This is another proof that during this period, the Outfit was still deeply involved in the government system, by very easily receiving information on who was talking and who was not, which was the main reason for the many unprotected government informers being hunted by the Mob all around the city. Remember Joe Bruno and his huge dope peddling ring? Well it came out that it was true about his contacts with government agents and instead of serving 16 years in jail, he served only six and was released on January 10, 1964. Bruno reported to his probation officer on January 13 and was supposed to have reported again on February 5, but failed to appear. In other words, no ever heard or saw of Bruno, ever again. A lot of these so-called mysterious disappearances occurred and also many deaths under strange circumstances, like for example the death of Leo Fiorenzo. That same year, after he testified against the imprisoned Durso and Gargano, he was taken to an “unknown” location in Dallas, Texas, where he lived for more than 5 years until one day when he was found dead, allegedly from a heroin overdose. The agents and the people around him swore that Fiorenzo has quit his drug addiction even since the Durso case. Many people don’t believe in the “myth” that the Mafia sometimes used so-called fatal shots of dope in killing their victims. Well the truth is that they did, and they have done it many times but the problem is that it’s too hard to prove it, especially if the victim was a former addict. According to two close associates of Sam Giancana and also top Genovese crime family members, Angelo DeCarlo and Tony Boiardo, the “best” way to do it is: DeCarlo: “Tony boy wants to shoot you in the head and leave you on the street or would you rather take this (the dope shot), we put you behind your wheel (the victim’s car), we don’t have to embarrass your family or nothing.”


So for the second time, after the many incidents on the West Side, by the mid 1960’s, the narcotics trafficking in Chicago was mainly headed by two Outfit crews, one on the North Side and the other on the South Side. Again, both crews had middle men and runners which again, mostly came from their numbers and policy operations but the different thing was that back in the late 1950’s, the Outfit was getting heavily involved in the so-called Bolita operations, which was a sort of a numbers game that was mostly controlled by the Latin population such as Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. They also had their own independent crime groups, with many connections back home which during this period came quite handy for the Outfit because by the early1960’s most of their lucrative rackets such as the Bolita or policy operations were on the downfall because of the constant police raids, and so they did not have much choice but to get involved in the narcotics trade.


Parallel from the Chicago Heights connection, which imported mostly European heroin, there was another “door” opened again for the Outfit and that was Mexico, thanks to the syndicate’s partnership with the Latin gangs. Because of the constant government arrests of black criminals, during this period the use and distribution of the drug by persons of Mexican descent began. While the Mexican government was bending every effort to try to eradicate the opium poppy, still there was a huge illicit production of opium and heroin in the mountainous regions of Mexico, which much of it found its way into the U.S. The problem was that raising poppies was a family affair in the thousands of fields scattered through the crevices and slopes of mountain ranges in the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, Nayarit, and Zacatecas. And unfortunately for the drug enforcement officials, these large areas of the Mexican terrain are ideal for poppy production, since the plants were cultivated in craggy and almost impenetrable mountains at attitudes of 4,000 to 10,000 feet, with temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees, and on top of that, the soil is rich and moist. Mainly women and children tended the fields, while men handled the processing and marketing. It was totally and completely controlled by the traffickers and tot even the army could’ve gotten in there. Every damned villager from the newborn children to the grandmothers and grandfathers were involved in processing opium gum and they sold it and then it went to the labs. Inside the unripened seed pod of the poppy, which is a rubbery substance called opium, was heated, dried, crushed, and mixed with common industrial chemicals such as acetic anhydride. In turn, the dope barons had their cut out their own airstrips, since they owned private trucks, planes, and virtual armies to fight.



Opium poppy


The objectives of the Mexican anti-drug campaign were not easy to achieve mostly because the territory was large and there were illegal plantations in many isolated places. Destruction by hand, even with the military’s help, did not make much difference in the amount of drug smuggled. So during this period, the Mexican government acquired airplanes, jeeps, weapons, helicopters and trainers from the U.S. The main problem was that there was no sinister "Mr. Big" who controlled the supply, demand, price, and quality from his mountain hideaway because anybody with an automobile could’ve become a narcotics peddler by driving to Mexico and purchasing any quantity which he desired from any farmer around the area. In other words there was no need for a complex organization. It was so easy to buy the stuff that it took no talent, no organizational ability, no brokers, and no middle men to drive to Mexico and to arrange for a purchase of drugs. With automobiles crossing the border bumper to bumper, day and night, it was no problem for the smuggler to escape detection since the law enforcement officer's only tools were his sources of information for an alleged dope shipment which were placed only on the opposite side of the Mexican border. In no time there was more heroin, more potent product, and the best thing was that it was cheaper than ever before.


