I have placed some FOIA requests for FBI files on several individuals who were former members of the Chicago Outfit and thought I would share some of what I find with you guys.

First one I got back was Bobby Ansani, who was a member of the Cicero crew and active for over thirty years from the 30's to the 60's.

-The earliest mention of Ansani in the FBI files is in June, 1954 when he and his company, Taylor and Co., come under investigation for advertising a type of slot-machine converter known as a trade booster. Taylor and Co. placed an advertisement in The Billboard magazine (which originated as a type of amusement magazine and eventually evolved into today's Billboard music magazine). The advertisement came to the attention of the FBI office in Cincinnati (where the magazine was headquartered) which then contacted the Chicago office.

-The "trade booster" was basically advertised as a way of legitimizing slot machines; the booster called for the removal of the coin slots and dispensers which were replaced by the machine in question - which tabulated the scores of the player and could be remotely activated by a separate device.

-It was later determined that Taylor and Co. was a large manufacturer of casino and gambling equipment which was owned by Ansani, Joey Aiuppa, John Moore (a.k.a. Claude Maddox), and two other individuals. The address for the company was 2242 Cicero Avenue, Cicero, IL. Google Map it, it still stands but appears to be abandoned.

-Ansani was questioned by FBI officials in July, 1954 about the unit. Ansani explained the unit's operation and how it could not considered a gambling device under federal law as it removed the payment mechanisms required for slot machines to accept coinage. He also detailed the sale of several of these devices to Pennsylvania, Montana, and Alaska, of all places.

-An informant described Taylor and Co. as being a mob-controlled business.

-A diagram for the construction and installation of the "trade booster" was included in the file.

-Further investigation revealed that Taylor and Co. had dispatched one of their employees, Walter Clennin, to obtain legal advice concerning the device from an Illinois D.A. When the D.A. ruled against the device's legality, Clennin forged the D.A.'s signature to a legal document proclaiming the legitimacy of the "trade booster".

-Further investigation revealed that Ansani had taken over Taylor and Co. in 1939 after the original owner, Bobby Taylor, ran into financial trouble over losses incurred at Matt Capone's gambling joint in Cicero.

-The FBI questioned the recipients of the devices in Pennsylvania concerning whether or not the trade boosters were used to for gambling purposes, with varying results. One customer stated that they had given the bartender a set amount which allowed them to enter that into the machine with a remote. Another customer claimed they saw bartenders giving and receiving money to and from individuals playing the machine. Two other customers reported receiving cash from the bartenders. The bartenders interviewed stated that they did not receive any payments from customers.

-In September, 1954, warrants were issued for the five owners of the company. Ansani, Harry Milner, and J.R. Johnson were immediately apprehended while (unsurprisingly) Aiuppa and Claude Maddox were fugitives. Both eventually gave themselves up in October when they claimed that they "heard that the federal government were looking for them". All five individuals were freed on bond.

-The charges against Ansani and his cohorts were (1)interstate shipping of gambling devices, (2) failure to file monthly sale and delivery figures with the United States Attorney, Chicago, IL, (3) failure to clearly mark gambling devices as such for shipping and (4) failure to register as salesmen of gambling devices with the United States government. The charge of failing to file monthly figures was dismissed as the presiding judge found it would self-incriminate the charged individuals, making it thereby unconstitutional. Trial date was set for March 15, 1955.

-Walter Clennin was also indicted for forging a state official's signature. Clennin was set to go on trial August 8 but to the surprise of no one reading this post, disappeared in July. He was never found and was presumed murdered, presumably because it was assumed he would cooperate with authorities and implicate others in the forgery trial.

-The trial for Ansani, Aiuppa, and their two co-owners in Taylor and Co. was delayed for several months but finally finished in December. No jury was present for the trial. Judge William Campbell would hand down his decision and sentencing in January of 1956.

-On January 26, Judge Campbell found Ansani guilty of the transportation charge and all four were convicted of failing to register as dealers in gambling devices. All defendants were acquitted of improper labeling. All were sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

-The decision hinged on Judge Campbell's legal opinion that a slot machine, regardless of removal of its coin acceptors and dispensers, was still, by legal definition, considered a "gambling" machine and therefore unlawful.

-Appeals for Aiuppa and Maddox were dragged out over the next year and ultimately fell on deaf ears. Interestingly, Ansani did not attempt an appeal and requested to be imprisoned immediately to carry out his sentence as he was in poor health. This was apparently to receive free medical treatment at the expense of the U.S. government! Johnson and Milner also did not appeal the decision.

