During 1960’s and 70’s, the Chicago Outfit and some of the U.S. families were in a huge battle with the government and the FBI, during which some of the smaller families literally struggled for survival. The crime families were losing lucrative schemes and operations on daily basis and so their income became smaller and smaller.

Previously or during the 1930’s, 40’s and early 50’s, with the help of their contacts and operations in south Florida, many U.S. crime families invested in Cuban casinos and hotels and also controlled lots of illegal operations such as prostitution, stolen merchandise and narcotics. For example, by the early 1950’s the Chicago family allegedly had points in the San Souci Hotel and Casino, Capri Hotel and the Sevilla Biltmore Hotel in Havana, since during those days the government received information that many Chicago members already had their own investments in that same country.

Since by the late 1950’s the U.S. Mob completely lost their interests in Cuba, the syndicates or especially the Chicago Outfit increased their shares in Vegas, Nevada and around the country but that wasn’t enough for the organization. As I previously mentioned that these organized crime groups already had “out of the country” both legal and illegal operations but they lost them out of various or completely different reasons, meaning they lost millions and millions of dollars and so these criminal organizations wanted their money back, one way or the other.

The old plan was first to make political contacts in foreign countries and to corrupt them, and then to obtain a pass so they can operate their both legal and illegal operations in the country in which they were welcomed by the local government. So after receiving the “ok” from local authorities, one of the first steps for the U.S. Mob was the vending or coin machine business, followed by the hotel and casino ventures.

The leading family in this type of operations was the Chicago Outfit and their boss Sam Giancana. At the beginning of the 1960’s, one of Giancana’s main associates in the coin machine operation was Eddie Vogel who in turn was a Jewish mob boss who was with the Chicago boys since the 1920’s and was very well respected by everyone in the organization.

This transatlantic organization was known as the “Combine” and was headed by Giancana with the help of Vogel and his protégé Gus Alex. The so-called special unit was controlled on daily basis by Les Kruse and Hyman “Red” Larner with more than few operators under their rule such as Richard Cain, Peter and William Altiere, Anselmo Pacini, Sal and Carmen Bastone, Frank and Albert Meo, Charles Ross, Tony Orlando, Tony De Angeles, Dominic and Tommy Russo, Jack De Lamater, Allan Rothman, Louis Lederer, John Drew, James Tortoriello, Sam Volpentesto, Guy Sparta and many others.

For example, Anselmo (or Alberto?) a.k.a. Sonny Pacini was an old known collector and enforcer for the Vogel brothers in the coin machine racket but by the early 1960’s, he was the main Outfit representative in Ecuador who controlled the slot machine racket in that particular country. The Bastone brothers originally came from the North Side of Chicago but later they transferred their operations on the West Side and together with Tony Orlando they controlled the Town and Country Vending Company which exported vending machines all around the world. The Meo brothers owned the infamous Outfit hangout Meo's Norwood House Restaurant in Norridge and they also fronted the Villa Venice in Wheeling, Illinois; and their father was allegedly Charles Meo who in turn was an old time Capone mobster involved in Florida and Cuba.

As I already showed you in few of my previous projects, the Chicago Outfit managed to spread their so–called transatlantic operations, with or without the government’s help, all the way to Europe, Iran and Lebanon, or even to Japan and Australia. For example, in 1962 Outfit associate Allen Rothman became the President of the Vending Corporation of America in Chicago and so with his help, the so-called “Combine” opened up manufacturing plants and offices all around the world but they had to start from somewhere and obviously they began with their “neighbors” such as countries from around Central and South America.


1. JAMAICA

In 1961, one Outfit associate known as Marvin Billett operated the Glamourous Marrakesh Hotel in Jamaica and two of Billett’s close associates were Outfit boss Sam Giancana and his pal and Outfit member Phil Alderisio. According to one Mob-connected informant from the Las Vegas area, in 1962 the Chicago Outfit allegedly owned gambling interests in Jamaica and their main representative was allegedly John Drew. In fact, Drew started as one of the Outfit’s main overseers in Las Vegas together with Marshall Caifano and Louis Lederer, and story goes that besides overseeing the Star Dust hotel, Drew was seen constantly travelling to Jamaica, allegedly regarding the establishment of the Outfit’s gambling enterprises in that country.

