Dick Nose, I like Philly very much. Been to South Philly a few times. I was born in Chicago and my uncle has been a made guy in the Outfit for over 30 years. before that he was a soldier for about 18 years. I know a lot about it. The Chicago Outfit is very well organized and still has tremendous power in Chicago and out west. Like everything else, the Outfit has downsized to 4 Street Crews: Elmwood Park ( Dominent ), Grand Ave., Cicero & 26th St. The Dominent Crew is called the ( extended ) Elmwood Park Crew because within the crew there is a Capo with made men besides the Top Boss of the Entire Outfit who has men directly with him. Back in 1957, Sam Giancana became th Boss of the extended Taylor St. Crew and Top Boss of the Outfit. There was no sub dominent Crew. The other 4 crews at that time were Rush St., Cicero, Elmwood Park & Chicago Heights. All were partnered with Giancana & his men who ran Bookmaking, Poker machines, Loan Sharking, Union Racketeering etc. I learned a lot by watching and asking certain harmless types of questions at the right moments. I learned how truly powerful the Outfit was and that it reached all the way out to Las Vegas & the West Coast. The Outfit almost literally ran Chicago and had tremendous influence in the 50 wards in the city and all the suburbs. I learned about the tremendous difference between the Chicago Outfit and the 5 Families in New York. I always thought, along with a lot of other people, that the Outfit was much better organized than New York and much less chaotic. There were also made men who were specialists of sorts who were direct with the Top Boss. During this time, from 1957 to 1966, the Outfit had maybe 300 men who actually belonged to the street crews, however, maybe 75 at the most were actually made men. In order to be made, you had to be full Italian. Made men were very elite and ran and supervised franchises. the Soldiers in the crews worked under the made men as collectors, Bookmaking office agents etc. There were several Little Italies in Chicago. Years ago, the biggest was Taylor St. on the west side. That is where my uncle was born.