PolackTony wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 8:59 pm
PolackTony wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 8:48 pm
Villain wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:53 am
Pre-Giancana era....i have to do a little more research since i think there were guys who pushed Sicilian heroin but didnt belong to any family at the time, nor they were constant residents of any city.
Btw you ever heard of Jacob Klein? He was born in 1903 in Brooklyn, New York and by the mid 1930’s, he was sent to Chicago by Luciano. In fact, Klein worked with almost every narcotics trafficker from both the Chicago and New York areas.
Are you referring to the Chicago Heights drug operation under Emery (with Tuffanelli, Guzzino, Laporte et al.), or is this something else? I'd be interested to know more also about these guys who were floating around between cities at the time.
Jacob Klein (aka Joe Gold) is an interesting figure that I know little about. I recall that he was one of the Chicago narcotics operatives mentioned in the Congressional hearings on OC and narcotics trafficking in '64. Thanks for the info that he was connected to Luciano. Did Klein have any contact with Dom Roberto?
As a side note, I'd assumed previously that Roberto was Sicilian due to his association with Sicilian traffickers after being deported. I now wonder if Roberto, Emery, and Laporte had any connections to Calabrese OC as well.
Additionally, if I'm not mistaken there were guys like Joe Iacullo, Joe Mendino, and Carlo Urbinati who were apparently running drugs under Accardo/EP. Where they also being supplied by the Heights operation, or did they have a different source?
I see the Chicago Heights faction as the main drug port for the Outfit during the late 40s and early 50s, and theres no doubt that guys like Roberto, Emery and Guzzino were involved in it. The deported Roberto besides being a mainlander, as you already said, he also had Sicilian connections and dont forget that Roberto was deported way before Luciano, Detriots Coppola or Adonis....theres a pic of Roberto together with Emery and Luciano in Italy
The thing is that the stash which arrived in the hands of the Chicago Heights mob was mainly reserved for cities of lesser importance such as Houston, Omaha, Denver, Phoenix etc., although some smaller part remained in the Chicago area and that same product was mostly sold by their Indiana cohorts and some of their non-Italian associates, meaning im not aware of any zips being involved.
The Chi Heights and South Side/Capone factions were very similar, meaning they wanted to control both the drug and prostitution rackets to an extent and also wanted to keep their image clean.
BUT the situation was different with the West and North factions, especially with the Taylor St, Grand Av and Rush St guys, meaning most of them had their own direct narcotics contacts on the east coast, mainly in the Genovese, Lucchese and Bonanno crime families and their product was destined strictly for the Chicago market. For example when the Mendino problem occurred, Galante visited Chicago while being on the lam.
So my point is that those same factions possibly opened the doors for the arrival of some Sicilian guys who teansferred themselves mainly from Detriot and NY. For example we previously talked about Lenny Calamia and the Dispensa/Seritella crew, who in turn i believe were connected to those same Sicilian guys. Members such as Calamia and Mendino were probably connected to the so-called Galante group which in turn even in those days probably started bringing few guys from the old country.
We also have other quite important Chicago names in the dope trade from the 40s and 50s such as August Deveno, Benny Morreale, Victor Zingarelli, Salvatore Nugara, that we dont know much about, or some alleged "unknown" Brooklyn individuals such as Nicholas Esposito, Sam Schifano or Dominick Gentile who in turn all were connected to Chicago....the Pisanos were also very interesting individuals...there was also one alleged Tampa guy Dentamaro who frequently travelled back and forth to Chicago and was closely associated with Carl Fiorito....they had one Tony Biase in Omaha and also one Vito Giordanello in Houston...
I have to go again through my old files and try to find some names, since my narcotics article is very much outdated and doesnt have everything in it...