Ladies and gents, as always yours truly "ringmaster" is back with another free spectacle, so you can read it while you're making tan during this fabulous summer. So, buy your friends some drinks, instead of throwing your money in "thin air" for paying sites or paywalls, and enjoy your stay at GBB forum....Salut'

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In one of my previous articles, I mentioned the term and also phenomenon of “wasted talent”, meaning some people have such huge potential of becoming successful in the legitimate world but by the end of the day, they still choose the so-called “wrong path” by being involved in crime and also in manipulating both the judicial and political world at the same time. Such individuals can be found in the history or family lineage of Chicago’s Moretti family, or people who had the chance to become righteous and also real protectors of the ordinary citizen, but still they were “blinded” by the adrenaline of committing a crime and above all, by corruption and the power that came with it, which was obviously fueled by the old mighty dollar.

GROWING UP ON THE WEST SIDE

Giuseppe and Carmella Moretti were Italian immigrants who came to the U.S. sometime around the early 1900’s, and later settled in Chicago on the city’s West Side area. The Morettis were a huge family by having ten children, John, Lawrence, Patrick, Michael, Thomas, the twins Vincent and Salvatore, and three daughters, and they all lived at 926 Taylor Street. By the 1920’s and also during the days of Prohibition, the Taylor Street area wasn’t the best place to raise kids but instead it was quite the opposite since it gave “birth” to some of the most notorious gangsters in the history of Chicago.

In October 1929, one 16 years old Joe Fiore mourned the death of his younger brother due to a car accident, the later that night he went out and decided to release his anger someplace else. Fiore stumbled upon Thomas Moretti who was at the same age at the time and was also a senior student at the McKinley high school. The two teenagers first started to quarrel and later started fighting, and so the exhausted Moretti fled to his home. Fiore followed Moretti and stood on the front steps of their house, thus yelling and challenging Moretti’s father Joseph to send his son out and to finish the fight. So, that’s when young Thomas Moretti came out with a pistol in his hand and shot Fiore three times, once in the chest and two times in the back, thus instantly killing him. Sources say that young Moretti, while being scared and confused, allegedly fled the scene and the cops were looking for him. Later he was allegedly found by his mother Carmella who in turn brought him to the police station. In the end or in December that same year, it was decided that Moretti acted in self-defense and allegedly protected both himself and his family. That same night, the brother of the deceased entered in a fight with Thomas’ younger brother Pasquale or Patrick, which almost would’ve ended up with another death but luckily the police arrived on time.


Young Thomas Moretti

Almost 8 years later or in 1937, 24 years old Thomas Moretti and six other individuals were arrested and indicted regarding the raping of two teenage girls and before the trials began, two of the gang rapists pleaded guilty and were instantly sentenced to jail because of their direct contact with the victims, while the rest of the defendants also pleaded guilty but they didn’t have direct contact and were only present during the horrible act. During the main trial, four alleged corrupt cops were accused for destroying evidences for the rape case, which means that someone had specific connections to certain individuals. In the end, Thomas won a separate trial in which his involvement in the direct act was dismissed and he was released on all charges. This situation obviously shows Thomas’ sick mentality which he developed during the years after the murder that he previously committed during his teenage years.

Some reports also shows that their mother Carmella Moretti was allegedly involved in the city’s local politics and probably held some influence and connections, such as many aldermen from the wards from around the West Side, including William Pacelli, William Granata and James Adducci who in turn was allegedly a made member of the Italian Mafia under caporegime Lawrence Mangano also known at the time as the “King of the West Side”. It is possible that Carmella influenced one of her sons, Lorenzo aka Lawrence Moretti, to enter the world of Chicago’s judicial system by working for some of the previously mentioned aldermen. Besides Adducci, sources say that Lawrence Moretti allegedly also knew other criminal members of the so-called Chicago Outfit, including “rising stars” such as Ross Prio from the North crew and Sam Giancana from the West Side, especially the Taylor Street area. In 1942, Lawrence Moretti was one of the candidates regarding the leading seat of the Republican party, but instead several years later he became a deputy bailiff at the Municipal Court. During the one of the trials of his brother Thomas, the older one Lawrence allegedly tried to bribe one of the witnesses with $500. Lawrence Moretti also owned a tavern know as Hornsby’s at 5540 Chicago Avenue, which was a known hangout for both political and crime figures and in fact, “Hornsby” was Lawrence’s personal nickname.


Carmella Moretti (standing in white coat) handing card to another female voter

It seems that most of the brothers were “troublemakers”, like for example in 1943, one of the twins 18 years old Vincent Moretti recklessly drove a car with false license plates together with one Carmen Guido, and so they crashed their auto at the corner of Ashland Avenue and Crenshaw Street. One report says that a massive fight broke out between nearby pedestrians and the two youngsters, and the cops needed eight squads to maintain the peace between the clashing sides. In 1947, again possibly with their mother’s connections, both twins Vincent and Salvatore were accepted as rookies in Chicago’s police force among 50 other candidates, while the following year or in November 1948, their other brother Michael also became a police patrolman.

“PROTECTING” PEOPLE

By 1950, Salvatore and Vincent Moretti worked as Melrose Park policemen, Lawrence kept his job as a deputy bailiff but also got involved in some illegal activities such as corruption and gambling with some members of the North Side mob, Michael began working as a state’s attorney policeman, while their “different” brother Thomas Moretti became a restaurant owner. Thomas’ psychotic temper was still present since in June that same year, he was fined $150 after a jury found him guilty of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, meaning he violently fought with the policemen before they arrested him on the complaint of a woman that he harassed her as she passed one of his hamburgers stands at 2002 Lincoln Park West. Thomas allegedly first hit the police captain in the groin and then resumed fighting with two other policemen and in the end, he was finally taken down by two police squads and one patrol wagon, and was also given the beating of his life before being taken to the station. In November 1951, both Thomas and his brother Patrick started a fight in Lawrence’s tavern with two youngsters who pounded on the windows and yelled “Kill all of the Morettis!”.


Pasquale aka Patrick Moretti

Salvatore Moretti was no different than his twin brother when it came down to driving, because one day he and his colleague almost died in a car accident when their squad car collided with a huge truck, thus rolling over the squad car twice and ending up in a nearby parking lot. Salvatore had back injuries and concussion, while his partner had serious internal injuries and both were instantly taken to hospital, and because of Morreti’s respectability within the police force, the truck driver was quickly arrested and taken to the police station.


Salvatore Moretti

In fact, besides Thomas and the twins, the third largest problem for the Moretti family was also their son Michael who, same his brothers, didn’t have the ability to make difference between good and evil, mostly because for being notorious alcoholic. In August 1951, with no particular reason, policeman Michael Moretti shot three young people, while being heavily under the influence of alcohol. Some of the Moretti brothers, such as Michael or Thomas, were obviously pure psychopaths, but this time or in Michael’s example the main “fuel” for the gruesome murder was hard depression mixed with hard liquor and that’s that, two of the innocent victims were dead and one was wounded. The two dead individuals were 21 years old Edward Salvi and 15 years old Arthur Gambino or Gamino, while the wounded one was Leonard Monaco. When someone reported the incident to the police, in no time at least a dozen of officers appeared at the murder scene, but not for the victims but instead to protect their murderous colleague, and so five or six of his policeman colleagues tried to stop him but Mike Moretti managed to fire one shot in the air, just to scare away his policemen buddies, and then took one of the police cars and drove off in an unknown direction.


