General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[Villain]

Not sure of a Jeff so perhaps the informant misremembered? Although it seems like he would know based on his apparent experience in the South Side policy racket.

Thats my point too, meaning this guy obviously knew on who was who in the policy and narcotics racket around the South Side.

I remember reading about some members and non-Italians having thoughts during the early 60s about Ferraro being an informant or somebody else from the south side....even Les Kruse looked Ferraro as weak individual but besides that, they were almost right since one of Ferraros crew bosses Ralph Pierce was in fact one of the informants.

The thing is that the informant we are talking about, besides being involved in the policy game, he also sold dope and according to numerous infos both Ferraro and Alex didnt tolerate drugs, but instead there was one capo from their faction who was deeply involved in the dope trade and that was Skids Caruso....so maybe the informant was from his own crew since Carusos group was mostly made out of Italian members...i think this is a job for Ed

[Snakes]

Also came across some information that Chuckie English was sponsored in 1956 by Joseph Mendino but that Sam English had never been made (this information was collected in 1967).

[Snakes]

Not sure of a Jeff so perhaps the informant misremembered? Although it seems like he would know based on his apparent experience in the South Side policy racket.

Thats my point too, meaning this guy obviously knew on who was who in the policy and narcotics racket around the South Side.

I remember reading about some members and non-Italians having thoughts during the early 60s about Ferraro being an informant or somebody else from the south side....even Les Kruse looked Ferraro as weak individual but besides that, they were almost right since one of Ferraros crew bosses Ralph Pierce was in fact one of the informants.

The thing is that the informant we are talking about, besides being involved in the policy game, he also sold dope and according to numerous infos both Ferraro and Alex didnt tolerate drugs, but instead there was one capo from their faction who was deeply involved in the dope trade and that was Skids Caruso....so maybe the informant was from his own crew since Carusos group was mostly made out of Italian members...i think this is a job for Ed

Maybe this was why Ferraro's name was redacted... the informant doesn't mention Ferraro as being a member of the "Committee," either. Maybe this was to protect him(self)? However, I do not remember Ferraro being shelved by the Outfit in this time period as it seemed like he was on good paper with them until his death. I don't believe that Ferraro was the informant but it is interesting. I can do some more digging, my morning's free lol.

[Villain]

Not sure of a Jeff so perhaps the informant misremembered? Although it seems like he would know based on his apparent experience in the South Side policy racket.

Thats my point too, meaning this guy obviously knew on who was who in the policy and narcotics racket around the South Side.

I remember reading about some members and non-Italians having thoughts during the early 60s about Ferraro being an informant or somebody else from the south side....even Les Kruse looked Ferraro as weak individual but besides that, they were almost right since one of Ferraros crew bosses Ralph Pierce was in fact one of the informants.

The thing is that the informant we are talking about, besides being involved in the policy game, he also sold dope and according to numerous infos both Ferraro and Alex didnt tolerate drugs, but instead there was one capo from their faction who was deeply involved in the dope trade and that was Skids Caruso....so maybe the informant was from his own crew since Carusos group was mostly made out of Italian members...i think this is a job for Ed

Maybe this was why Ferraro's name was redacted... the informant doesn't mention Ferraro as being a member of the "Committee," either. Maybe this was to protect him(self)? However, I do not remember Ferraro being shelved by the Outfit in this time period as it seemed like he was on good paper with them until his death. I don't believe that Ferraro was the informant but it is interesting. I can do some more digging, my morning's free lol.

Nice thinking and I believe you can easily find the file at the MF site regarding Kruse trash talking Ferraro with some guy....and yeah you are right, Ferraro was in good stand until his death since he attended the meeting when he got replaced with Battaglia.

Also thanks again for the English/Mendino info since by the late 50s Mendino had more seniority than English and i look at him as being sponsored by one quite influential "soldier" (Mendino) and one capo, probably Battaglia or maybe even Buccieri. I cant see Mendino being a capo since some sources say that his superiors were Caifano and Battaglia.

[Villain]

Found it....

[Snakes]

Found it....

Thanks. I wonder if the guy that was really giving the info was Ralph Pierce?

[Villain]

Found it....

Thanks. I wonder if the guy that was really giving the info was Ralph Pierce?

Maybe he was or maybe it was the guy we are currently talking about...

[Villain]

The most interesting thing about the Outfit is that you might think for years that one guy was made but the reality is sometimes different, which again confirms the small difference between a member and non-member in the organization, besides being Italian or non-Italian. Sicilian Cosa Nostra? Its like the NBC news station compared to some of those Chicago guys from the past lol

[cavita]

-Informant described the Rockford area as having "opened up" in 1959, presumably meaning that they were allowed to run as an independent family. Informant described redacted name (probably Frank Buscemi) as the boss of Rockford. Buscemi had previously reported to Jim DeGeorge but informant was unaware of current status of Rockford. It appears that Rockford had previously been an Outfit territory under DeGeorge but was allowed to branch off and become an independent family, although I am not sure of the accuracy of this. Maybe Cavita can weigh in here.

Good stuff Snakes- I'm always curious about the Rockford info gleaned from FBI reports from other families. As to these statements I have never heard of them being "opened up" particularly around 1959. The only thing of note regarding them in 1959 was that Frank Buscemi came to Rockford from Chicago where he had indeed worked under Jimmie DeGeorge. Buscemi was made in May of that year but wasn't boss. Joe Zammuto had ascended to that spot in May 1958. Perhaps before 1959 DeGeorge did keep an eye on Rockford for the Outfit, I don't know. Later FBI files from the mid 1960s stated that in the past the Outfit had tried to exert control over Rockford in that they wanted a say in who would be boss. I'm assuming the transition from Musso (who died in 1958) to Zammuto who did become boss. It was stated that Musso hand picked Phil Priola to succeed him but after Musso died the family members nixed this and chose Zammuto. It was because Priola had only recently returned to Rockford after living in Chicago from about 1944 to 1955. Files did say that DeGeorge would back Priola as boss but since Chicago had no authority over Rockford this wasn't a possibility.

