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INTRO

Back in the days or sometime during the early 1950’s, Chicago’s local crime syndicate, known as the Outfit, began infiltrating their own members, literally their Cosa Nostra members, within local politics and police force. Don’t get me wrong, the so-called Outfit and even the old Sicilian Mafia had its fingers and representatives within the local government since the start of the 20th century, and during those days the old-time bosses usually represented themselves as leaders of certain political parties, wards and even certain police stations and squads or used other ethnic associates who in turn were not part of the original Italian “brotherhood”. But decades later, infamous Outfit boss Tony Accardo together with one of his caporegimes had another idea by infiltrating their own members who were going to take orders only from the bosses who in turn were going to stay in the “shadows”, meaning their role within local politics and police force was going to be protected by those same members that previously took an oath of secrecy to the local Mafia.

For most of us researchers and also for the audience which mainly follows the Chicago Outfit, the name Richard Cain is almost “famous” at the same level as the names of other Outfit “heavyweights” such as Jonh Roselli, William Daddono or Marshall Caifano. That’s why I won’t speak much about Cain’s rise in the Mob obviously because it was already covered multiple times by numerous mob historians, but instead I’m going to show you several specific and quite interesting situations that were rarely covered, including all of the details which started Cain’s downfall and everything that followed with it.


Richard “Dick” Cain

CONNECTED FAMILY

Richard Cain aka Scully aka Scalzetti aka Scalzitti, was one of the most mysterious individuals in the world of crime by playing both sides of the law, and also by being one quite extraordinary individual. He was born in 1931 on Chicago’s West Side, the Taylor Street area, and his father was allegedly Irish known as John Bernard Cain, while his mother was allegedly Italian known as Lydia Lee Scalzitti. Her father Olimpio Ole Scalzitti allegedly “Americanized” his name to Scully, and from that point on his mother’s family constantly used that same name. On his mother’s side, Cain was also related to one old and also quite rich Italian family known as the Ranieris, and during the late 1920’s their son was kidnapped by members and associates of the local Italian Mafia, which possibly also included legendary Chicago boss Tony Lombardo and in fact, Cain’s grandfather Ole Scalzitti aka Skully was godfather of the kidnapped boy and also cousin of the father. Skully allegedly worked as a legitimate sewer and plumbing contractor but the problem was that he and his first cousin Attilio Scalzitti took the witness stands regarding the kidnapping case.


Olimpio Scalzitti aka Ole Skully

So, in December 1928, Ole Skully was clubbed with a baseball bat multiple times and then was shot to death, and the killers were allegedly sent by the main defendant Angelo Petitti who in turn had a brother on the outside Fred Petitti, a young mafioso from the Grand Avenue area, but even with Skully’s murder, in the end Angelo was still sent to prison. Even three years after Angelo’s imprisonment, Attilio Scalzitti was still receiving death threats and was constantly accompanied by the cops, until all of the members of the Petitti gang and their bosses were eliminated by the rising Capone mob.


Atillio Scalzitti

It is possible that Cain’s grandfather Ole Scalzitti wasn’t his first ancestor who was killed by the Mafia, because six years earlier or back in 1922, there was one 60-years old John Scalzitti who in turn coincidentally also worked as a sewer contractor, and was killed allegedly by “Black Hand” extortionists, although later investigators said that John’s murder was a product of a Mafia feud regarding 19th Ward politics, in which the wealthy sewer contractor was allegedly involved, same as Ole Scalzitti who was allegedly another Mafia-connected individual on the city’s West Side. In addition, according to some of the home addresses of the Scalzitti family and relatives, during the early 1920’s some of them were located also around the Chicago Heights area, a territory that during those days was controlled by another or second former crime family which was in close relationship with the leading Mafia from around Chicago’s Taylor Street and Northwest areas.

According to one of Cain’s family members, it was his mother Lydia and her relatives who somehow “inserted” the criminal gene into the mind of the young Richard, which will fully represent itself decades later. Sources say that because of her late father, Lydia Scalzitti personally knew some quite dangerous neighbors from around the Taylor Street area, such as Paul Ricca, Tony Volpe, Louis Campagna and Sam Giancana, including their band of murderers and rapists. Later or in 1942, Richard’s parents divorced and at first, he lived with his father and his new wife, but later literally ran away from home and went to live with his mother, which somehow would turn out to be a big mistake. This was because his father was making babies with his new wife on “daily basis” and so, young Richard was simply pushed out, and top of that his father with his new family decided to move out of Chicago. Family sources say that John Cain allegedly loved his son very much but according to the circumstances, the father allegedly had no other choice but to let his son go and to let him choose his own faith.

GOVERNMENT TRAINING

Young Richard didn’t finish high school in Chicago but instead he finished it in Owosso, Michigan; and later by the age of 16 or in 1947, Cain allegedly lied about his age and managed to join the U.S. army and at first, he started his basic training at the Fort Knox bootcamp, and later he was transferred to Fort Hood, Texas; where he also developed knowledge as a radioman and also regarding other military electronics. After that, Cain was transferred to Japan for several months where he almost completely learned their language by being in a relationship with some local girl. In the end, Cain was again transferred but this time to the Virgin Islands where he stayed for the next three years.

It is not known what were all of Cain activities during all of that time, because his record only states that he was allegedly an ordinary “company clerk with an Army detachment”. Cain was a known “loud-mouth” and “story teller”, and that’s why some people rarely believed in his stories and statements regarding his past. For example, once he allegedly boasted to a friend that he allegedly did jobs for the OSS aka the Office of Strategic Services, later known as the CIA. It is possible that years later Cain sometimes exaggerated his stories from his younger days in the army, but some of his activities and contacts which he created during the following decades, still it makes you wonder if some of his stories were true, thus making him one quite mysterious individual in the eyes of his peers and even family members, because even they never received the whole truth.


