Burglary has always been called "the silent crime" because the burglars use stealth techniques to enter homes, business offices or safe rooms. Burglary is generally defined as the breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony.



There are three types of burglars, the professional burglars, the thieves and the opportunists.

The “opportunist” is often a drug addict or a misled teenager, who goes out looking for a business or home that he thinks he can break into easily and get away quick. There’s almost no planning prior to this fast crime and the perpetrators are easily caught by the police.



The thieves are half specialized criminals, who usually commit crimes like armed robbery, small burglary, rob cars and any other type of small crime. They use simple tools and they target businesses and homes that have less protection than high-end establishments. Something like small retail stores and homes known to contain valuables such as cash, jewelry, clothes and electronic equipment.



As for the professional burglars, they usually target big mansions, major businesses, banks and other high-end targets. Prior to committing the burglary, the professional burglar performs surveillance on the target. Although most of the targets have the best alarm systems in place, the professionals use their knowledge and specialized tools to disable these systems.

In Chicago, for many decades existed a close fraternity of professional burglars who used the city as a central location to pull jobs all over the country. One of the most powerful organized crime groups, known as the Chicago Outfit, ruled the underground for almost a century and most of its members started their professional criminal careers as burglars. One of the Outfit’s most prominent burglar and at the same time a bloodthirsty killer and made member, was Willie “Potatoes” Daddano(real name Daddono).

By 1936, at age 24, Willie Daddano had accumulated an extensive criminal record in the infamous 42 Gang, including nine counts of bank robbery and other burglaries. In 1944 during WWII, Daddano was arrested for stealing three million war ration stamps. During the 1950’s Daddano became right hand man for Chicago Outfit bosses Sam Giancana and Sam Battaglia. Daddano lived on North Riverside Drive and enjoyed a reputation as a stone cold killer, street tax collector and a man who liked the company of beautiful blondes. He spent the last part of his criminal career running a crew of independent thieves, out of a suburban bowling alley in Melrose Park that he owned. It was named the Riviera Bowling Lanes and served as his headquarters. It was there when most of Chicago’s burglars dropped by and to pay their street tax to Daddano and the Outfit.

And everyone who was anyone knew that Daddano was extracting a street tax from professional burglars throughout the Chicago area for many years. The street tax was non-negotiable and those who failed to pay usually died. Daddano didn’t only extort the burglars, but he also recruited promising guys for other dirty operations. These were daring men with pure criminal minds, which made them perfect Outfit guys. They were owned by the Outfit and even carried out enforcement work, for example accomplishing syndicate-sanctioned hits. Dadddano was also very loyal to his crew members. Once he reportedly bought a new Corvette for a burglar and mob associate who did time in prison, as a reward for not ratting on him and his son John Daddano.

Willie “Potatoes” Daddano and his crew of burglars were operating old school style. They were robbing banks and hijacked trucks like John Dillinger’s gang but with ski masks. He’s crew of burglars was formed by guys like Johnny “The Bug” Varelli, Guy “Lover Boy” Mendola, John ”Joey D” D’Argento, Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. DeLegge, Mike LaJoy, Larry Fletcher, Garry Tomaszek and Pat Schang. DeLegge Sr. was a brother-in-law to Willie Daddano and LaJoy was Daddano’s nephew. Other prominent associates were Gerald Scarpelli, a known Outfit enforcer, Frank Culotta, Tony Borsellino, Morris Saletko who was a known Outfit bookie and loan shark, James Cartin and Philip Barone.



In 1963 few of Daddano’s crew members planned a heist on a bank in Franklin Park, Illinois. On September 23, D’Argento, Tomaszek and Mendola met at Daddano’s bowling alley and later were picked up by Pat Chang with the getaway car, a Chevy Impala SS. They removed the back seat from the car, so three guys can crouch down and be out of sight. D’Argento, LaJoy and Tomaszek were in the back, Schang was driving and Mendola was sitting next to him. DeLegge Sr. was to the drive the crash car. He’s job was the follow the getaway car and if a chase occurred, he was to try and crash with the police patrol and later to claim that he was in panic and was confused because of all the noise and excitement.

Schang pulled by the entrance of the bank and D’Argento, Mendola, LaJoy and Tomaszek jumped out of the car and headed into the bank. All of the robbers were armed. Tomaszek had a .38, Medola had a .25 automatic, D’Argento had a carbine and LaJoy also had a .38. Tomaszek and D’Argento shouted at the people and workers in the bank to hit the floor. Than the two of them, together with Mendola went for the loot. LaJoy’s job was to take position in the middle of the bank and keep order among the hostages. After several minutes, The four burglars rushed to the getaway car and got off. A Franklin Park police car was heading directly toward them. DeLegge Jr. made a phone call to the police station and claimed that there was a bomb placed in the local high school. The patrol men ignored the call because they knew it was a hoax so they continued with the chase. DeLegge Sr. went of the police car and tried to crash into it but there was one problem. His crash car was to slow for the police patrol car and being unable to crash into it. Schang made a few quick turns but the patrol car was still on to them. D’Argento from the rear window fired a few rounds at the police car. The cops hit the breaks and lost control of the vehicle. Another police car passed by them and while making a turn, Schang hit the gas and headed for Rose Street to Chestnut, than north to Scott Street and than west on Minneapolis to the alley between Sarah and Dora Streets and managed to escape from the cops. The boys got away with $43,097.

