Rockford LCN - help with opinions and direction

[cavita]

In 1997, the following families were mentioned as having living members. Now, that could mean anywhere from 1 to 250 but I still think it is interesting. Unfortunately, numbers were not included (at least not with this file).

Bonanno
Buffalo
Chicago
Cleveland
Colombo
DeCavalcante
Denver
Detroit
Gambino
Genovese
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Luchese
Madison
Miami Florida
Milwaukee
New England
New Orleans
North Jersey
Orena Faction
Persico Faction
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Pittston
Rochester
Rockford
San Francisco
San Jose
St. Louis
Tampa
Tucson

I am unsure as to why Miami or North Jersey would be listed when Tampa and DeCavalcante already are but perhaps it is because they had uncategorized members residing in those areas that they could not place in a family. Although why they'd have them confirmed as members without knowing the family is beyond me.

Yes, and this is the particular Rockford subfile I requested and was denied. It's frustrating to be sure but again, I can't understand why anyone left in Rockford wasn't listed as members on any Chicago charts by the feds.

[Antiliar]

I've never seen evidence that Rockford was a "faction" of Chicago. To me it shows the lack of investigative effort to delve into Rockford. It was a separate and distinct crime family. Whether or not it still exists today isn't known and can't be ruled out as a possibility. It would be an argument from silence to assert with full certitude that it died out based on a lack of prosecutions. At best we can say that it seems likely that it is, but the most effective crime family is the one operates without being detected.

[B.]

What's significant about Illinois and Wisconsin, is we didn't see the smaller remote groups absorbed into the larger, more dominant regional families early on like we saw in Buffalo, Detroit, and other places. There is evidence those larger regional families absorbed smaller outlying families as late as the 1920s or 1930s, but that didn't happen in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Chicago absorbed Chicago Heights and possibly Gary, but not Rockford. St. Louis didn't absorb Springfield. Milwaukee didn't absorb Madison. Those smaller families were left to operate more like small Sicilian coshe. It's not a coincidence that each of those families were made up largely of Sicilian compaesani.

Rockford comes across like the Illinois version of the DeCavalcante family.

- Operated just outside a major metropolitan mafia city, but remained independent and insular from the larger nearby family despite shared business.
- Heavily Sicilian roots, with a faction from Aragona, Agrigento, who operated out of their own Aragona Club.
- Mysterious recruitment of "zips" not closely connected to the more well-known international zip factions (i.e. Palermo, Trapani).
- Not criminally "impressive", at least compared to other mafia families, but locally influential.
- Membership based on relatives and compaesani.
- Inevitably subservient to the larger nearby metro family, especially over time, i.e. Rockford/Chicago, DeCavalcante/Gambino, yet still separate.

Even the reference to the soccer club in Cavita's post reminded me of the DeCavalcantes -- the Ribera club had soccer watching parties and there were was a massive street parade/celebration when Italy won the World Cup.

[Patrickgold]

Rockford wasn't included in the 1988 list of families. Though that may have just been an oversight since places like San Francisco, San Jose, Denver and Tucson were included. I can't imagine those families were in much better shape at the time.


Pogo

Rockford was considered a "faction" of Chicago, for whatever reason.

Snakes, I really do not think the FBI ever had a full grasp on what the Rockford LCN was. At times they indicated it was a faction of Chicago even though they never listed them on the Outfit charts. Also, remember the family secrets indictment they stated that Frank Saldino was boss of Rockford LCN which I know Cavita disputes. Not that there was a LCN family in Rockford but that Saladino was boss.

I think they only had them as a "faction" because they were never sure of their autonomy, which is puzzling considering they labeled a boss and underboss for the family in the mid-80s. Maybe they were unsure as to whether they had been absorbed by Chicago.

Saladino was actually not indicted as boss of Rockford and Nick doesn't mention anything about Rockford's status in his testimony, only that they had some partnerships and that Carlisi, LaPietra, and Marcello met with them after some disputes (around 1980 or 1981 to Nick's recollection).