Mike Moretti

Later, Mike Moretti was arrested and was taken to trial and in fact, his case became a national scandal for the police departments in general. During the questionings of the investigators, Moretti stated he was allegedly following a narcotics ring in which all three victims were allegedly involved in, and all of Moretti’s brothers and their wives, including Vincent, Salvatore, Thomas, Patrick and Lawrence were called to testify regarding their brother’s violent actions `and its history. All of the brothers kept their mouths shut, but on the other hand witnesses stated that Moretti was walking down the street with a gun in one hand and his other hand concealed behind his back, and allegedly started shooting at the three youngsters. But even though the third victim and also survivor, Leonard Monaco, testified that Mike Moretti was drunk as hell and started shooting at them on purpose and that some of the policemen were later witnesses of the violent product from the whole situation, still it turned out that the other policemen have never been identified and so they weren’t able to testify during the trials, an example that Chicago’s P.D. at the time had similar code of silence as the one within the Chicago Mafia.


Leonard Monaco (right) with his lawyer

Some of Michael’s statements, which were taken three days after the murders, went something like "I don't remember a thing and I don't remember what happened," or "At this time I don't remember. My mind is hurting me." But after his lawyer’s advice, Moretti’s the third statement was a 34 pages report describing his activities in details on the night of the shooting. After that, the prosecutors already had enough incriminating evidences and also many witnesses who saw the violent behavior of defendant, which resulted with Mike Moretti being found guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. On top of that, in 1952 some of his own brothers like Vincent and Salvatore Moretti were suspended from the police force for allegedly giving false testimonies during the trials, followed by their brother Lawrence who almost lost his political connections and later became a “connection guy” or a member of the Ross Prio crew from the North Side.


Lawrence Moretti

Reports say that during those days, one of the twins Vincent Moretti was still a little bit different than the rest of his brothers, mainly because he was a “man of action”. Even though he was suspended from the police force for some time because he falsely testified during Michael’s trial, once Vincent managed to make a citizen’s arrest of a man carrying a loaded .44 caliber pistol. One small-time criminal known as Waldo Gibson was waving his gun and shouting as pedestrians scattered, but out of nowhere Vincent Moretti was coincidentally passing with this car and when he saw the situation, Moretti quickly jumped out of his car and approached the criminal. According to witnesses, only few feet away Moretti suddenly shouted "No, no, don't hit him" to an alleged or mythical assailant behind Gibson, which made Gibson to turn his head, while Moretti made a flying tackle and grabbed the gun from Gibson's hand and placed him on the floor.


Vincent Moretti

This shows that some of the brothers like Vincent and Salvatore had different qualities for being servants for the everyday citizen, while at the same time protecting their brothers who in turn two of them were murderers in “their own right”. In fact, this was the main reason for which the twins Vince and Sal caught the eyes of some of their old pals from the Taylor Street area, such as Sam Giancana and William Daddono. During the early 1950’s Tony Accardo was the official boss for the Chicago Outfit, while Giancana was his second in command or underboss, followed by Daddono who in turn was one of their caporegimes, and these fellas needed every trusted criminal who had the right connections and also the “courage” to kill a man for their organization.


Outfit capo William Daddono

In addition, some researchers speculate that Chicago’s Moretti brothers were allegedly “distant” relatives of William Moretti, high level member of the Luciano-Genovese family in New York, which in fact was a close “cousin” of the Chicago Outfit, although I personally don’t have any type of clue regarding that same claim and so I’ll leave it to other researchers who’s specialty is blood relations.

THE CHICAGO MAFIA

Since most of the Moretti brothers had a violent or notorious reputation all around the West Side and were also dismissed from their public duties, Outfit leaders like Sam Giancana already began gathering their criminal associates from the areas which they previously controlled, including Taylor Street, and it seems that Salvatore Moretti was also one of Giancana’s alleged handpicked choices. At the time, Sal Moretti worked as a "bird dog" in selling autos, meaning he worked as a broker who puts buyers in touch with auto dealers and collects a commission, but his “second job” was being Outfit enforcer. During those days, the so-called West Side group of the Chicago Outfit was in full effect and headed the whole organization, under the rulership of Paul Ricca, Louis Campagna, Tony Accardo and also Giancana, who in turn held a lot of influence over the so-called Taylor Street crew and also represented large portion of the younger and rising generation of the Outfit which also brought many new criminal individuals within the organization.

For example, in the role of the Outfit’s second in command, Giancana tested many crime pals at the time because he was slowly building an army of his own, with the most loyal and subordinative members and associates, including Sal Moretti. It seems that same as his older brother Lawrence, Sal Moretti also had a different criminal mind than the rest of the brothers, meaning it is possible that he saw the “bigger picture” of being connected to local organized crime, especially the Outfit. According to reports, Giancana allegedly regarding Moretti as one of the most devious individuals with a quite scary look, who with just one sight, Moretti was able to create chills up your spine. Some of the investigators later stated that there was something about the way Moretti looked at them while being questioned, allegedly because he looked through you without any type of emotion, which I believe is the real so-called “killer look” according to the actions of other numerous profiles of various killers and gangsters. In fact, the twins Sal and Vince Moretti belonged to William Daddono’s caporegime, since Sal allegedly often acted as Daddano’s personal bodyguard and chauffeur. Once, Daddono was arrested and the cops found a list of phone numbers, including the ones of the Morettis, and other sources also say that Daddono and his wife often used Moretti’s car for holiday travels around the country. By 1955, Sal Moretti was allegedly also involved in a narcotics ring together with one Maurice Castillo, and also extorted taverns, lounges and other similar business from around the Northwest area.


Sam Giancana

In 1957, Giancana became the official boss for the criminal syndicate, and so in March that same year Daddono received an order from the new boss to find Salvatore Moretti and to give him the “murder contract” on one banker and land developer known as Leon Marcus, who in turn was “knee-deep in shit” because he was under federal indictment for misapplication of bank funds and making false entries in bank records, with Giancana behind the whole operation. So, Marcus’ trial was scheduled for September 1957, and there was a huge possibility that he might talk and that’s why one day Marcus was picked up at 2135 West 51st Street, and was taken for a ride by Moretti and two other fellas. When he entered the car, Marcus allegedly said “Leave me alone and I’ll give you anything I got” and struggled with his attackers but in the end, they managed to bring him down and drove off with their dark colored Chevrolet. Shortly after, Marcus’ dead body was found six blocks away from the kidnapping spot, in a vacant lot at 4198 Campbell Avenue, and the victim laid on the ground face up with a bullet hole in the head.


Leon Marcus

Even though the murder was perfectly completed by Sal Moretti, still there was one huge problem because he didn’t accomplish his job to the end. Moretti’s cardinal mistake was that he forgot to check the victim’s pockets for any implicating records, such as the name of the boss himself, Sam Giancana. And that’s what happened, meaning when the cops found some small papers with Giancana’s name on it which further implicated him in the scheme, Moretti’s fate was sealed but it is possible that he wasn’t aware about it. Giancana allegedly gave Moretti a pair of diamond cufflinks as a “reward” for the Marcus job, but the reality was that Giancana wanted to “buy” all of Moretti’s trust so they can easily eliminate him since Moretti was a killer, too. According to reports, Sal Moretti was allegedly seen around West Side joints proudly displaying his new gift that he personally received from the boss himself, which meant that Giancana’s plan was working perfectly fine.

