You see most of these so called big time hoodlums are nothing without their guns and bodyguards. People like Battaglia who love to curse and yell at other people are pure cowards. If he was so tough as he pretended to be, than why he didn’t knocked out the cop in front of him? He just needed to stay calm and act like a gentleman because the cops had nothing on him. Instead he barked like a wild dog which didn’t had the chance to bite. But that was just the old 42 gang street mentality filled with aggressiveness and stupidity. Guys like Ricca, Accardo or Prio would’ve never acted in such a way, and that is one of main reasons for them to be on the top spots in the organization for a very long time. Yes the 42’s were one of the biggest money makers in the mob’s history but the problem was that they had much lower moral values. They were killing people with the blink of an eye, they were chasing girls publicly which was very bad thing for the image of their wives, they were doing drugs or drank too much liquor. The vicious cycle continued with succeeding every high position by the 42 gang members, with the loss of sense for any kind of responsibility. The old timers were total opposite of these guys but the problem was that they were also too greedy because they were blinded by the huge profits and also failed to see coming downfall.


While Battaglia was being blinded by the gold and riches in his life and also by his very large ego, the government started lurking from the shadows and was slowly closing in. At the beginning of 1961, Chicago’s main newspaper The Chicago Tribune disclosed that the Twin Food Company was working without a rendering license since 1957. The Tribune also disclosed that the company was controlled by known Chicago hoodlums and was protected by unnamed high profile member of the Democratic Party. So Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley issued an order to the commissioner of investigations Irwin Cohen to take measures about the situation. On March 21, 1961, during public hearings the chief sanitary officer Edward King of the Chicago Health Department testified that inspections of the Twin Food plant revealed numerous violations of the health laws, and the rendering operations of the company were ordered halted. City sanitation inspectors also examined Twin Food trucks containing products owned by sister companies known as the Twin Distributing Company, Incorporated and the P and S By-Products Company. The truck floors were described as dirty and the city health inspectors also condemned 1,000 pounds of meat and other products. Also during the trial, the president of the company Leo Rugendorf was called for questioning. While King testified, Rugendorf pointed at him and made motions as if cutting his throat. Later at a recess Rugendorf told King “I wonder how you would look without your teeth?” King laughingly removed his false teeth and showed him how he looked. These incidents were not funny at all and the name for them is “attempted intimidation of a witness.” The judge did not happen to see Rugendorf’s throat slitting motions and he was also not informed about the threat.



Rugendorf running away from the newspaper photographers


In May 1961, the Twin Food Products Company was found guilty in the Municipal Court of Chicago for operating without a rendering license, and in August fines were imposed. At the same time the government opened an investigation on the Sterling-Harris Ford agency. During one weekend, the owners of the agency managed to sell 356 autos which was a ridiculous number for such a short time. They received $225,000 from the sales and later declared bankruptcy and the creditors only located $5,000 in assets. Also the records of the agency had conveniently disappeared. FBI agents investigated the matter as a National Bankruptcy Act or NBA scam committed by the Sterling-Harris agency. The agents discovered that the large sale was forced by Rugendorf, who was obviously pressured by Battaglia and Alderisio, with the purpose of collecting a debt from the owners. All of the cars were sold, at prices which were far below cost, to members of the Chicago Outfit, their families and friends. For example Battaglia’s driver Joseph Rocco picked up two of the cars. FBI agent John Bassett, while investigating another matter, accidentally stumbled upon the missing records from the agency which solidified the up coming case against Rugendorf, Rosenberg, Harris and Sterling. Three years later, all of the defendants were indicted and found guilty of conspiracy to conceal assets in violation of the National Bankruptcy Act. Federal Judge Joseph Perry sentenced each of the four subjects to five years in prison and a $19,000 fines.


