Whats up fellas!? By looking at the views, since most of us are on vacations right now, I hope you all enjoyed my previous article and so I've decided to share another Outfit shorter story with y'all, which again is completely free (no paywalls and shit like that) and also never released before. Salut'

INTRO

Family-based crime is a huge and complex phenomenon, which is not only a crime problem, but also a problem of criminality, because each new generation is at risk of inheriting the criminal behavior of their parents. For being quite secretive, those same families are often somewhat isolated from the mainstream society, and often its very hard for outsiders to enter their group or family, thus making it even more difficult to neutralize the family’s criminal process. In fact, this is a huge problem all around the world, especially in countries where they have centuries old criminal organizations, and if one family member is involved in the Italian Mafia for example, therefore his whole family is considered “connected”. In the following story, you will see that same type of “everyday” family which completely describes the problem of “family-based crime”, defined by a series of criminal activities which some will end up in a very horrific way.

IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY

Arthur Bravieri Sr. was born on July 6, 1915, on Chicago’s West Side area and he had three sons, Richard who was born in 1933, Arthur Jr. in 1937 (some sources say 1940) and Joseph born in 1953. As you can see, there was huge age difference between some of the three sons but the thing is that the world of crime doesn’t care about age or sex. The three brothers grew up in a family environment in which their father Arhtur Sr. was a “straight up gangster”, meaning he didn’t know anything else besides doing crime. Previously, sometime during the early 1930’s, young Arthur married Lucille Alfieri and together with their three sons and a daughter, they all lived at 1924 W Huron Street, near the West Garnd Avenue area.


Arthur Bravieri Sr.

By the late 1930’s, that same area was completely “infested” with Italian Mafiosi who in turn succeeded Chicago’s criminal “kingdom” of their former boss, the imprisoned AL Capone, but it was also one of the most dangerous areas at the time because many murders occurred around that same territory since the beginning of the century. In 1937, 22-years old Arhtur Bravieri Sr. was playing cards with his wife and two other associates in an apartment located at 2121 W Huron Street, which in fact was owned by Bravieri, and during the game one of the players known as Peter Gawlinski was shot to death by Bravieri himself. When the cops arrived at the scene, Bravieri allegedly told them that he “accidentally” shot Gawlinski and that his revolver fired “out of nowhere”. All of those who were present, including Bravieri, were arrested and were taken for further questioning, but I personally don’t have any additional information regarding the case, meaning whether Bravieri went to prison or not.

Ten years later or in 1947, Bravieri’s name appeared again in the newspapers regarding an alleged stickup, in which the 32-years old criminal snatched the purse of one rich woman, but before taking her purse the robber grabbed the woman from the behind and shut her mouth with his hand, and so the victim managed to bite the robber’s hand thus leaving a bite mark. When the cops arrested at least a dozen of suspects, including Bravieri, they called for the woman to identify the robber. The woman told the cops that one of the criminals has a bite mark on his right small finger and when they checked Bravieri’s right hand they saw a set of teeth on his finger, thus instantly arresting him.


Tribune title regarding the case

ME AND MY BIG MOUTH

This shows us that by the late 1940’s, Arthur Bravieri Sr. was still a small-time criminal and he obviously needed a “sponsor” either from the local Mafia or from any other larger and local gang. By 1948, almost all of the old Mafia leaders from around the North Side and Grand Avenue areas were eliminated by Capone’s real successors such as Charles Fischetti, Tony Accardo, Jake Guzik and their ally and also new boss for the North Side, Ross Prio. In fact, this was the first time that after more than 30 years the Grand Avenue area finally became a stable and almost safe territory, meaning it became divided mainly between the winning and also the leading Accardo’s Elmwood Park crew, and by the Grand Av-Melrose Park crew under Sam Battaglia. It seems that during the same time period Bravieri Sr. started hanging out with some of those individuals, including notorious mobsters such as Tony Capezio, the Cerone clan and also one quite elusive Chicago Outfit mobster John “Johhny Bananas” DeBiase, who was also a member of the original Elmwood Park crew.


Johnny “Bananas” DeBiase

According to some sources, it is quite possible that DeBiase became both Bravieri’s mentor and also his protector, like in the following example. You see, in 1953, both Bravieri and one if his close associate Angelo Boscarino were arrested in a burglary case in which they robbed an currency exchange at 2345 N Halsted Street, but the worst thing is that they tried to bribe the detective in changing his testimony before the court jury. In fact, the real problem was that they also implicated DeBiase as being involved in the whole bribe conspiracy. Later, the detective admitted that he changed his testimony which gave the releases of both Boscarino and Bravieri, but that the he never received the $500 that he was previously promised. In the state of rage, Bravieri made a cardinal mistake by stating that the amount wasn’t $500, but instead it was $1000, thus further implicated DeBiase in the whole case.

