By October, 1973, Cain was back home in Chicago and quickly became involved, again, in the burglary business with the help of one small burglary crew. Story goes that the feds quickly received a lead on Cain and decided to pay him a visit. During their meeting, Cain allegedly informed on the burglary gang and many of his associates were arrested. So from that point on Cain was suspected by his peers for being an informant but since he was considered a “made” member of Cosa Nostra and gave up only minor criminals, he was spared but was forbidden to get involved in any further illegal activities. But like any other stubborn criminal, Cain refused and presented his new ideas which in turn got himself killed on December 30, 1973, allegedly on the orders of Gus Alex, who by now was one of the leading top crime bosses for the Chicago faction and strongly opposed dope peddling. With the murder of Richard Cain, the Outfit’s international dope peddling operations began to loose its presence, meaning one of Giancana’s main couriers was dead and the other, which was Hyman Larner, allegedly turned his back and joined the new administration. Story goes that by 1974, Larner was ordered to slowly cut-off Giancana from every international contact and to continue the operation under the new “rule list”. Also, my personal belief is that the New York Mafia was also glad for witnessing the demise of Giancana’s international dope peddling operations, mainly because previously it brought them a lot of low profits, since they weren’t the only distributors for the Midwest. So since his money flow was ended, Giancana managed to spent his cash in less than a year, thus loosing his protection and under the pressure from the U.S., the old crime boss was quickly deported back home. To tell you the truth I feel sorry a little bit for Giancana since he found himself alone between America’s three most powerful organizations at the time, which was the federal government, the secret agency and the Mafia. So in 1975, the several bullet wounds under Giancana’s chin and the one in his mouth, marked the end of the old dope peddling ring and also marked the start of a new “venture” for America’s Cosa Nostra, which in turn was about to compare the new rising dope peddling syndicates on the same turf.


From this point, drug trafficking from Mexico expanded and the cultivation of opium poppy fields increased and the so-called “Mexican mud” or “Mexican brown” was suddenly in great demand. From 1975, criminal groups from Mexico dominated the heroin trade and supplied an ever-increasing demand for marijuana, thus controlling three fourths of the U.S. narcotics market. Also, even though the war on the Far East was over, still Chinese heroin or “China White”, as it was called, found its way on America’s soil. At this point, most of the Asian narcotics found its way to the U.S. through Belgium or the Netherlands, which made the city of Amsterdam the main shipping point for Asian heroin. But the problem was that the narcotics from Mexico and China, which arrived annually, a little of it found its way into the hands of America’s Cosa Nostra members, since most of it ended up in the storages of the newly formed African-American and Latin criminal organizations. But during the same period, the Sicilian Mafia in Italy “suffered” some changes on their “commission table” and from now on, the main players were the Corleonesi clan and Gaetano Badalamenti, representative for the Cinisi “mandamento”. The thing was that Badalamenti was one of the main cigarette traffickers for the Sicilian faction with close connections both in South and North America and he managed to use those same routes for smuggling Afghanistan-based heroin or South American cocaine. Also, a number of members of the Sicilian Mafia immigrated to the United States and established themselves in restaurants and pizza parlors under the auspices of the American Cosa Nostra, especially the Bonanno crime family. In fact, some of these guys were absorbed into the American Mob which allegedly brought great dissatisfaction between some of the already Americanized gangsters. In addition, the use of these pizza parlors for smuggling drugs was nothing new since previously we saw that the Indiana and Chicago Heights factions already used the same methods, 20 years earlier.


