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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: furio_from_naples]
#684220
12/18/12 05:18 PM
12/18/12 05:18 PM
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 290
ATL
SilentPartnerz
Capo
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Capo
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 290
ATL
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Two power bases:
Elmwood Park - Mostly infiltrated into legit business because boss John DiFronzo does not want to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Cicero - standard blue collar mob rackets; gambling and juice loans.
"Three can keep a secret..if two are dead."
Calogero Minacore
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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: furio_from_naples]
#684232
12/18/12 05:54 PM
12/18/12 05:54 PM
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 112
FriedRavioliFarts
Made Member
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Made Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 112
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It has been discussed quite a bit. 28 made members was from years ago. Each crew operates as almost a separate family. Aiuppa set that structure up in the 80's. The Northside/Rush Street Crew and Grand Ave Crew are aligned with Elmwood Park - DiFronzo. Cicero Crew and Chinatown Crew have an alliance. There is a Chicago Heights crew as well that operates in NW Indiana and other parts of Indiana as well. Marcello from Cicero made new members before he went away. Chinatown Crew is my opinion is still very capable of violence. The Outfit still has political influence in the city and the suburbs. The Outfit maintains a lot of power through their associates. Offshore casinos, video poker machines, bookmaking, loan sharking, real estate development, restaurants, auto dealerships, nursing homes, abortion clinics, motion picture industry, construction, trucking, Chicago futures exchanges, nightclubs, unions are the rackets. They have associates in San Diego, LA, Las Vegas, Florida. Certainly not as powerful as they once were, but it is a different Outfit. I still think a lot is going on contrary to other posters.
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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: FriedRavioliFarts]
#684233
12/18/12 06:02 PM
12/18/12 06:02 PM
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,526
LuanKuci
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,526
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It has been discussed quite a bit. 28 made members was from years ago. Each crew operates as almost a separate family. Aiuppa set that structure up in the 80's. The Northside/Rush Street Crew and Grand Ave Crew are aligned with Elmwood Park - DiFronzo. Cicero Crew and Chinatown Crew have an alliance. There is a Chicago Heights crew as well that operates in NW Indiana and other parts of Indiana as well. Marcello from Cicero made new members before he went away. Chinatown Crew is my opinion is still very capable of violence. The Outfit still has political influence in the city and the suburbs. The Outfit maintains a lot of power through their associates. Offshore casinos, video poker machines, bookmaking, loan sharking, real estate development, restaurants, auto dealerships, nursing homes, abortion clinics, motion picture industry, construction, trucking, Chicago futures exchanges, nightclubs, unions are the rackets. They have associates in San Diego, LA, Las Vegas, Florida. Certainly not as powerful as they once were, but it is a different Outfit. I still think a lot is going on contrary to other posters.
Can you post some sources regarding their associates/members operating outside of the Mid West?
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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: furio_from_naples]
#684359
12/19/12 06:05 AM
12/19/12 06:05 AM
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 7,499
naples,italy
furio_from_naples
OP
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OP
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 7,499
naples,italy
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http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2012/The-Mobs-Last-Gasp/THE GANG THAT WOULDN’T DIE: This month three Chicago senior citizens are set to be sentenced for an audacious plot to rob a mob boss’s home. A story of thrill-seeking, revenge, and the decline of the Outfit By Hillel Levin n an enclave of mostly multifamily dwellings in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, the brown-and-gray brick house stands out like a palace. Flanking the front door are opulent bow windows etched with a diamond pattern. Wood shingles cover the entrance to the driveway leading to a detached four-car garage. And it is all enclosed by a six-foot-high brick wall. To convicted drug dealer and robber Robert “Bobby” Pullia, it was a “fucking fortress.” During the spring of 2010, he had spent two weeks checking it out with a couple of other ex-cons, Arthur Rachel and Joseph “Jerry” Scalise. “It’s a fortress,” Scalise agreed, “but it’s still got windows.” Although born with a deformed left hand—no more than a knob with a pinkie and thumb—Scalise managed to scale the wall. He discovered a door to the house that was hidden from the street. To see inside before he picked the lock, he would need to remove some glass bricks from an adjacent wall. On two successive nights, as either Pullia or Rachel stood lookout, Scalise returned with a drill to slowly and quietly cut through the mortar around the bricks. His plan, once they got into the house, was to search behind family portraits for compartments with hidden valuables. But before the treasure hunt could begin, the three burglars would have to do something about the home’s occupant, a 68-year-old woman. If they waited for her to go to sleep, she might wake up while they were working and call police. They had to “get her before she goes to bed,” Scalise told Rachel. On the night of April 7, the