Ladies and gents, as always, Im back with another free article for all of you to enjoy. Salut'

“I don’t let thieves come around me, I don’t care what kind of scumbags they are. Once they are in the can, let the fucker stay in. They’re not like us guys. They’re just not like us guys. These fuckers that steal, they’re just not like us guys. You just can’t let them get close to you. You can let ‘em come with a bumper between you.” - Murray “Curly” Humphreys, high level and influential member of the Chicago Outfit

By the 1960s, fencing stolen goods has become a huge problem in almost every city around the U.S. because it’s one of those crimes which received smaller attention at the time, and the public was only too willing to tolerate. The main thing is that the fence’s role in the stolen property business is very important because without the fence, the burglar cannot sell his goods easily. Since most of these so-called fences are mostly associated with organized crime figures, during the mid 70’s one of those guys would provide information for one of the biggest heists in Chicago’s underworld history. During the early 1970’s the hierarchy of the Chicago Outfit was completely changed and most of the old guard was no longer around but that didn’t mean the new leading administration gave all burglars the pass. The so-called street tax law was still in full effect and the mobsters still got their cut from the burglars and on top of that, during that time the Outfit’s presence on the streets was strong as ever, especially within Chicago’s fraternity of professional burglars. By now there were new crews which were more capable of doing the heavy work but one crew, in particular, stood out from the rest.



ONCE UPON A TIME

The story starts with one Chicago fencer known as Martin Pollakov, who was the owner of four large discount stores around the Chicago area. Pollakov was also known as “big shot” in the fencing business because he learned the operation from the ground up. All of his discount stores relied heavily on stolen merchandise in order to realize additional profits and in time, he gradually became well-acquainted with a huge network of boosters, dock workers, truck drivers and all kinds of other individuals who were involved in the same racket. Pollakov understood the fact that it was a world where the main rule is “cash on delivery and no receipts”. He was known for obtaining credits necessary to stock an entire store with merchandise from various legitimate distributors and later to delay and avoid paying the goods.

There were hundreds of burglars, peddlers, white collar people etc. going in and out of Pollakov’s stores, with stolen goods such as toys, tires, beer, cosmetics or even pharmaceuticals, and Pollakov bought it all. That is why he always had an enormous stock of stolen merchandise and according to one story, once Pollakov had in stock one item known as “Jet Dry” which was used in dishwashers and according to him, he had so much of the item that “If everybody had three dishwashers, I had enough to supply to whole country.” The problem was that he spent his money lavishly and on top of that, he loved to gamble. So, like any other degenerate gambler, by the end of 1973, Pollakov was almost one million dollars in debts and quickly closed most of his stores and declared bankruptcy.

INFORMANT

So, one thing led to another and one day, Pollakov was arrested by federal authorities for possession of stolen property and his chances for getting out of this one were quite low. So Pollakov in no time made up his mind and made a deal with the agents to become a confidential informant for the government. He worked side-by-side with the agents and helped them in setting up their own undercover suburban warehouse which was known as Ross Discount. The deal made both sides happy and from that point on Pollakov informed the feds about every stolen shipment that he received, from who he received it and to whom did he re-sold it to. That’s why the feds decided to make a “deeper penetration” by placing one of their agents as Pollakov’s friend from the old days who was employed at the alleged discount store.

The agent’s code-name was “Eddie Doyle” who accompanied Pollakov on daily basis and always successfully played the act of a sloppy persona. The undercover agent mostly mopped the floors around the store, dusted the shelves, and quickly became known among the shady individuals, who visited Pollakov’s sore on daily basis, as “Eddie the Mope”.

