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Lennerts Rockford List
THE ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, FAMILY
?????Spring Valley shootout with police, Jim Pinto, Sam Mondeli and Joe Ramono
The city of Rockford, situated only ninety miles North West of Chicago, has been the home of an often forgotten crime Family for the better part of eight decades. Having been overshadowed in the national media by its more famous and often more violent counterpart in the Windy City, the Rockford Mafia has a relatively unknown history. And while both Federal and local law enforcement agencies have kept a close eye on various Rockford Mafia members in the period ranging from the 1950s up to the 1980s, the development of Federal informants within the crime Family’s inner circle has never been successful, resulting in a lack of information regarding the Family’s first years of existence. Were it not for the Rockford papers, which kept the local public amazingly well informed on the happenings in Northern Illinois gangland, this history would probably have been lost in time.
The Italian immigrant colony in Rockford, having come to the area in relatively large numbers by the early 1900s, appears to have been a rather quit community compared to many other cities across the United States. Black Hand outrages were almost unheard. But, to say Black Hand tactics were not practiced in the area is simply untrue. Within the city limits itself, Black Hand cases made an occassional appearance during the 1900s and 1910s. One notable case occured in March 1916, when three Black Handers were arrested after a shootout with police. The three lay in wait for their victim to deposit the demanded money on a street corner, who had informed police.
Another notable Black Hand case, one of Rockford’s most prominent and most definitely the one receiving most attention from both local and out of state newspapers, was the bombing of the Joseph Vitoli’s residence on February 15, 1911. Vitoli, known as a wealthy man, had received several Black Hand extortion letters, but had refused to comply with the demands. When his home was blown up, Vitoli himself escaped injury. His wife Rena and their one year old infant were not so lucky; they were seriousely wounded. Rena would die of her injuries a week later. Black Hand affairs of such a ferocious caliber however, were rare within Rockford’s Italian community.
Aside from the Black Hand bands, there is no indication of organized, structured Italian gang activity in the city in the years before prohibition, leading to believe the Mafia factions that were active in the late 1920s and early 1930s were not organized before the Volstead Act came into effect.* Both Federal and local law enforcement seems to support this belief, claiming the Rockford Mafia was formed during the later years of prohibition, out of the various Italian bootleg gangs operating within the city and in the surrounding area. The main character in this evolvement was Antonio Musso, recognized as the first boss of the Rockford Mafia.
*Although there is no indication there were Mafia factions in existence in Rockford before the 1920s, there were certainly already persons later identified as members of the Rockford Mafia living and in some instances criminally active in the city before that time. One clear example is Philip Caltagerone. Caltagerone was arrested in 1917, for the murder of one Giuseppe Tarantola. Caltagerone and Frank Zammuto, a brother of future Rockford mob boss Joe Zammuto, were both convicted for the crime, but their convictions appear to have been overturned, since both were back in Rockford soon after.
Antonio Musso, better known as Tony Musso, came to the United States from his native Sicily in 1912, and went to live with relatives in Detroit first. After having spent time in New Orleans and Johnston, Illinois, he went to live in St. Louis, where Musso’s first arrests would take place. By the early 1920s, Musso had settled in Madison, Wisconsin, were he quickly became known as the leader of the local Italian criminal element. He was forced to flee Madison by December 1924, due to the involvement of his associates in the murder of a police officer. Although Musso’s exact movements after his department from Madison are unclear, it can be assumed his next residence was Rockford, were he would live for the rest of his life.
Due to his travelling, it remains unclear when and where Musso became involved with Mafia activities, but it is obvious he had already been well established in the underworld before coming to Rockford. And this was certainly not only on a business level. In 1917, Musso had married the sister of the wife of John Piro, at the time a powerful New Orleans Mafia figure. Musso’s sister Carmella, in addition, was married to Tony Lombardo, Chicago’s Sicilian Mafia chief until his murder in 1928. Upon arrival in Rockford, Musso only expanded his criminal contacts.
Musso reportedly build up an association with the Springfield, Illinois bootlegging syndicate headed by Frank Zito, who would stay on as the city’s Mafia boss for more then thirty years. Social and business ties existed between the Rockford Mafia and their confederates in Milwaukee and Dallas. Bootleggers in the Ladd and LaSalle areas were alleged to have been closely aligned with the Rockford liquor racketeers. In addition, Musso was said to have been a close friend of Chicago’s Al Capone, which is not unimaginable, being the brother-in-law of Antonio Lombardo. According to various sources, it was Capone that not only supported him in his efforts to organize the Rockford liquor trade; they had more or less encouraged him in doing so.
The region around Beloit, Wisconsin, some sixteen miles north of Rockford, would become another important area of support for Musso. The Italian bootleggers operating in and around Beloit would allign themselves with Musso in the early 1930s. After prohbition had ended, the Rockford Mafia would continue to be a factor in the Beloit underworld.* In contrast to Rockford, the Italian immigrant colony of Beloit had been a rural one during the 1910s, with frequent violent encounters in which Black Handers figured. Interesting enough, on more then one occassion persons from Rockford figured in this apparent feud, which eventually resulted in the July 22, 1920, murder of Joe Mascoli in South Rockford.**
*Joseph DiGirolamo, was identified as a Rockford Mafia member by federal informants in the early 1960s. DiGirolamo, had been a longtime Beloit resident before relocating to Illinois, was active in the local bootlegging scene during much of the 1930s, in co-operation with the Rockford Mafia.
