Again as I promised in my previous conversation with our board member @I_Sell_Dem_Tomatoes, here's the Alex/Genovese article. Enjoy.

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As I already mentioned in one of my previous articles regarding Fred Bruno Barbara, his grandfather Bruno Roti Sr. controlled his own crew which was allegedly formed by his two brothers, followed by Frank Ferraro, Gus and Sam Alex, Frank and Morris Caruso, Pat Marcy, John D'Arco, Fred Roti, Louis Tornabene, Louis Briatta, Louis Arger, Charlie Bertucci, Nick Kokenes and others. During the internal conflict between the Outfit's top leader Paul Ricca and boss Tony Accardo, story goes that Roti Sr. was on the losing side under Accardo and so it is quite possible that by 1956 he relinquished his position or maybe was even demoted as boss of the South Side, mainly because we have one of his underlings Frank Ferraro being present on a meeting that same year regarding the election of the new boss Sam Giancana which means that Ferraro might've taken Roti Sr.'s position as leader of the South Side faction for a short time period.

According to sources, in 1957 Giancana was allegedly recognized as Chicago's new representative by the national American Mafia commission with Ferraro as his number two guy or underboss. That same year Roti Sr. died of natural causes or a heart attack, possibly caused by the previous problems and pressure, and so reports say that his son-in-law Frank Caruso inherited Roti Sr.'s position as capo of the Chinatown area. But according to some informants Caruso allegedly didnt have the brains for business and control like his predecessor and so he and his crew were overseen by the new underboss Ferraro and his close associate and fellow leader Gus Alex. It was reported that the members who worked under Ferraro, also worked for Alex in the same manner.

According to all of the previous info, there was the Caruso Chinatown crew and also another "sub-crew" which had nothing to do with the Caruso groups but was again overseen by Ferraro and Alex. In fact when Ferraro became the number two guy for the whole organization, he was responsible for all the crews including his own. That's why Ferraro placed Alex as his "voice" and overseer of the Loop area, First Ward and whole Near South Side, including Caruso's crew.

This is a story regarding Alex and one of his underlings who almost started a conflict between the Chicago syndicate and their "cousins" the Genovese family from New York.

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Luigi "Louis" Roland Tornabene was born in 1913 in Chicago to Giulio Tornabene and Rosalia Badalamenti, who in turn both arrived from Italy. At first they lived in an apartment on Chicago's North Side but later transferred on the South Side. By the 1950's Louis Tornabene was a made member of the South Side group and gambling operator who controlled a large bookie operation on Polk and State Street, and also controlled a huge prostitution ring at the Santa Fe Hotel at 732 South State Street. Tornabene also had his fingers in another huge handbook operation on the first floor of a hotel known as The Continental at 525 East 67th Street and in the late hours they were operating crap games. In fact Tornabene operated in all of the districts in which Alex had principal interest and so Tornabene kicked up to his district boss.

One of Tornabene’s main operators for floating crap games was a guy known as Edward Joyce who in turn also worked for another South Side member or Chinatown capo Frank Caruso. Tornabene also operated the Brass Rail Tavern at 52 West Randolph Street which was a front for gambling and prostitution, together with his front man George Ossey and his younger son. Tornabene also owned the Dauphin Hotel in Glenview, Cook County, Illinois, which was fronted by his old pal Ben Newman and the rest of Tornabene's joints were overseen by his two brothers, Tony and Frank, with Tony working as a frontman for some of Louis’ joints while Frank oversaw the prostitution business for his brother.

Tornabene even received racing information from the Racing Form Telegraph Room. He received calls regarding the races and usually had the results before he accepted the bets from the “sucker bettors.” Tornabene had a cousin who was allegedly a "big shot" in the New Orleans crime family and had something to do with the “New Orleans wire” in connection with the horse betting. So occasionally his cousin would’ve called from New Orleans in connection with large bets that have been placed over there and then Tornabene shared the cash with his cousin and the Outfit. Even though I don't have the name of Tornabene's cousin, still this was obviously a Chicago/New Orleans mob connection. Another of Tornabene's cousins was North Side member and Outfit big shot Joey "Caesar" DiVarco and in fact they were first cousins since their mothers were sisters.

As you can see, Tornabene was one of the most lucrative members of the Chicago Outfit at the time but even that, by the end of the day he still had to kick up money and answer to Ferraro and Alex. Reports say that Tornabene was forbidden to mention Alex’s name in any conversation and was also warned that if he continued to blow his mouth off on the telephones, he was going to be severely punished. In fact, Alex was so into all "Mafia" rules if anyone of his guys broke them, it was the end of him or them.





