Also, defense attorney George Crane advised the court that he personally saw DeBiase the night when the alleged plot was developed, and they sat in some restaurant on 25th St. and Cicero Avenue in Cicero. The defense attorney stated that they sat over there almost whole night and also assured the court that there was no type of talk regarding any type of bribery and they had nothing to do with it. Attorney Crane even offered himself to take a lie detector test at his own expense and would also do the same for the rest of the defendants, just to show they are all innocent. In January 1954, Chief Justice Charles Dougherty defended the Chicago policemen in taking bribes and also from charges of dishonesty, and also blocked the court jury to place its charges and final decision.


George Crane

The main reason for which the jury’s final report was blocked was that in it, they highly criticized the police department in general, especially with “fix” or bribe cases such as this one which also involves Mafia hoodlums. In the end, Crane pleaded not guilty and was released on $2,500 bond, while the rest of the defendants, including the three corrupt cops John DeLaurentis, Thomas Gorey and Owen Kennelly, were still free on the streets since the date of the trial has not been set, obviously “thanks” to the blockage made by Chief Dougherty. Five months later, the jury acquitted all of the defendants, including DeBiase, Boscarino and Bravieri, but still this wasn’t a very good situation for Bravieri obviously because of his “big mouth”. That’s why, the judge decided for Arthur Bravieri Sr. and Boscarino to receive a retrial and so in January 1955, he was sentenced to life in prison for being a “habitual criminal”, while young Boscarino received 3 years imprisonment.


Owen Kennelly

THE THREE SONS

It seems that by the mid 1950’s, Arthur Bravieri Sr. was out of the rackets because of obvious reasons, while his wife Lucille tried to maintain their contacts to many criminals from the West Side, especially burglars and drug dealers, and even the FBI had her name on their list of local criminal individuals at the time. The thing was that their two sons, Richard and Arthur Jr, continued the family’s tradition by being involved in similar illegal rackets. At the beginning of 1961, Bravieri’s oldest son Richard was involved the in the theft of $18,500 or around $190,000 in today’s cash. Sources say that Richard Bravieri and his associate Tony LaPore made a plan with one armored truck driver known as Ralph Trentadue for so-called “hold-up” in which the driver was “robbed” out of his loot on the third floor of building which was located at 623 S Wabash Avenue. Later, the driver decided to “spill the beans” about the whole situation and so, later both Richard Bravieri and LaPore were arrested on burglary charges and awaited sentences from 1 to 10 years in prison, while being free on bond.


Richard Bravieri

The following year or in June 1962, Bravieri was again arrested but this time with Angelo Boscarino on robbery charges, but this time their lawyer allegedly “demolished the state’s key witness” and so the boys got out free. It is quite possible that the feds had enough from those fellas, and so in April 1963, Bravieri, LaPore, Joe Spatuzza, and one James Cozzzo, all from around the Grand Avenue area, were arrested on burglary charges for possessing a truck filled with $37,000 of merchandise and in the end, Bravieri and the rest of the gang were sentenced from 4 to 5 years in prison, plus the additional year from Barvieri’s previous case. Interesting to note is that Bravieri’s lawyer was one long time Mob associate George Bieber who was obviously there so the defendant can receive smaller sentence, but Bieber was also probably there so he can receive some information if anyone started talking to the cops. In November 1965, Angelo Boscarino was killed on the Outfit's orders.


Anthony LaPore

In 1968, the second son or brother Arthur Bravieri Jr., together with Michael Cataudella, Joe Nardello and Frank Lotta were arrested for the possession of several firearms and burglary tools. In fact, the cops followed the gang for almost 37 hours or more than 800 miles, since the gangsters drove from Chicago to Indiana, and then to Ohio and later down the Pennsylvania toll gate. Several hours later, the suspects parked their car at a motel in Allentown, where they were arrested by the cops who in turn found three loaded .38 caliber revolvers, two lists with names and addresses of 15 rich and prominent Allentown citizens, and safe-cracking equipment, and were held at the local Lehigh County prison on $30,000 bond apiece. It seems that later the case went nowhere, but less than two years later the murdered body of Bravieri’s close associate Michael Cataudella was found frozen at the back of his car that was parked at 1652 N. Meade Avenue, near the victim’s house. All of Cataudella’s associates from the previous case were taken for questioning, including Bravieri, Lotta and Nardello, but as usual nobody dared to speak.


