So with the murder of one of the witnesses that destroyed his life and the relinquishment of his old territory, Battaglia’s tenure as mob boss was very unpleasant experience which lasted for only about a year. In the years that followed, almost every top mobster in Chicago, including everyone who sat in the boss’s chair, was convicted and jailed, with the exception of Tony Accardo. Now because of all the pressure, pain and suffering, in 1973 Sam Battaglia was diagnosed with stomach and liver cancer while in prison. So Battaglia was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. Over there the doctors performed an exploratory surgery and informed him that he had only few days to live. So after six years imprisonment, the federal government showed mercy to Sam Battaglia, by placing him on parole and released him to die at home. In reality, Battaglia’s old friend and associate Irwin Weiner paid few checks of $5,000 to some government officials for Battaglia’s early release. So on August 29, 1973, Battaglia was carried on a stretcher from a plane that carried him to the Midway Airport in Chicago from the Medical Center in Springfield. Battaglia had a patsy gray complexion that may have been from the six years in a prison cell, but it was also an evidence of the death sentence that he was under.
Battaglia on stretcher at the airport
His son Richard was the only family member who waited for more than an hour for the arrival of the plane. When Battaglia was carried out on the stretcher, Richard immediately rushed up and cupped his hands to shield his father’s face from the hot sun. Suddenly a group of photographers moved in on the stretcher-borne Outfit boss, but Richard warned them “Better get out of here right now!” and so the photographers retreated. Battaglia slowly turned his head and one of the photographers heard him as he whispered to his son “Let them be.” Richard accompanied his father into a waiting ambulance which took him to St. Anne’s hospital. Nine days later, on September 7, 1973, 64 year old Salvatore “Sam” Battaglia died of cancer at the same hospital. His son Richard and the rest of his family were beside his bed when he died. Battaglia was buried at the Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery.
Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery
Sam Battaglia’s tomb
With the death of Sam Battaglia, his family members and relatives thought that the everyday pressure and bad luck were finished forever, but again they thought wrong. On April 29, 1975, Battaglia’s baby brother 61 year old Anthony Battaglia was shot and killed as he got out of his car in the driveway of his suburban LaGrange Park residence. Police ruled out robbery as a motive because Anthony’s wallet containing $280 was found near his body. LaGrange Police Chief John Savage said Anthony was killed by a single shot to his neck, fired from a medium caliber pistol and a silencer may have been used in the killing. So Battaglia’s legacy again dressed his own family members in black clothes. No one knew why such a low rank associate like Anthony Battaglia was killed in such a professional style. Maybe Anthony knew something big, maybe he required something too big or stole something from Battaglia’s former associates in the Outfit or maybe he made some other mistake that we will never know of. As most of the gang land murders during that era, Anthony Battaglia’s slaying also remains unsolved.
Still to his family, Sam was remembered as the father who came home every night to have dinner and on Friday nights he was the dad who piled through the front door of his house with all his buddies in tow to partake in one of his mother's multi-course feasts. The men would sit around the big round basement table after dinner smoking cigars and talking. They still miss him even today, especially his son Richard. Richard made a success in the food service industry and also received three sons, Sam, Anthony and Jonathan “Bates” Battaglia. Richard divorced his wife Sandra during the early 1980’s and his three sons would spend the school year and hockey season in the Chicago area with their mom. Once school was out, they headed to Florida where Richard had become a successful restaurateur. Neither parent told the Battaglia boys much about their grandfather. They usually told them that he was one of the nicest men, and that that's the way a lot of people knew him. But the kids around Chicago knew otherwise and they talked, as kids do. Richard’s greatest success was his son Jonathan. Jonathan, or Bates as he was called, became a professional hockey player. Bates played on the three-time NCAA National Championship Lake Superior State University Lakers from 1994–1997. Then in 1999 Bates made his NHL debut with the Carolina Hurricanes in their inaugural season. Bates established himself as a NHL regular with the Hurricanes, enjoying his most successful period as a third of the BBC line during their 2001–2002 Stanley Cup run. During the 2004 NHL lockout, Bates joined his younger brother Anthony on the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL for the 2004–05 season on February 21, 2005. Also Bates and his brother Anthony competed in season 22 of The Amazing Race and won the Amazing Race 22 title and the one million dollar grand prize over newlyweds of Max & Katie. Bate’s father Richard encouraged his son to put his money in real estate. So the hockey player owned two condominiums, a beach house, a house, a bar and a building in Raleigh's restaurant district that he and his dad planned to transform into an upscale Italian eatery.
Bates Battaglia
In Italian the name “Battaglia” means “battle” or “fight”, so Richard Battaglia, and his three sons fought their way out of the big shadow which was cast by the names of their ancestors like Sam “Teets” Battaglia. In history and even today, many people changed their names because of the evil deeds their ancestors had made in the past, but not the Battaglias. They stood proud. If you think about it, in the past Sam Battaglia believed in his son Richard and made everything in his power to help him succeed and luckily for him that was the only smart thing that he ever did during his life time that changed the course of his family and later purified his name. This means that when you are patient and kind, it tends to happen that you are not so easily ruffled by others, you don’t hold grudges, people like you and thus your experiences tends to be happier. In some ancient texts, there is mention of possibility of rebirth even in the extremely cold hells for the extremely cold-hearted and cruel, so let us mindfully listen to our hearts, and not foolishly justify any of our destructive deeds and non-constructive inaction. Let us be proactive instruments of goodness instead.
This article is completed from various infos from FBI files, newspaper reports, books, articles and personal opinions.
