Hi guys, been reading your forum for a couple of weeks and just recently it hit me to actually make an account. Haven't read up too much about the Chicago Outfit, Tought I'd start my first post by telling you what I know, and some facts -- and let you guys tell me what I don't know.

Chicago Outfit isn't just 'one organization', It's aprox four(?) different families who run their men their own way. Although all of them answere to John DiFronzo /whom some say has retired and been replaced by Joe Andriacchi. DiFronzo/Andriacchi holds a sort of 'Capo Di Tutti Capi''-position and runs every family -- has every family to pay tributes and follow orders. If there is a beef between two (I call them families, actually they are just crews lead by an Lieutenant who has Street bosses etc, made members.) The Boss/DiFronzo can settle the dispute, and also decides who gets made. Chicago doesn't have capos or whatever, they just have like a different set of bosses who roules that area. Same as a capo I guess..

I think recently they have shrunk to hold a low profile, The current hierarchy of the Outfit today I believe is like this:

Melrose Park (fmr. Cicero, Lake County crews) Lieutenant/boss - John 'Pudgy' Matassa. I think he took over for Michael Sarno, peronally I think Matassa looks like a fa***t -no offense.
Melrose park is the 2nd most powerful though the most Notorious crew, handles mostly blue collar crimes. And has about 15 made members?

Elmwood Park (North Side/Rush street crews) The most powerful crew, most of the bosses roots from this crew. Deals mostly white collar, former lead by John DiFronzo and is now lead by his brother Greedy Pete. The crew has about 20 made members by my count.

South Side (26th street crew, Chinatown, Chicago Heights crew) boss - Frank Caruso ''Tootsie'' - don't know much about these guys. They have about 11 made members, 3 of whom are Incarcarated.

West Side (Grand Avenue Crew, Centrachio Crew) Boss - Joseph Cullotta ''Joe Kong'' - Weakest, with about 5 made members.

Keep in mind that they have alot of associates. You don't need to be italian nor made to reach hights in the Chicago Mob. Associates (trusted) are given tasks of killing and other things that only inducted guys gets to do in most of the other families.

I count they have less than 50 inducted members. Chicago is also the LCN(if we can call it that?) who has the least amount of rats.

They have been known for killing their own members, if they make too much publicity - DeStefano and Giancana. They have calmed down since the indictments of Family Secrets AND earlier they lost Pasquale Marchone (a.k.a Pat Marcy) whom controlled the first ward. They owned Chicago's judges, lawyers and crooked cops in mass numbers.

Do you guys think Chicago still has someone in different Parties in Chicago, and that they still have such a massive number of Lawyers, judges and crooked cops? I'd like to read everyone's opinion! sorry for bad grammar or spelling mistakes.

I really would like to debate against Ivy League and Pizzaboy, you guys seem to know everything. :-D

You have a lot of correct info, but you're off on somethings too.

I'm guessing you went off that modern outfit chart? There's a couple mistakes.

1. It's the Cicero Crew, not the Melrose crew. And Pudgy isn't in charge, he's an Elmwood Park guy (Rush street actually but was absorbed by Elmwood).

2. Joe "Kong" Cullato is not the grand ave capo (his last name is Calato)

3. Cicero is the dominant crew today

4. Most of the corruption today is in the suburbs instead of the city (keep in mind Bridgeport and Grand ave are the only areas in the city where there is a presence. And to a much smaller extent, rush street and taylor street).

Okay thank you, how do you know? are there any documents or reports? I'd like to know/get a link

You can't find a link for everything

This is my estimation:

Boss: Sal DeLaurentis
Cicero: James Inendino or Sal Cataudella
Elmwood Park: Marco D'Amico
Grand Ave: Albert Vena
South Side: Frank "Toots" Caruso (His pop, Frank "Skids" Caruso ran a gambling crew for years on the South Side)

Around 30 guys is probably a decent estimate. The DiFronzos are pretty much retired, ditto Andriacchi.

Some other info:

Pizzaboy is a NYC guy; he has no interest in debating Chicago.

Ivy League isn't much into guessing, but he is an encyclopedia of LCN cases both past and present, so if you have questions concerning a particular case, he is your man.

Isn't Solly D jailed for 18 years? I don't recognize him as boss altough yeah he's got some influence.

You got that right, Snakes. Even if I knew anything about that town, I doubt I'd post about it. Too volatile a topic .

Solly D got out of prison a few years back. He & Jimmy Inendino are more or less interchangeable, they're both of similar age, they both have done similar amounts of prison time, and they were both eligible for huge promotions due to said prison time. Either could be boss. Probably Jimmy I, but Solly D could be as well. It only makes sense that either would be boss at this point in time. The Outfit tends to reward guys who have done substantial time standing on their heads.

In my opinion, here is the Administration:

Boss- Joseph Andriacchi
Underboss- Salvatore DeLaurentis (Solly D)
Consiglieri- Johnny DiFronzo

Elmwood Park Boss: Marco D'Amico
Elmwood Park Underboss: Tony Dote

Grand Avenue Boss: Al Vena
Grand Avenue Underboss: Bobby Dominic or Chris Spina

26th Street Boss: Frank Caruso Jr.
26th Street Underboss: Bruno Caruso

Cicero Boss (Cicero/Berwyn Origin): James Inendino
Cicero Underboss (Cicero/Berwyn Origin): Salvatore Cautadella
Cicero Boss (Melrose Park Origin): John Matassa
Cicero Underboss (Melrose Park Origin): No idea

Of course this is just my opinion.

