Next was Richard Ferraro who also had the car theft business in his blood because he had a huge reputation as a car thief and chop shop figure. Ferraro operated a huge salvage yard named the Statewide Auto Wrecking Co. in Calumet City and he also had more than few chop shops around the same area. Even though this guy was taking seriously every order from the mobsters and at the same time made for them a lot of cash, but the thing was that he was an associate of the Outfit and so he had the “privilege” to pay street-tax for operating. As I previously stated that during this period all of the Outfit’s members collected street tax from various businessmen including chop shop owners but in some cases some of the operators made deals with the mobsters and became their front men, like Ferraro. But Ferraro also had a secret which was a business of his on the side and that business was narcotics or in other words, heroin. He had few guys working for him and sold small packages of H from the chop shops and some sources say that he also sometimes used the transportation of stolen cars for transporting narcotics around the country. Also, all of these names in the chop shop business such as Ferraro, Dauber, Ostrowsky or Holzer took shares which estimated from $5,000 to $15,000 a week, from the chop shop job alone, thus making between $150,000 and $200,000 a year, and as for the rest of the millions of dollars which were taken from the street tax, most of it went into the pockets of Catuara and the bosses. So this particular highly lucrative chop shop crew was something that the world has never ever seen before during that time which later will become the main reason for a quite bloody conflict between some of the members of Chicago’s crime syndicate.


So during this period the crew’s so-called “street workers” continued with their job by usually grabbing new luxury cars from shopping malls with the help of innocent-looking tow trucks who supposedly took away disabled cars and obviously nobody noticed anything unusual. But this time to re-sell the stolen car motors, the thieves had to file down the car motor number because it must appear in all auto and truck vehicle forms, a problem for which of course they needed corrupt officials. According to some independent sources that during this period the chop shop and auto-theft rackets were so big that even people from high government levels were allegedly involved in the scheme. According to one story, during the 1970’s some Chicago Outfit higher-ups had close connections to people who worked at the office of Illinois Secretary of State Alan Dixon who was known for allegedly chasing big time criminals in the car theft business. In fact, Jimmy Catuara’s son worked as assistant at Dixon’s office and so their main job was to arrange for the bad guys to have car title and license registrations so that the feds could not trace the license plates during their surveillances. Allegedly there was a meeting between some of the biggest chop shop owners, including Outfit associates and one representative from Dixon’s office and on this particular meeting, auto parts prices were made up and territories were also divided up among the owners.


By this time organized car theft became potentially violent and deadly, and this aspect was captured in the history of this particular criminal faction and that is why now I want to show you the real dark side of the group, or as I previously stated that this will be the bloodiest chapter of this historical story on Chicago’s auto-theft racket. Since the formation of the crew, which occurred somewhere around the late 1960’s, there were always some conflicts between members of that same faction and a lot of people were killed because of those same conflicts. My personal belief is that some of the main conflicts were the forbidden ventures, such as informing to the police or selling narcotics and above all, street tax collection, which was a huge amount of cash for some of the operators. Now, for those who resisted paying to the organization or looked suspicious, the Outfit always enjoyed in making them an examples. But the bottom line of all problems was obviously the greed for the all mighty dollar which came from the highly lucrative chop shop business.


The first guy to go was Ostrowsky’s close associate Harry Carlson. Now, Carlson was half-owner of the Mackinaw Auto Wrecking Company at 8814 Mackinaw Av. and the other half was owned by Ostrowsky and together they were involved in their multi-million dollar car theft ring and chop shop business. Carlson also had a older brother named Norman who also was involved in the chop shop business through a firm of his known as South City Auto Rebuilders at 8529 Colfax Av. Carlson’s only connection to the Outfit was Ostrowsky, and so after a while the latter came to Carlson and told him that he had to give a larger part from his share to the crime syndicate. But Carlson refused to pay and blamed Ostrowsky about the situation. When Ostrowsky came to Catuara with the negative answer, the old mobster immediately issued a “contract” on Carlson’s life. The “lucky” guy who received the murder contract was of course Ostrowsky since he was the closest to Carlson and received a chance to prove himself to the organization.