I swear there was some federal documents that stated he was boss of Rockford LCN. Maybe Cavita can confirm

The 2003 Threat Assessment to Nick Calabrese said to the effect of "Information has been developed that Saladino is the boss of the Rockford LCN Family." How I interpret that is that is what Nick believed. When he was briefing the FBI as to who the threats to his safety were, that's how Nick described him. See, just because Nick was an informant didn't mean he knew everything. He gave info to the FBI how he knew it. His brother Frank may have told Nick that Saladino was the boss out there for whatever reason and Nick took it as gospel. As I've said before from what I personally knew of Saladino he was a made member but he was never more than a collector of street tax. He possibly could have been a capo after Gulotta died but that's it.

Cavita, any idea which Rockford LCN protege was in the “Peace making role” between the establishment and the newer zips in the 80s?

[Snakes]

I've never seen evidence that Rockford was a "faction" of Chicago. To me it shows the lack of investigative effort to delve into Rockford. It was a separate and distinct crime family. Whether or not it still exists today isn't known and can't be ruled out as a possibility. It would be an argument from silence to assert with full certitude that it died out based on a lack of prosecutions. At best we can say that it seems likely that it is, but the most effective crime family is the one operates without being detected.

I agree but it was definitely listed by the FBI as a "faction" of Chicago in the mid-80s. The most plausible explanation for this was that they just didn't know or couldn't prove (for whatever reason) that the two were distinct entities, at least during that time period.

[Pogo The Clown]

I remember reading a long time ago that in the mid-80s the Outfit moved in on the rockets in Rockford to make up for the lost income from the Vegas skim. Don't know how accurate that is but if true it could explain it.


Pogo

[Snakes]

Looking back through my Chicago files for some information pertaining to Rockford that I could contribute here. I found this, dated 28 March 1985:

Investigation in the Rockford, Illinois area has determined that at least initially there is a strong connection between Frank Buscemi of the Rockford family and the young Sicilian immigrants who are being filtered into this country to run narcotics operations for the Sicilian Mafia. Investigation has uncovered at least 27 immigrants from Sicily that Buscemi has sponsored into the United States. An investigation centered on tracing these individuals and their activities is presently underway in the Rockford area.

[Villain]

Who represented Rockford on the round table during the 70s and early 80s?

[cavita]

Rockford wasn't included in the 1988 list of families. Though that may have just been an oversight since places like San Francisco, San Jose, Denver and Tucson were included. I can't imagine those families were in much better shape at the time.


Pogo

Rockford was considered a "faction" of Chicago, for whatever reason.

Snakes, I really do not think the FBI ever had a full grasp on what the Rockford LCN was. At times they indicated it was a faction of Chicago even though they never listed them on the Outfit charts. Also, remember the family secrets indictment they stated that Frank Saldino was boss of Rockford LCN which I know Cavita disputes. Not that there was a LCN family in Rockford but that Saladino was boss.

I think they only had them as a "faction" because they were never sure of their autonomy, which is puzzling considering they labeled a boss and underboss for the family in the mid-80s. Maybe they were unsure as to whether they had been absorbed by Chicago.

Saladino was actually not indicted as boss of Rockford and Nick doesn't mention anything about Rockford's status in his testimony, only that they had some partnerships and that Carlisi, LaPietra, and Marcello met with them after some disputes (around 1980 or 1981 to Nick's recollection).

I swear there was some federal documents that stated he was boss of Rockford LCN. Maybe Cavita can confirm

The 2003 Threat Assessment to Nick Calabrese said to the effect of "Information has been developed that Saladino is the boss of the Rockford LCN Family." How I interpret that is that is what Nick believed. When he was briefing the FBI as to who the threats to his safety were, that's how Nick described him. See, just because Nick was an informant didn't mean he knew everything. He gave info to the FBI how he knew it. His brother Frank may have told Nick that Saladino was the boss out there for whatever reason and Nick took it as gospel. As I've said before from what I personally knew of Saladino he was a made member but he was never more than a collector of street tax. He possibly could have been a capo after Gulotta died but that's it.