**The Rockford police department was assisted in the Mascoli murder case by Dan Torrisi, a Beloit police detective working on the Beloit Black Hand cases. Torrisi claimed the Beloit Black Hand was connected with a simular organization in Rockford. The Rockford organization consisted of some twenty members, but Torrisi did not provide any details. During the Mascoli investigation, Torrisi and a Chicago detective were accused of trying to beat a suspect into a confession. The suspect, one Vito Mortellaro, was a member of the Rockford Black Hand, according to Torrisi, who was eventually found not guilty in the assault case.
Musso started his drive to organize the Rockford bootleggers around 1927/1928. Although many were quick to subdue to Musso and his men, he did not succeed without the use violence. Various murders, shootings and a high profile kidnapping case were attributed to warfare among the bootlegging gangs, and Musso and his underlings figured in many of them. But violence was not only used against competitors in the bootleg business. Proprietors of drinking establishments refusing to buy from the right suppliers were often the subject of threats and assaults. Even the enforcers of the prohibition law were not always safe from the bootleggers. In September 1926, three of Musso’s associates had been arrested and charged with the attempted murders of liquor investigators Alec and David Dotz. The case proved only a minor inconvenience for Musso’s outfit; all three suspects were acquitted in July of the following year.
The high profile kidnapping case, which was widely measured out in the Illinois newspapers, involved the October 1927 kidnapping of Ezra Duffy. Duffy, a Sterling, Illinois bootlegger, had failed to pay for a load of liquor he received from Musso’s gang. In order to make sure payment would be secured from Duffy, he was abducted and told he would not be released until he would agree to pay his debt. After being held for several days, Duffy agreed to the terms, and was moved to Dixon, Illinois. There, Duffy was observed by the local sheriff in speakeasy with Giuseppe Stassi and Antonio Carlino, two members of Musso’s Mafia organization. Duffy was recognized by the sheriff as the kidnapping victim, and picked up the three men.
After having interviewed Duffy about his abduction, Rockford police raided the Rockford home were he claimed to have been held for several days. A farm in Rockton, Illinois, where Duffy had been held for several days after being held in Rockford, and before being moved to Dixon, was also raided. The raids resulted in the apprehension of three additional men. The three, Carlino and Stassi, and Tony Musso, who was also arrested, were all identified by Duffy as having been involved in his kidnapping. As in the Dotz case, there were little consequences for Musso and his gang, since it appears no charges were ever filed against the men.
Although the 1920s saw several fatal gang shootings, the victim of the most noteworthy shooting of the period survived. He was Nicolo Licata, who was wounded on May 26, 1928. Licata, who years later would rise to prominence as the boss of the Mafia in Los Angeles, was claimed to have been send to Rockford by Al Capone,* to assist Musso in bringing the independent bootleggers under his control. In Rockford, he was said to have been involved in bootlegging and extortion, although he was never arrested on those charges. On that particular day in May, Licata was seriously wounded by a gunshot wound in his chest. He was dropped off in front of the Rockford Hospital by an associate, who fled to scene as soon as a nurse came to assist Licata.
*In March 1929, Al Capone himself was reported to have come to Rockford to inspect Musso’s progress. It was reported that Capone was seen just outside Rockford’s city limits, and waited until darkness to be escorted into the city by Tony Musso.
While interrogated in the hospital, Licata insisted he was one George Pumilia, from 1117 Ferguson Street. Licata was sought by Chicago police on charges of working a confidence game, auto theft and various other crimes, thus reluctant to reveal his true identity. And although he kept insisting he was Pumila, Licata was positively identified by the Rockford police as the Chicago fugitive. The Ferguson Street address indeed turned out to bear a Pumila family. It was the household of Albert Pumila and his family. Pumila’s sons were later identified as Licata’s brothers-in-law. It seems Licata was never extradited to Chicago, since his arrest record does not reflect any Chicago arrests. His assailant, identified as Joe Raymond*, pleaded he shot Licata in self defence.
*Joe Raymond was most assumable Joe DiRaimondi, an alleged Rockford mob figure.
The surroundings of Licata’s shooting remain unclear. Licata, who was alleged to have been acting as a muscle man for Musso, was said to have been involved in extorting Rockford residents in a very aggressive manner. The possibility exists that Licata was shot down in an attempt to extort his assailant, who operated a roadhouse. But it is more plausible his shooting was connected with the looming battle for control of the bootleg trade. In Licata’s company at the time of the shooting was Paul Giovingo, a powerful local bootlegger. Giovingo and his brothers Tony and Joe were considered Musso’s main rivals, and were at the centre of the gang warfare in the early 1930s.
While Paul Giovingo was present at the scene when Licata was shot, it remains unclear what his role was, or why he was in Licata’s company. Licata was an alleged Musso muscleman, while Giovingo, at least in the years to follow, was clearly opposing the Musso mob. Was Licata the designated hitman in an early attempt on the life of Giovingo that did not went as it was supposed to? Was Licata himself the target of Giovingo, who felt more secure with one of Musso’s feared underlings out of the way? Or was Licata just in the wrong place at the wrong time. With the small amount of information available on the case, it is impossible to tell, and will probably remain unknown. Licata, at the time of the shooting said to have been a part-time resident of Rockford, appears to have left the city for Detroit not long after leaving the hospital.