-This case took up the majority (roughly ¾) of Ansani's FBI file but there are still some interesting notes to make of the remainder.

-Ansani received scant attention from the feds until 1965 when the FBI began to refocus its resources on organized crime.

-Ansani's address was listed as 332 Olmstead Rd, Riverside, IL but he also had a larger residence at 16W636 37th Pl, Oak Brook, IL. Look them up on Google Maps. He was married in 1930 and had one son and one daughter. He got his start in the Outfit in the '30s at his father's soft drink company, which was apparently was the preferred supplier for many of the Outfit's bars and speakeasies. Ansani's record (besides the above-mentioned charges) includes an arrest for rape (serving one year in IL St. Penitentiary) and several arrests for "general principles". Read about that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrary_arrest_and_detention

-Interestingly enough, Ansani was listed by an informant as a pallbearer at Al Capone's funeral, along with Aiuppa and Maddox.

-Ansani's associates were listed as Aiuppa, Claude Maddox, and Bucky Ortenzi, in addition to Outfit bigshots like Giancana and Accardo. Ansani's main hangouts were the Towne Hotel and Turf Club in Cicero, both notorious Outfit hangouts. The hotel was owned by Ansani and Aiuppa and used for poker and dice games while the Turf Lounge held the same in addition to stripper and drinking parties.

-Ansani was seen and identified by an informant at a BBQ thrown by Tony Accardo at his house in July, 1954.

-Ansani and Aiuppa, with Ortenzi as Treasury/Secretary were also owners of the Rosmar Realty Company, which owned the building complex which included the Towne Hotel and Turf Lounge (on the 4800 block of West Cermak Avenue, Cicero). The local police tried to raid these buildings numerous times and were largely unsuccessful, mostly because crooked cops were able to tip the locations off in advance. The raids were mainly concerned with busting prostitution, gambling, and liquor license violations.

-Ansani was reputed to be involved in pursuing a 1.5 million dollar sewer contract with the Village of Lisle in 1966 but it was shut down upon citizen complaints. Sounds like Lisle was one of the few places to resist Outfit infiltration in this time period.

-Not much more of consequence is said in the files. According to surveillance and informants, for the next couple of years, Ansani mainly frequented the building complex containing the Towne Hotel and Turf Lounge where it was assumed he ran gambling in the area from. He probably didn't get around too much because of failing health and he was seen less and less, especially after a heart attack in March, 1968. On April 25, 1968, Ansani died. Chicago P.D. as well as federal agents were expected to be present to record license plates and identify potential Outfit associates attending the wake.

-Tony Accardo, Joey Aiuppa, and Rocky Potenza were among those ID'd at Ansani's wake.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading. I will try to have another one up in the next month or so.

Good stuff I've been wondering about Ansani. He's all over the Aiuppa files. They claimed he was Joey Os closest associate in the 60s.

Thanks Snakes. Good stuff.

For those who read the FBI files, you will find reference to a number of informants. Very interesting. Obviously there were some in the upper echelon of The Outfit. Lots of speculation as to the identities of these people.

Thanks, Snakes for sharing. I know how disappointing some of these files can be. Very often they come heavily redacted and the info found in them sometimes needs to be approached with an open mind. The files are not written like a book, so you need to connect the dots by yourself.

I have a couple of them coming in soon on some Genovese guys. Hopefully they won´t be disappointing reads.

Wow I don't know how the hell i missed this......thanks Snakes!

All the redaction drives me nuts. So hard to decipher some of that stuff.

Snakes,great find. I love reading about the "golden age" of the Mob.Your contribution is fascinating and much appreciated.

Great read!

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Ansani's files weren't redacted too badly but he did die in 1968.

One part that I neglected to mention was when Aiuppa was arrested, his background check revealed that he was pulled over and the cops found a .30-06 and two pistols in his possession. Aiuppa claimed he was going "pheasant hunting" lol

The next guy I am covering died more than three decades later so we will see how badly his are redacted.

I don't think I mentioned this in my first post, either. Taylor and Co. was a huge manufacturer of gambling supplies in the Midwest and basically had no competition because everyone was scared of them because they were the "Outfit's company." They made slot machines, dice, and a ton of other things and legally sold them to Vegas, not to mention the countless bars and clubs which illegally purchased material from them.

Great post

One of the best things I've read on this site. Thanks!

Okay guys, I got some stuff back on Willie Messino and unfortunately... it's not that much, especially when you consider that the guy was a member for for 40+ years.