As I previously stated that the groups which oversaw this operation were the North Side faction which by now was still led by one old time crime boss known as Ross Prio and two of his capos Dominic DiBella and Joseph DiVarco and also, the South Side faction with Ralph Pierce and the DiCaro brothers at the top. The dope shipment mostly came from a small place in Mexico known as Telesforo, which was the home-base of a dope peddling gang led by one narcotics trafficker, known only as Parra Lopez. This guy had a huge laboratory which produced large quantities of heroin and was operated by his right-hand man Soto Baldemar who by that time was the principal distributor of heroin into the U.S. through Mexico. The drug route mainly passed through Los Angeles or Tucson, Arizona and ended up directly in Chicago and in most cases, the product was carried by two Mexican drug peddlers, Bernardo Paballelo Reyes and Alfonso Trevino Ramon. These guys previously operated around the New York area but later transferred their operations in Chicago and around the Midwest and became the biggest narcotics traffickers south of the border, thanks to the Outfit. And since the so-called “Northsiders” were closely connected to the Spanish element of Chicago’s North Side, possibly they were the ones who received the shipment and later distributed it across the South and West sides.


Now, the prime Outfit member who possibly oversaw the racket back in Chicago was one of Prio’s main operators known as Ken Eto. There no government documents for this claim, except for one newspaper article from the Chicago Tribune which connects Eto to the narcotics trade. I believe that the main reason for that was the fact that this guy was a Japanese gangster who by that time was one of the most lucrative individuals in the whole criminal organization, mostly because of his Bolita operations and close connections to the Latin community. So the product was spread, again with the help of several crews which belonged to different territories. For example one of those was the infamous African-American duo which included James “Kid Riviera” Williams and Thomas “Shaky Tom” Anderson. These two fellas were the prime operators in the policy business and also in the crap games operations, under the auspices of the Chicago Outfit. They did not belong to any particular crew but they worked with almost every top criminal from around the city such as Prio, Eto, Gus Alex, Frank Caruso, Lenny Patrick, the English brothers and Ralph Pierce. In fact, Anderson was connected to the Outfit since the late 1940’s, when he used to work as a bookkeeper and the thing was that he held a university degree in accounting. According to some reports, Anderson received his accounting training at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, for which he was nicknamed by some of his “street colleagues” as “Tennessee”. As for Williams, he was one 300-pound African-American Mob enforcer who never finished 4th grade and even though he was charted as associate of the West Side faction, this scary fella also had connections all around Chicago, mostly on the South and North Side, like for example being pictured on several meetings both with Eto and Prio.


So the gangster duo was considered highly lucrative and of high importance by the Outfit’s administration and that is why they were kept out of the dope racket, until now since they controlled hundreds of runners for their illegal operations. According to one confidential informant, he heard a story from one former dope pusher, who used to work for a guy nicknamed “Tennessee”, who in turn operated a grocery store on Chicago’s South Side from where the product was usually sold. Now, as I previously stated that “Tennessee” was Anderson’s nickname and he also owned a grocery store in that same area, so in other words, the informant unknowingly received information on Anderson’s secret dope dealings. The thing was that the informant also gave another quite interesting and almost unbelievable info regarding Anderson’s activities in the dope business and the murder of Alderman Benjamin Lewis. So again according to the informant, Anderson and Alderman Lewis, who back in 1958 became the first black alderman to represent the 24th Ward, together were involved in narcotics dealings, mainly heroin, and frequently exchanged loans or investment money to purchase big amounts of the product.



Alderman Benjamin Lewis


Now, to have an Alderman as financier in dope dealings was a huge thing and if the story is true, then Anderson managed to make something quite rare in the world of dope peddling. The problem was that when you’re dealing with high profile criminals, somewhere along the way you’ll be forced to become dependable by these individuals, and that’s what happened to Lewis. Story goes that he became in high debt of Anderson by loaning a large sum of cash. I assume that the alleged cash came from the Outfit, since Anderson was guy who made somewhere between 5 and 10 grand a week and story goes that he was a heavy spender. And so in the old days if you took cash from the Outfit, it was naturally expected from you to return the money, no matter who you were. One thing led to another, and so back in 1963, Lewis was found shot in the back of his head three times, while being handcuffed to a chair in his office. Anderson and Williams were quickly questioned because they reportedly had threatened Lewis’ life shortly before the murder. The cops also interrogated hundreds of other suspects who had had connections with Lewis's personal life, his failing business ventures, and his political career, including the English brothers and Lenny Patrick since it was their territory but the problem was that every lead petered out. The police file remained to be about three feet thick, and so the case remains unsolved.