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In 1959 rumors started to spread around that Tornabene was allegedly holding cash from Alex and the Outfit and in fact, the main guy who spread the information was another member of the Ferraro-Alex crew Louis Briatta. According to one conversation, Briatta was complaining to Ferraro that Tornabene was keeping the "cream" for him and that he and Pat Marcy, another made member, received an order from Alex to visit Tornabene at the Santa Fe Hotel to determine whether the rumors were true. So they allegedly uncovered the scheme and received information that Tornabene withheld approximately $75,000 from Alex and Ferraro by not posting all of the bets on his book.






To make things worst, back in 1958 Tornabene was already involved in a gambling dispute in which he refused to give percentage of gambling profits to one individual who was very well connected to the Genovese crime family in New York, but by now he operated in Chicago. The whole situation occurred in September 1958, when a conflict occurred between Tornabene and the alleged New York operator (in fact an informant) who was partner with Tornabene in several gambling operations around the Loop area. Besides not giving the informant's share of the illegal proceedings, Tornabene also had some personal debt towards the guy because Tornabne allegedly had gambling problems. So the informant threatened Tornabene that if he doesn't pay his debts, the informant will travel back to New York and will call his contacts in Newark, New Jersey. Tornabene thought that with his status as made member, the informant will be scared and might keep his mouth shut but Tornabene was obviously wrong.






So before he contacted his New York people, the informant first decided to contact Chicago Outfit capo and boss of the West Side Sam Battaglia through an intermediary only known as "Pope" (described as Italian white male with age around 55) who in turn allegedly belonged to the Battaglia crew. In fact, Battaglia was known for having close Cosa Nostra contacts all around the Midwest and East Coast and so a meeting was arranged between "Pope" and the informant, in which Battaglia's guy stated that he has to receive information from both sides before making any conclusions.

While he waited for the decision, Tornabene continued extorting and also made lots of additional problems to the informant. Sources say that when Tornabene heard about the informant going to Battaglia, he had sent two of his enforcers with the intent to threaten the New York guy to take no further action regarding the gambling debt and completely crashed the individual’s office, and even the informant's family was also receiving threats. So that same month the informant was called on a meeting which also included "Pope", Tornabene and 'Chappie" aka Charles Bertucci, another of Alex's and Ferraro's enforcers and possible made member of the Outfit. "Pope" represented Battaglia's and New York's interests, while Bertucci represented Alex's and Tornabene's interests.








On that same meeting it was discussed that the informant will not receive any cash from Tornabene or any expenses, and so this swindle costed the informant lots of cash. Previously the informant also contacted one Outfit associate Maish Baer aka Morris Saletko, a known bookie, loan shark and burglar and according to the informant, Baer backed him up. But even with that, the informant still lost his cash but was very surprised by the fact that Alex showed more power than Battaglia in the syndicate's setup during those days, which again shows us Alex's huge influence within the organization at the time.



So the only chance for the informant was to call his contacts back in New Jersey and the New York areas, and he also hoped for them to reach Tony Accardo who the informant believed was the only guy who allegedly was able to settle the dispute.



In November 1958, Pat Marcy contacted the New York informant and told him that he wanted to arrange a meeting between him and Alex. During those days Marcy acted as Alex secretary and dealt with all of Alex's meetings, again which is another proof regarding Alex having made members under his rule. So during that same meeting Marcy only made the introductions between the informant, Alex and Ferraro, and after that Marcy sat on a different table which in fact was some type of protocol.

Ferraro allegedly told the informant that he was called by some people from New York and he knows all of details regarding the conflict between him and Tornabene and that everything will be taken care of, and after that the informant will have a conversation with Alex. So later Alex called for Tornabene who in turn arrived with Charles Bertucci, and according to the informant Alex and Ferraro aggressively questioned Tornabene and threatened him more than several times, to the point where Alex became quite furious and called Tornabene (made member) a “degenerate gambler.”

From the conversation between Ferraro, Alex and Tornabene, the informant came to a conclusion that this wasnt Tornabene's first time to make a mistake like that, by gambling Outfit's money. Alex also told the informant that it was one of Tornabene's associates Bennie Bernard who allegedly destroyed the informant's office on his own, and that Bernard will be excluded from the Loop area. Alex also spoke badly about Tornabene and told the informant that he (Alex) might take all of Tornabene's rackets, something which again shows us Alex's jurisdiction over Italian made member from his own crew.









