It's a toiletbowl

I went to the Feast of Mt. Caramel last year and it is the worst Italian fest you can imagine. Even the vendors were basically saying it wasn't worth going to.

Berwyn still has a descent Italian population, not nearly as bad as how Cicero became.

If you say so, Berwyn was always was a hole. IMO

Elmwood, and Melrose were cool, and remember the Thirsty Whale? Heavy metal and hot broads. Going in there @ 16 year old and the copper checking your ID and saying, you can only drink beer tonight. Totally mobbed up. That was JB's joint I'm sure, until the Des Plaines flooded it out 3-4 times.

Look if you guys want to pick a festival/event and meet up that would be cool. I'd do it depending on scheduling.

I grew up on the NW side where there was a bar on every corner with gaming, and a bookie a block.

My P's are still there and it's changed there. I see a few old hangouts, I'm sure they got video poker in those joints but honestly I haven't checked, and my guess is the currency exchange is still a bookie.

But it is what it is.....

And after we closed the 4AM bars we'd head down to Cicero for some real fun... Ahhh the good ole days... LOL

EK what neighborhood did you grow up in?

Mayfair/Jefferson Park. Laurino's ward.

And my first real "job" after caddying for all the connected jewish people was at an insurance agency.

Used to drive around Ira (he was quite the ladies man), George, Mike, and his wife. Got paid for taking S500's to the shop, and driving, along with some IT work. Which was my "job".

IT ended up being the profession, but it easily could've turned the other way. I was gonna be the guy they could use at 20 years old. Thankfully I left, my boss back then did time. Pretty big time 10+ years I think.

Probably just outed myself on that post. Not that it matters. I've been a good boy for the most part since then. And dodged the First Ward corrupted machine.

Guess that's why I loved Cooley's book, I sort of lived it at 19-20 years old.

Okay so St. Ed's territory. Im from the south side/burbs but moved up to Edison Park and then Sauganash as a youngster, went to Queen Of All Saints & then Notre Dame in Niles. So also Laurinos Ward.

LOL, many good friends went to St. Eds. Many are still in powerful positions I shouldn't have to name "names" but yeah I grew up with them.

I went to Palmer and then Lane.

Totally should have a GangsterBB bar crawl/meetup ha

I wrote the second part to my Family Secrets series, check it out here:

http://culturecrossfire.com/etc/marks-mob-corner-operation-family-secrets-part-2/#.U1WY6Vea8jw

Nicely done!

Thanks, Snakes.

Might do something on the Cicero crew next, maybe a "rise and fall" type deal. Or maybe something on one of the NYC families.

Nicely done Mark.

And what I think is "lost" in the whole Seifert murder is that he was far from without fault.

You had a failing business, you take money from the mob and guess what they expect something in return. Probably 1/2 the profits, and a money laundering operation.

Then you decide you're going to rat when the Feds come after you? Just what the hell do you think is gonna happen?

You get clipped.

Exactly how I feel about Spilotro family members. You guys do realize Tony was a stone cold killer, right?

From what I've read, virtually all of the victims identified in the Family Secrets were trial were involved in the mob, save a few.

Explicitly, Arthur Morowski happened to be with Ortiz, and was murdered in cold blood. Frank Calabrese expressed regret over it but said he just "happened to be with the wrong guy a the wrong time."

Charloette Dauber was in some sense innocent, although reading between the lines it would be hard to believe that she did not know what her husband was involved in given his criminal record, and I believe she was also at least accused of engaging in some kind of criminal activity herself at one time. Still, the Calabreses expressed regret over it, with Nick blaming Frank and Frank, ridiculously, acting as if he wasn't part of it because he didn't himself pull the trigger.

There were a couple other victims who were not explicitly said to be involved in the mob, but, again, reading between the lines, I would imagine there is at least a good chance that they got their start with mobbed up money, etc., as the mob as far as I know generally does not go around randomly extorting legitimate businesses. But, I could be wrong.

It's hard to have too much sympathy for someone who puts someone else's head in a vice and squeezes it until the eyeball pops out.

Exactly. I'd be curious to know what the Ant's body count was.


ChiTown, other than Cataudella's former residence there, do you know of any other guys living in Park Ridge or that area of the NW burbs?

Pudgy Matassa is a Park Ridge staple.

Interesting didn't know he lived there. I have suspicions about a house over there. Heh very conspicuous place...

He used to be a North Side guy until they got swallowed up by Elmwood Park.

He was a Rush St Crew member under Vince Solano. He's lived in Park Ridge since forever. Nice family. He's the definition of a guy you would never peg to be an Outfit guy.

.

They were known as the Terrible Gennas. This all Sicilian family didn't believe in loyalty, especially if you were a Neapolitan. One-time Al "Scarface" Capone allies, they believed that had outgrown Capone and took him on in the streets of Chicago. Their mistake! See YouTube Video.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=HeikN79Hwjo&feature=vm

I make these videos because I enjoy it. I hope everyone else does also. I would love feedback on audio, music, script, video editing - any suggestion would be appreciated.

Does anyone know who Thomas and Christopher Giuliano were with. They were convicted in 1999 at relatively young ages. Is it possible they were made when they got out.http://www.ipsn.org/characters/new_outfit.htm

I doubt it.

A brief history of Al Capone's mentor and silent founding father of the National Commission and one time Chicago bootlegger Johnny Torrio; also known as "the Fox" or "the Brain."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kTtEff-re4

Another question, slightly unrelated, but i dont want to start a new thread over it.. anyways: Is there a more or less exact figure how many guys capone actually killed personally? Watched yesterday boardwalk empire, according to that tv series, capone was a complete, drug-addict psychopath

I don't think so. The murders you hear about him committing are going to a bar and blowing away a guy who had either insulted or harmed Jake Guzik (I forget) and a famous story of what he did to these two traitors. If you remember The Untouchables, it inspired the infamoous "baseball" scene.

I'm not sure how much truth there is in it, I think Gus Russo goes into it in his book, but the story was he invited these three guys who he knew were traitors to a big dinner with all their family present and (I am not sure I am remembeing this correctly), I think he forced the families to urinate on them or something.. ha... sounds very far fetched. Then he beat them to death with a bat.

In any event three people were killed. No one really knows what happened I guess as no one was ever arrested.

I imagine Capone made his bones early on but probably didn't do any "heavy work" himself after he became powerful.

But, who knows. There are some biographies of him out there of varying esteem. Maybe they say so. None of the books I've read seem to know too much about his early life.