James “Kid Riviera” Williams


Story goes that after the assassination of Alderman Lewis, the gangster duo completely took over the policy and narcotics operations in the 24th Ward. I say completely because at the same time Lenny Patrick, who was the real crime boss of that area, transferred most of his operations around the North suburbs and on top of that, most of the bookmaking operations of the English brothers were also closed down. So as I previously stated that the whole territory was in Anderson’s hands, who in turn gave the full authority to Williams to operate in the same area as his enforcer. So from this point on, Williams controlled an army of crap game operators, and also had a bunch of apartments where most of the games occurred. At the front of every building, they had a look-out equipped with a walkie-talkie radio, with the other half of the two-way radio set in the apartment above. The apartments were usually equipped with well-stocked bars, with a bartender and bar maids, who furnished relaxation for those who became tense while handling the dice. The thing was that besides gamblers, these gambling establishments were very often visited by narcotics users and addicts since many of the operators or bartenders were in fact runners for Williams in his dope peddling business. Williams also had a sort of a “commission” of enforcers and operators such as Vernon Bailey who operated on the West Side, Sammy Bell on the South Side and Sandy Wilborn on the North.


Another “crew” which also received the same product and sold it in large quantities was led by non other than Police detective Sheldon Teller, the corrupt cop who previously acted as protector for some of the biggest dope peddling rings in the Chicago area. Even though his career was going smooth because he managed to solve few murders, Teller still never learned his lesson since he almost ended up in prison for the same reason which was narcotics, and so by 1963, he still sold large quantities of heroin on the city’s streets. This time his main co-operators were his wife Joyce and narcotics detective John Sullivan, and besides heroin, they also sold marihuana and cocaine, which was the main proof for the shipment’s origin. Since he once managed to elude the feds, Teller’s ego went through the roof and felt untouchable, like for example selling drugs straight from his house. Sometimes when Teller or Sullivan weren’t able to deliver the “goods”, the costumers went straight to Teller’s home where they were usually greeted by his wife Joyce, who in turn sold them whatever was needed. When he and his partner were out of duty, they would usually tell the costumer to wait next to some particular phone post where they would simply throw the package and drive away. And because of his “hard work”, Teller, his wife and two kids lived in a $60,000 home in Longwood dr., equipped with a swimming pool and a tennis court, and in his garage, Teller has “stashed” three cars. In other words, the famous detective was riding high.


As you can see, even though the federal government was fighting fearlessly against these dope peddling rings, still the syndicate somehow always found new ways of importing narcotics and maintained the illicit drug network around the Midwest, almost with the help of the same individuals. It was just like a leakage, meaning no matter what you do, the water always finds its way out. By this time, the “newborn” connection from Central America was just getting warmed up, but the old European connection was still in full effect, by bringing loads of heroin through the New York port or through Canada. As I previously mentioned that the Chicago Heights faction, still under the auspices of Mob boss Frank LaPorte, maintained the “European deal” with the help of some of their “old” associates in the dope business. One of those old connections was Albert Roviaro, the “street dealer” who was previously convicted on narcotics charges and served only two years instead of four. Well by now, Roviaro no longer had to hide his stash in bushes and trees, but instead he opened up his own soft drink business on Chicago’s South Side, from where he distributed his product. He was out of the reach of the federal “radar” by living like a king on a 160 acre farm in Cedar Lake, Indiana, from where he oversaw his drug peddling network.


During this period, Roviaro might’ve been the strongest and maybe, the last Chicago connection in the whole European drug peddling network or the French connection. I really don’t know if he was considered by this time as member of the Outfit, particularly the Chicago Heights faction, but all I know is that he became quite close with many top members of that group. Also, since he transferred his “headquarters” in Indiana, Roviaro might’ve also belonged to the Indiana faction which by now was led by Frank Zizzo. Whatever was his position within the crime syndicate, one thing was for sure, and that is, his position as the new “operator” of the dope shipment which was destined for the “Windy City”. This shows that after a whole decade, the old “European deal” was still in full effect, and Roviaro became the new link. In fact, according to some reports, Rovario was the main source for a river of heroin shipments from Montreal, Canada, and after that to Indiana and then to Chicago, or the other way around. The dope was transported by one female Mafia courier known as Eva Neforos, who in turn delivered the package to Indiana or Chicago, as it was ordered. As I previously stated that Rovario operated a soft drink business on the city’s South Side which was known as the Swanel Beverage Dispensers and was very often used for his dope shipments. The crew who mixed, packed and distributed the product included Orville and Fred Drake, John Capko and Walter Anderson. For example, the Drake duo and Anderson operated in the Indiana area and as for Capko, he was a known Chicago tavern owner. So the runners which mostly frequented the Indiana area, also came to Chicago whenever they were needed and they had so much dope, that sometimes they were known for paying their checks in small packages of heroin. When Orville Drake died back in 1961, he left to his kid Fred a large box full of heroin, which contained enough dope for his son to sell it for the next few years.


