"Cicero" Street Crew Information

[funkster]

Great stuff as always guys, been meaning to take the time to read this closely. A lot of the Cicero different crew interests reminds me of how Brooklyn is I.E. you see a large amount of Colombos from downtown.

[chin_gigante]

I was re-reading Nick Calabrese’s testimony today and I got to this excerpt about a juice loan dispute in the mid-1980s involving Cicero and Marco D’Amico. Do you think the ‘Mike Cerno’ and ‘Sal’ are Sarno and Cataudella? Calabrese identifies them as juice loan agents belonging to Johnny Monteleone as of the mid-1980s.

Q Now, Mr Calabrese, we were talking about Jim Van, that account, and apparently there was some sort of dispute with that particular juice customer.
A Yes, him and Joe Urgo, they were partner.
Q Right. And what was the nature of the dispute?
A The problem was that they not only had money from us, but they owed money to guys from Cicero.
Q Who did they owe in Cicero?
A A guy named Mike Cerno.
Q Do you remember Sal’s last name?
A No, I don’t recall his last name. I met him a few times. I know his brother.
Q Who’s his brother?
A A guy named Nick.
Q And Sal and Mike Cerno were the juice agents I guess for the Cicero crew?
A They were for Johnny Apes. They worked for Johnny Apes.
…
Q What was the nature of the dispute, Mr Calabrese?
A The dispute was that they not only owed them money, they owed them I think 60,000, they owed us a total of 20,000. So one night Marco, D’Marco, reaches out and I go meet him at Armin’s [Armand’s?] Pizza.
Q And who is this person Marco?
A He was around Johnny Bananas, Johnny DiFronzo, and he was a bookmaker and give out juice loans. Well, this Jimmy Vandragen was one of his agents for football; in other words, he used to turn his action to Marco’s guys. I went to see him and he said, ‘this kid’s got a big problem, him and his friend, Joey Urso, because they owe these guys from Cicero $60,000.’
Q About when was this?
A Sometime in the middle ‘80s. The bottom line was –
A Let me interrupt you. Who was present for the meeting with Marco?
A Just me, Marco, and this kid, Jimmy Vandragan.
Q How was this resolved, this dispute?
A It was resolved by Marco paying me the 20,000 off, and he says, ‘if he ever comes again to get money, don’t give it to him.’

[Snakes]

I was re-reading Nick Calabrese’s testimony today and I got to this excerpt about a juice loan dispute in the mid-1980s involving Cicero and Marco D’Amico. Do you think the ‘Mike Cerno’ and ‘Sal’ are Sarno and Cataudella? Calabrese identifies them as juice loan agents belonging to Johnny Monteleone as of the mid-1980s.

Q Now, Mr Calabrese, we were talking about Jim Van, that account, and apparently there was some sort of dispute with that particular juice customer.
A Yes, him and Joe Urgo, they were partner.
Q Right. And what was the nature of the dispute?
A The problem was that they not only had money from us, but they owed money to guys from Cicero.
Q Who did they owe in Cicero?
A A guy named Mike Cerno.
Q Do you remember Sal’s last name?
A No, I don’t recall his last name. I met him a few times. I know his brother.
Q Who’s his brother?
A A guy named Nick.
Q And Sal and Mike Cerno were the juice agents I guess for the Cicero crew?
A They were for Johnny Apes. They worked for Johnny Apes.
…
Q What was the nature of the dispute, Mr Calabrese?
A The dispute was that they not only owed them money, they owed them I think 60,000, they owed us a total of 20,000. So one night Marco, D’Marco, reaches out and I go meet him at Armin’s [Armand’s?] Pizza.
Q And who is this person Marco?
A He was around Johnny Bananas, Johnny DiFronzo, and he was a bookmaker and give out juice loans. Well, this Jimmy Vandragen was one of his agents for football; in other words, he used to turn his action to Marco’s guys. I went to see him and he said, ‘this kid’s got a big problem, him and his friend, Joey Urso, because they owe these guys from Cicero $60,000.’
Q About when was this?
A Sometime in the middle ‘80s. The bottom line was –
A Let me interrupt you. Who was present for the meeting with Marco?
A Just me, Marco, and this kid, Jimmy Vandragan.
Q How was this resolved, this dispute?
A It was resolved by Marco paying me the 20,000 off, and he says, ‘if he ever comes again to get money, don’t give it to him.’