On July 6, 1969, Carlson entered his car which was parked in front of the home that he shared with his brother at 7536 Constance Av. When he turned on the ignition key suddenly the whole car blew up, thus breaking every possible window on the nearby cars and houses. It appeared that the explosion was caused by dynamite bomb, which had been planted under the hood of Carlson's car, because the whole thing was ripped apart. Carlson was immediately rushed to Jackson Park hospital, but there wasn’t much hope for the poor guy because his body was covered with dozen very deep cuts and his right leg was nearly severed. He died few hours later. The cops later found out that somebody planted four dynamite sticks under the hood and it was probably a syndicate operation. After his death and because of his car theft record, auto theft detectives decided to search Carlson’s garage and they managed to find a huge quantity of auto grills, headlights, windshields, and other auto accessories. From this point on the cops decided to connect Ostrowsky with the case, and he immediately was arrested and brought for questioning at the station. The gangster was questioned for several days but as usual, the cops couldn’t get a thing out of him and so he was released.


Next on the “list” was Robert Pronger who was a Blue Island race track driver with a lot of adrenalin floating through his veins. He was deeply involved in the chop shop business and paid his alleged street tax to Ostrowsky and Dauber. Pronger owned a huge salvage yard with his younger brother John and together they had an arrest record for stealing cars since the mid 1940’s. The brothers first came to the attention of the public and the Mob in 1946 when they were arrested on charges of trying to steal the car of nationally famous Chicago bandleader Art Kassel. Later the younger Pronger was twice convicted on charges of transporting stolen cars from Chicago across the Indiana state line to be resold, thus making hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Mob. The problem now was that Robert Pronger, or best known as Bob, was under federal subpoena regarding the chop shop racket, a situation which became quite dangerous for him. So like any other criminal who was the victim of extortion by other more dangerous criminals, Pronger was warned several times by Dauber or Ostrowsky to keep his mouth shut and pay his street tax. There were even few unsuccessful attempts on his life in just one month but than again, Pronger made a mistake by asking a lot of questions on the wrong places and in the wrong time. On June 17, 1971, during the morning hours Robert Pronger went for breakfast to his favourite restaurant on Chicago’s South Side and after that he vanished from the face of the earth and was never seen or anyone ever heard from him ever again. Story goes that he was killed on some unknown location by Dauber and Ostrowsky and after that his body was placed in car and than crashed in some car wreckage facility but ten days later on June 27, a decomposed body was found in Indiana and everybody thought that it was Pronger, however 24 hours later after the finding and before the making of dental records, the body was unusually ordered to be cremated. I hardly believe that this was Pronger’s body because the body couldn’t be that much decomposed in such a short time period like ten days.


Now, remember when I previously stated about Guido Fidanzi’s alleged threats towards Catuara about taking care of his family while he was gone? Well as I said he was paroled in 1971 and Catuara kept his promise. But in February, 1972, the government charged Catuara, Dauber and Fidanzi, again, in a tax fraud case. Since Fidanzi was in charge of the operation, he again started making threats that somebody instead should take the rap for him because he just got out of jail. So Fidanzi decided to give the feds few specks of information just lure them and to make them his protection. But as I previously stated, Fidanzi was a sort of “Mad Sam DeStefano” type of guy who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, loved the attention and was known for making a lot of noise and complaints, all day long. The problem was because of his bad behaviour, Fidanzi had lost his protection from the feds which immediately became his death sentence. The other reason for giving away the contract for Fidanzi’s life was his connections to Richard Cain a.k.a. Scalzetti, another member of the Outfit with close business relations to self-exiled boss Sam Giancana. Fidanzi and Cain knew each other since their stay in prison and were paroled the same year but the problem was that Cain had bad reputation among the new top administration and they also wanted him dead. Story goes that Cain together with Fidanzi planned to get involved in the narcotics business with the help of the car theft out-of-state transportation business.


So there were many reasons for the tragedy which occurred on August 8, 1972, when 45 year old Guido Fidanzi entered his gasoline service station to visit his brother-in-law Tony Renzetti and talk business. A costumer came and Renzetti came out of the station to put some gas in the costumer’s car. Suddenly a late model Chrysler, gold in colour, pulled up on the other side of the gas pumps with a driver holding a handkerchief over his face and yelled "Get down!" Renzetti threw himself flat on the concrete and a man got out of the car and walked toward the station’s office where Fidanzi waited. Inside the office there was a telephone repairman at work, one customer sat at the desk and another one sat on the side. Fidanzi stood, looking out thru the plate glass at the cars in front but caught the killer’s eye. The man whipped out a white handkerchief and held it over the lower part of his face while with his left arm and elbow he shoved the door open. His right hand drew a .22 caliber automatic from under his coat and Fidanzi finally realized on what was going on, and allegedly muttered "Oh, God.” The first shot missed him and hit the cash register and suddenly the telephone repairman and the two customers hit the floor. Fidanzi ran in panic for the washroom, which was just few feet away, but in such a short distance nine bullets managed to enter his body. Fidanzi, while in great pain, tried to bolt the door but the gunman was already standing with his gun over Fidanzi’s head and fired two more fatal rounds. After that the hitman calmly walked back to the car and got in while the driver started the motor and sped west in 14th Street. That was the end for Guido Fidanzi.