The thing I don’t understand is why would Daddano implicate himself in such a small robbery? He had his own gambling operations around Chicago, managed his street tax and garbage businesses and was also involved in the pinball and vending machine racket. He was making millions. Maybe he received false information or maybe he was just too greedy? Who knows?! This bizarre burglary will later lead to Daddano’s demise.

A week later several guys from the crew were arrested on bank robbing charges. D’Argento, Tomaszcek, LaJoy and Schang were all arrested. Only Guy Mendola was spared from conviction. DeLegge Sr. arranged for Rocco Montagna to bail everyone out of jail. Rocco “Schnibble Nose” Montagna was a known bondsman and very close associate of Willie Daddano and Outfit boss Sam Giancana. Than, all hell broke loose.

All of the crew members, including Daddano, asked themselves how it’s possible that the cops found out about the bank job and their whereabouts? Daddano said that there’s no way the cops could have found them so quickly unless there was an informant in the crew. D’Argento thought that it was LaJoy, because he was known for having very heavy gambling debts. Schang thought it was D’Argento and LaJoy thought it was Schang. Slowly the crew was breaking up but in the end Guy Mendola became the prime suspect because he was the only one that hadn’t been arrested.

Daddano asked his close associate, Richard Cain(real name Scalzetti) if he could bring a lie detector to him and check on the boys to see if he can detect who’s lying. Cain, a Cook County chief investigator who was considered as a member of the Chicago mob, contacted one of his co-workers at the Sheriff office, William “Bill” Witsman. Witsman and Cain were operating a company knows as Accurate Laboratories, which performed polygraph tests for the sheriff’s office. So one day Witsman took one of the polygraph machines and headed for the Leyden Hotel in Melrose Park. Over there he was met by Rocco Montagna and the rest of the gang. Witsman was requested to give lie tests to every crew member who knew about the heist. During the interrogation a loaded .38 revolver was resting at the top of the machine. All had past the test except for Guy Mendola. He didn’t show up at the meeting. A week later Daddano made an arrangements for Mendola to show up at his house. Witsman was waiting in the house basement with the lie detector. At first Mendola had few problems on the test but took a second one and it was all clear. But a cloud of suspicion was already over Mendola.

Eventually Daddano asked for permission from his boss Sam Giancana to take care of Mendola. Giancana agreed. On August 31, 1964 Guy Mendola was entering his home garage and unexpectedly was blown away by five shotgun blasts. Rumours were that Tony “The Ant” Spilotro did the hit. Richard Cain took over the Mendola and the Franklin bank job cases and both were “on hold”. The FBI later revealed that Mendola wasn’t working for the government.

Back in 1963 Richard Cain also masterminded a burglary. Cain acted as an honest cop but in reality he was a devious political insider and very ruthless criminal. He reported directly to 1st Ward secretary and made member of the Outfit,Pat Marcy. He was also direct with the Outfits administration and boss Sam Giancana. Cain was so powerful within the organization and there’s a rumour that during the early 60’s Joey Aiuppa,the future boss of the Outfit, was kidnapped(for unknown reasons) by Cain and two accomplices. They took Aiuppa to an abandoned farmhouse, stripped him and handcuffed him to a water pipe in the basement. After three days, Aiuppa capitulated. He was given a raincoat, a $100 bill, and dumped at a bus station in Danville, Illinois.


Richard Cain

So on October 1963 the Zahn Drug Company was burglarized and the thieves ran away with $250,000 truckload of prescription drugs. Cain as a chief investigator in the case, tried to negotiate with the insurance firm and acted as a go-between guy in selling just a part of the stolen drugs worth $40,000 back to the drug factory. This information was furnished to the Cook County State’s attorney office, which led to an investigation on Cain’s involvement. Cain got wind of the situation and so on January 1st, 1964, he led a police raid on the Caravelle Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois. In one of the hotels room, Cain recovered what purported to be $40,000 worth of stolen drugs. The reporters took photos of Cain standing on the pile of stolen drugs with his machine gun. In fact the Caravelle hotel was already owned by the Chicago Outfit and no arrests were made and no examination was made for fingerprints in the hotel room. Soon it became clear that Cain set everything up.

One of the reporters (Jack Mabley?) who was called by Cain to get a scoop on the story, later returned to the hotel and asked to see the registration card for the hotel room that had been raided. The name was fake but the card was sent to investigators to see if they can find out whos handwriting was on the card. They recognized it and it belonged to Sergeant John Chaconas of the Cook County sheriff’s office, who reported directly to Cain. Not long after the reporter published his story, Cain, Sergeant Chaconas and Lieutenant James Donnelly were indicted on charges for conspiracy to commit perjury. On December 15, 1964 Cain was discharged from the Sheriffs office by his close associate Sheriff Richard Ogilvie, which was a painful thing for him to do. Cain and his co-defendants were sentenced to prison terms from one to three years. But the sentences were subsequently overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court and Cain walked free but not for long.

