These raids were devastating for Battaglia and his gambling operations, so now the old man became very paranoid and also thought that someone might be talking to the feds. Battaglia has gathered opinions from all of his operators and police contacts to give him any informations on specific suspicious activities on certain associates so he cam make an example of. On February 2, 1967, 24 year old Charles Michelotti, who was one of Battaglia’s handbook operators in Melrose Park, was shot straight in the heart by an Outfit assassin. After the murder, according to witnesses the Melrose Park police issued a warrant for the arrest of Guy Cervone in connection with the shooting. As additional info, Michelotti’s slaying was the 1,000th gangland murder in Chicago since the 1920’s. But even with Battaglia’s precautions, the feds already planned their attack over his empire.
During this period, FBI agent John Dallman commenced a joint operation between the FBI and IRS, on Battaglia and Joe Amabile. The investigation centred around the conspiracy to extort more than $48,000 from William Riley during the construction of the King Arthur Apartments in Northlake, Illinois. Now the feds placed Battaglia on a 24/7 surveillance. Agents of the Internal Revenue Service's intelligence division had his home under surveillance from a church belfry which was located few blocks from his Oak Park home. They knew when he left home each morning, and which one of his drivers was at the wheel of the car or station wagon that called for him. Battaglia would have been just as surprised if he had opened the window of the car and looked overhead as his car sped along the toll road. He would have seen a helicopter overhead. He might even have seen the IRS agent, clad in electrically heated clothing, but cold nevertheless in the 40-below temperature 1,000 feet overhead, leaning out the helicopter door. The agent in the sky was in radio communication with the helicopter pilot who was snug and warm in his compartment, and with IRS agents in cars on the toll road. They were following Battaglia's car as closely as they could to the oasis where he and his top lieutenants held their after-midnight meetings, which were never held twice in a row in the same oasis. Battaglia should have paid closer attention to the workmen with lunch buckets who descended on the oasis where he held his top-level conferences. Of course, a toll road oasis at 2:30 or 3 a.m. was a busy place. Battaglia wasn’t expected to notice that the lunch buckets which were aimed at his table contained hidden cameras.
In February, 1967 the feds served a subpoena to William Riley because he hadn’t been completely honest when he filled out his tax returns. So now Riley was stuck between the mob and the government sp he had only one way out of the situation by agreeing to testify against the gangsters. Riley confessed everything and so they put him into protective custody. The feds also got lucky when two other witnesses agreed to testify, including Mike DiVito, who was the main witness against Battaglia and Henry LaKey, who was the president of Carlson Construction Company. DiVito’s and LaKey’s recollections would end up being the evidence that tied Battaglia to the conspiracy. On February 16, Ed Hanrahan the United States attorney in Chicago was bringing in the indictment at 2 p.m. and he told his agents “Find Battaglia and if you let him get away, it'll be your funeral.” The feds had to be very careful because they knew that Battaglia was one of those old time “Apalachin meeting” bosses, meaning if he catches a sight of them he’ll start running and they all are going to be involved in a high speed chase.
William Riley
Mike DiVito
So on that same day, Battaglia and his driver Joe Rocco were on their way to his farm in Pingree Grove. Battaglia was not surprised, however, when he stopped at a roadside telephone on the way to his 400-acre farm and called a lookout he had at 25th Avenue and Lake Street in Melrose Park and was told he was being followed by a strange car. This time it was the IRS agents' turn to be surprised. Of the 11 cars each containing two agents that were tailing Battaglia, all avoided the intersection in Melrose Park except one car containing agents not familiar with the case. Someone had forgotten to tell them Battaglia had a lookout there. Joe Rocco, Battaglia's driver, took evasive action. The agents didn't know it until later, but under the hood of the Ford station wagon Joe drove with such skill was a souped-up Thunderbird engine. Up one street and down another he sped, through one suburb after another. The agent in the IRS lead car had picked up police cars from Schiller Park, Melrose Park, and Northlake. He was speeding along North Avenue at 90 miles an hour but the Northlake police car was gaining on him. Battaglia and his driver sped through a toll plaza near Rockford without stopping to pay the toll. Four cars in radio communication were right on his tail and they sped through at 80 miles an hour speed without stopping. The gangsters started playing games with the agents by cutting thru to the opposite lanes at emergency crossings and heading the opposite direction. As they all went south they passed other state police cars, notified by the toll plaza, which were heading north. Battaglia was finally tired of the game and his driver left the toll road and drove sedately into Marengo, where the agents telephoned Hanrahan, learned the indictment had been returned, and put Sam Battaglia in handcuffs. Newspaper stories of Battaglia's indictment and arrest said merely that he was apprehended in Marengo by federal agents after a high speed chase on the toll road.