Yes, it's them. Sal has a brother named Nick who is also an Outfit figure. Monteleone seemed to have some type of working status with both the Cicero and Chinatown crews at this time period, as he was working with guys from both crews at this time period. I'm glad you brought this up as I don't remember this from Nick's testimony.

[Antiliar]

It's worth noting that Nick Calabrese testified around 2007 that Marco D'Amico was a bookmaker connected to DiFronzo, and when asked to explain who he was he never mentioned that he was made. This supports what Mike Mags said that as late as 2000 D'Amico wasn't a made Outfit member.

[NorthBuffalo]

I was re-reading Nick Calabrese’s testimony today and I got to this excerpt about a juice loan dispute in the mid-1980s involving Cicero and Marco D’Amico. Do you think the ‘Mike Cerno’ and ‘Sal’ are Sarno and Cataudella? Calabrese identifies them as juice loan agents belonging to Johnny Monteleone as of the mid-1980s.

Q Now, Mr Calabrese, we were talking about Jim Van, that account, and apparently there was some sort of dispute with that particular juice customer.
A Yes, him and Joe Urgo, they were partner.
Q Right. And what was the nature of the dispute?
A The problem was that they not only had money from us, but they owed money to guys from Cicero.
Q Who did they owe in Cicero?
A A guy named Mike Cerno.
Q Do you remember Sal’s last name?
A No, I don’t recall his last name. I met him a few times. I know his brother.
Q Who’s his brother?
A A guy named Nick.
Q And Sal and Mike Cerno were the juice agents I guess for the Cicero crew?
A They were for Johnny Apes. They worked for Johnny Apes.
…
Q What was the nature of the dispute, Mr Calabrese?
A The dispute was that they not only owed them money, they owed them I think 60,000, they owed us a total of 20,000. So one night Marco, D’Marco, reaches out and I go meet him at Armin’s [Armand’s?] Pizza.
Q And who is this person Marco?
A He was around Johnny Bananas, Johnny DiFronzo, and he was a bookmaker and give out juice loans. Well, this Jimmy Vandragen was one of his agents for football; in other words, he used to turn his action to Marco’s guys. I went to see him and he said, ‘this kid’s got a big problem, him and his friend, Joey Urso, because they owe these guys from Cicero $60,000.’
Q About when was this?
A Sometime in the middle ‘80s. The bottom line was –
A Let me interrupt you. Who was present for the meeting with Marco?
A Just me, Marco, and this kid, Jimmy Vandragan.
Q How was this resolved, this dispute?
A It was resolved by Marco paying me the 20,000 off, and he says, ‘if he ever comes again to get money, don’t give it to him.’

Yes, it's them. Sal has a brother named Nick who is also an Outfit figure. Monteleone seemed to have some type of working status with both the Cicero and Chinatown crews at this time period, as he was working with guys from both crews at this time period. I'm glad you brought this up as I don't remember this from Nick's testimony.

Joey Urso mentioned as this partner - is this around the same time period as the infamous attempted murder by the Cassanos? I wonder if this is the same guy and if so, whether this was Marco / Elmwood Park catching up with him for something related to this same dispute:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/1993/06/ ... ut-attack/
MILLIONAIRE TELLS COURT ABOUT ATTACK
Chicago Tribune
By Chicago Tribune
UPDATED: August 9, 2021 at 9:29 PM CDT

Millionaire Lake Forest businessman Joseph Urso described in court Tuesday how he was savagely beaten by two men and left for dead in the parking lot of his family-owned auto parts plant in Northbrook.

