Chicago Outfit Places of Origin

[cavita]

Early San Jose member Giuseppe Lima and some relatives lived in Portland for a time. Tony Lima said Giuseppe was inducted in Sicily (Trabia), meaning he was a made member while living in Portland. Based on Acci's age, seems he would have ties to the mafia already while living in PDX.

Well Portland is about as far as you can get from Italy going with east or west and I wonder what the draw was there. Couldn't have been a large population of Italians there at any given time I imagine, least of all LCN members but who knows? This Acci character is definitely a mystery.

[PolackTony]

Early San Jose member Giuseppe Lima and some relatives lived in Portland for a time. Tony Lima said Giuseppe was inducted in Sicily (Trabia), meaning he was a made member while living in Portland. Based on Acci's age, seems he would have ties to the mafia already while living in PDX.

Another thing to note is that the Polk St address is by Taylor St. The other guys that we know of with ancestry from Calascibetta concentrate down in NW IN. Wonder if Acci had ties down there as well.

[B.]

Early San Jose member Giuseppe Lima and some relatives lived in Portland for a time. Tony Lima said Giuseppe was inducted in Sicily (Trabia), meaning he was a made member while living in Portland. Based on Acci's age, seems he would have ties to the mafia already while living in PDX.

Well Portland is about as far as you can get from Italy going with east or west and I wonder what the draw was there. Couldn't have been a large population of Italians there at any given time I imagine, least of all LCN members but who knows? This Acci character is definitely a mystery.

Not a major Italian population, but Portland did have a small but "thriving" Little Italy back when these guys passed through. City planning apparently forced it out of existence later:
https://www.wweek.com/restaurants/2017/ ... -happened/

My buddy's family settled in Portland from mainland Italy then moved to the CA Bay Area but still has family in Portland. Looks like Lima took a similar route, going from Portland to San Jose.

There's a reason they used to send so many guys from Witness Protection to the Pacific Northwest, though. Just not an Italian area in any way, shape, or form. Going to San Francisco's North Beach as a kid in the 1990s you could still pick up the fumes of an Italian community, at least more than anything I've experienced in the NW.

[PolackTony]

Early San Jose member Giuseppe Lima and some relatives lived in Portland for a time. Tony Lima said Giuseppe was inducted in Sicily (Trabia), meaning he was a made member while living in Portland. Based on Acci's age, seems he would have ties to the mafia already while living in PDX.

Well Portland is about as far as you can get from Italy going with east or west and I wonder what the draw was there. Couldn't have been a large population of Italians there at any given time I imagine, least of all LCN members but who knows? This Acci character is definitely a mystery.

Not a major Italian population, but Portland did have a small but "thriving" Little Italy back when these guys passed through. City planning apparently forced it out of existence later:
https://www.wweek.com/restaurants/2017/ ... -happened/

My buddy's family settled in Portland from mainland Italy then moved to the CA Bay Area but still has family in Portland. Looks like Lima took a similar route, going from Portland to San Jose.

There's a reason they used to send so many guys from Witness Protection to the Pacific Northwest, though. Just not an Italian area in any way, shape, or form. Going to San Francisco's North Beach as a kid in the 1990s you could still pick up the fumes of an Italian community, at least more than anything I've experienced in the NW.

Given that Seattle was a port city, one would’ve expected a larger Italian presence than seems to have formed there as well. Looking into Chitalians, once in a great while I do see people who travelled to OR/WA, but seems that they then returned after a short period in all those cases.

[B.]

Looking into it now there were a lot of Portland Italians from Trabia. Also saw quite a few from Termini, Caccamo, and even Cinisi.

Maritime industry was/is huge in Portland, may have been what brought people from Trabia and Termini given those towns are coastal.

[PolackTony]

Looking into it now there were a lot of Portland Italians from Trabia. Also saw quite a few from Termini, Caccamo, and even Cinisi.

Maritime industry was/is huge in Portland, may have been what brought people from Trabia and Termini given those towns are coastal.

Good info. Unsurprising to see some people who moved back and forth between the PNW and Chicago.

[B.]

I saw LoBues from Trabia in Portland, like the Chicago ones you talked about.

