Catalano disappeared DeFilippis was stabbed and bludgeoned.

I know. But everybody says "no no no, the Outfit is just way smarter these days.... they make people DISAPPEAR and you never hear about it!"

Then one day after going to all this effort to make everyone disappear to not draw any heat they say "fuck it" and decide to beat someone to death with a bat?

They still kill..that's my point..as weak as they are they would have NO juice on the street if they didn't have the capacity to hurt and kill. Do fewer ppl get killed nowadays? Of course. Have they become pacifists who abhor violence? Lol hell no

I'll believe it when I see it... I feel the same way about it as I do people saying they are still running this vast empire of street rackets.

They might have got smarter and the feds and local cops may not care as much as they used to, but they would still get caught once in a while.

I mean, hell, when was the last time an Outfit related bookie was arrested, a card game was broken up, a chop shop was shut down, a juice loan guy was prosected? (For recent stuff, I mean... even most the Sarno stuff was like early-mid 2000s.)

On one hand I agree with you to a point. Albeit few and far between murders still have occurred. How would they exist at all even in a diminished capacity if they weren't able or willing to kill? I'm no Outfit fanboy I hate the fucking Outfit and a person I mentioned is a relative of mine. As weak as they are compared to 30 years ago just don't think they stopped killing people

It is a perplexing question. I don't really see how they exist without the threat of violence, either.

But that leads me more to the opinion that they probably don't exist to the point people still think they do.

Although I guess you could look at it from this point of view: Their reputation would probably be sufficient to keep the majority of people in line.

But, yeah, it is an interesting question: Why would someone who decides their gonna be a bookie in Chicago land kick up without the threat of violence?

One word "al capone" the man been dead for 66yrs and the outfit is still living off of his reputation

TOTALLY agree with the perception that they don't exist to the level that most think they do..When people think of "Cicero" they still think of Capone or Aiuppa or people getting shotgunned in the street. No, it's not like that anymore. They no longer have the power to operate with impunity as they did up until the late 80's. Today's Outfit capitalizes on its past reputation to a huge extent but they still have muscle when need be even though they are a castrated version of what they once were. I remember in Sarno's trial, a blowhard from Berwyn named Vinny Dublino testified he called Sarno fatass to his face and threw some of Sarno's thugs out of his bar on 16th Street. LOL I HIGHLY DOUBT Dublino said ANY OF THAT to Sarno personally but if this were 1985 he'd have been a marked man from the moment he got off the witness stand. Such an act though would have brought down alot of heat though as Dublino was a Federal Witness. High risk, NO reward. When it comes down to killing someone over money there IS a reward they are just much more selective about it I guess.

That's funny about Sarno. I didn't hear that one. Yeah, I would be shocked if anyone said that to Sarno, although I guess there are some crazy people out there.

I went to that trial at lunch one day and saw a thief testifying. It was pretty interesting. I forget his name now.

Sarno really is a huge guy.

Dude, I'm so Italian I ooze garlic lol I LOVE MY CULTURE !!!..;) In Italian we have a word for a guy like Dublino - SPACONE lol. A walking cliche of Jersey Shore type shit that gives the rest of us bad names just as badly as the Mafia does lol. Sarno is a scary guy, the thought of anyone - let alone that guy talking like that to him is a friggin joke. 30 years ago Sarno would've never been anything other than an enforcer. I've had debates out here with Ivy and Chicago about him and the terms "Front Boss", "Street Boss", "Acting Boss" etc but the fact that he had the power he did in today's Outfit is proof as to how much the Outfit has fallen.

I am not Italian but I love Italian culture. They have the best clothes, food, wine and cars. What the hell?!

I've read other people say that about Sarno, that he is basically a big doofus who would have never risen so high in the mob of the past.

Well, he did basically go down for nothing--burglary and a pipe bomb!

Not really like Aiuppa getting nabbed for the skim.

Sarno isn't quite a doofus, he's a smart guy but a shadow of what guys with his authority would've been in the past. He just was greedy and ambitious enough to put himself out there on the spot while guys like Jimmy I and Solly D sat back in the shadows. The Ferriola/Infelise Crew from which he came was a ROUGH and scary bunch of guys. His mentor was a guy named Bobby Salerno whose son is now a high profile criminal attorney whose most famous clients are the Cicero guys.

The feds seem to make some kind of indictment on the Outfit every few years. Wonder if/when the next one's cooking.

Kind of weird, really. They know who the gangsters are, with technology these days they could get into their phones, computers, tax returns, track their cars, track their very movements, their bank accounts...

I remember John Kass a few years ago after Family Secrets talked about a coming "tsunami" of indictments.

Never happened.

I think Kass just threw that in as a favor to the cops, or reprinted what they told him, to scare the hell out of everyone and see what shook out.

What other big indictment could they come down with? The major Outfit murders of the 70s and 80s are now solved. Unless they solve the murders of Hatch, Jarrett or Zizzo, there isn't much less to indict absent small time video poker in the West burbs. How active are 26th St. and Cicero even? You never hear anything about them in the papers at all.

Posting Pictures of a couple bars from facebook means nothing and proves nothing.

I will never post any pictures of my father or family on this board. I am not 16 years old.

I never answered the question about Rocky and Joey's brother because it WAS IRRELLEVANT.
However, if anyone is interested including the poster ChiTown who posted pictures like a 16 year old kid to try and prove something, the Lombardo Family had many siblings:
Joey Lombardo
Rocky Lombardo
Andrew Lombardo, Nucci
Theresa
Nancy
Rose Marie
Mary Anna
etc.
So what??

Grand Ave is not a full functioning Organization in the Street rackets and has not been for several years.

I will take the word of Rocky Lombardo, Willie Messino deceased (Elmwood Park) and the F.B.I. over a Fanboy posting pictures of Bars any day of the week and 3 times on Sunday.