While the 1920s did have the occasional bootleg related murders, the victims were petty figures in Rockford’s crime circles. Not until 1930, the first high profile gangster would fell to rival guns. It was Joe Giovingo, the least harmful of the Giovingo brothers, who was shot down on August 15. Eleven shotgun slugs ended the life of Joe, who, unlike his brothers, did not have an arrest record. Brothers Paul and Tony had been arrested earlier that year, having been indicted for liquor law violations. Indicted in the same conspiracy was Tony Musso, as well as several of his underlings. Musso had undoubtly ordered Joe Giovingo’s murder, but was conveniently in custody at the time.
Giovingo was shot just seconds after he had greeted a Rockford policeman. The officer and his partner rushed to Giovingo, who lay dying on the sidewalk. Only six feet away from were Giovingo fell, the officers noted Tommy Abbott, real name Abbate, sitting in a car with three companions. Abbott was a notorious Chicago gangster and affiliate of Chicago’s North Side mob, dubbed the Moran/Aiello mob by the press. He convinced the officers he was not involved in any way with the killing, as did the other three passengers of the car. They were identified as Chicagoans William Sullivan and Elmer Whiteley, and Paul Picchioni, Abbott’s bodyguard and a Rockford Mafia member.
Although Abbott managed to escape arrest immediately after the shooting, he was brought in the following day for questioning. Although Paul Giovingo had already waved off the theory that Joe’s assassin mistook him for Abbott*, there was still the theory that Abbott has acted as the “fingerman†in the slaying. Picchione was also re-captured. He and Robert White, another Abbott associate, were found sitting in the slain Giovingo’s car only hours after his murder. Both were armed. Abbott and Picchioni were released after questioning, and never charged in connection with the Giovingo murder. Nor was anybody else, for that matter.
*Paul Giovingo, upon hearing the theory that his brother might have been mistaken for Tommy Abbott, was quickly dismissed by him. He claimed both he and Joe had received phone calls recently, from a person that seemed anxious to meet them. Paul claimed he and his brother decided to ignore the calls, but he now felt the unidentified caller wanted to get both of them out in the open in order to “get to themâ€.
Giovingo’s associates were furious about the killing, and were quick to start their own investigation in order to find out who was responsible. Apparently, they knew in which direction they had to look. A few hours after the shooting, seven or eight men, posing as dry agents and police officers, came to the house of Tony Carlino, whose wife was the only one home. The men demanded entrance into Carlino’s two car garage. She let the men enter the garage, and went inside the house to call the police to inquire about the raid. When they arrived, the fake law enforcement officials had already left, and their identity remained unknown. The police believed the men to be looking for the car used in the Giovingo murder.
On another occasion, the house where one of Musso’s closest associates roomed was fired upon. Rooming in the house was Vincenzo Troia, known in Rockford as Lorenzo Salvatore or Big Vince. Troia was described in the media as Musso’s main lieutenant, and was an important figure in the Rockford Mafia. He enjoyed close ties with the Zito mob from Springfield, lead by Frank Zito, and with the liquor syndicates in Southern Wisconsin. Because of his authority while Musso was in custody, Giovingo’s friends must have thought he had a hand in the killing, in which they were most assumable right. Troia disappeared from the Rockford area shortly after the attack on the house he roomed in, and settled first in Springfield, and eventually in Newark, New Jersey. However, Troia stayed in contact with his Rockford associates, and made occasional visits to the area.
Within a half year of Troia’s department from the Rockford area, Musso, his chief rivals Paul and Tony Giovingo, and several of their associates, were convicted of liquor law violations, and received prison sentences varying from one day to two years. The Giovingos were committed to the same jail as Musso, which apparently made them nervous. Paul Giovingo, at one point, was searched by a prison guard after the receiving of a tip that Giovingo was armed. A screwdriver was found in his possession, which he undoubtly carried to protect him from the grudge of Musso and company. But while in prison, even with their enemies in the same building, the Giovingos were relatively safe from harm.
But the feud was still brewing. Musso’s associates left on the street, reinforced with mob figures from Springfield, Illinois,* and southern Wisconsin continued their drive to bring the Italian bootleggers into their fold. Those who refused were dealt with, as were those who had infuriated the gang for other reasons. One of them was Jack DeMarco, who had been sentenced to prison in the same conspiracy as Musso and the Giovingo brothers. DeMarco, who appears to have been aligned with Musso’s group, was murdered within a day of his release from Leavenworth Penitentiary, in January 1932. DeMarco, it was alleged by Rockford police, was killed by his former associates for having been too talkative while in custody.
*Joseph Zito and Jasper Calo, both to become ranking members of the Rockford area, came from Springfield. Zito, a brother of Springfield’s Frank Zito, reportedly went to Rockford in the early 1930s. He was among the main suspects in the murder of Paul Giovingo in 1933. Calo was arrested in a Springfield bootlegging conspiracy in 1931. Joseph Zito was also indicted, although he was never been caught. Possibly, Zito had gone to Rockford in order to avoid prosecution. Calo, at the time of the indictment already described as a Rockford resident, settled permanently in the area after having been released from prison in 1934.
