By the late 1950’s things weren’t going so well for the Indiana crew, and old man Pinelli decided to take a step back from his position as top boss of that same group, and by the end of this time period he has returned to his previous home in Los Angeles. Before leaving Chicago, story goes that Pinelli gave his job to his prime lieutenant and long-time associate Gaetano a.k.a. Tommy Morgano, who instantly placed Zizzo and Formusa as his top lieutenants in Gary and Hammond, while on the other hand he elevated other members such as Joe Spino and John Montagano as his prime overseers in East Chicago.


John Montagano

According to some informants at the time, Morgano personally said that he was going to control the county from "corner to corner", and that not even a fly was going to come in without his knowledge. In addition, in 1962 Formusa suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed and unable to speak, and so from that point on Zizzo became Morgano’s official number two guy.

By 1962, Tommy Morgano set his sight on Porter County, and tried to corrupt the county sheriff with a $100,000 bribe. This was a big mistake for Morgano since he was reported by that same sheriff and so in November that same year, he was indicted on bribery charges. During the trial, Morgano entered a guilty plea and was given between 2-14 years imprisonment and $10,000 fine. In the end, Morgano was instructed by his lawyer that he had the choice to go back to his homeland in Italy, instead of serving his prison sentence and so in January 1963, the government deported him for good.

That same year the feds also realized that Morgano still received illegal income which was sent from the U.S. all the way to Italy. According to the report, Morgano’s son-in-law Donald Grieco, together with his brothers were in involved in the cash transfer. The Grieco brothers worked for the so-called Fiore Buccieri group from the West Side mob. The alleged messenger between Morgano and his crew in the U.S., was Ernest Sansone who in turn belonged to the North Side crew under Ross Prio.


Donald Grieco

Morgano’s spot was instantly taken by Frank Zizzo whose reign as boss of the Indiana crew didn’t last long, since that same year or in August 1963, he was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison on interstate gambling charges, with few of his low level bookies. During the same time period Pinelli also relinquished all of his previous connections and interests from his Indiana crew and also switched his membership to the Los Angeles crime family and “retired” in his home in Sierra Madre, California. So, with Pinelli in Los Angeles, followed by Morgano in Italy and Zizzo in prison, according to the FBI, the guy next in line was Anthony Gruttadauro who after Zizzo’s imprisonment, began taking care of the day-to-day operations of the Indiana crew as acting capo. Gruttadauro inherited all of the crew’s rackets and was even in charge of all football-basketball parlay cards which were distributed throughout the Hammond-Gary area.


Tony Gruttadauro

Prison Blues

During Gruttadauro’s reign as Zizzo’s “voice” on the streets, the Indiana crew was still bringing huge illegal income for the Outfit but in 1966, Zizzo was paroled and again took control of the crew. Back in 1965, Zizzo’s complete car theft crew was indicted by the government and in 1966, the leader Richard Buonomo together with his top lieutenants Herman David, Patsy Accettura, Joe Iatarola, Kenneth Nash and James Cobb, were sentenced to 10 years in prison.


Richard Buonomo


Patsy Accettura

From that point on Zizzo was forced to take a low profile, meaning he still took his cut from all illegal operations, but in front the eyes of the public and the government he acted as a legitimate businessman. Zizzo still owned the Pepper Pot Pizza restaurants which in fact served as “drop points” for his share of all of the crew’s operations.

Besides old crew members such as the Gruttadauro bros, the Cardinale bros, Joe Spino and Georgie Dicks, by now few of Zizzo’s up and coming associates were Eugene Izzi, Santos Morales, Louis Mazzare, Raymond Kulik, Zizzo’s son Anthony Zizzo and also Morgano’s son Bernard Morgano. In 1966 and 1967, Zizzo’s close associate Eguene Izzi was twice arrested on gambling charges and so most of his operations were closed, while on the other hand his “boss” Joe Spino continued to walk freely on the streets of both Gary and Hammond, but by 1968 most of his operations were raided and were publicly uncovered by the government.