In April 1957, Salvatore Moretti’s strangled and bullet riddled body was found in a car trunk on a country road south of Plainfield, Will County. The coroner report states that Moretti had cigarette burns, cuts and bruises all over his face which indicated that he was tortured before being strangled and then shot twice in the chest and twice in the head. One bullet went through the lower lip and then angled up in the cranium, while the other bullet went through the right cheek, up between the eyes, and out the left front of the skull. Also, when the cops found Moretti’s body, they found nothing in his pockets except a hair comb on him which allegedly was a message left by his killers to indicate that he had been “combed clean”, something which the late Moretti previously forgot to do during the Marcus hit. Giancana’s prime West Side crews at the time were headed by Daddono, Sam Battaglia and Fiore Buccieri, which means that hitmen from one of those groups were probably behind the execution of Moretti’s murder.


Detectives inspecting Salvatore’s corpse

KEEP IT TO YOURSELF

Salvatore’s murder was obviously a shock for all of his family members, especially for his twin brother Vincent. It is possible that the Moretti’s understood the “rules” of the Italian Mafia since nobody did nothing, even if some of them felt the desire for “vendetta” or retaliation. It was expected from the family not to say a word about the whole situation and that’s what all of the brothers did, including Vince Moretti who probably felt anger because he knew who ordered his brother’s murder but still wasn’t able to do nothing about it and had to keep his anger for himself only. Later, the cops allegedly arrested Daddono and questioned him regarding the Moretti murder, including the Moretti brothers, Vince, Lawernce and Thomas. They were held at the police station and all of the members from the Moretti “clan” defended Daddono by saying that he was simply a friend of the late Salvatore who in turn sometimes loaned his car to Daddono for personal issues, while othe2r Moretti family members such as Lawrence refused to give any comment on any of the questions.

Vince Moretti told the cops that his late brother allegedly wasn’t a gangster and didn’t have any money, since they had allegedly “gone broke” while constantly defending their imprisoned brother Michael. In fact, Mike Moretti was also visited in prison by investigators regarding his brother’s murder, and the inmate allegedly told the cops that his late brother visited him sometime around January that same year, and that he didn’t show any fear nor mentioned any threats. Because of the code of silence, as usual, Salvatore’s murder remained unsolved and on top of that, the rest of the brothers even tried to somehow link their brother’s demise to Michael’s case for which they were still fighting against it, something which shows the mentality of some of those people at the time who besides knowing the truth, still they kept trying skimming the system anyway they could.

LIFE GOES ON

Speaking about Mike Moretti, in 1958 he received a retrial regarding his murder case and “somehow” managed to win a “not guilty” for shooting at the young teenagers and also the $15,000 damage for the victim’s families was dropped, but still he remained in jail regarding the bribery case. With his notorious father in jail, Moretti’s son Michael Jr. began following his father’s footsteps by being arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. The cops found a loaded gun on Moretti Jr. and also knew him as a member of a gang of young thieves, and when they questioned him about the gun, Mike Jr. allegedly stated guns were his hobby and that he didn’t know that some of his friends were involved in crime. Later, the young Moretti was released allegedly because he was held without a charge but later was placed on probation in court. Thomas or Tom Moretti’s “bad luck” was also far from being finished, meaning he unfortunately managed to hot one 8 years old kid with the side of his car while driving at Wolcott and North avenues. Luckily for Thomas, the young kid was playing and wasn’t hurt much, and so Tom only received a ticket which was later cleared at court. This is just another example that the Moretti “corruption machine” was still in full effect, obviously because no matter what they did, later it usually ends up in their favor.


Tom Moretti

By 1959, Vince Moretti was no longer suspended and was brought back within Chicago’s police force and again managed to show his true qualities as a cop. In November 1960, Senator and democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy had a rally along Madison Street and later went to the sports stadium for a final speech, and Vince was one of the policemen who guarded the stadium’s gate. As Kennedy’s car neared the gate, one man with a gun started walking towards the senator, and thats when Moretti noticed him and instantly knocked him down and later arrested the suspect. It was one Puerto Rican guy who allegedly came to the states several years prior, and that he allegedly bought the .25 caliber automatic pistol from his brother and that he had no intentions of harming the senator, while previously he was fighting Moretti and five other cops so he can reach the senator’s car. After that, the special security also arrested another gunman who in turn was a priest and carried his .38 caliber pistol in a paper bag and allegedly told the cops that he always carried his gun for protection. Why would a Catholic priest carry a concealed pistol during a political rally? Also, was this the first assassination attempt on John Kennedy, and Vince Moretti somehow stopped it? I personally don’t know but I know for sure that two years later President Kennedy was assassinated under very mysterious circumstances.

Even though he was looked upon as “hero of the day” by the public and his colleagues in the police force, still everyone was fooled by Vince Moretti because he still had underworld connections, which in fact caused him further trouble. He was closely connected to Outfit associates and notorious burglars such as Mike LaJoy and Joseph D’Argento, who were also connected to Willie Daddono by paying “street tax” to him and also planning numerous “jobs”. LaJoy owned a grocery shop and in the basement, he and Vincent Moretti practiced shooting from different weapons numerous times. In fact, the so-called burglary racket slowly became one of Vincent’s passions or was about to.

FIVE MINUTES OF SHAME

By the end of 1962, Vince Moretti had two serious problem who were crucial for his own freedom and also for his own life. In October that same year, the government indicted Moretti in a bribery case and was charged with soliciting and accepting a bribe, inefficiency, leaving his post without permission, and disobedience of orders. At the beginning of trial, first some of the witnesses allegedly failed to identify Moretti as being involved in the bribery, and also didn’t confirm their previous statements. One of the leading prosecutors stated that “If these witnesses are perjuring themselves, then you have other remedies in the law”, meaning the witnesses might end up in prison for changing their testimonies at the last moment. When that same prosecutor walked nearby the court audience, Vince’s older brother Lawrence Moretti was also in attendance and allegedly yelled at one of the prosecutor’s aids who wanted to testify against Vince, by stating “How do you do? Why don’t you sit down and I’ll get you a yo-yo.”, thus creating a general laughter within the courtroom.


Vince Moretti

There was also lots of conflicting information during the trials which was mainly given by the witnesses, including Moretti himself, but the main problem for him at the time was that every statement which was made by the prosecutors, and also every newspaper article which followed the case at the time, always included the names of his notorious brothers such as Thomas, the late Salvatore and also the imprisoned Mike Moretti, a situation which in the eyes of the jury and the public in general made Vince Moretti a “shady” individual who belonged to a notorious family, meaning they started believing that Vince was allegedly no different than his brothers. That’s why in November the police board decided to take the situation in their own hands by first suspending Vince from the police force, and by 1963 he was completely fired from the department. Obviously, his superiors had enough of him and accused Vince of “unbecoming an officer” and also because of constantly neglecting his duty, but above all they also accused him for taking the bribe, even though he was previously -released on that same charge. In fact, this shows on how mad were some of Moretti’s mentors in the police force, and also the possible pressure they received from both the federal bureau and also the narcotics squad.

TERRIBLE MIKE GOES FREE

From the late 1950’s onward, Mike Moretti’s legal team constantly filed appeals and fought for his freedom, while his family and brothers constantly paid for his legal protection. This shows the constant loyalty between the Moretti family members, especially for Mike, which lasted from the 1930’s until the mid 1960’s or the battle between the Morettis and the law lasted for almost three decades. As I previously stated, Mike’s murder case was dismissed but by 1963, all of his appeals were rejected by the state commission. For example, Mike stawrted his fight back in 1957 but in 1960 he was denied executive clemency, and later in 1964 Moretti’s parole request was again rejected by the Illinois pardon and parole board, since the new criminal code provision at the time stated that long-term convicts had to serve at least 20 years before becoming eligible for a parole.