OSS logos

Cain allegedly re-married at least three times at the Virgin Islands and received a child, and by the end of 1950 Cain and his family first landed in Dallas, Texas; where he started working for some detective firm and later went to Miami, Florida; where again he worked for another private investigations firm. Over there Cain allegedly learned on how to use numerous types of listening devices and learned numerous wiretapping skills, the use of lie detectors, and also direct surveillance skills. On top of that, Cain also learned on how to speak and write in Spanish because of one of his Cuban associates, which means that Cain spoke several foreign languages including Italian, Spanish, a little bit of Japanese and some sources say that years later he also learned how to speak French. While in Miami, Cain also often travelled to Cuba where he developed contacts for doing surveillance over certain individuals, allegedly for certain clients.

WECOME BACK HOME

By the end of 1951, Cain was finally back in the Chicago area, a mistake which he obviously couldn’t predict because besides his family members and all of his cousins, he was also welcomed with opened arms by some of his neighbors from around the old hood, such as Sam Giancana, Fiore Buccieri and William Daddono. It was a time period when the so-called Taylor Street group under Giancana was rising at the top of the infamous Chicago Outfit, and national organized crime in general. The local corruption was so big, that anyone from the Outfit was able to do whatever they wanted, obviously with previous approval from the superiors. Around that same year, Outfit boss Tony Accardo allegedly had several meetings with one of his most loyal caporegimes, Bruno Roti Sr, regarding their influence within local politics, judicial system and police force. It was decided that they will infiltrate few of their most loyal “soldiers” and made members within the leading First Ward, so they can have total control over the inner workings and money flow and also to act as recruiters for future members and corrupt government officials.


First Ward and South Side “Mafia” boss Bruno Roti Sr.

Roti Sr’s lieutenant John D’Arco became the new alderman for the First Ward, while the ward’s secretary was another quite elusive Outfit member known as Pasqualino Marciano aka Pat Marcy. These fellas belonged to the so-called South Side mob which at the time was headed by Roti Sr. and his Jewish associate Jake Guzik, and they also controlled all First Ward politics. The Outfit was giving huge amounts of cash to corrupt politicians, judges and cops, a situation for which Giancana himself once stated that they were giving out too much. “Coincidentally” at the same time Cain entered the police force and at first, he worked as a police officer but also allegedly continued doing some so-called spying activities on some local public individuals, again for “certain clients”. It is not known when Cain and Marcy first crossed paths, but it is possible that Giancana personally introduced them and after witnessing his skills, from that point on Marcy allegedly became Cain’s mentor and also “day-to-day boss”, meaning Cain was placed “on record”, a Mob term for close associate.


Pasqualino Marciano aka Pat Marcy

Cain wasn’t the type of criminal by being involved in extortion, prostitution, loan sharking or counterfeiting, but instead his main job was even more dangerous because he had to give Marcy inside information regarding government cases and investigations on the Mob, fixing cases, framing innocent individuals, acting as a courier and messenger because of his government status and protection, and even acting as investigator for the Outfit by questioning certain members or associates with lie detectors, as a favor for some Mafia capos like Willie Daddono. In fact, Cain and one of his colleagues William Witsman operated a company knows as Accurate Laboratories, which performed polygraph tests for the Sheriff’s office, including the Mob.

So, I personally don’t know what Cain really did for the Outfit that allegedly made him too valuable and trusted in the eyes of the Outfit’s leadership, meaning whether he killed someone important or it was all because of his detective skills, something which I highly doubt because he was “valuable” for the Mob like any other corrupt cop at the time who also grew up around those same guys and was involved both in corruption and some rackets, while on the other hand was chasing only small time crooks, burglars and drug addicts, obviously so he can keep his false image within the police force. Also, many sources say that sometime during the mid 1950’s or possibly in 1957, Cain allegedly became a “made member” of the local Chicago Mafia, a situation which is still questionable even today. As I previously stated, on his father’s side he wasn’t Italian but instead he was Irish which in most cases was one of the main requirements for becoming a member of the Italian criminal brotherhood during the old days, and in Cain’s case the Italian blood was on the opposite or on his mother’s side.

It is possible that Cain’s situation regarding his membership is just another example about the Outfit being more “liberal” during those days, especially under Giancana’s rulership. Wiretapped conversations between Mafia bosses reveal that Giancana was an individual who allegedly “worked with everyone” and some of his most lucrative districts were still controlled only by non-Italian bosses, so maybe Cain’s Italian heritage from the female side was enough for Giancana to make him a member of Cosa Nostra by being “sponsored” by Marcy and by the boss himself. In fact, besides being under the command of Marcy and the bosses of the First Ward and South Side faction, such as Roti Sr’s successors Frank Ferraro, Frank Caruso and Gus Alex, still Cain had a direct connection to Giancana and did whatever the boss told him to do, obviously because the boss had the last word on all day-to-day decisions.


Sam “Momo” aka “Mooney” Giancana

Because of his close business relationship with the Outfit’s leaders and corruptors, Cain allegedly became quite known individual within the criminal organization with the help of his shady government connections, weapons, electronic and surveillance skills, and also by knowing almost every criminal on the city’s streets. Cain’s illegal income mainly came from extorting small-time criminals, by protecting his real criminal friends, and he also took percentage from most of the corruption money that arrived within the First Ward, such as from cops who wanted to go up in their careers or wanted for their sons to enter the police force, and paid whatever amount which was asked from them. For example, during the late 1950’s Cain resigned from the police force allegedly because he was caught spying on Mayor Dailey’s commissioner of investigations by wiretapping his office, a situation which was probably an Outfit job. In no time or in 1961, Cain officially became chief investigator for the Cook County Sheriff's office and was again “riding high”, courtesy of his mentor Pat Marcy.

MAFIA “JAMES BOND”

Cain’s international adventures during his teenage years and also his knowledge to speak several different foreign languages, Giancana decided to use Cain regarding some of their international operations. For example, back in 1957 one Cuban revolutionist known as Fidel Castro started a bloody conflict against the so-called dictator Fulgencio Batista, and the problem was that most of the local casinos and hotels were controlled by the U.S. Mob and even some known American companies such as Coca Cola and Ford also had their shares. The Mob being the “snake” that it was, they played both sides meaning they already had Batista in their pocket but they also sold weapons to Castro’s rebels, hoping that if Castro wins, they will keep their operations. According to some sources, Cain and one of his Outfit associates known as Hyman “Red” Larner allegedly had more than few corrupted army officials in their pockets, so they started buying stolen weapons from army bases, and later smuggled the weapons in Cuba and sold it to the Cuban government and also the Cuban rebels.

