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.