[cavita]

I have no place of origin for Alphonse Caruso and he's always been a mystery man to me and why he ended up in Rockford but he seems to have been involved in quite a bit:

Alphonse R. Caruso was born June 3, 1891 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Giuseppe and Anna Caruso and by June 1927 he was living in Rockford where he was arrested for hitting a man with his car and dragging him for a mile. In 1928 and 1930 he was arrested for manufacturing alcohol. In March 1942 he was sentenced to 30 days in the house of correction for operating a bootlegging ring in southeastern Wisconsin along with Frank (Fuzzy) Infusino, Kenosha, Wisconsin and the reputed ringleader, Roy Ricchio, Kenosha, described as a lieutenant to Infusino, Emil Ricchio, Arthur P. Ricchio, Kenosha, Tony Capponi, Kenosha, Frank Cucunato, Eugene Presta, Chicago, Aldo Nudi, Kenosha, and James Anastase from Rockford was also involved. In November 1943 Caruso was arrested with eight other people on gambling charges at the PDG Club and twice in 1953, January and December he was arrested as a keeper of a gambling house at the Rockford Veteran’s Club of World War II. On August 3, 1968 Caruso died and his obituary did not list any survivors.

[PolackTony]

I have no place of origin for Alphonse Caruso and he's always been a mystery man to me and why he ended up in Rockford but he seems to have been involved in quite a bit:

Alphonse R. Caruso was born June 3, 1891 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Giuseppe and Anna Caruso and by June 1927 he was living in Rockford where he was arrested for hitting a man with his car and dragging him for a mile. In 1928 and 1930 he was arrested for manufacturing alcohol. In March 1942 he was sentenced to 30 days in the house of correction for operating a bootlegging ring in southeastern Wisconsin along with Frank (Fuzzy) Infusino, Kenosha, Wisconsin and the reputed ringleader, Roy Ricchio, Kenosha, described as a lieutenant to Infusino, Emil Ricchio, Arthur P. Ricchio, Kenosha, Tony Capponi, Kenosha, Frank Cucunato, Eugene Presta, Chicago, Aldo Nudi, Kenosha, and James Anastase from Rockford was also involved. In November 1943 Caruso was arrested with eight other people on gambling charges at the PDG Club and twice in 1953, January and December he was arrested as a keeper of a gambling house at the Rockford Veteran’s Club of World War II. On August 3, 1968 Caruso died and his obituary did not list any survivors.

By ~1917, Caruso was already living in Rockford, per his WW1 draft card. Caruso is one of those surnames that’s common both in Sicily and the Mainland, so it’s hard to say where his family was from. Given that those Kenosha guys were almost all Calabresi (majority of Kenosha’s Ital population were Calabrians from Cosenza province), could be that Caruso was also. Do you know what his mother’s maiden name was?

[cavita]

I have no place of origin for Alphonse Caruso and he's always been a mystery man to me and why he ended up in Rockford but he seems to have been involved in quite a bit:

Alphonse R. Caruso was born June 3, 1891 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Giuseppe and Anna Caruso and by June 1927 he was living in Rockford where he was arrested for hitting a man with his car and dragging him for a mile. In 1928 and 1930 he was arrested for manufacturing alcohol. In March 1942 he was sentenced to 30 days in the house of correction for operating a bootlegging ring in southeastern Wisconsin along with Frank (Fuzzy) Infusino, Kenosha, Wisconsin and the reputed ringleader, Roy Ricchio, Kenosha, described as a lieutenant to Infusino, Emil Ricchio, Arthur P. Ricchio, Kenosha, Tony Capponi, Kenosha, Frank Cucunato, Eugene Presta, Chicago, Aldo Nudi, Kenosha, and James Anastase from Rockford was also involved. In November 1943 Caruso was arrested with eight other people on gambling charges at the PDG Club and twice in 1953, January and December he was arrested as a keeper of a gambling house at the Rockford Veteran’s Club of World War II. On August 3, 1968 Caruso died and his obituary did not list any survivors.

By ~1917, Caruso was already living in Rockford, per his WW1 draft card. Caruso is one of those surnames that’s common both in Sicily and the Mainland, so it’s hard to say where his family was from. Given that those Kenosha guys were almost all Calabresi (majority of Kenosha’s Ital population were Calabrians from Cosenza province), could be that Caruso was also. Do you know what his mother’s maiden name was?

Completely unknown as to his mother's maiden name. I was the thinking the same thing about his origins as well given the company he kept in Kenosha. Thought it was interesting too the Pine Bluff, Arkansas birthplace. His family most likely came up through Louisiana and followed employment lines.