What I want to know is here does Lou Marino end up fitting in there

I think Michael Sarno is Cicero-underboss at this point. But Elmwood park is definately Greedy Pete DiFronzo's. Marco D'Amico are most likely to be the underboss, though officially the FBI recognize him as Consigliere of the whole Mob.

Lou Marino was a Lieutenant to Joe Ferriola, after his imprisonment his ''gambling operations'' has been lost through the ages. Upon his release in 2014, you can only expect he'll be a buttonman or a Street boss for a crew.

I think Lou is done with the rackets, alongside the Spano's. Most of that old Ferriola/Infelise guard have stepped down, but they still have money on the street. His son Dino is probably still active.

He's 83 years old, I'd imagine so..but a lot of old timers are still active, so who knows? Maybe he wants to spend the rest of his life in a social club?

Let's argue about their membership. A lot of guys think it's 28 official members still. I think the fanboy in me doesn't want to believe that. But I counted 40-something members, nearly 50. Let's debate.

I would agree with most of these guys you have identified. I would say the DiFronzo's are mostly out of the rackets - Pete is sick too. I would go so far as to say Marco D'Amico is more of the "underboss" or "street boss" while Tony Dote is running the Elmwood Park crew.

There are probably some other guys up there that are "sleepers" - especially the guys they use to communicate between crews.

Mike Sarno is in jail. Chicago is unlike New York in that they usually boot you out of whatever position you are in when you go to jail then "reassign" you when you get out. The DiFronzos and Andriacchi are done. They are all in their eighties and rich. John is going on 86 years old! He put his time in on the streets, I highly doubt he is going to risk implicating himself in anything at this time.

Andriacchi is sick as well, he's over 80years old. That's no excuse to retire but I pretty much believe the structure within a year will be more like this;

Boss - James Inendino
Street boss - Peter DiFronzo (the ranks between these two may be oppisite, there is no report of Petey being sick, at least not that I know off.)
Consigliere - Salvatore Cautadella (long time friend with Inendino) or Mark D'Amico (longtime friend of Pete DiFronzo)

With Matassa and Tony Dote as the upcoming stars in the syndicate.


Solly D will take over someones crew, but he won't be boss. He's been inside since the 90's.

Not sure where you are getting this theme of Solly D "just getting out" - he has been out of prison almost ten years, longer even than Inendino has been out.

Matassa and Dote are as high as they will ever get. Matassa has pretty much just been a union guy and a driver (Solano/D'Amico/Solly D) his whole career. Dote is basically a bookie who earned some respect (and maybe a button) by doing time but he's nowhere near the level of an Inendino or a Vena. He's gonna be attached to Marco at the hip for the rest of his life anyway.

lol where do you come from Pal? How would you really know anything in the first place? Do you get your info from this "Mark" D'Amico ?

Marco D'Amico, I think he's got a better shot than Solly D. but then again I'm not familiar with the Outfit which is why I started this thread. All I know is street smarts, rumors and 90% wikipedia

90% Wikipedia isn't gonna help you any here. My advice is to ditch that site and pay attention to people who know, then start to make predictions. Three years ago, I was only familiar with the NYC families and knew next to nothing about Chicago but now I feel that I can at least intelligently discuss it with posters who are familiar with it.

It's nice that you want to engage in conversation but throwing out random statements based on Wikipedia and Scott's chart from four years ago isn't going to ingratiate you with anyone here. I'm just trying to help you out.

First off, Matassa is an earner with major connections in politics/LE. Don't forget that he was the guy talking to the US Marshall (Stephen Ambrose) in Family Secrets - how do you think just a union guy and driver got hooks like that? He is one of the "senior" statesman right now - he operates very under the radar and has been liasoning with the different crews for years.

Matassa also just opened Taverna on Division in Melrose Park - that's his spot. He owns a ton of property and different night spots - some of which are on Rush Street. Pudgy is a very wealthy guy - his father was too.

Tony Dote is a major power in Elmwood Park right now.

Matassa and Dote are two polarizing figures. Some are convinced that they are jokes and others take them seriously. I didn't mean to disparage Matassa by saying that - he's been around a long time and was poised to take over the North Side before they got gobbled up by EP. I just never considered him a guy that had high leadership ambitions; more of a follower than a leader.

I also found it puzzling that Chin referred to them as "rising stars".

Yeah that's a good point Snakes. I think Matassa is a very wealthy and smart guy who has really played the game as well as anyone (including the Caruso brothers whom he is very tight with) by staying out of prison (and alive/active) for so long.

Wikipedia and other sites that shows me facts, I feel I can trust more than people on a forum - no offense, I want peoples opinions otherwise I wouldn't have started this thread. But how do you know and how do people suddenly know everything about the Outfit without information to back it up?

Wikipedia is mostly bullshit, even I know that and I'm a new comer to all this current going ons with the mob today.

If Wiki shows you facts then prove what you say? I don't doubt any of y'all in this thread but for you to say Wiki shows you facts tells me you seem to be new to this game. Following Wiki will make you look like a fool here with some of the posters we have.

Yeah, but Wikipedia is far from official itself. Just be careful with that you use from it.