More than a month after the slaying of Fidanzi, Dauber and Ostrowsky again saw a new couple of potential victims, which allegedly might’ve endangered their car theft operations. Two of Dauber’s associates who operated in South Bend, Indiana were used car salesmen Mike Ragan and Roger Croach who operated their own “body switch” scheme. The method of "body switch" requires taking the frame of the totalled car and using parts from the stolen car to replace the damaged parts and make the car usable, in other words, again nothing new. The vehicle may be further disguised by mixing and matching interiors, engines, and other parts. This poses a serious safety hazard for the innocent end purchasers since the body switching does not necessarily comply with all standards of repair and inspection, and the purchasers seldom know the vehicle was damaged in another jurisdiction.


The problem was on September 2, 1972, Roger Croach’s used-car lot fencing body-switch cars was raided by the feds and everybody was arrested. By now, Dauber was a killer who constantly fed his mind with violent paranoia, thus making the ultimate mistake of killing anyone who he thought might’ve been an informer. So because of the raid, Dauber thought that Croach and Ragan both might talk, which was absolutely untrue, and so fed by the constant paranoia, he quickly decided to take matters, again, in his own hands. That same day or later in the evening, one of Dauber’s partners in the car theft business Donald Boye called Croach and told him that he and Dauber will pick him up to do a job. But Dauber never picked up Boye but instead he went straight to Croach. After that, Dauber and Boye met up and Dauber told his associate that he had to whack Croach and that he had to blown his brains all over the car. So According to some reports, Dauber had 'knocked off' Croach because he thought that Croach couldn't handle the government’s heat. Later Dauber and two of his associates searched the trunk of Croach's car and found various items. Like a pack of hungry wolves, they divided these items among themselves and were instructed by Dauber: “Whatever you got there, throw them in the river' or 'the creek.” The next day Dauber, together with John Schnadenberg, picked up Mike Ragan in their 1971 Buick Electra for an alleged meeting and during their ride, Dauber shot Ragan three times in the head and threw his lifeless body near a sandy road in Starke County.


But even with the alleged silencing of their former associates, Dauber and Ostrowsky still couldn’t find the real so-called “rat” which was still hiding within their organization and went by the name of Alex Jaroszewski. This guy came under the auspices of Ostrowsky and graduated in becoming a professional car thief and chop shop operator but the problem was that he knew too many secrets. In September, 1972, the feds approached Jaroszewski and convinced him that Ostrosky and Dauber were allegedly planning to kill him. From that point on, Jaroszewski continuously cooperated with the government. That same month, Jaroszewski gave information to the feds that in fact Jimmy Catuara’s 1971 Cadillac Eldorado was previously stolen, or in other words, Catuara was driving a stolen car. One day, Catuara told Ostrowsky and Dauber that he wanted to purchase a 1971 Cadillac Eldorado and so they immediately purchased a frame, a damaged car from an insurance company. Later, a couple of their thieves had stolen the same model of Cadillac, placed it in a garage, switched bodies and after that, they placed different tags. In the end, the car was nicely cleaned up and was given to Ostrowsky or Dauber, who in turn delivered it to Catuara. So after Jaroszewski gave this information to the feds, they immediately arrested Catuara, brought him to the station and indicted him for possession of a stolen vehicle but during the trial, Catuara was acquitted.


The main problem now was that Catuara now knew for sure that there was no way for feds to know about the stolen vehicle without an inside information. And so, at the beginning of March, 1973, the real informer revealed himself by appearing in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, with a hood over his face and an army of U.S. marshals. Jaroszewski spilled the beans in the court, while telling the truth and pointing his finger at Dauber, Ostrowsky, and two of their associates John Schnadenberg, and Joseph Marek. And so with the help of Jaroszewski’s detailed stories, on March 30, 1973, Dauber and Ostrowsky and the two alleged killers Schnadenberg and Marek were found guilty in federal court for violating the federal interstate stolen vehicle statute and were sentenced to five years in prison, plus fines raging from $3,000 to $5,000. Although some of the previous slayings were mentioned during the trial, they were never convicted for the murders, even though they were caught in the stolen car of the late Croach.