During the mid 60’s Willie Daddano together with his crew members and associates masterminded few more heists. The Brink's, Incorporated U.S. services, with the help of their armoured trucks, included cash in transit, coin processing, cash handling, safes, check imaging, secure transportation, atm services. So the group decided to hijack these trucks. From 1964 to 1965 the crew robbed few Brink's Inc. armoured trucks and stole a total of $1,000,000(some sources say it was much more) worth of merchandise. They stole 486 boxes of cameras, photographic material and film, 18,882 pounds of silver bars, 22,436 pounds of silver and silver alloy and 646 bars of dore bullion, none of which has ever been recovered.

In 1965 the government indicted Mike LaJoy, Pat Schang, John D'Argento, and Garry Tomaszek for the bank robbery that occurred in 1963 and they all got convicted and each sentenced to 15 years in jail. In May 1966, Willie Daddano and others were arrested for hijacking $1 million in silver bullion. Daddano was on trail for conspiracy and masterminding the hijackings and burglaries. All of the defendants were found guilty, including Tony Borsellino, Albert Gardenas, Morris Saletko, Thomas Fornarelli and others. Everyone got convicted except for Outfit big shot Willie Daddano. Willie was acquitted of the charges by the jury that involved the theft of the silver and walked free.

LaJoy, Schang and D’Argento were now the three people who feared for their lives because they very well knew Willie Daddano and the Outfit. Daddano thought that someone was talking and his first suspects were the above mentioned guys. They received threats in jail to keep their mouths shut and their families were also threatened. And as usual one thing led to another so LaJoy, Schang and D’Argento decided to spill the beans. They arranged a meeting with the FBI and the three of them gave informations on Daddano, Cain and other criminals. The government has given money to the families of LaJoy. Schang and D'Argento in return for information received.

In 1967, Richard Cain, Willie Daddano, Rocco Montagna, Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. DeLegge were indicted again but this time for the Franklin Park bank job. The trial now under review occurred in September, 1968, and La Joy, Schang, and D'Argento testified to many of the facts set forth in the foregoing narrative. D’Argento said that he received threats in jail from the Chicago Outfit and feared for his life. Another witness was Frank DeLegge’s neighbour, Mrs. Dorothy Sampson. She said that at the day when the bank job occurred, she heard squealing of auto tires and she went out and saw three men run from DeLegge’s house. When she asked DeLegge Sr. who were those men, he told her that they were real estate agents. So with the help of their testimony Daddano was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a fine of $13,000. Willie came to court dressed as a bum and stood in front of the judge with his hands in his pockets and while leaving the court room, he waved and smiled at the present people. Cain acted as his own lawyer at the trial but failed. He received 4 years and a fine of $15,000, Montagna received 3 years, DeLegge Sr. also received 15 years and Jr. received 7 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

On 8th July, 1969, Richard Cain returned to court to face perjury charges in the Zahn Drug Company robbery in Melrose Park. Cain discovered that Bill Witsman was talking to the feds. Witsman testified that Cain had given him a list of the questions, told him to go to the motel, to give the tests to men who would be produced by a man he would meet there, not to interpret the charts, but to give them to the same man. Witsman also testified that he telephoned Cain and Cain told him not to worry about the charts because he had flushed them down the toilet.Cain decided to plead guilty and was sentenced to additional six months in prison.

Richard Cain was released from prison on 20th October 1971 and was shot in the head by two shotgun blasts by two Outfit hitmen on December 20, 1973. While serving his prison term at the Marion, Illinois, federal penitentiary, on September 9, 1975 Willie “Potatoes” Daddano died of heart failure in his prison cell.


Willie “Potatoes” Daddano

Legend goes that Willie Daddano liked to keep several locations in Cook County as hiding spots for the stolen merchandise that he collected during his career. He was known to rent barns from farmers where he kept some of his trucks and stolen goods. In reality Daddano needed to sell or in other words to get rid of the stolen property for the right price. Maurice Friedman was a known Chicago Outfit associate and close partner with Daddano in several Chicago liquor stores. Friedman was very important for Daddano’s burglary operations because he ran the biggest fence-handling stolen merchandise operation for the Outfit. The professional burglars, who are mostly involved in stolen property such as expensive jewelry, stamps, silver, gold or expensive art work, use a network of professional "fences" and the illegal distribution of stolen property is a crime commonly known as “fencing”. A “fence” is a person who buys and sells stolen property. The word “fence” is an underworld term. Legend goes that it originated in the 18th century in England. The term evolved from the practice of selling over the stolen goods and it also refers to a person who takes from one side and than sells to another.

There are many different kinds of fences that usually work in jewelry stores, antique shops, pawn shops, discount stores and even auto part shops. They portray themselves as honest businessmen since a larger part of their business is legitimate. This people maintain close business relationships with any kind of thieves or people who work at warehouse docks, work as truck drivers and persons who can provide them on daily basis with the goods that these fences need. The fences usually pay between 20 to 30% of the retail market value. Also if the stolen property has a lot of “heat” on it for example, the fence will pay less. Than the fence will sell the stolen property at any price which suits his purpose.

Fencing is a big problem around the world because is one of those crimes which receives smaller attention and the public is only too willing to tolerate. The main thing is that the fence’s role in the stolen property business is very important because without the fence the burglar cannot sell his goods easily. That’s why most of the professional thieves are involved in stealing only cash because they don’t need to get involved and selling their merchandise. These fences are also mostly associated with organized crime figures. During the mid 70’s one of these fences would provide information for one of the biggest heists in Chicago.

