General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[CTfromCT1]

Gangster Report from today re: Larry Pettit death:

https://gangsterreport.com/hunger-pains ... in-85-hit/

[funkster]

Not sure if anyone has watched, but there is a new doc on HBO about the opioid crisis focused primarily on big pharma and pill mills. The second episode discusses a lot of the actions taken by the DEA, and interviews the DEA's Deputy Admin for the office of diversion. He quickly goes over how bad they pill mills got and mentions an IL doctor being a big one and the doc quickly flashes Joe Giachinno's picture. I remember Fosco going all out on him way back, does anyone remember what the story was? Its been so long I've forgotten, was his only Outfit involvement getting Buddy Ciotti out on work release?

[Coloboy]

From what I recall Giachinno was partnered up with Fratto and maybe daddano (or was paying them tribute) as part of the pill pushing. It seemed he was a long time EP associate, closely tied to Jackie Cerone in the past. There was also speculation that his scam could have been tied to the murders/disappearances of those 2 younger EP associates in the 2000’s. I can’t recall their names but someone else will here.

[funkster]

Ah yeah, Anthony Catalano.

Believe Giachinno was tied closely to Jackie Jr. (excuse the Aprile reference). Sounds like he made some serious money, wonder how much if any he kicked up to the Elmwood guys. I recall Fosco named him in his civil suit against Johnny and Fratto.

[PolackTony]

Yes Catalano and Mike DeFillipis. When DeFillipis was found murdered in 12/2009, apparently police found a prescription for ~300 pills of Norco 10 in his glove compartment. I don’t know for a fact that Giacchino wrote the Rx, but that’s my impression. There was some discussion of Catalano and DeFillipis on the recent suspected Outfit hits thread: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7179&p=180391&hilit=Velez#p180391

A close relative of mine has known Giacchino for years. Apparently he was considered a go-to doc for workers comp cases, I believe including a lot of union stuff, so that is certainly another angle where he may have been useful to the Outfit. Fosco had a beef with him so we should take Fosco’s claims with a grain of salt, but he has always characterized Giacchino as an EP associate, rather than just some loosely connected guy. Giacchino appears to have always looked and acted the part of a wannabe wiseguy and I’m sure loved to be around the life.

[Villain]

Ive seen an info regarding one James Perno being labelled as cousin of the Giancana family so my question is, was this same Perno related to Jack Perno who in turn was a Glimco lieutenant?

[Ozgoz]

What accent does Accardo have in those newly released senate hearings? Is that a Chicago accent? He sounds very Italian, for someone born in America.

[PolackTony]

What accent does Accardo have in those newly released senate hearings? Is that a Chicago accent? He sounds very Italian, for someone born in America.

He just sounds like old people that I remember from my childhood in Chicago. He doesn’t sound particularly Italian to me, at least no more so than other second generation Chicago Italians of his era. If you are picking up that from hearing him, keep in mind that even though he was born in America he received little formal education and was raised in a very strongly Italian environment.

[funkster]

I don't hear an Italian accent at all either.

[SolarSolano]

Accardo was clearly fluent being the son of immigrants and running with the sicilian gangs - but I've always wondered how often he spoke Italian to Giancana and these other guys. You see a lot of English/Italian used in the NYC wiretaps not as much with Chicago - even with Ricca/Accardo/Giancana they are speaking English - all three guys clearly spoke the language and I'm sure Ricca spoke it better than English.

I know Angelo LaPietra and Steve Annoreno and Buccieri's loanshark gang frequently spoke Italian from the transcripts I've seen - just not as many of the Outfit bosses.

[funkster]

A lot of it was that generation, there's the KC wiretap of Spilotro and Nick Civella and Civella tries speaking to him in Italian and tony has no clue what he's saying.

