So by the late 1970’s, most of the members of the Melrose Park burglary crew were gone and as you can see, these guys were not some high level professional burglars and very intellectual criminals, and they mostly did sloppy jobs but from time to time they managed to hit the score. After the era of the crew, or should I say after the 1960’s, stories and legends spread all around the “Windy City” about the group’s alleged hidden treasures. For example, one 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 and he was known to rent barns from farmers where he kept some of his stolen goods. You see, Daddano also represented as a “fence” for the crew and that is why he always had to keep a large empty space to stash the stolen merchandise. I don’t know if you noticed but I previously mentioned the word “fence” more than few times, which means a person who buys and sells stolen property and the word is an underworld term and 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. 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”.
There are many different kinds of fences that usually work in jewellery 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.
Most of the Outfit members, such as Daddano or Infelice, also worked as fences but they also had associates who specialized in the field. For example, Jewish gangster Maurice Friedman was a known Outfit associate and close partner with Daddano in several Chicago liquor stores but the most important thing was that Friedman was the main guy for Daddano’s burglary operations, meaning he ran the biggest fence-handling stolen merchandise operation for the whole Chicago Outfit. Back in 1968, during his trial in which he was charged with possession of more than $1,000,000 worth of stolen drugs, Friedman was described as the city’s biggest fencer and after that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. So with the help of individuals such as Friedman, fencing has become a huge problem around the country because its 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. Since most of these so-called fences are mostly associated with organized crime figures, during the mid 70’s one of these guys would provide information for one of the biggest heists in Chicago’s underworld history.
By the early 1970’s the Outfit’s hierarchy was completely changed and most of the old guard was no longer around but that didn’t mean the new criminal administration gave the burglars a pass. The street tax law was still in full effect and the mobsters still got their cut from the burglars and on top of that, during that time the Outfit’s presence on the streets was as strong as ever, especially within Chicago’s fraternity of professional burglars. By now there were new crews which were more capable of doing the heavy work but one crew, in particular, stood out from the rest.
This next story starts with one fencer known as Martin Pollakov, who was the owner of four large discount stores around the Chicago area. But Pollakov was also known as “big shot” in the fencing business because he learned the operation from the ground up. All of his discount stores relied heavily on stolen merchandise in order to realize additional profits and in time, he gradually became well-acquainted with a huge network of boosters, dock workers, truck drivers and all kinds of other individuals who were involved in the same racket. Pollakov understood the fact that it was a world where the main rule is “cash on delivery and no receipts”. In reality, he was quite a “dirty guy”, meaning he was known for obtaining credits necessary to stock an entire store with merchandise from various legitimate distributors and later to delay and avoid paying the goods. But the most important thing was that he had many underworld connections and with the help of those connections, Pollakov was obviously quite a busy man.
The guy had hundreds of burglars, peddlers, white collar people etc. going in and out of his stores. Everyday people went in and out with stolen goods such as toys, tires, beer, cosmetics or even pharmaceuticals, and Pollakov bought it all. That is why he always had an enormous stock of stolen merchandise and according to one story, once Pollakov had in stock one item known as “Jet Dry” which was used in dishwashers and according to him, he had so much of the item that “If everybody had three dishwashers, I had enough to supply to whole country.” And so according to some records, all of Pollakov’s four stores grossed almost half million dollars a month, an amount which was quite enough to retire in just few years but the problem was that Pollakov was a ”wheeler-dealer” type of a guy, meaning he spent his money lavishly and on top of that, he loved to gamble. So like any other degenerate gambler, by the end of 1973, Pollakov was almost one million dollars in debts and quickly closed most of his stores and declared bankruptcy.
