Willie Daddano was out of the way and the old guard was no longer around but that didn’t mean the new Chicago Outfit gave the burglars a pass. The street tax law was still in full effect and the mobsters still got their cut from the burglars. The Outfit’s presence on the streets in the mid 1970s was as strong as ever, especially within Chicago’s fraternity of professional burglars. There were other crews that were capable of doing heavy work but one crew, in particular, stood out from the others.
James “Jimmy the Bomber” Catuara was another high level and ruthless member of the Chicago Outfit, who was involved in many money making schemes. He was involved in loan sharking, auto theft and chop shop racket and also in collecting street tax for the mob. Catuara was also known for recruiting professional burglars, each expert in his own field, to pull off big time cash heists and then move the money out of the country. Few of his best burglars were Peter J. Gushi, Luigi “Lou” DiFonzo, James “Jimmy the Greek” Maniatis, Pasquale “Patsy” Marzano and William Marzano.
Peter Gushi was born in 1927 and was a long time resident of Oak Lawn. He was a close neighbour to Jimmy Catuara and was also connected for many decades to many Outfit associates like Gus Rubino and Billy Dauber. Gushi also had a lengthy arrest record. In 1954 Gushi was arrested for heroin trafficking and was sentenced to two years in prison. On April 20 he was arrested for burglary and was found not guilty. On September 5th 1961 Gushi was his was convicted for truck hijacking and stole a $75,000 worth of merchandise. He was sent to ten years in Leavenworth Penitentiary, where he tried unsuccessfully to hang himself because the bed sheet broke. He was released in 1965 and three years later he was again arrested for trying to defraud the National Bank of Hyde Park. It was an alleged scheme to get money for the Chicago Outfit’s juice loan racket. Gushi was released of all charges.
Peter J. Gushi
Lou DiFonzo was born in 1947 in Boston and later moved to Chicago. He was a relative of Catuara and was a fast talking slickster who was considered by law enforcement as a “boy wonder” for committing burglaries. He always had the knowledge of international banking operations necessary to help make large sums of cash difficult to trace. DiFonzo had an office in Des Plaines for selling and buying contracts for silver bullion. Before filling for bankruptsy as angry investors fought for their money, he was able to fork $190,000 in cash and invested it in a home in Oak Brook.
Luigi DiFonzo
Patsy Marzano was born in 1932 in Chicago’s Patch, which was a very tough neighbourhood south/west of Chinatown and provided many high profile criminal figures. He once took five bullets wounds in a street shoot out. He was known to authorities as a self-taught expert circumventing security and electronics alarm systems. He was good with electronics, he was good with alarms, he was good with acetylene torches, he could do it all. Once, a Chicago suburban bank in Evaston boasted about their new security vault. They claimed the door was impregnable, featuring the most hi tech heat, sound, and motion sensors known to man. So Patsy and cousin decided to rob this bank as a challenge to this banksters boast. In 1973, Patsy and his cousin Ralph Marrera had been suspects in a $800,000 robbery in Evanston. When the FBI caught up with Patsy they discovered a comprehensive electronics library in the den of his home. Patsy and his cousin were never convicted.
Patsy Marzano
William “Tony” Marzano was born in 1943 and was Patsy’s cousin. A former truck driver and fruit stand owner, William was twice indicted for theft of interstate shipments and had a criminal record for armed robbery and passing phoney money orders.
William Marzano
Jimmy the Greek Maniatis was born in 1916 and was the oldest one in the group. He was a white-haired misfit and prowler of flea markets and bargain auctions. He also knew almost every burglar around the Chicago area.
James Maniatis
This small crew of burglars were involved in many burglaries and thefts. One of their “fence” was Martin Pollakov, owner of four discount stores in Chicago. Pollakov was big time in the fencing business. He was known for obtaining credits necessary to stock an entire store with merchandise from legitimate distributors and later to delay and avoid paying the goods. But the most important thing was that he had many underworld connections. He was once arrested by the authorities for possession of stolen property. Pollakov made a deal with the agents and became a confidential informant for the government. Pollakov became the key that opened the door for the feds in solving one of the most infamous heists in Chicago’s underworld history.
Everything happened almost accidentally. On July 20, 1974 Martin Pollakov made a phone call to Jamie’s Discount Store, where he had once worked for James Moccio. Working as government informant, Pollakov was hoping to learn something about Moccio’s illegal activities. Moccio didn’t answer the phone, but it was another person named Allen Wainer that pick the phone up. Pollakov had met Wainer on several occasions. Wainer was arrested numerous times for conspiracy to transport stolen property. During their conversation, Wainer told Pollakov that an individual named “Pete”(Peter Gushi) was going to open a discount store and that Wainer is going to “back” the store. Wainer also said that Pete can use Pollakov’s help on setting up the store and suggested to Pollakov to give Pete a call. When Gushi learned that Wainer recommended Pollakov, he agreed to do business together.