Pollakov came to the point where he picked up his phone and started calling people but one day everything happened almost accidentally. On July 20, 1974, Pollakov made a phone call to Jamie’s Discount Store, where he had once worked for owner James Moccio. Now, this guy also worked as a fence and while working as government informant, Pollakov was hoping to learn something about Moccio’s illegal activities but the problem was that several times previously, Moccio didn’t answer the phone, but that same day, somebody answered the phone and that somebody was an individual named Allen Wainer. This guy was one of Moccio’s partners in the store and fence business who had a criminal history and also quite large arrest record which began way back in 1935 which was mostly for conspiracy to transport stolen property and for counterfeiting postage stamps. So Pollakov complained to Wainer that he was going low in the fencing business and during one particular conversation, Pollakov came to a great discovery. Wainer told Pollakov that an individual named “Pete” was going to open a discount store and that Wainer is going to back the store with his own financials. Wainer also said that Pete can use Pollakov’s help on setting up the store and in the end, he also told him that Pete was knee deep in the fencing business and so he suggested to Pollakov to give Pete a call.

INFLITRATING THE MAFIA

Now, “Pete” was in fact bad news and at the same time, quite a catch for Pollakov because he was Peter Gushi aka Pete Russo, a known Chicago Outfit guy from the West Side. Gushi was born in 1927 and was a longtime resident of the Oak Lawn area which made him a close neighbor to many old time mobsters and was also connected for many decades to many Outfit associates such as Gus Rubino and Billy Dauber from the Chicago Heights crew. Gushi was an individual with a huge criminal record and was imprisoned multiple times for various crimes, including narcotics. Back in 1956, Gushi was arrested for trying to defraud the National Bank of Hyde Park. The feds later received information that this was an alleged scheme to get money for the Outfit’s loan sharking racket. Why to invest their own money, when first they can steal it and later “loan it”, and in the end Gushi was acquitted on all charges.


Pete Gushi

So Pollakov decided to call Gushi and arranged a meeting. During their conversation, Pollakov told Gushi that he was recommended by Wainer, and explained him in details about the business he was involved in. When Gushi heard about Pollakov’s connections and alleged plans, he quickly agreed to do business together. One of their plans was to open a discount store which was to be filled with stolen goods. And in no time, the boys started their operation by placing one John Valentino as the owner of the store and also employed Pollakov as the manager. Almost on daily basis, Pollakov brought to Gushi dozens of cases of allegedly stolen merchandise, including hair spray and other hair products which previously were purchased by the FBI. In time, Gushi started trusting Pollakov by using him as negotiator in buys from other fences and whenever Gushi had a load of merchandise which he wanted to sell, Pollakov would arrange a deal to dispose the goods.

One day Gushi called Pollakov and asked him about his alleged problem with another fencer known as Aldo Mazzone. Pollakov apologized and explained to Gushi that right now he doesn’t have the time to work for him because he has to work out his debt to Mazzone. Suddenly Gushi blew up and told Pollakov “From now on, if anyone asks you, you’re working for Pete Gushi and you’re working for the family!” Now, the interesting word here is “family” which obviously means the Chicago Outfit. This was a great deal for Gushi and Pollakov but in reality, the so-called “deal” went right into the hands of Pollakov’s “friends”, the FBI.

Through Gushi, Pollakov has met many other syndicate-connected individuals such as James “Jimmy the Greek” Maniatis who in turn knew almost every possible burglar or criminal around the Chicago area. Maniatis worked as a prowler of flea markets and bargain auctions. So Pollakov quickly went in business with Maniatis by trying to sell him a $70,000 (or around $400,000 in today’s cash) worth of stolen merchandise such as Cordura wrist watches. The feds played the situation smart by instructing Pollakov to invent a name such as “Mr. Ross” who in turn allegedly gave a better proposition to buy Maniatis’s stolen watches for a higher price but Pollakov had an idea and told the feds that it would be better for the whole operation if they let Maniatis buy a part of the stolen merchandise, and so all of the watches which were bought by Pollakov were later brought to the FBI offices.