The U.S. government saw that there was a rising communist force on the rise and they didn’t need a communist country near the U.S. borders, but by 1959 Batista was gone and Castro took over Ciuba and quickly banned all of the Mob’s casinos and hotels, thus completely betraying them. That’s when America’s Central Intelligence Agency or the CIA decided to a make a “deal with the Devil”, by contacting the U.S. Mafia if they can help regarding the “Cuban conflict” obviously because they already knew Havana and Cuba more than any other U.S. government official. Outfit boss Sam Giancana, his Las Vegas representative John Roselli, and Richard Cain became the prime overseers of the joint operation in Cuba at the time, and since Cain knew how to speak Spanish quite fluently and already had contacts in that area, he allegedly used to work as one of their “agents” by doing surveillance and he also allegedly trained certain Cuban opponents who were against the new Castro regime, in using various weapons and also on how to use electronic listening equipment and radios. In fact, Cain became a recruiter of Spanish speaking volunteers who were later sent to South Florida and Central American CIA training camps, thus specializing in guerrilla warfare/commando tactics. The way he told it, Cain allegedly also worked with some members of the State Department in tracing the flow of money from the U.S. into communist hands in Cuba.


Mafia “agent” Richard Cain

Obviously, everything went down the toilet when President John Kennedy decided to call-off the attack on Cuba which should’ve been headed by alleged Cuban rebels. According to this previous report, it is quite possible that Cain’s stories regarding he executing jobs for the CIA while serving in the army as a teenager, were possibly true. Also, some sources say that the CIA allegedly first contacted Roselli, but Cain was obviously their prime guy on the field by receiving first-hand information and also by allegedly being involved in logistics. In fact, if you do some research on Richard Cain, most of the info about his criminal career starts after the year of 1959, which possibly means that during that time he often travelled back and forth to Cuba and also around Central America. During those days, the ordinary citizen still didn’t know about electric surveillance or regarding listening gadgets, and so when someone told these people about those stuff and the ventures that came with it, they probably thought that the person was lying, same as in Cain’s situation, a guy who used to “bug” the telephones of Cuban revolutionary and government leaders on behalf of both the U.S. Mafia and the CIA.


Hidden CIA spy gadget from the 1960’s

Richard “Dick” Cain was also a member of one of Giancana’s personal units known as the “Combine”. The whole point of this “unit” was spreading the Mob’s international operations, both legal and illegal, in various countries around the world and was formed by members from the Chicago Outfit such as Cain, Gus Alex, Les Kruse, Hyman Larner, John Drew, the Bastone brothers and James Tortoriello and also the boss of Tampa and one of the Outfit’s longtime allies, Santo Trafficante, followed by Meyer Lansky from the New York mob. According to the FBI, the “Combine” had its foothold in Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico and across the Atlantic Ocean, in England, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, and even further east in Lebanon, Syria; and Beirut, and in the end allegedly also in Japan, the Philippines and Australia. Cain’s areas were mainly Mexico, Spain and England, and he had contacts with people from every kind, meaning honest and dishonest. Besides smuggling all kinds of vending machines and slots, to prostitutes and weapons, they also opened up hotels and casinos which were also filled with their own products, so by the end of the day, every penny from these international operations went into the Mob’s pockets. This is another proof where you can see that the American Cosa Nostra operated as one single “organism”, and the Chicago Outfit had a significant purpose of its own which at the time placed them at the top of the national criminal network.

DEVIL IN DISGUISE

On the other hand, Cain had to maintain his false image as an honest cop obviously because that was the main thing that kept him in the Outfit and in the government, too. Once, Cain even “sacrificed” one of his biggest busts when he and one of his colleagues confiscated $66,000 or around $600,000 in today’s cash, from one prostitution ring. Previously Cain and his partner were doing surveillance and arrested one prostitute who in turn brought them to her apartment where the money was found. Besides most of Chicago’s police force being quite surprised and also lauded both Cain and his partner for turning the money in, instead of taking it for themselves, still Cain was a Mafioso who had to give percentage to his bosses from all of his legal and illegal proceedings, and so he probably took some money from the confiscated loot and shared it with his Outfit bosses. The reality was that Cain wasn’t able to take all the money because there were other police officers also present at the same moment when the cash was found and but, later that same prostitute claimed that more than $30,000 were missing from her safety deposit box. She allegedly gave the key to one unknown lawyer who was referred to her by Cain himself, which means that Cain and the Outfit probably got their share after all.


Chicago Tribune headline regarding the prostitution case

Interesting to note is that the former prostitution ring operated in one of the areas that was under the control of the Outfit’s South Side crew, which also included Cain. His bosses such as Frank Ferraro, Gus Alex, Frank Caruso and Pat Marcy were involved in the prostitution racket and also in taxing pimps from their areas for years, and it’s obvious that same prostitution operation wasn’t theirs and Cain was simply “guarding” the areas that were controlled by the district crime leaders by closing down every illegal operation that didn’t belong to the Outfit or refused to pay “street tax”. In fact, shortly after the prostitution bust, Cain and another of his colleagues shot to death Harry Figel, notorious ex-convict, extortionist and also a robber who was causing problems around the Loop area, again a territory that was controlled by Cain’s bosses and in reality, the fatal gun fight occurred in that same area when the late Figel tried to rob a jewelry store. Besides doing “great work” for his official superiors in the Outfit, still by the end of the day Cain’s real boss was Giancana and because of his direct contact with the Outfit’s leader, he became known as “Momo’s guy”, which was one of Giancana’s nicknames. Same as his “idol”, Cain also became a very flashy dresser and also a big spender in the clubs which were located along Rush Street on the city’s Near North Side.


