Whats up ladies and gents?! I hope you are all still enjoying this lovely summer and as the sun shines, the GBB forum is also "shining" with another free and also quite long and never released before article on one of the Outfit's most feared caporegimes Al "Caesar" Tocco. So, mix up your drinks, light up your cigars and enjoy the story, and dont forget that over here every information is free and supported by evidences, and nobody will ask you to pay for some questionable stories. Salut'


INTRO

As I already mentioned numerous times in my previous articles, during the 1970’s and 80’s the infamous Chicago Outfit was killing people left and right, and it was probably the bloodiest era in the U.S. Mafia’s history, after the old bloody days of Prohibition. It was a time period when many Outfit members and associates began stabbing in each other’s’ backs, meaning it was a time of betrayal and greed, mainly because some of the most profitable rackets such as gambling, union racketeering and loan sharking were on the downfall, while on the other hand the leading crime bosses banned narcotics and has forbidden for all of their members and accomplices to deal with it, and also other “touchy” illegal rackets.

That’s why some of smarter members began entering other criminal ventures, such as the gambling, burglary, prostitution, video machines and car-theft rackets, which during those days also brought millions of dollars on the Outfit’s round table. Most of us heard about the infamous “chop-shop wars”, in which many people were killed during a 7 or 8 year time period, allegedly because of that same scheme which involved transporting stolen cars and also auto parts. Yes, some of the victims were allegedly killed regarding the control of the racket, but the reality is that large portion of the murder “contracts” were executed because of the victims’ involvement in the narcotics trade, or either executed unsanctioned murders or were suspected of being informants.

After the murders of many Mafia individuals, lots of things changed within the Chicago Outfit, especially within the old Chicago Heights group. When the smoke finally cleared, two individuals from that same crew managed to rise up within the organization, such as Dominick “Tootsie” Palermo and Albert “Caesar” Tocco. Even though during the Outfit’s history, this particular crew never took the leading role for the organization but was always considered as one of the most powerful and low-key crime factions of the Chicago Mob which played major role in both of the creation of the Chicago mob, and also in keeping the constant money flow within the organization for at least seven decades. So, being the “street” gangster that he was, Al Tocco became the prime player in that same group and maintained the illegal income from what was left out there at the time. This is a story regarding Tocco’s start within the Chicago Mob and also regarding his rackets that kept the former Chicago Heights crew alive.


Chicago Heights 1960’s

ITALIAN-AMERICAN CRIMINAL

Albert Tocco was born in 1929 and was raised around the Chicago heights area, and his parents were Michael “Mike” Tocco and Laura Pertucci Tocco who in turn were also born in the U.S. Mike’s brother or Tocco’s uncle Pasquale Tocco was allegedly involved in illegal activities and was possibly tied to the old Chicago Heights Mafia or Chicago’s second Sicilian crime family, but after the mid 1920’s he was probably absorbed by the winning Camorra group headed by Dominick Roberto and Jim Ammiratto, both being close allies the leading Al Capone group from the South Side. In 1932, Chicago’s police department executed a sensational “cleanup” of known bank robbers and kidnappers from around the Chicago Heights area, which also included 35-years old Patsy Tocco. Tocco’s older brother Joseph was also involved in numerous illegal activities, including the selling of narcotics. In 1944, one U.S. Commissioner wanted for Joe Tocco to be transferred to San Francisco, California; so, he can stand trial regarding the transportation of 95 cans of opium which were valued at $50,000 or almost $900,000 in today’s cash, although I have to honest that I’m not 100% sure if that was the same Joe Tocco since the age of both individuals doesn’t match, but on the other hand I’m quite sure that Joe Tocco was involved in the rackets during that same time period. During those days high-level members and associates of the Outfit, such as Cicero crew boss William Henney and Melrose Park caporegime Rocco DeGrazia were known for their involvement in the opium business and in fact, they were opium users themselves.


Chicago Heights bosses Jim Ammirato aka Emery and Dominick “Dom” Roberto

By 1951, 23-year old Al Tocco worked as a truck driver but that same year he was arrested together with two accomplices regarding the rape of a teenage girl. His cohorts in the crime were Thomas Christofanelli and George Wilson, all from the Chicago Heights area. Many of the Outfit’s leading members from that period were known as former rapists, such as Sam Giancana and Jack Cerone, which means that young Tocco fitted perfectly in that same company. During their trial, Tocco and his accomplices were described as wild “gorillas” and in the end were sentenced to 25 years in jail regarding the rape of the 18-year old high school girl. In November 1952, the conviction of both Tocco and Christofanelli was overturned by the Illinois Supreme court allegedly because there was no evidence regarding any type of forcible attack. During those days the Outfit had many connections within the supreme court, which means that someone protected the young criminals.