-The files start out in the latter half of 1968 with a note stating that much of Messino's juice activity is covered in a separate case file which mainly focuses on Messino's kidnapping and subsequent threatening of George and Jack Chiagouris for unpaid vig, for which he is currently out on bond, pending appeal. It's a tad disappointing that they didn't include said case file with this request, but I cited Messino's FBI file number in my inquisition so they probably just assumed I only wanted his individual file.

-Messino is known to specialize in "extortionate credit transactions" and is recognized as belonging to Jack Cerone's street crew. His known associates include Joe Gagliano, George Bravos, and Chris Cardi, his nephew (although the files leave that out).

-His most frequent hangout in the time period of 1967-68 was Mary Anne's Pancake Restaurant on 3756 West Chicago Avenue (which now houses a pharmacy), and the Chicago Linoleum and Tile Company on 3816 West Chicago (which has been replaced with a dingy looking church with bars on the doors and windows). Actually, this whole part of town is pretty run-down.

-Back in January, 1967, Messino, Bravos, and Joe Lombardi were found guilty by the State of Illinois on five counts of kidnapping, aggravated battery, and conspiracy. Messino had been hit with a hefty sentence of 10-30 years. Interestingly enough, the file states that this case was the first major bust in the city's juice racket investigation.

-Messino and co. had been convicted of kidnapping and beating the Chiagouris's, who had borrowed $160,000 - in 1960's money - and falling behind on payments.

-Another funny observation: Lombardi is clearly mentioned in the files several times but in some instances his name has been redacted. For example, they name Messino, Bravos, and Lombardi as the guilty parties but when they list the sentences on the very next page, Messino and Bravos are listed but "Lombardi" has been redacted! Go figure...

-In typical fashion, Chicago's court system was woefully behind so Messino's appeal had been dragged out and delayed for almost two years, with the State of Illinois scheduled to render their final decision in December of '68.

-Messino's residence is listed as 2037 North 77th Avenue, Elmwood Park, IL. It's still there, check it out on Google Maps. Nice neighborhood.

-His height is listed as 5'7" and he weighed in at 180 pounds - pretty stout.

-Messino, who had been out on $10,000 bond almost two years since he was sentenced, was now looking at having his bond revoked and being jailed immediately, presumably because he wasn't just sitting at home and obeying the law while he was out on bond.

-Messino was observed at the funeral Joey Aiuppa's mother in November of 1968.

-Messino's appeal was stretched out to March, 1969 after additional documentation was supplied by his attorneys. Meanwhile, Messino was still meeting with Joe Gags, Bravos, and Cardi at the Pancake House.

-A funny incident is noted at this point in the files. A newspaper article mentions a guy named Joe Esposito, a juice loan victim of Joe Gags who owned an ambulance service. Apparently, he was into Gags pretty deep as they used his ambulances as their own personal taxi service for a while, with Messino even driving one to a funeral! They quit this practice soon after they learned the cops were on to them.

-Messino, perhaps knowing he had no chance in his appeal, was rumored to be considering a move to South America to escape his jail sentence. He had supposedly started unloading some of his real estate interests in anticipation of such a move.

-A newspaper columnist claimed he had an informant who had spoken to Messino and found out that he loved the show "Mission Impossible", stating "I never miss it."

-A Chicago report on Juice Loan Racketeers was scheduled to be hitting the streets in 1970; Messino was naturally going to be included.

-In September of 1969, more than 2½ years after being convicted, Messino's sentence was upheld by the state court. Of course, Messino's attorneys now appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The State's Attorney was pretty displeased with Messino still being free on the streets this entire time and still "associating with other gangsters and presumably continuing to operate his criminal usury rackets."

-We also get a look at some more details of the case in a summary of the proceedings by a Chicago Tribune article. The Chiagouris's had borrowed a total of 165k, repaid 163k of it, gave up a land deed worth 250 grand, and still owed 124 grand in juice.

-After losing his state appeal, Messino's bond was upped from $10,000 to $50,000, pending his Supreme Court appeal. Revocation of his bond was still in the works in January of 1970 because of rumors that he was looking to flee the country.

-Around this time, the report on juice loan activity in Chicago had been published, with Messino categorized as an "upper tier" juice loan racketeer. The report listed known hangouts of Messino as well as vehicles which he was known to use. They even mentioned the ambulances!

-During this period of time, there were several heavily redacted pages of files listing vehicles which were seen at the Messino residence. Unfortunately, none of the owners names were revealed.