Gushi joined with Pollakov in operating a discount store. Gushi placed John Valentino as a front/owner of the store and also employed Pollakov. Pollakov brought to Gishi 100’s of cases of allegedly stolen merchandise (hair spray and hair products) which was purchased by the FBI. But since Gushi thought it to be stolen, Pollakov’s credibility remained high. Gushi also used him to negotiate buys from other fences and boosters. When Gushi had a load of merchandise which he wanted to sell, Pollakov would “arrange” to dispose of the goods to his “friends”, the FBI agents. Also through Gushi, Pollakov has met Jimmy the Greek and they were involved in a sale of stolen Cordura wrist watches.
On September 12, 1974 Gushi had a meeting with Patsy Marzano to talk about their next big time heist. Later the meeting was called off because surrounded by FBI agents. This information came from Marzano who kept a police radio monitor. Pollakov knew about the meeting but wasn’t informed what was all about. But one night at dinner Gushi opened up to Pollakov about his past crimes. Gushi told him that once he managed to pull a score of $130,000 in 1971. Later Gushi told him also that he (Gushi) is going to be a part of one of the biggest cash heists in history. With this information, informant Pollakov alarmed the FBI about Gushi’s boast on the huge score and so the agents agreed to increase their surveillance on Gushi, Marzano and Maniatis.
On September 16, 1974 Gushi, Marzano and Wainer had a meeting in a discount store. They were heard complaining about big FBI surveillance and they agreed to constantly change their meeting places. On Spetember 20th Gushi met with Outfit member Jimmy the Bomber Catuara. Gushi was told by Jimmy to connect with another guy named Luigi DiFonzo. On September 23rd Gushi and DiFonzo met with Jimmy the Bomber Catuara at Oak Lawn motel to discuss their next “master piece”. They planned to rob the Purolator Security Inc. vault at 127 West Huron Street. The Purolator Armored Car Security Company picked up the receipts from all of the local race tracks so there was plenty of small bills that couldn’t be traced. On September 27 Gushi gave Pollakov $4,000 to purchase a van. Pollakov, together with Maniatis, went to the Hawkison Ford and purchased a mint green Ford Econoline van. Maniatis recited the information on his driver’s licence and refused to show it to the salesman. Later Patsy Marzano was called to inspect the van. He checked the engine oil and the interior and also scratched the identifying mark under the front wheel. On October 8th Marzano sent Pollakov again to the Hawkison Ford to pick up licence plates for the van. He also bought a $300 of stolen clothes for the guys.
A month earlier Patsy Marzano’s cousin Ralph Marrera obtained a security job at the Purolator Company as a night guard. The building was rigged with a silent alarm, which sounded at another security company down the street. Marrera was not disclosed by Marzano to any of the other conspirators in the heist. For several weeks prior to the crime, Marrera suggested almost every day to the security staff that they should leave early if they wanted to. He also managed to obtain the combination to the main vault. But the vault cannot be opened without setting off the alarm on the switchboard at the Wells Fargo Alarm Service, which was a firm hired by the Purolator Company. Once a week, Marrera opened the vault door, and than closed it. Immediately the people from the alarm service called to check out if everything was ok. Marrera assured them that everything was ok but the service usually sent someone to check things out. They checked the premises, found nothing wrong and than left. The plan was for Marrera to trip the alarm at 8 PM every Saturday night until the other alarm company would think that the Purolator alarm system had a short in the system, and malfunctioned every Saturday night at 8 o’clock. So after a while no one came to double check.
On Sunday, October 20th Marrera told his fellow Purolator employee Angela to leave early so she can be together with her family. At 8:00 PM, Gushi and the Marzanos walked into the garage through the overhead door way which Marrera opened up, while DiFonzo remained outside in the van. The thieves took “used” money stacks that were dropped off that day from the Hawthorne Park Race Track. Than they tried to burn the rest of the millions in the vault with gasoline bombs but they made a mistake. After the vault door was closed the fired died from lack of oxygen and the millions of dollars were barely damaged. Clearly, the robbers hoped if the police found only ashes in the vault they would have no way of knowing that a robbery occurred or they would’ve think an accident occurred. Or at least the cops would have no idea how much money were missing. They took everything that they could carry and walked away clean with “tons of cash” according to the word on the street. The alarm company notified the Chicago Fire Department and the responding firemen were met at the door by Marrera, armed with a shotgun. At first Marerra initially refused them entrance, insisting he had no indication of trouble and he was not authorized to admit anyone to the building. That was quickly resolved with the arrival of the Purolator executive. The crime became a sensational news story. First reports put the robbery at only $1,000,000. Every day the public awakened to see new and higher estimate bannered across the morning headlines. In the end, the vault loss was set at $4,300,000.
