General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[B.]

Yeah I saw it in another FOIA file. I don't recall it being on Mary Ferrell but it might be somewhere on there if you dig as this file overlaps with that era.

I just noticed the excerpt about the actual "consignu" wasn't included in the excerpts I posted above and that's one of the most important parts haha.



So the operating structure of the Chicago Family circa 1969 was:

- Boss Giancana fled and at this point may have been taken down.
- Underboss Battaglia was briefly acting boss but went away.
- Ricca and Accardo serving as acting bosses.
- The consiglio meets every two weeks, consisting of Ricca, Accardo, and the captains.
- Alderisio sometimes attends consiglio meetings, apparently so he can then update other Family members about "activities and plans".
- Alderisio is seemingly a soldier direct with the admin (as he had been under Giancana) who in addition to serving as a liaison to the consiglio, also represents the Family in business matters. (We know from Bomp's earlier visit to St. Louis that Alderisio represented the Family in relation to a Teamster's loan, which adds to what Bomp said here.)

Alderisio's position was very much like any soldier assigned direct to the admin, where in addition to serving as a high-level messenger and representative of the admin, he's also a force unto himself. We've seen this many times with guys in this position in other cities. Like Caramandi said when he got assigned direct to Scarfo in Philly, it's one of the most advantageous spots you can possibly be in to be direct with the boss.

- Also note that the description of the "consignu" as the "Commissione of the Family" is telling, as the Commission isn't the "administration" in the usual mafia sense, it's a panel / committee of select bosses. Similarly, the consiglio is not the administration -- it includes the administration but is a council of top leaders and senior figures of importance who vote and discuss major decisions as a panel.

[Camo]

I remember once i think B. posting that some Boss (not Chicago i don't think) was complaining that Commission business was taking up all their time, that they can't do anything else. I wonder if the idea of Territorial Bosses with Captains below them who oversee the day to day of an area, comes from the Captains spending so much of their time on Consiglio business that they had to have an underling deal with much of the day to day business of their area making them appear like Captains in practice.

Maybe i've misunderstood some things but that's just a thought that came to mind while reading about the Consiglio.

[B.]

Yep, that was Joe Zerilli. When he was on the Commission he was recorded complaining that attending to Commission matters was consuming his life and his businesses were suffering.

The "territory boss" idea has been debunked but Chicago had captains, acting captains, and some captains sat on the consiglio. I imagine if a certain captain was on the consiglio and particularly busy helping direct the Family that might be a reason he'd name an acting captain but we don't have any examples where that's specifically stated. As we see in NYC, acting captains are named all the time to represent the captain in his absence even when he just goes out of town for a few days or sometimes is still on the street.

[Camo]

Yep, that was Joe Zerilli. When he was on the Commission he was recorded complaining that attending to Commission matters was consuming his life and his businesses were suffering.

The "territory boss" idea has been debunked but Chicago had captains, acting captains, and some captains sat on the consiglio. I imagine if a certain captain was on the consiglio and particularly busy helping direct the Family that might be a reason he'd name an acting captain but we don't have any examples where that's specifically stated. As we see in NYC, acting captains are named all the time to represent the captain in his absence even when he just goes out of town for a few days or sometimes is still on the street.

That makes sense. Although i'm not sure Bosses named Acting Bosses because their Commission work was overwhelming them. So maybe it was seen as part of their active duties as a Captain and there was no official change, an underling simply picked up the duties which could explain the lack of known Acting Captains in those situations.

I'm speculating way too much here i understand just explaining what my thought process there was.

[B.]

Yep, that was Joe Zerilli. When he was on the Commission he was recorded complaining that attending to Commission matters was consuming his life and his businesses were suffering.

The "territory boss" idea has been debunked but Chicago had captains, acting captains, and some captains sat on the consiglio. I imagine if a certain captain was on the consiglio and particularly busy helping direct the Family that might be a reason he'd name an acting captain but we don't have any examples where that's specifically stated. As we see in NYC, acting captains are named all the time to represent the captain in his absence even when he just goes out of town for a few days or sometimes is still on the street.

