Staying out of the sight of the public eye, first and foremost, is still something which matters a lot to many Mob bosses from around the world even today. The whole thing has many logistical advantages such as staying away from the government's radar and also from the reach of all enemies.

According to my personal research, some mobsters or crime syndicates created a bond with their own areas mainly through the rackets and business which they controlled and by doing so, they closely identify themselves with that same territory and the prime example was the Chicago mob. They also had all of the local politicians and also police support but by the end of the day, in most cases the mobsters were still under the attack of many government agencies which obviously disrupted their business relations and income but above all, their freedom. Thats why many mobsters and crime bosses decided to flee their territories from time to time, while others decided to leave their cities or even countries forever. Setting up a protection network in some small town or village is cheaper and the much lower number of locals are easier to corrupt.

So as I already stated, the Chicago Outfit was the most territorial syndicate in the U.S. with its own operations around the country and also all around the world. Bosses like Al Capone, Paul Ricca, Tony Accardo and Sam Giancana had their own headquarters around the Chicago area and also their own territories, but they also owned many farms and huge lands in different small towns or areas. So when the government came too close, they usually went to their farms and kept on controlling their organizations from a far distance.

One quite known and also infamous Chicago boss who stayed at his farm and also controlled the second largest city in the U.S. at the time was Sam "Teets" Battaglia.

By the late 1940's Battaglia bought a huge 400 acre farm which was located 55 miles northwest of Chicago on Damicsh Road in Pingree Grove, Illinois. It was a huge land which was named The Free Meadows Stock Farm and Horse Breeders and was listed to the caretaker of the place known as Bill Meyers. The farm was located one-half mile north of Pingree Grove, on the east side of Damisch Road with land holdings on both sides of the highway, the more extensive being on the east side. The property had three different residences, a very large modern swimming pool, a race track and several barns. On all of the property Battaglia had signs posted indicating that the land was posted for shooting games and that all trespassers would be arrested or shot on sight. The farm was allegedly bought for $500,000 or around 6 million dollars in today’s money.

Battaglia owned very expensive trained race horses and also all types of animal stock. Battaglia’s horses were used at the Arlington Park Race Track in Arlington Park, Illinois and their trainer was Arnold Winick, brother of Albert Winick president of The Rallson Corporation. Battaglia secretly had interests in the Arlington Race Track and constantly visited the place and gave orders to Albert Winick. One of Battaglia’s old time friends and underlings Joseph Rocco was also a horse trainer at the farm and so Battaglia became very well known in the farming community of Pingree Grove and also a very respectable citizen in that area.

In July, 1964 the FBI received an information about a possible national mob meeting that might be held at Battaglia’s farm. The unknown informant who alerted the feds, had no information on who exactly might attend this meeting, but has advised that high profile members of the Milwaukee, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Detroit mob families might be present. The informant even gave the exact date of the meeting which was August 2, 1964 and so my opinion is that this must’ve been a high echelon informant because usually only the top members of the mob’s hierarchy received such information. So now the FBI alerted all of its offices in Chicago and other cities and has established a huge photographic and physical surveillance coverage over Battaglia’s farm. But besides their surveillance measures, somebody tipped off the mob bosses and the meeting was called off. Maybe the informant was working on both sides or maybe the mob had simply someone within the government and alerted them about the stake out.

By the mid 1960's the Chicago Outfit was under heavy attack from the government and so in 1964, Battaglia's long time friend and boss Giancana was imprisoned and the next year or after his release, Giancana fled the country and Battaglia took his place as the new acting boss for the organization. Some sources say that Battaglia allegedly wasnt quite satisfied with his new high level position, obviously because he instantly became the next prime target for the government and so reports show that the new boss spent most of his time at his farm in Pingree Grove, which in fact also became the new headquarters for the Chicago organization.

In those days Pingree Grove used to have population of 150 citizens and previously it was a place where only wagons with loads of hay rolled down the county roads, but now loads of expensive autos sped by, filled with gangsters. In short time Pingree Grove became a hamlet possessed by fear since everybody talked in whispers of "the Old Man" in the massive, two-story farm- house.

Many lower level hoodlums visited Battaglia at this place where he usually used them for painting fences or do some repairs on the farm buildings, while talking business. He even used this farm for loan sharking activities or in Chicago slang, juice operations. The local people on various occasions witnessed many of the mobsters and criminals, who most of them were in debt to the boss and had to work on the huge land. For example Sid Sheridan, who was a local contractor, was on “juice” to Battaglia and sources say that Sheridan was paying off his loan by boarding horses at the farm, and paid $60 per month for each one of them. Most of the horses were sold to Sheridan by Battaglia at an extremely over-valued price and that on this semblance of legal transaction Battaglia was able to issue the juice loans.

