Rockford LCN Capo Lorenzo Buttice- A Profile

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Lorenzo “Lawrence” Buttice was born March 4, 1892 in Aragona, Sicily to Biagio Buttice and Giuseppa Presti. On October 20, 1912 Buttice immigrated through Ellis Island on the S.S. Principe Di Piemonte and he was living in Rockford, Illinois by the time of his October 1, 1916 marriage to Giuseppa Russo. Buttice took his first known arrest on February 9, 1923 when he was the subject of a liquor raid at 326 Knowlton Street and eight barrels of alcohol was found.

Buttice continued bootlegging alcohol and found himself part of the growing Rockford Italian crime syndicate that was taking over Rockford when he was arrested by federal liquor raiders on January 4, 1930. He was charged with possessing an alcohol still and 30 five-gallon cans of alcohol at his home at 1112 Kent Street. The room in which the still and alcohol were located could only be reached by a fifty-foot tunnel, the entrance of which was concealed by a fruit cabinet. Another fellow Aragonese, Alfred Falzone, was also arrested as he was found near the still. Buttice was convicted in the sweeping federal liquor trial which convicted close to 100 Rockford men. On February 21, 1931 Buttice started a one year and one day sentence at Leavenworth Penitentiary. On December 8, 1931 he was released having served just short of ten months.

In late 1934 Buttice became involved in a large-scale bootlegging operation that included men from the Rockford area as well as the LaSalle-Peru area. In January 1935 he helped erect an alcohol still on the John Michael farm which was four miles north of Ladd, Illinois. Helping him were Fred Bosi, John “Ted” DePallo, Joe Lucco and Joe “The Crow” Corso. The next month he helped operate the still with John Gullo, John “Ted” DePallo, Fred Bosi and Joe Ladano. On March 23, 1935 Buttice was at the home of Raldo Rainieri in Spring Valley, Illinois with Fred Bosi, John “Ted” DePallo and Leo Vitale to plan the alcohol distribution. From October 1st through the 14th of 1936, Buttice, DePallo, Gullo and Bosi were back on the John Michael farm operating the alcohol still.

From May 1st through the 14th of 1937, he helped erect and operate an alcohol still on the Cleto Rainieri farm near Dalzell, Illinois with John “Ted” DePallo, Joe “The Crow” Corso, Steve Cascio and Fred Bosi. On June 15, 1937 Buttice was on the Harvey Clark farm near Princeton, Illinois with Harvey Clark, John “Ted” DePallo, Fred Bosi and Angelo Vento to plan the erection of a new alcohol still. On June 28th he was on the Wixom farm near Princeton with Bosi, DePallo, Vento, Gullo and John Viola to plan the erection of an alcohol still. On August 19, 1937 Buttice visited the home of J.K. Frazier in Princeton with Fred Bosi to see about erecting an alcohol still on his farm. Finally, on August 20, 1937 along with Fred Bosi, Buttice was in Glenview, Illinois to discuss alcohol distribution with Roy Wixom.

After three years of being in business, Buttice was arrested on May 23, 1938 for his part in this large bootlegging operation and on February 14, 1939, he pled guilty in this case and received two years’ probation and a $500 fine. Clearly by this time Buttice was a made member of the Rockford LCN and he may very well have been the leader/overseer of this bootlegging operation. Others involved in this operation were Joe Diamond, Max Diamond, Joe Cardillo, Peter Faraci, who used the alias Peter Mando, Raldo Rainieri, Paul Wolf, Charles Curo and Thomas Montgomery.

It is unclear when Buttice was made a member but, in all likelihood, he was already a member when he was serving his time in Leavenworth. Throughout the 1940s Buttice laid low running a bleaching business all the while living at 1112 Kent Street in the heart of Rockford’s “Little Italy” area.

By 1964 when Milwaukee LCN informant Augie Maniaci was giving up information on various LCN families, he identified Buttice as the “capodecina” of the Rockford family. Knowing this information, it is not known when exactly Buttice became the family’s capo, but I suspect it was when George Saladino died- I feel Saladino was capo from the early 1930s until he died in June 1964 and then Buttice took his place. Buttice continued to direct and oversee the soldiers of the Rockford family until approximately March 1966 when Charles Vince took over the position. On April 16, 1967 Buttice was arrested in a gambling raid at the Aragona Club, 320 Kent Street, along with Sam Spataro, 50, Calogero Giuliano, 50, Salvatore Saieva, 61, and Salvatore “Toto” Galluzzo, 65, the club’s manager, who was charged with being a keeper of a gambling establishment. On October 3, 1967 Buttice died in Rockford and among the attendees of his wake were Nick Fucarino and Augie Maniaci of the Milwaukee LCN family.

