The term “chop shop” is used for various independent car thieves that cut up stolen cars and than sell the parts or sell the cars that are built with the stolen parts.Some gangsters even came up with the idea on putting pressure on independent operators to pay street tax.In other cases some of the opeartors made deals with mobsters and in the end got squeezed out and the mob puts one of their guys as a frontman .For example,the Chicago Crime Commission in 1978 reported over 40.000 car thefts.This means that many of this cars went to the chop shops and the operators generated millions of dollars through the years.In the late 60’s and through out the 70’s,there were many chop shop crews operating in almost every city in the U.S.

One of the most famous crews was Chicago’s chop shop crew led by vicious mobster and mafia old timer,named James Catuara.Catuara’s nickname was “The Bomber” for his reputation of blowing taxi cabs in the infamous Chicago taxi wars of the late 20’s and early 30’s.He became a member of the Chicago Heights,based in the south suburbs of Chicago.His teacher was James Belcastro also known as “King of Bombers” who headed his own bomb squad.So as a result of that relationship,Catuara in 1933,at the age of 27,was arrested for carrying a dynamite bomb.He was convicted and did 8 years in Joliet State Prison and was paroled in 1942.He also had close relationship with Outfit bosses Tony Accardo ,Frank LaPorte and later Al Pittolo.,regulary handing them down envelops filled with cash.In other words Jimmy had the backing and his biggest responsibility was the Outfits chop shop interests.

Catuara started with the chop shop business some where around 1969.Rumours are that the chop shop business was originaly started by Albert Tocco. But in 1963 he was convicted and sent to a 3 year jail time.Cautara and Tocco knew each other but there was a rivalry between them in the chop shop busniess.But when Tocco was sent to jail,Cautara took over.At the time,Jimmy was also running loan shark and many gambling operations.With the chop shop operation,Jimmy and his crew became one of the Outfit’s top earning machines.Jimmy ’s crew was formed from the partnership of italian and non italian members and was a very tuff crew with feared reputation.Jimmy kept ruthless bunch of enforcers around him.Not only did his crew operated with the chop shops,they also did murder contracts and demanded street tax from various independent choppers.

Catuara’s reign as boss of the chop shop biz lasted for 3 or 4 years untill Tocco’s release in 1973.Thats when the infamous Chicago cho shop wars started.The wars lasted untill 1980’s.During the chaos,there were about 20 murders connected to the chop shop wars.During the wars,many of Catuara’s crew members switched sides or got whacked.Many people that refused to pay street taxes were also killed.Rumours are that it was Catuara’s fault for the mayhem by taking over other mobsters territories and a lot of people were mad and disapointed.Catuara’s biggest mistake was the planting of a bomb under a car wich belonged to the Secretary of State’s Northern Illionis Vladimir Ivkovich.The bomb didn’t go off but a lot of Outfit bosses got mad at Catuara.So the bosses replaced Catuara with Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra,a very powerfull Chicago mobster.So on July 28 1978,Jimmy Catuara was sitting in his red cadillac when two men approached Catuara’s car and riddled the old timer with bullets.Catuara’s muder preceded with the murders of many of his crew members.Between 1975 and 1980 nearly all of the members of Catuara’s crew were eliminated.

Among the italians in Catuara’s crew were….

Sam Annerino was an ex boxer who started to work for mob guys as ruthless enforcer.He was one of Catuara’s favorite underling and worked directly under him.Annerino had a very bad temper and he was a very good in collecting street taxes from independent chop shops.If some people didn’t pay up,they usually would ended up with a bullet in their heads.He was also known as big time hitman among Outfit bosses.He was known for caryying a hitman ‘s emergency kit in his car trunk.Things like surgical gloves,gun with a fingerprint resistant tape,knife etc.Later he switched sides and became an ally with Chicago mafia old timer Albert Tocco.There were rumours that Annerino was holding cash from Tocco and later Joey “The Clown”Lombardo saw Annerino as a potential rival.So in July 1977,Sam Annerino was taken out by 2 or 3 masked gunmen in the middle of an Oak Lawn street.