Another problem that disrupted Battaglia’s business world was the insurance swindle case that occurred the same year. The insurance fraud, which involved numerous fraudulent conspiracies such as false burglaries, fires in restaurants and other damaged properties, was overseen by Battaglia’s partner Marshall Caifano and Chicago Outfit associate and Loop insurance broker Lewis Barbe. Other people involved in the conspiracy were Frank Campanella, Herbert Basan, Kenneth Bratko, Allen Widmark and Robert Sacks. During the operation Caifano and Barbe received orders from Battaglia through Phil Alderisio. These men like Basan and Sacks, got involved with the Outfit through Barbe. One day Robert Sacks asked a favour from Barbe, regarding his old friend Lester Bagis, to locate Sam Battaglia. The reason, Sacks told Barbe, was that Marshall Caifano wanted to kill Bagis because he owed a big amount of cash to Caifano. So Sacks wanted from Barbe to ask Battaglia if he can call off Bagis’ contract in exchange for their offers. Battaglia cancelled the contract on Bagis and now Sacks, Barbe and the rest of their associates worked for the Outfit. That’s why the insurance operation was going pretty well until the government got wind of the situation and made few arrests and that’s when some of the people that were involved in the conspiracy started talking. The first guy that started talking was Allen Widmark, who was the president of the Chicago Rolling Mill products company located at 5616 N. Washtenaw av. Thru Herbert Basan, a salesman for this firm, Widmark sold wire valued at $782. This wire was then insured for $48,000 and reported stolen by the eight indicted persons, including Basan. After Widmark, another witness decided to step up, William Archer a known steel broker. When Battaglia heard about the situation he immediately summoned Alderisio and told him to send a deadly message to Barbe, because these guys were his people. In fact, Barbe was a very unstable person because he loved to talk about his gangster ventures to people that he met for the first time in his life. For example, Barbe had talked to many persons about Alderisio and Battaglia, often in derisive terms, but asked them to keep quiet about the information he gave them. So now Barbe knew that his life was in danger and tried to contact Battaglia through a go- between who was to arrange the meeting between the two. But Battaglia refused and Barbe got very scared so he went to the Internal Revenue service with information about Caifano, Alderisio and Battaglia. Barbe was about to testify against Caifano and he thought that Caifano would be acquitted in the insurance conspiracy case even though he might testify against him. As I previously stated, Barbe was a very unstable person and was known liar and swindler, but this time he picked the wrong people to play with. One night Barbe told a Chicago Tribune reporter that “The council (The Chicago Outfit) will meet Friday night and decide what to do. They’re going to hit me.” As he spoke, Barbe had a chrome-plated, snub-nosed .38 caliber revolver beside him. Two weeks before his testimony, Barbe was sitting in a crowded restaurant on East Chicago Avenue when a swarthy-faced man in hid mid thirties, blew a whistle in Barbe’s face and laughed like crazy. Barbe recognized the action which was a message from the Outfit that he had “blown the whistle” to the authorities and now he must pay. Just few days before his position as key witness against Caifano took place, Barbe made a bold move by insisting that his police guards be removed.



Marshall Caifano


So at the beginning of February 1964, Lewis Barbe was called to testify in the courtroom of Chief Justice Alexander J. Napoli, who had continued the conspiracy trial until February 6, because at the same time Caifano was on trial in Los Angeles in an extortion conspiracy case where he was accused of trying to extort $60,000 from Ray Ryan, a multi-millionaire oil man. After he left the court room at 10:20 a.m., Barbe entered his car which was parked in front of 2814 W. 26th St., just north of the court building and turned on the ignition key and suddenly a bomb blasted his car. The hood of the auto was blown over the 45-foot-high roof of the Vacuum Can Company, in front of which the car was parked. The hood landed 100 yards north of the building. The right door at the passenger seat of the auto was also blown off. All windows in the building were broken. Miraculously Barbe survived the blast. He got out of the car, fell on the street and kept calling for help. Buttons were ripped off his coat by the blast, his trousers were shredded, and his hair was singed. He lay in the street for 15 minutes before a police squad removed him to St. Anthony de Padua hospital. Before he was removed, Barbe told to one of the police officers to get "the papers" out of the bombed car and to take care of them. While in the hospital the doctors took him into the operating room and worked for two hours on his badly mangled right leg and foot. The police department’s bomb squad later revealed that at least six sticks of dynamite were used in the bombing. They also thought that the bomb was placed in the car during the 30 to 40 minutes while Barbe was in the court. Two men probably were involved. One man drove another to the spot, he placed the bomb in Barbe's car, and then the driver returned and picked up the man who planted the bomb. Although the area was a busy one and many policemen were in the vicinity, a raised hood would not attract any attention because many people frequently have motor trouble. But this didn’t solve Caifano’s problems because he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Los Angeles extortion case. Caifano appealed the conviction and was released on bond.