Willie Daddano was out of the way and the old guard was no longer around but that didn’t mean the new Chicago Outfit gave the burglars a pass. The street tax law was still in full effect and the mobsters still got their cut from the burglars. The Outfit’s presence on the streets in the mid 1970s was as strong as ever, especially within Chicago’s fraternity of professional burglars. There were other crews that were capable of doing heavy work but one crew, in particular, stood out from the others.

James “Jimmy the Bomber” Catuara was another high level and ruthless member of the Chicago Outfit, who was involved in many money making schemes. He was involved in loan sharking, auto theft and chop shop racket and also in collecting street tax for the mob. Catuara was also known for recruiting professional burglars, each expert in his own field, to pull off big time cash heists and then move the money out of the country. Few of his best burglars were Peter J. Gushi, Luigi “Lou” DiFonzo, James “Jimmy the Greek” Maniatis, Pasquale “Patsy” Marzano and William Marzano.

Peter Gushi was born in 1927 and was a long time resident of Oak Lawn. He was a close neighbour to Jimmy Catuara and was also connected for many decades to many Outfit associates like Gus Rubino and Billy Dauber. Gushi also had a lengthy arrest record. In 1954 Gushi was arrested for heroin trafficking and was sentenced to two years in prison. On April 20 he was arrested for burglary and was found not guilty. On September 5th 1961 Gushi was his was convicted for truck hijacking and stole a $75,000 worth of merchandise. He was sent to ten years in Leavenworth Penitentiary, where he tried unsuccessfully to hang himself because the bed sheet broke. He was released in 1965 and three years later he was again arrested for trying to defraud the National Bank of Hyde Park. It was an alleged scheme to get money for the Chicago Outfit’s juice loan racket. Gushi was released of all charges.


Peter J. Gushi

Lou DiFonzo was born in 1947 in Boston and later moved to Chicago. He was a relative of Catuara and was a fast talking slickster who was considered by law enforcement as a “boy wonder” for committing burglaries. He always had the knowledge of international banking operations necessary to help make large sums of cash difficult to trace. DiFonzo had an office in Des Plaines for selling and buying contracts for silver bullion. Before filling for bankruptsy as angry investors fought for their money, he was able to fork $190,000 in cash and invested it in a home in Oak Brook.


Luigi DiFonzo

Patsy Marzano was born in 1932 in Chicago’s Patch, which was a very tough neighbourhood south/west of Chinatown and provided many high profile criminal figures. He once took five bullets wounds in a street shoot out. He was known to authorities as a self-taught expert circumventing security and electronics alarm systems. He was good with electronics, he was good with alarms, he was good with acetylene torches, he could do it all. Once, a Chicago suburban bank in Evaston boasted about their new security vault. They claimed the door was impregnable, featuring the most hi tech heat, sound, and motion sensors known to man. So Patsy and cousin decided to rob this bank as a challenge to this banksters boast. In 1973, Patsy and his cousin Ralph Marrera had been suspects in a $800,000 robbery in Evanston. When the FBI caught up with Patsy they discovered a comprehensive electronics library in the den of his home. Patsy and his cousin were never convicted.


Patsy Marzano

William “Tony” Marzano was born in 1943 and was Patsy’s cousin. A former truck driver and fruit stand owner, William was twice indicted for theft of interstate shipments and had a criminal record for armed robbery and passing phoney money orders.


William Marzano

Jimmy the Greek Maniatis was born in 1916 and was the oldest one in the group. He was a white-haired misfit and prowler of flea markets and bargain auctions. He also knew almost every burglar around the Chicago area.


James Maniatis

This small crew of burglars were involved in many burglaries and thefts. One of their “fence” was Martin Pollakov, owner of four discount stores in Chicago. Pollakov was big time in the fencing business. He was known for obtaining credits necessary to stock an entire store with merchandise from legitimate distributors and later to delay and avoid paying the goods. But the most important thing was that he had many underworld connections. He was once arrested by the authorities for possession of stolen property. Pollakov made a deal with the agents and became a confidential informant for the government. Pollakov became the key that opened the door for the feds in solving one of the most infamous heists in Chicago’s underworld history.

Everything happened almost accidentally. On July 20, 1974 Martin Pollakov made a phone call to Jamie’s Discount Store, where he had once worked for James Moccio. Working as government informant, Pollakov was hoping to learn something about Moccio’s illegal activities. Moccio didn’t answer the phone, but it was another person named Allen Wainer that pick the phone up. Pollakov had met Wainer on several occasions. Wainer was arrested numerous times for conspiracy to transport stolen property. During their conversation, Wainer told Pollakov that an individual named “Pete”(Peter Gushi) was going to open a discount store and that Wainer is going to “back” the store. Wainer also said that Pete can use Pollakov’s help on setting up the store and suggested to Pollakov to give Pete a call. When Gushi learned that Wainer recommended Pollakov, he agreed to do business together.