Mike Moretti

On top of all of his problems during that period, Mike’s sons again decided to be involved in crime and further “trashed” their father’s name with their actions, who at the same time was fighting with the law for his own freedom. Back in 1962, Mike’s youngest son Daniel Moretti robbed a CTA bus driver Cicero and Central avenues, together with one William Smith and after the robbery, they were hiding at the roof of a building located at 518 S. Cicero Avenue. The coops and witnesses saw them, and so both of them were arrested and were taken to the station for further questioning. On the young Moretti the cops additionally found a fully loaded pistol and when they told him to drop the gun, the youngster allegedly refused and was shot and wounded by one of the cops. So, besides being shot, he was also charged with carrying a concealed weapon. Later, the two youngsters each were released on $1500 bonds, until their trials which ended up with Daniel Moretti receiving five years probation. During those days, $1500 was a lot of money or something less than $16,000 in today’s cash, and so I wonder which one from the Moretti brothers was able to pull out such amount for two individuals, and if the situation also involved corruption, then the price was obviously much higher. That same year or in 1962, while leaving the court room, Mike Sr. assaulted the newspaper men and reporters who in turn waited outside to ask few questions the defendant.

Another example is when in 1964, Mike’s other son Michael Moretti Jr. was again causing trouble by being held for a grand jury action regarding the robbery of a florist shop at N. Harlem Avenue. The only witness against him was the owner of the shop who in turn allegedly saw Moretti running out from the back door. The owner also added that the only damage which was done was allegedly the broken door, since nothing else was missing from the scene. I suspect that the owner was somehow “protecting” the young Moretti probably because he knew his notorious family, but wanted to teach him a lesson. In the end, 21 years old Moretti Jr. was released on $1000 bond and also paid for court expenses, and so the case was dismissed since the owner didn’t press any charges against the young criminal.

Besides all of the family problems that were going on the outside, still in 1965, Mike’s “wheel of luck” finally begam turning for his own interests, meaning in April that same year the parole board finally granted Moretti’s request for an early release and so, after serving only 14 years out of a life imprisonment, in May Mike Moretti was finally out. Prison authorities stated that Mike has allegedly been a very good inmate who finished his high school and other education, and also worked efficiently as a clerk in the mechanical store of the prison. While wearing a grey gabardine suit, gray hat and wrapped-around black sun glasses, Mike Moretti Sr. strode out of the prison gates like a real “gangster” by yelling “Freedom!” at the press and media, and so he jumped into a car which was waiting for him and also bumped his head during the process, and angerly said to the driver “Let’s get out of here.”, followed by the sound of screeching tires with the chauffeur holding Mike with one hand, while driving with the other. The government even found Moretti a job at the Walbrook Heating Company and also gave him a house at 2821 N. Long Avenue, in which he lived with his second wife Emily.


Moretti leaving prison in 1966

THE TWIN

Record show that by the late 1960’s Vince Moretti’s older brothers such as Patrick, Thomas, Lawrence and the freshly released Michael, were out of the rackets mostly because of their age and also because of the time changing, meaning the following era of the 1970’s simply wasn’t their style and so, they all retired and tried to live the rest of their lives in peace. In April 1974, their mother Carmella Moretti died of natural causes at age of 92, and believe it or not, she was the grandmother of 24 nephews and nieces, and also great-grandmother of 22. The following year or in December 1975, one of her sons Michael Moretti Sr. also died of natural causes at age of 55 from a sudden heart attack, and left behind his widow Emily and three children. Even though the late Mike was a convicted killer, still he received his rites in the Salerno chapel at 6300 W. North Avenue and later was buried at the Queen of Heaven cemetery. This obviously signaled the end of the notorious Moretti family which speared fear on the city’s streets for the last 3 or 4 decades, and also showed the rest of the younger criminal element on how corruption really works.


Tribune article regarding Mike Moretti’s death

But Vincent allegedly thought otherwise, meaning he there was still a lot of money to be made on the streets and since he was one of the youngest siblings, he had a whole criminal career in front of him, meaning he either didn’t learn the lesson with his deceased twin brother or simply had a different plan. As I already mentioned, the burglary business was slowly becoming Moretti’s prime work and income and by the early 1970’s he was already deeply involved in the racket. After the dismantle of the former William Daddono crew, some members and associates joined or were “absorbed” by different crews, especially the ones from the West Side area. So, Moretti allegedly became part of a burglary crew that was mainly controlled by the Outfit’s Grand Avenue crew, which at the time was headed by Joseph Lombardo. Almost all of Lombardo’s contacts to local burglary crews were created by himself, and also by one of his soldiers Tony Spilotro, who before going to Las Vegas, one of his “jobs” was also collecting “street tax” from all burglary crews around the Chicago area. Sources say that Vince Moretti allegedly became one of the leading figures when it came down to burglaries, mainly because he already had the right contacts for it.

This group received “jobs” mainly through Moretti or through one of his closest friends known as Gerald Carusiello. This guy literally brought the 1970’s to a style, since Carusiello was known as a very flashy dresser, while constantly being in the company of beautiful women and female models, all fueled up with high quality cocaine and champagne. Besides his lavish lifestyle, Carusiello also committed all kinds of robberies and burglaries all around the country, especially in Florida where he controlled several burglary gangs. In fact, there was another reason for Carusiello’s expensive lifestyle and that was his deep involvement with the Chicago Outfit. During one period, Carusiello worked as a substitute driver the Outfit’s boss at the time, Joey Aiuppa, and being a driver for the boss was a big thing. One of Carusiello’s and Moretti’s oldest associates involved in the burglary business was one Steve Garcia, another very flashy dresser who loved women, booze, cocaine and burglarizing. Still, John Mendell was one of their most important members who was qualified in using sophisticated electronic devices such as “black box”, usually to bypass expensive alarm systems which were connected to monitoring security services, but Mendell’s so-called “specialty” wasn’t his electronic device knowledge, but instead he was a high-profile jewel thief who brought a trio of burglars or should I say “old-timers” together with him, such as John McDonald, Bernard Ryan and John Borsellino.


Alleged photo of Gerald Carusiello

WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS

During those days, Tony Accardo was the Outfit’s top boss and created all policy for the organization together with other bosses such as Joe Aiuppa, Jack Cerone and Gus Alex. The old man continued to rule supreme over his underworld organization and everybody listened to him since he had the last word on all important decisions. Accardo still took his cut from every highly lucrative scheme, including the street tax which was taken from every local burglar, and for the ones who opposed his rules, they were obviously killed. This means that Accardo was still considered one of the most important national crime bosses and commanded huge respect. But if you mix cocaine with “vendetta” or blood retaliation, all of the old rules instantly go down the toilet, and that’s what really happened.

In November 1977, before leaving to Las Vegas, Nevada; Tony Spilotro allegedly called Vince Moretti and informed him about a possible job, like for example one “monster” of a diamond known as “Idol’s Eye,” which arrived in Chicago at the time and was kept at Levinson’s Jewelers Inc., a jewelry store located at 739 North Clark Street. In the end, Spilotro also informed Moretti that if the job gets done, he expected a cut. During Spilotro’s flight to Vegas, Moretti already set the plan in motion since he already knew that the Levinson’s store was equipped with up-to-date alarm systems, which were probably plugged into a monitoring security service, and so he decided to call Mendell and get some advice regarding the alarm security problem. Later, Mendell also brought Bernard Ryan, who in turn was the guy with the equipment such as acetylene torches, and so the trio went to work.

