Who your favorite outfit member ?

Who your favorite chicago outfit member from back in the day or now ?

Mine is Sam "Wings" Carlisi. Low-key and ruthless.

my fav is Tony Accardo

Curly..

Yeah he was a top guy the brains behind the outfit

deniro...without a doubt. without Humphries getting them into unions, and his political clout. the outfit would have never risen above a street gang like the 42s.

I think you're taking it a bit too far. The Outfit had plenty of political fixers besides Camel. If it wasn't Camel doing the fixing, someone else would have done it. He was an important and capable guy, but the outfit was a power before he became a power.

well, could anyone but him get ricca out of prison by putting a fix in with a u.s. supreme court justice [tom clark ] now, that was slick, and coming up with the strategy to use the 5th amendment. this was all the hump.

Joseph "Ruffy" Lisciandrello

I never said he wasn't great at what he did, but the Outfit was bigger than Camel. He was one of the pieces of the puzzle. Just like the Genovese family continued to thrive after Lucky, Costello, and Lansky were booted. Costello was a huge political fixer in New York.

agreed mulberry. you are correct.

Paul Ricca

Sam Giancana hands down was John Gotti before gotti was gotti hung wit da rat pack dated phylis and I loved his arogange and givin da mifdle finger to ds feds

Antonio "handsome tony" Lumbrazo.

I know he was beyond violent and sick but its really hard not to pick a guy that goes into court carried by a gurney, wearing a bathrobe, wielding a megaphone and who once served as his own counsel, called himself as a witness and would as the jury if they'd ever seen elephants. despite all the completely awful things he did Im going Mad Sam all day.

Tony Spilotro comes in at a close second because he kind of looks like my father.

Ask any current or past Outfit member who the most respected boss of all time on the street was, one word will prevail: Mooney.

Guy was before & ahead of his time. No one did it like he did it.

Ask any current or past Outfit member who the most respected boss of all time on the street was, one word will prevail: Mooney.

Guy was before & ahead of his time. No one did it like he did it.

Yeah i like Sam Mooney Giancana too they sure did when he was making them millions. But when he sick & ill and most of his old crew was dead or in prison they whacked him nice guys A . Envy comes to mind Joey aiuppa and Jackie Cerone even Accardo was jealous even tho my Fav is Tony Accardo then Curly then Jackie Cerone and Gus alex

Al capone is my favorite, before he went to Alcatraz he already started the move in to hollywood, unions, and expanding gambling operations. Any vote for giacanna is a vote for capone, it's clear to see he acted just like capone, giacanna always admired capone.its a fact jake guzik was the brains of the outfit after capone got shipped to alcatraz, ricca didn't start coming into his own until after capone got shipped to alcatraz, capone called the shots from jail until 35-36, and frank nitti never got ricca permission to do anything

that outfit ran that town, if you doubt that, read [ the outfit ] by gus russo

Have to say Accardo, but I'm still learning about the Outfit.

Joey Aiuppa. Would love it if someone wrote a book about him.

Pete "little pee pee" prizzano

Then he ended up exiled to Mexico then came back just in time to catch a few bullets to the head

More like they saw him as a pain in the ass and attracting too much attention so they whacked him. It was like Hoffa coming back and thinking he could take over the teamsters.

Joe Lombardo had a hell of a story to tell. The Cicero boys were also very enterprising. The guys who largely kept their names out of the papers were also very interesting - guys like Mario Gabelli and Babe DeMonte. I also like the Rush Street guys like Joe Arnold and Joe DiVarco.

Then he ended up exiled to Mexico then came back just in time to catch a few bullets to the head [/quote] O r u forgetting Giancana setting up a gambling empire all over the world and in the middle east while he was supposedly exiled I dont rem tony accardo rubbing elbows wit da kennedys and so on even though tony was a big shot call me a conspiracy theorist just so happens he was going be infront of the jfk assaination commitee outfit didnt whack him trafficante or da powers to be did but u think way u want

Would Frank LaPorte (sp) in Chicago Heights be someone who avoided the spotlight ?I believe you mentioned in an earlier post that you read "The Boys In Chicago Heights." It seems to me that those guys somehow managed to avoid publicity, at least until the chop shop wars started. I could be wrong, but you don’t see too much info on some of those fellows. Matt Luzi did a great job on the book (IMO).

jipjones, regarding your post. It sure seems funny that both johnny roselli, and sam giancana were whacked when they were both scheduled to appear before congress about the cia- mafia link to cuba. indeed, behind closed door hearings, isn't that strange.