So one thin led to another and one day, he was arrested by federal authorities for possession of stolen property and his chances for getting out of this one were quite low. So Pollakov in no time made up his mind and made a deal with the agents to become a confidential informant for the government. He worked side-by-side with the agents and helped them in setting up their own undercover suburban warehouse which was known as Ross Discount. The deal made both sides happy and from that point on Pollakov informed the feds about every stolen shipment that he received, from who he received it and to whom did he re-sold it to. So the feds decided to make a “deeper penetration” by placing one of their agents as Pollakov’s friend from the old days who was employed at the alleged discount store. The agent’s code-name was “Eddie Doyle” who accompanied Pollakov on daily basis and always successfully played the act of a sloppy persona. The undercover agent mostly mopped the floors around the store, dusted the shelves, and quickly became known among the shady individuals, who visited Pollakov’s sore on daily basis, as “Eddie the Mope”. But the problem was that the feds were in a hurry and were waiting for something big because they didn’t want to blow their cover for something almost worthless and that is why they pressured Pollakov to look for something more lucrative so the government can have something to show for in front of the public.
So Pollakov came to the point where he picked up his phone and started calling people but one day everything happened almost accidentally. On July 20, 1974, Martin Pollakov made a phone call to Jamie’s Discount Store, where he had once worked for owner James Moccio. Now, this guy also worked as a fence and while working as government informant, Pollakov was hoping to learn something about Moccio’s illegal activities but the problem was that several times previously, Moccio didn’t answer the phone, but that same day, somebody answered the phone and that somebody was an individual named Allen Wainer. This guy was one of Moccio’s partners in the store and fence business who had a criminal history and also quite large arrest record which began way back in 1935 which was mostly for conspiracy to transport stolen property and for counterfeiting postage stamps. So Pollakov complained to Wainer that he was going low in the fencing business and that he needed some push. So the duo met more than several occasions but during one particular conversation, Pollakov came to a great discovery. Wainer told Pollakov that an individual named “Pete” was going to open a discount store and that Wainer is going to back the store with his own financials. Wainer also said that Pete can use Pollakov’s help on setting up the store and in the end he also told him that Pete was knee deep in the fencing business and so he suggested to Pollakov to give Pete a call.
Now, “Pete” was in fact bad news and at the same time, quite a catch for Pollakov because he was Peter Gushi, a known Chicago criminal from the West Side. Gushi was born in 1927 and was a long time resident of the Oak Lawn area which made him a close neighbour to many old time mobsters and was also connected for many decades to many Outfit associates such as Gus Rubino and Billy Dauber. Gushi also had a lengthy and quite interesting arrest record like for example, in 1954, he was arrested for heroin trafficking and was sentenced to two years in prison. Later, he allegedly made a vow to God never to deal in dope again as long as he lived or as he put it “Right now I hate dope so much.” After that, on April 20, 1957, he was arrested for burglary but during the trial he was found not guilty. On September 5, 1961, Gushi was convicted for truck hijacking of a $75,000 worth of merchandise and later he was sentenced to ten years in Leavenworth Penitentiary, where he tried unsuccessfully to hang himself since the bed sheet broke. He was released in 1965, and three years later he was again arrested for trying to defraud the National Bank of Hyde Park. The feds later received information that this was an alleged scheme to get money for the Outfit’s loan sharking racket. Why to invest their own money when first they can steal it and later “loan it”. But during the trial, since the prosecutors didn’t have any strong evidences against Gushi regarding the crime, he was acquitted on all charges.