Albert Tocco

ENTERING THE RACKETS

By the late 1950’s, one of the first lucrative rackets which gave Tocco a good start within the Outfit, was the car-theft business that included professional thieves like Richard Buonomo, Pasquale Accettura, Carmen Apicella and the so-called leader of the gang Herman David a.k.a. “Motorcycle Mike” from the Dolton area. David was called “Motorcycle Mike” because he used such a vehicle to deliver bootleg booze back in the days of Prohibition. As for Buonomo and Accettura, it is possible that they also had close ties with the so-called Fiore Buccieri crew from the West Side. All of these so-called Chicago Heights associates controlled their own people who were involved in the business on daily basis, who besides stealing cars they were also involved in printing auto titles and counterfeiting plates and controlled interstate counterfeiting scheme that netted more than $1.000.000 per year.


Pasquale Accetura

Al Tocco acted as enforcer and also as one of the main transporters for the crew, and together with his older brother Joe, they developed few car-theft operations in Gary, Indiana and also in Youngstown, Ohio. In Gary they had one policeman on their payroll known as Kenneth Dash and were also connected to one operator of an auto service center, known as Joseph Iatarola, while in Youngstown their operation mostly depended on shady car dealers such as George and Peter Nasse or Rudy Geidens, who in turn sold stolen cars imported straight from Chicago or any other place from around the country. The stolen cars have been referred to as the “Nasse cars”, since in each case George Nasse obtained an Ohio title before selling the stolen car.

According to some government reports, the theft ring had allegedly stolen hundreds of Cadillacs in the Chicago and Indiana areas and with the help of one of the gang’s members, James Cobb who owned the Commercial Printing Company in Griffith, Indiana; they used phony Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan titles to sell them for an average of $3,500 throughout the country and in fact, these guys allegedly made over 2 million dollars a year from this racket alone. Some the crew members had long history and experience in stealing cars or since the 1940’s, meaning young Tocco learned a lot regarding the racket from the criminals he hung out with. On top of that, by the early 1960’s his brother Joe “Buddy” aka “Papa Joe” Tocco was sent to Arizona so he can expand the crew’s rackets, including his brother’s cart-theft operations.


Joe Tocco

DOING TIME

Everything went smooth until September 1965, when the feds arrested 77-year old Herman David, Erwin Hager, Jr., Louis Novy, and James Cobb. This was a huge slap in the face for the Outfit’s car theft business because the feds managed to strike straight in the heart of the operation by closing down their main printing company and car dealers. The feds also managed to find many phony documents in the basement of old man David's home, along with a bronze 1965 Cadillac which was previously reported stolen in Oak Lawn. In a garage which was attached to David's residence, the cops also discovered an unassembled whiskey still dating from the Prohibition era, bearing bullet holes and “X” marks. Additional documents were seized in the print shop, and even more were found in an old panel truck which was parked in a residential driveway in Blue Island. Another thing on which the feds realized was that the gang used bogus credentials for identification and passed over 2,000 counterfeit payroll checks for amounts between $100 and $300 in banks in the Chicago and Gary areas, and later those same checks were drawn on Calumet area oil and steel companies.

In November that same year, during the second indictment the feds also arrested Buonomo, Accettura, Apicella, the David brothers, Iatarola, Gary policeman Kenneth Nash and Al Tocco. The conspiracy was said to include stealing motor vehicles, stealing serial plates from other motor vehicles and attaching them to the stolen vehicles, altering the identification numbers on the frames of the stolen ones so as to agree, preparing counterfeit state titles for use in selling and re-titling the vehicles, and transporting the stolen vehicles across state lines. The conspiracy was alleged to have existed from 1961 until November 1965, when the indictment was returned.

Even though most of the attention was turned towards David, Buonomo and Accettura, still it seems that Tocco was allegedly one of the leading figures for the theft ring. During those days Tocco was the proprietor of the infamous Domino Club, which according to one George Steger, who testified that in the spring of 1964 he agreed to buy a 1964 Cadillac from Tocco, who in turn delivered it on May 9, together with an Indiana title, and received payment. Ervin Hager Jr. also testified that he, Tocco, and one William Dauber stole a 1964 Cadillac in Blue Island, Illinois. The situation was, however, relevant for the prosecutors to show intent and pattern and shortly after, Steger negotiated with Tocco to purchase a Cadillac for one Mrs. Logan, Steger's secretary. Another witness testified that Tocco and Dauber met with him in Chicago Heights, and Tocco said that he had a sale for another car and wanted for the witness to pick it up. In reality, every car that was stolen by Dauber and the witness, later was brought to Tocco's Club Domino in Illinois. Tocco later procured another stolen car for a friend of Steger, who in turn was later interviewed by the FBI in June 1964, and later he was asked by Tocco what the FBI had said and told him that "they" had heard the radio from the FBI car when Steger was in it, coming back from the police station in Harvey. Tocco replied "they haven't got anything on anybody if you don't say anything.” So, with the help of Steger’s testimony, Tocco was charged and convicted with the interstate transportation of stolen cars, since the evidences became too sufficed to show his participation in the conspiracy.