Paul Giovingo, after release from prison in October 1932, was still defying the Musso liquor syndicate. He reportedly made threats around Rockford to “get†certain people, most assumable Musso, whom he held responsible for his brother’s death. Four months after his release, on February 11, 1933, Paul Giovingo was shot to death after his car had been forced to the curb. With Giovingo’s murder, his former associates saw the benefit of cooperating with Musso. After more then five years of violence, Musso and his group finally succeeded in bringing Rockford liquor traffic under his command. And although prohibition would be repealed within a year, bootlegging kept an important source of income for the Rockford Mafia well into the 1940s.
But repeal did cause a decline on demand of bootleg liquor, in turn causing a decline of income. It appears that towards the end of prohibition, other rackets were explored. One of these was obviously committing armed robberies. In April 1933, less then two months after the Paul Giovingo murder, several young Rockford mob figures were arrested in connection with a string of hold-ups, robberies and car thefts. When it was suspected that one of the young gangsters, Nick Misuraca, had been too talkative to police about the affairs of his associates, he was shot to death. At the time of his murder, Misuraca was under indictment for a robbery, car theft and a delinquency charge. He had been released from prison only a few days prior to his murder.
Some six and a half year later, another alleged robbery related homicide took place, when Rockford crime figure John DeBenedetto was found shot to death in Chicago, in a car that was allegedly used in the robbery of John Cuneo, president of the Cuneo press, Chicago. DeBenedetto was identified by Cuneo and his wife as one their robbers. Chicago Police alleged DeBenedetto had been shot by his confederate in the robbery so the loot, said to have been $40,000, would not have to be shared. Rockford police however, doubted DeBenedetto was involved in the robbery; he had been seen in Rockford on a point of time that made it almost impossible to have been in Chicago in time to participate in the robbery. Mrs. Cuneo identified another robber, after having viewed several pictures shown to her by police, as Anthony “Tough Tony†Capezio, a notorious Capone gunmen. But when apprehended, John Cuneo was unable to confirm he had been one of his attackers, and Capezio was freed.
Loan sharking was another racket the Rockford Mafia wanted a part of. In the early 1930s, the foremost money lender in the area was Walton Wheeler, who lived in Belvidere, Illinois. It is alleged that when Wheeler was approached by the Rockford mobsters for a piece of his business, he refused their demands. His refusal would cost him his life. On April 13, 1934, Wheeler was called on at his farm in Belvidere, according to his wife, by four masked gunmen. Two of them beat Wheeler to the ground, and took him outside. While one of the masked men drove Mrs. Wheeler and their eight children into the house, Wheeler was shot to death outside. And while local police were looking for suspects among Wheeler’s debtors, Musso was behind the murder.
Wheeler’s murder wasn’t the only mob related homicide in 1934. Only five days later, Louis DalCollo, a Rockford tavern operator, was murdered. Mrs. DalCollo, wounded in the attack on her husband, indicated several attempts to collect money from the tavern had been made, with DalCollo refusing every time. Police alleged the latest attempt got out of hand, with DalCollo being shot to death. Before dying however, he managed to fire five shots himself, wounding one of his assailants. Police, on a mysterious tip, went to find Angelo Buscemi, a Rockford Mafia figure, severely wounded in a car parked outside the local hospital. Buscemi had been shot in the back, and had been stripped down to his waist. He refused to talk to the officers, and lost conscience a short time later. Buscemi, the assailant wounded by DalCollo, didn’t survive the shooting either. Frank Buscemi, a brother of Angelo, was questioned in the DalCollo murder, but never charged. More the four decades later, a cousin of the Buscemi brothers, also named Frank, would become head of the Rockford Family.
1934 was also the year of a brief return of Vincenzo Troia to Rockford. Troia, during his absence from the Rockford area, had become a leading figure in the Newark Family, and was reported to be in control of a major lottery operation there. He had gained prestige in the national underworld when he was asked to become a member of a general assembly that was established to mediate with Salvatore Maranzano, the opponent of Joseph Masseria in the notorious underworld struggle known as the Castellammarese War.
Troia’s return to Rockford turned out to be unsuccessful for him. In May 1934, he was arrested by local police on a warrant charging him with violations of the international revenue act, relating to his former bootlegging activities. Troia’s companions at the time of his arrest, both found to be armed after having been searched, were Frank Longo, of Springfield, and Phil Piccuiro, of Beloit. Longo, who together with Piccuiro acted as Troia’s bodyguard, had been a prominent Springfield Mafia member under Frank Zito, having been described as the “killer†for the Zito mob. All three were freed on bond the following day, and Troia quickly departed for Newark again. Apparently, Longo went with him.
On August 23, 1935, Vincenzo Troia was shot and killed in Newark, in the reputed headquarters of a lottery gang. One other person, his bodyguard Frank Longo, had been killed instantly, and three persons had been wounded, Troia’s son Joseph among them. Joseph would die of his wounds a short time later. News of Troia’s death reached the Italian communities in Rockford and southern Wisconsin within days, and Rockford police eventually heard rumours of his demise. Not having received any official reports of his demise, the exact surroundings around his murder were still unclear to the Rockford police department.
Since Troia was known under the name Lorenzo Salvatore in Rockford, the police reviewed several gangland slayings that could be a match. Eventually, officers were dispatched to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, were one Big Mike Mince had been slain, while other officers were send to Newark. Vincenzo Troia, according to residents of Rockford’s Italian district, was an alias of Salvatore. Although Newark police doubted Troia was the man the Rockford officers were looking for, fingerprints of Troia and Salvatore turned out to be the same.