That makes sense. Although i'm not sure Bosses named Acting Bosses because their Commission work was overwhelming them. So maybe it was seen as part of their active duties as a Captain and there was no official change, an underling simply picked up the duties which could explain the lack of known Acting Captains in those situations.

I'm speculating way too much here i understand just explaining what my thought process there was.

Acting bosses are more common than people might assume -- they might name someone sostituto or acting boss only for one meeting or on a very temporary basis. Some of the Commission members named sostituti to go to Commission meetings on their behalf or if they're the one out doing Commission business they'd leave a sosituto / acting boss to direct the Family. However, the role of the underboss is also supposed to represent the boss in his absence and traditionally so is the consigliere so one or both of them would be there to direct things and an independent acting boss might not need to be named.

I imagine most captains on the consiglio could easily direct their crews while sitting on the consiglio. This was a body that met somewhat infrequently (every two weeks in 1969 Chicago). It's common for an acting admin member to name an acting captain but the consiglio isn't the same as acting admin. Even with acting admin though Massino in NYC mocked Joe Cammarano Sr. for naming an captain while he was part of the acting admin -- Massino was like "What does he need an acting captain for?" Depends on the guy/situation.

[Camo]

Yep, that was Joe Zerilli. When he was on the Commission he was recorded complaining that attending to Commission matters was consuming his life and his businesses were suffering.

The "territory boss" idea has been debunked but Chicago had captains, acting captains, and some captains sat on the consiglio. I imagine if a certain captain was on the consiglio and particularly busy helping direct the Family that might be a reason he'd name an acting captain but we don't have any examples where that's specifically stated. As we see in NYC, acting captains are named all the time to represent the captain in his absence even when he just goes out of town for a few days or sometimes is still on the street.

That makes sense. Although i'm not sure Bosses named Acting Bosses because their Commission work was overwhelming them. So maybe it was seen as part of their active duties as a Captain and there was no official change, an underling simply picked up the duties which could explain the lack of known Acting Captains in those situations.

I'm speculating way too much here i understand just explaining what my thought process there was.

Acting bosses are more common than people might assume -- they might name someone sostituto or acting boss only for one meeting or on a very temporary basis. Some of the Commission members named sostituti to go to Commission meetings on their behalf or if they're the one out doing Commission business they'd leave a sosituto / acting boss to direct the Family. However, the role of the underboss is also supposed to represent the boss in his absence and traditionally so is the consigliere so many times I imagine one or both of them would be there to direct things and an independent acting boss wouldn't need to be named.

Thanks for this because i've always wondered if the Underboss had any actual defined role it always seemed like a pretty pointless position to me. I think this is the first time i've come across an actual "duty" of an Underboss it has always came across as a barely defined position but maybe that's just my lack of understanding.

Actually wasn't the Consig supposed to be the Acting Boss as i know people (i think you but i don't want to put words in your mouth in case i'm misremembering) have said that unless that was only when a Boss died or was killed as the example i'm remembering is Carlo Gambino after Anastasia's death.

[B.]

The admin is a command structure. Directives go from the boss to the underboss to the captains and back, and the consigliere is there to ensure this process runs fairly and smoothly. The boss and consigliere are traditionally elected positions while the boss has the right to name the underboss and captains he wishes. Sometimes the underboss is a loyal "alter ego" type figure to him, like Profaci naming his brother-in-law, while other times he might name someone from a different faction to balance political power in the org and maintain peace (i.e. Dellacroce). Sometimes it could be someone else who is simply seen as fit for or deserving of the role. With Dellacroce type underbosses, they're basically the acting boss of an entire faction, while other underbosses might just be there to stand in for the boss and little more. All captains might go through the underboss while in other arrangements some captains could report direct to the boss, others to the underboss, etc. or captains might meet with either one or both depending on the situation.