James Maniatis

Later, Gushi told Pollakov that he in fact worked for few high-ranking mobsters, including his boss and Outfit capo James Catuara. In fact, Catuara operated around the Chinatown, Calumet City and Chicago Heights area and was part of the Chicago Heights group under Al Pilotto. Another of Gushi’s close associates was Joey Lombardo, the boss of the so-called Grand Avenue crew and that he and Gushi went way back. It was also explained to Pollakov that Gushi had his own burglary crew which worked directly under the auspices of Catuara.


Outfit Capo Jimmy Catuara

This means that Gushi was the prime target but the problem for Pollakov was that he couldn’t get to Catuara so easily because they did not have anything in common, until Pollakov realized that Gushi was also Catuara’s main guy for recruiting professional burglars, each expert in his own field. In time Pollakov became Gushi’s personal driver and constant accomplice. For example, each morning around 7:30, Pollakov would go the FBI offices for debriefing, and then he would pick up Gushi and drive to the store and do some work. Pollakov did most of his work, which was obviously a good thing for the feds or in other words, Gushi’s habits turned out to be very unfortunate for him, and very fortunate for the government.

THE PLAN

At the beginning of September, 1974, Gushi had a dinner with Pollakov and after few bottles of wine, the mobster opened up to Pollakov about his past crimes, including the information that he managed to pull a score of $130,000 (around 1,000,000 in today’s cash) back in 1971 and that two months later he went broke. Later Gushi told him also that he was about to be a part of one of the biggest cash heists in the city’s history, an information which was quite valuable for Pollakov and the feds. Gushi ended the conversation by saying “I’m sick and tired of being poor all my life, and now I’m either gonna be a rich man or a dead man.” So immediately after hearing this, Pollakov alarmed the FBI about Gushi’s boast on the huge score and so the agents agreed to increase their surveillance on the mobster.

Pollakov told the agents that Gushi was about to meet an associate of his known as Patsy Marzano but he wasn’t informed on what was the meeting all about. On September 12, 1974, Pollakov gave the feds the location of the alleged meeting and so they got the place surrounded but there was a problem. As I previously said that these guys were not some amateurs but instead, they were highly professional criminals and proof for that was when the meeting was suddenly called off by Gushi who said that “The place is all steamed up!”, meaning the cops were watching. The day was in fact saved by Patsy Marzano, who usually kept a police radio monitor in his car and quickly alarmed Gushi about the FBI stakeout.

GATHERING THE BOYS

Pasquale Marzano was born in 1932, in Chicago’s Patch and while growing up, Marzano managed to receive knowledge regarding electronics, meaning he became a self-taught expert in circumventing security and electronics alarm systems. He was good with electronics, he was good with alarms, he was good with acetylene torches, meaning he has done it all. Marzano’s criminal ego was so big that once, a manager of a Chicago suburban bank in Evanston boasted on television about their new security vault and claimed the door was impregnable. So, Marzano and his cousin Ralph Marrera decided to rob this bank as a challenge to the bank manager’s boast and so in 1973, $800,000 (more than 5 million in today’s money) robbery occurred in that same bank.


Patsy Marzano

In September, 1974 Gushi, Allen Wainer and Pollakov had a meeting in one of their discount stores and the subject was mostly complaining about the constant FBI surveillance and they agreed to constantly change their meeting places. But Pollakov knew that there was something else and that the rest of the attendants weren’t telling the whole story. Then Pollakov somehow overheard Gushi telling Wainer that “I saw Patsy (Marzano) last night. Something’s wrong with the mileage on the map and we may have to rent a plane. We got to go around Cuba. We got to take Patsy’s pilot, the guy from Boston.” Then Wainer said “Yeah, Louie DiFonzo.” On September 20, Gushi had a sitdown with Jimmy Catuara at a restaurant in Calumet City, who in turn told his underling to contact a man known as Luigi DiFonzo and gave him a telephone number.