To tell you the truth, I really don’t have a clue if the Chicago Outfit ever fully supported the so-called “Pizza Connection”, but all I know is that Badalamenti placed few of his nephews around the state of Illinois, in small places such as Oregon, Paris and Olney and from there, they oversaw a huge dope peddling ring which was destined for the Midwest and the main crime family which supported the “movement” was the Detroit faction and possibly the Rockford crime family, through one Mafia big shot known as Frank Buscemi, who in turn was close ally of the Outfit. According to one Chicago Mafia attorney who later turned informer for the government Robert Cooley, during this period the Outfit also managed to place some of their members in places such as Rockford so they can easily direct their dope deals. So maybe these two Midwest factions of U.S. Cosa Nostra somehow managed to convince the Outfit’s top administration for a pass to deal dope on their turf. As you can see, none of the so-called dope peddling pizza parlors was placed directly in the Chicago area and as a matter of fact, the only place which they visited near the “Windy City” was O’Hare Airport. So my point is that this confirms my previous statement regarding the Outfit’s ban on narcotics, which was pushed forward by Accardo and his protégé Gus Alex. And my personal belief is that this new Sicilian faction had the approval from the Outfit’s top administration to deal their narcotics on Chicago’s territory, as long as they stayed away from their sight and it didn’t involve any of their members or associates. But still according to some reports, like any other greedy criminal machine, the Outfit always had its own “outlaws”.


After Giancana’s death, the so-called ruling panel was dismantled and the Outfit again received its official boss and under boss. The top administration was taken over by Joseph Aiuppa and Jack Cerone, who in turn were allegedly still under the auspices of Tony Accardo. And again, the “cursed” dope peddling racket managed to divide the Chicago crime syndicate in two factions, including one with Accardo, Cerone and Alex on one side and on the other, Chuck Nicoletti, Frank Caruso, James Catuara and possibly Dominick DiBellla, the current crime boss of the North Side. So this time, the guy in the middle was Aiuppa, who in turn had the final word on everything. But according to the feds, Aiuppa had close connections to Hyman Larner who in turn inherited every possible international operation, which the late Sam Giancana previously started. So story goes that Aiuppa stayed “open minded” in regarding the dope racket, and I believe that the main reason for that was obviously the drastic diminished income from bookmaking and loan sharking in the Chicago area.


Since during this period Aiuppa suffered from some health problems and while everyone waited for him to finally make up his mind, one old member from the Bonanno crime family decided to visit Chicago for the second time, regarding the same agenda. In January, 1974, New York mobster Carmine Galante was released from prison and according to some sources, he was the main player in bringing all those Sicilian Mafiosi into the U.S. and importing loads of Italian heroin. So according to one Chicago Tribune article, Galante arranged two meetings, one in Chicago and one in Florida, with the Outfit’s “junk” opposing faction such as Jack Cerone and Tony Accardo. Im not sure what was discussed during those particular meetings or to tell you the truth I’m not even sure that the whole thing ever occurred, but I’ll presume, mostly according to the next events, that the Outfit was again used as “transportation link” of the product and nothing more. As I previously stated at the beginning of this long story, that even though they acted as a simple organized crime syndicate, still the Chicago Outfit was considered as one of the most important links in the whole Cosa Nostra “chain” across the U.S. And so if the New York faction asked for some support from their Midwest cohorts such as the Chicago boys, they expected to get it. According to numerous government reports, samples of the so-called Sicilian heroin showed that it was processed in the Middle East from opium sources in Asia, and were smuggled into Chicago for inspection, much-in the same way as legitimate businesses display merchandise to potential buyers. Also laboratory analysis later found that the Sicilian heroin had purity level of 90 per cent, far higher than the Mexican or "Brown Mud" heroin, which was now saturating the market.