But by the beginning of 1966, the Outfit’s good times were about to be finished forever. For example, in April that same year, the feds managed to hit one of the main gambling and at the same time, dope peddling places for James Williams and Tom Anderson. That “faithful day”, 15 policemen entered on the first-floor of a ten story building at 2118 Warren blvd. and arrested almost 50 men and women, which some of them were and gamblers, and others were simple junkies. They also managed to arrest the main operator Vernon Bailey, who in turn tried to hide half-a-pound of heroin but failed. Also, detective Sheldon Teller, who by now sold the Mexican product around the city’s North Side, managed to screw things up, all by himself. This occurred back in 1965, when one Teller’s runners known as John D. Cage was arrested for possession of large quantities of marijuana and heroin and was to go on trial. The guy was quite loyal and so detective Teller decided to write a letter to the assistant state’s attorney Lawrence Genesen, and in it he asked him to consider that in the past Cage had allegedly given police valuable information for a series of burglaries. In return, Genesen replied that he already had considered asking the judge to dismiss the charges because Teller had such an outstanding reputation as a police officer. But the problem was when Cornelius Casey, head of the narcotics detail, recommended that nothing be done at the time and that the police was to be given a chance to investigate the statements made in the letter by Teller. After the investigation, it turned out that Teller was lying since Cage was already in prison at the time when Teller had said that he was a police informant on the city’s streets. So after making such a stupid mistake, all of the attention was now turned on detective Teller and his partner John Sullivan.



Detective John Sullivan


So the feds decided to use the same old tactic by arresting all of the runners and hoping that someone will decide to talk. And they were right again. Another of Teller’s personal African-American runners Samuel Washington got arrested and was forced to telephone the detective numerous times, while the feds were listening on an extension phone. During their conversations, the two were mostly talking about narcotics deals and the feds somehow realized that Teller was keeping his stash at home. In no time, the agents obtained federal arrest and search warrants for Teller’s residence and during the search, the agents recovered large quantities of heroin, cocaine and marijuana, another rolled black sock containing narcotics, which all valued at $150,000, together with narcotics-making apparatus and more than $45,000 in currency. At the same time, detective Sullivan's apartment was also searched and agents there found several cards on which were recorded six automobile license numbers which had been assigned to narcotics agents. Immediately Teller, his wife Leah Joyce and his partner Sullivan were indicted for the sale and possession of narcotics and bonds were set at $5,000 for Teller, $1,500 for the wife and $2,500 for Sullivan. While out on bond, Teller’s wife suffered greatly by constantly having panic attacks, thus non-stop visiting the hospital. Panic attacks or no panic attacks, on November 6, 1966, all three defendants where destroyed by the testimony of Washington and so they all received long prison sentences, including Teller 18 years, Sullivan 9 years, and Teller’s poor wife received 5 years in prison.


At the same time, with the help of the good collaboration between the U.S. authorities and Mexican officials, the so-called Mexican connection was further disturbed by arresting many of the Mexican drug dealers on their own turf and placing them in prison for a very long time. Even the so-called European deal finally suffered its final blow in the Chicago area with the fall of Albert Roviaro. The kind of problem was the usual, meaning one of Roviaro’s runners such as Fred Drake got arrested by narcotics agents and became an informer in no time. So one thing led to another and Roviaro got arrested next thing you know, in March, 1966, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Before he was escorted by the U.S. marshals, Judge Hubert Will in the end added that “As I listened to the evidence in this case, it became apparent that Roviaro was the kingpin in this substantial narcotics operation and a peddler of misery.”