Luigi DiFonzo was one of Catuara’s blood relatives and was also a fast talking and fleet-footed slickster who was considered by law enforcement as a “boy wonder” for committing burglaries. DiFonzo was born in 1947, in Boston and later in 1972 he moved to Chicago on the South Side, while leaving behind his wife, children and a huge pile of debts. This guy had knowledge about international banking operations, skills which were quite necessary to help make large sums of cash be difficult to trace. DiFonzo also had an office in Des Plaines for selling and buying contracts for silver bullion from where he pulled off a real get-rich-quick scheme. Records show that previously DiFonzo incorporated his two companies, the North American Trade Co. and North American Investment Co., and after that he rented some space in a Des Plaines office building.


Louie DiFonzo

These guys represented the so-called “evolution” of the professional burglar, meaning in using new techniques and also new tools in committing the burglary. These new types of burglars were dangerous, experienced, quite clever and most difficult to catch. They always knew the right amount of cash that will be at the location and they always had the number of people who were in constant communication via walkie-talkie radios, and with look- outs stationed outside the target. They even used a so-called “guinea pig”, a small time thief whom they sent at the location, first to make sure they aren't walking into a trap, and If he doesn't set off an alarm or walk into a trap, his “buddies” will soon follow.

On September 23, 1974 Catuara called upon his two top guys, Gushi and DiFonzo, and they met at Oak Lawn motel to finally discuss their next “master piece”. They told Catuara that they made the final plans for robbing the Purolator Security Inc. vault at 127 West Huron Street. In fact, the idea came from Marzano but the problem was he was a low level criminal and wasn’t allowed to contact directly with Catuara so he had to go through Gushi. The idea was developed from Marzano’s cousin Ralph Marrera who managed to obtain a security job at the Purolator Company as a night guard. Marrera told his cousin that the Purolator armored trucks picked up the receipts from all of the local race tracks, in the form of plenty of small bills that couldn’t be traced. The thing was that they knew the building was rigged with a silent alarm, which sounded to another security company, located just one block down the street.

For several weeks prior to the crime, Marrera made a very smart move by acting polite and suggesting to the security staff, almost on daily basis, that they should leave early, only if they wanted to, so they can be with their families. Like any other ordinary people, every time the guards accepted his offer. Marrera even managed to obtain the combination to the main vault which was not very difficult to obtain since many of the guards already knew it. But the problem was that the vault cannot be opened without setting off the alarm on the switchboard at the Wells Fargo Alarm Service, which was a firm hired by the Purolator Company. So, the trick was once a week, Marrera opened the vault door and then closed it. In a matter of few seconds, the people from the alarm service called to check out if everything was ok. Then Marrera assured them that everything was “ok” but even with that, the service usually sent someone to check things out anyway. When the security patrol arrived, they usually checked the premises, and obviously they found that there was nothing wrong and then left. The plan was for Marrera to trip the alarm at 8 PM every Saturday night until the alarm company would think that the Purolator alarm system had a glitch in the system, which it caused a malfunction every Saturday night exactly at 8 o’clock.


Ralph Marrera

The crew received Catuara’s “blessing” for the job and in the end, he also reminded them about the Outfit’s cut or 20 percent from the stolen loot. Marzano asked for 45% from the planned loot because he had to give a part from his share to his cousin, Maniatis and Marrera and so the boys fairly agreed. On September 27, Gushi gave Pollakov a call and told him to come by down to his house, collect $4,000 and to purchase a van. Gushi did not inform Pollakov on what was the purpose of the van but instead he told him to get Maniatis with him, and so they purchased a mint green Ford Econoline van. During the purchase Maniatis recited the information on his driver’s license and refused to show it to the salesman. When Gushi came to the scene, he allegedly told Pollakov that “This van is gonna bring us more than two million”. On October 8, 1974, Marzano sent Pollakov again to the Hawkison Ford to pick up license plates for the van. On his way back, Pollakov was also instructed to buy black clothes, gloves, boots and ski masks for the crew. Pollakov later told the feds that he was mostly “kept in the dark” regarding the operation.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