-On February 24, 1970, Messino's appeal to the Supreme Court was denied and he was jailed in the Cook County Jail pending transfer to Joliet State Penitentiary. In the interim, law enforcement agents were also concentrating on who would be taking over Messino's various juice loan rackets.

-Of note, the State's Attorney furnished some information regarding Messino upon his arrest and his weight had dropped to 155. He also listed his place of employment as Commercial Photograph Survey - "public relations", LOL.

-Another noteworthy piece of information reveals that Messino was employed at some point by the Chicago Police Department, although it is not known in what capacity as this page was heavily redacted. Additionally, his house had been valued at $47,000.

-The latter half of the files don't reveal much as Messino was imprisoned at the time. It mostly deals (more than 50 pages of mostly) with vehicles seen at Messino's residence (with ownership information redacted) and residences of Messino's associates, of which none were named with the exception of Jack Cerone and Joe Spadavecchio.

-Also, it appears that the FBI had been gathering information on someone making collections on Messino's behalf and handling his juice customers during his incarceration. Since this is interesting information, it is of course redacted. The only thing we find out is that the mystery man was employed as an asphalt smoother by the city of Chicago. Ring any bells?

-Messino eventually found his way to the Illinois State Penitentiary in Stateville, IL. In 1974, he was transferred to the state pen in Dwight, IL.

-Messino was first up for parole in August of 1975 but was denied. He would next come up in May of 1976. His continued incarceration was noted in his file and as a result, his case was closed, to be reopened upon "the receipt of specific information linking either subject [someone else's name was also listed but redacted] to a specific violation of Federal law.

I was initially frustrated that Messino had nothing in his file after his parole but when you think about it, it makes sense. His street level activity was basically non-existant from that point on and he was never mentioned in any more indictments or investigations. I'll try and fill in the blanks on the latter half of his Outfit career below.

Messino was paroled sometime in 1976 and he was almost shelved upon his return before he was tasked with babysitting Jack Cerone. As his top aide, Messino was Cerone's driver for nearly ten years and upon Jack's imprisonment, Messino did the same for John DiFronzo until at least the mid nineties. Willie called it a day at that point and was semi-retired until his death in 2002, although I do remember Joe Fosco (who was close with Willie) telling a story that a nearly eighty year-old Willie had to physically threaten somebody who had pissed him off.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading, hopefully I will have another one up soon.

Thanks for the info, Snakes. Keep'em coming.

Thanks for sharing on Ansani and Messino. If you want to talk about being frustrated over the redactions, let me tell you about Frank Bompensiero's file. He was an informant and it's public record, so you'd expect a great file, right? Wrong. It was a small, thin file and almost every page was literally blank. Page after page of nothingness. Now, THAT is frustrating.

How heavily redacted was Messino's file Snakes? Good stuff again thanks a lot.

Some pages were completely redacted, other pages (mostly concerning his trial and appeals) were not. The period of his incarceration was almost half of his file and mostly consisted of vehicles at his residence. The make, model, and year was the only information not redacted in those instances. I figure they were probably just gophers giving his wife packages while he was in prison and were not "identified" Outfit members.

I was hoping for more stuff on the seventies and eighties, particularly concerning Cerone and DiFronzo, but I figure most of that stuff is in their respective files.

I know why they redact stuff and I guess I´m fine with that. But I suspect that they also redact stuff because the stuff might contradict a testimony, given by a witness in court. Especially if the testimony helped to convict the subject. And if that is the case, then it appears that requesting FOIA files is totally useless. Another thing that frustrates me is when you make a request on somebody´s files and the files are already out there in the vault for example, the FOIA people won´t go through another process of locating records potentially responsive to your request but will send you a copy of the files that are in the vault. Crazy when you think about it because the redacting in some of those copies were done a long time ago. This happend to me when I made a request for Galante´s files and the FOIA people told me that they would send a copy of the version that is in the vault. I said no thanks, because Galante´s whole file is practically all black! And ten years from now, people who are making requests for these same files, they will get a copy of a total unreadable file!

Man, Galante's files would be crazy interesting. There are some guys's files I'd love to get my hands out.

Tony Ducks for example, is one.

Mobster - Johnny "the Fox" Torrio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kTtEff-re4

Ansani was pretty chummy with Joey back in the 30's when he stood up in O'brien's wedding as this photo illustrates.

