Another of Tocco’s prime associates in the chop shop business, who also fell into the government’s web, was Ora Curry. In August 1986, Curry and his wife Rose were accused for multiple counts of income tax evasion and mail fraud, since most of the unreported income was derived from a substantial money trail developed by IRS investigators which indicated hidden profits from the sale of parts from stolen and stripped cars. Also, while awaiting his sentencing, the feds managed to destroy Curry’s chop shop empire by arresting 88 of his associates for selling stolen vehicles to undercover state agents in a “sting” operation in Will County. One month later, Curry was sentenced to 18 years in prison, fined him $10,000 and ordered $174,000 in restitution. In fact, I believe that the prison sentence has saved Curry’s life from the hands of Tocco and the Outfit.

With the imprisonment of two of his prime operators in the car-theft racket, the feds managed to cut-off Tocco’s prime illegal income, mainly because it was not only about stealing cars, but instead it was also about transporting narcotics. Even his gambling operations were on the downfall mainly because operators like Richard Guzzino, brother of the late Sam Guzzino, was having trouble with the law regarding the botched assassination of Al Pilotto that occurred back in 1981. The problem was there were allegedly many witnesses that same day on the golf course, who in 1985 testified against Guzzino and one of his associates Robert Ciarrocchi, and two years later or in 1987, both were sentenced to prison with Guzzino receiving 15 years, while Ciarrocchi received 10 years.


Richard Guzzino and Robert Ciarrocchi

Tocco was then forced to invest further in his garbage hauling business together with his “business partner” Clarence Crockett, and with the help of local corruption, he purchased his own dump site for $25,000, south of the Chicago Heights area, and story goes that he was the only bidder for the land. But it seems that same garbage business was going to be the end of Tocco’s criminal career, not the car-theft racket, since there was a huge problem with his new dumping ground because it was developed since the early 1920’s and from that point on it was constantly filled with all types of toxic garbage and because it was poorly managed by Tocco, it presented an environmental and human health hazard, considering the time of its founding. The whole situation quickly became a huge scandal and it was all over the news and the media, and Tocco’s name was also attached to it.


Clarence Crockett

That’s why Tocco slowly saw the “writing on the wall” by knowing that the feds were slowly closing in on him, and also became quite paranoid and began thinking violently. And that’s what really happened. In April 1988, Tocco allegedly ordered the murder of former suburban Crete chop shop owner and Outfit associate turned drug dealer, Eugene Bell, who was found strangled to death near Miami, Florida. Two months later, another former chop shop operator turned drug dealer from the Dolton area, Sam Mann, was beaten to death probably by few men with baseball bats.

The next individual on Tocco’s “murder list” was John Pronger, the brother of the late Robert Pronger who was previously killed back during the 1970’s. The problem with John Pronger was that he was caught by the feds with one kilo of cocaine and a stack of $24,000 or around $60,000 in today’s money. Shortly after Pronger’s bond was set at $400,000 and in no time, Pronger's ex-wife received cash from “someone” and posted the necessary 10 percent of the bond which permitted Pronger to remain free. In fact, this was an old trick made by the Outfit where they pay the convict’s bond so he or she can walk the streets for at least awhile so the Outfit’s hitmen can do their job. One night in August 1988, Pronger stayed at home and when he got near the front door, an individual from the outside fired one shot through the door thus wounding Pronger in the left wrist. Then the gunman kicked the door open and fired another shot from a 357 Magnum handgun loaded with dum-dum bullets into Pronger’s chest, thus making him the second brother killed on the orders of the Chicago Outfit. According to famous Mafia author, Robert M. Lombardo, Tocco’s paranoia went as far as removing waiters and even Outfit associates in a locked rooms during Outfit parties, especially when it was time for business chat between made members only, although it seems that the author was a little bit off with the years when the alleged situations occurred.


Chicago Tribune headline regarding Pronger’s murder


ON THE LAM

The government’s attacks on Tocco’s territory continued when the feds arranged lots of sting operations around the area, by posing as chop shop owners and car dealers. The operation really opened up when undercover agents spread the word around many junkyards, auto dealers and taverns about their alleged chop shop operation. In a very short time period, the word spread with the speed of light among car thieves who started bringing stolen vehicles to the shop to be stripped and resold. In just few months, 33 criminals sold 63 stolen autos and 2 stolen boats to undercover agents who had set up fake chop shop in the south suburbs. All of the illegal sales were recorded often on videotapes by other federal agents, while hidden in vans or apartments, usually right across their targets. Insurance industry officials credited the undercover investigations with helping to reduce the number of auto thefts in Chicago between 19 and 25 percent for the first half of 1988.