Story goes that Battaglia literally played these guys like puppets because one day he allegedly invited a band of mobsters out to the farm and all of Battaglia's neighbors watched from a distance on how the hoodlums, dressed only in undershirts and Bermuda shorts, walked around the fields and pulled carrots from the ground. The gangsters allegedly also spread the economy of Pingree Grove for a "moment" as they made repeated trips for drinks and food at the local joints.

Another funny story is when Joseph Rocco travelled 12 miles to a pig auction on Battaglia's orders. Farmers from throughout Kane County gathered for the auction and they began bidding against Battaglia. The farmers quietly bowed out when the price had been raised beyond reason and so Rocco returned to the farm that day with 20 to 25 hogs which cost three times the going price. Also Battaglia once paid twice the value for a Charolais bull, a highly prized breed of bull that originated in France centuries ago and improves the quality of beef.

Battaglia’s farm also became the main place for high profile meetings among mob bosses from all around the country. By now the Chicago Outfit allegedly represented other families on the national Mafia commission, such as Milwaukee, Rockford, St. Louis, Kansas City etc. So all of the bosses from those cities occasionally met at Battaglia’s farm, like Frank Balistrieri, the boss of the Milwaukee mob, who periodically travelled to Pingree Grove to meet with the Outfit’s hierarchy. In addition, according to some FBI sources Battaglia was also often visited by "unknown" members of the Los Angeles family.

Besides family bosses, Battaglia's farm was constantly visited by all kinds of people including gangsters, politicians, friends and relatives. One of them was John Wolek, who was one of Battaglia’s oldest friends and often came to help around the farm. By now Wolek was a heavy drinker and was out of the Outfit’s businesses and he was in favor to Battaglia because previously he owed $3,000 to one of the Outfit’s big shots and Battaglia’s partner in the gambling business Rocco Potenza. Because of his addiction, Wolek wasn’t going to pay the money so Battaglia helped him and saved his life. Another gangster who often visited Battaglia was James Mullane. Mullane was the brother-in-law of Outfit member Vincent Inserro. Anthony Cardamone was a relative of Battaglia’s partner Willie Daddano and often came to Battaglia with an envelope full of cash. Tony Panzika, who was known Outfit associate and high level burglar, also often gave his respects.

As boss, Battaglia sometimes also portrayed himself as a man who loved to help his friends or their widows. For example Antoinette Caifano, who was Marshall Caifano’s relative, also came very often to seek favors from the boss himself, or Marie Capezio who was the widow of the late Outfit capo Tony Capezio. Battaglia regularly gave money to Miss Capezio. Another quite interesting person that visited Battaglia’s farm was Nicholas Ciaccio. Ciaccio was the chief administrative aide to the Secretary of State Paul Powell. In fact, Ciaccio was the contact between Powell and Battaglia. Ciaccio usually used a chauffeur driven state car to travel to farm and sat with the boss in the main farm building usually for several hours. Another high profile figure who often visited Battaglia was Nicholas Balsamo, who was at the Board of Directors of the Maywood Provision Bank.

Often in the early morning hours Rocco Salvatore usually drove Battaglia to the Casa Madrid in Melrose Park, where they usually remain for few hours during which Battaglia checked the daily receipts from the gambling profits and loan shark collections and after that he usually visited his family in Oak Park and in the end quickly went straight back to his farm. Battaglia has claimed his income from the Free Meadows Stock Farm through his "no-show" job as salesman at the Twin Foods Company, and from a building that he owned at 3248 West Roosevelt Road in Chicago. Battaglia has been acquiring virtually all of the land that lies directly north of Pingree Grove and in a very short time period he purchased another 180 acres near Reinking road and with this latest purchase, he actually owned nearly a third of the whole town. The boss even purchased another 200 acres of property in Kane County, Illinois and also in Aurora, Illinois.

But there was a problem with the local population mainly because Battaglia was constantly building something around his lands, with huge trucks constantly driving in and out of his farm, thus constantly rising huge clouds of dust and dirt as they pounded down the country lanes. And above all, on both sides of the roads the fields became filled with piles of crushed rock, rusting truck bodies and battered cars. Some of the locals noticed that Battaglia's trucks didnt have any license plates and so one investigator for the Illinois secretary of the state’s office noted the truck license violations, but his fear of the Outfit boss was too great and so he took no action.