two tested a can of Mace in a supermarket parking lot. The next evening, the three returned to the house in a white Ford Econoline van and parked nearby. This time they were dressed in black from head to toe, and they brought the Mace, a six-foot ladder, handcuffs, and various tools. While Rachel remained in the van to monitor a police scanner, Scalise and Pullia stepped out for one last round of reconnaissance before the assault. At 8 p.m., as the house’s resident sat sipping tea in her kitchen, she was startled by a loud noise. Outside her window, FBI agents in bulletproof vests and blue jackets swarmed a stunned Scalise and Pullia from all directions. The feds nabbed Rachel back at the van. When the U.S. attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald, announced the arrest a week later, some remarkable facts emerged. One was that the reported age of the suspects—Pullia, 69; Rachel, 71; and Scalise, 73—exceeded that of their intended victim. While most of their contemporaries had long since downshifted into retirement, this geriatric gang had already carried out one robbery and was planning others, according to a federal complaint. (The FBI had tailed them for months and had bugged Scalise’s van.) What’s more, the place with the brick wall wasn’t just any house. It was the family home of the late Angelo “the Hook” LaPietra, one of the most powerful and fearsome bosses of Chicago’s Mafia, known as the Outfit. Though LaPietra had died in 1999, his daughter Joanne Lascola still lived there. Lascola’s daughter Angela is married to Kurt Calabrese, a son of incarcerated Outfit boss Frank Calabrese Sr. These family ties were known to Pullia, Rachel, and Scalise because the three had long been in the Outfit themselves. To target LaPietra’s household and put his daughter at risk was not only an affront to the memory of a past don but also an insult to the Calabrese family—offenses that would have once been unthinkable. “It’s the ultimate sign of disrespect,” says Jim Wagner, a former head of Chicago organized crime investigations for the FBI. According to FBI reports and court testimony, Scalise in particular had been considered so loyal by the Outfit’s leaders that he was reserved for their most sensitive contract killings. So why did he, and the other two, do it? Scalise and Pullia—who earlier this year pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit robberies, and weapons violations—aren’t talking; they have not responded to requests for interviews. Nor has Rachel, who stood trial on the same charges as the other two and was acquitted on only one gun count. Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for this month. Because they have refused to cooperate with authorities, each is expected to get ten years behind bars. Despite the gang’s silence, a close examination of the government’s surveillance tapes and other evidence—plus interviews with friends and foes and an illuminating 2008 interview with Scalise himself—helps make sense of their methods and motivations. What emerges is not just a tale of three men who refused to fade into the sunset, but also a parallel story of a Chicago Mob that may already be in eclipse.
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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: furio_from_naples]
#684466
12/19/12 04:23 PM
12/19/12 04:23 PM
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,156
jonnynonos
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,156
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"The Outfit maintains a lot of power through their associates. Offshore casinos, video poker machines, bookmaking, loan sharking, real estate development, restaurants, auto dealerships, nursing homes, abortion clinics, motion picture industry, construction, trucking, Chicago futures exchanges, nightclubs, unions are the rackets."
All possible, but not a shred of evidence. A lot of these are simply businesses owned by past members or family of former Outfit members.
John DiFronzio has less pull with the motion picture industry at this point than the guy who played Belky Bartakamous.
They controlled all that through the theater unions. I don't think there are any theater unions left. If there are, Chicago is certainly not controlling them, LOL.
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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: furio_from_naples]
#684468
12/19/12 04:28 PM
12/19/12 04:28 PM
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Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,425
Bamboo Lounge
NickyEyes1
Hawks Bears Bulls Sox
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Hawks Bears Bulls Sox
Underboss
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,425
Bamboo Lounge
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http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2012/The-Mobs-Last-Gasp/THE GANG THAT WOULDN’T DIE: This month three Chicago senior citizens are set to be sentenced for an audacious plot to rob a mob boss’s home. A story of thrill-seeking, revenge, and the decline of the Outfit By Hillel Levin n an enclave of mostly multifamily dwellings in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, the brown-and-gray brick house stands out like a palace. Flanking the front door are opulent bow windows etched with a diamond pattern. Wood shingles cover the entrance to the driveway leading to a detached four-car garage. And it is all enclosed by a six-foot-high brick wall. To convicted drug dealer and robber Robert “Bobby” Pullia, it was a “fucking fortress.” During the spring of 2010, he had spent two weeks checking it out with a couple of other ex-cons, Arthur Rachel and Joseph “Jerry” Scalise. “It’s a fortress,” Scalise agreed, “but it’s still got windows.” Although born with a deformed left hand—no more than a knob with a pinkie and thumb—Scalise managed to scale the wall. He discovered a door to the house that was hidden from the street. To see inside before he picked the lock, he would need to remove some glass bricks from an adjacent wall. On two successive nights, as either Pullia or Rachel