On a very, very cold night of December 17, 1977, Mendell managed to bypass the alarm system of the jewelry store, with a little bit more sophisticated equipment, and after that Ryan climbed up onto the roof and cut through the security bars with torches and they continued with the same activity inside the store, through four wall safes. The burglary started on Saturday and continued throughout Sunday and ended somewhere around the early morning hours on Monday. In the end, the burglars left the “Idol’s Eye” because they weren’t able to get to it, but instead got away with millions of dollars in jewels. When the owner Harry Levinson came to the store, he was stunned and quickly ran to check if his precious diamond was still in place. When he saw that the diamond was untouched, Levinson felt quite relieved but later realized that the stolen jewels cost much more rather than his precious stone. The strange thing was that, according to the police report, Levinson was one of the most uncooperative victims in the city’s history, by refusing to answer almost every simple question regarding the damage which was done to his establishment.


John Mendell

The reality was that Levinson had one small “dark secret” for being old “friend” of the Outfit, since back in the old days he used to work together with one Outfit member known as Hymie Levine, prime lieutenant for former Jewish mob boss Jake Guzik, including Tony Accardo who later also became close friend with Levinson. In fact, this was the main reason for which Levinson decided to keep his mouth shut and took the problem to the city’s “other government”. Even in those days the Chicago Outfit used to keep certain “order” on the streets, and also that’s how they controlled most of the city’s crime and corruption. When Accardo heard about Levinson’s problem, they met at some restaurant which was located on the city’s North Side and during their meal, Levinson explained his problem to Accardo and told him that if he doesn’t get the million-dollar loot back, he’ll be ruined. The old boss tried to calm down Levinson and told him not worry and that he’s going to get his jewels back.


Harry Levinson

After the lunch, Accardo immediately sent a message to Tony Spilotro in Vegas, to find out on who might’ve been involved in the Levinson robbery. Spilotro obviously already knew the answer since he was the one who ordered the “job”, and later told some of his people back in Chicago to contact Vince Moretti regarding the stolen loot, who in turn was pressured to return the jewels to its owner. Sources say that Moretti and his men were furious regarding the requirement and at first, Moretti reportedly said that he had sold the loot but later he was reminded by Spilotro to stop lying and to tell truth, or else. With no other choice, Moretti met with Mendell and Ryan and they all agreed to return the jewels. Moretti was forbidden to contact directly with the bosses of the Outfit but instead first he had to give the stolen loot to Carusiello who in turn gave it to Accardo. Then the old crime boss returned the jewels to Levinson, just in time before the Christmas holidays, and some of the burglars wondered if Accardo kept some of the jewels for himself as a “reward”, no questions asked.

ANARCHY IN THE OUTFIT

If he was a real “Mafioso” or a “wiseguy”, Vince Moretti should’ve taken this as doing a favor for the top boss, but instead he felt betrayed obviously because the Outfit previously killed his twin brother Salvatore, and on top of that Vincent and his whole family kept their mouths shut and never did any type of retaliation, besides knowing the whole truth. It is possible that Moretti didn’t hate Accardo personally since the killers of his brother and those who ordered it were already murdered or died in jail, such as the late Giancana and Daddono, meaning “justice” has been done, but it is possible that Vincent’s “vendetta” was far worse both for him and his associates. His brother’s murder allegedly constantly fueled his hatred towards the Outfit’s leadership which was responsible for the murder “contract”, and Accardo was the last one from that same ruling panel that controlled the Outfit during those days. One day when the cops raided Vincent’s apartment, the first thing they spotted was the diamond handcuffs which belonged to his late brother, a sign that confirms my previous statement.

So, Moretti decided to “gamble” or in other words, he decided to test the old man’s power by simply targeting Accardo home, and obviously his close associate Mendell also felt the same rage because being a professional burglar is not an easy job, since there’s a lot of pressure and danger involved. Mendell was in his early 30’s and so he didn’t fully understand the respect towards the older mobsters such as Accardo and so, he made one quite foolish decision which will bring the deaths of many Chicago burglars. The so-called dangerous decision was to retaliate directly, or in other words, they targeted Accardo’s "modest" 18 room ranch house at 1407 N. Ashland Avenue. There was nothing really special about Accardo’s house, except for the “small” detail which was a safe that was located in the home of one the country’s most dangerous crime bosses. Or in other words, it was a place no one dared to touch even if the loot was placed on the grass in front of the yard.


First of all, the boys needed for someone from the inside to inform them regarding the location of the safe, meaning Accardo’s basement, and also regarding the safety systems in and around the residence. Finally, they received information regarding Accardo’s travel to Palm Springs, California; on January 5, 1978, and that same evening, the boys managed to disable the house alarm, got in, found the wall safe in the basement, they opened it, took the stash and fled the scene. I really don’t know how much money was gone from Accardo’s safe but when the old man heard about the bad news, he instantly arrived to Chicago and when he looked at the scene within his home, Accardo allegedly became quite mad and “wanted blood”. The problem wasn’t only about Accardo’s ego and boss status, but instead if he didn’t retaliate, the whole organization might become chaotic and won’t follow the rules. Also, if other ethnic gangs heard about the burglary, they might start considering the Outfit as a “weak” criminal organization.


Accardo’s home

Old man Accardo was still a “gangster’s gangster” and so he didn’t need much time to figure it out on why he was robbed and that he was probably betrayed by some of his own people from around his own house, and also instantly ordered the murders of whoever was involved in the burglary. Accardo called upon his old protégé and underboss for the syndicate, Jackie Cerone, and also the capo for the Grand Avenue crew Joey Lombardo. At first story goes that the two bosses, meaning Cerone and Lombardo, allegedly tried to show their loyalty by planning to make few examples of “innocent bystanders”, from their own and also from other ethnicities, just to prove a point so no burglar in near future would think of the same idea, but old man Accardo wanted only the men involved. So, they instantly called both Spilotro and Carusiello to find out on who was involved in the operations, and again in no time they found out on who was responsible which brings the question on whether Spilotro or Carusiello previously knew something about the “job” on Accardo’s home, and if they did or didn’t, backstabbing or betrayal is always the best “exit” to safety within the criminal underworld.

WAIT FOR ME, BROTHER

Either Spilotro or Carusiello allegedly told their bosses that the only guy they knew in the city of Chicago that had special skills on how to disable almost every high-tech security system, was John Mendell. The bosses also received information that Mendell worked for Moretti, who in turn probably planned the whole burglary, and there were also other people involved in the operation. Who knows, maybe when Accardo heard Moretti’s name possibly realized the real picture behind the problem, or he didn’t even remember about it, which I believe was the latter choice. So, as I previously stated, Accardo ordered the murders of everyone involved and also added one small detail such as cutting the throat from ear to ear of every possible target or victim, which in many cases is the sign of many organized crime groups especially the Mafia when the boss orders a murder or murders to be executed in a certain or “ritualistic” way.