Guido Fidanzi was a long time partner of Billy Dauber,a fearless Chicago hitman and enforcer,in a fraudulent mortgage and also a long time Catuara underling. Fidanzi was a soldier/associate and also a hitman for the Chicago Outfit.Fidanzi was paroled in 1971 after being convicted for tax fraud wich he served 3 years in jail. Later rumours came up as usually that Fidanzi was an informer for the FBI and that he tipped the agents about a mail fraud wich many gangsters got charged.Before the trials began on August 8 1972 Fidanzi was shot seven times and the head and body in his brother in law’s office. Rumours are that Fidanzi never was an informant for the FBI,but that’s the way things go in the Outfit.

Richie Ferraro was Catuara’s biggest earner.Ferraro was one if not the biggest major chopper in Chicago. During the chop shop wars in 1977 Ferraro disappeared.Rumours were that Albert Tocco’s crew whacked Ferraro and dismembered his body.

Other members were James Palaggi and Joe Theo.Both were killed during the chop shop wars.Theo was killed at the age of 33 on June 15 1977.He was found in his car shot in the head by a shot gun.Pallagi was found on August 25 1977 in his van shot and wrapped in plastic.He was missing for a week. James Palaggi turned Stool Pigeon for a lesser sentence and ratted on Bruno Mancuri.Palaggi’s father in law was Willie Potatoes Daddano.

Catuara’s most famous non-italian crew members were Billy Dauber and Steve Ostrowsky.

Billy Dauber was one of the most ruthless guys in the crew.Among gangsters he was considered the craziest of them all.As a youngster he started as a enforcer for juice collectors before he’s involvment in the chop shop business. He was a big earner and had his own chop shops .During the chop shop wars he was right hand man for Jimmy Catuara.In 1973 Dauber was convicted for mail fraud and sent to jail.He got out in 1976 but switched sides and turned his back at Cautara.He became a partner with another Chicago mobster,Albert Tocco wich was once Catuara’s ally but later he became his enemy in the chop shop business.Dauber did a lot of success with Tocco but later,drunked with power,Dauber worked his own business and didn’t bother paying street tax.Rumours among mobsters were that he was an informer wich later came out to be true.On July 2,1980 Dauber and his wife were riddled with bullets in their car.

Steve Ostrowsky at age of 28 owned a salvage yard on Chicago’s south side.His yard was in the epicenter of at least 6 chop shops.His yard mostly sold parts from stolen cars.Steve was a major player in the chop shop biz and he was recognized by many top guys in the Chicago Outfit. For Steve Ostrowsky.choppin a car was like a walk in the park. Steve had only one problem in his life and that was he had a big mouth.Steve first connection with Jimmy Catuara was through Billy Dauber.With Dauber, Ostrowsky also worked as a hitman for the Chicago mob.The first time Ostrowsky was linked to a murder was in 1969 when a chopper named Harry Carlson was killed in a car bombing. Ostrowsky was only questioned by the police.There were rumours that Dauber and Ostrowsky had a small army of hitmen under their rule. Ostrowsky was known for taking care of Catuara’s cadillac .Steve ended up as a victim of the chop shop wars.On October 5,1976 at the age of 34,Ostrowsky was shot by a rifle of bullets from a running van.

Timmy O’Brien was a chop shop owner and Catuara’s underling. O`Brien ran one of the biggest stolen-car rings in the south suburbs. O`Brien started out on his own, but in the late 1970s he took on several partners, including a syndicate hit man named Billy Dauber. During the chop shop wars he was found dead in the trunk of his Buick, parked in Blue Island, on May 24, 1979. He had been shot twice in the head..He was murdered by Outfit hitman Gerald Hector Scarpelli.

Other non-italian members were Joe Marek,Jack Schnadenberg and Harold Bean a death row recipient.