But another “problem”, which occurred for the crew that same year, mainly for Catuara, was the parole and the release from jail of the group’s former member and alleged organizer of the chop shop racket in the south suburbs, Albert Tocco. This guy expected to bring back his old business under his rule again but the thing was that Catuara resisted since he was a senior mobster and Tocco was not. Catuara already had some previous “bad memories” after the death of his boss Frank LaPorte because he expected to be nominated as the new boss of the Chicago Heights faction but the idea went down the toilet when Al Pilotto was elected as the new crew boss. That obviously formed some kind of hatred between Catuara and Pilotto, and I personally believe that Tocco used the situation and slowly prepared for a conflict. But my personal belief is that Tocco and Pilotto couldn’t make a move without the backing of the Outfit’s top administration. And I also believe that they received the backing mainly by one of the Outfit’s top territorial bosses known as Joey Lombardo. He was the crime boss of the so-called Grand Avenue crew and was one of the rising stars on the Outfit’s administration. So with younger and at the same time hungrier guys such as Tocco and Lombardo, the streets of Chicago were ready for another bloody mob war. By now all of the previously mentioned murder “contracts” were sanctioned by Catuara himself, who had authority beyond Dauber and Ostrowsky, but now the situation was about to make an opposite turn.


The next year, in 1974, Dauber, Ostrowsky and their two associates successfully appealed their case, meaning the appellant court overturned their convictions. In 1975, three of the defendants were released, but not Dauber because he had another conviction which was mail fraud and he was kept in jail until 1976. As for Ostrowsky, he was back out on the streets and back in the car theft business but now he had few problems. The first problem and the deadliest one, was the previous situation with his close, but now former associate and informer Jaroszewski. In the underworld, there’s an unwritten rule on when a guy who knows people, introduces a new guy to these same people, then the guy who made the introduction is responsible for the new guy’s actions. In other words, Ostrowsky was seen by the bosses as responsible for the damaging actions made by his close associate Jaroszewski. The second problem for poor Ostrowsky was that now he had to choose between Catuara and Tocco because of the newly formed conflict between the two mobsters. Ostrowsky knew that his partner in crime William Dauber had a little respect for Catuara and that he always followed Tocco but because of his prison term, Dauber had no chances in going alone against Catuara. And so, Ostrowsky made few fatal mistakes by staying in his old spot and operating a “forbidden” business, thus starting of a new conflict. In fact, Ostrowsky couldn’t choose the rival faction at all because of the first problem which I previously mentioned.


Many Outfit historians believe that Ostrowsky was the first victim of the conflict between Tocco and Catuara but I believe that the information is not true. My personal belief is that the first victim of the conflict was Harry Holzer, the guy that I previously mentioned as Ostrowsky associate with huge chop shop operation in the Calumet City area. Holzer was quite an earner for Ostrowsky and the Outfit but later for unknown reasons, he transferred his operations to the small town of Fennville, Michigan, located around Lake Michigan. He lived with his new wife 31 years old Linda Turner Holzer and the couple resided in a new home in a secluded area near the Kalamazoo River. The nearest intersection is 130th avenue and 60th street, approximately three miles east of the Allegan county community of Douglas. Over there Holzer operated a new salvage yard called the Fennville Auto Parts with another business partner of his known as Dave Domberg Jr. of south suburban Palos Park, Illinois. So according to one story, Domberg was a huge player in the narcotics business between Illinois and Michigan, which I personally believe was the main reason for Holzer’s relocation to Fennville. The story went like the usual, Domberg had unlimited supply to narcotics and Holzer had good underworld connections in Chicago, meaning Ostrowsky and other people close to the Outfit.


But somebody talked about the operation, not to the feds but worse, to the Outfit’s administration and so on June 5, 1975, Holzer and his wife Linda, both were found shot to death in the dining room of their home as they sat at their kitchen table. There were no signs of breaking and entering or struggle, which was obvious that the victims have known their assailant. One of the proofs was the many cans of beer and uneaten sandwiches which were on the dining room table. Both victims suffered multiple gun shot wounds in their heads and torsos but their pet poodle was unharmed and although the home appeared to have been ransacked, valuable items such as five television sets, gold chains and cash were untouched. One of the suspects was a Chicago policeman Edward McCabe, who resigned in 1976 while under investigation for the killings. According to one story, McCabe was previously under the payroll of Holzer and Domberg.