On February 23, 1967, Sam Battaglia, Joseph Amabile, Nick Palermo, Dave Evans, Mayor Henri Neri, Alderman Leo Shababy and Alderman Joseph Drozd were taken to the Federal District Court on conspiracy charges and they all pleaded innocent. Neri, Shababy, Drozd, Amabile and Palermo were named in the first indictment on charges of extorting $60,500 from the Riley Management Company. This trial was set for May 1st, 1967. Battaglia, Amabile and Evans were named on the second indictment on charges for conspiracy to extort $48,500 again from the Riley Company. This case was set for trail on April 17, 1967. One week prior to the trial, the Outfit’s fixer Gus Alex obtained a list of the jurors in the Battaglia case. Battaglia’s personal associates Phil Alderisio and Charles Nicoletti told Alex to investigate the background of all of the jurors. According to FBI reports, with the help of Battaglia’s old enforcer Lenny Patrick, Alex managed to make a contact with police officer Ronald O’Hara, who was conducting the background investigations of the witnesses. So O’Hara allegedly approached a female juror who agreed to vote not guilty. The FBI also received a information that their witnesses might’ve been in trouble, so they relocated them to the Owl Motel in room 205 under heavy guard. Also Jack Walsh, who was the special agent for the Internal Revenue Service, and his wife began receiving calls at home. The voice on the phone would describe in detail the clothing Walsh's children wore to school that day. Walsh approached some of the Outfit’s higher ups about it, and a meeting was arranged with the defendant so prosecutors could inform Battaglia of what was happening on the outside. So Battaglia told the prosecutors “Tell the kid he doesn't have to worry any more. It won't happen again” and Walsh never got another call.
During the trail, Battaglia, Amabile and Evans were prosecuted by two very good assistant attorneys Lawrence Morrissey and Joseph Lamendella. The two prosecutors brought their witnesses one by one. Mike DiVito and Henry LaKey recounted their meetings with the boss himself and told the prosecution about their shady deals and in the end William Riley have told the whole story. Battaglia had no worries because he thought that he had a fixed jury and was going to be released of all charges, but he was wrong. The female juror, who agreed to vote not guilty, became quite concerned about her safety, not from the mob but from the government, so she decided to vote guilty. It was noted that only one juror’s ballot was taken and it was unanimous for guilty as charged. In the eyes of Alderisio and Nicoletti, Alex was the one who bungled the job so he made smart decision to take a short vacation to Florida. So on May9, 1967 the returned a verdict and found all subject guilty as charged on conspiracy to violate the Federal Hobs Act extortion statute. The verdict crashed Battaglia and he couldn’t believe his ears. On top of that, the Federal Judge Julius Hoffman refused a motion of all defendants to be admitted to bond and placed them in custody of the US Marshall until the sentencing.
On May 29, 1967, Sam Battaglia was sentenced to 15 years in jail and was also fined $10,000. His associate Joseph Amabile also received 15 years and a fine of $10,000. Dave Evans received 10 years in jail and was fined $5,000. The three defendants were also ordered to pay $6,000 in costs for the three week trial. Judge Hoffman also denied the motion for an appeal bond because the three key witnesses and their families were threatened by the Outfit. In the end Judge Hoffman stated “This is one of the most serious cases in the federal crime courts. It would be very dangerous for the community, based on the evidence, to have any of the defendants admitted to bail. I would be derelict in my responsibility if I admitted them to bail. I find each one of the defendants to be dangerous. I cannot assume the responsibility of letting these defendants go about threatening people with baseball bats.” After that the judge ordered for the defendants to begin their sentences immediately.
Battaglia was taken to the Cook County jail to serve time. But he wasn’t alone because in the same jail other mobsters like Rocco Pranno, Marshall Caifano and Joseph Amabile also served time. They all have been given the “royal treatment” because of their high positions within the Chicago Outfit. They received daily expensive red wines, sea food, Cuban cigars and expensive clothes. Battaglia was very often visited by his brothers Joseph and Anthony, Rocco Salvatore and Joe Rocco. In jail, Battaglia became very close friend with his “barn boss” who was a convicted murderer named Martin Tajra. The jail was overcrowded so Battaglia shared the same prison cell with Tajra.