Gushi joined with Pollakov in operating a discount store. Gushi placed John Valentino as a front/owner of the store and also employed Pollakov. Pollakov brought to Gishi 100’s of cases of allegedly stolen merchandise (hair spray and hair products) which was purchased by the FBI. But since Gushi thought it to be stolen, Pollakov’s credibility remained high. Gushi also used him to negotiate buys from other fences and boosters. When Gushi had a load of merchandise which he wanted to sell, Pollakov would “arrange” to dispose of the goods to his “friends”, the FBI agents. Also through Gushi, Pollakov has met Jimmy the Greek and they were involved in a sale of stolen Cordura wrist watches.

On September 12, 1974 Gushi had a meeting with Patsy Marzano to talk about their next big time heist. Later the meeting was called off because surrounded by FBI agents. This information came from Marzano who kept a police radio monitor. Pollakov knew about the meeting but wasn’t informed what was all about. But one night at dinner Gushi opened up to Pollakov about his past crimes. Gushi told him that once he managed to pull a score of $130,000 in 1971. Later Gushi told him also that he (Gushi) is going to be a part of one of the biggest cash heists in history. With this information, informant Pollakov alarmed the FBI about Gushi’s boast on the huge score and so the agents agreed to increase their surveillance on Gushi, Marzano and Maniatis.

On September 16, 1974 Gushi, Marzano and Wainer had a meeting in a discount store. They were heard complaining about big FBI surveillance and they agreed to constantly change their meeting places. On Spetember 20th Gushi met with Outfit member Jimmy the Bomber Catuara. Gushi was told by Jimmy to connect with another guy named Luigi DiFonzo. On September 23rd Gushi and DiFonzo met with Jimmy the Bomber Catuara at Oak Lawn motel to discuss their next “master piece”. They planned to rob the Purolator Security Inc. vault at 127 West Huron Street. The Purolator Armored Car Security Company picked up the receipts from all of the local race tracks so there was plenty of small bills that couldn’t be traced. On September 27 Gushi gave Pollakov $4,000 to purchase a van. Pollakov, together with Maniatis, went to the Hawkison Ford and purchased a mint green Ford Econoline van. Maniatis recited the information on his driver’s licence and refused to show it to the salesman. Later Patsy Marzano was called to inspect the van. He checked the engine oil and the interior and also scratched the identifying mark under the front wheel. On October 8th Marzano sent Pollakov again to the Hawkison Ford to pick up licence plates for the van. He also bought a $300 of stolen clothes for the guys.

A month earlier Patsy Marzano’s cousin Ralph Marrera obtained a security job at the Purolator Company as a night guard. The building was rigged with a silent alarm, which sounded at another security company down the street. Marrera was not disclosed by Marzano to any of the other conspirators in the heist. For several weeks prior to the crime, Marrera suggested almost every day to the security staff that they should leave early if they wanted to. He also managed to obtain the combination to the main vault. But the vault cannot be opened without setting off the alarm on the switchboard at the Wells Fargo Alarm Service, which was a firm hired by the Purolator Company. Once a week, Marrera opened the vault door, and than closed it. Immediately the people from the alarm service called to check out if everything was ok. Marrera assured them that everything was ok but the service usually sent someone to check things out. They checked the premises, found nothing wrong and than left. The plan was for Marrera to trip the alarm at 8 PM every Saturday night until the other alarm company would think that the Purolator alarm system had a short in the system, and malfunctioned every Saturday night at 8 o’clock. So after a while no one came to double check.

On Sunday, October 20th Marrera told his fellow Purolator employee Angela to leave early so she can be together with her family. At 8:00 PM, Gushi and the Marzanos walked into the garage through the overhead door way which Marrera opened up, while DiFonzo remained outside in the van. The thieves took “used” money stacks that were dropped off that day from the Hawthorne Park Race Track. Than they tried to burn the rest of the millions in the vault with gasoline bombs but they made a mistake. After the vault door was closed the fired died from lack of oxygen and the millions of dollars were barely damaged. Clearly, the robbers hoped if the police found only ashes in the vault they would have no way of knowing that a robbery occurred or they would’ve think an accident occurred. Or at least the cops would have no idea how much money were missing. They took everything that they could carry and walked away clean with “tons of cash” according to the word on the street. The alarm company notified the Chicago Fire Department and the responding firemen were met at the door by Marrera, armed with a shotgun. At first Marerra initially refused them entrance, insisting he had no indication of trouble and he was not authorized to admit anyone to the building. That was quickly resolved with the arrival of the Purolator executive. The crime became a sensational news story. First reports put the robbery at only $1,000,000. Every day the public awakened to see new and higher estimate bannered across the morning headlines. In the end, the vault loss was set at $4,300,000.


Oct. 21, 1974—Purolator truck blocks drive while police process crime scene

Their first plan was getting a big part of the money out of the country. But first Gushi and his friends had to pay tribute to Jimmy Catuara and the Chicago Outfit. Gushi packed $400,000 in a black bag and left it in an alley behind his house for a pick up. Than the Marzanos, Gushi and DiFonzo drove straight to Columbus, Ohio. Over there they rented a small airplane and took a flight to Miami, Florida. In Miami they were wining and dining extravagantly, paying for eveyrhting with $100 bills. Later DiFonzo took a plane to the Grand Cayman Island in the British West Indies, where banking transactions are kept in secret. He was carrying three big bags full of U.S. currency. The bags were so heavy that DiFonzo needed three porters to help carry them. DiFonzo successfully deposited $1,100,000 in five of Grand Cayman Island’s 184 banks.

