I'd say this guys status is currently a mystery. There are assumptions that he may be the street boss of the Outfit but nothing has been confirmed. You can hardly find any real detailed information on the guy and hardly any photos.

Whats the deal? This is confusing. Is he even still active?

i think whether vena is active or not he still holds rank of capo of grand avenue crew. as far as the title of 'street boss' i'm not convinced if that is a rank in admin of chicago outfit. i know the 'street boss' term showed up in articles related to vena circa 2014 or so. but street boss has never been part of structure of admin of the outfit as far as i know. possible that a change was made to structure of admin around 2014 with vena taking on this role. the next question then would be why? why at this time would the outfit feel the need to create another term for a high ranking member?

looking at 2014 the outfit would have ranks of...BOSS,UB, possible still somekind of senior advisor position and 4 capos= caruso (26), inendino (cicero), peter difronzo (epark) and vena (gr.ave).
possible d'amico is BOSS, delaurentis as UB in this scenario. so again i dont see why any of the 4 capos would be glossed with street boss term.

another good question rush.

If I was to guess, Vena is mentally declining and the two main guys running the show for Grand Ave would be Dominic and Spina. Both are active and in good shape mentally and physically.

I remember a certain member on here stated that Bobby never was with Grand Ave because he spent his time on the NS. Well as everyone knows that comment is misleading because the NS crew is no longer and it merged into what the Grand Ave crew is today, which Dominic now is in control of with Spina. They are the two most capable guys to run that fucking crew and make it successful at the present moment, Vena on the other hand is a mystery.

My bet is that Nick Ferriola is running the show

Thats a solid pick. Woudn't surprise me either when you look at it.

Giacalone send me a PM. I have some info you may be interested in.

another thought or 2 about albert vena. we know he has been grand avenue capo since death of james v. cozzo 2007. cozzo was sick for awhile leading up to death so possible vena was acting capo for a period of time. i think the narrative of vena succeeding joe lombardo as capo of crew therefore is rubbish.

grand avenue crew
capo
albert vena (2007-

it has also been alleged that vena was close to mike sarno for a period of time when both were on street. both vena and sarnos crew were involved in robbery and both had connections to street gangs; vena as a former member of c-notes and sarno with connects to 12th street players. i think this is important as the outfit moved into 2010s because of a growing reliance on some street gangs to aide in crimes.

now according to multiple sources the outfit was in somekind of leadership transition in time period (2012-2014). sarno is sentenced feb.8 2012 to 25 years in prison, the cicero crew is taken over by james inendino at this time as capo, perhaps after a stint as acting capo (2010-2012). it is also around this time that word begins to come out that john difronzo is 'retired', is sick, has gone legit etc. so i think there begins the change, not from difronzo stepping down as boss, because i dont think he was THE BOSS, but difronzo leaving post of senior advisor in favor of marco d'amico.

(2012-2014)
senior advisor=john difronzo
advisor=joseph andriacchi
boss=marco d'amico
underboss=salvatore delaurentis

with this transition taking place it would involve delaurentis as underboss to assume role of acting boss. there is reports on this and discussion across multiple threads on this site and others. with delaurentis moving to acting boss i think albert vena was then promoted to acting underboss, giving rise to articles and chatter about him being 'street boss'. i also believe this is a very similar situation sarno was in that gave rise to belief he became overall outfit boss at some point. i think for a period of time sarno was acting underboss and continued as capo of cicero. vena then would have been acting underboss and capo of grand avenue sometime in the 2012-2014 timeline. in 2018 following death of difronzo there was a local chicago channel (nbc, abc cant remember) that reported delaurentis as new boss with albert vena as the #2, charged with day-to-day control of outfit=UNDERBOSS.

this scenario also jives with the outfit alternating boss and ub positions between cicero faction and ep/grand ave faction. now as to 'if' vena continues to hold rank of UB and when he may have stepped down or relinquished or who knows been promoted that remains to be seen.

transition admin (2012-2014)
senior advisor=john difronzo (retired due to health)
advisor=joseph andriacchi (alleged to have aided in transition)
boss=marco d'amico (promoted to new senior advisor)
acting boss=salvatore delaurentis (sitting underboss, promoted to boss)
acting underboss=albert vena (grand avenue capo)

Good insight Vito! Thank you.