The informant informed his contact back in New Jersey, Salvatore Esposito, regarding the situation and the meeting he had with Alex and so the informant was told by Salvatore not give a nickel to the Outfit until the whole situation settles down. But things got worse for the informant when that same month the two brothers, Dominic and Salvatore Esposito, came from the New Jersey area to Chicago and had a meeting with the informant. In addition, according to the informant, it seems that Salvatore Esposito was known as a quite dangerous individual.

The two brothers told him that he owed money to some unknown individual back in New Jersey which were previously invested in his Chicago operation, but the informant suspected that the brothers tried to extort him because they didnt tell him regarding the guy they worked for or were sent by. So the informant had another meeting with the brothers and he was told the same thing, meaning not to give any money to the Outfit until they see him again in Chicago after Thanksgiving.











Again with nowhere to go, the East Coast operator (informant) asked for some of the high level Cosa Nostra members back in Newark to intercede for him with Gus Alex. The informant also went to New Jersey on his own, and contacted one of the top level guys in Newark Louis "Coca Cola" DeBendetto who in turn only asked if the informant knew Chicago's Marshall Caifano and that was it. Later the informant also had a meeting with Salvatore Esposito.





In the next file we can see that in December 1958 (two months after the conflict occurred), the East Coast faction or the Genovese family sent for one guy named Antonio "Tony" Trombina who arrived in Chicago and told the informant to get in touch with Gus Alex right away and to call for a meeting. Another individual present with the two was one of the Esposito brothers Dominic.



The informant told Trombina that he was going to contact Pat Marcy, who in turn was the only guy who was able to arrange a meeting with Alex. With that information, Trombina was quite surprised that a politician will arrange a meeting between the two, which means that Trombina possibly didn’t know that Marcy was a Cosa Nostra made member, but the informant told him that was the only protocol in Chicago so they can get in touch with Alex. At first, Marcy allegedly advised them that Alex was very hard to reach but he will call them back in few minutes.



When Marcy called back, according to the informant, Trombina grabbed the phone and started talking to Marcy in Italian and informed him that he was sent by "Toto" or "Tata" from New York, a good friend of his. I believe that from this example we can see a standard protocol in which Trombina points it out to Marcy that he (Trombina) was probably close with a high level CN member from the East Coast.

Again, Marcy told Trombina that he will call back and so after few minutes Frank Ferraro (the Outfit's underboss at the time) was on the phone and a sitdown was arranged that same day at the Normandy Lounge.

So, the informant together with Trombina and Esposito went to the joint and few minutes later Frank Ferraro, John D'Arco and Pat Marcy (all high level made members) also entered the joint. Ferraro was introduced to Trombina and so they went and sat on a table, while the rest of the attendees waited on different tables. This again shows us some type of protocol when a high level Cosa Nostra member (such as Ferraro) is present on a sitdown and talks only to the member who in turn is either on a near level or simply also belonged to the Cosa Nostra organization.

After several minutes, Gus Alex entered the joint and sat on the same table with Ferraro and Trombina, something which again shows us Alex's high stature within the Outfit and the respect which he constantly received. After 20 minutes talk, they also called for Esposito to join them on the table.



After an hour, the informant was called to talk to Alex who dominated the conversation, which means Alex was an OC leader who had much higher stature than the informant at the time and above all, that same informant was in Alex's territory. So Alex was able to control the whole conversation and explained to the informant on how Chicago's protocols went down.

Alex told the informant that nobody operates in his districts without his "ok" and that the money the informant earned either went to Alex or Ferraro. Alex also told the informant that he had plenty of time in finding the money, something the informant himself realized that even though he was backed by his cronies back in New York, still he was placed in Alex's pocket and was obliged to kick up money to him, too.




In the following convo we can se Alex explaining the protocol that went between him (Alex) and Tornabene for example. Alex also asked the informant on how he operated his racket and that Alex will send some people, which meant that Alex completely took over the informant's operation, but he (Alex) never forgot about Tornabene's mistakes.



According to some sources, Tornabene owed $75,000 for the scheme and another $10,000 for the gambling dispute and he also he owed to Alex $60,000, and another $15,000 to Joey DiVarco, a known North Side Outfit made guy, and another $10,000 to one Outfit associate known as Robert Stein. It seems that besides other Outfit figures, Tornabene was also in debt to DiVraco and Stein.