I googled FOIA and this page popped up. I was stunned because I've been trying to get info on Ansani for many years now. You see, he was my grandfather but I know very little about him.I know he was good friends with Joe Batters from the time they were kids.They remained close friends for life. Born in 1904 he started bangin' at a very young age, robbing freight trains and doing street crimes. Don't know when he joined the Circus Gang but he was close to Tough Tony Capezio and John Moore for life. Not sure exactly when he partnered up with Aiuppa but he stood up in Joey's wedding in the late twenties or early thirty's. After that all I know is,he,John Moore and Joey were all together until they died. Joey was godfather to my father and oldest brother and John Moore's son, Terry, was my godfather. They ran Cicero in the 50's and 60's with Joe Corngold as their mentor. They owned Taylor manufacturing, the Town Hotel, and the Turf Club among other businesses. I doubt I would be telling this if my father was still alive but he passed one week before the old man, which is what they called Joey at the end of his life. Don't want to take up too much space but a couple of funny stories: As I said he used to rob freight trains and there was one security guard that they beat up several times until the guard told them to just take the stuff and stop hitting him. That guy ended up marrying my grandmother's sister and became Uncle Red. A week after my dad died my mother received a phone call from Joey's long time driver. I listened on the extension. He said "I just wanted to let you know,da old man died yesterday." my mother said "I'm so sorry! Will you let us know about the arrangements?" He replied "Oh dere aint gonna be no arrangements, no nuttin'. He said to just dig a hole and trow him in it." I laughed out loud. A more poignant story: In 1978 I took my new girlfriend to the Feast in Melrose. As we headed toward the carnival I stopped in to see Uncle Joey. We walked in the alley to the garage behind Joey's mother's house. I looked in the garage and saw Joey sitting there so I strolled in. Two Huge guys started moving toward me until he waved them off. As I hugged him he said with tears in his eyes "I miss Bobby". One of the most feared men in Chicago Outfit was crying! And he was mean. Around 1939 he and my grandfather got pulled over in Fox Lake while my grandfather was driving. He told my grandfather to get the cop to lean in the window so he could shoot him. Gramps said under his breath to shush, forget about it. Joey more vehemently, Get him to lean in the window so he could kill him. That's when my grandfather reminded Joey that my dad, who was six years old at the time, was in the back seat. they took the ticket but Joey was pissed that he couldn't kill a cop for trying to give them a speeding ticket. I don't know how true the last story is but Joey could be a mean son of a bitch, and all those old timers hated cops. One thing I would like to clarify. My grandfather was anything but cheap. It's extremely unlikely that he would have opted for medical care from a prison doctor over his specialist at Rush St. Luke's. The actual reason he started his sentence immediately was to be able to attend my father's graduation from college the following year. And by the way, that whole deal was bullshit, but those guys got away with many, much more serious crimes so boo hoo.I attached a couple of photos.

Thanks for your contributions, great pics!

Is that Ansani, Accardo, and Cerone in that last pic?

Wow, assuming your story is true (and your pics seem to be one of kind) do you have any more? Who is that at the pool with Bobby Ansani and Joey O?

Joseph Corngold

Hence the title I suppose lol. Wow...that's quite a photo. Just me or does Joey O look like an evil motherfucker in that picture? Can anyone tell who it is with Ansani in the third picture of the guys walking down the street?

I have several pictures with unknowns. I've been asking around but nobody seems to know. Hot Springs photo is actually a postcard with the date on back but the year is obscured by the mark where it was attached to a photo album.None of em appear to be too happy about having their photo taken. I don't know about you, but if I saw those three in Hot Springs, the last thing I would do is take a picture of em! Here are a few more pics. The Accardo Cerone Ricca Aiuppa is my parents wedding. The women are Angie, Joey's wife, and I think the other is Clarice Accardo. I'm sure that can be confirmed by someone on this site. The other group photo I think is Tony Caps daughter's wedding? I don't know the man in the middle he seems to be somebody. Second from right looks like Frankie LaPorte but I don't know. guy on far right looks a little scary. I'd love to know more about these guys... Next, Uncle Joey and Auntie Ange. She was somethin'! Brassy, took no crap from the guys. I remember her yelling at the boys for letting me sip a drink from Joey's glass when I was about four years old. Last is Ansani with? John Binder,local mob expert, thought him to be Joey Obrien but he really looks a lot like Uncle Red, the railroad guard who married my grandmas sister. That's really about all that I know. My dad was never involved so he knew very little. One more anecdote: When Joey got out of prison in 96 I think it was, my dad went to visit him several times. On the last visit he picked up my grandmother, who outlived them all, and the three drove around for a couple of hours. What a scene that must have been! Thanks for letting me share. I'm sure the boys are spinning in their graves over my big mouth but I really don't no nuttin".

Nice, thanks again for the pictures, they are amazing!

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.