Peter Gushi
So Pollakov decided to call Gushi and arranged a meeting. During their conversation, Pollakov told Gushi that he was recommended by Wainer, and explained him in details about the business he was involved in. When Gushi heard about Pollakov’s connections and alleged plans, he quickly agreed to do business together. One of their plans was to open a discount store which was to be filled with stolen goods. And in no time, the boys started their operation by placing one John Valentino as the front/owner of the store and also employed Pollakov as the manager. Almost on daily basis, Pollakov brought to Gushi dozens of cases of allegedly stolen merchandise, including hair spray and other hair products which previously were purchased by the FBI. But until Gushi believed that everything was stolen, Pollakov’s credibility remained stable. In time, Gushi started trusting Pollakov by using him as negotiator in buys from other fences and boosters. Also, when Gushi had a load of merchandise which he wanted to sell, Pollakov would allegedly arrange a deal to dispose of the goods. The best thing was when one day Gushi called on Pollakov and asked him about his alleged problem with another fencer known as Aldo Mazzone. Pollakov apologized and explained to Gushi that right now he doesn’t have the time to work for him because he has to work on his debt to Mazzone. Suddenly Gushi blew up and told Pollakov “From now on, if anyone asks you, you’re working for Pete Gushi and you’re working for the family!” Now, the interesting word here is “family” which obviously means the Chicago Outfit. This was a great deal for Gushi and Pollakov but in reality, the so-called “deal” went right into the hands of Pollakov’s “friends”, the FBI agents.
Since he proved himself as a stand up guy or should a say, a quite lucrative individual, through Gushi, Pollakov has met many other syndicate-connected individuals such as “Jimmy the Greek”. This guy’s real name was James Maniatis who in fact was an old timer and knew almost every possible burglar or criminal around the Chicago area. Maniatis was born in 1916 and grew up on Chicago’s Near South Side, a territory known as the heart of the Chicago Outfit, and all oh life worked as a prowler of flea markets and bargain auctions. So Pollakov quickly went in business with Maniatis by trying to sell him a $70,000 worth of stolen merchandise such as Cordura wrist watches. Pollakov previously received the stolen watches from Gushi but later it became a little bit of a complicated situation because the feds also got involved. They gave Pollakov instructions to buy the stolen watches by any means, but he had a problem since Maniatis wanted to buy the merchandise for a source of his own. The feds played the situation smart by instructing Pollakov to invent a name such as “Mr. Ross” who in turn allegedly gave a better proposition. Maniatis negotiated to buy the watches for $5 each but “Mr.Ross” in turn negotiated to buy the watches at a $9 price. So Pollakov had an idea and told the feds that it would be better for the whole operation if they let Maniatis buy a part of the stolen merchandise so they can keep him as source for further information regarding other criminal activities. So on September 23, 1973, Maniatis and Pollakov went together to meet one Charles Soteras who in fact was Maniatis’ costumer for the stolen watches. The rest of the watches which were bought by Pollakov were brought to the FBI offices.
James Maniatis
So the good relationship continued between Pollakov and Maniatis but the best thing for Pollakov and the feds was that Maniatis, who looked like a white-haired misfit, was a guy who loved to tell stories. So one day, he told Pollakov that Gushi in fact worked for few high ranking mobsters, including James Catuara, Frank Caruso and Joey Lombardo. These guys controlled few different territories, meaning Catuara operated in Chinatown, Calumet City and Chicago Heights, Caruso was the boss of Chinatown and Near South Side and as for Lombardo he was the boss of the so-called Grand Avenue crew and that particularly he and Gushi went way back. Maniatis also explained to Pollakov that Gushi had his own burglary crew which worked directly under the auspices of the Outfit or mainly under Catuara.
“Jimmy the Bomber” as he was known, was an old time member of the Chicago Outfit who controlled various rackets from gambling and loan sharking, to various thefts and narcotics. Gushi and Catuara met back in the days through Gus Rubino so they went long way back and together they made a lot of money and hurt a lot of people. Like for example, one day Catuara and Gushi visited the owner of the Box X Tavern in Calumet City, a gambling joint which was owned by the Chicago Heights mob. So the guy started sending thinner and thinner envelopes and so Catuara decided to pay him a visit. According to some reports, the guy received one of the most brutal public beatings. Story goes that Catuara allegedly stood over the victim with a shotgun while Gushi administered the beating with fists and a baseball bat. In the end, Gushi spread the victim’s legs and Catuara gave one hard kick in between. Also, Catuara and Frank Caruso used Gushi’s “services” by orchestrating a robbery of $180,000 worth of cigarettes, a business which was highly regarded by the top boss himself at the time, Tony Accardo. In other words, Gushi was a notorious and hardened criminal who had been arrested for all kinds of criminal activities, including murder but the problem was that Pollakov couldn’t get to Catuara so easily because they did not have anything in common until Pollakov realized that Gushi was also Catuara’s main guy for recruiting professional burglars, each expert in his own field, to pull off big time cash heists and then move the money out of the country.
