If we look at Chicago’s crime syndicate at the time, or should I say after the war, we might notice that the top administration was slowly been overtaken by mobsters from Sicilian heritage, but still they were groomed by the ones from Neapolitan heritage. So the point is that the Sicilian population was mostly known for not having any kind of problem with the horse meat, since back home they ate it like any other regular meal. The mobsters quickly learned regarding the mix of 40 percent horse and 60 percent cow and during the process, they bribed many food inspectors, obviously from the millions of dollars which were created from the racket. According to some reports, the Outfit’s scheme even went national by creating wholesale meat companies, which dealt with hotels and restaurants around the country, especially in “open” cities such as Las Vegas or Miami. And in the end, the only person who wasn’t aware of the scheme was the foolish citizen. The main Outfit crews which oversaw this particular racket were Prio’s group with one Paul Labriola and also Jimmy Allegretti and also the chief executive of the organization Tony Accardo together with one Jack Cerone from the West Side administration. In fact, Accardo began infiltrating the industry right after his takeover of the wire service, or to be exact during the late 1940’s, and sent two of his henchmen Leo Rugendorf and one Ralph Rizza, both former meat cutters who managed to place in line every restaurant, butcher shop or meat packing plant owner. During that period, Rugendorf was once arrested regarding the murder of one meat cutter but the case was later dismissed. Usually when they started killing ordinary workers such as this one, as examples for the rest of the working class that meant they were getting involved in the same business or industry.


At the beginning of 1950, Accardo met with Prio and together they made the final plan for infiltrating the industry with the help of one of Prio’s front men known as Joe Siciliano. In fact, Siciliano was a former butcher who came from the Niles area which in turn was Prio’s territory, who in turn “sponsored” Sicliano for the job and Accardo gladly approved it. Sicilano fronted the Lake County packing Co. located in Waukegan, with the help of his own crew, including Meyer Ditlove, Russell Minnea, Anthony Rossi, Rudy Angelicchio, Robert Klotz and Joel Miller. On top of that, Siciliano also had two other associates known as Frank Meara, a bookkeeper for the gang, and also Virgil McGanty former sausage maker who took care for the making of the product. All of these fellas were employed at Siciliano’s company but by the end of the day, they were the ones who paid off anyone who needed to be taken care of, or even forced or beaten anyone who rejected their terms. Sometimes when Siciliano’s “enforcers” failed in convincing someone to take their horse-meat products, he quickly turned to his Mob “friends”, who in turn easily solved the problem. For example, the first guy which Siciliano contacted regarding the situation was Paul Labriola, who in turn took the problem to Prio, who later took it to Accardo. Now, the first move was the intimidation of a certain victim by constantly sending corrupt food inspectors, just to place pressure over that same individual, who usually was the owner of some huge meat packing plant or some famous restaurant or food chain stores. If Siciliano’s men did not succeed in the first intimidating move, the second option or so-called ace of spades card was for Prio or Accardo to contact Irving Meites, a Democratic leader in the 44th ward, who was a close friend of Bill Stratton, who in turn was the current state’s treasurer and was about to become the governor of Illinois, and according to the testimony of one food inspection chief, future governor Stratton clearly enforced the Mob’s demands regarding the meat business. And if even that did not help, the last solution was Labriola, who in turn would’ve made an example of the victim.


During the first year, or should I say 1951, hundreds of thousands of dollars began pouring into the Outfit’s pockets, a situation which made Ricca and the rest of the bosses quite happy, while the ordinary citizen enjoyed his or hers ground meat. For example, one legit firm which was known as the Balkan Packing Company, located in East Moline, purchased half a million pounds of horse meat from another Outfit-connected firm known as the Johnsburg Packing Company, located in McHenry County. According to one report, that same year, the so-called state meat contracts with the Balkan firm totaled $352,000, and so imagine just how many other companies made similar deals. One of Siciliano’s associates Meyer Ditlove together with James Pilas, who in turn was a Democratic precinct captain in the 26th ward, managed to set up another horse slaughtering plant, but this time in Danville, Vermillion County, and the meat was again shipped to the Lake County packing Co. or the Johnsburg Company, which in turn sold their products mainly to one Carl Olson, a chain restaurant operator in Skokie and in Lake County. This meant that Accardo and his gang were pretty much at the top, but the thing is that the more you get bigger, the harder you will fall.