In 1966, the feds described the racketeers as a nation-wide car theft ring leaders and so they were charged for using phony registration papers, which were usually stolen from legitimate dealer, and stolen auto serial plates to dispose of the stolen cars at prices below their market value. Buonomo was also taken quickly into custody and his bond was immediately cancelled after the assistant United States attorney Richard Sikes expressed fear that because of his underworld connections, Buonomo might attempt to flee the state. The defendants pleaded guilty to two of the 10 counts with which they were charged and in 1967, some of them were sentenced from 5 to 10 years in prison. For example, David and his son were sentenced to 5 years in prison, while Tocco and the rest of the gang received 3 years imprisonment.


Richard Buonomo

After the dismantling of the car-theft crew, the guys who previously worked with Tocco from the Chicago Heights area, continued to thrive in the business thus making this next time period, the scariest time period not only for the car-theft business, but also for every illegal operation which was under the control of the Chicago Outfit. Besides the government’s continuous struggle against organized auto-theft, during the early 1970s the racket became more lucrative than ever and that’s why other Outfit members decided to have it all for themselves.

BLOODIEST CHAPTER

While in jail, Tocco’s car-theft operations were allegedly given to one of the crew leaders or capos from the Chicago Heights group, Jimmy “The Bomber” Catuara, probably with the approval from the boss of that same group Frank LaPorte. With the help of his crew, Catuara managed to bring the racket on much higher level, but the problem was that some of his associates were allegedly doing unsanctioned murders and were also dealing or financing narcotics. Catuara was an old-time mobster who came up the ranks with the help of some of the most ruthless Outfit members from the old days, such as former caporegimes James Belcastro and Bruno Roti. He also had a big ego because he considered himself above some of the members of the organization because of his alleged long-time criminal history. That’s why, in a pure “Capone mob” style, Catuara’s crew was formed from the partnership between Italian and non-Italian members and according to numerous reports they were a very tough crew with monstrous reputation, including Gus Rubino, Sam Annerino, Mike Antonelli, Guido Fidanzi, Richard Ferraro, William Dauber, Al Roviaro and Steve Ostrowsky.


Jimmy Catuara

Many researchers believe that all of the murders that occurred within the Chicago Heights group during the following decade or 1970’s, were mainly because of the so-called “chop-shop” racket and also labelled the situation as the “chop-shop wars”, and that it was allegedly a conflict between Catuara and Tocco. First of all, Tocco was just a low-level associate at the time, while Catuara was obviously a “made guy” and also held a higher stature by controlling his own crew. Second, Tocco was in prison when the murders started occurring, meaning the bloodbath started three years before Tocco was released from prison and Catuara was still controlling the situation. For example, the 1969 and 1971 murders of Harry Carlson and Robert Pronger, were executed on Catuara’s orders. Also, Catuara was a huge hypocrite because he was known by the government for allegedly financing drug deals, but in February 1972, Catuara ordered the murder of Guido Fidanzi mainly because the victim was in trouble with the law and was also known as a “loud-mouth” who knew a lot of stuff, especially regarding the dope deals with another Outfit member, Richard Cain.



Guido Fidanzi

The biggest problem was when in October 1972, old-time Chicago Heights boss Frank LaPorte died of natural causes and since LaPorte’s position was quite lucrative because of the large areas which he previously controlled, everyone in the Mob and even the government and media thought that Catuara was next in line, but they thought wrong. Sources say that LaPorte’s chauffeur, union racketeer and also a made member of the Chicago Outfit, Al Pilotto, was already chosen by the leadership was LaPorte’s official successor. This allegedly created a huge jealousy within Catuara’s mind mainly because he didn’t receive LaPorte’s former spot, and also because from that point on Pilotto’s was the one who should be previously consulted regarding every murder or illegal operation, meaning most of the murders that occurred with the Chicago Heights group from 1972 until 1980, were approved by Pilotto himself. So, Catuara decided to show some type of rebellion by being more and more associated to car thieves who also sold drugs, and also didn’t rule his crew like before, meaning some of them were doing things on their own or only with Catuara’s approval, without previously asking Pilotto. For example, Tocco’s old associate William Dauber killed both Mike Ragan and Roger Croach in two days, allegedly because they were arrested by the cops for being involved in car-theft.