The mid to late fifties were an interesting time for all the families Rockford notwithstanding. I always take the FNI files from this time with a grain of salt because the FBI was still trying to find their way in understanding the various mafia families. I even have a 1974 FBI file that referred to the death of Frank LaPorte "a known Rockford LCN member," which is clearly wrong.

If this is indeed true, Rockford being allowed to run as an independent family, maybe it was because they were more SIcilian based as opposed to the Outfit?

[Snakes]

-Informant described the Rockford area as having "opened up" in 1959, presumably meaning that they were allowed to run as an independent family. Informant described redacted name (probably Frank Buscemi) as the boss of Rockford. Buscemi had previously reported to Jim DeGeorge but informant was unaware of current status of Rockford. It appears that Rockford had previously been an Outfit territory under DeGeorge but was allowed to branch off and become an independent family, although I am not sure of the accuracy of this. Maybe Cavita can weigh in here.

Good stuff Snakes- I'm always curious about the Rockford info gleaned from FBI reports from other families. As to these statements I have never heard of them being "opened up" particularly around 1959. The only thing of note regarding them in 1959 was that Frank Buscemi came to Rockford from Chicago where he had indeed worked under Jimmie DeGeorge. Buscemi was made in May of that year but wasn't boss. Joe Zammuto had ascended to that spot in May 1958. Perhaps before 1959 DeGeorge did keep an eye on Rockford for the Outfit, I don't know. Later FBI files from the mid 1960s stated that in the past the Outfit had tried to exert control over Rockford in that they wanted a say in who would be boss. I'm assuming the transition from Musso (who died in 1958) to Zammuto who did become boss. It was stated that Musso hand picked Phil Priola to succeed him but after Musso died the family members nixed this and chose Zammuto. It was because Priola had only recently returned to Rockford after living in Chicago from about 1944 to 1955. Files did say that DeGeorge would back Priola as boss but since Chicago had no authority over Rockford this wasn't a possibility.

The mid to late fifties were an interesting time for all the families Rockford notwithstanding. I always take the FNI files from this time with a grain of salt because the FBI was still trying to find their way in understanding the various mafia families. I even have a 1974 FBI file that referred to the death of Frank LaPorte "a known Rockford LCN member," which is clearly wrong.

If this is indeed true, Rockford being allowed to run as an independent family, maybe it was because they were more SIcilian based as opposed to the Outfit?

The informant could very well have been wrong and maybe DeGeorge was just a go-between for the two families. The report didn't outright name Buscemi as boss [he was redacted for some reason] but I assumed it was very likely him as they said "not to be confused with Buccieri, of the Chicago Family."

[PolackTony]

I haven't looked it up, but he was probably related to Anthony Spillone, a likely made guy under Buccieri. As for a possible Citro connection, there was an associate of Orazio Tropea named John Citro. He owned a restaurant and a trucking company. Morris Eller worked for him a debt collector. He died in 1940.

From what I can tell, Vito Spillone was born 1936, Chicago, dead 2015, Whittier, CA. Parents were Francesco Spillone and Angelica BelFiore of Bari. Vito did have an older brother named Anthony (Vito was the baby out of a bunch of kids). Family lived on the Westside near Polk and Kedzie when Vito was a kid.

[Villain]

I was going through some of my old FBI files but I cant find few copies from the Gregory Scarpa files that I managed to save regarding the 1960s era, in which Scarpa mentioned something like the New York families were about to change their rules just like the Chicago Outfit by giving the green light for contracts over newspaper men and police officers.

Ill be very happy if some1 can find that statement or at least, some1 might remebers it but besides on what went down, this was the third or fourth story i read at the time regarding these two groups making important decisions regarding their functioning or certain types of rules and hierarchies.

Also, some people used to say that the Genovese family started using Chicagos formula regarding the structure of the top admin after Vito got jailed....so my point is that theres nothing strange in the theory that during the mid or late 70s, the Outfit received some pressure from the east coast and received some type of Cosa Nostra image to an extent, since Alex was still looked upon as one of the top bosses during that period.

My personal belief is that the Outfit had to "wake up" to an extent from all of the previous, starting and long time "Capone and non-Italian influence" and to become one with some of their counterparts on the east coast.

If you ask me, the main guy was probably Tony Accardo who after the death of his boss Paul Ricca, absorbed some of the rules placed by the NY five families at the time.

[Frank]

If informant is accurate about this committee, I wonder if it was in place in previous administrations or just in the Giancana era. It does seem that it was not used in the 70s

[Snakes]

If informant is accurate about this committee, I wonder if it was in place in previous administrations or just in the Giancana era. It does seem that it was not used in the 70s

The Outfit was a lot smaller then, too. You could almost consider Accardo, Aiuppa, and Cerone the Committee equivalent during this time period, though.

[Frank]

If informant is accurate about this committee, I wonder if it was in place in previous administrations or just in the Giancana era. It does seem that it was not used in the 70s

The Outfit was a lot smaller then, too. You could almost consider Accardo, Aiuppa, and Cerone the Committee equivalent during this time period, though.

Yes your right. Alot of top leaders died in early 70s. I would guess Prio was on the committee, seeing that Giancana didnt want Prio to know about the hit in Florida.