Harry Figel

Besides Giancana, Cain also kept his old connections with some of his old neighborhood peers such as Sam Battaglia who during that time was the caporegime for the so-called Grand Avenue-Melrose Park crew and was also prime representative for the whole West Side group on the Outfit’s “board of directors”, and also Willie Daddono who was capo for the DuPage, McHenry, Kane and Lake counties. For example, once Daddono called upon Cain to bring a lie detector so he can test all of the guys who were involved in some robbery that went terribly wrong. Being the company that he was, Cain probably started feeling like a real gangster who wanted to control his own schemes, meaning he wanted to get involved in illegal operations such as burglaries, gambling and even narcotics. Giancana was still boss at the time and so anyone was able to sell what they wanted, obviously by giving the boss his own cut.

One infamous burglar who worked for both the Battaglia and Daddono crews, and also played a major role in introducing Cain to most of the Outfit-connected burglars, was Mike LaJoy who in turn was Daddono’s nephew and also personally knew Cain since the old days. LaJoy was one quite cruel individual who would’ve sold his own mother for few dollars, like for example forcing his own father to take the blame and get pinched for stolen goods which were found in his store, which were previously placed there by his son. Together with the DeLegge family, LaJoy operated a very lucrative car-theft ring, with many of the cars ending up in Detroit and other Midwest cities. One day, two of LaJoy’s close associates were arrested by the police regarding the ownership of burglary tools that they planned to use for stealing a car, which in turn was planned to be used in a robbery. So, the boys allegedly called for Cain who in turn gave the case to one of his corrupt colleagues James Donnelly and also called one of the Outfit’s infamous lawyers Mike Brodkin to take the case, and so eventually the defendants were released.

Because of his constant criminal connections and also the skills to fix cases, Cain wanted more power and money and that’s why he began acting as a real “gangster” and started masterminding one quite lucrative burglary scheme. Since he was an alleged member of the Chicago Outfit, Cain was bale to ask capos like Willie Daddono, Sam Battaglia or Fiore Buccieri to “borrow” him several burglars so he can accomplish his scheme. This type of situation happened a lot of times in the Outfit, and so I believe that Cain was one of those guys who asked a “favor” from his higher-ups. I believe that’s how became connected to one notorious burglary crew, which included guys like Eugene Marino, John Monteleone, Frank Rago, Robert Vaughn and Angelo Pettit aka Petitti, possible relative of the late Petitties. In fact, these guys belonged to three different crew, such as the Daddono and Buccieri crews, and also to one of Battaglia’s top lieutenants and boss of the Northlake, Stone Park and Franklin Park areas, Rocco Pranno.


Outfit crew boss Rocco Pranno

THE ZAHN DRUG JOB

Cain’s criminal ventures continued by receiving inside information regarding the famous Louis Zahn Drug Company, which was located in Melrose Park, that was about to receive a big and quite expensive shipment of drugs, or in other words, more than quarter of a million worth of medical merchandise, or around 3 million dollars in today’s cash, and with that type of “catch” Cain probably expected to go up within the organization. Since it was located in the Melrose Park area which in fact was under Battaglia’s jurisdiction, he placed Pranno as Cain’s partner in the whole scheme. Their “best” idea was obviously to steal the shipment but they also devised one quite interesting “show of deception” which should’ve been perfect for the whole plan.

Robert Brown was an employee of the Louis Zahn Drug Company, who was in charge of storing merchandise in the warehouse that was located in Melrose Park. In October 1963, Brown received a trailer of expensive Mead Johnson pharmaceuticals, but because of the lateness of the hour, unloading the trailer was delayed until Saturday when Brown was able to finish the unloading process. The top cartons of each stack were marked either "E-24" or "E-25" with a brush type pen, so the other employees would know where to place the boxes in the warehouse. Everything was unloaded and stacked on an enclosed loading platform when Brown left the warehouse on Saturday night, after checking all the doors and activating the alarm system. On Monday morning, Brown was back to work only to find that the merchandise which had been on the loading platform was missing, as well as the Mead Johnson trailer. The missing merchandise included large quantity of sleeping pills, tranquilizers, amphetamines, vitamins, and a huge quantity of aspirins.


The Zahn Drug company warehouse in Melrose Park

When the cops and investigators arrived at the scene, they concluded that the robbers must’ve been connected to an inside source mainly because the burglar alarm did not set off and on top of that, the thieves had enough time to use their own tractor to pull the trailer out from the warehouse and after that, the trailer was found in an alley west of the Loop area. Later, the robbers stashed the stolen goods somewhere in a garage which was located in Pranno’s Northlake area and continued to hide from the government “heat”. After a month or so, 90% of the drug stores in the Chicago area were flooded with drugs from the stolen merchandise and that’s when Richard Cain stepped on the scene. Since Cain already knew which pharmacy stores bought some of the stolen merchandise, he and his colleagues arrested many “innocent” owners and pharmacists and sent them to jail. Cain even arrested pharmacists who bought from $200 to $400 worth of the stolen merchandise, but the cruelest situation occurred in March 1964, when Cain betrayed one of his biggest buyers while recovering $10,000 of the stolen merchandise which later was brought back to the Zahn Warehouse.


Tribune article

It seems that one of the reasons behind the so-called “Zahn job” was obviously cash, but I also personally think there was much more to it, especially for Cain himself. In fact, this is the point of deception orchestrated by Cain and possibly by some of his friends within the political First Ward. Most of the guys who executed the burglary were simple “fall guys” for Cain and the Outfit, mainly because they were still considered low level associates within the criminal organization. Sgt. Henry Prokop and Sgt. Ralph McLean of Northlake P.D. decided to take the case in their own hands, and Marino became their prime target allegedly because there was something suspicious going on with that same individual. After following some of the remaining suspects, the cops managed to find the main garage and also observed a large truck in the driveway, backed up to the front of the establishment. So, the cops managed to arrest most of the suspects in their garage, including Marino, Monteleone and Angelo Pettit, followed by Rago who was found sitting with his pants pulled down to his knees, completely ripped off, and allegedly stated that he was only resting in the shed. The main reason for their arrests was one of Marino’s neighbors who called the police and told them that he saw Marino and few other guys taking out medical boxes from their garage, and placed them in a truck.