With the help of his political connections, that same year, Tocco alleged received confidential information that the feds prepared for his arrest on racketeering, extortion and murder charges and so, he did the “unthinkable”. In a matter of few days, Tocco raised some quick cash by selling his lucrative trash hauling firm and immediately fled the country. There was international manhunt for Tocco that lasted for more than three months, followed by numerous stories regarding he allegedly being somewhere in South America, or possibly was still hiding somewhere in and U.S., thus making some of the investigators quite mystified and frustrated and even more eager to find him and so, the feds placed Tocco’s name on their “Ten Most Wanted” list. With the help of Europe’s Interpol, especially with the collaboration between both Italian and Greek authorities, Tocco was family found in Athens, Greece. Over there he owned a small house and also a mistress, and even stashed around $500,000 or little less than $1,400,000 in today’s money. Investigators found Tocco’s location with the help of an informant and also by following his son’s trip to Greece and his visit to his father’s house.



FBI Most Wanted poster regarding Tocco

In January 1989, he was arrested by Interpol agents and after that he was transferred to Rome, Italy; and from there Tocco was brought back to the U.S. to face trial. He was welcomed by federal agents at New York’s airport and several days later he arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare airport where he was handcuffed and was also accompanied by four agents, with Tocco constantly trying to run down a hallway in the American Airlines terminal, so he can escape the pursuing mob of reporters and cameramen. Some of the reporters shouted things like “Good trip, Al?”, or “How does it feel to be back in Chicago. What were you doing in Greece?”. In fact, Tocco was probably one the first high level members of the Outfit who went on lam so he can escape prison term and being wanted all around the world, and above all managed to reach the FBI’s top ten list.


Tocco trying to hide his face from the media


THE LOVE OF MY LIFE


Before the trial began, Tocco was allegedly asked multiple times to cooperate with the government but he remained true to his Cosa Nostra code of silence and usually gave them answers such as “Leopard never changes its spots”, or “I’ll never be a stoolpigeon.” Besides those statements, there was only quite horrific answer which Tocco gave to the feds by indicating that he would never cooperate with the FBI, and to analogize it, he would rather see his son burning on a pyre, rather being an informant”. This obviously showed the feds that Tocco was going to remain silent until the end, and also showed the true face of Cosa Nostra and its sick ideology. According to one of the investigators who questioned Tocco on his own, he was allegedly able to see the coldness in Tocco’s eyes while making some of those terrifying statements and never ever before met such a fanatic regarding his criminal ideology.

The thing was that the feds already had three witnesses against Tocco, with two of them being his former accomplices, while the third witness completely shook Tocco’s mind and also brought unforgettable resentment. The so-called best government witness against Tocco was in his own model wife, Betty Tocco, who in turn was married with the mobster for the last 15 years and they had one young kid, and I personally don’t have any information if Tocco’s was previously married or not with another woman, but one thing is for sure that Betty knew a lot about Tocco’s illegal activities, a mistake which was made by him only, meaning the Cosa Nostra leader shared many “sensitive” information with his own wife. Even though she already knew that her husband was deeply involved in illegal activities his whole life, and previously she accepted that including the lavish lifestyle, still the main problem for Betty was that her husband has allegedly threatened to her if she revealed his location while he was on the run.

So, the “naive” woman obviously received the “slap” of reality and decided to reveal his location and also to tell her story, either because she was really scared for her own life and also the life of their son, or she simply found an “exit” for not being an accomplice in her husband’s illegal dealings by telling the government everything that she knew about him. Or there was much bigger greed between the couple, since Tocco defense lawyers argued that previously Betty allegedly stole $250,000 from her husband who in turn uncovered her scheme and so, that’s why the wife allegedly “invented” the situation regarding the death threats from her gangster husband. Tocco also took the stand and accused the main investigator by stating something like "My wife is in fact your wife!", meaning Tocco's point was that his own wife believed the feds more than him.



Chicago Tribune article from October 1989

Besides the alleged threats, during her testimony, Betty Tocco also mentioned LoBue's name along with Prisco’s, and her testimony later proved that both LoBue and Prisco were accepting bribe money from Tocco in exchange for their help in keeping the garbage hauling license. Next, she also told the prosecutors that one day in 1987, while driving near one Indiana cornfield, Tocco allegedly told her that was the place where he allegedly buried the late Spilotro brothers. Betty also testified that one evening, before her husband told her the information about the Spilotro burial, Tocco came home covered in dirt. Another interesting information which Betty Tocco mentioned was that one day, her husband mentioned to her that he allegedly made some mistake and that he was afraid that Joe Ferriola from the Cicero-South group might order his murder, which obviously never occurred and also by the time of Tocco’s trial, Ferriola was already dead. But still, the last information is just one of the many examples in which we can see the jurisdiction, official or not, that the more powerful Cicero group had over the less powerful Chicago Heights crew.