Anguished Lewis Barbe shouts for assistance


This was a step back for Battaglia’s business ventures but didn’t do much damage because he was about to become the number two man in the Chicago Outfit. On August 24, 1964, Giancana’s underboss Frank Ferraro died of cancer in the Wesley Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Three days before Ferraro’s death, he together with Accardo, Ricca, Humphreys, Cerone, Les Kruse, Ralph Pierce and Hy Godfrey held a farewell meeting at the Cart Restaurant on 601 S. Wabash Avenue. Giancana was absent at the meeting because he was on a love trip with his famous girlfriend and singer Phyllis McGuire. Before Giancana left Chicago, as current boss of the Outfit, he gave his vote for Battaglia to be Ferraro’s replacement. At the meeting, the bosses had hard time to decide on who’s going to take Ferraro’s position because some of them had different opinions. For example, Ricca and Accardo supported Cerone to become the number two man and Humphreys, Pierce and Kruse supported Battaglia. Also considering Giancana’s vote for Battaglia, it was a tie. But Cerone had one problem. He was blamed for the heat that he brought over the Outfit because of the imprisonment of some of his underlings on loan sharking and gambling charges, and above all he has become a drinking problem. So this meant that Battaglia was the obvious choice for the underboss position. But the thing was that Cerone became very angry about the decision so to avoid any conflicts, the number two position allegedly remained vacant. So even with no underboss, according to informants, everybody in the Outfit knew that Battaglia was the number two guy in the organization. To be honest, Battaglia never liked these top spots because he knew that the more he was closer to Giancana, the more he was getting into trouble. He hated the everyday headaches and his position as area boss was the best thing he ever achieved. He had all the money and women that he ever wanted so that’s why he didn’t need any problems with Accardo or Cerone regarding the underboss position. But when Giancana came back to Chicago, he made everyone understood by organizing a party for his old friend and associate at the infamous Armoury Lounge. From this point on the Accardo-Cerone alliance always had a little bit of hatred towards Giancana.



Giancana with popular singer and love of his life Phyllis McGuire


Now because of his “unofficial” number two position within the Chicago Outfit, Battaglia was regarded as a big shot and was very well trusted by the other mob bosses because he was standing next to Giancana, who by this time was known in government circles as the “boss of bosses”. Battaglia’s farm in Pingree Grove became the main headquarters for high profile meetings among mob bosses from all around the country. By now the Chicago Outfit had authority over Milwaukee, Madison and Hurley in Wisconsin, Rockford and Springfield in Illinois, Hammond and Gary in Indiana, St. Louis and Kansas City in Missouri, so all of the bosses from those areas occasionally met at Battaglia’s farm. For example, Frank Balistrieri, the boss of the Milwaukee mob, travelled periodically to Pingree Grove to meet with the Outfit’s hierarchy. Balistrieri dealt with Giancana directly or through Battaglia and Alderisio. Also occasionally Battaglia, Alderisio and Caifano met with Balistrieri at a hotel in Milwaukee. Balistrieri consulted the Chicago Outfit only on specific and important subjects. The Chicago Outfit also had close connections with the Los Angeles crime family and the New York crime families, such as the Lucchese and the Genovese family. For example, the FBI once observed Giancana together with Battaglia and Alderisio in Los Angeles. The trio had a meeting with some top hoodlums of the Los Angeles crime family regarding the purchase of a land and also new automobiles. Also from time to time, Los Angeles members were seen at Battaglia’s farm. In July, 1964, the FBI received an information about a possible national mob meeting that might be held at Battaglia’s farm. The unknown informant who alerted the feds, had no information on who exactly might attend this meeting, but has advised that high profile members of the Milwaukee, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Detroit mob families might be present. The informant even gave the exact date of the meeting which was August 2, 1964. My opinion is that this must’ve been a high echelon informant because only top members of the mob’s hierarchy received such informations. So now the FBI alerted all of its offices in Chicago and other cities and has established a huge photographic and physical surveillance coverage over Battaglia’s farm. But besides their surveillance measures, somebody tipped off the mob bosses and the meeting was called off. Maybe the informant was working on both sides or maybe the mob had simply someone within the government and alerted them about the stake out.