On October 25th Ralph Marrera was questioned by the FBI and was put on a lie detector.He failed the test and the next day was arrested at his mother-in-law’s home in Oak Park by Chicago Police and FBI agents.During the arrest, Marrera allegedly said to the cops “What are you trying to do, get me killed?”. Marerra was considered to be at risk because he was the inside man and knew details of the plan as well as exactly who was involved. He would be a prime target for people who would want to silence him as well as those who might want to squeeze him for information on the location of the loot. The feds reported that he was under tight security at a military installation near Chicago, but in reality Marerra was being held at the Winnebago County Jail in Rockford.

On October 30th, Luigi DiFonzo and William Marzano were arrested by British authorities at airport on the Grand Cayman Island. During the arrest, both DiFonzo and Marzano were carrying $26,000, a lot less than custom officials said DiFonzo had when he checked on the island. BY October 30th all of the suspect had been apprehended and in November 1974, an indictment was returned against Pasquale Marzano, William Marzano, Ralph Marrera, Luigi DiFonzo, Peter Gushi, and James Maniatis. The indictment charged these persons with conspiracy to commit various offences including the theft of money from Purolator Security, Inc. During the interrogation, Ralph Marrera confessed and so on Thursday, November 21st the FBI recovered $1.4 million under freshly laid concrete in Marerra’s grandmother’s home.

In the end, few strange things happened. On Thursday November 29th Ralph Marerra allegedly attempted a suicide at the Winnebago County jail. Although he was not seriously injured in the attempt, he was transferred to the Cermak Memorial Hospital at the Cook County jail. Few days later Marerra has been in Intensive Care at the Cook County Hospital, because out of nowhere, he was in a coma and in critical condition. Some speculated that he was poisoned, but by who? The mob couldn’t reach him because he was under strong protection by the feds. Story goes that that Marerra was being medicated with large doses of Thorazine, a tranquilizer with a sedating effect. Who and why would do this? Rumours were that the feds wanted to know where’s the rest of the hidden cash and so they thought that he was lying so they shot him up few times while making him a vegetable and paralyzing him.

Also, during the trial government informant Martin Pollakov testified and explained in details the conversations he overheard at Gushi’s store and the purchase of the van. Peter Gushi was awaiting a life sentence so he decided to talk. He was the star witness against Maniatis, Marzanos and Marrera. The strange thing was that no one implicated Lou DiFonzo. DiFonzo, the alleged mastermind behind the heist, admitted that he was only hired to deposit a large sum of cash in the Grand Cayman banks and he also claimed that he never new that the cash was stolen. He was found innocent by the jury, got acquitted and walked free to prey on society. James Maniatis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and for possession of stolen property and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. William Marzano refused to cooperate with the government and received 7 years in prison. Patsy Marzano pleaded innocent, was found guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ralph Marrera, who was found “mysteriously” in coma after the interrogation, was declared mentally unfit to stand trial. After the trial Peter Gushi was sentenced to 6 years in prison but was put in custody of the U.S. Marshal. Martin Pollakov was also given a protective custody and a whole new identity and was also rewarded $40,000 for his cooperation. Later Gushi was also sent into the Witness Protection Program. Even with Guhsi’s testimony “Jimmy the Bomber” Catuara was never arrested nor questioned in this case.


Jimmy Catuara

As for the stolen cash, $1.4 million was restored by the feds, according to Gushi $400,000 was given to Jimmy Catuara and the Chicago Outfit and $1.1 million remained stashed away in the Grand Cayman banks. Another $1.5 million is still missing to this day.

There’s also another side of this case (mostly rumours) according to court reformer and criminal sleuth, Sherman Skolnick. Sherman’s investigation of the Purolator robbery showed different results from the official government version. Skolnick reported that the stolen $4.3 million were in fact $25 million dollars and that a massive government corruption took place in the Purolator case…but that’s another story.



Later Ralph Marerra recovered from his medical ordeal but was left with permanent disabilities both to his speech and his ability to walk. In March of 1983 he was the last of the group to be convicted for his part in the Purolator heist. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, but with credit for time in custody he was paroled in 1989. In December 1996, in connection with this incident, Marerra was awarded $650,000 in a medical malpractice suit against Cook County. The Purolator heist has been eclipsed as the largest heist and also retains the record in Chicago.

Since the early1960s, two Chicago Outfit associates Joseph "Witherhand" Scalise and Arthur “The Brain” Rachel were known burglars and hijackers. They were arrested numerous times and convicted of burglary and other charges, according to court documents.


Scalise(left) and Rachel(right)

Both born in 1938, Scalise grew up in a hard environment. Scalise was nicknamed "Witherhand" because he was born minus four fingers on his left hand. He became a thief and by 1961, at the age of 23 he was sentenced to probation and later spent few months in prison. By the late 1960s, he was involved in the Outfits chop shops businesses. In 1970 Jerry Scalise was arrested and sent to eight years in prison on auto theft charges. When he got out of prison, he was also connected with Outfit terrorists like Butch Petrocelli and Gerry Scarpelli. Scalise was also a suspect in the murder of William” Billy” Dauber, a known Chicago Outfit hitman, who was shot to death along with his wife Charlotte on July 2, 1980. He was considered by lawmen as a very dangerous person that worked for notorious Outfit big shots Albert "Caesar" Tocco and Joe Ferriola.