Tocco was obviously facing great shame after every word that was spoken against him by his former wife and he didn’t care about the public around him and his criminal deeds, but instead he was ashamed from his “brothers” of the Outfit’s criminal brotherhood, obviously because he failed the organization and also indirectly, broke the code of silence because Betty Tocco was probably the first wife of an organized crime leader to testify against her husband. In the end, in May 1990, Tocco was sentenced to 200 years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy, extortion and tax fraud, or in plane words he was sentenced to life. Also, because of Betty’s testimony, in 1991 Nick LoBue and Donald Prisco pleaded guilty to accepting $50,000 and $250,000 from Tocco's garbage-hauling company and landfill operations during the 1980’s. Unlike LoBue, Prisco did not agree to cooperate with the government, and was sentenced to 2 1/2-year prison term. Sixteen other public officials were charged and convicted with bribery and extortion, including Enrico Doggett, city administrator and Joseph Christofanelli, director of economic development of the industrial community, who both pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud charges and decided to cooperate with the government.


Tribune article from 1991

Even though Tocco's imprisonment and the rest of the cases was a “hard punch” in the face of Chicago’s organized crime, still the prosecutors were able to uncover just a glimpse of the widespread corruption in the city’s local government, but by 1993 the Outfit’s so-called “shield” or protection was almost completely destroyed with the indictments of many corrupt government individuals, including made members of the Mafia who infiltrated themselves withing Chicago’s political and also judicial system and stayed there for many decades. In fact, the early 1990’s signaled the end of the “old” Outfit and opened the doors for more sophisticated criminal organization which was headed by Outfit bosses who learned the lesson from the mistakes made by mobsters such as Al Tocco.

Shortly after Tocco’s imprisonment, the feds received information that the former boss was allegedly plotting the murders of the main prosecutor, and undisclosed number of federal agents and witnesses who testified against him, including his wife Betty who in turn was quickly taken to the witness protection program. The information came from another inmate who previously allegedly attempted a suicide and was later placed in isolation, but somehow overheard the conversation between Tocco and another individual. In fact, the main prosecutor who was marked for death was Larry Rosenthal, who in turn also confirmed that during the trial Tocco allegedly said to him in whispering voice “I’m going to get you. I’m going to get….the FBI agents.”

The leadership of the Chicago Heights crew and what was left of their operations, was taken over by Tocco’s mentor Dominick Palermo and his lieutenant Nick Guzzino, followed by their representative from the Indiana area, Bernard Morgano. In 1992, they all ended up in prison regarding the same case which also sent Tocco to jail, such as racketeering, extortion, threats and arson, including collecting “street tax”, obviously except for murder which was previously included in Tocco’s case. That is why they didn’t receive life sentences, like for example Palermo was sent to 32 years, Guzzino received 39 years, while Morgano was sent to 16 years in prison. Previously during the trials, the defendants were asked by the prosecutors if they were ever contacted by the imprisoned Tocco regarding the alleged “hit list” of government officials and witnesses, but they all kept their mouths shut in a true gangster style.


Nick Guzzino

Palermo’s rulership was already looked upon as “weak leftovers” who were about to go down anytime soon, which means that Tocco was probably the last powerful boss for the crew who at least managed to leave some type of leading administration behind him, since after Palermo’s imprisonment, the situation signaled the “death” of the old Chicago Heights Mob. Shortly after, all of the former interests of the former Chicago Heights crew were instantly absorbed by the leading Cicero-South Side Mob which by that time was headed by John Monteleone and Mike Spano Sr., both being close associates with the imprisoned Tocco back during the old days when they were starting their criminal careers as young burglars and car thieves.

While being in jail in Terre Haute, Indiana; at first Tocco was considered as highly dangerous inmate obviously because of the previous reasons, but it seems that as time passed by, his charisma and friendly attitude probably got to some of the prison officials and so, they started looking at him almost as “employee” around the prison, obviously because he wasn’t going anywhere for the rest of his life. Tocco’s hobby was planting different types of flowers and plants in and out the prison yard, especially roses. In September 2005, at the age of 76, old man Tocco died from a stroke in his jail cell and his name again managed to hit the national news one last time, by being remembered as one of Chicago’s most notorious individuals and also as alleged “true” Cosa Nostra leader.


Tocco in prison with his plants


Tocco’s grave

The end.