The guy that buried the Spilotro brothers

Chicago's an interesting family to me, hell really thee most interesting family to me, if we could find out more about Detroit. All alone with itself without the close proximity the northeast/east coast brings to the other remaining families in the U.S.

I came across a website with a good database of Midwest LCN guys, one page describing how Nick Calabrese killed John Fecarotta, a name I've never been too familiar with. The site is focused on the power of pharmaceutical companies and most notably, the conspiracies and questions that surround the death of several people in Chicago, 1982 from taking Tylenol which was suspected poisoned. The site doesn't directly point a figure at the Chicago Outfit, but does examine Outfit members' ownership of produce stores and grocery distributors.

The Spilotro brothers murder has come up a bit in recent news and history on OC-interested forums, not to mention Casino. A name that often appeared after deeper searching was John Fecarotta; a person that often appeared in name only, being to hard to find from Google searches. I've known he was killed because of his bungling of burying the Spilotro brothers, but his relations within the Outfit and how he was killed was always a mystery to me.



http://americanfraud.com/johnfecarotta.aspx

So this guy was killed because he failed to get rid of the bodies properly? Ironic.

Somehow, you gotta admire those principles. Crazy as it sounds.

Guess you would call that the ultimate price.

I guess you should pay attention to your work especially when it involves covering up a murder. What was he in a rush for? Dunkin Donuts?

i think that its pretty normal to panic when getting rid of bodies.

If my memory serves me right, I think the Chicago bosses were furious about the fact that the Spilotro brothers bodies were found buried in a corn field very neraby Joey Aiuppa´s farm.
This created unwanted publicity from the authorities on Aiuppa´s behalf.

Does anyone know if the bodies were buried alive?
I read stories that claim they were. Other stories claim they weren´t.

They were actually murdered in an Illinois basement, IIRC. The film version was artistic licence.

Lol. How stupid must this guy have been then to have them burried close to Aiuppa's home.

that hit was crazy they had a bunch of guys from the outfit there participating def brutal

Jeff Coen's book "Family Secrets" covers it all pretty well.

According to Nick Calabrese, the brothers were summoned to a Bensenville, Illinois house on the pretext of seeing Michael inducted, and led to the basement. They were both then bludgeoned to death. Brutal enough, in any case.

On the subject of whether or not the brothers were buried alive, I think it was a suggestion in the initial autospy report that the Feds speculated on. Later reports seem to have concluded that were, in fact, very dead. I may be wrong, but I dont think Ive come across any other reports other than initial one being cited and repeated.

Of course, Nick Calabrese also helped kill some 18 men. Although the state painted Calbrese as a man held in sway by his brother Frank like some sort of LCN prisoner (though by all accounts other than his own, Frank was a mean and nasty a-hole) ultimately Nick Calabrese helped kill a bunch of dudes.

He took down Little Jimmy Marcello and his brother Frank to name a few though. And if it weren't for Pat Spilotro continuing to ask questions, and Nick Calabrese's latter day testimony, nobody would have really cared about Spilotro's murder. Remember Al Tocco had already been "pinned" as a participant in the murder, amongst a litany of other things, by his wife as far back as thew 90's.

Excellent post! Thank ypu.

They were beaten, as well as strangled, to death in the basement. The whole buried alive thing came from somebody saying that the coroner found dirt in their lungs, which suggested they had still been breathing when they were buried. But at the Family Secrets trial the coroner himself claimed he had never said that. They were both dead by the time they were carried out of the house and long before they were buried.

Mickey, I never knew the involvement of Tocco either, a fascinating man to me as he was far less known than other Outfit capos at the time and the same last name as the Tocco's a few hundred miles away in Detroit.

As for the dirt in the lungs, them being buried alive absolutely fucking terrified me. Though, I had read for years they were killed in the basement, then moved to be buried. 'Casino' more than anything else, probably influenced the thought than anything else

The makers of Casino (Scorsese, Pileggi) did that scene because them being buried alive was already the common belief at the time.

And Family Secrets dispelled that.

Yeah, that was actually the consensus about how the hit went down until family secrets. I didn't read a different version than the one in the film until the trial.