Giancana was in a trap and there was no good options for him. He had spent a year in jail for refusing to answer questions before the grand jury. He knew he was going to be called back when the grand jury reconvened. He had four choices (IMO):
- talk and the Outfit would kill him. He knew the rules about talking.
- refuse to talk and go to jail.
- try to "skate" around the questions and be evasive. This would be really tough because the prosecution had tapes from the Armory Lounge and Celano's that recorded Giancana talking about killing people, etc.Giancana had immunity but he would be forced to implicate others.
- get out of Chicago and the U.S. This was his choice because the other three were no good.

He returned to Chicago when Robert Kennedy and et al pressured the Mexican govt to kick him out. Keep in mind that Giancana still had a representative in Chicago while he was in Mexico. Butch Blasi was his rep. I'm not sure how long his involvement was recognized, but he was still involved for some period of time. He made an enormous amount of money during his time in Mexico, but refused to share any of the money with the Outfit.

Once he returned to Chicago in '74 his power was greatly diminished. When he agreed to testify, his days were numbered. I believe he was only required to answer questions about Outfit activity that occurred after 1972. He testified four times and was preparing for a fifth appearance when he was murdered. As far as I know his testimony is sealed and has not been made public. So is Phylis McGuire's testimony.

I don't think anyone has reported the results of what transpired behind closed doors in front of the grand jury.

gary it wasn't a grand jury he was scheduled to appear in front of, but, a congressional committee in Washington behind closed doors. as was roselli. they were both murdered before testifying in Washington. if I have that wrong correct me.

I believe Roselli was murdered after testifying, although he was scheduled to do so a second time when he disappeared.

I believe It was a grand jury in Chicago because Chicago had jurisdiction. I'm sure he would have probably faced a congressional committee, just like Roselli because of the CIA connection. Roselli did testify and was also scheduled to testify again, but he was killed about a year after Giancana's murder. Roselli did testify before the Church Committee.

I'll recheck and get back to you.

snakes, youre right. he testified twice before the church committee. but, he was to testify in front of the house committee on the assassination of j.f.k. so was giancana. before roselli was to testify. giancana was murdered. then roselli turned up missing. neither testified before the house committee on the assassination. they were both murdered. my information comes from Wikipedia. I googled it. somebody didn't want them testifying. trafficante you think.......

It was the grand jury, Binnie. But one of the concerns of the Outfit was that Giancana would be called before a congressional committee like Roselli. No doubt he was headed that way.

I'll come back and post a link.

Here you go. Look at "mob set up hit."


http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1975/06/21/

no, gary, Wikipedia, says he was to appear before a senate committee shortly before he was murdered. im just going by that. google it and see what you come up with.

Yes, it does say Senate Committee. But there is a "clarification" note indicating more info is needed. He may have been scheduled for a Senate Committee at some later date, but according to the Tribune article, his next appearance was with the grand jury. Edward Hanrahan and David Schippers structured the immunity agreement that gave Giancana total immunity. He could only be prosecuted if he was caught in a lie.

ok, either way he was a goner, also someone posted that he said something to the effect that " ill never go to jail again " he no doubt alarmed the outfit. it makes no difference who gave butch the order, he outlived his usefulness.

Boy, you've brought up a good question. What would have happened if Giancana had been subpoenaed to appear before a Senate Committee? He could not be prosecuted, but would he have to answer questions before a congressional committee? His agreement was with the state of Illinois. I read that Giancana's immunity agreement was presented to several courts, maybe the Illinois Supreme Court ( not sure, maybe), before Hanrahan got the green light that it was legal. I'm wondering if Giancana's willingness to answer questions and immunity agreement would have kept him from being indicted. And if he's not indicted, i would venture to guess that his testimony would be sealed. Now how in the world would that be handled by a Senate Committee ? I'll work on this......may take a few days.

yes, gary find if he and roselli were subpoenaed before a congressional committee in Washington. if they were how does the timing fit into their murders. its quite confusing at the moment.