Michael Cataudella

In March 1974, Arthur Bravieri Jr. was again arrested on charges regarding the robberies of numerous wealthy homes and so one night, he together with Nardello and one Mike Karalis entered one exclusive West Suburban home and as they left the residence with the stolen loot, they were “greeted” by the cops and were instantly arrested. The trio was charged with one count each of burglary, attempted burglary and also for car-theft. Three years later or in March 1977, Bravieri Jr. was again a suspect and was questioned regarding the murder of one Patrick Marusarz, who previously was playing cards together with Bravieri and Jimmy Cozzo’s younger brother Philip, when a gunman with a Halloween mask entered the tavern, which was allegedly owned by the Cozzo family, and pumped several bullets into Marusarz’s face and chest. Few days later, Henry Cosentino was also found dead in an abandoned car at 4615 W Division Street, and it seems that Cosentino received a horrible death by being killed with a blunt instrument which was steadily driven down his throat. Both the Cataudella and Cosentino murders were Outfit-related, probably ordered by the Grand Avenue crew, and the younger Bravieris were smart enough to stay away and do not ask any questions. On top of that, their main “racket” was robbing homes and doing all types of burglaries, and so they probably paid their “street tax” to the Outfit from every lucrative job which they managed to pull off, and were probably under the protection of the mob’s Elmwood Park and Grand Avenue crews.


Jimmy Cozzo

THE WORST BROTHER

In November 1978, Arthur Bravieri Sr. died of natural causes at age 63, and left behind his widow Lucille, his sister Angeline, his three sons Richard, Arthur and Joseph, a daughter Linda, and four grandchildren. I personally can’t find any information on whether the late Arthur Sr. died in prison or as a free man, but I know for sure that after his death some changes occurred within the Bravieri family. First of all, it is quite possible that Arthur Jr. completely retired from “the Life”, while the oldest brother Richard possibly used his Mob connections and became involved in the unions. In 1982, Richard Bravieri had been convicted and shortly after released, for extorting money from a union leader of Local 705. Several years later, Richard himself became member of Local 705, and he allegedly received salary of around $70,000 per year for an ”unspecified” job, and during the following years Richard and one Daniel Ligurotis allegedly exceeded almost one million dollars from the union. This obviously meant that the oldest brother “didn’t have the time” to look out for his other brothers, especially for the youngest one.


Tribune title regarding Ligurotis’ and Bravieri’s involvement in the union scheme

For example, in 1985, the third and youngest brother Joseph was 33 years old and it wasn’t his fault that he grew up in a criminal family, in which except for his aunt Linda, everyone else was involved in some type of crime, and also had a father who once committed a murder while being in the company of his mother. So, one can only imagine the mentality which Joe Bravieri had at the time and in fact, his actions are the main proof regarding that claim. By that time, Bravieri’s “best friend” was one Richard Zuniga, who in turn was half Mexican and was previously charged with one murder and also for a murder attempt. Zuniga was sentenced from 5 to 15 years for the attempted murder and also 40 to 75 years for the 1966 murder. But the Appellate Court decided to overturn each conviction on the grounds that the sate had failed to bring Zuniga to trial within 120 days of his arrest as required by law. This means that Zuniga was obviously a very serious criminal, especially when it came down to murdering people and he obviously also had some shady connections within Chicago’s judicial system, probably with the help of the local Chicago Outfit. Some sources also speculated that Zuniga allegedly had connections to some of the Mexican crime groups which were mainly located on both sides of the south border, such as the former Jaramillo and Hernandez drug cartels.


Richard Zuniga

On top of that, both Joe Bravieri and Zuniga were allegedly drug users, especially cocaine which was still the number one drug of choice at the time, but their Mob connections said otherwise, and that’s why they had to be careful if called to do some job for the Mafia. In other words, it was quite risky situation because if the crime bosses found out that their hitman was fueled with cocaine while executing some murder, the hitman’s life might be in danger too, depending on the boss or “customer”. And if we look at the situation from the bosses’ perspective, those same murdering addicts slowly lost their logic and mind, obviously because of the drug usage.

For example, one day in 1988, Bravieri and Zuniga arrived at the apartment of one drug dealer who in turn worked for them, and began an early morning game of gin rummy with one of their close associates and also Outfit enforcer known as Carmen Sarlo. The thing was that Sarlo’s girlfriend Joanne Gasic was their prime contact to all street dealers and also kept every one of them in line, and so Bravieri and Zuniga wanted for her to be in direct connection with them instead of her boyfriend which was Sarlo. In fact, Bravieri and Zuniga were “cutting off” Sarlo from all of the financial proceedings from the drug trade, and so Sarlo’s refusal developed a heated argument. The biggest problem was that both Bravieri and Zuniga were carrying weapons, such as shotgun and a revolver, and so during the argument, suddenly, Bravieri, who was heavily under the influence of cocaine, picked up his shotgun and fired one shot at Sarlo’s girlfriend Joanne Gasic, as she lay on the couch beside them. The poor girl was killed instantly and after that, Bravieri took another shot at one of Gasic’s female friends, Sandra Ault, who was also present at the scene, but luckily for her, he missed.