By 1973, Tocco got out of jail and around the same time he married with one “bombshell” model known as Betty Tocco, and it is quite possible that later they had only one child, and during the 70’s they allegedly lived in a house at 20507 Dutra Avenue, in Chicago Heights. Tocco quickly witnessed the “dog-eat-dog” situation within his old crew, which quickly forced him to make a decision such as “kill or be killed”. The problem for Tocco was that on one hand, he was welcomed with open arms by Catuara and his crew, mainly because many of Catuara’s crew members were also Tocco’s old associates and also personally knew Catuara since the old days, while on the other hand Pilotto was the new leader of the group and Tocco needed to follow orders and protocol, or else. So, Tocco had to “betray” his old pal and went with Pilotto and the Outfit’s leading administration, mainly because Tocco already knew that Catuara and his crew were doing unsanctioned “hits”, including the transportation of narcotics.

Catuara’s associate Richard Ferraro had a drug operation, which included dozens of stolen cars that were sent sent to various salvage yards in Palos Park, Illinois; or Munster, Indiana; from where the product was sold in nearby towns or cities. Ferraro’s main dealer in one of those areas was Harry Holzer, who in turn had a dope smuggling route from Palos Park and all the way to Fennville, Michigan. The drugs were usually hidden under the driver's seat and the passenger seat, under a panel which was placed on the floor. The panel opened up automatically which uncovered a void underneath the floor board and the bottom of the car, filled up with dope. Or according to one report, sometimes these dope smugglers managed to hide over 100 kilograms of heroin in just one automobile, with the help of dummy gas tank, or in body posts, under fenders, and in the frame.


Richard Ferraro

Fueled by greed because he was recently released from prison and didn’t have money, it is quite possible that Tocco informed Pilotto and the rest of the bosses regarding Catuara’s activities, because the first victim on the list was Harry Holzer who in turn was shot to death together with his wife Linda in June 1975, followed by Ferraro and Annerino in June and July of 1977, and in the end Catuara in July 1978. This means that it was possible that Tocco used some of his “Machiavellian” skills in turning the situation for his own purpose, and story goes that some of those fellas were already aware regarding the murder “contracts” placed on their lives, like for example Annerino who bought a grave and also a tombstone, two weeks before his demise. As for Cautara, he was also previously told to retire several times but he refused, and once he was even kidnapped right of the street and was allegedly told to retire in Arizona. There’s also another story regarding Catuara’s demise and that was the attempted and allegedly unsanctioned bombing at the home of the head of the secretary of state’s stolen auto detail Vladimir Ivkovich. Between those years, several murders occurred which were tied by the government to the so-called “chop-shop” racket, and so after the many murders of Mafia individuals and associates such as Catuara, Annerino, Ferraro, Fidanzi, Pronger, Holzer and his wife, Carlson, Ostrowsky, Walter Wellington, James Palaggi, Norman Lang, Earl Abercrombie and John Theo, lots of things changed within the Chicago Heights crew, obviously because they killed almost all of their prime operators in the auto-theft racket and now, Tocco’s main job was to find new guys and to maintain Catuara’s former and lucrative operations.


Sam Annerino

During this period Tocco still kept a low spot within the hierarchy of the Chicago Heights group, because besides Pilotto and Frank Zizzo from the Indiana crew, there were also other members above him such as Dominick Palermo, Sam, Nick and Richard Guzzino, Al Roviaro, Joseph DiCaro (no relation to the DiCaro bros from the South Side crew), Armand and Nick D’Andrea. For example, the D’Andrea duo also had three more brothers, including Mario who was involved in the narcotics trade and Nick D’Andrea’s young son Richard D’Andrea. But because of Tocco’s impact on the rackets around all southern suburbs and northwest Indiana, he was pictured by the government and media as one of the Outfit’s leaders. In fact, from that same situation we can see on how much “low-key” was the real leadership of the Chicago Heights crew at the time.


Tocco being falsely presented as one of the Outfit’s leaders in a government chart from 1977


ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS

By the late 1970’s, Tocco’s prime operation was still the car-theft racket, but he also started entering the so-called garbage business which was one of Chicago’s most lucrative businesses. During those days, two of the most corrupt public officials in the Chicago Heights area were its finance commissioner Nick LoBue and the Mayor Donald Prisco, who received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to influence the way on how many highly lucrative contracts were awarded for collecting and disposing of garbage in the Chicago Heights area and so, the presence of mobsters such as Tocco, was inevitable.

For example, back in 1977, the Fitzpatrick Brothers Disposal Service, Inc. and a landfill operation business called Fitz-mar, Inc. based in Steger, Illinois; submitted a bid for the 1977 residential trash pickup contract with Chicago Heights. At the time, Charles Panici was the mayor of Chicago Heights and John Gliottoni, Lou Marshall and Nick LoBue served as commissioners on the city council and so the manager of the disposal company Charles Fitzpatrick was approached by Commissioner Gliottoni with a solution that in order to secure the contract, the company would have to make a “heavy” payoff. Unexpectedly, the owners strongly refused to pay the bribe and so the contract was given to another disposal company, which was allegedly owned by the Mob. This means that even if the legit company paid the cash, it was still questionable on whether they were going to receive the contract or not, which I believe was going to be the latter situation.