As I pointed out in some of my previous articles, Giancana was the best and at the same time the worst thing that happened to the Chicago mob. Giancana had tremendous power and had master control in Chicago. He had the power to produce more money and votes for politicians than any other organization in Chicago or even Illinois. He controlled many high lucrative illegal and legal enterprises and because of the power, during his reign as boss, he formed a godlike feeling that destroyed everything that he previously achieved. Giancana thought that he was above the organization and also above the law… well he thought wrong. The main rule in organized crime is that no one is above the organization. We have countless and countless examples in mob history that can prove that statement. Mobsters like Ricca, Accardo, Prio and even Battaglia understood this, but the problem was that Giancana was the only top guy that was too much stubborn to realize this. But I don’t blame him because he grew up in very poor conditions, had no education and the act of violence was his only way to get noticed and to make some fast money. The real people that should be blamed are Ricca, Accardo and another old time boss who was Giancana’s sponsor to be made, Louis Campagna, because they were the ones who stuffed the big amounts of cash in their pockets that were made by Giancana and his crew and later made him the boss. My opinion is that after a while Ricca and Accardo realized that they made a mistake but it was too late because Giancana already took control over everything and everyone. You see, Ricca and Accardo controlled the capital of the Chicago Outfit with Giancana being in charge of operations, who worked as a broker and investor. But Giancana was also a hitman and controlled a lot of guys who killed with the blink of an eye. If Giancana said to these guys something like “The old guys have to go”, that was it. No matter who they were, they were going to get “whacked”. But after a while, even his guys started having second thoughts because they also felt the heat from the government because of his stupid actions.



Outfit boss Sam Giancana fooling around while being drunk


On May10, 1965, the feds “stalked” Battaglia in order to serve him with subpoena to appear before a grand jury. Battaglia was driving down the Illinois tollway when he suddenly saw the federal agents closing in on him from behind. So in his own style, Battaglia stepped on the gas pedal and led his pursuers into a high speed auto chase for some miles. The agents managed to drive up beside the hoodlum, identified themselves and got him to stop. Battaglia and the rest of the Outfit’s big shots were called before a federal grand jury concerning Sam Giancana’s activities. The mobsters were “harassed” by the government for hours. According to a wiretapped conversation that occurred few days after the questionings, between Giancana and one of his top guys Charles English, this is what have happened during the investigations:

ENGLISH: I’m laughin’ at ‘em. (laughs) Two guys fell asleep in the Grand Jury room. I’m tellin’ you Sam, they must have asked me a hundred and fifty questions and I don’t think that five of ‘em made sense. He says are you a gambler? I say what? Then he mentioned a date. May the 6th or June the 6th. He asked if I was in New York with you? Hey, if I was in New York with you, huh? You’re lucky, you got out of there fast. I was in there for an hour. We don’t have to come back. Ahhh, when they started to talk to me about narcotics I got hot. I said “I DECLINE TO ANSWER THAT.” (with emphasis) Even the Grand Jury woman, I heard her talk to the other person. She was scared. I don’t know what is it with Steve (Anselmo). They held me up awhile waitin’ for him, then after I finished they kept Teets (Battaglia), waiting for about ten minutes, then when he didn’t show they had Teets go in…after that they had Rocky (Infelice), Cowboy (Mirro) and Pete (DePietro).

GIANCANA: I says I don’t know what are you talking about…

ENGLISH: Me too, maybe they’re after those guys and just usin’ us for show. They asked me four or five more questions then they would go back to Teets, then four or five more questions then go back to Teets again. You know I was surprised. I thought it was all going to center on you. Than they asked me if I had any connections in Framingham, Massachusetts? I said where? Then one of the guys says, well we got enough to get him before the Judge. I says what? I says be more specific. They asked Teets, are you the guy that is going to take over for Sam Giancana? I says to Teets, you should have asked “take over what, Phyllis (McGuire)?” (laughs long and loud)


