I have seen of this time period, Accardo ruled more directly than he had in previous years until Aiuppa took over in the mid-70's. I believe this was Antilliar's view as well, I was just slow to agree with him lol.

Turns out after further discussion that Cerone WAS briefly the boss before he went to prison. Like Cavita said, it's not an exact science. So it went from Giancana to Battaglia to Cerone to Alderisio to Aiuppa. Ricca and Accardo were a senior advisers, but Ricca was showing signs of dementia so was less involved in his last years although he was always given respect as that ultimate "boss." As Fred Pascente was told, when someone walked into a room they greeted Ricca first, before Accardo and before Giancana. When Cerone got out of prison he said he wanted to be the underboss because being the boss meant being a government target, plus "the pay's the same." When Carlisi became boss, Aiuppa and Cerone became the senior advisers. Before Accardo died he COMPLETELY retired from the Outfit, meaning he gave up his authority and no one kicked up to him. He was in poor health and was done with "the Life." He was already wealthy and always respected, but was done. This is what I've learned from my sources (some you guys know, but there are others).

[Sol]

I still agree with most of what I said in my post above excepting two statements:

1. Ferriola was definitely not boss between Aiuppa and Carlisi.
2. I am doubtful that Cerone served as boss after Battaglia was jailed. He had already been indicted by that point and was free on bond so it was probably decided to delay his appointment. From what I have seen of this time period, Accardo ruled more directly than he had in previous years until Aiuppa took over in the mid-70's. I believe this was Antilliar's view as well, I was just slow to agree with him lol.

Turns out after further discussion that Cerone WAS briefly the boss before he went to prison. Like Cavita said, it's not an exact science. So it went from Giancana to Battaglia to Cerone to Alderisio to Aiuppa. Ricca and Accardo were a senior advisers, but Ricca was showing signs of dementia so was less involved in his last years although he was always given respect as that ultimate "boss." As Fred Pascente was told, when someone walked into a room they greeted Ricca first, before Accardo and before Giancana. When Cerone got out of prison he said he wanted to be the underboss because being the boss meant being a government target, plus "the pay's the same." When Carlisi became boss, Aiuppa and Cerone became the senior advisers. Before Accardo died he COMPLETELY retired from the Outfit, meaning he gave up his authority and no one kicked up to him. He was in poor health and was done with "the Life." He was already wealthy and always respected, but was done. This is what I've learned from my sources (some you guys know, but there are others).

Do you how long before he died? When he COMPLETELY retired......Soliai

[Snakes]

I never thought the timeline matched up with Alderisio being boss. Cerone was a free man from 1967 to 1970, when he was finally jailed on the gambling bust. Alderisio was already in jail himself by then. Everything I have seen indicates that Accardo was boss between Battaglia and Aiuppa. I'd like to discuss this more.

[Snakes]

I'd say Accardo had retired completely by the late eighties. I believe he was still photographed meeting with Carlisi and DiFronzo as late as 1986.

[Antiliar]

I'd say Accardo had retired completely by the late eighties. I believe he was still photographed meeting with Carlisi and DiFronzo as late as 1986.

He still kept up his friendships, especially on the golf course. That's what I was told. If they were to ask him advise as a respected friend I'm sure he would give them suggestions, but only informally.

I never thought the timeline matched up with Alderisio being boss. Cerone was a free man from 1967 to 1970, when he was finally jailed on the gambling bust. Alderisio was already in jail himself by then. Everything I have seen indicates that Accardo was boss between Battaglia and Aiuppa. I'd like to discuss this more.

Accardo would have the senior boss/adviser while Battaglia and Aiuppa were day-to-day bosses, like a senior board member. After Ricca died, Accardo would have been the first one in the room you'd want to greet out of respect.

[Antiliar]

I still agree with most of what I said in my post above excepting two statements:

1. Ferriola was definitely not boss between Aiuppa and Carlisi.
2. I am doubtful that Cerone served as boss after Battaglia was jailed. He had already been indicted by that point and was free on bond so it was probably decided to delay his appointment. From what I have seen of this time period, Accardo ruled more directly than he had in previous years until Aiuppa took over in the mid-70's. I believe this was Antilliar's view as well, I was just slow to agree with him lol.

Turns out after further discussion that Cerone WAS briefly the boss before he went to prison. Like Cavita said, it's not an exact science. So it went from Giancana to Battaglia to Cerone to Alderisio to Aiuppa. Ricca and Accardo were a senior advisers, but Ricca was showing signs of dementia so was less involved in his last years although he was always given respect as that ultimate "boss." As Fred Pascente was told, when someone walked into a room they greeted Ricca first, before Accardo and before Giancana. When Cerone got out of prison he said he wanted to be the underboss because being the boss meant being a government target, plus "the pay's the same." When Carlisi became boss, Aiuppa and Cerone became the senior advisers. Before Accardo died he COMPLETELY retired from the Outfit, meaning he gave up his authority and no one kicked up to him. He was in poor health and was done with "the Life." He was already wealthy and always respected, but was done. This is what I've learned from my sources (some you guys know, but there are others).

Do you how long before he died? When he COMPLETELY retired......Soliai

My understanding is that he completely retired when Carlisi became the boss.