Okay guys, I got some stuff back on Willie Messino and unfortunately... it's not that much, especially when you consider that the guy was a member for for 40+ years.

-The files start out in the latter half of 1968 with a note stating that much of Messino's juice activity is covered in a separate case file which mainly focuses on Messino's kidnapping and subsequent threatening of George and Jack Chiagouris for unpaid vig, for which he is currently out on bond, pending appeal. It's a tad disappointing that they didn't include said case file with this request, but I cited Messino's FBI file number in my inquisition so they probably just assumed I only wanted his individual file.

-Messino is known to specialize in "extortionate credit transactions" and is recognized as belonging to Jack Cerone's street crew. His known associates include Joe Gagliano, George Bravos, and Chris Cardi, his nephew (although the files leave that out).

-His most frequent hangout in the time period of 1967-68 was Mary Anne's Pancake Restaurant on 3756 West Chicago Avenue (which now houses a pharmacy), and the Chicago Linoleum and Tile Company on 3816 West Chicago (which has been replaced with a dingy looking church with bars on the doors and windows). Actually, this whole part of town is pretty run-down.

-Back in January, 1967, Messino, Bravos, and Joe Lombardi were found guilty by the State of Illinois on five counts of kidnapping, aggravated battery, and conspiracy. Messino had been hit with a hefty sentence of 10-30 years. Interestingly enough, the file states that this case was the first major bust in the city's juice racket investigation.

-Messino and co. had been convicted of kidnapping and beating the Chiagouris's, who had borrowed $160,000 - in 1960's money - and falling behind on payments.

-Another funny observation: Lombardi is clearly mentioned in the files several times but in some instances his name has been redacted. For example, they name Messino, Bravos, and Lombardi as the guilty parties but when they list the sentences on the very next page, Messino and Bravos are listed but "Lombardi" has been redacted! Go figure...

-In typical fashion, Chicago's court system was woefully behind so Messino's appeal had been dragged out and delayed for almost two years, with the State of Illinois scheduled to render their final decision in December of '68.

-Messino's residence is listed as 2037 North 77th Avenue, Elmwood Park, IL. It's still there, check it out on Google Maps. Nice neighborhood.

-His height is listed as 5'7" and he weighed in at 180 pounds - pretty stout.

-Messino, who had been out on $10,000 bond almost two years since he was sentenced, was now looking at having his bond revoked and being jailed immediately, presumably because he wasn't just sitting at home and obeying the law while he was out on bond.

-Messino was observed at the funeral Joey Aiuppa's mother in November of 1968.

-Messino's appeal was stretched out to March, 1969 after additional documentation was supplied by his attorneys. Meanwhile, Messino was still meeting with Joe Gags, Bravos, and Cardi at the Pancake House.

-A funny incident is noted at this point in the files. A newspaper article mentions a guy named Joe Esposito, a juice loan victim of Joe Gags who owned an ambulance service. Apparently, he was into Gags pretty deep as they used his ambulances as their own personal taxi service for a while, with Messino even driving one to a funeral! They quit this practice soon after they learned the cops were on to them.

-Messino, perhaps knowing he had no chance in his appeal, was rumored to be considering a move to South America to escape his jail sentence. He had supposedly started unloading some of his real estate interests in anticipation of such a move.

-A newspaper columnist claimed he had an informant who had spoken to Messino and found out that he loved the show "Mission Impossible", stating "I never miss it."

-A Chicago report on Juice Loan Racketeers was scheduled to be hitting the streets in 1970; Messino was naturally going to be included.

-In September of 1969, more than 2½ years after being convicted, Messino's sentence was upheld by the state court. Of course, Messino's attorneys now appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The State's Attorney was pretty displeased with Messino still being free on the streets this entire time and still "associating with other gangsters and presumably continuing to operate his criminal usury rackets."

-We also get a look at some more details of the case in a summary of the proceedings by a Chicago Tribune article. The Chiagouris's had borrowed a total of 165k, repaid 163k of it, gave up a land deed worth 250 grand, and still owed 124 grand in juice.

-After losing his state appeal, Messino's bond was upped from $10,000 to $50,000, pending his Supreme Court appeal. Revocation of his bond was still in the works in January of 1970 because of rumors that he was looking to flee the country.

-Around this time, the report on juice loan activity in Chicago had been published, with Messino categorized as an "upper tier" juice loan racketeer. The report listed known hangouts of Messino as well as vehicles which he was known to use. They even mentioned the ambulances!

-During this period of time, there were several heavily redacted pages of files listing vehicles which were seen at the Messino residence. Unfortunately, none of the owners names were revealed.

-On February 24, 1970, Messino's appeal to the Supreme Court was denied and he was jailed in the Cook County Jail pending transfer to Joliet State Penitentiary. In the interim, law enforcement agents were also concentrating on who would be taking over Messino's various juice loan rackets.

-Of note, the State's Attorney furnished some information regarding Messino upon his arrest and his weight had dropped to 155. He also listed his place of employment as Commercial Photograph Survey - "public relations", LOL.

-Another noteworthy piece of information reveals that Messino was employed at some point by the Chicago Police Department, although it is not known in what capacity as this page was heavily redacted. Additionally, his house had been valued at $47,000.

-The latter half of the files don't reveal much as Messino was imprisoned at the time. It mostly deals (more than 50 pages of mostly) with vehicles seen at Messino's residence (with ownership information redacted) and residences of Messino's associates, of which none were named with the exception of Jack Cerone and Joe Spadavecchio.

-Also, it appears that the FBI had been gathering information on someone making collections on Messino's behalf and handling his juice customers during his incarceration. Since this is interesting information, it is of course redacted. The only thing we find out is that the mystery man was employed as an asphalt smoother by the city of Chicago. Ring any bells?

-Messino eventually found his way to the Illinois State Penitentiary in Stateville, IL. In 1974, he was transferred to the state pen in Dwight, IL.

-Messino was first up for parole in August of 1975 but was denied. He would next come up in May of 1976. His continued incarceration was noted in his file and as a result, his case was closed, to be reopened upon "the receipt of specific information linking either subject [someone else's name was also listed but redacted] to a specific violation of Federal law.

I was initially frustrated that Messino had nothing in his file after his parole but when you think about it, it makes sense. His street level activity was basically non-existant from that point on and he was never mentioned in any more indictments or investigations. I'll try and fill in the blanks on the latter half of his Outfit career below.

Messino was paroled sometime in 1976 and he was almost shelved upon his return before he was tasked with babysitting Jack Cerone. As his top aide, Messino was Cerone's driver for nearly ten years and upon Jack's imprisonment, Messino did the same for John DiFronzo until at least the mid nineties. Willie called it a day at that point and was semi-retired until his death in 2002, although I do remember Joe Fosco (who was close with Willie) telling a story that a nearly eighty year-old Willie had to physically threaten somebody who had pissed him off.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading, hopefully I will have another one up soon.