In no time, some members of the old Melrose Park crew, which by now I believe was led by Nicoletti and probably by one of Aiuppa’s underlings Sam Carlisi, and also associates of the Chicago Heights crew and the North Side faction, continued supporting the dope business in full effect. One of Nicoletti’s and DiBella’s old associates from the North Side was Salvatore “Sam” Canzoneri, a former officer of Chicago’s Police Department, magazine publisher and close friend of the late Giancana. His father John Canzoneri was a Cosa Nostra member, with roots from the Corleone village back in Sicily, and belonged to the Los Angeles crime family but was also very close connected to former Outfit heavyweights such as the Fischetti brothers. The dope connection also goes way back to the mid 1960’s when Sam Canzoenri still worked as a cop and was closely associated with Sheldon Teller, the previously mentioned corrupt officer who was involved in high level dope peddling operations. Back in those days, both Teller and Canzoneri owned a joint known as the Rivoli Club which in fact was a rock and roll spot on the city’s North Side. In fact, Canzoneri managed to loose his job as a cop when he was identified as half-owner of the infamous joint which was connected to large scales of narcotics and prostitution operations. After the imprisonment of his partner in crime, Canzoneri’s new associate became Dominic Santarelli, another wealthy builder-developer and also dope dealer, who spent considerable time in Miami, Florida. In reality, Santarelli was the main overseer of the Florida port for thee new smuggling ring. Even though they operated mainly on the North Side, still Canzoenri and Santarelli were also close associates of the Melrose Park faction, including Nicoletti and one Irving Weiner. Months before the forming of the new drug route, there are numerous reports of airplane flights between Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and New York’s LaGuardia or Miami, Florida, of both Canzoneri and Weiner, and also alleged reports of meetings with “unknown individuals” closely connected to the Bonanno crime family, which I personally believe were Sicilian dope smugglers. For example, the main connection between the Sicilians and the Outfit in the Florida area was one of Carmine Galante’s close associates known as Tito Carinci, who in turn was a Miami-based mobster. So the main thing which connected Canzioneri to the newly formed dope racket was his criminal history and above all, his ownership of a pizzeria business known as the Pizza Crisp International and Panhandle Pizza Inc., which obviously was one of the fronts for the national “Pizza Connection”.


During this period, again the main runners or distributors of the Sicilian product around the Chicago area were Outfit members and associates from across the South Side and south suburbs. In fact, during this period the auto-theft racket was on the top of the Outfit’s “food chain” and many of these fellas sold dope on the side. As I previously stated that the guy who was in charge of the same racket was Jimmy Catuara and his job was to extort every single chop shop operator or car thief in that same area. So somewhere down the line, Catuara began using some of these individuals for all kinds of illegal activities such as loan sharking, murder and in this case, dope peddling. The thing was that Catuara did not force these individuals in doing something in which they did not want to get involved with, but instead these guys were already involved in everything that Catuara could’ve possibly imagined, including narcotics. So during this period, one of Catuara’s main overseers of the dope racket was Sam Annerino, whose real job was to extort chop shop owners and to kill people. But since his older brother Anthony was previously involved in the dope trade together with Angelo LaPietra, who by now was slowly taking over Caruso’s territory, and also the DiCaro brothers, especially Joseph, possibly he was the one who introduced his younger brother Sam into the business. Now, the whole operation started from one pizza parlor in Paris, Illinois, from where the shipment was sent by one of the Sicilian dope peddlers, or “Zips” as they were called, straight to Chicago’s North Side at one of Canzioneri’s pizza establishments., who in turn transported the shipment to one salvage yard, which was located in Calumet City and was owned one of Annerino’s main operators in the chop shop business and also main “middle man” Richard Ferraro.


So Ferraro had a whole network of auto-thieves and drug traffickers, who smuggled their product mainly with the help of the transportation of the stolen vehicles, which in turn contained sophisticated hiding areas for the narcotics. It was quite easy for the chop shop operators to hide the drugs since they previously chopped up the whole vehicle and later put it together again. The drugs were usually hidden under the driver's seat and the passenger seat, under a panel which was placed on the floor. The panel opened up automatically which uncovered a void underneath the floor board and the bottom of the car, filled up with dope. Or according to one report, sometimes these dope smugglers managed to hide over 100 kilograms of heroin in just one automobile, with the help of dummy gas tank, or in body posts, under fenders, and in the frame. For example, the original gas tank was supplemented by a small auxiliary tank so the main tank could be used to store the narcotics. But the problem was that it was necessary for the smugglers to refuel the car often, which in turn heightened police suspicion. Now, with the help of Ferraro a dozen of cars would’ve been sent to various salvage yards or chop shops in Palos Park, Illinois, or Munster, Indiana, from where the product was sold in nearby towns or cities. His main “runner” in one of those areas was Harry Holzer, who in turn had a dope smuggling route from Palos Park and all the way to Fennville, Michigan.