Various theories for his murder surfaced. Newark police focussed their attention on a brewing lottery war among Italian racketeers in the city. This theory was collaborated years later, by Melchiore Allegra, a Sicilian Mafioso defector, who mentioned that after Troia’s murder, men were dispatched to empty certain safety boxes Troia kept. These boxes, where Troia was alleged to have kept his profits from his lottery operations, turned out to be empty already, according to Allegra’s confessions. Nicola Gentile also provided a theory, although years after the murder, in his memoirs. Gentile states that Troia’s former friendship with Salvatore Maranzano was the real reason behind his murder. Gentile however, fails to explain why there was an almost four year gap between Troia’ murder and the killing of Maranzano.
Theories of the Rockford and Springfield police investigators both focussed on local angles. According to Springfield police, the Troia murder was linked to a Springfield gangland slaying some two months earlier. The Rockford theory was that Troia had threatened to return to Rockford permanently and take over control of the underworld again, and was shot to death on orders of the Rockford syndicate to prevent him from doing so. Police in Beloit, Wisconsin, supported their Rockford colleagues by stating they were in possesion of concrete evidence that Troia had been in Rockford a short time before his murder making these threaths.
The real reason behind Troia’s murder was never discovered, although his involvement in the Newark Italian lotteries seems the most plausible explanation. But if the Rockford Mafia was indeed involved, as was theorized, there is one man who most likely played an important role in the killing. He was Tony Riela. At the time, Riela most was most assumable a member of the Newark Mafia, as was Troia. Before coming to New Jersey, he had lived in Rockford and Springfield, were he was acquainted with the local Italian criminal elements. In fact, when in 1930 Giovingos associates shot up the house in which Troia roomed, another roomer at the place was Riela. Riela appears to have followed Troia to Springfield, and later to Newark. Riela’s former association with the Rockford mob and his knowledge of Troia’s movements in Newark made him the ideal person to set up or even carry out the murder.
Although Troia had been a powerful figure in Rockford’s Family, being among its leading members as one Musso’s main lieutenants, his death proved to have very little to no impact on its affairs. Musso and his associates, whether they had a hand in Troia’s demise or not, continued their business as usual. The Families control of the local rackets was still expanding. By the late 1930s, early 1940s, they had a firm control of most illegal enterprises in the city, including the illegal liquor trade, loan sharking and prostitution. In addition, a variety of legitimate businesses was operated by various Family members. Gambling proved to be another important source of income. Like bootlegging and loan sharking, gambling had to be taken over by force, when
Before the Rockford mob could take control of local gambling, they had to deal with Charles Kalb. Kalb was the biggest horse bookmaker in the area, with his operation stretching from Rockford and surrounding area into Wisconsin. Reportedly, Musso had tried to get Kalb to join the Rockford syndicate, and later force him out and take over his operations. But although Kalb did not seem to have the availability of the same amount of muscle as Musso, he had been successful in keeping his independence. By 1937, while most other rackets had been brought under the control of Musso, Kalb still operated independently, refusing to join Musso’s organization. His luck finally ran out on December 22, 1937. While returning home from a movie with his wife and bodyguard, Kalb was shot to death. His wife was slightly injured by flying glass, while the bodyguard, Harry Dunn, remained unharmed. After Kalb’s murder, the Rockford mob had no more interference or resistance from other racket figures. Law enforcement however, was another story.
The Kalb murder caused a lot of unwanted publicity for Musso and his associates, which in turn caused a lot of attention from law enforcement. Directly after the murder, local police ordered gambling to a halt, temporarily disturbing Musso’s newly acquired racket. Two months later, members of a huge bootlegging ring, including various Rockford Mafia figures, received heavy prison sentences and fines for their participation in the ring. Several other bootlegging operations figuring Rockford mob figures were broken up in the next decade. The successful probe against the illegal liquor trade caused the loss of an important source of income for the Rockford Mafia. The 1940s closed with another financial setback, when in June of 1949, two highly profitable houses of prostitution were raided.
The early and mid 1950s were a relatively quit time in Rockford. With a few occasional arrests of individual Rockford Mafia members and associates, there was little interference from law enforcement for several years. When law enforcement agencies were putting pressure on almost every organized crime Family across the United States after the Apalachin meeting in 1957, the Rockford group appears to have escaped most of the attention. No Rockford residents were identified as having attended the meeting,* although there is some indication that Antonio Musso and Jasper Calo, another power in the Rockford Mafia, were planning to. Both were registered at a hotel in the nearby area. But while the presence of several other, non Rockford Mafia figures not identified as having attended the meeting but known to have been near Apalachin have been measured out by various sources, the presence of Musso and Calo is relatively unknown.
*In fact, only one Illinois resident had been detected by State Troopers. It was Frank Zito, boss of the Mafia in Springfield, and brother of Joseph Zito, a power in the Rockford mob. There was some speculation that Frank Zito was only present because his brother Joseph could not attend. However, Frank Zito controlled organized crime in the state capitol and the rest of Sangamon County, and was among the most powerful Illinois racket figures outside of Chicago. Frank Zito representing his brother, who in Rockford held a lower rank in the Mafia’s hierarchy then Frank in Springfield, seems highly unlikely, and he was almost definitely there to represent his own interests.
