This may have been already addressed here but does anybody know or have a guess as to who "sporting goods" and "romano" are in the Roemer books? These were supposedly his two top informants within the Outfit.

I've always thought Sporting Goods was Ralph Pierce only because he used to meet Sporting Goods on the south side at a supper club and the south side being Ralph's area. Plus in his book he says Sporting Goods died I believe in the 1970's which is when Ralph died. Bill also talks about how well he got along with Ralph and describing Sporting Goods he mentions that he is mentioned in the book "Man Against the Mob" as a high ranking member of OC which Ralph was. That is just my theory
I believe Romano to be either Butch Blasi who Bill even refers to him in the book by saying "Blasi and i were not friends but became pretty close" or Romano could be Chuckie English because at one point Bill says English flew to Arizona to meet with Bill to discuss Rocky Infelise's drug charge from the 1960's. Those are just my thoughts on the matter. I've always wondered who his 2 top informants were.

In the genuine godfather ,romer says sporting goods was a top official of the mob that died of natural causes in theyre early 1990s
It's gotta be either Vince solano or tony accardo
Sporting goods =joe batters
He also survived Rico and blatantly committed perjury yet wasn't jailed in the mid 80s in the heyday of the war against the mob

I thought it could have been Vince Solano at one point too. Solano was never indicted for the attempted murder of Ken Eto and Eto testified that it was Solano who ordered the hit. I know that Roemer claims he had several friendly conversations with Accardo but I have doubts about Accardo being Sporting Goods or Romano. Roemer said that he went to the hospital several times to talk to Sporting Goods on his death bed and in 1992 when Accardo was dying in the hospital he was pretty much unconcious and on life support the last week of his life. I remember all the news coverage and how all the news stations were camped outside the hospital.
I also thought that it could be jackie cerone since Roemer was put on his visitor list when Cerone was in prison for the Strawman case.
I doubt it will ever be released on who the real guys are since they both stated they never want to be revealed even after there deaths.

Im almost positive he didnt say sporting goods died in the 90's it wa in the 70's. in man against the mob his 1st book he goes into more detail about his informants. he also says he had an informant present when joe ferriola was made boss but we all know now that joe ferriola was never made boss. so either an informant lied to him or that isnt true. Because its been confirmed by several people that ferriola did not succeed aiuppa and that sam carlisi did. the most likely candidates are ralph pierce- sporting goods(which is the consensus) and romano-butch blasi. maybe romano was solano its another possibility, because romano seems to be more of a mystery.

Interesting theories all-around...I'm not sure Butch Blasi would have much to offer in terms of intel. He was really only a driver...never part of the inner circle.

Same with Solano...not sure how much intel he could offer as he was mainly just boss of the Northside. When did Roemer retire? Solano was working for Ross Prio and then Dom DiBella up through the late 70s.

Another theory could be Jonny Roselli or one of the three doms.

blasi was only a driver but the guy he drove for was the boss. solano or blasi would have been the epitome of a top echelon informant

In the genuine godfather which I'm reading the passage right now , it says Romano died in the 70s and sporting goods in the early 1990s
Who else was a top official in the early 1990s
Also keep in mind this guy had to be at the meeting at the Chezk Lodge,which again was accardo or solano
That meeting was in early 1986 where Joe Ferriola was made acting boss

well then its roemer who contradicts himself because if you read man against the mob he says pages 329 -332 he talks about sporting goods and his death from heart attack and him lingering in the hospital. He talks how he visited him in the hospital. Not sure if your aware but roemer moved out of chicago and was living in Arizona in the 1990's/ so it doesnt make much sense.
We both know ferriola wa never made acting boss and that the meeting he speaks of is more than likely bs.

what pages in accardo book does he mention sporting goods and romano ?

Quite frankly...Roemer could just be lying about having any type of informants whatsoever to help justify the fact he never really knocked out the Chicago Outfit as he has claimed multiple times.

Yeah I agree, the feds were knowing to lie and use any tatic in order to cripple OC, so I can def see him exaggerating and maybe even outright lying. Then again the feds recently said they had 2 top tier Informants.

I researched this question for an article I wrote for Informer in 2011. I compiled a profile of each informant from descriptions left by Roemer in his books and his FBI reports. I concluded that “Sporting Goods” was Ralph Pierce and “Romano” was Butch Blasi.

http://informer-journal.blogspot.ca/2011/07/roemers-men-in-outfit.html

Didn't Roemer say "sporting goods" died in the 90's and didn't Pierce die is the 70's?

Where does Roemer say that?

His autobiography clearly implies that SG died in the 1970s.

It was published in 1989 so SG couldn't have died in the 1990s (at the very least).

I don't trust much of what Roemer says, he's was just too self-promoting and sketchy about just how much he knew about the top of Outfit (ie. Ferriola, late-night meetings with Joe Batters etc.). For all that we know it could have known that these guys were back-room bookies giving him Outfit gossip.

IRRC, the Top-Echelon program was not all that well developed until the mid 1970s and with a couple of exceptions (Scarpa and Steve Flemmi), most of the "Top-Echelon Informants" were pretty small fish.

How many times do FBI indictments say things like "crippling" or "dismantling" this family or that one. Unfortunately some people are suckers and worship whatever the Feds say.

I just went back and read "man against the mob" again and it said that sporting goods died in the 70's. I always suspected Chuckie English as one of his 2 top informants. It was rumored that he had a falling out with the new leadership after Giancana was knocked down. Also Roemer stated that English flew out to Arizona to meet with Roemer. I do think that Ralph Pierce and Butch Blasi were his 2 informants. Roemer makes subtle hints. After Roemer testified in front of a grand jury about a accusation that Blasi was involved in a burglary ring and Roemers testimony helped Blasi and he was not charged. Roemer stated that they became very friendly with eachother. Also Sporting Goods gave Roemer lots of info on Giancana and Blasi was very close with Giancana.

I did find FBI documents that strongly suggest Chuckie English was also an informant. I don't think he cooperated on the same high level as Pierce or Blasi, but I do think he shared some confidential information with Roemer(and the FBI) about the time Giancana fell out of power in the late 1960s.

BTW, if Blasi did kill Giancana, I wonder if Roemer knowingly protected his source from prosecution. Roemer was adamant that Blasi had nothing to do with the murder but never said exactly why. Did he just take Blasi's word for it? Did he have evidence Blasi didn't do it? Or was he protecting a killer/source?

I think Roemer was protecting Blasi. Although Roemer could have convinced himself that it wasen't Blasi on the Giancana hit. Pretty much everyone knows it was Butch Blasi who either pulled the trigger or let the hitmen in. I think Blasi, English and Ralph Pierce were all informants.
Chuckie English even flew out to Arizona to meet with Roemer which Roemer talks about in his book. I think the reason English was killed is because he openly talked about how the new leadership wasen't as good as Giancana and he was suspected of being a informant.

Interesting theory from the Blasi angle, we all know that Roemer certainly had no love lost for Giancana