The whole dope peddling operation went quite smooth and many of the new generation mobsters were hoping for the return of their old dope market in the Chicago area and around the Midwest. But as I previously stated that by now times have changed and also many of the rules regarding the dope racket were also changed. And the biggest problem was that the Outfit’s top hierarchy were not some dumb fools since they always had their “eyes and ears” on the city’s streets. The problem with some of the top Outfit bosses was that during this period, collecting street tax from the chop shop operators was one of their most lucrative schemes and the last thing they wanted, was for their main operators to get caught for dealing dope. By now some of the chop shop operators, such as Ferraro, were considered high level associates of the Outfit, which was a kind of rank almost as same as the “soldier” level in the rest of the crime families around the U.S. Meaning, the guy already knew too much and getting caught with dope, presented a huge danger for the whole organization, simply because the guy might “squeal”. On top of that, since the chop shop racket was quite lucrative, many high level mobsters decided to take over the racket from their cohorts, of course in a violent way. So all that paranoia from the crime bosses, mixed with greed and betrayal which was presented by some of the younger and rising members, made the second half of the 1970’s one of the most bloodiest chapters in Chicago’s underworld history. The first guy who was made an example of was Holzer together with his poor wife, and the whole murder spree of Outfit members and associates, such as Sam Annerino, Chuck Nicoletti and Richard Ferraro, ended with the killing of James Catuara. According to some reports, previously Nicoletti had a feud with Alex regarding the dope business and also story goes that Aiuppa and DiBella took Accardo’s and Alex’s side, thus leaving Nicoletti alone.


So knowingly or unknowingly, along the bloody road, the crime bosses managed to exterminate almost the whole drug peddling network and for me personally, I really don’t know if Bonanno crime family “capo” Carmine Galante again had any problems with the numerous killings of dope peddlers around the Chicago area, but if he had any plans for visiting the “Windy City” for the third time regarding the same agenda, well probably everything went down the toilet since a year later in 1979, he was also riddled with bullets in a Brooklyn restaurant together with two of his Mafia cohorts. The infamous “Pizza Connection” did not end with the murder of Galante, but my personal opinion is that his demise might’ve ended the involvement of Outfit members in dealing dope. This claim can be supported with the reports of Chicago’s police intelligence analysts who agreed that Galante’s death might’ve altered the plans of some of the Outfit’s “outlaws” to expand the Italian white heroin, instead of the Mexican, which by now arrived all around the country, smuggled in plastic bags and sewn inside the bodies of animals or concealed in the heads of tiger skins or even stashed inside television picture tubes. So my point is that from now on if some member or associate of the Outfit wanted to get involved in dealing dope, he had to travel all the way to New York City or simply buy the product from the local Latin or African-American gangs.


No matter how hard the top administration tried to distance their members from the dope trade, still they were powerless against the constant new waves of drug addiction such the current one which was in the form of cocaine. The main advantage of the cocaine drug is that it’s not physically addictive such as heroin or “crack” for that matter, which in fact is a free base from the cocaine product, but instead it is intensively habit forming. Also, the drug can be sniffed, injected, swallowed and even smoked, thus making the users happy, self-confident, sexually aroused, all followed by a powerful feeling. The problem was that by the late 1970’s, these alluring qualities have left many people addicted on cocaine, thus, again making the profits too attractive for a large part of the Outfit’s lower criminal structure and the Mafia in general. During this period Cuba already has become a problem in this respect, and because of the 24/7 smuggling of this drug by Cuban nationals, considerable quantities of cocaine found its way into the United States, particularly Miami and New York City. Also, as you previously saw that the U.S. Mob was already importing smaller quantities of cocaine from Peru or Bolivia but by now, the drug route was slowly turning to Columbia, mostly because of the shorter distance and above all, because of the better quality of the product and larger distribution, which also made the price cheaper. Because of that reason, Latin America cocaine exports to the United States escalated, thus producing a pandemic of narcotics abuse and the surge of exports was directed by a consortium of Colombian cocaine brokers known as the Medellin cartel, which probably controlled over 60 percent of U.S. cocaine market. In no time, Colombia has become the leading nation in Latin America for producing and smuggling cocaine around the world and because of that, it was no longer considered just a glamorous “toy” of the affluent, mostly because it became also available for housewives and hotel clerks in ordinary suburbs, poor residents of the ghettos, and even teenagers in suburban and city high schools. The whole situation became so big that even the cocaine enthusiasts had their own paraphernalia available in shops such as spoons, straws, mirrors, kits, Benzodrex inhalers, and even dealers' supplies like scales, one-gram packet papers and mannitol, a popular cutting agent.