Story goes that Meyer Lansky was one of the Outfit’s main partners in this venture and that Lansky’s close associates Walter Lenroot was his main representative in the Jamaican operation. Another boss who also invested the venture was allegedly Frank Balistrieri, the leader of the Milwaukee Mafia which in fact was under Chicago’s jurisdiction. Still there was one problem in which New York Mafia member Charles Tourine also wanted to invest huge amount of cash in the same operation but according to sources he was ousted by Giancana and Balistrieri.

In 1963 the “Washington Post” and the “New York Post” reported that U.S. hoodlums were trying to obtain control over all gambling in Jamaica. According to the newspaper reporters at the time, an emissary from Jamaica’s government allegedly came to Chicago and had a meeting with Giancana on which it was concluded that the Outfit was going to take control over two casinos, two racetracks and also the national lottery.

Some sources say that the main goal for the Outfit in Jamaica was to launder huge part of their dirty cash through real estate deals which also involved the Jamaican government, meaning corruption was their first step or as Giancana allegedly once said that all cheap countries are always easy to corrupt. It seems that by 1970 Giancana was still travelling to Jamaica according to phone calls made to his girlfriend Phyllis McGuire.


2. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

In 1963 the “Combine” prepared for a full attack over the Dominican market and so they stashed huge number of slots and all types of vending machines in Florida and waited for the “green light”. The main bosses who controlled the operation were Giancana who in turn used the alias “Sam Russo”, followed by Rocco Fischetti and Ralph Pierce from Chicago, Meyer Lansky from New York and the Genovese family, Santo Trafficante from Tampa and Detroit’s Pete Licavoli. As “Sam Ross”, Giancana used the Compania Dominicana Aviacion flights on weekle basis.

Chicago’s main representatives in the Dominican Republic were Les Kruse (Fischetti’s guy) and Hyman Larner (Giancana’s guy) who in turn were also the main connection between the U.S. Mob and the opposition of the Dominican regime at the time, and their main fronts were David Russel and Palmer Jones who in turn were two former Chicagoans that were involved in the Outfit’s hotel and casino businesses since the old days. According to the FBI, Kruse made frequent travels through Florida every two weeks and managed to establish a huge slot machine operation at the Hispaniola Hotel in Santo Domingo. After that Larner’s job was to send two of his associates and enforcers Carmine Bastone and Albert Meo to watch over the operation, with John Drew and Joe Fischetti as their prime operators regarding the scheme.

Their main connection over there was Porfirio Rubirosa, the former Dominican Ambassador in the U.S., and It was a perfect operation which draw the attention of many mobsters from around the country. And so with the help of the ambassador and also with the help of Larner’s CIA contacts, the Bastone and Meo brothers obtained South American passports under different names, mainly because of their constant travels. Louis Lederer was also one of the guys who accompanied the brothers from time to time, just to see on how things went down obviously because Lederer was a gambling expert. Another of their close associates in the Dominican Republic was again Lansky’s close associate Walter Lenroot, who same as Lederer, also oversaw gambling interests for his Jewish boss all around the world.

In 1964 the Hispaniola Hotel changed its name to Pan-Americana Hotel and according to one informant there was allegedly some problem regarding the scheme. You see, there were allegedly three Cuban associates who worked at the hotel and were closely associated to the alleged owner of the casino who in turn was one Dominican resident known as Bernard Flores. Sources say that these fellas were closely associated with Tampa boss Santo Trafficante and that they allegedly worked against the interests of Les kruse and the Chicago Outfit, but the informant was quite doubtful regarding that same information.