Nice info Binnie coll & Garymartin They would never leave him Alone the press and the G he was to big A story like a Movie Star And Full of Info Plus would he talk yes Or no maybe not ? i am sure if he had a chance he would of left the country Again .

Yeah I agree 100% - plus a lot of the guys down there stayed under the radar for years. LaPorte's protoge's like Frank "Cease" Zizzo, Palermo, Al Pilotto and the Tocco Brothers were very adept at keeping their names out of the papers.

Binnie - Giancana was appearing before a federal grand jury. He was scheduled for a fifth appearance when he was murdered. However, newspaper reports stated that he WAS, or had been, subpoena to appear before a congressional committee. Either he would be subpoenaed or the transcripts would be subpoenaed. The lawyers would have to battle it out. Apparently his immunity plea would require him to testify when necessary ( I'm not sure how this worked). What if Giancana appeared before a congressional committee and took the 5 th? He had immunity. As I said, something must have been worked-out requiring him to testify. I imagine the issue would have benn settled in court.

Here's another one. Why was Trafficante not granted immunity to testify? He appeared before The Congressional Committee On Assassinations ( or some committee) and pleaded the 5th on most questions. I've never understood why he wasn't offered immunity.

Roselli had been talking to the Feds since the early 70's. Some of his testimony resulted in a grand jury appearance for Accardo. As you might expect, this did not go over well. Accardo was overheard saying he would not forget what Roselli did.

But the most common theory is that Trafficante had Roselli killed. After Roselli and Giancana were eliminated, the only person left that was involved with the Castro deal was Trafficante. Kinda looks strange, but nothing has ever been proven relative to the govt's involvement in the deaths of these guys.

Accardo could have reached out to Trafficante to get someone to make the hit.

Absolutely. Just about anything was possible with these guys. Nobody was ever charged.

gary martin, yes, it all remains a mystery about the cia mafia plot against castro. and apparently it may have something to do with bobby and jack kennedy approving it. speculation has it that judy Campbell was the go-between with giancana and the president.

uploading pictures

Joey!!!

jake guzik, john torrio

Frank "The Breeze" Calabrese Sr. Good earner, stone killer and perfectly satisfield with his position under Angelo "The Hook" of the 26th Streetcrew.

If you believe what is written about the guy, I guess you would like a dozen of his caliber in your crew. Low key, money making with very limited career ambitions BUT as cold as they come. Of course the guy was a psycho but in terms of an effecive outfit guy I would say he was def up there with the best in Outfit history (of course on a much lower level than the likes of Accardo, Giancana, Doves, Cerone etc)

They should have sent him and not Spilotro to Las Vegas.

Roger that read the books about him really good family secrets

Can't think of even one "favorite" member. Too many scumbags. The Outfit crimes are among the most sadistic and violent in the American mafia history. In New York, they usually shoot you in the head and that's it. In Chicago, they hang you on a hook and torture you for days, or do all those sexual pervert stuff in the style of Mad Sam DeStefano, or have long "fun" before killing like with the burglars of Accardo's house. Or that pedophile son of Jake Guzik's (although I am not sure whether he was really associated with the outfit or was a criminal on his own).

what that about jake guzik son ?

he had a son? lol
i was thinking about picking accardo BUT then he could had his ruthless moments like when his house got robbed ya know? why'd you decide to pick up? rather than ricca?

Here is what I found:

http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id139.htm




I think you misunderstood. I didn't pick Accardo as my favorite outfit member. As I said, I don't have even one because I hate them all: I can't find even one slightly likeable character in all the history of the Outfit. In the other families there were interesting characters like Harry Riccobene, Carlo Caputo, Willie Moretti, Jimmy Fratianno or even Joe Bonanno who, scumbags as they might have been, from the outside behavior might paradoxically make a likeable or funny impression. In the Chicago Outfit, I can't find even one such character.

Think about it, if he has immunity, then he has to talk, if not, he takes the fifth;
I have a theory on this time period, the MObsters were scared shitless of the cia,
You know that scene in the good Shepard, where the old school mobster talks to Matt Damon and says you guys are the ones that really scare me, you make the real wars?
The blanket denials on narcotics? Fbi, labor leaders like Sidney Hellman, if these people talked, it woulda put the country in a uproar...

He sure was Ruthless He Beat Guys To death with a base ball bat that how he got one of his nick names Joe Batters