Frank Rago

The warehouse manager Robert Brown of the Louis Zahn Drug Company was called to identify the cartons discovered at Marino's property and he further reported that the stash found in Marino's garage was about $50,000, and that the whole merchandise cost a lot more. At first, all of the burglars were only charged with the crime but they were not indicted, which was probably Cain’s and Marcy’s influence so none of their associates would start talking. That’s when Cain came up with one not so great idea, obviously to clean his own image, but at the end it will be his own downfall.

Since he was the chief investigator in the case, Cain told his colleagues in the police force that he allegedly developed a connection to some robbers who knew about the stash and will try to negotiate with the insurance firm, meaning he tried to act as a go-between guy in selling just a part of the stolen drugs worth $40,000 back to the drug factory. But the problem was that not all of his police colleagues believed his story later this information was furnished to the Cook County State’s attorney office, which led to an investigation on Cain’s possible involvement in the burglary. Story goes that Cain got wind of the situation and instantly made up a story in which he allegedly received an anonymous phone call from an individual who previously gave true information more than few times, but this time he allegedly told Cain about one large portion from the stolen merchandise being stashed on a certain location. In reality, Cain’s plan was to make a phony recovery and so, in January 6 1965, Cain led a police raid on the Caravelle Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois; and in one of the hotel rooms he recovered what purported to be exactly $40,000 worth of the stolen drugs. The problem was that everybody in Chicago knew that the hotel was personally owned by Giancana and the Outfit, and so no arrests were made and no examination was made for fingerprints or any kind of investigation in or out of the hotel room, which makes it clear that Cain already had everything planned.


Cain in 1965

Cain’s plan for deception started when the reporters took photos of him all day long while he stood over the pile of stolen drugs with his machine gun like the “hero of the day”. But one of the reporters, known as Jack Mabley, who was personally called by Cain to get a scoop on the story, later returned to the hotel and asked to see the registration card for the hotel room that had been raided. Mabley found out that that the registration card was registered to someone only known as “Mathews” and so the reporter copied down the signature on several paper clips. He knew that the name was obviously fake but the signature was sent by the reporter to special investigators to see if they can find out whose handwriting was on the card. Mabley obviously gave the handwritings of few of his prime suspects like members of the Sheriff’s Office, such as Richard Cain, John Chaconas and Cain’s partner James Donnelly and in the end, one came back positive. The investigators recognized the handwriting style that it belonged to Sergeant John Chaconas of the Cook County sheriff’s office, who reported directly to Cain.

Shortly after the reporter published his story, Cain, Chaconas and Donnelly were indicted on charges for conspiracy to commit perjury. The defense was completely destroyed during the trials because of the numerous evidences and so, in September 1964, all of the previously indicted in the Zahn robbery case were sentenced to jail from 2 to 5 years prison terms. Also, the following month Cain was discharged from the Sheriff’s office, personally by his close and longtime associate Sheriff Richard Ogilvie, which was a painful thing for him to do mainly because Cain was his best detective and they worked together for more than a decade. Besides receiving their prison terms, Cain and his co-defendants later appealed and so, some of the sentences were subsequently overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court and Cain walked free, but not for long.


John Chaconas

NO FUTURE IN CRIME

During the mid 1960’s Cain’s boss Giancana was having a lot of trouble with the law and was even sentenced to one year in jail for contempt of court. After his release, Giancana decided to leave the country and allegedly took Cain’s proposition about Mexico being the “real thing”, and so almost a year later Giancana allegedly took three million dollars in cash, packed his bags and went straight down south, to Cuernavaca, Mexico; an area which was considered as the “Beverly Hills” and its 55 miles of Mexico City. He established himself in a $200,000 villa on one of the hills, and used the name “DePalma”, which was obviously taken from his newly acquired son-in-law Jerome DePalma. The main individual, who had everything previously arranged for the crime boss, was Cain who in fact personally brought Giancana to Mexico, and even though Giancana used an alias, still his villa was placed under the name of “Scalzitti”, which in fact was Cain’s real name. According to some official CIA files, during those days Cain also visited CIA's Mexico City Station and also opened an investigative agency in for the purpose of training Mexican government agents in police methods, in investigative techniques, and in the use of the lie detectors. In reality Cain was there to corrupt the Mexican officials and to maintain smooth business operations for Giancana and his associates and for the next several years, they made so much cash that all of the “best regards” to their bosses always came at the right time and place.

I’m not sure if Cain was aware that Giancana’s absence from the Chicago area might’ve been a problem for him and some of his associates, allegedly because almost everyone in the Outfit didn’t like him much and wanted for Giancana to release his boss position, and so guys like Cain began losing their support. For example, back in August 1964, one Outfit associate known as Guy Mendola parked his car alongside his wife’s auto in his home garage behind a three-flat building in which he resided at 1554 N. 43 rd. in Stone Park. When he got out of a car, unexpectedly an unknown man with a ski mask blew away Mendola with five shotgun blasts. Mendola was killed on Daddono’s orders but because it was his territory where the murder occurred, Cain’s close associate Rocco Pranno became the prime suspect instead and was arrested at his headquarters which was the Robert’s Lounge at 1800 Manheim Road in Stone Park. In no time, Cain took the Mendola case, including a bank robbery that previously occurred in Franklin Park which was orchestrated by Daddono and his men. Again, Cain had to act like a real police investigator when questioning Pranno, and when Cain asked the west suburban boss on why he allegedly administered a beating over the victim, months before the murder, Pranno simply replied “I didn’t want those kind of people hanging around in my joint”, and so Cain gladly accepted the answer. Cain also allegedly did some tests if Pranno had fired any guns recently, but since the tests came out negative, Pranno was free to go. “Thanks” to Cain, both cases went on hold, meaning the Franklin Park job and the Mendola case.