[PolackTony]

In 1935, the Tribune published an extensive list of the heads of Italian fraternal and paesani organizations in Chicago (while it has many dozens on there, it's still not comprehensive, as a good number that I know existed weren't listed). A few names worth noting:

The first name on the list was, naturally, Phil D'Andrea, "Supreme President Italo-American National Union".

A Donato Catena was President of one of several Riciglianes' fraternal organizations.

A Salvatore Evola was President of the Societa Santa Fara di Cinisi.

Tony Pinelli was President of the Club Educativo Madonna della Catena di Calascibetta.

A Tony Cerone was President of the Societa San Gerardo Majella (a Lucano society; san Gerardo Majella is the patron saint of Basilicata).

Bruno Roti was President of the Societa San Rocco di Simbario (he founded the society).

Peter Fosco was President of the Societa Santa Liberatora di Pizzone.

Vito Marzullo was President of the Societa Sant' Antonio di Senerchia.

Alfonso Rotolo was President of the Aragona Sicula Society (Cavita, this name have any connections to Rockford?).

We know that in the 60s, at least, "Little Joe" Aiello was President of the Societa San Giuseppe di Bagheria, but they weren't among the organizations listed here.

[PolackTony]

Luigi "Cockeyed Lou"/"Lew Farrell" Fratto was born in 1908 in Chicago and baptized at Holy Guardian Angelo Parish in the Taylor St Patch. His parents were Tommaso Fratto, born ~1884 (documents state anywhere from 1882 to 1889) in Sersale, Catanzaro, Calabria and Bianca Faiella, born in Rome to Abruzzese and Roman parents. Tommaso and Bianca married in 1905 in Chicago. Though Tommaso was stated as having been born in Sersale, his father Carmine Fratto, who died in Chicago in 1934, was born in the coastal comune of Sellia Marina, Catanzaro. This makes sense, as the Fratto surname is hardly recorded in Sersale, but is instead heavily concentrated in the dense cluster of communities inland from Sellia Marina, including Sorbo San Basile, Taverna, Albi, and San Pietro Magisano. There were a bunch of other Frattos in Chicago, who unsurprisingly were from Sorbo San Basile and Taverna, and who mainly settled in the Taylor St and Chinatown/Bridgeport areas (they also intermarried with other Sorbo San Basile families present in those neighborhoods, such as the Capilupos and Scalises; in 1935, the President of the Societa Francesco Saverio di Sorbo San Basile was a Capilupo). Given the strong concentration of the Fratto surname around Sorbo San Basile, I suspect that Tommaso Fratto was related to these other Frattos. A number of family trees give his birthplace as Taverna, although there are documents stating that he was born in Sersale. Further, the other Frattos had people that moved back and forth between Iowa and Chicago, and we know that Lou Fratto was later based in Des Moines. Paesani connections in Iowa may have led to him serving as Chicago overseer for that area.

In 1910, the Frattos lived at Morgan and Polk (basically in the epicenter of local mafia activity in that neighborhood) in the Taylor St Patch. Younger brothers Carmine/Carmen (1913), Francesco Eduardo "Frankie One-Ear" (1915) Rudolfo Eugenio "Guy" (1917), and Guglielmo/William (1922) were all born in Chicago. By 1920, the Frattos had moved with the rapidly expanding Italian community several blocks west, near Winchester and Flournoy (long since demolished for the UIC Medical Center campus). Both Lou and Frank Fratto were boxers in their youth, which may have been the origin of their respective monikers ("Lew Farrell" especially makes sense in that context, as many Italian boxers in those days adopted Irish-sounding pseudonyms). In 1929, Lou married Evelyn Glasser, born in Chicago to Lithuania/Russian Jewish parents (The Taylor St Patch, of course, abutted the largest Eastern European Jewish neighborhoods in Chicago). In 1930 the couple lived at Wellington and Long in the NW Side Belmont-Cragin neighborhood (near Elmwood Park), but subsequently divorced in 1933. In 1942, Lou Fratto (under the name "Lew Farrell") was back living next door to his parents at Leavitt and Polk, though he stated that he worked for the Manhattan Beer Distributors Company in Des Moines, IA. In 1945, he remarried Carmella Randa, born in Des Moines to Italian parents. I suspect that the surname was actually Renda, which is also a common surname in Catanzaro province. Frank Fratto married Catherine Boyce, whose family was from Downstate IL.