The next high profile victim was Walter Wellington, another Ostrowsky and Catuara associate in the car theft and allegedly narcotics business in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Wellington’s salvage operation in Mount Pleasant was part of a car theft ring that stretched to Chicago, Atlanta and Denver. According to government reports, Wellington frequently flew to Chicago in his own plane and attended meetings with many shady figures, meaning Outfit associates. The same sources say that Ostrowsky had made constant visits to Wellington in Mount Pleasant regarding the car theft ring, but he also visited Bloomfield and elsewhere in Iowa. Obviously Catuara and Ostrowsky were running a huge car theft operation in Iowa, an area which was under the Outfit’s rule since the mid 1930’s, and Tocco and Lombardo knew where would hurt the most. It was estimated that up to 10 luxury cars were “handled" each week, giving the Wellingtons $50,000 in business weekly, easily. Once, Wellington managed to sell 20 tractors worth $20,000 each for $5,000 apiece, with delivery guaranteed within 30 minutes. But on September 6, 1975, Walter Wellington allegedly killed himself by mistake while placing a bomb behind a bank. One story goes that after placing the bomb, he and his brother Silas Wellington joined their wives at a restaurant. Later Walter got nervous about the bomb not exploding on time ' and was afraid someone might accidentally get hurt. Immediately, together with his brother, Walter drove to the bank area and he insisted on inspecting the bomb, saying: "I planted it, I'll go get it" and as he leaned over the bomb through the rear view mirror of his car, the bomb went off and, according to his brother "All I saw was him going up in the air."


Now this is the part where some strange things occurred like for example, Wellington’s brother Silas said he didn't get out of the car to help his own brother but instead he drove back to the restaurant and told the wives about what has happened. Now like every normal brother or normal human being, I believe that Silas should’ve at least go at the scene and just to throw a glimpse at his brother, just to see if he was in one piece. The second “mistake” is for not immediately calling an ambulance or the cops, but instead in the role of a scared little girl, he ran to the restaurant to inform the wives. I personally don’t believe in the story because of these next examples. While they were at the station, Wellington’s so-called family have told officials that they had been threatened with cryptic phone calls and messages by “unknown” individuals. According to prime investigator for the case Vagueness Redman, he said "I don't know, but there are so many loose ends, so many unexplained things. Too much to wrap up in a neat package” He also asked on why Wellington's tattooed right forearm was missing and why there were no lower teeth to compare. Redman also noted that a waitress saw Wellington wearing a yellow shirt and white shoes shortly before the blast, while the autopsy report said that the victim wore a brown shirt and pants. In reality, the victim’s top buttons of the trousers were unfastened which suggests that if the victim was already dead or unconscious, his abductor would be in a hurry and wouldn't bother with zippers and buttons.


The investigator also said that someone other than Silas and Walter might’ve been present when the bomb went off. He said he believed a body was propped on the bomb, which was detonated by remote control by a person shielded by wall. "Would anyone go over to examine a bomb in the pitch dark without a flash light?” Redman asked. He noted no remnant of a flashlight was found, but a piece of the battery used in the bomb was found on the roof of Silas' car. Redman also noted that no bomb residue was found atop of Silas' car. "Who would explode a bomb which would draw people and cops like flies - to get a state trooper out of his house so hit men from Chicago could get him?" Redman asked. There was also one witness who saw Wellington before the explosion and testified that he saw the victim in his car and also said that his face was swollen and bruised. On this, Redman suggested that perhaps Wellington was previously beaten or tortured so they can find out where stashed his money. Now if you ask me I believe that this hit wasn’t sanctioned by the Outfit’s top administration but instead “someone”, meaning Lombardo and Tocco, tried to make things look like an accident and so everything can be as it was.


But that method wasn’t used in this next example. In September, 1976, the feds received info that the Outfit was planning to kill Ostrowsky and he was personally warned by the agents but in his own gangster attitude he refused their help. So on October 5, 1976, Ostrowsky parked his Cadillac outside his auto wrecking and rebuilding plant about 10 a. m. when suddenly a white van drove past Ostrowsky's car and a semi-automatic rifle was shoved through an open passenger window and seven shots were fired while fatally striking Ostrowsky in the chest and left side. The van which was used in the hit, sped away after the shooting and later was found abandoned about half a mile away from the murder scene. Ostrowsky’s murder was a huge blow in the face for James Catuara and a huge win for Tocco because from this point on, every member fell easily on Tocco’s sword.