Outfit capo Willie Daddono

But the problem was far from being finished mainly because Mendola’s murder spread a lot of paranoia and fear within the “brotherhood” of burglars, thus creating potential informants. Two other associates of Daddono’s burglary crew began talking to the feds and in April, 1966, the feds arrested all 18 men who were allegedly involved in the silver burglary ring, including Daddano. Besides being named in the indictment as a key criminal figure, still in the end Daddono was released on all charges and simply walked away as a free man. But the war with the government was far from being finished, mainly because another individual decided to testify against Daddono, and that was Cain’s close associate Mike LaJoy. The trial went under a quick review in September 1968, and so, in a record time, all of Daddano’s top Outfit brass including Richard Cain, were indicted and sent to trial.


Tribune article from 1968

Cain was so full of himself that by the end of the year, or during the preliminary court hearing regarding the Franklin Park bank robbery, Cain decided to act as his own lawyer. Sources say that because of being constantly involved in trouble and was also bringing attention, at first Cain’s bosses such as Alex and Marcy decided not to give him any of the Outfit’s lawyers, and so Cain told the court that he allegedly couldn’t afford any good lawyer that’s why he decided to defend himself. In fact, Cain’s problems within the Outfit weren’t because of the attention or court cases, but instead it was mainly because of the changing of the guard within the crime syndicate’s leadership. By now, both of Cain’s close associate Giancana and Battaglia were out of the local scene, meaning one was out of the country while the other was in prison, and so a new leadership under Paul Ricca, Tony Accardo, Jack Cerone and Fiore Buccieri was created, and there was no more space for some of Giancana’s old allies and “troublemakers” such as Johnny Roselli and Richard Cain. In the end, allegedly under Daddono’s pressure, Cain was finally offered a lawyer hired by Alex’s associates, such as Harry Busch, but Cain’s ego was bigger and so he refused and continued to act as his own lawyer.

Even with his act as man of the law, Cain still failed to accomplish his plan because he and the rest of the defendants were destroyed by the prosecutors and their star witnesses. After their testimonies and the jury’s decision, the judge asked for the defendants to rise and sent Daddano to 15 years in prison and a fine of $13,000. Reports say that the old mobster took his sentencing like a real man and while leaving the court room, he waved and smiled at the present people. Richard Cain received 4 years and a fine of $15,000, while the rest of the defendants received between 3 and 15 years imprisonments. Thanks to their testimonies, the government managed to re-open many old cases and also to deny many appeals. Like for example, in July 1969, Cain again returned to court to face perjury charges regarding the Zahn Drug Company robbery in Melrose Park. Cain has discovered that his former colleague Bill Witsman was talking to the feds and that he testified against his former chief. Witsman testified that Cain gave him a list of questions, told him to go to a certain motel and to give polygraph tests to various criminals who were involved in the scheme. Witsman even stated that he telephoned Cain and he told him not to worry about the charts because he had flushed them down the toilet. In the end, with no other choice, Cain decided to plead guilty and was sentenced to additional six months in prison.


Bill Witsman

LOYALTY AND BETRAYAL

Most of the Outfit’s members like Daddono easily adjusted in the prison type of environment obviously because most of them already spent some time during their criminal careers, but for Cain the situation was different and quite difficult since this was his first time in prison and on top of that, everybody knew that he was a cop. Story goes that Cain had a problem with one black inmate, and one day when they visited the prison yard, the inmate approached Cain and tried to provoke him but suddenly Daddono showed up and the inmate backed off and never tried to bother Cain ever again. No matter what was going on within the Outfit, when a third party tried to provoke another member, the other members’ job was to protect their “brother”. Besides that, Daddano and Cain knew each other for years and were both completely loyal to Giancana. While in jail, Cain was introduced to one member from the Chicago Heights group known as Guido Fidanzi, a connection which will later allegedly end Cain’s downfall in a very tragic way.


In October 1971, both Cain and Fidanzi were paroled and later released from prison, and I don’t know about Fidanzi, but it seems that Cain wasn’t welcomed with open arms by some of the bosses, especially his superiors Alex and Marcy, since everyone in Chicago knew that he was a criminal and member of the Outfit. Even though he was probably mad at them for previously not giving him a proper mob lawyer and also left him in prison, still Cain had to follow his bosses’ orders. I believe that at first Cain was left on his own, meaning he was probably told to take a low profile and stay away from the rackets and other members, at least for some time until the smoke clears. Cain allegedly saw this as second “slap in the face” from his bosses, or in other words he felt betrayed for the second time.


Cain early 1970’s

So, by being the cunning individual that he was, some sources say that Cain allegedly decided to talk to the FBI and became one of their most important confidential informants. It was quite easy for Cain to cross the line whenever he wanted to, obviously because he was more of a professional government agent rather than Mafia criminal. Cain served in the army and was involved in all types of post-war operations, and after that entered Chicago’s police force and later became chief detective for the sheriff’s office, and above all he was recruited by the CIA, among other mobsters, which means, if true, there was nothing out of the ordinary for he becoming a CI. After making such a dangerous move, Cain also decided not to obey his bosses’ orders by trying to stay in the rackets, but being out of their sight at the same time.

Sources say that Cain together with Fidanzi planned to get involved in the narcotics business with the help of the car theft out-of-state transportation business. At the start of the 1970’s, the car theft racket was one of the Outfit’s biggest illegal activities that stretched in and out the country. At same time, Cain’s old pal and former boss Sam Giancana was still stationed in Mexico, and controlled a huge narcotics route which went all across the southern border. The plan was for Giancana to be their prime source for the product, and with the help of their “transportation” business, they were going sell the drugs on the city’s streets through various types of street dealers.

