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 Although all of them answere to John DiFronzo /whom some say has retired and been replaced by Joe Andriacchi.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.
Much of this, like many things about the Outfit, have been debated a lot on these forums.
In my opinion, there is no significant difference between the way the Outfit is structured today and the structure of other LCN families. I really don't know where people get this "every crew is it's own family" idea. If one wants to go that route, you could say that about any crew in any family, which is simply a sub-group within the larger organization. The crew bosses (or captains - same thing) in Chicago are answerable to an administration just as they are in New York or elsewhere. At best, it's a matter of semantics, not significant, practical differences.
I also don't buy into this picture some paint of this multi-layered, overly hierarchical Outfit with top bosses, area bosses, crew bosses, street bosses, and so on. The Outfit streamlined it's organization in the 1990's and has only continued to shrink in size and scope since then. Not only is there no need for all these ranks, the most recent articles on the Outfit going back nearly a decade don't bear any of that out; some charts floating around the forums not withstanding.
And, as I've said more times than I can remember, the max made membership figure put forth by the FBI in recent years is 30. During the "Family Secrets" case, 28 was the number cited with a little over 100 associates. That would make the Outfit comparable in overall size to families in New England or Philadelphia, just with member-to-associate ratio being a little different.
While there is still Outfit-connected corruption in Chicago, the days of them having scores of judges and cops on the payroll are long gone. As are the days of non-Italians reaching high levels in the Outfit hierarchy. You may have some non-Italian associates in key money-making positions but there are no more Jake Guziks, Murray Humphreys, or Guz Alexs to speak of.