With nothing else to do, in 1980 the owners of the Fitzpatrick Brothers company again submitted a bid for the residential trash pickup contract, but this time they paid the cash and so in April that same year, the City of Chicago Heights awarded its 3-year garbage hauling contract to Fitzpatrick Brothers. It was agreed that the commissioners would get $20,000 to $30,000 on the residential trash pickup contract and from that point on, the owners of the Fitzpatrick company became “money slaves” to Prisco and LoBue for their work in securing the garbage hauling contract. But where is Tocco and the Outfit in the whole story?! Well, the following year, Tocco decided to make all of his garbage operations his largest legit income and so with recommendation from Nick LoBue, Tocco visited one of the owners of the Fitzpatrick firm, Martin Wondaal, and informed him about the Mob’s “invasion” on the garbage business around all south suburbs. After hearing the “great” news, Wondaal immediately agreed to sell Tocco his garbage company, and even though the business was on the up and up, still it seems that Wondaal was happy for two reasons, meaning no more pressure and no more dealings with corrupt public officials. After purchasing the company, Tocco renamed it the Chicago Heights Disposal Co., which received a new city and also quite lucrative contract with extended term of eight years.

As for Tocco’s car-theft operations, he allegedly became partner in the scheme with one caporegime for the so-called Grand Avenue crew, Joey “The Clown” Lombardo. Sources say that one of their main guys was Charles Bills, a car theft operator who ran a south suburban chop-shop and was allegedly responsible for the thefts of more than 700 cars per year. Bills mainly ran his operation from the Oak Lawn and Blue Island areas with the help of few other chop-shop operators such as Donald Sanders and Jerry Rosenstein, owners of the Calumet Auto Wrecking company which had many connections to various Indiana chop-shop owners and shady car dealers. On top of that, Bills also collected “street tax” for Tocco and weekly basis, and the collections resulted between $30,000 and $40,000 or around $130,000 in today’s cash. The thing was that both Tocco and Lombardo had another and way more lucrative car-theft operation, that stretched in several Midwestern cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Indiana and Iowa.


Joey Lombardo

During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, the car theft ring allegedly managed to steal nearly 48,000 cars only around Illinois and about 30,000 of them in Chicago, where the operation’s headquarters was based and distributed stolen auto-parts throughout the nation. Three of the most notable targets in the Chicago area were the M & M Auto Wreckers at 409 N. Pulaski Rd., M & J Auto Wreckers at 1463-65 E. 130th St., and the Ashland Auto Wreckers, at 9757 S. Commercial Ave. For example, in charge of the M & J Auto Wreckers & Sales was one of Lombardo’s guys known as Mike Chorak, who in fact operated one of the largest chop-shop operations on the South Side. Two guys were in charge for overseeing Chorak’s activities and income, such as Lombardo’s associate Thomas Covello and also one time Chicago police officer Clement Messino, who in turn had connections to Tocco through his older brother Chris Messino who was also involved in Tocco’s car-theft racket.

Since the whole scheme was a joint operation between two Outfit crews, the hub of the alleged scheme was also divided between several overseers. One crew directed few Outfit-owned salvage yards which were operated by Covello and one Ralph Mascio, Jr., while Messino’s job was to take the role of a recruiter for the crew and to arrange the theft of specific automobiles through a large cadre of professional auto thieves, such as Joseph Hlavach, Antoine Turner and Vic Meadows. As usual, the cars would generally be stripped prior to any actual contact with the yards, although it was claimed that at times Covello ordered stolen cars directly and had them disassembled at the yards. The thieves and the deliverers generally received checks either from Covello or Messino, made payable to a false name which were cashed at a pair of cooperating currency exchanges hospitable to the operation. Regularly, all of the stolen parts were transported by trucks which were mainly driven by Outfit associates, to a warehouse in Schereville, Indiana which was owned by M & J Auto Wreckers and those same parts were later sold to salvage yards both within and outside Illinois. According to some reports, the largest purchaser was claimed to be Piper Motor Co., Inc. of Bloomfield, Iowa.

South suburban criminal Ora Curry was allegedly one of the principal figures in almost all south suburban chop-shop rings, and allegedly had a large crew of 80 individuals that grossed more than $300,000 a year or around one million dollars in today’s money. According to one story, some immigrants from Middle East countries, unknowingly bought stolen cars from Curry and within weeks, the cars were alleged to have been stolen again by Curry’s associates but this time they were cut up and the parts were shipped to nearby states for resale. Curry allegedly made a lot of money for Tocco because besides being involved in the chop-shop racket, he also operated an alleged scheme involving insurance claims for nonexistent losses such as auto thefts. In just one year, Curry managed to fraudulently obtain $117,352 in payouts from four insurance companies and on top of that, he even received money for disability insurance.