While in jail, Battaglia didn’t relinquish his power as boss of the Chicago Outfit because he still had very important people, like Alderisio, Nicoletti and Salvatore, on the streets of Chicago. But he made one egoistic mistake by placing his brother Joseph as his voice and ear on the street. In fact, Battaglia wanted for his brother to take the position as acting boss which was unacceptable for the members of the Outfit because Joseph had no experience as the other mob bosses within the organization. In reality, the next people in line for the boss position were Alderisio and finally Jack Cerone, the man who always dreamed for the top spot. So to avoid any further conflicts, Battaglia made a deal that his brother would be his overseer only of the Melrose Park rackets. Joseph Battaglia, the bow-legged brother, became also the main fixer in the Melrose Park area because of his previous political connections. He was always backed by Nicoletti, who in reality was the real boss of Melrose Park, and the up and coming mobster Louis Eboli and together they controlled the Melrose Park politics and rackets. Joseph held meetings on daily basis at a tavern which was near the Melrose Park City Hall with suburban officials and his Outfit associates from his brother’s old crew, such as Nicoletti, Eboli, Joe Rocco, Tony Padavonia and Patsy Clementi. From there they masterminded the day to day affairs with permissions from Sam Battaglia’s headquarters which was now located in the Cook County jail. Their main messenger was an attorney by the name of Barney Bruno who was the courier that carried instructions and messages to Battaglia and the other way around. Since Amabile was sent to prison, Eboli took the position as supervisor in Stone Park and Northlake. As for Joe’s and Sam’s baby brother Anthony, he operated his own club in Cicero known as the Silver Spur Lounge. The joint was a known hangout for the police and the underworld figures.
But the problem was that Joe Battaglia wasn’t made from the same cloth as his brother Sam. Joe was a nervous wreck, tense and very fearful of the increasing pressure from the government because his brother’s 15 year sentence was foremost in his mind. According to FBI surveillances, Joe was seen frequently visiting the Melrose Park City Hall but officials there have explained that Battaglia’s visits were with civic conscience. In other words, Joe Battaglia acted like he was the “Mayor” of Melrose Park by constantly arranging repairments of street lighting, downed street signs, and other public works failures. Joe also worked as a part time salesman in the curio bazaar, where he and his wife Florence had operated in Addison and also in Melrose Park. One of Joe’s personal rackets was the extortion of taxicab companies in the Melrose Park area. Once, his target was the Central Cab Company, which was a firm in business in the western suburb for 21 years. When the company refused to pay, seven windshields on cabs of the firm have been smashed and a fire destroyed the company’s offices. Now if you look at Joe’s resume, he acted like an old time “Sicilian Mafia Don” with a shady background, a legitimate job and also cared for the society around him. But the problem was that those times were long gone and were finished forever.
Joseph Battaglia
While in the Cook County jail, the Cook County Sheriff Joseph Woods was informed that Sam Battaglia was still conducting business with his other jailed inmates who were members of the Chicago Outfit. Wood experienced difficulty in keeping these prisoners separated because the institution was overcrowded. Battaglia even tried to win an appeal bond but he was denied by the United States Supreme court. And so on October 6, 1967, Battaglia was moved to the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Before he left the Cook County jail, it was learned that the state’s attorney’s office was investigating an allegation that Battaglia was permitted to leave $600 on the account of his barn boss Martin Tajra. Warden Jack Johnson denied that Battaglia left any money for Tajra, adding one inmate cannot transfer funds to another inmate’s account nor can he leave money for another inmate when he leaves the institution. Anyway, as a result of the transfer, Battaglia was confined in the same general area as Richard Speck, a convicted serial killer who murdered eight student nurses in Chicago. This was a very disturbing situation for Battaglia because now he was surrounded by serial killers instead of his Outfit associates.
In the next few years, the Battaglia family will make more newspaper headlines, than Sam Giancana ever did in his life time. If you think about it Giancana’s travel to Mexico was a very smart move made by the Outfit, because the everyday headlines with his name on it stopped right there. Maybe Battaglia should’ve done the same thing before he was jailed, because now the newspaper men were all over his associates and family relatives. Plus, Battaglia’s family wasn’t your everyday American family, which created another media circus around the Outfit.