On October 20, 1974, Marrera again played the “old trick” on his fellow Purolator employee named Angela by telling her to leave early so she can be together with her family. Angela left somewhere around 7:30 P.M. and by 8:00 PM, Gushi and the Marzanos, Patsy and William, walked into the garage through the overhead door way, which Marrera previously left it unlocked, while DiFonzo remained outside in the van. The thieves took “used” money stacks that were dropped off that day from the Hawthorne Park Race Track and after that they tried to burn the rest of the millions in the vault with gasoline bombs. Clearly, the robbers hoped if the police found only ashes in the vault, they would have no way of knowing that a robbery occurred and they would’ve thought an accident occurred. Or at least the cops would have no idea how much money were missing. But the problem was that the burglars made one mistake, meaning they forgot that after the vault door was closed the fired died from lack of oxygen and the millions of dollars were barely damaged. In the end, they took everything that they could carry and walked away clean with tons of cash.


William Marzano

When the smoke from the fire hit the alarm, the security company immediately notified the Chicago Fire Department which quickly sent one of their units to the location. The responding firemen arrived in front of the building, in a matter of few minutes, where they were met at the door by Marrera, who was armed with a shotgun. At first Marerra initially refused them entrance, insisting he had no indication of trouble and he was not authorized to admit anyone to the building, but the problem was quickly resolved with the arrival of the Purolator executive. When they opened the vault, the firemen saw the smoke and quickly sprayed with their fire-fighting foam. The sight of thousands of shiny coins scattered on the floor outside the vault, as the fireman slogged ankle-deep in piles of cash left behind by the thieves, was astonishing. When they entered inside, they witnessed a disaster. Quite large part of the money was gone, one third was destroyed from the unsuccessful attempt by the burglars to burn the rest, and the remaining cash was all wet and damaged from the fire-fighting foam.

The burglars planned on getting a large part of the money out of the country but first Gushi and his friends had to pay tribute to Catuara and the Chicago Outfit. He received a phone call and the individual on the other side demanded “Put the money in a suitcase and leave it behind your house. We will pick it up.” No questions asked, Gushi packed around $500,000 (or 3 million dollars in today’s cash) in a black bag and left it in an alley behind his house for a pick up. Then he returned to his house and watched as the suitcase was whisked away by two dark and menacing figures in two black sedans.

HIDING THE LOOT

With the speed of light, the crime became a sensational news story all around the country. The first reports had put the robbery at only $1,000,000 and after few days it became $2,000,000, then $3,000,000 and every new day the public awakened to see new and higher estimate bannered across the morning headlines but in the end, the vault loss was officially set at $4,300,000. At the time, some banking officials estimated that $4.3 million (less than 30 million dollars in today’s cash) would weigh about 800 pounds, measured roughly at two pounds for each $1,000 in bills and so the boys had a quite difficult time in transporting the loot. So Gushi decided to phone Catuara to intervene and help in transporting the money, but in a very “friendly” style, Catuara refused to help by simply telling Gushi "You are on your own, bud." Later, he called two other so-called “Outfit friends” and asked them for a boat so he can take it to Florida and transfer the cash to the British West Indies, but that same plan also failed.

With no other choice, Marzano, Gushi and DiFonzo had to bury a part from the cash at none other than Marrera’s grandmother’s home. Marzano explained to the boys that this was a house from a relative of his and it’s the safest place that they can find. The boys dug about 10 feet in the ground, packed the loot and buried it under a layer of concrete. From there they took their van and drove straight to Columbus, Ohio and over there they rented a small airplane and took a flight to Miami, Florida. In Miami they were wining and dining extravagantly, while paying for everything with $100 bills and also gave quite large tips to the strippers. The other day, DiFonzo took a plane to the Grand Cayman Island in the British West Indies, where banking transactions are kept in secret. On the arrival, DiFonzo allegedly tipped the pilot $300 and on his way out of the airport, he was carrying three big bags full of U.S. currency which were so heavy that DiFonzo needed four porters to help him carry them. And so, DiFonzo successfully deposited somewhere between $1,400,000 and $2,000,000 (around 13 million dollars in today’s money) in five of the Grand Cayman Island’s 178 banks. Every newsman around the country was looking for answers and so did the lawmen. The story was quite big because this was one of the greatest heists committed on American soil at the time, meaning this was 4 years before the infamous Lufthansa heist which occurred in New York.