BORN STUBBORN

Cain again joined his old boss down to Mexico in 1972, who in turn gave his old associate an overseas job as his main representative in London, England; and also in Madrid, Spain; and additionally gave him the financials to open up a “front”, something like a casino, for their dope peddling and prostitution rackets. Besides his international operations and travels, Cain was no longer part of the old “Combine” which was under Giancana, Alex and also one Hyman Larner, but instead he was Giancana’s “side project”. On top of that, Cain's daughter married the son of the U.S. embassy ambassador in Madrid at the time. That same year, Giancana’s original Taylor Street boss and former protector Paul Ricca died of natural causes, meaning Giancana and his some of his friends from the old neighborhood were on their own.

The biggest problem was that during that same decade some of the Outfit’s traditional rackets were on the downfall and on top of that, the new leadership banned all illegal activities that involved narcotics, which they saw as a threat of their own security and freedom. Bosses such as Alex, Joey Aiuppa and Tony Accardo held the whole organization by its “throat” and also had their own sources regarding the activities of their members in and out of the country, including Giancana’s “side projects”. So, they sent him and Cain a “message” in August 1972, by shooting to death Cain’s business partner Guido Fidanzi in front of his Chicago Heights gas station. In addition, the narcotics deal with Cain wasn’t the only reason behind Fidanzi’s demise, because he also already had problems with his own Chicago Heights bosses, especially with Jimmy Catuara.


Guido Fidanzi

With Fidanzi out of the way, Cain’s narcotics operation failed and so he quickly turned to some of the Outfit’s international gambling operations such as casino boats. The excursion boats travelled from New York to Florida and into the Caribbean and were operated by one of Giancana’s and Larner’s lieutenants known as James Tortorielo. Cain’s plan was to recruit all of the best gambling operators and biggest high rollers from the Chicago area, and to assure them about the arrest-free conditions on the same cruise ships, but Larner allegedly thought otherwise and informed the bosses back in Chicago regarding the situation. The bosses obviously said “no” and that was that, meaning Cain was again “banned” from some of their most lucrative rackets. Even Giancana allegedly started seeing the “writing on the wall” and began protecting his own skin.

With nothing else to do, by October 1973, Cain was back home in Chicago and again, quickly became involved in the burglary business with the help of one small burglary crew, which means that Cain was one quite stubborn criminal who was simply “asking for it”. Story goes that shortly after that the feds allegedly contacted Cain and decided to pay him a visit. During their meeting, Cain allegedly informed on the burglary gang and in no time, many of his associates were arrested. Besides being spared because of his mistakes numerous times in the past, and also for disobeying the bosses’ orders, Cain reached the “peak” of his problems in December 1973, when he was personally visited by Alex himself. During that period Alex was a very elusive and paranoid individual who successfully avoided most of the government’s surveillances, and for him to appear in a public place with a nationally known criminal such as Cain, while knowingly being monitored by the feds, it meant only one thing, last warning. According to the feds, the two were involved in a violent argument in which Cain wanted to receive interests in the international gambling business, while Alex objected Cain’s plan to drain money from their scheme, and in the end Cain, in a very disrespectful manner, allegedly gave Alex his last answer.


Gus Alex

That same month or December 21st, Cain was sitting at the Rose’s Restaurant on 1117 W Grand Avenue, which I think was owned by the Cozzo family and again, Cain had a meeting but with four unknown individuals, with one of them having sun tan and flashy dressing, allegedly being Alex himself, again. When they finished talking, the four men left, and shortly after two masked hitmen with walkie-talkies entered the joint and forced Cain to stand against the wall, while placing a sawed-off shotgun under his chin. One of the hitmen pulled the trigger, thus blowing more than half of Cain’s face and also shot him a second time, just so they can be sure their target was dead. The two hitmen were allegedly Joey Lombardo and Frank Schweihs, members of the so-called Grand Avenue crew under Chuck Nicoletti at the time, who in turn was also one Cain’s former old neighborhood friends, and it is quite possible that after the Cain hit, Lombardo was elevated as the new capo or captain for that same crew. This might be another evidence that the late Richard Cain was probably a former made member of the Chicago Mafia, mainly because often members received higher positions after the killing of another made individual.


Cain’s dead body being carried out of Rose’s restaurant

EPILOGUE

The main reason behind Cain’s murder somehow remains a mystery even today, because even though he stubbornly wanted to remain in the rackets and was also informant for the feds behind the Outfit’s back, during those days the U.S. government was very much interested in the CIA-Chicago Outfit plots and Cain was also on their list for questioning. I personally think that if Cain took the stand during a senate hearing, he would’ve probably talked and the Outfit’s bosses were quite aware about that, obviously because he was also a known “loud-mouth”. Some investigators speculated that even Giancana himself allegedly gave the “ok” for Cain’s murder, which in reality was the biggest and last betrayal during Cain’s life and criminal career. In fact, after Cain’s murder, Giancana, Roselli and Nicoletti all were also murdered on the orders of the Outfit’s leadership, which means that all of the previous loyalties and betrayals were for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Same as the other mobsters who previously had ties to the CIA and also received special training and skills, Cain’s legacy was also shrouded in mystery, followed by many conspiracy theories and myths. Decades later after his murder or in 1992, Cain’s name was again mentioned in a book that was written by Giancana’s brother Charles and his son Sam Jr., and in it they claimed that Richard Cain and Charles Nicoletti were the two gunman or second shooters who allegedly killed President John F. Kennedy back during the early 1960’s. Shortly after that or in 1994, one individual known as James Earl Files a.k.a. James Sutton, who served 50 years prison term at the Danville Correctional Center in Danville, Illinois; for the attempted murder of two police officers, stated in an interview that allegedly he and Nicoletti were the shooters in the assassination of Kennedy. None of the previous statements were ever proved to be true but still, Cain’s legend grew by the day and it can be felt even today. Cain was buried as Richard Skully Cain at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois; in a family mausoleum that bores the name “Skully” even today. This means that even in his grave, Cain remained close to his mother’s name, the same name that brought him a lot of trouble while he was still alive.


The Skully mausoleum

Cheers

In addition, heres one FBI file from 1972 that confirms Cain's and Giancana's ventures in Spain....

....and another interesting file that supports one of my previous claims....