Tony Musso retired around the same time as the Apalachin meeting, although it is unclear whether it was before or after the meeting. Jasper Calo, a high ranking figure for more then twenty years, was appointed the new boss. Calo, a brother in law of Joseph Zito, was respected among the membership of the Rockford Family, and had been Musso’s most logical successor. However, Calo seems to have lost the respect of his fellow mobsters at some point during his reign, and several of his underlings became disgruntled. In late 1958, when Calo opened the front door of his house, three shots were fired into his doorway. Calo understood what had to be done, and he stepped down in order to avoid a real attempt on his life. In 1961, after having kept an advisory role within the Rockford Family, Calo returned to his native Sicily, where he would die in 1973.
A new era in Rockford crime had started. The newly appointed boss was Joseph Zammuto, a long-time capo in the Rockford Mafia. The publicity shy Zammuto believed in a quit approach, and he and his direct underlings shed themselves from criminal activities. Zammuto managed to keep attention of himself and his Mafia Family for most part of the 1950s. Where Mafia bosses in other parts of the country became the subject of much publicity in the national press, the Rockford Mafia received little to no attention. But reigning in a time the Mafia was becoming a household name in America, it would have been nearly impossible for himself or his associates to stay unnoticed forever.
The existence of the Rockford crime syndicate was measured out nationally after the May 2, 1959, murder of Donald Burton and Joseph Greco Jr. Their bodies were found stuffed in the trunk of Greco’s car. Large quantities of fixed gambling pharameblia were also found in the car. Rockford Police learned that Burton, with Greco, had tried to force his way into the local gambling racket, and had been warned to stay out of town. It was clear to local law enforcement agencies the established gambling syndicate, headed by Zammuto, was to blame for the double slaying. However, even after Zammuto associates had been questioned in the murder, an out-of-town gambling syndicate was eventually blamed. The Grand Jury investigation that followed however, would focus on Rockford organized crime circles. And although Zammuto himself was never called to testify, several of his associates were not as fortunate.
A parade of witnesses was called to testify about their knowledge of local gambling operations, and of the Burton and Greco murders. Among the more notorious figures called were Sebastian Gulotta, a rising star in Zammuto’s organization, and Joseph Maggio, an associate of the murdered men, whose murder two decades later is recognized as the last Mafia related murder in Rockford. In the end, after the hearings had ceased, the Greco and Burton killings were still unsolved, and little to no damage had been done to the operations of the Zammuto mob. Despite a lot of unwanted publicity, the first major investigation into organized crime in Rockford proved to have little effect on Zammuto and his associates.
The 1960s would bring more investigations, primarily from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. By now, the FBI had started its drive on the various Mafia Families across the country, and the Rockford Mafia was no exception. Informants from Milwaukee and New York City had identified Joseph Zammuto as Rockford’s Cosa Nostra boss, making him the focus of their investigations. But Zammuto, it turned out, was hard to link to any criminal involvement. His name was occasionally linked to various gambling operations, but his involvement could never be proven. Several of Zammuto’s underlings were also under Federal surveillance, but were equally hard to incriminate.
Raids on gambling establishments and the arrests of several gambling operators failed to seriously damage the operations of the Rockford Mafia. Charges against gambling figures often did not stick, and if convicted sentences were often low. New Grand Jury investigations, this time focussing on the Rockford tavern scene and its connection to gambling also failed to disrupt the mob’s criminal operations. The probe, taking place in December 1968, uncovered a close connection between Rockford tavern operators and various criminal enterprises, eventually resulting in the indictments of eight Rockford mobsters. However, the majority of Rockford’s Mafia figures and their operations could continue without interference.
But both the Grand Jury Investigations and the raids on gambling establishments caused a lot of unwanted publicity, much to Joe Zammuto’s frustration. But the biggest blow to Zammuto’s publicity shy approach came a year before the Grand Jury hearings. In September 1967, Life Magazine published a series of articles about the American Mafia. In one article, a map of the United States with pictures of alleged Mafia bosses surrounding the map was printed. Although the picture was unclear, and only Zammuto’s last name was given, it was clear to most Rockford residents who the article was referring to. According to later revelations of a relative, Zammuto was grief-stricken by the article. The mob boss, his relative pointed out, felt terrible when he found out that his grandson had been confronted with the articles.
The 1960s also brought to attention again the close association between the Rockford Family and the Chicago Outfit. The association between both Families went back to the Musso regime, as discussed above, and had remained intact ever since. Several Chicago mobsters were in partnership with Rockford Mafia figures, and moved freely around the Rockford area. This became clear in 1962, when Rocco Pranno, ranking member of the Chicago Outfit, together with an associate, were suspects in the double slaying of Octavio Martinez and his eighteen year old girlfriend Ann Bergman. Martinez, known as Chico, was a Rockford racketeer linked to the local organized crime scene, who was found beaten and shot on a road south of Rockford. His girlfriend, who accompanied Martinez the night he was murdered, was found dead almost a week later. Pranno, it was alleged, had murdered Martinez after the latter had failed to repay a loan.
Chicago mobsters were also suspected of having teamed up with Rockford Mafiosi in various gambling operations, and on at least one occasion, Chicago crime figures were partners with a Rockford mob soldier and two other Rockford residents in a legitimate enterprise. Most assumable because of the close relationship between both Families, the Rockford Mafia has often been wrongly labelled as a satellite operation of the Chicago Outfit. The Chicago Tribune appears to have been the first to supply this false information. In 1966, the Tribune labelled Joe Zammuto as the boss of the Rockford branch of the Chicago mob in two separate articles focussing on the Illinois gambling scene. Federal informants however, have pointed out the Rockford Family has been an antonymous Family.