Even though during this period they were considered one of the last links in the dope peddling chain, still the Outfit was considered to be the top criminal organization in the city of Chicago, mostly because they still had their claws in the unions, around many politicians and on top of that, in Las Vegas, Nevada. But even that wasn’t enough for the whole organization, especially for the lower class of members and associates. They saw none of the profits from the casinos or the unions and since the dope peddling business was off limits, they needed a new plan for taking at least a small part from that so-called easy narcotics cash. In fact, there was no real plan but instead it was pure and simple to avoid being caught by the cops while peddling dope.


By the early 1980’s, Tony Accardo still commanded a huge respect among his fellow members but the problem was that at the time, he had many legal problems for extorting millions of dollars, thus turning his attention from the organization. According to some government reports, during this period Chicago was still considered to be “heroin type” of a city, or in other words, the cocaine market was still in development. So Accardo again somehow managed to stay free, while his “captains” were constantly being hunted down by the government and were quickly being replaced by their “second in command”. During this period the boss of the Chicago Heights faction Al Pilotto was having legal problems and was slowly replaced by one quite powerful Outfit member known as Albert Tocco. This guy was considered to be also an open minded individual when it came to narcotics but he also never hesitated to kill anyone who got caught by the cops or was about to. So by putting one “blind eye” on the narcotics trade, Tocco managed to continue the long tradition of his faction which was financing dope deals for almost four decades. The main duo which oversaw Tocco’s dope business was the D’Andrea brothers, Nick and Mario. These fellas were not considered by law enforcement as members of the Outfit but instead they were high level associates, a stature which was easily achieved with the help of their recently deceased brother and also member of the Chicago Mafia, known as Armand D’Andrea. In fact, Nick and Mario were members of a family of five brothers, including the late Armand, who in turn represented the main guy for the Outfit in the Joliet area. Armand D'Andrea was considered very close to the mayor of Joliet, and when Francis Curry, the previous big local kingpin of the Outfit has died, D'Andrea allegedly was said to have stepped in as the top contact man, and he was considered by Illinois authorities to be the heir-apparent to the organized crime leadership of that area.


The main thing was that the late Armand D’Andrea previously had huge business interests in construction and investments, such as a carrot farm in Prescott, Arizona, and also buildings and real estate in Phoenix and Tucson. Because of that, he also controlled his own crews in those areas, mainly formed by distant relatives such as Frank Mancini, who in fact many of them were responsible for Nick’s and Mario’s connections to Columbian and Mexican dope peddlers from that area. The thing was that the brothers were involved in several illegal schemes, including the chop shop racket or in other words, it was quite easy for the duo to acquire high grade cocaine for distribution around the south suburbs, with the help of the old transporting method of stolen parts or whole cars between Arizona and Illinois. But somewhere along the way, Nick D’Andrea managed to make few more connections with other chop shop operators with international connections, which in turn made D’Andrea one of the most important dope peddlers for the Outfit. One of those lucrative connections was guy known as Ora Curry, who in fact was the “top general” for the south suburban chop shop racket, which was under the auspices of Al Tocco.



Ora Curry


Now, Curry’s connection to the dope business goes way back to the late 1960’s and early 70’s, when he used to work for the previously mentioned and also deceased drug dealer and chop shop operator Robert Pronger, who in turn worked for Catuara’s and Cain’s dope peddling operation and allegedly was killed because of that. After that, Curry continued to operate with the help of Pronger’s brother, John who in fact remained to be a huge player in Chicago’s chop shop and above all, narcotics business. The interesting thing was that both Curry and Pronger had business relations all the way to the Middle East, for example Lebanon, from where they constantly brought or shipped cars or auto-parts, which sometimes were filled with narcotics, probably heroin. So this particular crew had two main receiving points, including one direct to Chicago from Europe or New York, which was rarely used mainly because of their second point which was located in Florida, where at the time two main Colombian drug cartels constantly flooded America with cocaine. When the shipment reached its destination point, such as the “Windy City”, the stash was divided in two parts, one for the local market and the other part was destined for some of the nearest Midwest cities, such as Hammond, Indiana, and also St. Louis. To tell you the truth, I really don’t believe that the Outfit still acted mainly as transporting point of the narcotics shipment, but as you can see, they still operated according to the old “recipe”.