Joseph Bravieri

Then Sarlo allegedly leaped to Bravieri’s feet crying and demanded to know on what was going on, but Bravieri’s answer was "No, you gotta go, too." And so, Zuniga shot Sarlo in the head with a pistol and Bravieri stabbed him with a knife about 20 times in the back and chest. After the double murder, the killers focused on the alleged dead woman, Miss Ault, who in turn was only pretending face down on the floor. Suddenly, Bravieri used his foot and rolled her over and the terrified woman blinked and opened her eyes. “Are you dead?” Bravieri asked, and the woman answered “No but I won’t talk” and so, Bravieri obviously wasn't buying that statement and instead of reloading his shotgun, he dropped down to the floor and with the help of his knife, he reached under the woman’s blouse and stabbed her in the abdomen. The whole scene was like out of some horror movie, but “miraculously”, Sandra Ault somehow managed to survive, again, since she allegedly received superficial wound, and the moment when Bravieri turned his back at her, the woman quickly jumped up and fled first into the bedroom and then out the back, straight to the next-door neighbor, who in turn quickly called the police.

In no time, both suspects were arrested by the police, together with their weapons and bloody clothes. By the end of the year or in December 1988, at the end of the trial, the judge found both Bravieri and Zuniga guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced them to life in prison. According to one trial report, Bravieri made the botched hit on Miss Ault simply because his reflexes were poor and his vision blurred, mainly because he was high on cocaine and booze. On top of that, because of their recklessness and violent nature, Bravieri and Zuniga also managed to open the “doors” for the feds to one huge narcotics ring that was financed by the Outfit’s leading West Side group. After Bravieri’s imprisonment, the feds began to investigate his alleged Mob connections and slowly started completing the whole picture by using electronic surveillance on the dealers’ communication devices, such as mobile phones and pagers, and aso came to a conclusion that Bravieri, Zuniga and the late Sarlo had “syndicate ties”, meaning they were connected to members of the local Chicago Outfit.

Sources say that Bravieri was previously connected to Victor Plescia’s crew, and with the aid of a confidential informant, the feds managed to quickly identify Plescia as the leader of a narcotics ring. The investigation ended in October 1989, when the feds finally had established the roles and identities of the individuals involved in the conspiracy and had sufficient evidence against them, all of the suspects were arrested, indicted, tried and convicted, including Plescia and others, all “thanks” to Bravieri and Zuniga. That particular group allegedly sent envelopes straight to the Outfit’s boss Sam Carlisi, mainly through his own lieutenants, such as Tony Zizzo and Al Tornabene, and the crew distributed cocaine mainly around the Cicero, Berwyn, Bridgeview and Riverside areas. In fact, the Bravieri-Plescia cases created a huge paranoia within the Outfit’s ranks at the time, since they were two of the main crews which “took care” of the syndicate’s drug operations and also represented a danger for the Mafia members who financed those same drug deals.

The so-called Bravieri family criminal problem isn’t just an example for this particular story and the city of Chicago, but instead it’s a very complicated problem for every one of us around the world and also for our own families. For example, there’s a dual problem since on one hand, someone needs to keep “active” members of criminal families from committing more crimes, while on the other hand someone again needs to prevent those same criminal families from acting as “incubators” for future criminals and to teach their youngsters that there’s another way of life. And who is that “someone”? The government? You? Me?

Cheers

Bravieri's close associate Angelo Boscarino who was killed in 1965....

Another pic of Elmwood Park crew member Johnny "Bananas" DeBiase....

It seems in 2007, while still being in jail, Joe Bravieri filed an appeal....

https://casetext.com/case/bravieri-v-chandler

Really liked this TD. I appreciate learning about people I never heard of before. Cheers, buddy!

You're welcome @Jimmy and yeah I agree that the Bravieris were definitely not the "mainstream" of the mob

Another pic of Outfit-connected burglar Anthony LaPore...

Corrupt Chief Justice Charles Dougherty who defended the three corrupt cops, including Arthur Bravieri, and completely blocked the whole case....

Anyone knows if some of the Bravieri bros are still alive today? Like Joseph maybe?