Because he allegedly forced Tornabene to pay his debts, it seems that Alex remained in a good relationship with his associates on the East Coast or the New Jersey area since according to one informant, the following year or in December 1959 after the Roger Touhy murder, Alex was allegedly hiding somewhere around the New Jersey area (probably Newark). In 1960, Alex was about to visit one "unknown town" in New Jersey which I believe was Newark, and in 1961 he was again in New Jersey.







So in the next few years Tornabene sold or burned almost every joint that he previously owned, obviously for the insurance money. As it was expected, the remaining of Tornabene’s operations and his stature within the Outfit were taken over by Bertucci. After the situation settled down, it seems that Tornabene was ousted from the organization by Alex and the Outfit.






In 1962, Alex ordered Marcy and D'Arco to close down all strip joints in the Loop area because of the huge pressure from the feds, except for one which belonged to Tornabene who at the time was still in huge debts to the Outfit and Alex, and so he was forced to work it out.



Besides Charles Bertucci, by 1965 it seems that the rest of Tornabene's remaining operations were also taken over by his brother Anthony who in turn again answered to Alex.





It seems that by the late 60's and early 70s, Louis Tornabene possibly paid off his debts and was really ousted from the organization since he had only one legitimate job.





Cheers

In addition, here's one quite rare pic (none of the researchers out there has it) and if not the only one out there of Louis Tornabene, and also one from the boss himself Gus Alex...

Would be a tough pill to swallow to go from being a huge gambling lieutenant for one of the more prominent people in the outfit to selling cars.

Thats right but as you can see, being a degenerate gambler was quite dangerous situation for Tornabene and even though he lost everything and was ousted from the organization, still his boss Alex somehow saved him from being killed or saved his life.

Enjoyed the hell out of it!!!

Italian-only myth for the Outfit is completely busted

"Pope" might be Aiuppa?

"Toto" or "Tata" from New York might be Toddo Marino?

Still doing a lot of searching on the subject!!

Thanks Toodoped!

John "Johnny Coca-Cola" Lardiere was big in Newark, maybe informant got his name wrong

Fischetti brothers?

You're welcome pal and Im quite glad that you liked it. And yeah, belive it or not the Italian-only myth for the Outfit was busted long time ago but still, there are many mainstream researchers out there who cannot see the difference between the old US mob and the European/Sicilian/Traditional Mafia. And thats why we are here to "destroy" those myths.

Aiuppa was from a different crew and was also a capo during that time and he was never under Battaglia, obviously until Battaglia became underboss and later boss. According to the situation "Pope" was with Battaglia who in turn was also a capo in 1958/59. Since Charles Bertucci (low level member with royal Mafia blood) was on the other side during the sitdown, it is possible that "Pope" was on the same level as Bertucci. Ill make some additional research regarding the real identity of "Pope".




Thanks for the file. The Fischettis were originally NY guys from the Brooklyn area who arrived in Chicago back in 1928 when Capone was made and became a capo. Their younger brother Joe arrived in Chicago much later.

Because of their same roots and long time connection, it seems that the Chicago group had some interests and operations in New York, same as their cousins the Genoveses who also had their ops in Chicago. The Fischettis and Alex are good examples, since Alex was also allegedly involved in some of the extortions of NY unions (still not confirmed in details). They also "exchanged" hitmen regarding some specific contracts in which they needed for the killer to be completely unknown in the city where the murder occurred. They used that same tactic since the 1920s. I wonder if the Esposito bros from NY had any family connections to the late Diamond Joe Esposito or his son Esposito Jr who in turn was still active Outfit member at the time?

Regarding "Toto" or "Tata" from New York might be Toddo Marino....or if the informant got the name wrong of that "Coca Cola" guy....as I previously said that I need researchers such as yourself who have more knowledge than me about New York and can help me in these "more than one family" cases.

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Btw, Ed Valin from the raptrap site is one of the best researchers out there and we used have lots of mutual respect. His articles regarding Ted DeRose and Ralph Pierce are my favorite.

@Ed if you are reading this...cheers bro and best wishes to you and yours.

From that article I posted (Felix Alderisio being talked down to by Michael Brodkin):

Ted just got completely squeezed on all ends
Guy pays some people to mediate a $6k dispute, and ends more out of pocket than $6k hahaha

Tornabene cheated Ted out of $19k in past dealings

10/10/58
Ted collects a $6k debt, owed to Tornabene, and keeps it all due to past dealings

Tornabene threatens Ted for the $6k back, and Gus Alex take Tornabene's side

10/28/58
Ted gives $1k to Esposito brothers to mediate dispute with Gus Alex

11/2/58
Ted agrees to give another $2k to Esposito brothers when situation is completely mediated

11/18/58
Ted meets with Gus Alex again, and Gus now sides with Ted after Esposito intervention

11/19/58
Ted gives another $1k to Esposito brothers

11/25/58
Esposito brothers pop up in Chicago to see Ted, and tell him he now owes $5k to someone (they won't say to who). Ted refuses to pay unless they tell him who he's giving the $5k to.