To say Albert Vena is even Captain of Grand Avenue is speculating. We can't even definitively say he is even a member of La Cosa Nostra. Just say we don't know and leave it at that instead of throwing him into all of these position.

the entire point of this and other forums is to speculate, no? if not what are we all doing on here? i dont think i veered into uncharted territory in any way mafia. if this is a topic you dont want to comment on thats fine.

and with the utter lack of info about the outfit especially into 1990s and 2000s what is someone to do but speculate and try to make best educated guess. i didnt just wake up the other day and go yeah lets just throw this on line. i have searched endlessly online across all types of forums, local media, blogs, black hand chicago page which is near 500 pages long, ANP comments board which as some on here will know is no small feat. and not just one comment board from one story...all of them, reddit for what its worth. i have done a search across most topics related to the outfit right here on GBB, again no small thing as they are many and many devolve into anything but the outfit, weeding through alot of off topic banter to possibly find a nugget of good info.

but i digress.

You are correct it is just speculation.

If I was to guess Dominic is actually running things for whatever that crew consists of right now and Vena is living in a different state advising him on what he wants done. Spina is a toss up considering he's pretty much MIA from any activity whatsoever.

I'll even take it a step further and say that some of the $$$ Dominic is bringing in is also going in the pockets of Cicero or Elmwood Park.

Dominic has been in this game for a very long time, is highly respected & trusted, intelligent, and is 71 years old. Its not far fetched by any means to think he holds an extremely important position in the organization that contributes immensely.

The issue is you speak in absolutes saying Albert Vena became Grand Aveune Captain or James Inendino was Cicero Captain. You're not speculating a lot of the time you're stating unsubstantiated rumours as facts. You continue to use some made up position of senior advisor or Top boss when those don't exist in LCN. Look at the other thread where you said Tony Accardo and Paul Ricca were above Sam Giancana when Sam Giancana was Boss. That's precisely the issue.

i answered the accardo giancana post on that thread and can move on. it is not my ongoing interest. i have not in the past 2 threads about both vena and the possible existence of a consiglio/ruling council mentioned anything about a top boss. perhaps i have in the past but have ceased to use that term as yes you are correct that position does not exist and is confusing when it has been used. my use of senior advisor is an attempt to differentiate amongst members of the consiglio/ruling council. would you prefer 'chairman' as has oft been used instead of senior advisor? i doubt it as it veers even further away from proper mafia terminology. perhaps 'board of directors' instead of consiglio/ruling council, again veering into the corporate world.

and why am i the one who has to abide by some strict set of rules i have no knowledge of? in this same thread both giacalone and rush (no malice here fellas) have stated their opinions about both the boss of the outfit, giacalone states nick ferriola and rush stating robert dominic being a leader of grand avenue. but because in giacalones words 'my guess is ferriola is running the show'=boss and rush stating 'dominic likely running things for that crew'=acting capo or capo have used vague non mafia terms thats ok?

so i guess i will have to craft a disclaimer to set above every post from now on stating that everything i now say is speculation. i assumed that was assumed on this site considering i see no other member posting a similar disclaimer before stating anything or posting a chart.

My originally comment was directed at the post and you just happened to reply so I replied back to you about things you've recently said. But anyone who says that junkie Nick Ferriola is running things doesn't know the slightest bit of what they're talking about.

The issue isn't speculating Vito. It's you and others stating things as facts when you guys and anyone else doesn't have the slightest clue.

Nick a Junkie? Never heard that one.

I don't believe that at all.

very true mafia very true none of us on here know much about the outfit or as you said 'have the slightest clue.' so with that reasoning no one should speak about it at all ever full stop. and by never talking about a very interesting crime family we will all come to some understanding about it, or any topic for that matter.

if i and others are indeed so clueless...please enlighten us all about the ins and outs of the outfit, because and i'm sure a host of others are all ears.

this is what i meant about discussions devolving about chicago.

No one is saying people can't talk about it or anything of the such. Just don't state things as facts that are unproven. It's pretty simple to understand but yet you keep trying to twist it as if I'm saying no one can ever speak on the subject.

This isn't a problem just for Chicago. We've had this discussion many times regarding Montreal and other places.

Rush be honest here. Tell me what you know about Nicky Ferriola other than what came out in Family Secrets and the complete bullcrap reported by Scott Burnstein?

I know he runs his own business and raised a very good family with two kids who are amazing students and very intelligent. Not many junkies are capable of that in my opinion.

Take it for what it is. All I know is that I've never ever seen Nick have any attachment to being a junkie.