General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[InCamelot]

Without more clarification on the details it could be that those ties were either established while Patty Red was with the Long Island crew (and thus via that crew?), and/or much more recently than the late 90s that Tony was referring to here.

We also don't know whether the administration would have to be the ones to make those first inroads in inter-family cooperation and thus the ties would continue through whichever faction is in the top spots. IIRC Patty Red was locked up with Chicago guys so that could have been another opportunity for networking, but do we know roughly when Patty Red started dealing with Chicago? Could have been since the BK factions' re-ascension into the administration?

[PolackTony]

Without more clarification on the details it could be that those ties were either established while Patty Red was with the Long Island crew (and thus via that crew?), and/or much more recently than the late 90s that Tony was referring to here.

We also don't know whether the administration would have to be the ones to make those first inroads in inter-family cooperation and thus the ties would continue through whichever faction is in the top spots. IIRC Patty Red was locked up with Chicago guys so that could have been another opportunity for networking, but do we know roughly when Patty Red started dealing with Chicago? Could have been since the BK factions' re-ascension into the administration?

Dellorusso apparently had ties to Chicago going back at least to his 1993 indictment for extorting air freight companies, which involved Teamsters Locals 295 and 851 in NY and the notorious Local 705 in Chicago (which was placed in trusteeship that year to curb its long history of corruption and mob influence). The guy I met was from Bensonhurst though and not part of the network of the old Canarsie/Vario crew

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/11/05 ... 752475600/

With respect to “inroads”, while it’s useful to be able to pinpoint specific lines of connection or liaisons between Families, these connections at some level have always existed. Chicago was on the Commission for decades with the Luccheses, after all. When I expressed to the guy I met that there are people today who would find close ties between NYC and Chicago to be surprising, he made it very clear that this is not at all how guys in that world see it (basically, he thought it was a dumb sentiment). These sorts of connections are a matter of fact to them, and he emphasized that LCN is “all one thing”, and that “the connections are what it is”.

[funkster]

Cant remember if it was discussed before, but Scars specifically remembered chicago guys (he didnt know who) coming to NY and having a meeting at Spero's club. He did not seem to think that was out of the ordinary either.

[PolackTony]

Cant remember if it was discussed before, but Scars specifically remembered chicago guys (he didnt know who) coming to NY and having a meeting at Spero's club. He did not seem to think that was out of the ordinary either.

They came to Spero’s club according to Michael because it was a hub for guys in Brooklyn from different Families. The Chicago guys in question were sent to BK because Chicago was apparently partnered with some Gambino guys in the 70s/early 80s in Vegas. Michael understood there to have been partnerships involving some of the casinos but didn’t have any specifics as this was before he was made and it wasn’t something that he was involved in.

Michael didn’t have any relationships with guys in Chicago himself, but knew other guys who did and is very much aware that these ties existed during his tenure with both his Family and other NYC Families and Chicago. Again, shouldn’t be surprising in the least but this is apparently considered sensational by outsiders, though it’s just matter of fact to guys in that world. While only a small subset of members will have relationships like this, if other guys need or want to make connection with affiliates in another city/Family, there are people who are channels/conduits to do so.

[PolackTony]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/03/ ... zed-crime/

Mistrial declared in juice loan extortion case after agent mentions 'organized crime'


By Jason Meisner


March 8 at 1:58 PM ET


A federal judge on Friday took the rare step of declaring a mistrial for two west suburban men accused in a juice loan extortion scheme after an FBI agent testified he investigated “organized crime matters,” a term that the judge had explicitly barred to avoid prejudicing the jury.
Gene “Gino” Cassano, 55, and Gioacchino “Jack” Galione, 47, both of Addison, are charged with conspiring to collect a debt by extortionate means, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. Galione is also charged with using violence to collect a debt.


The decision by U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to halt the trial came after three tumultuous days of testimony, including one witness who accused a defense attorney in front of the jury of being a liar who is “paid to represent criminals” and others with lengthy rap sheets who had to be dragged into court under threat of incarceration.
There were a total of six motions for a mistrial by the two defense teams for various alleged infractions, culminating with the “organized crime” comment late in the day Thursday that the judge said left her “no choice” but to discharge the jury and start anew.



A status hearing to figure out next steps was set for Monday. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office had no immediate comment.


The case is limited to a single incident involving a victim who was allegedly punched by Galione in an attempt to collect a juice loan debt.


Federal court records show it’s tied to a wider investigation of the Chicago Outfit, including gambling and prostitution rackets allegedly being run by the mob’s notorious Elmwood Park crew. But Johnson had barred mention of the mob connections to avoid prejudicing the jury.


The issue that led to the mistrial occurred late in the day Thursday, when prosecutors called FBI Special Agent David Patch to give routine testimony about a download from a witness’s cellphone.



Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan, Patch told the jury he’d worked in the FBI Chicago field office for his whole career and investigated national and international “organized crime matters.”


Several members of the defense teams immediately shouted objections, prompting Coleman to abruptly end the trial for the day.


In arguments outside the presence of the jury, lawyers for both Cassano and Galione accused Hogan of intentionally disregarding Coleman’s orders, saying he either knew or should have known that Patch’s response to the question about his background would have mentioned organized crime.


In a written motion filed early Friday, attorneys Damon Cheronis, who represents Galione, and Todd Pugh, who represents Cassano, accused the prosecution team of trying to creatively insert references to the mob into the trial.



“The government has been attempting to find ways to inject organized crime gloss to this case from the jump,” the motion stated. “Of course, nobody is entitled to a perfect trial but there must be a line and this court has to be standing on that line and protecting the rights of these two men because the government has abandoned its post.”


In a motion of their own, prosecutors apologized and suggested it was a misunderstanding, writing they did not believe the bar on organized crime testimony included routine questions about an agent’s work history.


“Going forward, the government will be sure to instruct all witnesses that they cannot use the term ‘organized crime’ in any context, including to describe their own backgrounds,” the motion stated.


The case focuses on the Aug. 1, 2016, assault of Luigi Mucerino inside Galione’s garage in Addison, which prosecutors allege was over a $10,000 juice loan Mucerino had taken out from Cassano and failed to pay back.
Mucerino, who was granted immunity by the U.S. attorney’s office, testified Tuesday that he was driving back from a business trip to Lake Geneva on the night of the assault when he got a panicked call from his wife that someone was banging on the windows and doors of their home.


After Galione called him and said he was at the home, Mucerino agreed to meet him and they drove to Galione’s garage. Before Mucerino could ask what it was all about, something slammed into his eye, knocking him unconscious, Mucerino testified. When he woke up, he was on the ground, his face broken and bloody, and Galione was standing over him with a towel.
“I got cold-cocked,” Mucerino, 39, told the jury in a matter-of-fact tone. He said Galione never told him why he’d hit him, saying only that it “was just business.”
Attorneys for the defendants told the jury they’re not denying Galione roughed up Mucerino that night. But they said the victim and key witnesses have changed their stories repeatedly and have so many credibility problems it’s impossible to determine the motive for the assault, which is an element prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.


“Mr. Cassano did not send anyone, hire anyone to go there,” Pugh said in his opening statement. “Gene had nothing to do with what occurred in that garage.”

The defense has also painted Mucerino as an admitted drug trafficker, degenerate gambler and marijuana abuser, who acknowledged feeding a series of half-truths and outright lies to police and later to the FBI about the loan to throw them off the case.


The flap over the agent’s organized crime statement was far from the only issue in the trial. Just hours earlier on Thursday, the defense had requested a mistrial after a prosecutor objected to a witness, who was a paid FBI informant, being asked where he currently lives.


Coleman overruled the objection, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Guzman blurted out in earshot of the jury that there were “safety concerns” with the witness. Defense attorneys argued the statement was “completely inappropriate and certainly suggested that the government believes the witness’ life could be endangered.”


In response, prosecutors said it was clear the witness had cooperated against many individuals other than Cassano and Galione and it “does not follow” that they were the reason for the safety concern.
“

The jury heard that the witness was a prior FBI confidential informant who had cooperated against many other individuals and was outed because of this trial,” prosecutors wrote in a motion Friday. “It does not follow that the government’s concerns for the witness’s safety stem from perceived threats from the defendants.”

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


2024 Chicago Tribune

[Ivan]

guy looks like an Italian Pritzker

[funkster]

He's a big boy.

[PolackTony]

guy looks like an Italian Pritzker

Common Chicagoland phenotype.

[Patrickgold]

Just saw Scott B’s article on the Cassano’s. Interesting information about them being proposed for membership by Willie Messino. Also says there are two sections within the EP Crew, one ran by Gags and the other by Dote which makes perfect sense. He did get some stuff wrong. He said Gene is the last of the brothers. Not true. Tony Cassano is still alive and runs a social club on Belmont just east of Harlem called “Amici’s”.

[Ivan]

He did get some stuff wrong. He said Gene is the last of the brothers. Not true. Tony Cassano is still alive and runs a social club on Belmont just east of Harlem called “Amici’s”.

He says "final remaining mobbed up" -- I take this Tony Cassano and his social club are mobbed up?

[Patrickgold]

He did get some stuff wrong. He said Gene is the last of the brothers. Not true. Tony Cassano is still alive and runs a social club on Belmont just east of Harlem called “Amici’s”.

He says "final remaining mobbed up" -- I take this Tony Cassano and his social club are mobbed up?

Very involved

[Ivan]

Very involved

Thanks. Really appreciate your knowledge and insight Patrick.