Story goes that later there was a meeting between Kruse and Trafficante in Miami but no matter if the problem was solved or not, still similar to their previous deals in Cuba, in 1965 the new government or opposition should’ve taken control over the Dominican Republic and later to allow the Chicago “Combine” to open their gambling and vending machine operations. But an unexpected problem occurred when during the revolution, all of the Outfit’s members including Albert Meo and Carmen Bastone were evacuated from Santo Domingo regarding the outbreak of hostilities and that’s how the Outfit’s operations in the Dominican Republic were shut down because the new government banned all gambling in April, 1965. This means that same as the Cuban situation, Giancana and the U.S. Mob were swindled again for the second time by a foreign country and all of their lucrative arrangements failed to materialize. So they closed down everything due to the failure that occurred over there and sources say that Les Kruse received order from Gus Alex to pack his bags and to transfer all of their gambling equipment back home to Las Vegas.


3. PANAMA

In 1966, Gus Alex was banned from Switzerland for the next 10 years which in fact was a huge bump regarding the Outfit’s finances and so Alex was able to find a “replacement”, meaning he ordered Hyman Larner to take care of the job though different banks and states or with the help of his Panama connections. You see, by that time Larner was already exposed by the government as being one of the main members of Chicago’s organized crime syndicate and so the best solution for him was to leave the country.

Larner was allegedly quite good when it came down to handling the Outfit’s dirty cash, and that’s why he was responsible for moving millions of dollars through South Florida to Panama and their banks, and later invested it around that same country. According to the FBI Larner was absolutely the guy who was responsible for moving the Outfit’s money to Panama. So Larner fled the U.S. together his wife and settled in Panama. He bought a big house on a top of a hill outside of Panama City and he also took all of his cash and stashed it into Panama’s national bank.

Larner chose Panama as his main “headquarters” was in Panama and was known as the Juliano International, S.A., a corporation which was only engaged in importing vending and slot machines and also all kinds of gambling equipment from Chicago, of course all exported to Panama by Outfit owned firms. For example, Ross Scheer operated the Bally Manufacturing Firm in Chicago and in just few months the firm sold and shipped more than $500,000 worth of slot machines to Juliano Imports in Panama. So somewhere between all that gambling and vending equipment, loads of narcotics were hidden, which was the main goal of the operation. So Larner began investing in airplane companies so he wouldn’t leave any traces of his travels behind him. The thing was that at the time, Panama had nearly 100 remote World War II landing strips and somewhere around 20 to 30 Larner’s airplanes flew back and forth to the U.S. from South American countries via Panama’s Tocumen International Airport.

The Outfit even smuggled cigarettes and prostitutes but the most lucrative racket of them all, again, were the vending machines. So the gangsters made a lot of airplane reservations which were mostly monitored by the FBI and so Larner got smart and started investing in many airplane companies which provided him with “safer” travels, meaning it was easy for him to erase any traces of his travels that left behind him.

Larner placed one of his cousins Marcel Harrick as his front in Colon Panama, where they operated the Juliano International S.A. and with the help of their firm, Harrick and Larner also tried to export their coin machines all around Central America. Larner also sent his cousin to Miami, Florida; to purchase armored cars for their political contacts and they also owned a restaurant known as La Pompa Restaurant in the center of Panama City.

By the 1970’s Larner stopped dealing directly with the Outfit’s bosses but instead they used couriers and stayed in constant contact with the Outfit’s top echelon and became the main “go to guy” out of the country. The Outfit made many connections close to various top politicians in Panama and the FBI allegedly heard Larner ordering seven Corvettes to be immediately shipped to Panama as Christmas presents for some officials.

By the late 70’s there was this new lucrative form of a machine and that was the video poker machines and again the main guys were Larner and the Bastones. Carmen Bastone allegedly went to Spain, while Salvatore remained with Larner in Panama. So all of the manufactured video poker machines were transported to Panama and to other countries around Central and South America, where they all got sold.

One of Larner’s main couriers was one small Italian guy only known as “Alberto” who always came to Miami, Florida, by plane carrying the Outfit’s cash from all of the video machines that were sold back in Panama. “Alberto” was a quite strange and calmed looking fella, who always waited for the last person to leave from the plane, while staying in the lavatory where no one checked. In fact, this was a trick so he can see if any government agents were following him or waited for him at the baggage claim. The cash that “Alberto” carried from Panama was divided in two parts, one part was for the guys who produced the poker machines and the second part went in the pockets of the current Outfit boss Joey Aiuppa.