Richard Cain and North Side boss Ross Prio

Wow! Amazing work TD. Looking forward to reading the entire thing. Much appreciated

You're welcome buddy and thank you.

Plus one so many guys worked with/for the CIA and FBI lol.

Thats right and it is possible that during the 50s, 60s and probably 70s, Chicago was the leading family in the CIA and international ventures, followed by Trafficante/Tampa. Although we can also include the Genoveses and their previous OSS connections during the WWII. The alliance between the Genoveses and Chicago was simply incredible as a worldwide criminal force.

...in addition, heres one pic of the vice president of the Zahn Drug company, Melvin Zahn, examining some of the stolen loot that was seized by the cops...

....also, a pic of Julio Velez who in tried to bribe a witness in the Zahn Drug case....

The CIA and French secret services set a good example working with underworld, now it's common practise among intelligence world wide.

I think that one of the first examples regarding a powerful country working with the underworld and imprisoned criminals, was the Soviet Union. In fact, thats how some of their old prison gangs became more powerful and created their own crime syndicates. Later, the same thing occurred in former Yugoslavia.

....in addition, for me this is first time seeing a dead body being put on a stretcher with his face down....

Cain admitting to the feds that he worked for Giancana....

...another interesting info...

Thanks TD. Another great one. Keep em coming!

You're always welcome @blueracing and thanks for your constant support. And btw, will do cheers

....btw, heres another rare pic of Scalzitti....

Interesting guy who clearly was not popular with many outside the Giancana faction. Lombardo allegedly being the hitter on him is kind of surprising, as I never imagined him as a real violent guy, but he obviously was a serious person. A clown he was not!

The problem with guys like Cain, Roselli, Nicoletti etc. was they all thought that Giancana and Ricca will be at the top of the organization forever, but they obviously thought wrong. The old mob also used to have its own inner "politics" and "parties", and so Giancana's "party" obviously lost. When I say "party", Im not talking only about Giancanas Taylor St/Cicero crew, but instead im talking about alliances and betrayals between different crews. After all they used to be one big crime family.

As for Cain's killers...i think there were three guys...two being involved directly in the murder, while the third guy was waiting in the getaway car. Sources say that the third guy was allegedly Harry Aleman, which means that the bosses allegedly sent three of their best hitmen to execute the murder contract. So i place my bet that it was either the German or Aleman who was waiting outside behind the wheel, while Lombardo was one of the two hitmen who pulled the trigger. At the beginning of 1974 Lombardo was allegedly elevated to capo and I dont see any other reason regarding the alleged promotion.

Pardon my ignornace, but who were guys like Cain, Nicoletti, Roselli, English with in terms of crew? Ex: Elmwood park, Ciciero, 26th st, Grand Ave, etc?

I, for some reason, thought Joey had been a captain prior to '74.

Thats a good question regarding which crew those fellas belonged to, and it can be quite complicated if we go all the way back before the Giancana or Accardo eras, and so thats why my answer will be from the early 1950s onward.

For example, after the elimination of some of the old and large west side crews, the Campagna/Giancana Taylor St/Cicero crew absorbed most of the surviving members, areas and rackets, thus becoming the largest and most powerful group within the Outfit. By the late 40s or early 50s, Giancanas old Taylor St associates such as Battaglia and Daddono formed their own crews, with Battaglia taking over DeGrazia's old Melrose Park-Grand Av crew, while Daddono received DuPage, McHenry and Kane counties, which previously belonged to some of the late or former Northwest capos, and also kept some interests in Cicero. When Giancana became underboss in 1947, his Taylor-Cicero capo was first Fat Lenny Caifano but after his demise in 1951/52, his spot was inherited by Buccieri.

So, Nicoletti, Alderisio, Gianola, Pranno, Amabile, Lombardo, the German etc. belonged to the Grand Av-MP crew first under Battaglia and later under Alderisio, followed by Nicoletti and in the end Lombardo. Guys like Battaglia, Nicoletti and Alderisio also had direct contact with Giancana.

The English bros were also direct with their boss and old neighbor, but they either started under Daddono or Buccieri, or they later switched crews especially when Daddono went to jail and his crew was almost completely dismantled.

Cain was also direct with Giancana and his capos, but he belonged to the old First Ward-South Side crew under Ferraro, Alex and Marcy.

As for Roselli...we already know that he switched families in 1956/57, by transferring his membership from LA to Chicago and in fact, it was allegedly Giancana who brought him in because Roselli already knew the leaders of the old Taylor St crews, including Ricca. We also know that Roselli was direct with Giancana and was also his rep in Vegas and around the west coast, but Im not quite sure on who was his capo in Chicago during Giancanas reign. It is also possible that he didnt have a capo above him since he was already a member of the Mafia before going to Chicago, but I doubt that because in 1967/68 or when Giancana fled the country and also had problems with most of his old associates, Roselli was allegedly placed under Frank LaPorte who at the time still controlled the Chi Heights-Indiana group and was also a "emissary" between LA and Chicago. So, if you ask me, it is possible that previously Rosellis "unofficial" capo was Buccieri who in turn didnt have much control over Roselli, obviously because Johnny mainly took orders directly from the boss himself.

All of those direct contacts from soldiers who belonged to several different crews, formed Giancana's "political party".

...in addition, in 1969 some important evidences in Cain's case allegedly went missing and one state's attorney denied those allegations, but in the end or after a year or so, Cain was released from prison, which makes me wonder on whether the CIA or the FBI had some hand in it....

Another rare photo but this time of the previously kidnapped boy Billy Ranieri together with his uncle Nick Ranieri...in fact, I'm currently writing one separate article regarding the infamous Ranieri kidnapping case....

The house of Cain's grandfather Olimpio Scalzitti aka Ole Skully.....quite big crib for a "simple" sewer contractor from the 1920's and alleged Mafia relative or maybe even associate.....

....another rare pic of Cain counting money which were confiscated from a large prostitution ring in 1959....

....interesting letter....

....another additional and also quite interesting info....the Chicago family was probably THE best OC group when it came down to corruption...

....taking over the world, no?