Accardo’s “cut-throat” campaign started with the murder of Mendell, mainly because he was responsible for disabling the alarm system and letting the rest of thieves to enter Accardo’s home. In January 1978, Mendell received a phone call from Cicero-South Side associate Ronnie Jarrett who in turn told Mendell that he had something “good” for him. Story goes that Jarrett brought Mendell to a garage where he was greeted by the Calabrese brothers and Frank Saladino from the Chinatown crew, and everyone wore plastic gloves on their hands, except for Mendell. He was first tortured for a while and in the end, they killed him. Mendell’s dead corpse appeared almost a month later or on February 20, 1978, in a trunk of car on the city’s South Side. He had countless cigarette burns all over his body and multiple stab wounds and his throat was cut from ear to ear, a sign of respect for old man Accardo.


Ronald Jarrett

Before he was killed or during the torture, Mendell probably “sang” a little bit regarding the question on who planned the burglary and so, next in line on the Outfit’s “hit list” became Vince Moretti, followed by his whole burglary crew, meaning from that point on, the so-called domino effect of the fallen victims began that same moment. The second unlucky guy was Bernard Ryan who fell on the same old trick by allegedly receiving a phone call from Elmwood Park caporegime John DiFronzo, who in turn told Ryan that he had some job which involved golden coins. Later, Ryan’s corpse appeared in the trunk of his 1976 Lincoln, which was parked in Stone Park area. Ryan’s throat was also cut multiple times and on top of that, he was shot four times in the head, the same violent death which the late Mendell previously received.

It seems that after the murders of both Mendell and Ryan, none of the other burglars made any type of move, like fleeing the country or kill some of Accardo’s men. It was like they knew that it was all over, and acted like some type of “kamikaze” on a suicide mission. For example, Vince Moretti was walking the city’s streets like nothing ever happened, and so in January 1978, Moretti together with his longtime associate Donald Renno were driving around the Cicero area, when suddenly a black van crossed their path, while three guys with ski-masks and guns pulled them out of their car, placed them in the back of the van, and sped off into an unknown direction. The two dead bodies of Moretti and Renno appeared on February 4, in the trunk of Renno’s Cadillac which was parked in the lot of Esther’s Place at 5009 South Central Avenue, Stickney. The victims’ faces were all burned with an acetylene torch, their torsos were all cut open and some of the internal organs were removed, and they were also castrated, and the finally their throats were slashed.

Two days before the two bodies were discovered, the well-dressed corpse of Moretti’s close associate Steve Garcia also popped up in the trunk of a rental car, which was parked at the Sheraton O’Hare Hotel on Manheim Road. Same as the other victims, Garcia’s throat was also cut multiple times which indicates that it was the same killers. Because of all of the numerous Outfit-related murders that occurred during the 1970’s, not just because of the burglary of Accardo’s home but also about many other stuff, other local crime gangs began using the same methods in eliminating their rivals, so the cops would think that it was a Mafia-related murder.


Garcia’s corpse

For example, one drug dealer known as Bobby Hertogs disappeared on March 30, and on April 6, 1978, his body was found in the trunk of a stolen car which was left on a parking lot at 3552 West Grand Avenue on the city’s Near West Side. He was shot several times and his throat was cut from ear to ear. In reality, Hertogs was killed on the orders of Chicago drug kingpin Jack Farmer, who in turn copied the same method of the Outfit’s hit teams and so many investigators were manipulated and at the same time confused regarding most murders, after the Hertogs’ situation. Another example is when one prominent burglar known as John McDonald was found shot in the head and neck in an alley behind 446 North Racine Avenue on the city’s Northwest Side. The investigators again had trouble in connecting the murder to a certain criminal organization, but the reality was that McDonald was lured or killed on the orders from the Outfit by his long-time companions John Borsellino and Gerry Carusiello. Some speculated that McDonald’s murder was sanctioned by the Outfit but for a different reason which allegedly had nothing to do with Accardo’s home. Anyways, as the alleged murder list went on, in September 1979, Carusiello was also killed on the Outfit’s orders and according to witnesses, his last words were “Don’t shoot me!”.

I personally believe that Accardo’s “hunt” ended with his caretaker Mike Volpe who in turn previously gave some “touchy” testimony regarding the murders and so one day, Volpe left Accardo’s home and was never seen or heard from ever again. In Accardo’s mind Volpe talked and was probably the “inside man” for the burglary of his home, and so he had to go. Same as many other researchers, I also have one detailed article regarding the burglary of Accardo’s home which I personally wrote back in 2017 or around seven years ago, but this project is mainly about the Moretti family since none of those same researchers ever made a project on the brothers, and so I’ll stop here regarding the Accardo situation.

EPILOGUE

The Moretti family was like any other Italian family that chose the wrong path and ended up in a great disaster with two sons, brothers, husbands and also fathers being killed by members of the local Italian Mafia. In fact, both Sal and Vince Moretti were associates of the so-called Chicago Outfit, especially Sal who almost became a “made member” of the Mafia but because of one small mistake, he ended up dead and never got what he really wanted, and that was to become a member of the city’s most powerful crime syndicate. As I previously stated, I also believe that their mother’s political connections played a major role in the releases of the notorious brothers whenever they did something wrong, and even Mike Moretti served only 16 years out of a life imprisonment, which was a big deal and also a national scandal, meaning not even the most powerful imprisoned crime bosses at the time weren’t able to pull off such a thing.

No matter the power and money, in the end the brutal deaths of the twins, Sal and Vince, remained as two “black spots” on the souls of their loved ones, who in turn possibly carry them even today. Seven years after the murder of Vince Moretti, in November 1985, his older brother Lorenzo aka Lawrence “Hornsby” Moretti died of natural causes, followed by Pasquale aka Patrick Moretti in October 1992. It seems that none of their siblings were involved in crime, including Mike Jr. and Daniel Moretti who during their younger days were no different than their father and uncles. I personally believe that the real “antidote” for the “bad blood” within the Moretti family was probably their numerous children, grandkids and also great-grandchildren, meaning the family’s dark history was easily erased by their long and quite fruitful legacy.

Cheers

Again, I dont know why I cant edit my previous posts in this thread, maybe cuz they're too long, since I can see there are two same photos of Vincent Moretti and the first one should've been this one...what can I say, he and his twin brother were quite flashy dressers....

Very nice TD

Fun fact: The Moretti surname is a Jewish Italian name. It is derived from the Italianword Moretto meaning dark hair and the Yiddishword Mordeven Zich meaning worker (or in some cases overwork).

Thank you bro and also thanks for the additional info

Additional pics of Patsy (looks like Skinny Joey a little bit lol) and Tom Moretti...

1951 press pic of Mike Moretti....

It seems that the following pic is wrongfully labelled as Vince and Tom allegedly being at the murder trial of WILLIE Moretti, which is wrong since the pic is from MIKE Moretti's trial in 1951...

Tom Moretti's face after fighting two police squads...

Yes I was thinking about Willie Moretti, when I first saw this thread.

Yeah that wrongfully labelled pic is probably confusing many researchers, and thats why in my article I already stated that I leave the rest of the "mystery" to people who are specialized in bloodlines.

I also believe that if Sal Moretti didnt screw up the hit ordered by Giancana himself, he was probably going to become a made guy and the Morettis were probably going to be as one of the most powerful family clans within the Outfit (like the Cerones, Buccieris, DeStefanos, DiCaros, Guidos etc). I mean, there were 4 brothers who killed with the blink of an eye, and on top of that their mother together with their older brother Lawrence had strong ifnluence within Chicagos politics on the West Side and also within the judicial system. So, the family was both dangerous and connected but failed to officially enter the criminal brotherhood and remained as simple and somehow "unwanted" associates.