Eugene Izzi

The situation became worst in 1969, when one of their prime gambling lieutenants Raymond Kulik was also arrested on gambling charges, together with a large group of low level associates and operators. During the late 1960’s Zizzo somehow managed to stay under the government’s radar but this lasted until 1970, when he was again imprisoned for parole violation.


Raymond Kulik

The Last of The Mohicans

In 1973, Zizzo was again released from prison but three years later or in 1976, he was again indicted regarding the theft of a large number of television sets from around the Chicago area, which ended up in Indiana. Luckily, in the end Zizzo was acquitted, while his son Anthony was convicted to five years in prison together with four other associates. Anthony Zizzo mainly operated around the Cicero and Melrose Park areas, and always helped his father in the transportation of stolen cars or various gambling operations.

From the mid 1970’s until the early 1980’s, Outfit capo Frank Zizzo ruled the Indiana crew with an “iron fist” but still during that time many changes occurred within the leading administration of the Chicago Heights group, which still had jurisdiction over Zizzo’s crew and acted as his representatives on the Outfit’s “board of directors”.


Frank Zizzo

But there was one “small” problem and that was the so-called Buccieri crew from the Cicero and West Side areas. You see, since the late 1960’s the Buccieris tried to takeover areas which belonged to the South Side mob and the Chicago Heights group. When Frank LaPorte, representative for both Chicago Heights and Indiana crews, died of natural causes in 1972, some type of friction occurred within the group regarding LaPorte’s former position and in the end, it was for Al Pilotto to take the spot as new representative.

Previously I also pointed out that the Buccieris already had some interests around northwest Indiana, and so they also used the bad situation within the Chicago Heights crew by taking over the action and areas which were previously owned by the losing faction or Pilotto’s alleged rival Jimmy Catuara. In fact, in 1977 Catuara was killed and the Buccieris inherited his former interests around the South Side and Chicago Heights areas.


Al Pilotto

In 1981, Pilotto survived an assassination attempt and sources say that two members of Pilotto's crew, Nick D'Andrea and Sam Guzzino, were allegedly behind the botched hit and so a "contract" was quickly placed on their heads. In September 1981, D'Andrea had been lured to a garage by several Outfit members. Story goes that the prime Outfit members who were previously sent to investigate the whole conspiracy, were Indiana capo Frank Zizzo, South Side boss Angelo LaPietra and Sam Carlisi. So before being killed, D'Andrea was first beaten at a warehouse and then they were going to take him to Pilotto's future successor Dominic Palermo. Carlisi was allegedly hitting D'Andrea with a shotgun on the way, but they discovered that the victim was dead once they got to the house.

This shows that both Zizzo and Palermo took care of Pilotto’s group and when Pilotto was sent to jail in 1982, from that point on, the Chicago Heights group became very vulnerable and they already started receiving attacks from the former Buccieri crew which by now was headed by Angelo LaPietra and Joe Ferriola aka the Cicero-South Side mob. Besides Palermo, I personally believe that Zizzo was the last remaining member of the old Chicago Heights and Indiana group with the power to still command respect among the rest of the Outfit’s membership. I also believe that both Zizzo and Palermo were obliged to start grooming one of their members, known as Albert Tocco, as official representative for their large group.


Al Tocco

Changing of The Guard

By 1983, two of the main problems were Zizzo’s failing health and the other one was the huge influence and presence by the Cicero-South Side faction. With Zizzo being out of the day-to-day decisions, it seems that Palermo wasn’t able to fight off the so-called “invasion” and so Joe Ferriola received even larger influence.


Joe Ferriola

In 1986, Frank Zizzo died of natural causes and so that same year, Al Tocco became the official representative for both the Chicago Heights and Indiana crews but this time there weren’t any additional capos beneath him, meaning it is quite possible that the capo position for the Indiana crew was probably relinquished, a decision probably made by the leading Ferriola-LaPietra crews. Some sources say that even though Tocco was a very ruthless individual, still he was allegedly quite afraid from Ferriola and his murderous crew.

Besides that, Palermo remained as Tocco’s lieutenant for their Chicago Heights crew, while Morgano’s son Bernard Morgano became the leader of what was left from the old Indiana crew. Morgano wasn’t an official capo, but instead he was a soldier or made member who in turn was responsible for the crew’s rackets in that area and probably reported directly either to Tocco or Palermo.