So by the early 1980’s the video poker machines became one of the biggest money sources for the Chicago Outfit and the best thing was that nobody ever knew where all of the big cash came from but truth was that everything came from Panama and the main guys who still took care of all Outfit interests over there were still the Bastones and Larner. Story goes that by 1983 Larner allegedly developed high connections in Panama which at the time were represented by Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Larner and Noriega had two things in common and that was both individuals were criminals and second, both used to work for the CIA.


4. BRAZIL

When the Chicago Outfit completely established itself in Panama during the late 1960’s, sources say that at the same time the so-called “Combine” was also allegedly in contact with the President of Brazil and his regime. The main goal for the U.S. Mob was the introduction of that same country into all types of vending, slot and music machines since Brazil was a huge market. Besides the President of state, another of their important contacts was allegedly the Minister of Defense and also the Chief of the National Police Force. It is not known which members of the “Combine” were in direct contact with these high level individuals, although I think that the main “candidates” were Gus Alex, Allen Rothman, Hy Larner or Les Kruse since all of them were reported often travelling to Brazil. For example, Alex allegedly used the alias “Gustavo” while visiting Brazil.

The main problem for the so-called vending machine operation was the lack of coinage in Brazil as the country more relied on paper currency at the time. So according to the feds, the “Combine” found a solution and asked for permission from Brazil’s top political administration to mint nine million coins in three different denominations to operate the new devices and after that, they managed to mint the coins in denominations of 1, 2, and 5, worth approximately 7 cents, 16 cents and 35 cents.

The Chicago Outfit acquired a building in Sao Paolo, Brazil, for storage purposes and also as their local headquarters, and also formed two Brazilian vending corporations and opened up jobs. The first corporation was known as the Touristal and the second one as The Valley of Brazil and so these two Chicago Outfit-connected corporations held a protective shield on the market because they were in the same basket with the current regime, which they previously or already corrupted.

Again, same as all of the countries they operated in, the Outfit allegedly financed both sides in Brazil, meaning the current regime and the opposition and so in the end the deal between the Mob and Brazil’s political structures profited between three and four millions of dollars a year. Allen Rothman was the Outfit’s main representative in Brazil together with one of Larner’s old friends known as Eddie Ginsburg. These were the guys who exported millions of dollars worth of food, drink and cigarette vending machines in Central and South America, especially Brazil. Members of the “Combine” also had concessions for slot machines in casinos located in other various cities around the country and reports say that they made shipments of over $500,000 in just two months.


5. CARIBBEAN & BAHAMAS

In 1963, one informant furnished information that Giancana allegedly sent two of his most trusted associates Murray Humphreys and Les Kruse to Freeport in the Grand Bahamas, to establish a new gambling venture for the Chicago organization. Reports say that Humphreys and Kruse had a meeting with one individual known as Louis Chesler who in turn was connected to the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino at the Lucayan Beach in Freeport. That same informant also stated that the Chicago boys even expressed their desires regarding the takeover of another casino in Cat Cay, Bahamas.

By the mid 1960’s Giancana received gambling interests at the Normandy Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico; with Outfit member Dave Yaras being his main enforcer and representative, followed by Louis Ledered who also visited the casino occasionally regarding the profit from the gambling scheme. Giancana used the alias “Mike Davis” while visiting San Juan and often travelled via Pan American World Airways flight through New York. He allegedly stayed at the Puerto Rico Sheraton Hotel and was also often visited by his girlfriend Phyllis McGuire.

Later or in 1970, Giancana and Hy Larner engaged in one quite lucrative operation of gambling rooms on large cruise ships that went from Mexico to the Caribbean which carried many high-rollers. Sources say that Giancana invested a large amount of Outfit cash in four excursion ships that sailed from New York to Florida and into the Caribbean. It is reported that all four excursion ships were overseen by Larner who in turn was joined by one of Giancana’s longtime friends and made enforcer James Tortoriello.

