Conflicting Chicago Outfit information

So it's a never ending argument. Is Chicago a traditional LCN family? Do Chicago guys go through a traditional making ceremony? (Blood, saint card, etc etc) Are non- italians "made"? There have been plenty of heavyweights that commanded respect and highly regarded. Guzik. Humphries, Alex, Shweiss. Some reports say they were made, some say not. Also Jimmy Marcello is Irish on his mothers side, but yet was allegedly "made" and held the title of boss for a short stint. Also, Nick Ferriola, the son of Joe "Nicol" Ferriola, (yes, it's Nicol, pronounced 'Neegol') is apparently irish on his mothers side but is also allegedly "made". I also read somewhere that Jimmy Boy Cozzo was denied membership because his lineage is of Northern Italian. However Red Wemette alleges that Jimmy was half Italian and actually WAS a made member of the Outfit.

I'd like to hear some opinions and random conversation on this. There is no clear explanation and I thought it would be an interesting thread.

Getting back to the Joe "Nicol" thing. Anyone here who is Italian or familiar with Italian culture knows there are two "Nicholas" versions in Italian. One is "Nicola" and the other is "Nicolo" both male names. They would also know that when you pronounce those names in proper Italian, it sounds like "Nee-Gol", which is why we always see his nickname as "Nagall" or "Negal", because that's what it sounds like. Only true dagos would know that. I grew up with immigrant grandparents and have many relatives who are "greaseballs", from the old country and emigrated here in the 60's and 70's. Apparently, Joe Nick's father was Nicolo Ferraioli (later amercanized to 'Ferriola'). That is more than likely where he got the nickname "Joe Nicol" and "Joe Nick". Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Is Chicago a traditional LCN family? Yes

They always went through the traditional making ceremony just like NY families just not with all the usual rituals yet Chicago has some less lenient rules on certain things

For cases like Gus Alex & The German. IMO it came down to how beneficial they were for the Outfit & since they provided big bucks for the boys, heritage doesn't matter. The German was a professional hitman on top of being a solid earner, i heard he put 8 bullets into Dorfmans head before he hit the ground. He was very useful for the Outfit in its heyday. I don't think they were never made though.. Then again who knows i heard people claim Richard Cain was a made man lol

http://dig.abclocal.go.com/wls/documents/Gov-Fratto-Memo.pdf


This includes The ONLY made guy to ever testify who was part of the Chicago LCN Family

He describes the ceremony as exactly how the east coast families do it...and talks about how if your not Italian your not made and can never be
He describes the burning of the saint and the pricking of the finger and that members would refer to each other as “friends of ours” and “Amico Nostra”

The non Italians who had clout only had clout because of they’re relationships to certain made guys, without the boss in they’re corner they were nothing
It’s the exact reason why Gus Alex and Lenny Patrick were getting muscled out of street taxes in the late 80s by Jimmy Marcello and his crew...

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about the Outfit. Such as Joe Ferriola being the boss which according to Nick Calabrese never happened and that Carlisi succeeded Auippa and after him was Monteleone and that Auippa was the official Boss until the day he died in 98 and that Jimmy Marcello at that point became the official boss
Another one was that Al Tocco succeeded Pilotto and became a Capo. According to Nick Calabrese that never happened and Toots Palermo succeeded Pilotto and Tocco wasn’t even made until 1983

Hmmm interesting so Jimmy was never a made man like so many claim… I think this is as creditable as it gets. good stuff my friend

There is a lot of talk of there not being many made members of the outfit.

Seems to me they have always been a tight organisation, they have always had associates who were held in high esteem.

Gerald Scarpelli wasnt a made man?

Chicago didn’t start the ceremony until the late 70s. Until that time a “made” guy in the outfit was called a “mustache”

I always thought it was Joey doves who introduced the making ceremony.

I have always heard that this is correct. I've also heard Giancana did not care of the making ceremony, and it was much less formal under him. Not sure how Accardo/Ricca handled it.

People get confused by those books Bill Roemer put out in the late '80s / early '90s. The Feds had a lot of guys wrong on their charts.

As far as Wemette goes, he flip flops on things. I've heard him say Cozzo wasn't made, but then recently said he was.

Thanks for this information. Also with Chicago, was there one overall boss and then a street boss? Was Arcado the overall boss and Giancana the street boss?