Dominick Palermo

By 1989, Tocco was out of the picture since he was previously chased by the government and was later imprisoned, and the man next in line was Palermo who took control of what was left from the old Chicago Heights crew, again with Morgano as his prime lieutenant around the Indiana area.

Bernard Morgano owned a restaurant in Gary, Indiana; which was used for stashing cash which came from an illegal lottery that was operated by two of Morgano’s associates Al Watkins and Tony Leone. Since Morgano was the central figure in keeping the syndicate's presence in northwestern Indiana, his main job was collecting street tax from gambling operators, including the operators of vending machines and also owners of local chop shops.


Bernard Morgano

For example, one of Morgano’s associates Peter Petros collected around $1000 a month from one restaurant owner with the help of threats made towards the owner and his family, and also collected $2500 per month from an operator of video poker machines after implying his business might be destroyed if the operator refused. Few of Morgano’s additional collectors were his nephew Tony Leone, followed by Sam Glorioso and Sam Nuzzo Jr.


Sam Glorioso

Morgano often travelled from northern Indiana to Calumet City where he met with his boss Dominick Palermo and his lieutenant Nick Guzzino. They usually held their meetings at a restaurant known as "The Taste of Italy" and at the end of their conversations, Morgano delivered the money from the street tax which was collected from the Indiana area. Previously Morgano survived a heart attack, and so Palermo’s lieutenant Guzzino sometimes directed Morgano's associates regarding the collections from his area, but still every dollar which was collected was first delivered to Morgano's home.


Nick Guzzino

Death of a Crew

By 1991, the government managed to gather enough evidence against Palermo, Guzzino and Morgano with the help of Morgano’s nephew Tony Leone who in turn decided to testify against his uncle and the other two members. Besides Leone’s testimony and also the testimonies of eleven victims regarding the illegal activities of both the Chicago Heights and Indiana crews, the government also used transcripts from wiretapped conversations which completely confirmed the connection and also the subordination of the Indiana crew towards the Chicago Heights group and the Outfit’s leading administration. In fact, during one of the trials a government tape was played in which the leader of the Indiana crew stated something like “we’re going to have to check it out with Chicago first”. At the end of the trials, Morgano’s last statement was directed towards his “rat” nephew Leone by saying “He is a snake, he lied on the stand. I do not ask for mercy; I ask for justice”.

In 1992, the 74 years old boss of the group Dominick Palermo was sent to 32 years in prison and was also fined $25,000, followed by his lieutenant Nick Guzzino who in turn was sentenced to 39 years of imprisonment, and in the end Bernard Morgano who received 16 years. They were all guilty for racketeering, extortion, threats and arson, including collecting so-called “street tax”. This signaled the end or the so-called “death” of one of the Outfit’s oldest and crucial crews, such as the Chicago heights and Indiana group, with Palermo and Morgano being the last crime bosses who “closed the doors” of their own crews.


Palermo being taken to prison


Morgano being taken to prison

After the dismantle of the Chicago Heights crew, the Cicero-South Side mob finally had a clear path in spreading their influence around all southern suburbs and towns, including northwest Indiana. At the same time, another old time Outfit crew was also completely dismantled by the government and that was the original North Side group and so because of that, the Cicero-South Side mob received complete control over the Lake County, DuPage County and McHenry County areas, while the West Side mob received the lucrative Near North Side area. This means that from that point on the Chicago Outfit was down to two groups with five crews, such as the Cicero and Chinatown for the South Side mob, followed by the Cicero-Melrose Park, Elmwood Park and Grand Avenue crews which represented the so-called West Side mob.

In the end, even though during the old days most of the Indiana area was considered as a place filled with cornfields and “one-horse” towns, still the old Chicago Outfit was obviously able to make something out of nothing, meaning they succeeded in forming that same area into one of their prime headquarters for illegal income but as any other evil empire, in the end they failed to preserve their influence and presence. Today, there are probably still few so-called Outfit “remnants” around northwest Indiana, a simple “shadow” of the past when the Outfit was once able to turn “ordinary metal into gold”.

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