A few sources like Bill Bonanno, Melchiorre Allegra, and Stefano Maggadino have either stated or implied the consigliere was once the traditional stand-in as acting boss which makes sense given the consigliere was an elected role and supposed to be the ultimate neutral party. We do have examples of this, too. A good way to think of it might be to say the underboss is supposed to represent the boss while the consigliere represents the whole Family.

The consiglio is a committee consisting of the administration, select captains, and senior/respected soldiers, typically at least five individuals and likely no more than seven. The consiglio acts as a court for members accused of infractions, with each consiglio member voting on matters like murder, shelving, and anything else pertaining to a member's status. The consiglio also discusses wider org issues like member inductions and transfers as well as Family policy. Any issues that need the highest level of mediation are also handled by the consiglio. Consiglieri have the right to speak their mind freely, even to the boss, and each have a vote. The consiglio has a chairman or secretary who is akin to the official consigliere in Families that don't use the consiglio system, the duties of the consiglio being almost identicial to the duties of a singular consigliere but spread out among a group. Much like the boss and official consigliere, members are elected to the consiglio.

Being on the consiglio however does not automatically place someone in the chain of command. If someone is a boss, underboss, or captain in addition to sitting on the consiglio he is of course already in the chain of command but a soldier who sits on the consiglio does not technically "outrank" an ordinary soldier and doesn't give orders. If a soldier sits on the consiglio he of course can be authorized to give orders on their behalf, much as a soldier like Alderisio passed directives along as an authorized rep of the admin, but someone simply sitting on the consiglio does not put them directly in the chain of command. Their role pertains to big picture issues.

I actually like this basic bitch depiction where the consigliere is off to the side connected with a dotted line:



Difference is, I'd put another dotted line then connecting the consigliere down to the members. You could depict the consiglio on a chart similarly where it's off to the side or above the rest of the top-down hierarchy and connected by dotted lines.

[VC2]

and were back.

[VC2]

that was a great breakdown B.

[Camo]

Thanks a lot. I think i largely understand the Consiglieri postion from discussions on this forum, it's been focused on a lot here not so much Underboss because it doesn't seem like it's ever had much consistency IMO. I think it's just a personal internal conflict because i'm interested in Military History with clearly defined positions and that's obviously not the case with the Mafia.

Enough of me derailing this thread though i'll be back in a few days when i misremember something else about a Chicago guy that kicks off arguments about long gone members.

[VC2]

so to give a hypothetical. a guy like joe andriacchi and whatever his role may have been in the 1990s 2000s, elmwood park capo at the least.
its possible a guy like that could also be a member of a council helping run the outfit.

if also andriacchi, as it has been said had some role in the operations of the grand avenue crew, especially when joe lombardo was still under parole restrictions after his nov 1992 release. in effect giving a member like joe andriacchi more influence over 2 crews then other capos at the time.
but not as much as the underboss of the family.

[B.]

so to give a hypothetical. a guy like joe andriacchi and whatever his role may have been in the 1990s 2000s, elmwood park capo at the least.
its possible a guy like that could also be a member of a council helping run the outfit.

if also andriacchi, as it has been said had some role in the operations of the grand avenue crew, especially when joe lombardo was still under parole restrictions after his nov 1992 release. in effect giving a member like joe andriacchi more influence over 2 crews then other capos at the time.
but not as much as the underboss of the family.

We have no basis for believing the consiglio as it once existed was still in place in the 90s or 2000s but there is nothing preventing someone of any rank from being elected to a consiglio. If someone was a captain at that time he could have sat on a hypothetical consiglio if it existed.

Crews can be permanently or temporarily assigned to another captain and crews can also report to an admin member. In the Bonannos for example they have temporarily assigned crews to another captain who "services" them but the original decina still exists separately and when the original captain is released from prison or someone else is appointed it stays separate. Other times a crew is disbanded or merged with another crew. No idea myself what's been going on in Chicago with this or who was under Andriacchi's direction.

--

Another note about the consiglio since this came up earlier -- while the boss sits on the consiglio in every known example we have, I don't know that the boss "must" sit on the consiglio as a rule. I imagine it's kind of a given, like how football teams always elect the starting quarterback to be team captain. If you don't elect the rappresentante to sit on the consiglio as an honorary gesture if nothing else it's indicative of far bigger problems and why is this guy even the boss if you don't want him on the council.