Back in 1966, Battaglia’s son Sam Jr. was arrested by the feds on charges of violating the selective service act or in plain English he was brought up on draft dodging charges. Sam Jr. was arrested in his home at 7321 Fullerton Avenue in Elmwood Park, as he prepared to leave home to make his rounds as a collector of coins deposited in amusement and vending machines which were controlled by the Chicago Outfit. Junior’s mistake was he failed to notify the draft board that he had been divorced bi his wife back in November, 1964. By failing to notify the draft board of his change in marital status, Junior had retained his 3-A classification, which is granted only to married men with children. Sam Jr. also applied for marriage license to Kari DeOrio two days after he received a notice asking about his marital status. Sam Jr. was convicted and was sentenced to four years in jail. On December 27, 1967, Sam Jr. and his father’s lawyer Maurice Walsh appeared in the federal District court on motions to reduce his prison term or get a new trial on the charges. The judge advised Sam Jr. to look into a federal statute which enables prisoners to obtain parole and possible elimination of any record by joining the armed forces. Junior’s lawyer said that he was waiting for answers to letters that Sam Jr. wrote to try to get the armed forces to change its mind. His lawyer also added that the navy, air force and marines, all have turned down Sam Jr. on grounds that he had two small children and also had a criminal case pending. Then the judge continued the hearing motions to reduce the sentence to January 15, 1968. On February 7, 1968, Sam Jr. four year prison term was reduced to two years.
Sam Battaglia Jr.
Meanwhile the same year, his father Sam Sr. had two attempts to reduce his prison term or get out. Battaglia lost two rounds in court in his attempt to get out of the Leavenworth federa1 prison. The United States court of appeals turned down his motion for a review by the entire court of his conviction on May 19, 1967, of conspiracy to extort.
Things got worst when Joseph Battaglia’s wife Florence was arrested on September 15, 1969 for stealing kitchen curtains from the Penney store in the Yorktown shopping center. But the charges were dropped on a legal technicality when Mrs. Battaglia's attorney, George Guerine, contended the complaint against Mrs. Battalglia was incorrect because it said the theft occurred in the Penney department store. He maintained there was no legal corporation known as Penney department store but there was a corporation known as J. C. Penney, Inc. Magistrate Jack Parish upheld Guerine's motion and discharged the case. This was again a shameful show up for Battaglia’s name in Chicago’s newspapers.
On January 2, 1970, the two-year prison sentence of Sam Jr., was lifted by Judge James Parsons and placed the young Battaglia on three years probation, instead. The judge ordered Sam Jr., as conditions of the probation, that he must submit to his draft board for induction, would order the draft board to accept him, and if the board refused, Sam Jr. must once each month during his 36 months probation attempt to enlist with some branch of the armed forces. This was a big relief for the Battaglia’s because only one family member, meaning Sam Sr., remained in jail.
When thing cooled off, another Battaglia family member again brought their name on the headlines. This time it was Sam senior’s younger brother Anthony. This time it wasn’t Anthony’s fault but the incident occurred at his club in Cicero where he conducted his business. In June, 1970, three of Cicero’s off duty officers were badly battered with a baseball bats when they paused for fellowship in Anthony’s Silver Spur Lounge. At the time, two assailants were arrested and a third one escaped. In the next four months, there was a manhunt for the fugitive, Billy T. Ivy, a lad on federal probation for counterfeiting, and every time they mentioned the fugitive they also mention Anthony’s place and his imprisoned brother and Outfit boss Sam Battaglia.
Eventually the pressure got to some of the members of the Battaglia family, especially to Sam’s son Sam Jr. and his mother Angela. Then, a big tragedy struck the Battaglia’s. On August 7, 1971, 27 year old Sam Jr. Battaglia died of a heart attack at his home. Two days later on August 9, his mother and Sam senior’s wife Angela also died of a heart attack probably because she couldn’t take the death of her son and all of the publicity made by her imprisoned husband. Two days later, Sam Sr. came home from prison to attend the wake for his wife and son at the stately and porticoed Montclair Funeral Home, at 6901 W. Belmont Av. The funeral parlor was ringed with unmarked police cars. The intelligence detectives who manned them weren't especially subtle. As the people walked down Belmont, they could hear the two-way radios crackling with the voice of the police dispatcher. If there were police inside, they weren't obvious. Sam was brought in a wheel chair, accompanied by a prison guard and a male nurse. He was so broken and destroyed by the deaths, that many people at the funeral weren’t able to recognize him. Among the nearly 100 persons who were still at the wake at 10:30 p.m., were the full range of young men and women in mod dress to the grandmotherly types. As they milled and chatted, the common questions were: "Where's Sam? Has he been here?" "Is that Sam?" a girl in her twenties asked her escort. She was pointing to a mortuary staff member. A Chicago Tribune photographer entered the visitation room and made a photograph of several onlookers. Hearing the click of his shutter, a dozen of the men converged on him from three sides. The mourners were yelling “Smash his Camera". "Smash his camera, take his film," screamed one man. "Call the police" shouted another. After a few moments discussion, during which the photographer explained that he would not give up his film unless the police were called, the angry men gave up their demand. "That's what killed them!" screamed one middle aged mourner, "All this damn publicity."