Interesting that Scott doesn't seem to know about the LoBues. Antiliar's source said they and Nitti were three guys that Solly D had operating in Elmwood Park. Would be interesting if perhaps Scott and Ricks source are both right, and the LoBues and Nitti are a separate group operating in Elmwood Park (directly under Solly D, or whatever) but distinct from the Elmwood Park crew of Gagliano et alia.

[Coloboy]

Also important to re-iterate that especially in the modern day outfit, crews are likely not as bound by geographical limitations. I.E the Elmwood Park crew is likely not truly based in EP, and has guys all over the western suburbs. It's very possible that Solly D has Cicero guys operating in the actual suburb of Elmwood Park, without that causing an issue with the so called EP crew. Or that he simply got permission or is paying the crew a small percentage to operate there.

Either way, really interesting to read the recent stuff about EP. They are certainly not defunct.

[Ivan]

Also important to re-iterate that especially in the modern day outfit, crews are likely not as bound by geographical limitations. I.E the Elmwood Park crew is likely not truly based in EP, and has guys all over the western suburbs. It's very possible that Solly D has Cicero guys operating in the actual suburb of Elmwood Park, without that causing an issue with the so called EP crew. Or that he simply got permission or is paying the crew a small percentage to operate there.

Exactly. What Scott's saying and what Antiliar's source is saying are in no way mutually exclusive. Rick's source says he only knows a lot about the Cicero crew, and perhaps all he knows about Elmwood Park are Cicero guys operating there (and like you said the Elmwood Park crews's eponym and the crew's territory probably don't come close to being coterminous). Said Fratto is "isolated", which sounds a fair bit like Scott's claim that the EP crew is a semi-autonomous family within a family. (Just speculatin'.)

[PolackTony]

IMO, the strict territoriality of Chicago crews was likely always somewhat overstated, another effect of an “outside-looking-in-perspective”. We know, for example, that under Buccieri, the “Taylor St/Cicero” crew also had operations going on the Far Northside as well as on the Southside, not just the Westside/burbs. There was of course a territorial dimension to things, but it wasn’t always in simple, broad geographic blocs.

As with other things, Nick C’s testimony shed some light on these things, as he stated that things were not always strictly territorial. We saw how the “Southside” crew had things going on on the NW Side and in the burbs as well as their core Bridgeport/Chinatown base. This can also be specific to the kind of operation. Something like a card game is going to be more territorial by nature, as even when it’s floating, it needs a space to operate in. Other rackets basically operate with a list of clientele, however, and by nature are much less territorial, more based on network (“Hey, I got a guy…”, etc). Nick C claimed, for example, that street tax/extortion wasn’t divided by territories, but rather depended on whether a guy was already with or on the arm with another guy/crew (as when they were putting the arm on Tony Spavone but were told to back off because the Spavones were already with Cerone).

Another thing to consider is that these things have always gotten remixed and shifted around with changes in the administration, whether new bosses or new captains. I think the tendency for a long time with Chicago has been to assume that there were these static crews with strictly defined, exclusive territories that have dated all the way back to the days of Capone and Nitto. It is very unlikely that this has been the case. In any Family, when a new boss comes in, he has the prerogative to essentially remake the Family, busting down or promoting captains. This didn’t always happen when a new boss came in, of course, but likely happened more than we have realized. Teddy DeRose, for example, claimed that when Accardo became boss he restructured the Family and the territorial claims of the crews. Formally, it was the “Accardo Family”, and he had the prerogative to do so. Then, it became the “Giancana Family”, and we know that a large ceremony was held in ‘56 when Giancana came in. Presumably, some of the crew structure and dynamics got shifted under his tenure as well. Some degree of this we can presume happened with Aiuppa, and then more of it with the bosses after him.

Our mental map of the crew structure is like, largely stuck in the 80s, but how many things have changed under the succession of bosses since Aiuppa? We can presume a lot changed, of course, but none of us really know WTF is the deal today with any degree of certainty. The general social landscape of Chicagoland has also changed significantly since those days though, with the mob having become a largely suburban phenomenon. One would have to imagine that given these changes, things in general are going to be less geographic today and more based on networks of clientele etc. Bookmaking today is largely online, virtual, doesn’t have the need for physical wirerooms with clerks and guys answering phones running around and so forth, the investment and operating costs of which entailed a more physical/territorial character of gambling operations in the past as compared to today.

As one last note. Say for the sake of argument that there are guys who are soldiers direct with the admin (which we know Chicago has always had). Even if there were still some strong territorial claims by crew, guys like this might not be bound by it. We can think of guys in the past like Alderisio and Caifano, who for a period were soldiers direct with Giancana. By dint of this arrangement, they could operate basically anywhere as their “territory” was the boss’s territory. With any Family, it’s a big deal to be a soldier direct with the boss.