Jimmy Catuara
Since Gushi became Pollakov’s prime target, in time the “undercover informant” became sort of Gushi’s driver and constant accomplice. For example, each morning around 7:30, Pollakov would go the FBI offices for debriefing, and then he would pick up Gushi and drive to the store and do some work. Later, he would take Gushi out for breakfast and upon returning to the store, he would listen to Gushi for the next two or three hours telling stories or talking on the phone. And before long he would suggest to Gushi to go out for lunch, a “ritual” which lasted for several hours. The thing was that Gushi was a quite lazy individual who always wanted to act like he was the boss and also loved to eat and endlessly talk. That is why Pollakov did most of his work, which was obviously a good thing for the feds or in other words, Gushi’s habits turned out to be very unfortunate for him, and very fortunate for the government.
At the beginning of September, 1974, Gushi had a dinner with Pollakov and after few bottles of wine, the mobster opened up to Pollakov about his past crimes, including the information that he managed to pull a score of $130,000 back in 1971 and that two months later he went broke. Later Gushi told him also that he was about to be a part of one of the biggest cash heists in the city’s history, an information which was quite valuable for Pollakov and the feds. Gushi ended the conversation by saying “I’m sick and tired of being poor all my life, and now I’m either gonna be a rich man or a dead man.” So immediately after hearing this, Pollakov alarmed the FBI about Gushi’s boast on the huge score and so the agents agreed to increase their surveillance on the mobster. Pollakov told the agents that Gushi was about to meet an associate of his known as Patsy Marzano but he wasn’t informed on what was the meeting all about. So on September 12, 1974, Pollakov gave the feds the location of the alleged meeting and so they got the place surrounded but there was a problem. As I previously said that these guys were not some amateurs but instead they were highly professional criminals and proof for that was when the meeting was suddenly called off by Gushi who said that “The place is all steamed up!”, meaning the cops were watching. The day was in fact saved by Marzano, who usually kept a police radio monitor in his car and quickly alarmed Gushi about the FBI stakeout.
Pasquale Marzano was born in 1932, in Chicago’s Patch, which was a very tough neighbourhood at the time which provided many high profile criminal figures. While growing up, Marzano managed to receive five bullets wounds in various street shoot outs. He grew up as a tough guy but he was also a very educated individual. He kept a huge library of books and was a big fan of classical music. He even worked as a Little League baseball coach in Cicero and was also a devoted family man. So obviously his toughness wasn’t his specialty but instead he was also very good with electronics, meaning he became a self-taught expert in circumventing security and electronics alarm systems. He was good with electronics, he was good with alarms, he was good with acetylene torches, meaning he has done it all. Marzano’s criminal ego was so big that once, a manager of a Chicago suburban bank in Evaston boasted on television about their new security vault. He claimed the door was impregnable, which featured the most hi-tech heat, sound, and motion sensors known to man at the time. So Marzano and his cousin Ralph Marrera decided to rob this bank as a challenge to the bank manager’s boast. In 1973, Marzano and Marrera had been suspects in the $800,000 robbery in Evanston. When the FBI caught up with Marzano, they discovered a comprehensive electronics library in the den of his home but in the end he and his cousin were never convicted for the crime. Marzano also had a cousin known as William “Tony” Marzano, who was a former truck driver and fruit stand owner, but he was also twice indicted for theft of interstate shipments and had a criminal record for armed robbery and passing phoney money orders.