Now this is the point of the story where I want to remind my readers about all of the karma that Sam Battaglia created for himself and also brought it upon his own family members. Sam thought that he paid the piper by going to prison for the rest of his life, but he was wrong. The “cosmic energy” that watched his terrible sins for half a century wasn’t satisfied only with his life sentence, so it took the lives of his most beloved ones. Don’t get me wrong, karma is not a magical energy that surrounds us all the time, but it’s a “domino effect” of our actions in our own lives and sometimes that positive or negative effect can be brought back like a boomerang upon us or our loved ones. Battaglia very well understood this, but it was too late. In fact, he made the same mistake as his previous boss Sam Giancana, but the difference was that Giancana with the help of big publicity destroyed the Chicago Outfit and Battaglia destroyed his own blood family.
Some of Battaglia’s old associates like Charles Nicoletti felt very bad for their former boss. So to show his respect and the cheer up his broken boss, Nicoletti managed to find one of the key witnesses that were responsible for Battaglia’s imprisonment in the extortion case. After the trial, key witnesses William Riley and Mike DiVito were given new identities and relocated to other parts of the country. Henry LaKey refused to be relocated and only changed his name to Henry Rufo and moved to Lombard, Illinois. So with the help of his corrupt police contacts, Nicoletti knew about LaKeys’s whereabouts and decided to make a move. On December 15, 1971 the body of LaKey was found in the trunk of a stolen car in Freeport, Illinois. He was viciously beaten and showed signs of knife wounds, cigarette burns and other various signs of torture. A rope was still fastened around his neck, which apparently had been used to suspend his body throughout the torture. There was no known publicity of LaKey’s killing in the Chicago news media. The murder was never solved, but it was obvious that it was the work of the Chicago Outfit and Nicoletti’s torture techniques as a sign of respect for his boss Sam Battaglia.
Charles Nicoletti
By this time Battaglia was slowly loosing his grip over the Melrose Park area. His top man Phil Alderisio back in January 30, 1970, was sentenced to 5 years in jail on bank violation charges and 2 more years for firearms violation and on September 25, 1971 Alderisio died from an alleged heart attack at the federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois at the age of 59. So Battaglia’s close associates from the old days that remained on the streets of Chicago were his brother Joseph, Joe Rocco and Charles Nicoletti. In 1972, the Mayor of Melrose Park Jake LaSpisa died and the position remained vacant. One of Joe Battaglia’s candidates Lou Nikolas had hoped to become the mayor so much and was so certain he would get the job he started bragging to others that he was backed by the Chicago Outfit. Nikolas was involved with Joseph Battaglia and Nicoletti in owning several condominiums Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Joseph Battaglia heard about this bragging from a waiter at a restaurant on Rush Street and he became enraged, called Nikolas in and told him that not only was he not going to be mayor but that he had to resign his job as a trustee. Also Babe Serpico, who was another of Nicoletti’s candidates, got into trouble with the Outfit and Nicoletti washed his hands of Serpico refusing to intercede. So the new acting Mayor of Melrose Park was August Taddeo. Taddeo, who was an attorney in charge of Melrose Park’s Department of Public aid, was also the godson of up and coming Outfit boss from the Cicero area Joseph Aiuppa. Aiuppa and Nicoletti arranged for Taddeo to become the Mayor after the death of the previous one. Till now Nicoletti and Joseph Battaglia were in charge of Melrose Park, but since Taddeo became the mayor, Aiuppa took over the reigns as boss of that same area. Aiuppa was also backed by his superior Tony Accardo and that’s how Sam Battaglia has lost his old territory.