[cavita]

I do know that most of the Rockford LCN guys and many associates spoke Sicilian. The one member that could not was Joe "Gramps" Marinelli as I stated before he was the only member who was from the Italian mainland so he could only speak traditional Italian. Also, when the family was dealing in narcotics in the mid 1980s their phone tapped conversations were entirely in Sicilian and the FBI repeatedly stated that to ensure the success of the bureau's undercover operation the necessity of a Sicilian-speaking interpreter was of paramount importance. Many of these guys had broken-English accents and I remember boss Joe Zammuto had an extremely thick accent even though he'd lived in this country from 1913-1990.

[PolackTony]

Accardo was clearly fluent being the son of immigrants and running with the sicilian gangs - but I've always wondered how often he spoke Italian to Giancana and these other guys. You see a lot of English/Italian used in the NYC wiretaps not as much with Chicago - even with Ricca/Accardo/Giancana they are speaking English - all three guys clearly spoke the language and I'm sure Ricca spoke it better than English.

I know Angelo LaPietra and Steve Annoreno and Buccieri's loanshark gang frequently spoke Italian from the transcripts I've seen - just not as many of the Outfit bosses.

According to Fred Pascente, Ricca had a strong Italian accent, as to be expected.

I remember reading something claiming that Giancana couldn’t understand when Italian was spoken at a Commission meeting (IIRC), but I rather doubt that, given that his parents were both from Sicily and he grew up when he did on Taylor St. And even if he couldn’t speak “Italian” per se, I’d assume that he could communicate in Sicilianu. Also, the wiretap where Joe Costello brought his complaint to Giancana regarding Joe Fusco has an unnamed individual speaking in “Italian” during the meeting, so presumably Giancana could understand him just fine. Not like he stopped the guy at any point like “Hey, knock it off with that greaseball shit” lol. I’ve wondered if this unnamed guy might’ve been Catuara (given that the issue involved the Heights), as Catuara was from Sicily. Red Wemette has told me that Catuara spoke in a thick accent and used “broken English”.

[PolackTony]

A lot of it was that generation, there's the KC wiretap of Spilotro and Nick Civella and Civella tries speaking to him in Italian and tony has no clue what he's saying.

Spilotro’s father was from Bari, of course, but his mother was a Sicilian-American so it would make sense that his Italian would be poor.

A question also is, when Civella spoke to him in “Italian”, was it actually Italian or Sicilian? Given that Spilotro’s father was from Bari, he may have had more exposure to Bares’ then to Sicilianu, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t know much from any dialect aside from the typical Ital-American slang and such.

[SB1825]

Accardo was clearly fluent being the son of immigrants and running with the sicilian gangs - but I've always wondered how often he spoke Italian to Giancana and these other guys. You see a lot of English/Italian used in the NYC wiretaps not as much with Chicago - even with Ricca/Accardo/Giancana they are speaking English - all three guys clearly spoke the language and I'm sure Ricca spoke it better than English.

I know Angelo LaPietra and Steve Annoreno and Buccieri's loanshark gang frequently spoke Italian from the transcripts I've seen - just not as many of the Outfit bosses.

According to Fred Pascente, Ricca had a strong Italian accent, as to be expected.

I remember reading something claiming that Giancana couldn’t understand when Italian was spoken at a Commission meeting (IIRC), but I rather doubt that, given that his parents were both from Sicily and he grew up when he did on Taylor St. And even if he couldn’t speak “Italian” per se, I’d assume that he could communicate in Sicilianu. Also, the wiretap where Joe Costello brought his complaint to Giancana regarding Joe Fusco has an unnamed individual speaking in “Italian” during the meeting, so presumably Giancana could understand him just fine. Not like he stopped the guy at any point like “Hey, knock it off with that greaseball shit” lol. I’ve wondered if this unnamed guy might’ve been Catuara (given that the issue involved the Heights), as Catuara was from Sicily. Red Wemette has told me that Catuara spoke in a thick accent and used “broken English”.

Old mafia inc doc had Giancana’s old gf on there and she said Giancana would speak Sicilian with his guys. According to her he told her, “You don’t wanna know what we’re talking about.”