The feds also highly suspected that in reality these boats were used for smuggling slot machines around the Caribbean countries, starting from Bally to Panama and then to all Caribbean countries. There were also unconfirmed suspicions that even weapons, narcotics, illegal immigrants and stolen cars were also smuggled with the help of these boat excursions.

According to some stories, after he got out of jail, Richard Cain tried to enter the casino boats operations but he was denied by the Giancana-Kruse-Larner faction. Cain’s alleged plan was to recruit all of the best gambling operators and biggest high rollers from the Chicago area and to assure them about the arrest-free conditions on the cruse-ships. After that Cain was allegedly called by Alex, which makes a lot of sense since Cain answered to him and Pat Marcy, and the two were involved in a violent argument.


6. MEXICO

The first contact between the Chicago boys and Mexico was established back during the late 1930’s or with the start of World War II and it wasn’t because of gambling or prostitution, but instead it was because there was almost a non-existent importation of heroin, meaning everything was military shipping and the ships were not going to those places, such as the Middle or Far East, where the heroin was produced. The war also managed to cut off the Allies from other legal sources of drug supplies which were quite needed for the conflict, and so Mexico became the main source of morphine for the legal market and years later, also for the illegal market. On top of that, the war also created a need for hemp fiber for rope, which led to large-scale cultivation of marijuana in both Mexico and the United States.

In 1946, the U.S. government received information that the Chicago Mob had gambling interests in the Hotel Reforma in Mexico City and that many stolen merchandise was also transferred in that same area. But besides that, Chicago Outfit associates like Paul Roland Jones invested in and also oversaw whole fields of opium around Mexico and by the late 1950’s many Mexicans began opening their own establishments around the Chicago area, obviously under the protection of the Mob.

They also had their own independent crime groups, with many connections back home which during this period came quite handy for the Outfit. Thousands of fields were scattered through the crevices and slopes of mountain ranges in the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, Nayarit, and Zacatecas. While the Mexican government was bending every effort to try to eradicate the opium poppy, still there was a huge illicit production of opium and heroin in the mountainous regions of Mexico, which much of it found its way into the U.S.

During the early 1960’s lots of prostitutes and narcotics mostly came from a small place in Mexico known as Telesforo, which was the home-base of a dope peddling gang led by one narcotics trafficker known only as Parra Lopez. This guy had a huge laboratory which produced large quantities of heroin and was operated by his right-hand man Soto Baldemar who by that time was the principal distributor of heroin into the U.S. through Mexico. The drug route mainly passed through Los Angeles or Tucson, Arizona and ended up directly in Chicago and in most cases, the product was carried by two Mexican drug peddlers, Bernardo Paballelo Reyes and Alfonso Trevino Ramon. These guys previously operated around the New York area but later transferred their operations in Chicago and around the Midwest and became the biggest narcotics traffickers south of the border, thanks to the Chicago Outfit.

According to some sources, Giancana’s connection to these Mexican gangs were the so-called “Northsiders” or North Side crew headed by Ross Prio at the time, who in turn was closely connected to the Spanish element of Chicago’s North Side with the help of the Bolita racket, and also one of Giancana’s associates from the South Side crew Richard Cain.

One of those first old time North Side guys who landed in Mexico was Tommy Morgano who in turn later “switched” his membership in the Outfit’s Indiana crew. During the early 60’s Morgano was deported to Italy but in no time he travelled to the nearest and safest point to the U.S. border, such as Mexico, where he met with the Outfit’s couriers. One of the Outfit’s main “travelling guys” at the time was Ernest Sansone, Outfit member with narcotics record, who constantly travelled back and forth to Mexico. For example, many meetings occurred in Mexico City between Sansone and Morgano who in fact were family related, meaning Morgano was the uncle of Sansone’s wife.

In May, 1966, Sam Giancana was released from jail and since the previous year he lost his official spot as day to day boss and at first he was allegedly advised by his attorneys to relocate to Latin America or in Panama, but to avoid Mexico at any cost mainly because the local authorities couldn’t be trusted and the Mexican government was constantly pressured by the U.S. at the time not to receive any of their hoodlums.

