Springfield Family 1963

[B.]

Good find Cavita. Maybe the "decina" thing was an in-house reference.

Something too is both San Giuseppe Jato and Agrigento were represented in the Rockford and Springfield admins at the same time.

[Patrickgold]

Interesting in that I've seen FBI files from stating that the Springfield family was in decline from the late 1950s after law enforcement crackdown and that the members basically were satisfied with their legal income. If that was indeed so why was Zito at Appalachian in 1957? Conversely, I believe it was never reported if Carlo Caputo of Madison was there. I'm of the belief that Springfield was a power at least up until Zito does, if not a little after that.

They definitely still had stuff going on until the early 80s. At least Vito Impastato did who was more than likely a made guy. How many made guys do you have being still alive when Zito died?

[Patrickgold]

There were reports that after the Springfield family died off, the Rockford family moved in on their rackets which is completely false. If anything, St. Louis would have done that. There was one FBI file that stated Tony Giordano of St. Louis said sometime in the late 70s if anyone wanted to start up anything illegal in Springfield that Dinora was the guy to see.

That is interesting that Giordano would tell someone to see Ernest "Buster" Dinora instead of Vito Impastato. Impastato was almost certainly made. He died in 1994. Can we confirm Dinora was made? Impastato had a popular supper club in Springfield for years and got busted for narcotics trafficking with his son in the 80s I believe. Son moved out to Arizona where he passed away. Vito died in 1988.

The stuff about Rockford moving in probably came from the back that Frank Zito’s brother was a higher up in Rockford.

[B.]

There's an FBI list where the only suspected soldiers (doesn't have any confirmed except Frank Zito) are Tony Zito and Impastato. I've got little doubt about them.

Dinora isn't confirmed but the Springfield sources all knew him to be one of Zito's main guys. If we knew his heritage it might help.

[cavita]

Interesting in that I've seen FBI files from stating that the Springfield family was in decline from the late 1950s after law enforcement crackdown and that the members basically were satisfied with their legal income. If that was indeed so why was Zito at Appalachian in 1957? Conversely, I believe it was never reported if Carlo Caputo of Madison was there. I'm of the belief that Springfield was a power at least up until Zito does, if not a little after that.

They definitely still had stuff going on until the early 80s. At least Vito Impastato did who was more than likely a made guy. How many made guys do you have being still alive when Zito died?

Good question, I don't have an answer for that but most likely under ten in my opinion.

[cavita]

There were reports that after the Springfield family died off, the Rockford family moved in on their rackets which is completely false. If anything, St. Louis would have done that. There was one FBI file that stated Tony Giordano of St. Louis said sometime in the late 70s if anyone wanted to start up anything illegal in Springfield that Dinora was the guy to see.

That is interesting that Giordano would tell someone to see Ernest "Buster" Dinora instead of Vito Impastato. Impastato was almost certainly made. He died in 1994. Can we confirm Dinora was made? Impastato had a popular supper club in Springfield for years and got busted for narcotics trafficking with his son in the 80s I believe. Son moved out to Arizona where he passed away. Vito died in 1988.

The stuff about Rockford moving in probably came from the back that Frank Zito’s brother was a higher up in Rockford.

My understanding was is that Impastato did not want the top spot due to health reasons and that's why Dinora then took it.

[cavita]

There's an FBI list where the only suspected soldiers (doesn't have any confirmed except Frank Zito) are Tony Zito and Impastato. I've got little doubt about them.

Dinora isn't confirmed but the Springfield sources all knew him to be one of Zito's main guys. If we knew his heritage it might help.

Tony Zito died in 1999 at the age of 99 and it's almost a definite he was made. In one of my Rockford surveillance photos of Joe Zito's funeral from 1981 I'm almost positive one of the unidentified guys is Tony Zito along with Rockford's Joe Zammuto and Joey Aiuppa.

[lennert]

There’s a piece on Frank Zito in the Informer issue of August 2017. I think it is pretty decent. I know, the writer is kind of a dick though

[Angelo Santino]

There’s a piece on Frank Zito in the Informer issue of August 2017. I think it is pretty decent. I know, the writer is kind of a dick though

Always good to see Lennert here. This guy is an example of just how knowledgeable people can be and the information they can amass from Europe. If this guy wasn't so busy with life and was writing books about this subject, the entire knowledge base would be ten years ahead of what it is now.

[cavita]

Also noticing that Frank Zito's father-in-law Salvatore Sgro, was also the father-in-law of Springfield connected guy Joseph Madonia. When Salvatore died in 1935 he had a surviving brother Frank in Chicago and Joe in Trinidad, Colorado interestingly enough.

[cavita]

Best I can tell the last Springfield LCN related murder was pinball operator James DeRosa. His head had been brought to a farmer's home in September 1957. His torso was discovered in a cornfield near Andrew, Illinois. DeRosa had been partners with Tony Zito.

[Patrickgold]

Best I can tell the last Springfield LCN related murder was pinball operator James DeRosa. His head had been brought to a farmer's home in September 1957. His torso was discovered in a cornfield near Andrew, Illinois. DeRosa had been partners with Tony Zito.

Cavita, was there any truth to the war that Springfield and St Louis had in the 40s or 50s? It was over the rackets somewhere in Southern Illinois. I can’t remember the details but I remember reading about it back in the day

[cavita]

Best I can tell the last Springfield LCN related murder was pinball operator James DeRosa. His head had been brought to a farmer's home in September 1957. His torso was discovered in a cornfield near Andrew, Illinois. DeRosa had been partners with Tony Zito.

Cavita, was there any truth to the war that Springfield and St Louis had in the 40s or 50s? It was over the rackets somewhere in Southern Illinois. I can’t remember the details but I remember reading about it back in the day

Really? I had never heard anything about it.

[B.]

I imagine it played into what happened with guys like Frank Abbate who was connected to Springfield, St Louis, and Chicago Heights/Calumet City. It seems to have been connected to the Chicago war of the 1940s, at least that's my guess. DeRose said Kansas City was involved so St. Louis may have been as well.

[PolackTony]

I imagine it played into what happened with guys like Frank Abbate who was connected to Springfield, St Louis, and Chicago Heights/Calumet City. It seems to have been connected to the Chicago war of the 1940s, at least that's my guess. DeRose said Kansas City was involved so St. Louis may have been as well.

Any light that we shed on a possible conflict in Downstate IL during this period could be a big deal.

We know that the violence in Chicago encompassed guys from Cinisi who were based around Calumet City, which obviously points to the Manzellas and Impastatos, with ties to both Cal City and Springfield. We also know that DeGeorge, and thus very likely Bacino, were involved, and they, like many Agrigentini in Chicago, had strong ties to far Downstate IL, which we assume was either/both Springfield/STL territory. If we could enumerate possibly-connected murders during that period Downstate, that could help to shed further light on this as yet only partially understood conflict.