Zammuto grew tired of the continuing threat of getting either subpoenaed or indicted, and stayed more and more in the background. His administration took over much of his responsibilities over the years, and in or around 1973, Zammuto retired from active leadership. Frank Buscemi, a cousin of one of Tony Musso’s close associates in the 1920s and 1930s, was brought forward as the new boss. Zammuto, who already had passed much of his authority to Buscemi prior to his stepping down, would stay on in an advisory role. Although there was reported to be some distrust towards Buscemi by some members in the Rockford Family, Buscemi was accepted as the new leader.
Frank Buscemi got his start in the mob in Chicago, where he lived before coming to Rockford in 1959. Almost immediately after his arrival, Buscemi was observed meeting and socializing with known Rockford Mafia members. He set up a vending machine business in the basement of the Aragona Club, a known Mafia meeting place. But despite his known association with the Rockford Family, Buscemi managed to keep a low profile. He had been arrested on occasion in Chicago, but had no arrest record in Rockford. Zammuto, whose son had married Buscemi’s sister, appears to have held Buscemi in a high regard. His closeness to Zammuto, in addition to his strong ties to the Chicago mob, paved the way for his fast rise within the Rockford Family. By the late 1960s, Buscemi was among Zammuto’s closest confederates.
During his tenure as boss, Buscemi remained his low profile. Although Federal investigations were still conducted, the intensity appears to have been reduced. Although various investigating agents were highly aware of the contrary, the Federal Bureau had the belief the Rockford Mafia was little more then a handful of “retired old Italiansâ€. Local police were equally unsuccessful; occasional arrests were made, but the police department either failed or refused to link these to any organized crime activity. One theory provided by various sources for the lack of local law enforcement to recognize the overall organized crime situation is bribery. Although hard evidence for this theory has never been supplied, certain situations have occurred which were not in favour of local police. The best known example is probably the destroying of organized crime related police files in the mid 1980s. Claimed to have been part of a state-wide purge to get rid of unnecessary and irrelevant paperwork, this goal was not reached.
Despite the little interference Buscemi had from law enforcement, he still had his legal troubles. The Internal Revenue Service was more then interested in one of Buscemi’s businesses, Rondinella Foods. The company, supplying the ingredients for among others pizza toppings, had gained a near monopoly in the Rockford area through intimidation, and its owners were suspected of evading taxes. Nothing indicating tax evasion could be found in the company’s records, but the IRS made frequent checks. In 1981, Buscemi sold his interest in Rondinella to a cousin. The sale, to speak in the words of Buscemi’s associates, was because of the constant harassment from the IRS. The whole affair proved to be little more then inconvenient for Buscemi, and had no effect at all on the overall workings of the Rockford Mafia.
The interest of the FBI in the affairs of the Rockford Mafia returned when three ranking members figured into the undercover operations of Federal agents into both the Milwaukee mob and New York’s Bonanno Family.* Buscemi’s consiglieri Joseph Zito and gambling bosses Charles Vince and Philip Emordeno travelled to Milwaukee to make introductions between members of the Bonanno Family and Milwaukee’s Mafia boss, Frank Balistrieri in June 1978. The Bonanno Family contacted the Rockford mob through Tony Riela, who as stated above, had close connections to various Illinois mobsters. Riela, by now, was an aging Bonanno capo in New Jersey. Because the Bonannos lacked contacts in Milwaukee, the Rockford Mafia was asked to make proper introductions between both Families. Eventually, indictments in the cases were handed down in both New York and Milwaukee. Zito, Vince and Emordeno were named as co-conspirators in the Milwaukee case, none were charged. **
*This involved the undercover operations of Joseph Pistone, who had infiltrated New York’s Bonanno Family under the name Donnie Brasco, and of Gail Cobb, who as vending machine operator Tony Conte tried to infiltrate the Milwaukee coin machine scene in Milwaukee. For details see chapter X, the Bonanno Family, and chapter X, the Milwaukee Family.
**Of the three, only Vince was still alive when the case was brought to court.
The affair led the FBI to the conclusion that the Rockford mob was more then only a few old Italians. But it was certainly not the only event that was noted with interest by the Bureau. During the 1970s and early 1980s, several cousins and various others were brought in from Sicily and set up to work in pizza shops across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. It was believed by Federal agents that the Sicilian arrivals were imported to strengthen the local crime Family, although hard evidence to acknowledge this is missing. As of today, several of these young Sicilian immigrants and their families continue to live in the Rockford area, some of them owning local restaurants.
Frank Buscemi died of natural causes on December 7, 1987. During his almost fifteen year reign, he and his associates had received little interference from law enforcement, despite several investigations. Even after the murder of mob member Joseph Maggio in April 1980, Rockford’s last recorded Mafia murder, operations could continue as usual. Although Buscemi himself had been under investigation in connection with the murder, as well as several other Rockford mobsters, none were arrested. Buscemi, who without any doubt had either ordered or approved the killing, was left untouched, and Rockford’s last known gangland slaying remains unsolved.