If any1 has some additional info or found some errors in this story please contribute.This article is completed from various sources and infos that can be found on the internet.Cheers

Awesome article. TD You and hairyknuckles should collaborate on a book or would that not work?

Awesome article. TD You and hairyknuckles should collaborate on a book or would that not work?

A book?Naw....by the way thanx C.

That old Heights Crew might have been the roughest of them all
. GREAT STUFF TOODOPED !!!!

Re vin-ing stolen cars used to be a big thing and was pretty easy to do years ago.

All you needed was the vin id plate from a seriously damaged or wrecked legit car . Just reweld the vin plate onto the hot car and presto you had a car with a title and tags. But alot of things have changed. While they still do it, its gotten alot more complex.

Now what some guys do is steal a car, then strip it and then put the stripped car back on the street so it will be recovered. Then they try to buy the stripped car at the insurance auction for cheap. Then they put the parts right back on the same car.

Good post.

Thanks Tony & 12thStreet

I bet when they try to buy the stripped car at the insurance auction,they eleminate the other buyers

the heights was a rougher area than all the other crews areas

they'd still be around if they weren't killing each other in the 70s and 80s

Are they still around? It's been debated for years...

I think that the crew is ancient history.Maybe there are some small time associates still lurking around and thats that.As for the chop shop biz i think the Outfit is out for some time now

thx a lot for this TD!

A friend of mine grew up in burbank around 79th and Harlem. He used to hang out at a lot of the clubs and rock clubs. He designed a lot of ads for the clubs. He was friendly with Sam Annerino and his crew of drug dealers and car thieves. There was a club called Harlows in Burbank and after closing Annerino and his little gang would come in and drink and snort some devils dandruff. A day after Annerino was clipped his little crew of guys came into harlows asking my buddy if he wanted to play golf because the foursome was short a man since Annerino was hit. The weird part was his friends were lauging about it. There was already a previous attempt on the life of Annerino so I don't think it came as a suprise that he was killed.

A couple of guys who rarely get mentions in these Southside Crews but who were VERY active include Nino Cisternino (One of Tocco's main enforcers who lived in his wealthy country club neighborhood) along with the southside Messino brothers--Chris "Dickie" Messino and Clement Messino.

The Messino's went down in the late 80s after their drug ring was caught supplying coke to dealers throughout the southland. They were both released a few years ago and I'm sure went right back to their old ways. They are cousins with Willie Messino.

Really, really good info. Thanks TD !

My pleasure guys and thank yall for the additional info's

I believe the Covellos from the Grand Ave crew were involved in the Messino's drug operation. I was reading an article from 1987-1988 when the drug busts all went down.
I'm not too familiar with the Chicago Heights crew besides what's been written about them. A friend of mine had some dealings with them back in the 70's but it was mostly drug related. He dealt with Sam Annerino and some of his guys.

I saw another article saying the Messino's were sentenced to life without parole...yet I see they were both released in 2005 and ChiTown said the same.. Wonder what the deal with that is?

I believe their life sentences were overturned around 2000 or so.

Yes, that is correct. The Messinos were freed on appeal,and one of their biggest dealers, John Cappas, had his sentence reduced from 40yrs to 20 and is now a free man.

John Cappas started selling cars when he got out of jail and now owns a hot dog stand on the south side. He does classic car shows in the parking lot and he's all over youtube. Cappas spent time in jail with Frank Schweis.

Someone (maybe one of you guys?) asked about the Messinos on ANP. Foscos says he thinks one of them died. Wonder if that's the case.

I could be mistaken but I believe Dickie Messino has passed. I know one of them died within the last few years. If its not him, it's Clem. Clem was at Cappas' car show a few years ago. Huge biceps on that fellow.

It was Clement who passed back in 2011, at least that's what the sun-times said.

Clement did pass. Here is his obit complete with photos of his race car. His brother Dickie is in a few of these:
http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity...2&FHID=2060

He died young.