Ora Curry

On top of that, Curry was also involved in the narcotics trade, especially cocaine, which at the time was the prime drug for many addicts across the nation. Curry’s connection to the dope business went way back to the late 1960’s and early 70’s, when he used to work together with the late Robert Pronger. After Progner’s demise, Curry continued to operate with the help of Pronger’s brother, John, who in fact remained to be a huge player in Chicago’s chop-shop and above all, narcotics business. The interesting thing was that, besides transporting stolen cars and auto parts, Curry also used his business relations around the Middle East, for example Lebanon, for narcotics, probably heroin. Curry’s cocaine shipments allegedly arrived from Florida, where at the time two main Colombian drug cartels ruled the cocaine trade. When the dope shipments reached their destination points, such as the “Windy City”, the stash was divided in two parts, one for the local market and the other part was destined for some of the nearest Midwest cities, such as Hammond, Indiana; and St. Louis.

Tocco also collected so-called “street tax” from all burglars and car thieves from his areas, and anyone who refused to pay was instantly made “an example”. One of those “examples” was Robert Kurowski, a Hammond junk dealer who also acted as one of Tocco’s collectors, but the problem was that Kurowski wasn’t reporting his whole income from the street tax and so, in May 1980, Kurowski was walking his horse along a wooded trail near the main highway in Schneider, Indiana; while a hit squad was in waiting for him in a car, and then he suddenly felt six slugs from a 30-caliber rifle entering his body. It was a “bushwacking” right out of the Old West. It is possible that Tocco was directly involved in the shooting of Kurowski but the following “hit” was different, mainly because the target was Tocco’s long-time associate and personal friend William Dauber. In July 1980, a highly skilled, heavily armed hit team from Cicero’s “Wild Bunch” crew, caught up with Dauber and his wife Charlotte, thus cutting them down with rifle and shotgun fire in a high-speed auto chase on a rural Will County rd. The pair was shot with numerous shotgun pellets and approximately 30-caliber rifle bullets, mostly in their heads and upper bodies. The so-called Cicero crew under Joe Ferriola executing a “hit” as a favor for the Chicago Heights crew, was a complicated connection with a long background. This also meant that even as associate of the Chicago Outfit, still Tocco remained loyal to his superiors in the Mob by making millions of dollars for them and also by killing anyone who stood in their way or represented a danger for the organization. But not all of Tocco’s associates from the Chicago Heights crew thought the same way.


William Dauber


THE 1980’S FEVER

After all of the previous murders that occurred back during the 1970’s and also at the beginning of the 1980’s era, the so-called trust and loyalty within the Chicago Heights group was on very low level, meaning the internal problems were far from finished and every form of betrayal was also welcomed. Story goes that Pilotto was giving more power to the crew’s “younger” generation of members and associates, and so the “older” members decided to take matters in their own hands, while others say that it was all about narcotics. Whatever was the reason, in 1981, Pilotto survived an assassination attempt during a game of golf, and sources say that two members of Pilotto's crew, Nick D'Andrea and Sam Guzzino, were allegedly behind the conspiracy and so murder "contracts" were quickly issued on their heads. In September that same year, D'Andrea had been lured to a garage by several Outfit members and story goes that the main guys who were sent to investigate the whole conspiracy, were Indiana capo Frank Zizzo, South Side boss Angelo LaPietra and Cicero-Melrose Park capo 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 top lieutenant Dominic Palermo, but the victim was already dead once they got to the house. Shortly after D’Andrea’s death or the following month, Sam Guzzino was also killed on the Outfit’s orders and was found with his throat slashed and also a bullet in his head.


Nick D’Andrea

As usual, Tocco’s name again managed to hit the newspapers but there wasn’t even one speck of evidence regarding his involvement either in the plot against Pilotto or in the murders of the so-called “rebels”. Although some sources speculate that, same as the previous situation or problem with the late Jimmy Catuara, it was possible that Tocco might’ve given false support to the “rebels” and possibly knew something about the plot, and the most interesting thing is that after every problem that occurred within the Chicago Heights’ crew, Tocco simply went up and received every operation which was included in that same problem.