In 1939, Rudolph "Guy" Fratto, Sr married Doseline "Dottie" DiDomenico, who was born in 1923 in Chicago to parents from Scontrone, L'Aquila, Abruzzo. In 1940, the couple lived in an apartment in the same building as Guy's parents near Polk and Leavitt. In 1943, their son Rudolph Fratto, Jr (the Larry David of Elmwood Park), was born. The DiDomenicos were also from Taylor St (Richard Cain's family, the Scalzittis, were also Taylor St people from Scontrone), and at the time of the marriage lived a couple of blocks away from the Frattos. Allegedly, Dottie had her own personal relationships with the Outfit, and Joe Fosco has claimed that Rudy Fratto was only made because Dottie begged guys like Lee Mags and Joey A to make him. Guy and Dottie's daughter Bianca Fratto married Bill Daddono, Jr (their son is William Daddono III). As a side note, the Daddono women were also definitely hip to the game, as evidenced by Bill, Jr's sister Mary Daddono catching a 2003 conviction for destroying bookmaking records (evidence tampering) when her suburban home was raided by Federal agents.

Given the concentration of Frattos and other immigrants from Sorbo San Basile/Taverna area in Bridgeport (other Outfit-connected examples include the Catizones, Jerry Scalise, and Shorty LaMantia's in-laws the Versettos), it's unsurprising that in the 1980s Calabrian zips Aldo Fratto and his cousins the Infelise brothers (their mother was a Fratto) were operating in that area (hence narcotics trafficker Francesco Infelise's nickname "Southside Frankie"; now living in Catania, Sicily after he was deported from Chicago). Fratto and the Infelises were from Sorbo San Basile, so the fact that they wound up working in Chicago isn't surprising. The FBI documented that 'Ndrangheta members were operating in Chicago in the 1980s/90s, and it's worth noting that there seem to have been Frattos from Catanzaro province affiliated with the 'Ndrangheta there and in Crotone (Crotone 'ndrine have a major presence in the eastern part of Catanzaro province). From what I understand, the primary destination for emigrants from the Sorbo San Basile area were Chicago, Albany, and Torrington, CT (where their communities retain ties to Sorbo San Basile till today).

The government claimed at trial that the Infelise brothers were relatives of Rocky Infelise, but I haven't been able to substantiate any direct familial link myself. Ernest Rocco Infelise was born in 1922 in Keewatin, way up in the taiga zone of Northern Minnesota. His parents were Pietro Infelise of Piane-Crati, Cosenza province and Marietta Molinari of Pianopoli, Catanzaro (near Lamezia Terme where the Rubertos and Liparotas were from). Rocky's parents had arrived in St Paul (which had a sizeable Calabrese community) in the 1910s. Pietro worked on the railroads, which presumably led him to the wilderness of northern MN and WI. Pietro died in Superior, WI in 1963, which is where the family was living by 1930. This Infelise family has had remarkably good genealogy done, and it seems they trace back in Piane Crati as far as the 1700s. There were also a bunch of Infelises from Piane Crati who settled in Chicago, which likely explains how Rocky wound up there, as most of his immediate family seems to have stayed up in WI. In 1936, Rocky's sister Joseph Edith "Eda" Infelise married John Tosto of Chicago, whose parents were also from Piane Crati. Following his stint in WW2, Rocky was living in Cicero in 1945 with his sister as his closest relative. Worth noting also that Piane Crati is not far from Colosimi. Fellow deported Chicago-Calabrese zip and current Infelise brothers' buddy Camillo Gigliotti seems to be from Colosimi, so that could've been a link also between Rocky and the Sorbo San Basile Infelises. I understand very little about the local 'Ndrangheta in Cosenza province, historically or currently, but I've seen some references to Piane Crati as being one of the areas in which they operate.

[Antiliar]

Great write-up on the Frattos. Maybe I missed it in your post, but Phil Alderisio was said to have been a cousin of the Frattos.

[PolackTony]

Great write-up on the Frattos. Maybe I missed it in your post, but Phil Alderisio was said to have been a cousin of the Frattos.

My take is that there’s nothing to that claim. So far as I can tell, both sides of Alderisio’s family seem to trace back to Stigliano, Matera, Basilicata, which is nowhere near where any of the Frattos’ ancestry came from (Catanzaro, Rome, Abruzzo), of course. Unless there’s a connection via marriage that I’m unaware of, it’s probably false, but maybe people thought they were due to close neighborhood ties from Taylor St.

[Antiliar]

Great set of maps of Black Hand activity up to 1911:

CT 1911Mar26 Black Hand maps.jpg