But his testimony shed no light on a motive for the March 1992 attack. Nor did it provide any clues regarding an assassination attempt seven months later against Urso’s estranged wife, Irene.

“He said he was going to kill me,” Urso said from the witness stand Tuesday, pointing to defendant Angelo Cassano in the Skokie branch of Cook County Circuit Court.

Cassano, 32, of Northlake, and his brother Dominick Cassano, 42, of Palatine, are charged with attempted murder.

Urso previously has said that he believed the beating was part of a murder-for-hire scheme connected in part to his business, Jats Drive Shaft & Parts Inc., and life insurance policies totaling $3 million.

Urso has alleged that his wife had sought to punish him because of his ongoing affair with the couple’s 27-year-old nanny. Joseph Urso filed for divorce only days before he was attacked.

On Oct. 28, 1992, Irene Urso, 36, was ambushed by a hooded gunman outside the Jats office at 2500 S. Western Ave. She suffered gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen but survived.

Joseph Urso told Judge Gerald T. Rohrer Tuesday that on March 10, 1992, he left Jats’ Northbrook office when he noticed two men hiding behind a van, and that they jumped out and chased him.

“I started to run and got hit in the head . . . with a metal object,” Urso, 38, testified.

He was hospitalized for about a week for injuries that included a fractured sternum, nose and eye socket.

[B.]

Phenomenal work as always.

It's always good to see it pointed out too that even though these decine have a strong geographic component, they weren't necessarily limited to one central geographic area.

Just a note about the interchangeable use of "capo" and "boss" -- I don't think people realize "boss" is the actual translation of capo. Capodecina = boss of ten, capofamiglia = boss of a Family, and so on.

In the past, some seemed to see Chicago's use of "boss" for what we would normally call "captains" as some kind of unique organizational distinction when in reality they are using a more accurate translation of the term "capo". The Italian word for "captain" is capitano and obviously they share the same root but "capo" literally translates to "head" and is the Italian word for "boss".

[PolackTony]

Phenomenal work as always.

It's always good to see it pointed out too that even though these decine have a strong geographic component, they weren't necessarily limited to one central geographic area.

Just a note about the interchangeable use of "capo" and "boss" -- I don't think people realize "boss" is the actual translation of capo. Capodecina = boss of ten, capofamiglia = boss of a Family, and so on.

In the past, some seemed to see Chicago's use of "boss" for what we would normally call "captains" as some kind of unique organizational distinction when in reality they are using a more accurate translation of the term "capo". The Italian word for "captain" is capitano and obviously they share the same root but "capo" literally translates to "head" and is the Italian word for "boss".

100%. Other considerations here are the problems of quality of source (with respect to knowledge of the mafia organization itself, rather than just “operational” organized crime activities) and LE glossing of actual informant language (the problem of “attributed speech”, where a report can make it seem that language chosen by LE agents to summarize or interpret an informant’s account were verbatim usages by the informant, when they in fact were not).

Once we get an actual made Chicago member testifying on the stand, with direct transcripts of his actual testimony, we no longer see stuff like “street boss” or “crew boss”; Nick C was instead explicit that the terms used within the organization itself were “capo” and “captain”. Of course people have gone Procrustean in response, trying to mold the evidence to fit their beliefs — “they must’ve changed it!!”. But going back to the 60s, when we have one of the very few recorded sit downs with the boss of the Family, we see that they indeed called this position “capodecina”, when talking amongst themselves in a formal, organizational setting.