No matter if Tocco was involved in the plot or not, in July 1982, the government managed to finish the job for whoever wanted to see Pilotto out of the picture, by sentencing the old Chicago Heights boss to 20 years in jail at the Sandstone Prison in Minnesota, for his involvement in a scheme to divert millions of dollars from various funds of the Laborers’ International Union. The Outfit’s boss Tony Accardo was also indicted together with Pilotto in the same case and stood trial, but the difference was that later Accardo was acquitted on all charges, while Pilotto prepared for his jail cell. So, who knows, maybe Accardo also wanted for Pilotto to be removed from the scene because “someone” might’ve start talking, but the former Chicago Heights boss kept his mouth shut and went to jail like a real gangster.



Al Pilotto

Again, after the murders of their members and also the imprisonment of their boss, the Chicago Heights crew had to re-group for the third time. It seems that Pilotto’s former lieutenant Dominick Palermo took the role as leader or capo of the Chicago Heights crew, together with old time Indiana capo Frank Zizzo, who in turn already had lots of health issues during that period. The group obviously needed “new blood” and also new leaders who were able to withstand the whole pressure from the government. That’s why, in 1983, Tocco was finally one of the candidates for becoming a made member of Chicago’s Cosa Nostra brotherhood. One Sunday that same year, Tocco was driven by his boss Palermo to a restaurant located on Roosevelt Road, west of Mannheim Road in Cook County. Sources say that the boss of the Outfit, Joey Aiuppa, together with one of his close associates Al Tornabene, presided over an induction ceremony of new members. There were several caporegimes present at the ceremony, including Palermo, Zizzo, Carlisi, Vincent Solano from the North Side and John DiFronzo from the so-called Elmwood Park crew, and all of them acted as “sponsors” for their new candidates. Tocco’s sponsors were both Palermo and Zizzo, and so he was called into a room in which Aiuppa and Tornabene made the induction in a traditional Sicilian way, something which was not seen quite often during the reigns of the previous Outfit bosses from the past.

I believe that the moment when Tocco became official member of the Chicago Mafia, both Palermo and Zizzo already knew on who was going to be the new and real power within their group, and I also think they didn’t have any problem with it. Tocco’s headquarters became the offices of his Chicago Heights Disposal company, which he personally controlled it under the threat of violence with the help of one of his chief musclemen, Clarence Crockett, who worked as employee at the same firm. Tocco was far from being a businessman and so he quickly turned the company’s offices into a gang hangout, with Crockett being his principal collector of protection money for Tocco's $500,000-a-month “extortion club” whose members included car thieves, gamblers, brothel and restaurant keepers. According to a secretary who worked for the crime boss, Tocco babbled on the phone all day long with all kinds of individuals, including Mayor Panici, Bloom Township supervisor Robert Grossi, Rick Smith who was a police chief of South Chicago Heights, and also with many different members and associates of the Chicago Mob. Once, Mayor Panici allegedly called Tocco at his office and disguised his voice in an attempt to conceal his identity.


Mayor Charles Panici

The bribes from Tocco to the council were taken care of by Nick LoBue who owned a private and legit enterprise known as Arken Extermination Services. On the other hand, Tocco owned few legitimate establishments and so he allegedly called the Arken firm but in reality, no exterminating services were ever rendered at the locals. Nevertheless, for the next three years Tocco issued monthly checks for $1800 to Arken on the account of his company the Chicago Heights Disposal and LoBue frequently picked up the monthly check in person. After that LoBue received a corresponding check for approximately $1800 drawn on Arken's account and the company recorded these checks as commissions to LoBue. Sometimes Tocco cashed to bribe money to Prisco who also owned a similar legitimate enterprise known as Alpha Pest Control.

From that point on, the garbage company wasn’t the same anymore because most of the daily garbage routes resulted with almost no pickups and cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in labor and fuel. Another trick on which the Mob used was reducing the number of garbage trucks and also used less crews and fuel for the job. During this period, Tocco’s men divided up routes, rigged contract bids, and harassed other garbage haulers and also customers in order to quash competition, keep their prices high and maintain the cash-flow and soon the crew had monopolies on trash collection all over the South Side and all southern suburbs. Tocco’s men also falsified paperwork and tampered with waste scales, sometimes to skim profits from the business, and sometimes to hide dirty money in it. Many Outfit associates often received no-show jobs at the garbage firm, which gave them a legit job to put on their tax return and explain their income. Sometimes they received $1,000 a week, plus health benefits, without doing any single work.


“Garbage King” Al Tocco

During that time Tocco had some much political protection that he almost became “untouchable” both in the eyes of his peers in the Outfit and also the government. For example, in 1984 Tocco was indicted on the gambling charges for operating illegal horse betting business around the Chicago Heights and Joliet areas. More than ten operators were also indicted together with Tocco, including four of his alleged top aids in the whole scheme such as Carlo Pierandozzi, Sam Maciareillo, Anthony Pinto and Albert Troiani, all from the Chicago Heights area. But in April that same year, four defendants including Tocco, were released on all charges besides the numerous evidences which were previously given by the prosecutors, thanks to the Outfit’s government and judicial connections which were still quite strong at the time.