Pasquale Marzano
William Marzano
So this means that Marzano was one of the main individuals in the group by having these so-called special skills. On September 16, 1974, Gushi, Wainer and Pollakov had a meeting in one of their discount stores. The subject on the meeting was mostly complaining about the constant FBI surveillance and they agreed to constantly change their meeting places. But Pollakov knew that there was something else and that the rest of the attendants weren’t telling the whole story. Then Pollakov somehow overheard Gushi telling Wainer that “I saw Patsy (Marzano) last night. Something’s wrong with the mileage on the map and we may have to rent a plane. We got to go around Cuba. We got to take Patsy’s pilot, the guy from Boston.” Then Wainer said “Yeah, Louie DiFonzo.” On September 20, Gushi had a sit down with Jimmy Catuara at a restaurant in Calumet City, who in turn told his underling to contact a man known as Luigi DiFonzo and gave him a telephone number. Catuara also told Gushi that DiFonzo will give him further instructions regarding their next meeting.
Now you probably wonder who the heck was Luigi DiFonzo and why did Catuara trust this guy so much?! Well he was one of Catuara’s blood relatives and was also a fast talking and fleet-footed slickster who was considered by law enforcement as a “boy wonder” for committing burglaries. DiFonzo was born in 1947, in Boston and later in 1972 he moved to Chicago on the South Side, while leaving behind his wife, children and a huge pile of debts. This slick criminal also had a specialty by always having the knowledge about international banking operations, skills which were quite necessary to help make large sums of cash be difficult to trace. DiFonzo also had an office in Des Plaines for selling and buying contracts for silver bullion from where he pulled off a real get-rich-quick scheme. Records show that previously DiFonzo incorporated his two companies, the North American Trade Co. and North American Investment Co., and after that he rented some space in a Des Plaines office building. With the help of his good looks and snake tongue, he managed to recruit many successful salesmen by luring them with empty promises of large commissions. DiFonzo moved around in flashy cars which were rented, not owned, always wore fancy clothes and talked like he owned the world. In reality it was all a false image to show his allegedly “successful” career. So in no time word spread around that DiFonzo controlled a 100 million dollar business with offices all around the world, a rumour which was obviously not true. Story goes that in the end right before filling for bankruptcy, as angry investors fought for their money, DiFonzo was able to fork $190,000 in cash and quickly invested it in a huge home in Oak Brook.
Luigi DiFonzo
These guys represented the so-called “evolution” of the professional burglar, meaning in using new techniques and also new tools in committing the burglary. As you saw in some of the previous stories, most of the burglars, such as Fiorito, used simple tools and techniques, but during the late 1960’s and early 70’s all that has changed. From this point on most of the fellas were well equipped with all kinds of new electronic devices for disabling alarm systems, always having in their disposal two way radios, also expensive acetylene cutting torches, drills that cut thru hardened steel, high powered cars, devices for moving heavy weights such as safes, and an arsenal of weapons with which to fight if cornered. There are examples where some burglars used high powered rifles to shoot out the radiators of pursuing police cars. Some have even been found to carry gas masks as a safe- guard against the type of anti-burglary devices that emit tear gas when activated. It’s not an easy job to work with dangerous tools such as acetylene torches and you have to be skilled in the use of burning and drilling equipment. In the past some inexperienced burglars have so overheated the safes with their cutting torches that the all of the cash and other valuable contents were charred or destroyed even before the steel box was even opened. There have been also situations where some burglars accidentally set serious fires thru the careless use of acetylene torches or they have sometimes suffered fatal burns or caused explosions by carelessly turning their own flaming torches. But this wasn’t the case with the new “breed” since they started carrying large metal hoods with which to surround a safe to shield the glare of the cutting torches. These new breed of burglars were dangerous, experienced, quite clever and most difficult to catch. They always knew the right amount of cash that will be at the location and they always had the number of people who were in constant communication via walkie-talkie radios, and with look- outs stationed outside the target. They even used a so-called “guinea pig”, a small time thief whom they sent at the location, first to make sure they aren't walking into a trap, and If he doesn't set off an alarm or walk into a trap, his “buddies” will soon follow.