Cavita, any idea which Rockford LCN protege was in the “Peace making role” between the establishment and the newer zips in the 80s?

Not a clue. I don't even know if it's an American born Italian or a Sicilian immigrant. There is just that reference without even a redacted name to see how many potential letters are in the name to even hazard a guess.

[cavita]

Who represented Rockford on the round table during the 70s and early 80s?

In the 70s it was
Boss: Joe Zammuto
Underboss: Frank Buscemi
Consigliere: Joe Zito
Capo: Charles Vince

In the 80s it gets confusing. 1984 intelligence said that Frank Buscemi was the day to day boss with Zammuto having the final say but was more of a consigliere. They had Charles Vince as the underboss and Sebastian Gulotta as capo.
I say confusing because 1980s FBI files stated Zammuto was the absolute boss and every 80s file on Buscemi always listed him as underboss. I have 1981 FBI files that said Charles Vince was a "ranking member possibly in the capacity of acting boss" while Zammuto was in Florida.

[Patrickgold]

Who represented Rockford on the round table during the 70s and early 80s?

In the 70s it was
Boss: Joe Zammuto
Underboss: Frank Buscemi
Consigliere: Joe Zito
Capo: Charles Vince

In the 80s it gets confusing. 1984 intelligence said that Frank Buscemi was the day to day boss with Zammuto having the final say but was more of a consigliere. They had Charles Vince as the underboss and Sebastian Gulotta as capo.
I say confusing because 1980s FBI files stated Zammuto was the absolute boss and every 80s file on Buscemi always listed him as underboss. I have 1981 FBI files that said Charles Vince was a "ranking member possibly in the capacity of acting boss" while Zammuto was in Florida.

I always thought of Zammuto as a Tony Accardo of Rockford. He was 93 years only when he died and outlived Buscemi. He obviously was not running the day to day operations of the family at the age of 90 but had final say on all important decisions. From my understanding too is that he spent most of his time in Florida in his later years.

[cavita]

Who represented Rockford on the round table during the 70s and early 80s?

In the 70s it was
Boss: Joe Zammuto
Underboss: Frank Buscemi
Consigliere: Joe Zito
Capo: Charles Vince

In the 80s it gets confusing. 1984 intelligence said that Frank Buscemi was the day to day boss with Zammuto having the final say but was more of a consigliere. They had Charles Vince as the underboss and Sebastian Gulotta as capo.
I say confusing because 1980s FBI files stated Zammuto was the absolute boss and every 80s file on Buscemi always listed him as underboss. I have 1981 FBI files that said Charles Vince was a "ranking member possibly in the capacity of acting boss" while Zammuto was in Florida.

I always thought of Zammuto as a Tony Accardo of Rockford. He was 93 years only when he died and outlived Buscemi. He obviously was not running the day to day operations of the family at the age of 90 but had final say on all important decisions. From my understanding too is that he spent most of his time in Florida in his later years.

Zammuto started wintering in Hollywood, Florida in the 1960s staying in the complex Santo VIrrusso owned. Zammuto would travel there from basically late November or so through April every year and FBI files noted he would contact Frank "Frankie Bush" Buscemi while down there. Buscemi was a first cousin of Rockford underboss Frank Buscemi and died in Delray Beach, Florida in 1977.

[Wiseguy]

I've never seen evidence that Rockford was a "faction" of Chicago. To me it shows the lack of investigative effort to delve into Rockford. It was a separate and distinct crime family. Whether or not it still exists today isn't known and can't be ruled out as a possibility. It would be an argument from silence to assert with full certitude that it died out based on a lack of prosecutions. At best we can say that it seems likely that it is, but the most effective crime family is the one operates without being detected.

The Dallas Mob: Operating in the shadows as the most effective crime family since 1970.

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[Antiliar]

Dumb response.

[Wiseguy]

Dumb response.

Whether or not Dallas still exists today isn't known and can't be ruled out as a possibility. It would be an argument from silence to assert with full certitude that it died out based on a lack of prosecutions. At best we can say that it seems likely that it is, but the most effective crime family is the one operates without being detected.