stood lookout, Scalise returned with a drill to slowly and quietly cut through the mortar around the bricks. His plan, once they got into the house, was to search behind family portraits for compartments with hidden valuables. But before the treasure hunt could begin, the three burglars would have to do something about the home’s occupant, a 68-year-old woman. If they waited for her to go to sleep, she might wake up while they were working and call police. They had to “get her before she goes to bed,” Scalise told Rachel. On the night of April 7, the two tested a can of Mace in a supermarket parking lot. The next evening, the three returned to the house in a white Ford Econoline van and parked nearby. This time they were dressed in black from head to toe, and they brought the Mace, a six-foot ladder, handcuffs, and various tools. While Rachel remained in the van to monitor a police scanner, Scalise and Pullia stepped out for one last round of reconnaissance before the assault. At 8 p.m., as the house’s resident sat sipping tea in her kitchen, she was startled by a loud noise. Outside her window, FBI agents in bulletproof vests and blue jackets swarmed a stunned Scalise and Pullia from all directions. The feds nabbed Rachel back at the van. When the U.S. attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald, announced the arrest a week later, some remarkable facts emerged. One was that the reported age of the suspects—Pullia, 69; Rachel, 71; and Scalise, 73—exceeded that of their intended victim. While most of their contemporaries had long since downshifted into retirement, this geriatric gang had already carried out one robbery and was planning others, according to a federal complaint. (The FBI had tailed them for months and had bugged Scalise’s van.) What’s more, the place with the brick wall wasn’t just any house. It was the family home of the late Angelo “the Hook” LaPietra, one of the most powerful and fearsome bosses of Chicago’s Mafia, known as the Outfit. Though LaPietra had died in 1999, his daughter Joanne Lascola still lived there. Lascola’s daughter Angela is married to Kurt Calabrese, a son of incarcerated Outfit boss Frank Calabrese Sr. These family ties were known to Pullia, Rachel, and Scalise because the three had long been in the Outfit themselves. To target LaPietra’s household and put his daughter at risk was not only an affront to the memory of a past don but also an insult to the Calabrese family—offenses that would have once been unthinkable. “It’s the ultimate sign of disrespect,” says Jim Wagner, a former head of Chicago organized crime investigations for the FBI. According to FBI reports and court testimony, Scalise in particular had been considered so loyal by the Outfit’s leaders that he was reserved for their most sensitive contract killings. So why did he, and the other two, do it? Scalise and Pullia—who earlier this year pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit robberies, and weapons violations—aren’t talking; they have not responded to requests for interviews. Nor has Rachel, who stood trial on the same charges as the other two and was acquitted on only one gun count. Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for this month. Because they have refused to cooperate with authorities, each is expected to get ten years behind bars. Despite the gang’s silence, a close examination of the government’s surveillance tapes and other evidence—plus interviews with friends and foes and an illuminating 2008 interview with Scalise himself—helps make sense of their methods and motivations. What emerges is not just a tale of three men who refused to fade into the sunset, but also a parallel story of a Chicago Mob that may already be in eclipse. I don't see how this makes Chicago seem less powerful. They got caught right away and the person there was the daughter of Angelo LaPietra was was dead.
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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: NickyEyes1]
#684485
12/19/12 05:48 PM
12/19/12 05:48 PM
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,156
jonnynonos
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,156
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True Ang is dead. But his daughter (not the one who lives in the house) is married to Kurt Calabrese, and there isn't any disputing that his dad Frank Calabrese is one of the most hard core gangsters in the city, even though incarcerated. Not like robbing Arcaddo or anything close to it. But still probably a no-no with a strong Outfit. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2012/The-Mobs-Last-Gasp/THE GANG THAT WOULDN’T DIE: This month three Chicago senior citizens are set to be sentenced for an audacious plot to rob a mob boss’s home. A story of thrill-seeking, revenge, and the decline of the Outfit By Hillel Levin n an enclave of mostly multifamily dwellings in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, the brown-and-gray brick house stands out like a palace. Flanking the front door are opulent bow windows etched with a diamond pattern. Wood shingles cover the entrance to the driveway leading to a detached four-car garage. And it is all enclosed by a six-foot-high brick wall. To convicted drug dealer and robber Robert “Bobby” Pullia, it was a “fucking fortress.” During the spring of 2010, he had spent two weeks checking it out with a couple of other ex-cons, Arthur Rachel and Joseph “Jerry” Scalise. “It’s a fortress,” Scalise agreed, “but it’s still got windows.” Although born with a deformed left hand—no more than a knob with a pinkie and thumb—Scalise managed to scale the wall. He discovered a door to the house that was hidden from the street. To see inside before he picked the lock, he would need to remove some glass bricks from an adjacent wall. On two successive nights, as either Pullia or Rachel stood lookout, Scalise returned with a drill to slowly and quietly cut through the mortar around the bricks. His plan, once they got into the house, was to search behind family portraits for compartments with hidden valuables. But before the treasure hunt