Oct. 21, 1974—Purolator truck blocks drive while police process crime scene
Their first plan was getting a big part of the money out of the country. But first Gushi and his friends had to pay tribute to Jimmy Catuara and the Chicago Outfit. Gushi packed $400,000 in a black bag and left it in an alley behind his house for a pick up. Than the Marzanos, Gushi and DiFonzo drove straight to Columbus, Ohio. Over there they rented a small airplane and took a flight to Miami, Florida. In Miami they were wining and dining extravagantly, paying for eveyrhting with $100 bills. Later DiFonzo took a plane to the Grand Cayman Island in the British West Indies, where banking transactions are kept in secret. He was carrying three big bags full of U.S. currency. The bags were so heavy that DiFonzo needed three porters to help carry them. DiFonzo successfully deposited $1,100,000 in five of Grand Cayman Island’s 184 banks.
On October 25th Ralph Marrera was questioned by the FBI and was put on a lie detector.He failed the test and the next day was arrested at his mother-in-law’s home in Oak Park by Chicago Police and FBI agents.During the arrest, Marrera allegedly said to the cops “What are you trying to do, get me killed?”. Marerra was considered to be at risk because he was the inside man and knew details of the plan as well as exactly who was involved. He would be a prime target for people who would want to silence him as well as those who might want to squeeze him for information on the location of the loot. The feds reported that he was under tight security at a military installation near Chicago, but in reality Marerra was being held at the Winnebago County Jail in Rockford.
On October 30th, Luigi DiFonzo and William Marzano were arrested by British authorities at airport on the Grand Cayman Island. During the arrest, both DiFonzo and Marzano were carrying $26,000, a lot less than custom officials said DiFonzo had when he checked on the island. BY October 30th all of the suspect had been apprehended and in November 1974, an indictment was returned against Pasquale Marzano, William Marzano, Ralph Marrera, Luigi DiFonzo, Peter Gushi, and James Maniatis. The indictment charged these persons with conspiracy to commit various offences including the theft of money from Purolator Security, Inc. During the interrogation, Ralph Marrera confessed and so on Thursday, November 21st the FBI recovered $1.4 million under freshly laid concrete in Marerra’s grandmother’s home.
In the end, few strange things happened. On Thursday November 29th Ralph Marerra allegedly attempted a suicide at the Winnebago County jail. Although he was not seriously injured in the attempt, he was transferred to the Cermak Memorial Hospital at the Cook County jail. Few days later Marerra has been in Intensive Care at the Cook County Hospital, because out of nowhere, he was in a coma and in critical condition. Some speculated that he was poisoned, but by who? The mob couldn’t reach him because he was under strong protection by the feds. Story goes that that Marerra was being medicated with large doses of Thorazine, a tranquilizer with a sedating effect. Who and why would do this? Rumours were that the feds wanted to know where’s the rest of the hidden cash and so they thought that he was lying so they shot him up few times while making him a vegetable and paralyzing him.
Also, during the trial government informant Martin Pollakov testified and explained in details the conversations he overheard at Gushi’s store and the purchase of the van. Peter Gushi was awaiting a life sentence so he decided to talk. He was the star witness against Maniatis, Marzanos and Marrera. The strange thing was that no one implicated Lou DiFonzo. DiFonzo, the alleged mastermind behind the heist, admitted that he was only hired to deposit a large sum of cash in the Grand Cayman banks and he also claimed that he never new that the cash was stolen. He was found innocent by the jury, got acquitted and walked free to prey on society. James Maniatis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and for possession of stolen property and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. William Marzano refused to cooperate with the government and received 7 years in prison. Patsy Marzano pleaded innocent, was found guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ralph Marrera, who was found “mysteriously” in coma after the interrogation, was declared mentally unfit to stand trial. After the trial Peter Gushi was sentenced to 6 years in prison but was put in custody of the U.S. Marshal. Martin Pollakov was also given a protective custody and a whole new identity and was also rewarded $40,000 for his cooperation. Later Gushi was also sent into the Witness Protection Program. Even with Guhsi’s testimony “Jimmy the Bomber” Catuara was never arrested nor questioned in this case.
Jimmy Catuara
As for the stolen cash, $1.4 million was restored by the feds, according to Gushi $400,000 was given to Jimmy Catuara and the Chicago Outfit and $1.1 million remained stashed away in the Grand Cayman banks. Another $1.5 million is still missing to this day.
There’s also another side of this case (mostly rumours) according to court reformer and criminal sleuth, Sherman Skolnick. Sherman’s investigation of the Purolator robbery showed different results from the official government version. Skolnick reported that the stolen $4.3 million were in fact $25 million dollars and that a massive government corruption took place in the Purolator case…but that’s another story.
Later Ralph Marerra recovered from his medical ordeal but was left with permanent disabilities both to his speech and his ability to walk. In March of 1983 he was the last of the group to be convicted for his part in the Purolator heist. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, but with credit for time in custody he was paroled in 1989. In December 1996, in connection with this incident, Marerra was awarded $650,000 in a medical malpractice suit against Cook County. The Purolator heist has been eclipsed as the largest heist and also retains the record in Chicago.
Since the early1960s, two Chicago Outfit associates Joseph "Witherhand" Scalise and Arthur “The Brain” Rachel were known burglars and hijackers. They were arrested numerous times and convicted of burglary and other charges, according to court documents.
Scalise(left) and Rachel(right)