Another pic of Lawrence "Hornsby" Moretti....

"Hornsby" Moretti also being labelled by the feds as member of the Ross Prio group from the Northwest Side....

Heres one quite old and interesting article regarding Vince Moretti written by Andy Murcia.

Encounter With Vincent Moretti

"During the 1970s, I was a Chicago Police Detective working VCD (Vice Control Division). We were only 17 strong and covered the entire City of Chicago. We operated out of Police Headquarters and reported near directly to the top man, the Superintendent of Police. On behalf of the superintendent, we were to make sure that the district station officers did their best to stomp out vice within their districts. We had a decent expense account and often used either rental cars or our own automobiles. We were most definitely a covert unit and, as such, got to infiltrate numerous fronts that were run by the Chicago Outfit.
It was an eye-opening experience working undercover in this unit. I tended bar, boxed with a mob enforcer once and, when I was single, dated a gangster’s daughter. I was an actor and didn’t know it, playing the part of everything from a taxi cab driver to an executive on convention.

I also moonlighted as a hotel detective at the swanky Ambassador East Hotel, home of the world famous Pump Room. This hotel catered to the high society folks, both locally and internationally. It was where the show biz stars came to be seen. Chicago Sun-Times gossip reporter Irv “Kup” Kupcinet was in attendance there nightly in “Booth One” of the Pump Room.

When disco music was in vogue during the 1970s, the hotel put in a high-class nightclub called the “The Buttery” catering to the disco crowd. It took off like wild fire. “The Buttery” became the number one “in” place for everyone who was anyone. This also brought with it the Chicago Outfit gangsters who also wanted a taste of this new high life. My path would cross with many of these gangsters as a result of my employment at this hotel, perhaps more than from my work on the police department. At the time, I had no idea who most of these Outfit gangsters were. All I knew was that they were causing a disturbance and I’d get the call to put them out of the hotel.

I met these bums at various stages of their careers. Some were young toughs with no respect for anyone unless they had a gun pointed at their testicles and some were just old men who had lost most of their power. Some of these guys were really just cowards hiding behind their “Outfit” power base, but some were in fact really tough guys.

There was also another group of known gangsters who just wanted to enjoy themselves. They acted like gentlemen and were well-mannered. These fellas were no problem for me and, in time, knowing what each other did for a living, we would nod as a sign of recognition. On rare occasions I had to talk to these guys about problems like someone clipping their overcoat out of the hat check stand or something about the tabs they were running. Most were very cordial. Guys like Marshall Caifano, who came in often, never gave me any trouble. He was always polite and well-dressed. His expensive, tailored suits often put to shame the best of the swells who frequented this most fashionable establishment. Perhaps he bought his stylish clothes in Las Vegas as he traveled there often in those days.

But many of the older wiseguys didn’t forget how to be mean spirited. Like Albert “Obie” Frobotta, they just couldn’t do much about anything anymore. They were sneaky and knew better than to draw attention to themselves.

The “Young Turks,” on the other hand, were by far the most dangerous of these gangsters. They were drunk with their youthful power to intimidate legit people yet always seemed surprised when someone stood up to them. Even other gangsters feared them because many refused to be controlled by the sitting outfit boss. They lacked discipline and hardly ever played by the rules. This is how I met up with Vincent Moretti, an Outfit crew boss who specialized in burglary. Meeting up with Moretti would eventually lead to meeting up with Marshall Caifano, a top Chicago Outfit/Vegas mob lieutenant of sorts.

I met Vincent Moretti at the Ambassador East Hotel after he had angered Mark Freedman, who owned the hotel in those days. Moretti was an ill-tempered white guy who used the “motherf-----” word more often than the worst low grade rapper today. He enjoyed abusing people in general and our hotel customers at the bar specifically. The hotel "security director" gave me the task of getting Moretti out. Seemed the “security director” knew of Moretti’s vicious temper and of his Outfit affiliation, so he wisely delegated the job to me, since I was the new guy.

I had no idea who Moretti was. All I saw was a tough-looking guy with a half-crazed look on his face. He was wearing an unbuttoned shirt that exposed his gorilla-hairy chest and too many gold chains. Moretti was bald on top and appeared to be in excellent physical condition. He was holding court at the hotel bar with a bunch of high society types and had most of them too scared to even leave. He had a young lady in shock as he described to her, in detail, what he was going to do to her sexually. The handsome Hollywood actor, George Hamilton, and some other show biz people were at the other end of the bar doing their best not to let on there was “trouble in Dodge City.”

I sidled up alongside Moretti at the bar, making sure he felt the snub-nose revolver in my pocket pressing against him. I muttered in his ear that I was a Chicago Police Detective and he was going to pay his tab and leave like a gentleman--now. I kept my eyes on his hands and hung in close to him in case he tried to crush a glass in my face.

Moretti and I were eyeball to eyeball. His maniacal grin was gone. For a few seconds (that seemed like an hour to me), I saw his thought process at work. I’m positive he was thinking, “should I try this guy or not?” I gave him my best badass face back. He decided to do as I ordered. He paid his tab, slowly pulled his collar up with both hands and did his super slow best gangster strut out of the bar to the lobby. From the lobby he walked through the revolving hotel front door and outside to the sidewalk. I was close behind him.

Once outside he said to me, ‘You're a big man tonight, but I’ll be back.”

He used a few of his favorite “mother” words before the doorman closed his taxi door.

The next night I asked my “security director” where he'd been while I faced up to Moretti. He said his wife was ill and he had to go home fast. I later found out why he split on me. I was eating at Milano’s with my friend Tony, who said a “friend” wanted to know why I threw Vince Moretti out of my hotel the other night. I explained Moretti’s disorderly conduct and the hotel owner’s order. Tony asked me if I would do him a personal favor and come into the kitchen to meet a guy. In the kitchen was a short man, very well dressed, and in trim shape. I recognized him as a steady customer of the hotel. It was Marshall Caifano. Seems that Moretti had complained through channels to Caifano about me and wanted to get Caifano’s permission to “hurt” me, even though I was a cop. After Caifano and I spoke, he said that he believed me. He also said he would admonish Moretti, but that he often did not listen to reason. He said Moretti could be very rude and was “his own worst enemy.” Caifano said Moretti was at times “uncontrollable.” Then he thanked me for speaking with him and left.

At the time I had no idea who Caifano was. I’m sure if anyone had snapped a photo of me with him by the pizza oven it would have looked like I was an “associate” of an organized crime figure. They would never have believed me if I told them Caifano was showing me how he made his “sauce.” I did make a verbal report of this contact to a Gang Intelligence Division detective as soon as I learned who Caifano was. But I treated people how they treated me and he was always a gentleman to me.

I went back to my “security director” and asked him if he knew who Moretti and Caifano were. His Irish face got even redder and I got my answer, as he chuckled. He knew, all right. He thought it was funny that I didn’t. I laughed, too, after the fact, but he could have gotten me hurt. The hotel owner soon fired him anyway and gave me the job of “Director of Security.”

About two months after the Moretti incident, I was at the hotel checking on my security men when I passed a guy whose face looked all too familiar. I eyeballed the guy awhile longer and soon realized it was none other than Vince Moretti again! He was now wearing a hairpiece. He was at the Pump Room bar in the company of a much younger guy, and they were romancing two young dolls. I tapped him to get out. The younger guy started to intervene, but Moretti wisely held him back and discreetly said to me, “Listen, Murcia, don’t embarrass me, man. We’re wit these babes. I’m gonna leave nice-like, soon as I pay my tab. Cool?” He left quietly as promised. The younger man gave me the fish eye and he seemed insulted. I thought to myself, “Too bad.”