Arthur Rachel was a Taylor Street mob connected guy and was considered a borderline genius on the basis of intelligence tests administered to him in prison. His criminal record dated since the age of 16. Rachel was one of a four men gang who was convicted in federal court for printing phony government bonds and travellers checks with total values of $250,000. In 1958 he was sent to prison for a bank robbery During the 1960’s Rachel was sentenced to 15 years in prison for counterfeiting and bank robbery. In 1968, while in custody, he pleaded guilty to 1962 robbery of a savings and loan association on the South Side, in which $14,333 was taken. During the early 60’s, he was a suspect in seven other bank burglaries and robberies in the Chicago area. He was paroled in 1975 and was released from parole in 1978. He was called “The Brain” because while in prison he taught basic courses in computer programing to other inmates and reportedly worked for a computer firm while he was on parole.

In 1980, Scalise and Rachel left Chicago and travelled to London, England. This wasn’t a vacation trip, but it was trip for the most ambitious heist of their entire criminal careers. They received info that a very expensive diamond is going to be placed from Graff Diamonds in a store at the very fashionable Knightsbridge section of London. Laurence Graff, who was the owner of the store, announced that the very expensive diamond named the Marlborough stone is on sale. The 45 carat diamond belonged to Gladys Marie, the Dowager Duchess who was married with the ninth Duke of Marlborough, Winston Churchill’s cousin. Gladys Marie died in 1977. The diamond was valued at $900,000.


The Marlborough Diamond

On September 11, 1980 Scalise and Rachel “went for the kill”. Scalise, well dresses, entered the store and the security guard greeted him into the exclusive store shortly after opening, thinking he was a customer. Once inside the store, Scalise asked the employees if he could see the diamond because he was interested in buying it. At the moment he laid his eyes on it, he pulled out a gun and ordered the staff and customers to lie down on the floor. In few seconds, Rachel walked in with a fake beard, waving a hand grenade. The Marlborough diamond was packed into a briefcase and they also stole other gems also, including a diamond ring worth $482,000 and African ruby worth $72,300. In a matter of minutes, they fled the store into a getaway car Fiat Mirafiori parked about 50 yards away. Like taking candy from a baby. No one was hurt during the raid, and customers on the other two floors of the three-storey shop were unaware of anything taking place. Laurence Graff said that the thieves knew exactly what they wanted because they picked out the very special pieces from the window. While driving fast, Scalise arranged for a London cabby to drop them in a mailbox and to be sent to unkown location.

The robbers were less efficient covering their tracks than they were with the robbery. The problem was that one of the store clerks ran out and followed the men and noted the registration number of the car they used to escape. Both men went straight to the airport and managed to board their Chicago-bound flight without incident. Before they arrived in Chicago, the Scotland Yard made a few phone calls to the Chicago office of the FBI and told them about the situation. So within 11 hours of the raid were arrested as they stepped off a British Airways plane at O’Hare International Airport and were arrested by Chicago’s FBI team.


Scalise(second from left” and Rachel(far right) during the arrest

Now the feds tried to convince Scalise and Rachel to become informants in return for shorter sentences or the chance to serve their remaining years in the United States, because the UK police force wanted them back to stand trail. But the loyal Scalise and Rachel were not going to violate the Outfit’s code of silence. Scalise told the FBI that “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” They were immediately extradited to England, where they were convicted and sent on the Isle of White prison of the UK, which was one of the worst prisons at the time. They were sent to 20 years in jail and the diamonds they stole were never recovered.

During the 1980s, while Scalise and Rachel sat in the dark UK cells, the FBI declared war against the Outfit and many top bosses were sent to jail. When the smoke cleared, in 1992 Scalise and Rachel were released by the UK authorities and came back to Chicago. But by now the Outfit was no longer taxing them on everything they stole, so the Outfits old foot soldiers were mostly left to take care for themselves. Old man Scalise continued with his criminal activities, including burglaries and narcotics trafficking. Rachel had become a “recluse” since returning from the UK, spending most of his days alone, painting, and used to hang out from time to time with old mob guys.

In 1998, Scalise was arrested and pleaded guilty to intent to distribute cocaine. For that crime he served six and a half years and got out of prison in 2006, at the age of 69. Then in 2007 Scalise and Rachel were prime suspects in the 2007 robbery of a Harris Bank branch in LaGrange. They were questioned and with the lack of evidence they walked free. Then in April 2010, federal agents arrested Scalise, Rachel and another old timer Bobby Pullia outside Angelo LaPietra's Bridgeport home. LaPietra used to be one of the most notorious Outfit bosses that died in 1999 and his daughter remained living in the family house. Under the cover of night in dark clothing and armed with a police scanner, drilling tools, a ladder, and a toolbox, the geriatric trio were arrested, went to trial and were found guilty. They all received 9 years in prison. Secret government recordings revealed that they hoped to find a secret stash of jewels and valuables at the LaPietra home.(maybe the Marlborough diamond?). In 2012 Loop jeweler Rammi Sabatini said that “If the Marlborough Diamond is still in one piece, it would be worth up to $50 million today”.