12/2/58
Ted finds out it's Gus Alex he is in debt for $5k with.

12/4/58
Esposito meets with Ted telling him he now has 2 new "partners": 1 in Chicago and 1 in New Jersey

Thanks, thats a good one.

Brodkin and Beiber were two of the Outfits main lawyers and were very close with the "connection guys" aka the Guzik-Humphreys-Ferraro-Alex group and so they always acted as advisors for the many low intellectual level mobsters or members. Like in the following example...by 1966/67 Alderisio was the Outfits or Battaglias underboss (replaced by Buccieri) but still Alex had higher authority...im not sure but I think the informant mightve been Ted DeRose...



And yeah you're right, the guy got completely squeezed out lol and thanks a lot for the additional info pal.

...regarding the unknown individual only known as "Pope"...I think this might be the guy that we are looking for:

Heres another quite rare pics (which will be probably "stolen" from me without any credit lol) of Tornabene's associate/enemy and fellow crew member Louis Briatta who in turn was also possible made guy and one of Alex's main lieutenants. Briatta was brother-in-law of First Ward Alderman and Outfit made member John D’Arco, and was also related to Mayor Daley. In fact, Daley’s son was the husband of Briatta’s daughter Mary.

Even though its not that visible and has low quality, still this is also one rare photo from Alex's long time friend and associate young Frank Sortino aka Ferraro who in 1956/57 became the Outfits underboss. Credit goes to Prof. Binder

Detailed and informative. Great job TD!

Thanks Jimmy, I always appreciate your comments

Toodoped are those Tornabene's related to Al the Pizzaman?

Informant states there's an American gambling syndicate separate from anything Italian-only:

Im not 100% sure H, but I think no, meaning probably theres no blood relation between them.




Thanks for the file bud. VERY GOOD EXPLANATION ON HOW THE US MOB REALLY LOOKED LIKE.

Interesting to note that Chicago's Marshall Caifano stated something similar regarding the existence of an alleged gambling syndicate. but he was obviously hiding the "Cosa Nostra" clique or element.

Another interesting thing in your file is the informant's statement regarding carrying out certain tasks and orders which were previously given to him, and that gave him respect within the organization he is with and also on national level, same as a made member. I think the same situation was mentioned by another Chicago informant regarding the induction of a certain candidate within their organization.

This obviously corresponds with some of my old statement that during certain time periods and within certain crime families, there was no traditional Mafia inductions and so there was no difference between an Italian and non-Italian candidate when they were given certain tasks, including murder, and were simply told they were "in" and after they had a party or dinner.

Another interesting info which also corresponds with some of my previous statements, is that many Chicago non-Italian members intermarried with family members of the Italians, which again gives us a good picture on how much these guys trusted each other.

And yeah, the Italians were obviously at the top and they were the ones (like Tony Accardo) who elevated a non-Italian "member" as one of the Outfit's three top bosses or leading triumvirate for the whole organization, including Cosa Nostra guys and non-Italian leaders or crew bosses.

In addition heres Caifano's similar statement and also a second statement from one informant...

Some additional info from May 1967 regarding Battaglia's alleged lieutenant and representative in the Genovese vs. Chicago problem, Albert Pope...

Ran into this guy:

Definitely one of the best threads here, thanks.

@I_Sell_Dem_ Tomatoes GREAT INFO & TNX!!!!! You obviously found the guy and he had a high level status. Thats why Trombina used his name while in Chicago.

@Liggio you're welcome and thank you too.

He may very well be speaking about an old-time, highly-respected Luciano/Genovese Family member by the name of Generoso (Toddo Dell) Del Duca, who was one of their most powerful Brooklyn-based capos and oversaw a huge regime. 'Toddo Dell' ran a mostly 'napolitani' based faction that actually sprouted from/absorbed elements of Downtown Brooklyn's old Frankie Yale crew, some of whom traveled back and forth to Chicago over the years in connection to Al Capone and Johnny Torrio.

Del Duca allegedly financed some of Capone's bootlegging ops.

I don't doubt it. He had a brother as well, also a goodfella, who worked within that crew.