I must admit, I was still careful starting my car after those Moretti incidents, but come January,1978, I had little to worry about with all thanks to Moretti himself. They say he and his crew of burglars had picked the wrong home to burglarize. They selected mob boss, Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo’s home at 1407 N. Ashland Ave. in the Chicago suburb of River Forest, IL.
Over the next eighteen months not only did Michael Volpe disappear and has not been heard from since, but Vince Moretti and all of his associate burglars would turn up dead.

Vince Moretti’s body was found frozen in the back of a Cadillac. His throat had been cut from ear to ear. Moretti had been tortured, he had been castrated and disemboweled, his face severely burned with an acetylene torch. Authorities thought the torture was due because he was the only Italian in this burglary crew. He had insulted Italian Tony Accardo not once, but twice."

..rare pic of Patsy and Lawrence Moretti....

...another rare pic but this time of one of the witnesses during Mike Moretti's 1951 trial....

Fantastic as always! Love the FBI info and the pics are a great addition. You rocked it out.

Thanks a lot @Jimmy and you're welcome buddy.

Btw, did you check the previous Al Tocco article?

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1096443#Post1096443

Another rare pic of Lawrence Moretti....

Don’t know how I missed it. Will read it today.

.....and dont forget your opinion lol

...in addition, Tribune map where the corpses of both Vince Moretti and Ralph Reno were found, followed by 1951 press photo of Mike's second and much younger wife Emily Moretti....

I've been waiting for the time to read this one. Thank you TD. Another great job. It's the first time I've heard the theory of Accardo's care taker being the one who was the inside man. I thought he was killed bc Accardo didn't trust him talking to the cops. That's a crazy family.

Thanks @blueracing and also thanks a lot for your support. Long time ago I wrote one detailed article regarding the Accardo/Volpe situation and so, later ill try to find it and ill repost it here. And yeah, Volpe talked to investigators but the robbers also needed an inside information and Volpe was the only suspect. The robbery and saying stuff to the feds meant only one thing....dead. During the 70s the Outfit under Accardo, Aiuppa, Cerone and Alex killed over 100 people and so Volpe became just another victim or number.

Btw, check out the previous Albert Tocco article. Cheers

Small snippet from one of my old articles from 2017 regarding Volpe's situation.....

"....the so-called dangerous decision was to retaliate directly, or in other words, they targeted Accardo’s "modest" 18 room ranch house at 1407 N. Ashland Avenue. There was nothing really special about Accardo’s house, except for the “small” detail which was a safe that was located in the home of one the country’s most dangerous crime bosses. I believe that first of all, the boys needed for someone to inform them regarding the location of the safe, meaning Accardo’s basement, and also regarding the safety systems in and around the residence. Also they obviously needed an inside info on when will the house be empty and for how long. And so the boys finally received an info regarding Accardo’s travel to Palm Springs, California, on January 5, 1978, and that same evening, the boys managed to disable the house alarm, got in, quicklyfound the wall safe and cracked it, took the stash and fled the scene. We really don’t know how much money was gone from Accardo’s safe but the next day, Accardo’s long time caretaker and friend Mike Volpe came to check on the house and when he saw that the safe was blown up and all of loot was gone, he immediately called his boss and told him about the bad news. Story goes at first Accardo looked quite calmed and told his wife to pack their stuff, took the first plane to Chicago and quickly arrived at the scene. When the old crime boss saw that everything was gone, he went crazy.

The sudden increase of Mob-related homicides apparently fanned the normally suspicious attitudes of the various law enforcement agencies to a fevered pitch and eventually, with the help of the FBI’s facts and reports, the government decided to bring Chicago’s “Mafia Don” Tony Accardo before a grand jury regarding the case. In September, 1978, during the federal investigation, besides Accardo, certain people were also brought before the grand jury to shed some light on the events, including members of the Accardo family such as his wife Clarice and his daughter Linda, and also his long time handyman Mike Volpe. Regarding the burglary in their home, the members of the Accardo family all denied that there was a break-in and later they all took the Fifth Amendment. So Accardo had a good reason to sit relaxed in his chair and wondered around with his innocent look like he wasn’t aware of what was going on. But Accardo’s chances of getting out of this one started decreasing, when his caretaker and friend, 75 year old Volpe took the stand and told the jury in fact that there was a break-in and that he reported it to his landlord and that was that. Now, even the birds on the trees and the rats in the sewers couldn’t believe what they’ve just heard? The whole Planet Earth stopped turning at least for a second. Everybody was stunned and even the judge and the prosecutors couldn’t believe their ears. I mean this guy was with Accardo for more than 30 years and heard and saw only God knows what, and all of a sudden he decided to spill the beans?! Even though all of the witnesses testified separately, when the hearings ended, Accardo jumped from his chair, took his family straight out of the building, jumped in the front seat of their car and sped off. As for Volpe, he had to take a cab into a certain death trip. Accardo received info from his lawyer Carl Walsh that Volpe opened his mouth since both Accardo and Volpe had the same attorney which was Walsh. When he arrived at the Accardo mansion, allegedly Volpe was greeted with a smile by the old gangster and was allegedly told not to worry and that he did the right thing.

Story goes that Volpe was indeed very loyal to Accardo because obviously, in such a long time period he might’ve heard or saw anything, but the problem for Accardo was that Volpe was clean, meaning he didn’t want to get involved or hear about murder. So maybe there was sort of a line between the two long time companions and the deal was that same line never to be crossed. But now they both crossed the line. Obviously, Accardo expected from Volpe to lie in front of the jury regarding the robbery since his whole family was implicated by the government. Accardo knew that if the feds had a proof that there was break-in, the possibility of implicating him in the murders was much higher. But now, his companion implicated him and his family. So one thing led to another and five days after the hearings, Mike Volpe left Accardo’s home and was never seen or heard from ever again. Some say he was dismembered and then thrown into a barrel filled with acid, some say he a crashed in some car and then thrown in a junk yard, and some even say that he was banished by Accardo in some foreign country, which I hardly believe is the truth. My personal pick is the second opinion, that Volpe was gone all together with his own car. No matter the deal, in Accardo’s mind Volpe talked and he had to go. That’s it.

But now the government was also mad and there was a good reason for them to be because they were the guilty ones for not protecting Volpe after his testimony. Even if he refused any government protection, they should’ve arrested him and at least place him in custody since the whole universe knew that by telling the truth, it was the end of him. And because of mistakes such as this one, sometimes the government looses its trust among the people. So the feds picked up a search warrant and showed up in front of Accardo’s home. In fact this time the feds secured a search warrant for the premises of the house for the purpose of locating personal effects including keys, wallet, credit cards, jewellery, clothing or any kind of belongings of Volpe. No one from the family was inside because Accardo and his wife were again vacationing in California, and his kids were with their families. So somebody called for Accardo’s daughter Linda, who in turn quickly arrived at the scene while throwing threats and bad words at the agents. When inside, the agents ransacked the whole place and they managed to find Accardo’s walk-in safe in his basement and inside they discovered somewhere around $275,000, two revolvers and a pair of diamond cufflinks, probably the ones who previously belonged to the late Salvatore Moretti. The cash was stashed in 55 stacks of $5,000 each and so the feds immediately “packed” everything up and took it to their “lab” for further investigation."