In the past we used to hear more about big time art and jewel heists and also about masters thieves who were the best in the business. Today the “heart-warming” sight of an old-fashioned burglar penetrating a bank vault is slowly swept away by a rising tide of “joyless” online fraud.

Nice job Toodoped...Awesome read and pics my friend.

Thanks a lot buddy. I really appreciate it

Great historical info, Toodoped. Thanks so much. Love these old stories.

I continue to be amazed at these guys and how they operated. Unbelievable !

I started reading about Scalise and Rachel during FS. I guess it's just in their blood or nature to continue a life of crime. I suppose both are still in the slammer.

thanks toodoped, that was great. do you have a pic of rocco [parrot nose] Potenza.?

Nice work Toodoped As Always

Great read as always!

On Jerry Scalise, I think he actually went to St. Ignatius and went to college for a while before coming back to Chicago. And I laughed my ass off watching him being paid by Michael Mann as a "consultant" on the set of "Public Enemies" and talking about the thrill of a score.

Someone should try to track down the series of stories that Paul Panzko wrote to the Chicago Tribune in the early 1980s. Really genuine accounts of guys like Willie Potatoes and the burglary crews.

@GaryMartin no problem man and thanks for your support as always. Scalise was closely associated with the infamous Wild Bunch from Cicero. He used to be involved in many hits but he was mostly the driver in the getaway car

@ChiTown thanks man. Yeah i used to read about Scalise giving advice on the Public Enemies movie. That was hilarious.Also thank you for the additional infos.Ill try to find those Panzko stories

@Binnie_Coll thank you also man and yeah i do have a pic from Potenza.Here it is...


Many people(even me in the beginning) used to think that this was Rocco Pranno but they were wrong.Some writter made a mistake in his book.Thats Rocco Potenza

@rickydelta thanks man,its my pleasure

Inserra settled that mystery. He identified the above pic as Potenza...if anyone would know, he would.

Excellent read Toodoped. Great illustrations as well. Very impressed.

@funkster thats absolutley right.

@PetroPirelli thanks man.I really appreciate it

Willie looks intimidating.

Yeah, Daddano was a very intimidating and ruthless person.

Theres a story that during Cain's and Daddano's stay in prison, one quite dangerous inmate called Cain a "copper",so Cain struck the inmate in the face and broke his nose. Than the inmate started to panic and Daddano came to his face and told him to be quiet and explained to him few realities.No one dared to touch Cain because of Daddano's reputation

Toodoped Any more info or pics of daddano ?

Another interesting part of Daddano's criminal career was his involvment in the infamous "Garbage War" in Chicago.

During the late 50's and early 60's the Outfit wanted to take over the garbage business in Chicago.So Rudy Fratto and Daddano formed their own garbage company but the problem was that the waste disposal business was already taken by the dutch people or the Dutch Mob. Later Fratto handed over the company to Daddano and in the start, the Outfit took over a big portion of the business and became a real problem for the dutch organization.The Dutch fought back by refusing to take loads from the company because they(the dutch)controlled the dumping grounds. Bodies started to show up on different locations and they were mostly owners of night clubs or restaurants that didn’t want the service of the organizations.A lot oh heat from the feds started to spread over the situation and so Daddano sold his company. The Outfit started to back away from the garbage business and the Dutch mob bought out their Italian competitors who were backed or run by the Outfit.The Dutch companies rulled the waste business until the mid 1970s.

Nice Toodoped Happy Xmas Bro

Toodoped once again.

Here's a Tribune article from 1959 that I posted some time ago. Looks like Daddano was on his way up, but nothing happened because he went to the slammer.


http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1959/...crime-syndicate

Thanks for the article GaryMartin. I dont know if Daddano had the juice to be the boss.Yes among the Outfit's members he was a very feared person with a lot of blood on his hands and also controlled a portion of the vending machine business,garbage business,street tax and ofcourse hijacking trucks,bank robberies and car thefts.This guy loved the dirty work and most the time hang around with low level criminals.Bloody guys like Daddano,Marshal Caifano and Tony Spilotro were natural born enforcers and didnt had the brains for the big schemes.Ricca and Giancana were smooth talking bosses.They sat with politicians and showbiz stars and controlled very big businesses.Ricca never sat on the same table with low level criminals and rarely talked about crime

As additional info,Caifano and Spilotro both had their own burglary crews

@F_white thanks man

If that is Potenza, who's the guy that is more than once referred to as him in newspaper photos? Not saying you're mistaken, just wondering.

Fosco believes that is Pranno in his photo contest, but he's somehow screwed up if you're correct. Damn thing is still driving me crazy.

Heres a few pictures of Rocco Pranno in court during the 1960's







So in Fosco's picture, the third guy(Rocco Potenza) from the left doesnt look like Pranno at all

How long do we have to beat this horse.

Fosco's wrong. A book transposed the pictures of Pranno and Potenza. The mistake has been repeated all over the internet.
If there is any doubt, here's a picture of Pranno in his 20's. (lower right)
Pranno et al

#3 isn't Pranno, it is either Parrot Nose Potenza, or Queenie Simonelli.

Simonelli obit

Fosco either doesn't know who they are, or he can't get the hundred bucks together.

Nicely said.