Surviving Buttice was his wife Josephine, daughters Josephine LoFasto, Bessie Valenti, Lillian Borgetti and Angela Ciulla as well as his sister Angela Latino. He had one daughter, Ann Merlo, who had died in 1955.

[Antiliar]

Thanks for the writeup. Worth noting the daughters' married names Valente and Merlo to look up in the future.

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Thanks for the writeup. Worth noting the daughters' married names Valente and Merlo to look up in the future.

Buttice's daughter Bessie married Walter John Valenti- he was the son of Dima Valenti of Burgio, Sicily and Giuseppa Ferro of Villafranca Sicula, Sicily. The other daughter Ann, married Frank Merlo who I believe was from Sambuca, Sicily.

[B.]

Great work. The Burgio/Villafranca/Sambuca tie is definitely worth looking into.

[PolackTony]

Great write up, man. The Bureau County stuff has been really emerging as an area to explore further. The Merlo thing also merits some digging into.

[Antiliar]

Thanks for the writeup. Worth noting the daughters' married names Valente and Merlo to look up in the future.

Buttice's daughter Bessie married Walter John Valenti- he was the son of Dima Valenti of Burgio, Sicily and Giuseppa Ferro of Villafranca Sicula, Sicily. The other daughter Ann, married Frank Merlo who I believe was from Sambuca, Sicily.

Michele Merlo was also from Sambuca, so it's very possible that they're related.

[cavita]

Thanks for the writeup. Worth noting the daughters' married names Valente and Merlo to look up in the future.

Buttice's daughter Bessie married Walter John Valenti- he was the son of Dima Valenti of Burgio, Sicily and Giuseppa Ferro of Villafranca Sicula, Sicily. The other daughter Ann, married Frank Merlo who I believe was from Sambuca, Sicily.

Michele Merlo was also from Sambuca, so it's very possible that they're related.

That was in my mind as well. I'll have to see what I can dig up.

[B.]

Pietro Merlo who was involved in an early 20th century Chicago murder among his paesans was also from Sambuca and if I remember right lived downstate for a time.

[PolackTony]

Thanks for the writeup. Worth noting the daughters' married names Valente and Merlo to look up in the future.

Buttice's daughter Bessie married Walter John Valenti- he was the son of Dima Valenti of Burgio, Sicily and Giuseppa Ferro of Villafranca Sicula, Sicily. The other daughter Ann, married Frank Merlo who I believe was from Sambuca, Sicily.

Michele Merlo was also from Sambuca, so it's very possible that they're related.

That was in my mind as well. I'll have to see what I can dig up.

Not sure what you’ve found so far, but I have Francesco “Frank Joseph” Merlo as born in 1914 in Rockford to Antonino Merlo and Anastasia Guzzardo, both of Sambuca. Both parents arrived to NOLA in the 1890s, and settled in Rockford in the early 1900s. Haven’t confirmed it myself, but a family tree has Antonino’s father as Giuseppe Merlo (which seems legit, as his eldest son was Joseph Merlo), while Sambuca birth records show that Mike Merlo’s father Calogero Merlo was born in 1853 to Giacomo Merlo and Margherita Migliore. So no immediate relation that I can see, but they may well have been cousins.

Frank J Merlo married Ann Buttice in Rockford in 1952. Ann then died in 1955, and in 1956 Frank Merlo remarried. He died in Lancaster, CA, in 1999.

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Nice work buddy! These early connections are dizzying and interesting all at the same time. I love the rabbit hole they go down.

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I just recently received the FBI files for Rockford LCN capo Lorenzo Buttice and I must say it was a little disappointing but then I had to remember that the FBI only knew about him from 1964 until his death in 1967. When Milwaukee LCN member-turned-informant Augie Maniaci clued the FBI in on Buttice, he wasn’t even sure about his real last name calling him “Buttita,” of which there was a family in Rockford with that name. This bit of misinformation caused the FBI to go down the wrong road for a while until they found out his true name.

One other nugget of info I didn’t know about Buttice was that when he immigrated to the United States on October 20, 1914 he first settled in Boston, Massachusetts working as a shipbuilder until 1916 when he then moved to Rockford, Illinois.

The two photos of Buttice from outside the Aragona Club in Rockford were from May 25, 1965 when FBI agents were keeping surveillance on the club.

[PolackTony]

Great photos. And again we see a Mass connection with another Rockford Aragonese.

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Mugshot of Lorenzo Buttice from his April 16, 1967 arrest for gambling at the Aragona Club, 320 Kent Street, along with Sam Spataro, 50, Calogero Giuliano, 50, Sam Saieva, 61, and Salvatore "Toto" Galluzzo, 64, manager, who was charged as keeper of a gambling establishment.