Elmwood Park Crew 1930s to 1970s

Suggestions?

Anthony (Tough Tony) Capezio
Anthony Accardo
Jack Cerone
Willie Messino
Dominic (Butch) Blasi (originally with Taylor Street)
Charles English (originally with Taylor Street)
Joe Spadevecchio
Lee Magnafichi
John DiFronzo
Joe Andriacchi
Pete DiFronzo
Mike Castaldo
Joe Lombardi (not made)
Joe (Joe Gags) Gagliano
Frank (Skippy) Cerone
Eco James Coli
Sam Mesi
James Adduci
Vincent (The Don) Benevento?
Nick DeJohn?
Charles Gioe?
Nick Circella?
Tony (Mops) Volpe?
Jack McGurn?
Hymie (Loud Mouth) Levin

I think you should stick with made guys, especially when you're talking about Chicago, you have a smaller more elite Group.

1) Forget: Joe Lombardi (Elmwood's uncle was not made.)
2) Forget: Levin
3) Forget: Benevento
4) Forget: DeJohn

A couple of these guys might be way too old for me to
remember.

Before 1950, there was no Elmwood Park Crew. they were called the Grand Ave Crew way back in the 1930's and 1940's.

Originally I had it listed as Grand Avenue/Elmwood Park, but it might confuse some people with Joe Lombardo's Grand Avenue crew. On Lombardi, I heard different opinions. Some said he was made, so that's why I seek opinions here.

Lombardi was a collector in the Elmwood Park Crew under Willie Messino. After He and Willie had a big falling out, Jack ordered Lombardi to work under Mikey Cataldo. Willie blackballed Lombardi from ever getting made and running a franchise. Lombardo was a juice collector and that was it. The Elmwood Park guys respected him that he went to jail and never said anything, but aside from him being honorable and a good collector, he was very difficult and argumentative. The fact that he disrespected his Boss, Wilie Messino, was never overlooked.

Can't disrespect the boss. I heard about all the crap that Messino had to go through with Accardo's kids. He definitely earned his pay.

The Outfit guys, at least years ago, were real good at reading people. They would ask a few questions or have another man ask a question and they would read a guy's body language while listening to his answer.
That was one of the first things they would do with a guy working in a crew. They would test him and see what kind of character he had as a man. A BIG RED flag would go up if the guy already started to undermine his Boss, a made guy, who was bringing him into the picture.
If that immediately started happening, then the guy doing the undermining would not be trusted and would probably never move up to be made. The Outfit respected loyalty, especially if you were trying to defend someone who might be wrong. If your Boss was wrong, you had to be CAREFUL how you expressed that opinion. The Outfit guys were always testing people.

Do you guys mean Cataldo or CASTALDO?? There was a Mike Castaldo from Melrose Park who was made into the Elmwood Park Crew too, no?? He's dead but has several sons who do well for themselves legitimately. I remember ANP writing some piece about how Johnny DiFronzo had blackballed Mike Castaldo and that Willie Messino didn't like it as he liked Mike. I have no idea if that's true or not, though.

It's "Castaldo" and Mikey certainly was made.

Correct. Castaldo. I copied Faithful1's misspelling. LOL.

Fixed.