could begin, the three burglars would have to do something about the home’s occupant, a 68-year-old woman. If they waited for her to go to sleep, she might wake up while they were working and call police. They had to “get her before she goes to bed,” Scalise told Rachel. On the night of April 7, the two tested a can of Mace in a supermarket parking lot. The next evening, the three returned to the house in a white Ford Econoline van and parked nearby. This time they were dressed in black from head to toe, and they brought the Mace, a six-foot ladder, handcuffs, and various tools. While Rachel remained in the van to monitor a police scanner, Scalise and Pullia stepped out for one last round of reconnaissance before the assault. At 8 p.m., as the house’s resident sat sipping tea in her kitchen, she was startled by a loud noise. Outside her window, FBI agents in bulletproof vests and blue jackets swarmed a stunned Scalise and Pullia from all directions. The feds nabbed Rachel back at the van. When the U.S. attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald, announced the arrest a week later, some remarkable facts emerged. One was that the reported age of the suspects—Pullia, 69; Rachel, 71; and Scalise, 73—exceeded that of their intended victim. While most of their contemporaries had long since downshifted into retirement, this geriatric gang had already carried out one robbery and was planning others, according to a federal complaint. (The FBI had tailed them for months and had bugged Scalise’s van.) What’s more, the place with the brick wall wasn’t just any house. It was the family home of the late Angelo “the Hook” LaPietra, one of the most powerful and fearsome bosses of Chicago’s Mafia, known as the Outfit. Though LaPietra had died in 1999, his daughter Joanne Lascola still lived there. Lascola’s daughter Angela is married to Kurt Calabrese, a son of incarcerated Outfit boss Frank Calabrese Sr. These family ties were known to Pullia, Rachel, and Scalise because the three had long been in the Outfit themselves. To target LaPietra’s household and put his daughter at risk was not only an affront to the memory of a past don but also an insult to the Calabrese family—offenses that would have once been unthinkable. “It’s the ultimate sign of disrespect,” says Jim Wagner, a former head of Chicago organized crime investigations for the FBI. According to FBI reports and court testimony, Scalise in particular had been considered so loyal by the Outfit’s leaders that he was reserved for their most sensitive contract killings. So why did he, and the other two, do it? Scalise and Pullia—who earlier this year pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit robberies, and weapons violations—aren’t talking; they have not responded to requests for interviews. Nor has Rachel, who stood trial on the same charges as the other two and was acquitted on only one gun count. Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for this month. Because they have refused to cooperate with authorities, each is expected to get ten years behind bars. Despite the gang’s silence, a close examination of the government’s surveillance tapes and other evidence—plus interviews with friends and foes and an illuminating 2008 interview with Scalise himself—helps make sense of their methods and motivations. What emerges is not just a tale of three men who refused to fade into the sunset, but also a parallel story of a Chicago Mob that may already be in eclipse. I don't see how this makes Chicago seem less powerful. They got caught right away and the person there was the daughter of Angelo LaPietra was was dead.
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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: jonnynonos]
#684488
12/19/12 05:58 PM
12/19/12 05:58 PM
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 179
Antonio
Made Member
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Made Member
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 179
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Wait so the Chicago Mob's actual size is only to the nearest ten, practically 30 members and 100 associates? was it always a small family because I thought that even today it would have more membership, I read somewhere in terms of size only the Gambino's and Genovese's matched them. Obviously that must have been exaggeration.
But surely they are involved mainly in Illegal gambling, Loan Sharking, extortion plus Union frauds but can a group that small control these things in the city? I also heard of some politician protecting the Mafia's gambling rackets in the city. Not only that but four of the main panel bosses were negotiating a deal with a mayor of some town for a Casino project.
Tony Soprano : I thought I told you to back off Beansie!
Richie Aprile : I did, Then I put it in drive..
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Re: Today Outfit's real power in Chicago ?
[Re: BlackFamily]
#684657
12/20/12 06:00 PM
12/20/12 06:00 PM
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,156
jonnynonos
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,156
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Quick question. Is there a Eastside Chicago? And back when the Outfit had 7 crews, did they had the same structure as currently? The "east side" is the lake... no one ever says "east side." A lot of the more thriving neighborhoods are along the water or at least geographically on the eastern portion of the city... so it's almost redundant in a lot of cases to say "east side." (there are a lot of good neighborhoods in other parts of the city as well, just generalizing.) From what I understand the crews have been really streamlined now... I don't know how many they have. Maybe three? Someone else will probably now. Many people feel Elmwood Park has been shelved so it might actually just be two or three: Chinatown, Cicero and Grand Avenue. But I'm not sure that's correct. One of those might have been rolled into another one etc. And probably no one on this board will really know for sure.
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