So we get two levels of confusion on these things. Firstly, it doesn’t actually matter whether or not guys in Chicago always glossed or translated organizational terms in exactly the same way as guys in NYC. These were translated from Sicilian/Italian in imprecise ways within distinct local subcultures in the US (I was tempted to say that these guys were not linguists and professional translators, but Chicago in fact had a powerful boss who *was* a linguist and professional translator lol). So there will be some variability in how guys in different cities (not to mention different generational cohorts) talk, though as you note, calling a guy a “crew boss” is actually a more accurate direct translation than calling him a “captain”. The other level is that, once we get ahold of verbatim attestations from actual Chicago LCN member, they did not, in fact, substantively talk differently than guys in other Families, though the street-level lingo among hangers-on, associates, etc., varied by locality.

[funkster]

Phenomenal work as always.

It's always good to see it pointed out too that even though these decine have a strong geographic component, they weren't necessarily limited to one central geographic area.

Just a note about the interchangeable use of "capo" and "boss" -- I don't think people realize "boss" is the actual translation of capo. Capodecina = boss of ten, capofamiglia = boss of a Family, and so on.

In the past, some seemed to see Chicago's use of "boss" for what we would normally call "captains" as some kind of unique organizational distinction when in reality they are using a more accurate translation of the term "capo". The Italian word for "captain" is capitano and obviously they share the same root but "capo" literally translates to "head" and is the Italian word for "boss".

100%. Other considerations here are the problems of quality of source (with respect to knowledge of the mafia organization itself, rather than just “operational” organized crime activities) and LE glossing of actual informant language (the problem of “attributed speech”, where a report can make it seem that language chosen by LE agents to summarize or interpret an informant’s account were verbatim usages by the informant, when they in fact were not).

Once we get an actual made Chicago member testifying on the stand, with direct transcripts of his actual testimony, we no longer see stuff like “street boss” or “crew boss”; Nick C was instead explicit that the terms used within the organization itself were “capo” and “captain”. Of course people have gone Procrustean in response, trying to mold the evidence to fit their beliefs — “they must’ve changed it!!”. But going back to the 60s, when we have one of the very few recorded sit downs with the boss of the Family, we see that they indeed called this position “capodecina”, when talking amongst themselves in a formal, organizational setting.

So we get two levels of confusion on these things. Firstly, it doesn’t actually matter whether or not guys in Chicago always glossed or translated organizational terms in exactly the same way as guys in NYC. These were translated from Sicilian/Italian in imprecise ways within distinct local subcultures in the US (I was tempted to say that these guys were not linguists and professional translators, but Chicago in fact had a powerful boss who *was* a linguist and professional translator lol). So there will be some variability in how guys in different cities (not to mention different generational cohorts) talk, though as you note, calling a guy a “crew boss” is actually a more accurate direct translation than calling him a “captain”. The other level is that, once we get ahold of verbatim attestations from actual Chicago LCN member, they did not, in fact, substantively talk differently than guys in other Families, though the street-level lingo among hangers-on, associates, etc., varied by locality.

A few of the local differences I particularly love are “sent for” and “whistled in”, “flattened” and “wacked”, and “merch” and “swag”.

[NorthBuffalo]

"Knocked Down"

Also like the Chicago guys using all of the various directions of the city to talk in code like 'The guy out south' or 'them guys out west' - instead of a neighborhood as you would mention in NYC or Boston. Just a subtle difference I picked up.

[B.]

I mean, the Genovese Family are nicknamed "the West Side" for that reason. Referring to general geographic directions is not Chicago exclusive haha.

[PolackTony]

Phenomenal work as always.

It's always good to see it pointed out too that even though these decine have a strong geographic component, they weren't necessarily limited to one central geographic area.

Just a note about the interchangeable use of "capo" and "boss" -- I don't think people realize "boss" is the actual translation of capo. Capodecina = boss of ten, capofamiglia = boss of a Family, and so on.

In the past, some seemed to see Chicago's use of "boss" for what we would normally call "captains" as some kind of unique organizational distinction when in reality they are using a more accurate translation of the term "capo". The Italian word for "captain" is capitano and obviously they share the same root but "capo" literally translates to "head" and is the Italian word for "boss".