Purolator security truck being parked at front of the offices where the robbery occurred

THE SECRET IS OUT

Because of the popularity of the case, there was a lot of pressure over the law enforcement agencies and so they needed to start from somewhere. Three FBI agents who were assigned on the case, decided to investigate the guards from that night and when they realized that the female guard was asked by Marrera to leave early, they felt suspicious. So, the feds decided to give Marrera a polygraph test and during the testing, the needle of the polygraph machine jumped up and down because Marrera was quite nervous, obviously because he was guilty. Since he failed the test, the next day he was arrested at his mother-in-law’s home in Oak Park both by Chicago PD and the FBI. During the arrest, Marrera allegedly told the cops “What are you trying to do, get me killed?” Obviously, he was in panic and his paranoia forced him to make one fatal mistake by trying to kill himself. In no time, the guy started to talk but the problem was that he didn’t know too much but at least he mentioned four names, including Gushi, DiFonzo and the two Marzanos. He told the feds that some of the suspects fled the country so they can transfer the cash to foreign banks and in the end, he added that all of the suspects were “connected guys”. From this point on, Marrera was considered to be at large risk and the feds immediately spread the word that Marrera was placed under heavy security at a military installation near Chicago, but in reality Marrera was being held at the Winnebago County Jail in Rockford.

The first guy on which the feds laid their hands on was Jimmy Maniatis, who was arrested on October 19, 1974, for purchasing the van which was used during the heist. He was taken for questioning but the problem was that Maniatis was a standup guy and plus, he knew almost nothing about the heist. The next day, without knowing on what was going on, Gushi made a wrong move by appearing at the police station with a bag of cash for Maniatis’ bond and that’s when the cops arrested Gushi and placed him in custody. Now, both suspects were confused regarding the situation since they knew that everybody was safe, including the stolen loot, but it seems they were not informed about all of the individuals that were involved in the heist. The thing was Patsy Marzano previously did not reveal Marrera or his so-called “inside guy” to Gushi and the rest of the crew, which explains all of the confusion. But Marzano’s main mistake was that he informed Marrera about the rest of the guys, which in this situation made them “sitting ducks”.

On October 30, 1974, Luigi DiFonzo, Patsy and William Marzano were arrested by British authorities at the airport on the Grand Cayman Island. Also, both DiFonzo and Marzano were carrying $26,000 in $100 bills (around $150,000), a lot less than custom officials said DiFonzo had when he checked on the island. While the suspects were escorted by the local police, Marzano made all kinds of hysterical “parade” before getting in the police van. By early November all of the suspects had been apprehended and that same month an indictment was returned against Pasquale Marzano, William Marzano, Ralph Marrera, Luigi DiFonzo, Peter Gushi, and James Maniatis. The indictment charged these persons with conspiracy to commit theft of money from Purolator Security, Inc., including other various offences, and on top of that, all of the charged were held on very high bonds.

The government was ready to attack with three key witnesses including undercover agents Martin Pollakov and Eddie Doyle and of course their “inside guy” Ralph Marrera. In no time, the investigators managed to recover the $1.5 million (around 7 million in today’s cash) from under the basement at Marrera’s house which was located at 2045 N. Natchez Av. It seems Marrera was still in big trouble because from this point on, the feds felt that Marrera wasn’t telling them everything and so they cancelled their deal and increased the pressure over their prime witness. The problem was that the pressure already deeply penetrated Marrera’s mind and so on November 29, 1974, Marerra attempted a suicide by hanging in his prison cell at the Winnebago County jail. He was quickly saved by the prison guards and although he was not seriously injured in the attempt, he was still transferred to the Cermak Memorial Hospital at the Cook County jail. When he recovered from the suicidal attempt, Marrera again tried to kill himself by drowning himself in the pool at the medical facility. He was saved again, but this time he was strapped to his bed. Now this is the point where more than few strange things occurred regarding Marrera’s situation.