But Giancana was one of those guys who went against all odds and took the word of his close associate Richard Cain about Mexico being the “real thing”, and so almost a year later Giancana allegedly took three million dollars in cash and went straight down south to Cuernavaca, Mexico, an area which was considered as the “Beverly Hills” and is 55 miles of Mexico City. He established himself in a $200,000 villa on one of the hills, and used the name “DePalma”, which was obviously taken from his newly acquired son-in-law Jerome DePalma. Since he usually avoided being seen with known criminals, Giancana’s “voice” in Mexico was his main attorney know as Jorge Castillo who in turn also worked as Giancana’s front man and contact with local Mexican authorities and criminal gangs. Some sources say that Giancana possibly had interests in the Hotel Maria Isabel in Mexico City.

At the time, Mexico’s top crime lords were the Savela brothers, Jorge and Victor, who came from the Culiacan area and were closely connected to American crime bosses such as Giancana and others. The Savela brothers, especially Jorge, were allegedly the main protection for Giancana’s stay in Mexico. So besides his huge residence in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Giancana also bought two more lavish apartments in Mexico City and also invested in one of the most famous hotels and casinos in that same area, such as the Acapulco Towers. He even reportedly bought another huge and expensive residence in one quite exclusive area known as Colonia Las Delicas, which was located near Cuernevaca.

By 1969, the Chicago Outfit had between 20 to 30 airplanes which usually arrived once in few weeks in Mexico from South American countries via Panama’s Tocumen International Airport, where they had been easy cleared through without any inspection. During that time Giancana’s close associate Hyman Larner was stationed in Panama and had all the important contacts. Proof for that is when that same year one of those “cleared” planes was tracked by U.S. narcotics agents and when they searched the plane, inside they found all kinds of vending machines but the main thing was that they also found 10 kilos of heroin. The problem was that the agents suspected that both the equipment and the plane might’ve belonged to one of Larner’s firms but there was no way to prove it since none of the merchandise or transportation was labelled.

Another important contact for the U.S. Mob who “owned” the American-Mexican border was one Chinese born criminal known as Hector Mar Wong. Wong also had a son who owned a small Chinese restaurant in one overcrowded Mexican border town known as Nogales, and from there he allegedly oversaw his father’s rackets. One of Chicago’s guys who oversaw their operation was allegedly one of Tony Spilotro’s runners known as Frank Pedote, who previously fled to Mexico to escape a jail term.

Besides Giancana, Larner and Spilotro, other Outfit members who circled around the Mexico area and at the same time were involved in illegal operations were the Circella brothers, Nick and August. In fact, August only acted as a bagman between Chicago and Mexico City, and as for his brother Nick, he was previously exiled from the U.S. and deported to Argentina, which was his original birthplace, and later established himself in Mexico.

According to one of Giancana’s statements from the “Double Cross” book, during those days he was allegedly involved in the shrimp business. Well Nick Circella was an old time made member of the Outfit who back in the days was imprisoned together with the top criminal echelon such as Paul Ricca and Louis Campagna, but by now he still had few interests on Chicago’s North Side and Loop areas through his brother and also controlled few illegal and legitimate operations around the Mexico. In fact, Circella controlled a large shrimp boat business along the Pacific Coast and his boats were often overloaded and barely seaworthy, slipping through the darkness and hidden from the watchful radar of the American patrols. Sometimes, the boats didn’t even have to hide in the night since Circella was already legally exporting shrimps into the U.S., and so the product was easily being moved by sea off the San Diego coast, and later was welcomed by factions of the California crime families, who in turn transported the product mainly in Chicago and also around the Midwest.

At the beginning of 1970 Giancana was in Acapulco, Mexico; the same time period when Meyer Lansky also visited that same area and allegedly had meetings with Cosa Nostra members from Canada regarding narcotics but it is important to note that it is not known if Giancana also attended those same meetings. In 1971, Richard Cain was released from prison and sources say that he was not welcomed back with opened arms by some of his peers and so in 1972 he decided to join his old boss Giancana down to Mexico. Story goes that Cain and Giancana wanted to import Mexican heroin through the Outfit’s chop shop racket, meaning they wanted to transport narcotics hidden in stolen cars.