BOSS OF THE HEIGHTS

By 1985, members of the Outfit’s leadership such as Joey Aiuppa, Jack Cerone, Angelo LaPietra and Joey Lombardo, were sentenced to prison regarding the infamous Las Vegas scheme which the Outfit controlled since the late 1940’s. LaPietra was boss of the so-called Chinatown crew and was also main representative for his crew and also for the Cicero crew, then under Joe Ferriola, same as Palermo being the representative for both the Chicago Heights and Indiana crews. But as I previously stated, there was some type of complicated connection between Ferriola’s Cicero crew and the Chicago heights crew, which somehow resulted with Cicero’s “Wild Bunch” crew allegedly executing murders in favor for Palermo’s crew, like in the previous case, but on the other hand thee Chicago Heights began losing areas to the Cicero crew, in return for their help. You see, before going to jail, LaPietra together with Ferriola began entering different areas around the southern suburbs, including the Chicago Heights area. The so-called “desire” of the Cicero-Chinatown group to control the Chicago Heights area was formed back during the 1960’s when their original “Godfather” Fiore Buccieri decided to invade that same area and so, 20 years later the same situation continued mainly because after LaPorte’s death and also after the imprisonment of Pilotto, the Chicago Heights crew under Palermo’s rulership was allegedly “weak”, something which gave both LaPietra and Ferriola the power to manipulate Palermo’s crew and also to enter his areas. Even government investigators at the time managed to “catch” that same situation, and in their report Tocco’s crew was described as a “motley one” or as “street punks”, with Al Roviaro, Joe Barrett, Tony Berretoni and Chris Messino as his top lieutenants allegedly being a “poor group” compared, for instance, to “Nagall's” crew, which was a nickname for Cicero boss Joe Ferriola.



Dominick Palermo

Since most of the bosses were going to jail, the whole Chicago Outfit prepared for another transformation within its structural hierarchy and membership, but it seems that the old leaders had one last task for their successors and that was the double murder of the Spilotro brothers, Tony and Michael. It was a simple trap for the brothers who in turn were beaten to death in June 1986, by future bosses, capos and members who were previously handpicked by the imprisoned Aiuppa, Cerone, LaPietra and Lombardo. One of those future capos who was also involved in the murder was Al Tocco, since that same year under the new leadership of Sam Carlisi and John DiFronzo, he replaced Palermo and officially became the new boss for the Chicago Heights crew. On top of that, at the same time Frank Zizzo died of natural causes and it seems that the capo position for the Indiana crew was probably relinquished, meaning Palermo remained as Tocco’s top lieutenant, while what was left of the old Indiana crew was overseen by one of their “soldiers” known as Bernard Morgano, who in turn was the son of one-time Indiana capo Tommy Morgano. It is also possible that the capo position for the Indiana crew was left out because of the influence and presence by the Ferriola-LaPietra group in that same area, meaning the area became divided between few crews.


Chicago Heights Caporegime Al “Caesar” Tocco


HARD TIMES

By the mid 1980’s the auto-theft was still considered a Class III felony with a maximum penalty of two to five years in prison, and possession of a stolen car was a Class IV felony by carrying a one to three years sentence. But in 1985, some government investigators made a conclusion that the auto-theft cost the American population an estimated $5 billion a year, including $1 billion in law enforcement costs. So, some government “law-makers” decided to make new laws and the following year President Ronald Reagan signed the Motor Vehicle Theft Law Enforcement with the purpose to increase the federal penalties and make it tougher for stolen parts to be marketed in the United States and abroad, meaning auto theft offenders-rings of thieves and chop shop operators faced prison sentences of up to 20 years and forfeiture-of financial assets and property if convicted. This was obviously a huge “slap in the face” for Tocco and the Chicago Outfit in general, because it completely jeopardized their multi-million dollar car-theft operations.


For example, the same year when Tocco became caporegime, several government prosecutors tested the new laws on one of Tocco’s car theft crews which operated in the Oak Lawn and Blue Island areas, which resulted with the arrest of Tocco’s long-time associate Charles Bills who in turn received 10 years in prison, while his partners in crime Charles Soteras received 12-year term, Donald Sanders was sentenced to 8 years in prison and ordered to pay $30,000 and as for Jerry Rosenstein, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. On top of that, Charles “Guy” Bills decided to become a government witness against Tocco and his crew and told the feds some horrific stories and also told them that he was one of Tocco’s prime moneymakers and also gave them the numbers and also the location of “victims” who paid street tax to Tocco’s Mob. Bills once allegedly stated that “Usually, you don’t hurt the families but he (Tocco) would throw your family out the window if it was up to him, the wife, the family, their cats and dogs. He is very vicious.”