CORRUPTION

Two days later, Marerra has been relocated at the intensive care unit at the Cook County Hospital, because suddenly out of nowhere, he was in a coma and in a very critical condition. Everybody was confused and many stories started circulating around Chicago. For example, some speculated that Marrera was in fact poisoned, but by who? The Outfit couldn’t reach him because he was under very strong protection by the feds and was relocated more than several times. So, my point is that the only individuals who had the access to Marrera were strictly government people. Story goes that 29-year old Marerra was being medicated with large doses of Thorazine, a tranquilizer with a sedating effect but what was the point of all of that and who and why would do this? If somebody wanted to poison Marrera, he could’ve done it in various other ways. Rumors were that some people from the government wanted to know on where was the rest of the hidden cash, and they thought that Marrera was still lying and so they shot him up with the tranquilizer so they can extract the needed information. But it looked like that those so-called government people were more interested in finding the money not for publicity but instead, to take the cash for themselves. It was a lot of cash and so it is not strange to attract the likes of some of the “dirtier” government people. Maybe the first doze of the tranquilizer wasn’t quite working and so they decided to give him another one thus making him a “human vegetable” or in other words, they paralyzed him. This became a huge problem for the government, because first they almost killed a human being and second, they lost their prime witness.


Marrera in a wheelchair

In the “last minute”, the government was saved by another suspect who also decided to “spill the beans” and that was Pete Gushi. I believe that he also decided to talk in order to save his skin from Catuara and the Outfit and to avoid any long prison term such as life sentence. Gushi told the agents that two weeks before he got arrested, he received a mysterious note which was scribbled on a matchbook cover with a telephone number to call. He said he made the call and was told by an unknown individual to turn over whatever money he was holding, or, the voice at the other end said, "There is going to be a lot of blood shed yours, too." In the end Gushi added that the individual refused to identify himself but said enough to convince him that he was in fact an Outfit guy. In June, 1975, Pollakov and Gushi were called to testify against their former partners in crime, or should I say in the Purolator heist. But before the trial started, the prosecution gave a psychiatric report that Marrera was unfit to stand trial. I believe they were right since Marrera was really damaged, but somebody obviously didn’t want for him to testify in front of the public. Famous FBI agent Ramon “Ray” Stratton took the whole glory for allegedly solving the whole case and that was the end of it.


Ray Stratton

During the trial government informant Martin Pollakov testified and explained in details all of the conversations that he overheard at Gushi’s store or attended on and also, he informed about the purchase of the van. Next, Gushi became the “special guest star of the show” against Maniatis, the Marzanos and DiFonzo. During Gushi’s testimony, he confirmed that DiFonzo was actually one of the individuals directly involved in the heist and that he was one of the alleged masterminds behind the whole operation but the problem was the rest of the government witnesses such as Pollakov and agent Doyle, couldn’t confirm that DiFonzo was directly involved since they only heard his name. In his own defense, DiFonzo claimed that he was only hired to deposit a large sum of cash in the Grand Cayman banks and he also claimed that he never knew that the cash was stolen and who really were the people with whom he was involved with and “miraculously”, he was found innocent by the jury.