But during that same time Tony Accardo, Joey Aiuppa and Gus Alex ruled the Chicago family and all of them were against narcotics, except for some of Giancana’s old loyalists such as Chuck Nicoletti. And so by the end of the day the governing board said “no” and that’s why Outfit-related dope peddlers such as Robert Pronger, a known chop shop operator, and Guido Fidanzi, another Outfit enforcer, loan shark and alleged dope peddler, who planned to get involved in the narcotics business on the orders of Richard Cain, were killed. The following year Richard Cain was also killed and since one of Giancana’s main contacts in Mexico was gone, in 1974 Giancana was “deported” back home to the U.S. In June 1975 Giancana also met his doom.

By the late 1970’s criminal groups from Mexico dominated the heroin trade, especially the so-called “Mexican mud” or “Mexican brown”, which was suddenly in great demand around the Chicago area, mostly thanks to Giancana and his pals. Many Mexican drug cartels were created and one of those new criminal organizations was the Hernandez crime family which was based in Matamoros, Mexico, and through Texas, they managed to send large shipments of cocaine and marihuana all the way to Chicago. According to the feds, the organization was headed by Elio Hernandez and his sons and these guys were quite dangerous, mostly because they were known for doing ritualistic murders.

One of the family’s main representatives in the U.S. was one Mexican drug lord known as Manuel “Poncho” Jaramillo, who settled himself in Mission, Texas, which is a small place near the border. Even though Jaramillo supplied drug dealers around country such as in New York and Miami, according to the government his main connections were in Chicago. Story goes that by the mid 1980’s Jaramillo’s second job was money laundering or in other words, he invested drug money in legitimate enterprises. But even for that, he still needed some good underworld connections, and there was no other organization for such “pleasures” other than the Mob.

So one thing led to another and next thing you know Jaramillo made a close relationship with none other than Chicago Heights capo Al Tocco. During this period Tocco was considered one of Chicago’s most dangerous criminal overlords around the South suburbs, mainly because he had the garbage business locked down in that territory and also the union business, loan sharking, prostitution, car theft, and obviously narcotics. The main connection between Tocco and Jaramillo was allegedly one dope dealer know as Mike Habiniak who came from a small town on Texas’ border.

Same as the late Outfit boss Sam Giancana, in 1986 Tocco was involved in a car theft ring with the help of one of his associates in the chop shop business known as Ora Curry. Reports say that Curry knew many Mexican immigrants who were involved in stealing cars which were bought by Curry for much lesser price and later the cars were cut up and the parts were shipped to nearby states for resale, including Mexico. In 1989 Tocco was arrested and the following year he was sentenced to life in prison.

Great write up. It's amazing how international the outfit was at their peak. While certain high ranking individuals may have been adamantly against the dope business, the Outfit clearly had a stronghold on flooding the streets in Chicago with it.

Thanks bud. During those days the Chicago syndicate was probably the most powerful or most connected organization in the whole world

In addition, I mentioned one Anselmo Pacini allegedly being the Outfits rep in the state of Ecuador but I cant find any additional info or details regarding the situation but still it seems the operation was real, meaning we can also add Ecuador to the list.

@ Toodoped, reminds me also of Posner who still has a big influence in Aruba.

Thanks for the remind and yeah I completely forgot about Posner's operations in Aruba. Posner wasnt on the high level of Humphreys and Alex but he was obviously one of those Chicago non-Italian "members" who probably was on the same level of Red Larner, Les Kruse or Ralph Pierce.

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Btw we can also mention Vincent Cozzo who during the 1980s was top lieutenant for Outfit capo Tony Centracchio and allegedly controlled a casino-hotel on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reportedly suspected that the casino was possibly used for laundering illegal money.

Posner is now in his early 80s, drug cartels, the Italian mafia and corruption in the Antilles and Aruba is still pretty big.

Thats also true and their main ops were around Central and South America not because they are closer to the US, but because most of the countries were/are poor and are easily corrupted.