100%. Other considerations here are the problems of quality of source (with respect to knowledge of the mafia organization itself, rather than just “operational” organized crime activities) and LE glossing of actual informant language (the problem of “attributed speech”, where a report can make it seem that language chosen by LE agents to summarize or interpret an informant’s account were verbatim usages by the informant, when they in fact were not).

Once we get an actual made Chicago member testifying on the stand, with direct transcripts of his actual testimony, we no longer see stuff like “street boss” or “crew boss”; Nick C was instead explicit that the terms used within the organization itself were “capo” and “captain”. Of course people have gone Procrustean in response, trying to mold the evidence to fit their beliefs — “they must’ve changed it!!”. But going back to the 60s, when we have one of the very few recorded sit downs with the boss of the Family, we see that they indeed called this position “capodecina”, when talking amongst themselves in a formal, organizational setting.

So we get two levels of confusion on these things. Firstly, it doesn’t actually matter whether or not guys in Chicago always glossed or translated organizational terms in exactly the same way as guys in NYC. These were translated from Sicilian/Italian in imprecise ways within distinct local subcultures in the US (I was tempted to say that these guys were not linguists and professional translators, but Chicago in fact had a powerful boss who *was* a linguist and professional translator lol). So there will be some variability in how guys in different cities (not to mention different generational cohorts) talk, though as you note, calling a guy a “crew boss” is actually a more accurate direct translation than calling him a “captain”. The other level is that, once we get ahold of verbatim attestations from actual Chicago LCN member, they did not, in fact, substantively talk differently than guys in other Families, though the street-level lingo among hangers-on, associates, etc., varied by locality.

A few of the local differences I particularly love are “sent for” and “whistled in”, “flattened” and “wacked”, and “merch” and “swag”.

Yeah Chicago guys back in the day liked to say that a guy got “flattened” or “knocked down” as well as “whacked” or “clipped”. I’ve seen all of those used. Also the use of “mustache” by non-members to refer to a made guy. “Smerch” for “stolen merch”. Obviously “juice” is the preferred term for both loansharking and a vig, though this is also common on the East Coast though usually not the predominant term (kind of like how “outfit” as a synonym for “cosa nostra” was predominant in the Midwest but also used in the same way by guys in the East).

[Snakes]

Also, it seems like the "West Side" was sometimes (but not always) used by Chicago guys in reference to the administration.

[PolackTony]

Also, it seems like the "West Side" was sometimes (but not always) used by Chicago guys in reference to the administration.

In the 60s-era files one sees “Out West” and “The Man Out West” used as references to the admin. Obviously, Giancana, Accardo, and Ricca all lived in the (Near) West burbs. At a time when many members were still based in the City of Chicago, referring to the admin as “Out West” made sense.

Interestingly, in his early 60s sitdown with Giancana over his beef with Joe Fusco, Joe Costello was recorded calling his having sought an audience with the admin as having “gone to Chicago”. As the South Suburbs, so far as we know, never produced a boss or UB of the whole outfit, it would make sense if guys down there referred to the admin as “Chicago” by shorthand.

[Antiliar]

Also, it seems like the "West Side" was sometimes (but not always) used by Chicago guys in reference to the administration.

I used to see "out West" during the Giancana era.

[NorthBuffalo]

Also, it seems like the "West Side" was sometimes (but not always) used by Chicago guys in reference to the administration.

I used to see "out West" during the Giancana era.

There is a convo where Monk Allegretti is asked by Murray Humphreys and others where he's from to see if he can vouch for Joe B as a character witness from childhood- the response was 'out west.' Joe B says in multiple instances 'I gotta go out south,' which I wondered meant Chicago Heights or perhaps Cicero at one point. I think the directions indicated crews in some instances or the main guys in territories. I sense it was more than just street lingo and more like code as so few guys say 'Cicero' or 'Taylor Street' "Chicago Heights' 'Calumet' or 'Rush Street' etc.