THE FALL

As for the rest of the gang, Maniatis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and for possession of stolen property and was sentenced to 3 years in prison but served only one. William Marzano refused to cooperate with the government and received maximum sentence of 7 years in prison but served only 28 months. When he got out, he collaborated on a book and made the talk-show rounds, talking freely about the whole affair. Patsy Marzano pleaded innocent, was found guilty and was sentenced to maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. When the judge asked him if he had something add regarding his sentencing, Marzano just mutely shook his head. Ralph Marrera, who was “mysteriously” unstable to stand trial, was declared mentally unfit and was taken to protective custody. Government “rat” Peter Gushi was sentenced to 4 years in prison but was put in custody of the U.S. Marshal. In jail, he was placed in a special department under a constant guard where he was segregated from other prisoners. After serving his sentence, Gushi together with his family, was taken to the Witness Protection Program in which he was given a whole new identity. Martin Pollakov was also given a protective custody and a whole new identity and was also rewarded $40,000 (around $250,000 in today’s money) for his undercover cooperation. Except for DiFonzo, the other guy who got away completely clean was Jimmy Catuara. Even with Guhsi’s testimony Catuara was never arrested nor charged regarding the case but three years later, on July 28, 1978, he was gunned down by Outfit assassins regarding different situation.



After a 14-month search, one police officer suddenly recognized Marrera but he was not quite positive regarding the individual’s identity. The suspect was placed under arrest and was taken to the Forest Park police station. When they saw his identity card, the name was different which read “Albert Santangeli” but still the agents felt suspicious and decided to fingerprint the individual. So, when the results from the fingerprint-check returned, it was positive that the individual was in fact Ralph Marrera.

In March of 1983, Marrera was the last of the group to be convicted for his part in the Purolator heist. The agents testified that when arrested in Forest Park, Marrera allegedly conversed freely and openly with them and that he was quite lucid and didn’t show any signs of serious brain damage. Later, when he realized that he was uncovered, Marrera allegedly began babbling and claimed to be unaware of what was going on. No matter if he did or did not play the crazy act, in the end Marrera still managed to delay his sentencing by being again hospitalized because of a drug overdose. In the end, Marrera sat motionless with his hands folded as the verdict was read thus sentencing him to 20 years in federal prison. Marrera was later paroled in 1989 and in December, 1990 in connection with the so-called “brain damage” incident, Marrera was awarded with $650,000 (or 1.5 million today) in a medical malpractice suit against Cook County.

Cheers

.....oh yeah and I forgot to mention, boycott all paywalls and their imaginary information!

Statement made by mob informant Martin Pollakov...

In addition, interesting to note is that there are few mysteries which occurred during the whole case. First, I have a question regarding the FBI surveillance before the robbery occurred. I mean, they already received info from their undercover informant Martin Pollakov that something big was going to happen in the next few weeks. So my question is on why the hell the FBI didn’t continue with their surveillance over their main suspects when they already had the information? Here’s their statement regarding the situation “The Illinois Bureau of Investigation maintained careful surveillance of the group for several weeks, but when no major burglary occurred until Sunday, October 13, 1974, the Bureau informed the Commission that it did not have sufficient manpower to continue such an extensive surveillance any longer.” Next question is on why DiFonzo got away so easily? Did he transfer the missing cash to someone from the higher circles in society or the Mob? Or maybe he simply transferred the cash to himself?

And the last interesting situation to note is that according to court reformer and criminal sleuth Sherman Skolnick, his investigation of the Purolator robbery showed different results from the official government version. Skolnick reported that the stolen $4.3 million were allegedly $25 million dollars and that a massive government corruption took place in the Purolator case. Obviously, we will never know.

TD! Super thorough read! Perfect for a wait at the doc’s.

Thanks a lot @Jimmy and Im glad that my article somehow "killed" your time lol Cheers bud and stay tuned for more free articles.

One part of the stolen cash that was seized by the feds being presented to government people...

Another pic of Ralphie Marrera being seated in a wheelchair, while being taken to court.....

Some additional info on Gushi...

Previously I made a mistake by posting this in the Arizona thread instead of the Outfits Purolator heist. My apologies

In 1962 Pete Gushi and Catuara together administered a beating over one club owner, and it seems that Gushi beat the guy while Catuara was standing over the victim while pointing a shotgun, a situation which shows Catuara's higher stature within the Outfit. During those days both Catuara and Gushi were "rented" as collectors for Gus Alex and Skids Caruso regarding their interests around the south side and southern suburbs.