In 2006, the Maggio murder came to the attention of the public again, when a Rockford newspaper columnist suggested that sources indicated that Maggio opposed the decision of Joseph Zammuto to allow drug trafficking in the area. The same columnist indicated the drug operations Zammuto gave his approval to could have been part of the so called Pizza Connection, which was in operation at the time of Maggio’s murder. Buscemi’s importation of Sicilians, many of them working in pizza parlours spread throughout the state, was believed to have played a role in this narcotics network. However, hard evidence again was missing.
Succeeding Buscemi as the city’s Mafia boss was Charles Vince. Vince, former street boss supervising local gambling, was a long-time player in the Rockford Family. He was questioned in 1933 with regard to the murder of Nick Misuraca, a close friend of Vince. Vince’s further career included several arrests and convictions, including assault and gambling. His latest conviction was in 1971, for extorting a retired Beloit physician. By the time Vince had taken over the Rockford Family, he had recently been elevated to underboss. Vince, because of a nasty habit of gambling, was not the most respected member of the Rockford mob, but due to various deaths of prominent members during the two decades, he appears to have been the most logical successor.
Vince took over the Family in a relatively favourable time. The attention of the media was focussed on the high profile Mafia cases in New York, and the casino skimming cases in Kansas City. The Federal government had lost interest in many of the smaller, quit Families across the country, claiming several of these had ceased to exist. Local police, having denied over the years even the existence of a structured organized crime Family operating in the city, also failed to act. When Charles Vince died a natural death in 1994, little to no attention was given to his passing. The FBI already considered the structured Rockford Mafia organization history, and viewed the death of Vince as collaboration.
But the truth lay somewhere else. The very little attention the Rockford mobsters had received from both law enforcement and the media had resulted in an environment to operate unnoticed and in almost complete secrecy. Identified as successor of Vince was Sebastian Gulotta, although it appears he was not recognized in that capacity by law enforcement; naturally he couldn’t be recognized as such when the Rockford Mafia had already been considered dormant for several years. But knowledgeable sources have indicated Gulotta controlled a still smooth running and stable crime Family, holding a vast control on several gambling operations.
In March 2000, Gulotta died in his vacation home in Mesa, Arizona. His successor is unknown, although sources confirm there has been one, who is said to be still in position. Salvatore Galuzzo, first publicly identified as a Rockford Mafia member in the 1980s, appears to be a prominent and ranking figure, although it is unclear what his exact position in the current Family structure is. The Family is said to be still in control of a huge portion of illegal gambling in the Rockford area, and has remained in contact with the Chicago Outfit until at least 2005.
That year, Frank Saladino was found dead in a motel room, from an apparent suicide. Saladino was a Rockford born mob figure, who had been identified as liaison between Rockford and Chicago. He was about to be indicted in a major case against the hierarchy of the Chicago Outfit, called “Family Secretsâ€. The timing of his death leads some to believe his suicide was staged to prevent him from eventual cooperation. Saladino, the indictment read, was suspected of carrying out several murders on behalf of the Chicago mob, and was facing a possible life sentence. His knowledge on these killings certainly made him a dangerous risk for the Outfit bosses, but again, evidence to support this allegation is simply missing.
Saladino’s sudden death not only caused his own exclusion from the trial. A Rockford based sports betting operation in which Saladino figured, could not be linked to any defendants in the Family Secrets trial without Saladino. Federal authorities decided to indict the betting ring separately, which they did in February 2006. Nine Rockford area men were charged with running the operation, which netted more then half a million dollars over the years. Eight of them were arrested; one of them was already in custody on unrelated charges. The indictment clearly showed the continuing presence of illegal gambling in Rockford. But while the operation was publicly linked to Chicago, no mentioning was made of the local mob scene. The defendants were convicted, but all received relatively low sentences.
But the convictions were certainly not the end of the Rockford gambling scene under the mob’s control. Illegal gambling parlours continue to operate. Gambling debts are still collected with the threat of violence, or if necessary, with violence itself. Salvatore Galluzzo and his brother Natale are suspected of running a large portion it. The Galluzzo controlled gambling ring is reportedly known as the Soccer Club, a combination of various gambling establishments. Although raids on these establishments have been made on various occasions, the existence of a structured organization behind these operations are steadily denied.
One of the last major event relating to Rockford’s illegal gambling racket occurred in October 2007, when a group of criminals decided to make a quick buck by robbing a card game. The card game was run by Vaughn “Curly†Fitzgerald, allegedly connected to the Galluzzo’s Soccer Club. The police, who responded quickly when notified of a possible robbery in progress, managed to stop one of the fleeing robbers, and placed him under arrest. But Fitzgerald had his own ideas what to do with him. After having obtained a rifle, Fitzgerald wounded the robbery suspect while already under arrest. When he refused to put down his rifle, the police officers were forced to shoot Fitzgerald. The eighty year old Fitzgerald died instantly.
Within days of the robbery, two other suspects were arrested. The loot of the robbery, according to insiders around the fifteen thousand dollars, has not been recovered. It was alleged that one of the participants of the card game notified the robbers of the amount of money present. However, the police remains unclear who this participant is, or if he is among the three men under arrest. The police remains equally unclear about the other participants of the illegal card game, and until now have only released the name of one of them, while there was reportedly a relatively large party in attendance. Rumour has surfaced that the reason of this secretiveness is that among those in attendance were several prominent Rockford residents, including a police official. If true, these kinds of attitude will only aide the Rockford mob in continuing its present operations.