In Chicago, the product was mostly sold along Rush Street on the city’s North Side, mostly in bars or disco washrooms, which were mostly Mob-connected. So during this period, the main crew which spread the product around that area was obviously the North Side faction, which was steady growing in the dope business. The previous boss of the Northsiders, Dom DiBella died back in 1976, and was succeeded by Vince Solano, who in turn was deeply involved in to union racketeering and the prostitution business. One of his main operators was still Ken Eto, the Japanese guy who previously oversaw the lucrative Bolita operations and had countless connections to Latin drug dealers. By now Eto was entering the food business, together with another Chicago hoodlum known as Sam Sarcinelli, and the duo had a shop which was named Taco-Si, located in Skokie, Illinois. The thing was that Sarcinelli used the food business as front for his huge dope peddling operation. I mean, it did not matter on who brought the cocaine, such as Curry or Pronger or even Sarcinelli himself, the thing was that according to the feds, Sarcinelli was capable of distributing large quantities of narcotics. In fact, he headed a large-scale narcotics trafficking organization, which at its peak moved approximately 200 kilos of cocaine per month, as I previously stated, mainly from the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area.


Now, for someone like Sarcinelli to distribute that kind of amount of drugs, he must’ve possessed contacts all around the country, simply because all that dope cannot be sold only around the Chicago area in just one month, obviously because during this period there was too much competition. So with the help of what has left from the rest of the Midwest crime families, Colombian cocaine was distributed to points such Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, and also the Los Angeles area, where Sarcinelli maintained one of his personal residences. According to the feds, this guy was a real millionaire and obviously the money did not come from the food business and some reports say that his residence in Los Angeles was no coincidence. During that period, Sarcinelli and other high level dope dealers heavily invested in real estate, mainly in the San Diego area, especially along the dusty strip of border land known as Otay Mesa. Many so-called taco or food vendors started circulating through the crowd, thus providing perfect disguise for the bands of Mexican dope peddlers. Since some of the district's biggest land deals were financed by drug money, a decade later this area was going to be the start of the first so-called underground tunnels for smuggling dope, which were about to stretch from Tijuana to the American side. And like any other high level dope peddler, Sarcinelli also began buying luxurious houses and cars, and he even constantly walked around with a bodyguard, one so-called “knuckle dragger” known as Robert Bridges.


Even though he was considered by law enforcement as one of Chicago’s most dangerous dope dealers, still Sarcinelli wasn’t “jail-proof” from the federal government’s old “tricks”. Back in 1979, Sarcinelli made the obvious and usual mistake by unknowingly bringing an undercover agent to a dope deal. The agent’s alias was Ron Segal, who at first sight was a tall, tanned and well-groomed man, with gold chains and rings on his neck and arms, or in other words, he gave the typical picture of a successful drug lord. So Segal’s looks was enough to fool one of Chicago’s most elusive drug peddlers such as Sarcelli. To cut the story short, Segal managed to successfully lure Sarcinelli to a 14 pound cocaine deal, which was valued at one million dollars, and not a cent more. The self-styled undercover operative single-handedly led a band of DEA agents to a motel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where they managed to arrest Sarcinelli together with the large stash of cocaine and additional cash in his personal attaché case. During the trial, Segal was the chief witness against Sarcinelli, who in turn was sentenced in Florida to 8 years in prison and 3 years special parole on count one, and additional 8 years in prison on count two of an indictment charging him with possession and conspiracy to distribute narcotics. According to some reports, after the imprisonment of Sarcinelli, the Outfit-controlled cocaine business quickly transferred from Rush Street, down to the South Side.