Hate to break up the party fella's...but...I'm just sayin in my opinion if the only way of identifying Tony and Michael's bodies was with dental records provided by the other brother Pat (who lived 5 states away) we can only hope for the best. I thought Tony just authored another book? See Tony Dark "A Mob of His Own." Hey whats doing consigliere (Long Island)? By the way I found my glasses, thank you.

I think its pretty sick having to watch your brother get beaten the fuck outta then get strangled .. knowing its soon gonna be you .. I loved casino but the ending was a bit harsh and even though it is not based on actual fact I am sure the real scene in the basement was much worse .. and tony asking to say one last novena ... which he didn't get to say.. horrible

It's absolutely brutal. Though who's to say Tony didn't deserve it? His brother Michael certainly did not. I can't imagine something like that happening with the New York families.

I don't know man, a sociopath like Scarpa or Pitera wouldn't flinch over something like that. What about Casso shooting Hydell 16 times and blowing off his dick, intentionally keeping him alive to suffer? I don't know if its all true but thats what Philip Carlo described in his book.

Jesus Christ with Casso. I don't know about the Hydell thing, though those guys were exceptions. The murder of the Spilotro's was organized by the whole family's ruling panel

casso admits to doing that so it is true

Blowing off his dick?

^^^no not specifically but to everything else

Let me rephrase. He shot him in the johnson and in 14 other non lethal targets like knee caps an elbows, intentionally keeping him alive until finally "mercifully" shooting him in the head.

Jesus Christ. How the government ever struck a deal with that lunatic is beyond me. At least he gets the shame of being a rat and a fool for still bein locked up.

For the feds it's more about how much damage they can do to the organization. So, they'll make a deal with just about any individual mobster they can if it can hurt the family.

just like they are doing with Hector Pagan

Well, at least Casso is one rat who really has to suffer with his decision. Staring at concrete slabs for 23 hours a day in Colorado.

John Fecarotta was a made guy in the 26th St Crew. This is the same crew as Nick Calabrese. Nick was the first made guy in Chicago to ever become a rat. Anyway, Fecarotta had nothing to do with the burial of the Spilotro Brothers. The Chicago Heights Crew way down in the far south Suburbs was ordered by the Top Boss, Carlisi, to bury the brothers. Thjey were buried while they were still alive. Fecarotta was killed for another transgression. in 1986, The Top Boss of the ufit and Boss of the extended Cicero Crew ( Joey Auippa ) & The Boss of the extended Elmwood Park Crew & Underboss of the entire Outfit ( Jack Cerone ) had already gone to prison on the Strawman skim Case for Las Vegas. Sam Carlisi & John DiFronzo replaced them and ordered the Spilotro Brothers killed. Tony was a strong made guy out in Las Vegas with a crew of soldiers working under him. His brother was not a made guy yet. His brother was a soldier working in the Grand Ave.Crew. They told Tony that his brother was going to move up and supervise his own franchise ( which means in Chicago that he was going to get made ). That was the ruse that lured both of them to the house in Bensenvilkle which is a west suburb. Anything else you want to know about it?

Welcome to the BB, TheChicagoDon. Great info. I am familiar with a lot of the Outfit stuff admittedly, however, not as much as you. Complimenti. It's always good to hear more things about the Outfit because it seems to fill in the blanks of some unknown things from the past. I have a question about Nick Calabrese - I followed the trial in 2007 pretty closely and understand the impact a major made guy has when flipping. I was wondering that when Frank Cullotta turned informant in the early 80's, was he a made guy? The word was that he learned Tony Spilotro was going to kill him so he flipped. Would Cullotta be the first made Outfit guy to rat? Or was he just an associate in Spilotro's burglary crew? Again, welcome aboard!

I thought that big john fecarotta was responsible for the spilotro burial - and he was also walking on thin ice for a while apparently for not kicking up the correct amount to his superiors, I read this in Family Affair (by Sam Giancana and Scott Burnstein) not sure if this is correct....I am waiting on the other 2 books Operation Family Secrets - Frank Calabrese Jr, and Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob by Jeff Coen.. can't get enough lol..

Thank You, Mark. Cullotta was a soldier in the Outfit under Spilotro in Las Vegas. He was not a made man. In Chicago, Soldiers are not made men even though they belong to the Outfit. They work for made men. The only made man to become a rat was Nick Calabrese. He was a made guy in the 26th st. Crew.