During this period the last thing that the Outfit needed was publicity like this. According to this conversation I think that English didn’t have the guts to tell directly to Giancana that his public relations with the popular singer and his vast narcotics operations were virtually destroying their organization. The pressure got to Giancana and so his erratic behaviour and his front page life style in return gave Ricca, Accardo and Battaglia fits. But luckily for the Outfit, on June 1, 1965, the government jailed Giancana for contempt of court. He received a one year sentence in an 8 by 10 foot cell in the county jail where he dined on a 14 cent meal of pork sausages and baked beans. With the Outfit’s boss incarceration, the organization needed a front man to deal with the day to day operations. Again there were three candidates for the job. One was Battaglia, the second was again Cerone and third one was Alderisio. Since Giancana was still the official boss, Cerone was out of the question so there were only two candidates that remained for the position. But the problem was that both candidates didn’t want the top spot because they knew that the federal government practice of targeting the top man in the Outfit, turned the job of Boss into a revolving door with prison on the other side of that door. So Alderisio played it smart and out of respect for his mentor, he took a step back and allowed Battaglia to become the top guy. Accardo and Ricca gladly approved this, and so the whole Outfit except for Cerone and another very ambitious mobster Fiore Buccieri. As a result of Giancana’s absence, dispute has arisen between Battaglia’s and Buccieri’s factions. The frustrated Buccieri began invading other territories that belonged to the Battaglia group and also to the Frank LaPorte group. A sit down was arranged in restaurant on Chicago’s North Side between the two factions. During the meeting, Battaglia’s close associate Phil Alderisio lost his nerves and threatened at one of Buccieri’s top men Joe Ferriola by saying “I’m going to tear you apart, limb by limb!” It was a very bad situation for the Outfit and many members thought that this should be immediately resolved by a strong leader. Buccieri said that Giancana should be the one to clear things up but he was in jail and ignored the problem. My opinion is that this was the boiling point where Giancana has lost most of his authority over his underlings. Thoroughly disgusted with Giancana, Ricca and Accardo again took the stage, resolved the dispute and immediately elevated Sam Battaglia to the position as acting boss of the Chicago Outfit, no questions asked.


This is a proof that Ricca still had the last word because another former 42 gang member took the top spot. It wasn’t Ross Prio who was clearly one of the best mob bosses in the country and it wasn’t Frank LaPorte, who was also very elusive boss. Because of Ricca, most of the top candidates were always from the West Side. In other words Battaglia was forced by Ricca to take the position. According to wiretapped conversation between the Outfit’s First Ward people Pat Marcy and Romey Nappi, Ricca ordered that Giancana had to stay in the background and that no one was going to give any trouble to Battaglia in running day to day operations. But the problem was that Accardo, who was the second top advisor, felt that Giancana should be totally removed as boss and that Battaglia should be THE boss. According to the same wiretapped conversation between the two Outfit associates, Accardo and Giancana had a heated argument in Giancana’s jail cell and allegedly Giancana told Accardo to “Fuck off!”



Chicago Outfit boss Sam “Teets” Battaglia


Even though he was a little bit scared because of the current situation, Battaglia had the backing of the prime players in the Outfit to rule his criminal empire with out any problems. His right hand man or number two man became Phil Alderisio, who according to some reports became Battaglia’s chief of staff and personal advisor. Alderisio also controlled all of the strip joints, nigh clubs, brothels etc. in the Diversey District with his crew members Leonard Gianola and Albert Frabotta. Charles Nicoletti remained as Battaglia’s chief enforcer and also his prime player in the Melrose Park area. Battaglia was one of those mob bosses who thought that blood is thicker than water so he also elevated his brother Joseph as his main messenger and also as his contact with many Chicago political figures. With Battaglia's blessing, Rocco Pranno became the Outfit’s prime player in the construction racket which became a major project for the Chicago Outfit. Rocco Salvatore also became a major player from his Country Club on North Avenue in Melrose Park and besides his gambling operations he also controlled a burglary crew. His crew was involved in numerous burglaries such as the robbery of the National Tea Store on West Madison Street and the Armoured Express job at North Riverside. This crew was mainly formed by six individuals, including Joseph Lombardo, Mario DeAngelis, Frank DeRosa, Guy Cervone, John DeMaria and Tony Scudiero. This crew was very active during this period and was also loaded with cash that kicked it up straight to Battaglia. With the help of a police contact, Salvatore frequently checked just to see if any government heat was placed on his burglary crew. Nick Palermo was in charge now of the sewer contracts around Northlake and Melrose Park. One contract cost over 250.000$. Joe Amabile was now involved in the washing machines business that generated over 50.000$ a month. Now both Palermo and Amabile still answered to Rocco Pranno but if they had any problems they took it to Battaglia.