Albert Roviaro


After the Roviaro conviction, the Mafiosi in Europe received word about the problem and during this time period the main Outfit guy in Italy was deported mobster Tommy Morgano, who in turn became one of the most important go-between guys for the Italian Mafia and U.S. Cosa Nostra. You see, even by now almost every faction of the U.S. Mob still had its own deported representative in Europe and this time the Chicago boys had Morgano. So the only plan for Morgano was to travel to the nearest and safest point to the U.S. border, such as Canada, Cuba or Mexico, and meet with any of the Mob’s couriers. One of the Outfit’s main “travelling guys” at the time was Ernest Sansone, the Outfit member with narcotics record, who in turn constantly travelled to the three previously mentioned countries and received or gave messages regarding many international Mob-connected operations. In plane words, Sansone was a liaison man between his local bosses and their deported pals. So there was this meeting in Mexico City between Sansone and Morgano, who in fact were family related, meaning Morgano was the uncle of Sansone’s wife. So my personal opinion is that by now the Outfit had few small gambling operations in Rome and Milan in Italy, and the rest of the operations were mostly regarding narcotics, which mainly came from that same country. As I previously stated, that Morgano was exiled to a place known as Enna, in Sicily, which was located in the “heart” of the Mafia, and was probably under the auspices of one local Italian Mafioso, known as Angelo Mongiovi. So according to some reports, during this period the Sicilian Mafia was in chaos by going through an internal war and plus, the Italian government managed to successfully built cases against many Mafiosi in the narcotics trade. In other words, the infamous “French Connection” was getting diminished and the Sicilian heroin laboratories were getting closed down. But my personal belief is that one of the main subjects of the meeting between Sansone and Morgano was the current Vietnam War, and the formation of new drug routes, which in fact were not much in favour of their European cohorts.


To tell you the truth, as I’m writing this story, I’m starting to realize that maybe Tony Accardo was right on his decision regarding the dope peddling problem. I mean these guys were falling like flies and the presence of danger for the actual Outfit members to get arrested was quite real and on top of that, they were constantly changing new sources, thus continuously making new and suspicious connections. From all of the dozens previously mentioned names who were involved in narcotics business, maybe two or three individuals tops, managed to getaway clean. So I’ll say it again that maybe the old man was right, and the only thing that he advised his closest underlings was to be patient, meaning Accardo truly believed that the government “heat” will one day vanish. In fact, there are numerous reports made by informants who in turn said that during this period, both Ricca and Accardo advised their “soldiers” to be patient, meaning to stay out of trouble for a while. But guys such as Sam Giancana, who just got fresh out of jail, were far from being patient.


Even though Giancana was only a year behind bars, still when he got out, his criminal organization was completely falling apart. Many of his allies were imprisoned and the rest were hunted by the feds on the city’s streets and during the process, they managed to close down many of his illegal and legal operations. On top of that, many of the runners in the Bolita, policy and numbers operations, which were mostly from African-American and Latin descent, slowly began separating themselves from the Italian criminal organization or the Outfit. In fact, Giancana was loosing his main lucrative “base” for his narcotics operation, meaning his providers, which were the Mexicans, and his distributors, which were obviously the black criminals. For example one of the main problems was, regarding the African-American element, that the black criminals were simply pushed by society with the help of massive unemployment, and many of them began forming their own criminal gangs, in the Outfit’s image, meaning they smarten up and began organizing themselves for their own purposes. In some cases the black criminals even showed the Italian criminal element that they cannot be messed around anymore by anyone, meaning some Outfit members or associates were intimidated or even beaten senseless. In fact, these newly formed African-American criminal gangs were mostly led by former runners for the Outfit.


The same story went with the Latin gangs which started functioning independently in obtaining heroin, cocaine, and marihuana from their home land for distribution only to their own people in the U.S. Meaning they no longer acted only as transporters of the product but instead, now they were the ones who sold it, first hand, and they received the cash, with no street tax included. On top of that, while some Outfit members were buying and selling low quality Mexican heroin, other street gangs brought better product and started taking over the market. For example, during this period, one Latin gangster known as Albert “Hitler” Hernandez formed the so-called “Latin Disciples” from an older gang, which was known as the “Latin Scorpions” and they operated mainly around the Humboldt Park area. But the thing was that by now the Chicago Outfit was still considered to be an organization of enormous illegal proportions, which was dominant for the last 40 years and Giancana, believe it or not, was a criminal with a “vision”. There was no way for him to accept the idea to start buying large dope quantities from local gangs and the reason was simple since he always looked himself as international criminal, obviously because he belonged to an international crime syndicate which was Cosa Nostra. So in reality, Giancana and the Outfit were still one step ahead of the rest of the newly formed local dope gangs by having the already established criminal contacts in various countries around the world. So again, Giancana had a new idea for forming a new drug route which will further “pollute” the U.S. with high quality heroin.