Another Chicago Outfit guy banned. Why can't they just behave?!?

wow what did that guy do?

acted like a know it all and used some bad language, claimed his uncle was a made man, all the typical symtoms of fanboyitis.

Whats doin dapper? Don. Just wondering how you got in the basement to see all of this occur? Because last I heard if you did not see it with your own eyes...who is to say? Anthony's brother who the feds bring over to id them from dental records?

WTF? Another wiseguy from San Diego...?!

The only reason people should be posting in this thread is to admire Feccarotta's bad ass fuckin' eye specs. As a young man who wears old man glasses, I gotta say, that wiseguy's got it goin' on

So Fecarotta did not dispose of the bodies properly. Chicago did not want anymore heat then they were already getting cause of Spliotro in Las Vegas. They did not want the bodies found so there would be no trace or evidence of what had happened to the brothers. Tony deserved it, but Michael did not in my honest opinion. The cornfield scene in Casino is unforgettable, though the actual killings took place in a basement.

Does anyone know why Michael was also clipped? Apparently, there was a third brother, John, in the Hole in the Wall gang. And he was spared.

Micheal was clipped because he was constantly with tony , the outfit feared he would seek revenge if they left him alive

The house where the brothers were killed is in Bensonville. I've passed by it many times. The house was owned at the time by a relative of Lee Magnafichi. I believe it was his brother in laws house. It's near the intersection of Irving Park Road and Route 83. The house is on Bryn Mawr. I have the exact address written down somewhere. Nick Calabrese couldn't remember the exact house because it was so long ago. Apparently the feds know but didn't want to sway Nick's testimony by telling him so they hoped he would pick it out without the help of the feds. I've heard the feds at some point did search the basement for blood samples but found nothing.

Fecoratta was not really involved in the burial of the bodies. That was Al Tocco's crew and while he caught heat for it, they didn't kill anyone because of it. Fecoratta was killed for other reasons.

John Fecarotta and his brother Tom grew up in Grand Avenue...Tom Jr. is now a circuit judge I believe.

I may be getting my facts mixed up here but Al Tocco got convicted of killing the Spilotros and died in prison because of it and his wife's testimony. But, IIRC, Nick couldn't remember if Tocco - the only Outfit member that the government "knew" was there - was present or not.

Actually, Tocco's case seems a lot weaker than DiFronzo's; his wife testified that he had dirty clothes when she picked him up from burying the Spilotros and that he had admitted to the murder, but Nick was an actual eyeball witness to DiFronzo's presence at the murder. Maybe they needed harder evidence, although they convicted Jimmy Marcello with just as little.

Roemer said in his bio of Accardo that he had a couple of high raanking guys giving him real time intel. This long before Calabrese.

Was there actual evidence Tocco was present at the murder?

I believe his ex wife could only testify that she picked him up looking filthy at 6am at a gas station. It is plausible that Tocco was not present at the crime scene, only at the burial.

From what Nicky Calabrese reported, there were high ranking guys from each crew there and even he didn't know everyone. He believed that each crew had been given a specific task and the orders came down from the top...Carlisi and Ferriola.

Each crew had a specific job. Cicero lured them to the house. At the house, Cicero, 26th St. and Elmwood Park were present. I forget exactly who took down Tony and who took down Michael, but it appeared coordinated. Tocco's far south side crew then completed the dig in NW Indiana.

All of the guys there were high ranking, at least within their respective crews.

Roemer says in Enforcer that Ferriola ordered the hit on the two brothers.

In Family Secrets, Nick Calabrese was ordered to kill Feccarotta because while they were in Arizona to murder Emil Vaci, Feccarotta won $2,500 gambling at a local casino or something, when he was supposed to be low key considering the task at hand. This among other indiscretions led to the decision to clip John Feccarotta

Yeah ferriola ordered if , it was his first piece of business when he became boss , who would have known that decision would still be causing problems for the outfit years later

That whole theory about dirt being found in there lungs is rubbish , they were dead when they were buried

^^^^^^

read the family secrets wiretaps and you can figure out ferriola wasn't calling it