[Ivan]

Generative AI analysis (sorry couldn't resist).

Classic. You are the man Ivan.

Skynet thinks they're the same guy. Hope it doesn't dispatch a Terminator or anything like that!

[B.]

With the underboss, often the underboss is the one directing the operational side of the Family on the boss's behalf. That seems to be the case with Ferraro in Chicago. We don't know the full picture but his office was extensively wiretapped and Ferraro was primarily concerned with supervising the Family's high level business and political interests. He comes across somewhat aloof from organizational matters, his knowledge of the Rockford Family somewhat hazy and there not being much evidence he was directly involved in what was going on within individual crews. That makes sense too given Chicago's decine were tight-knit, highly-disciplined, and the captains acted with full authority. It wouldn't have been necessary in most cases for the underboss to concern himself with the daily issues within a given decina.

We know Giancana did directly participate in issues between members / crews, apparently without Ferraro's direct involvement. We have the wiretap of soldier Joe Costello and his unnamed capodecina (possibly Salvatore DiGiovanni) registering a complaint direct to Giancana about soldier Joe Fusco who belonged to another crew. Giancana listened to the complaint and was going to attempt to settle it himself but it's likely if the issue escalated further the consiglio would need to meet about it. I'm curious if Ferraro ever acted in a similar capacity or if it was typical for Giancana himself to get involved directly like this, especially given how often Giancana was traveling, tending to Commission business, and everything else he had on his plate.

Jackie Cerone was increasingly taking on more responsibility during this period. When the Rockford Family was unable to get in touch with Ferraro, it was instead Cerone who met with them and there's other evidence showing by the early-mid 1960s Cerone had relationships to other Families around the country and was assisting the admin. He was a captain on the consiglio though and someone specifically being groomed for an upper-echelon leadership role so it's no surprise we see Cerone representing the admin as a captain and filling in as needed.

The 1969 chart lists Cerone as acting underboss, it not being clear if this was speculative or based on concrete intel as it is stated definitively. Cerone's role does seem to have been akin to acting underboss during the 1960s, though, even standing in for underboss Ferraro with Rockford on one occasion although that doesn't mean he was actually Ferraro's acting underboss. If he was acting underboss in 1969 it would mean he was acting for Battaglia anyway although Battaglia isn't listed as official underboss on the chart. The same chart lists Alderisio as "possibly acting" as consigliere which isn't too far off the mark given Bompensiero said Alderisio met with and carried messages on behalf of the consiglio; however, that is different from being the "acting consigliere" and we don't really have basis for believing Alderisio himself even had an official seat on the consiglio or held any actual rank beyond soldier at that time.

[chin_gigante]

The ‘Consignu’ memorandum is available on the Mary Ferrell Foundation. Looking for it using the Advanced Search function is useless because the text is so faded, but it can be found using RIF Search under Record Number 124-10290-10497.

Document ID 92055 (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=92055) contains the full memorandum, though there are a couple of redactions and unfortunately some pages are so faded as to be unreadable.

Document ID 172714 (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=172714) contains the unredacted first page, which confirms that Bompensiero (SD 1064-C-TE) was the informant.

The memorandum also details discussion within Chicago about making Alderisio the boss:

Alderisio told them that the Chicago Family was discussing appointing a new Boss and had talked to Alderisio about taking the position. Alderisio is reluctant because it might adversely effect the pending appeal of his felony conviction. He believed he could stall on this appeal for another year or two.

There is a lot of other information within the document, including references to Detroit serving as the buffer between Los Angeles and the commission, Nick Licata planning to induct Peter Milano, how Frank Gruttadauria transferred his membership from Cleveland to LA, the identification of some St Louis members, a dispute over the election of John Scalish as boss of Cleveland, Leo Moceri wanting to transfer to LA, and Joe Zerilli staying on as boss of Detroit because he feared his son would lose an election to succeed him.