One day newspaper men came to visit Battaglia’s farm and tried to get some interview from the boss himself. The reporters waited in front of the main gate at the farm when suddenly Joseph Rocco arrived with Battaglia in a late model station wagon that trailed behind a giant flat bed semi-trailer truck. The truck had pulled into the yard, but Battaglia had rolled on down the road to inspect his visitors. As soon as the station wagon circled into the farmyard on another road, Rocco appeared at the barbed wire fence. He told the reporters "All we want is peace and tranquility out here, the stuff that they re-printing in the newspapers could get somebody killed. In the end, we’re all human beings. The Old Man doesn't want to be bothered . . . he doesn't want to be harassed." One green pick-up truck showed up which was also without state plates, and a guy known as Sal Scudiero showed up who in turn was also one of Battaglia's "employees".

The problem was solved when the newspaper men completely exposed the situation with headline articles and in no time Kane County zoning officials and the Illinois State Police were dispatched and began a crackdown on the use of all vehicles on the farm and ensured that Battaglia and his men cleaned up the place and complied with the law.

In February 1967, Battaglia and his driver Joe Rocco were on their way to the farm and they stopped at a roadside telephone and called a lookout crew which they had at 25th Avenue and Lake Street in Melrose Park and was told he was being followed by "several" strange cars. This time it was the IRS with 11 cars, each containing two agents that were tailing Battaglia and after one quite dangerous high speed chase, Battaglia was finally arrested and that same month he was taken to the Federal District Court on conspiracy charges. On May 29, 1967 Battaglia was sentenced to 15 years in jail and was also fined $10,000; and after 6 years he died in prison.

Good stuff T. Battaglia was a huge player from the days of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone to the early 70s.

Thanks bud.

Battaglia was allegedly made by Capone himself, possibly sometime around 1931 or 1932 but that was at the end of the old Capone mob and the beginning of a new era. You see, Battaglia robbed the wife of one of Chicago's most corrupt and dangerous mayors Big Bill Thompson who in turn was on Capone's payroll. Story goes that Capone liked those young criminals who were ready to do anything and at any time, no matter who or what the target was. Or in plane words, Capone allegedly liked youngsters with no brains but big balls. And so instead of killing him, Capone brought Battaglia into the organization. Still by the 1950's and 60's the last original Capone members were Ricca, Guzik and Humphreys. In addition, this also means that Battaglia was probably made before Giancana and thats why when Giancana became the boss in 56/57, some of the other members were allegedly disappointed and thought that Battaglia should've received the spot.

According to one convo between Humphreys and Ferraro, the Hump somehow badmouthed Giancana and Battaglia regarding them allegedly not knowing the inner workings and on how to control the organization (a problem occurred at the time within Battaglia's crew). Humphreys remembered the old days when he worked for Al Capone and that none of the previously mentioned fellas were there and you can notice from the conversation that besides being a non-Italian, Humphreys had huge authority within the organization.

Heres's one snippet....in addition the following convo also corresponds with the so-called "rumor" that back during the late 1920's, when young Humphreys was allegedly hijacking some of Capone's booze trucks, the youngster was caught by Capone's henchmen and was allegedly brought in front of the boss who in turn spared his life and took him as enforcer for the Capone mob:

Excellent stuff here Toodoped! Very enlightening!

His place in those photos looks awesome.

@Jimmy_Two_Times thanks a lot bud and also thanks for your constant support.

@Big_Tuna93...well as you can see it was quite expensive land and interesting to note is that during 1948/49 Battaglia allegedly still didnt have his own crew at the time (according to the current evidences which we have) but obviously he had the money to buy it. So I wonder if he was a top notch money maker or maybe he was financed by other guys too....

God these articles are so good pal - you do an excellent job. Battaglia always struck me as one of the most paranoid of any of these guys in his era - wonder if he sat on his farm thinking about all his older brothers who were killed in the 20s. I believe his grandson also plays in the NHL.

Given the fact he went back to Capone and had a lot of clout within the organization, I'd lean more towards he made a lot of money for the outfit as well as himself.

Thanks man, means a lot.

I agree regarding Battaglias paranoia since he was quite careful and wanted to stay away from the spot light and I also believe that he was probably somehow "forced" to take boss position. Also, during the 1930's two of Battaglia first cousins Paul and August Battaglia were killed, while after Battaglia's death his brother Tony was also killed. And yeah, Battaglias grandson Jonathan “Bates” Battaglia is a NHL player and allegedly owns (or maybe owned by 2005) two condominiums, two mansions, a bar, a building in Raleigh's restaurant district.




Nicely said and I agree.