The whole thing began to boil when many owners started to blame the current political administration regarding the meat problem, and so the opposition gladly decided to take an advantage of the whole situation. By the end of that year, the horse meat scandal completely moved into the political arena when State's Attorney John Boyle blamed the current Governor Stevenson, who was about to take a step back for his close associate Stratton, regarding the problem with the widespread racket. Boyle publicly said “You [the public] have been buying horse meat labeled as prime beef due to the courtesy of the governor of Illinois and his chief of foods and dairies, Mr. Wray, who was charged as head of the state food inspection service, and has admitted taking bribes to ignore horse meat violations.” Boyle’s administration later furnished a new figure on the scope of the racket when they asserted that in Lake County at the time, 1,800,000 pounds of horse flesh was used in less than six months to produce 4,500,000 pounds of adulterated hamburger. They also charged that horse meat has been used in some private hospitals, but they refused to disclose their names or where they were, except that they were located in northern Illinois, which were probably the Waukegan and Niles areas. So when the curtains began to rise and slowly the whole situation went out in the open, many individuals began to fear for their lives and also their freedom.


In May, that same year, one of Siciliano’s main enforcers in the meat business, Joel Miller, went missing and was presumed dead. Story goes that 20 year old Miller was blamed because he allegedly pushed the wrong people or maybe went too far with his intimidating methods, and so the Outfit had to make an example out of him but the problem was that it was too late. Just to make things even worse, later Miller’s body was taken out from the Illinois River, possible courtesy of Labriola, and investigators at the time said that the situation had clear connection with the horse meat scandal and that the murder was ordered by the Chicago syndicate. Right after that, Siciliano was quickly arrested in connection with the murder and later also questioned. On top of that, at the same time many Lake County officials donated over $50,000 into the fight of the new State's Attorney Robert Nelson to bring to justice the horse meat racketeers, mainly the ones who operated their largest plants in that county, which in reality was a direct order for the closure of Siciliano’s meat packing plant in Lake County. I believe that the whole situation made him quite angry, and so according to one report, Siciliano violently has refused to submit to a lie detector about Miller's disappearance and because of that, he was quickly placed under indictment on charges of bribery and conspiracy. During the investigations, the state’s attorney office realized that Siciliano was in fact a mere tool for somebody else, and that “somebody else” was Tony Accardo. The investigators came to the conclusion when they connected Siciliano to Labriola, who in turn was a known syndicate enforcer and everybody in the world suspected for Accardo being the top guy of organization. Arrest warrant was previously issued for Labriola, who in his own style tried to avoid it by constantly hiding from the police, which in turn, later succeeded in finding the enforcer and questioned him regarding numerous beatings in the meat industry but it was all for nothing since he kept his mouth shut regarding the situation. That same month, in March, 1952, Accardo was also wanted for questioning by the special Cook County grand jury regarding the several beatings of a “mystery witness” whose identity has been kept secret by the state's attorney and also regarding the disappearance of Joel Miller. The “stone faced” killer, which was Accardo, refused to answer many of the questions and also denied every allegation, and was later released.


It was a time when the federal government did not own many “weapons” against the Mob, since the syndicate was already infiltrated so deeply into Chicago’s politics and judicial system, which made the idea of placing Accardo in jail almost unreal. This guy was the real definition for “untouchable” and if someone endangered his freedom, meat business or no meat business, Accardo was capable of killing anyone at anytime just to protect his own skin. But there was no need for any bloodshed, since the Outfit’s system for using front men in many lucrative operations worked just perfectly fine, since only Siciliano and his whole “meat gang” were placed on trial regarding the conspiracy. Even though Accardo was protected by his associates, still during Siciliano’s trial, the prosecutors named the Outfit’s top hierarchy as possible conspirators behind the scheme, including Accardo, Ricca and Campagna. The main problem for Accardo was that his mentor and real boss Paul Ricca who at the time was heavily investing his illegal cash from gambling into the food business such as restaurants and food markets, and in this case, especially meat packing plants. You see, Ricca made a lot of illegal cash during the days of Prohibition and later, he took for the race tracks and handbook operations and got even richer. In other words, Ricca had all the money that he needed and so all of that illegal cash had to be laundered mainly through the meat packing plants and the horseflesh, since it was considered the most lucrative legit income during that time period and on top of that, he had to return some of his cash which he lost during his stay in prison, back in the previous decade.


So as I previously stated that only Siciliano and dozens of other individuals, including members from his crew or food inspectors, were taken to trial. To tell you the truth, I believe that Siciliano even almost received a “contract” on his head since according to one wiretapped conversation between a couple of Outfit members, they trash-talked him and did not trusted him a bit. They even criticized their boss, which was Accardo, for not making the right choices and for allowing Siciliano to take control over the operation: "Accardo picked too many lugs, too many palookas, like that Siciliano. We should have put that guy’s legs in cement (referring to Siciliano)". This was possibly Ricca’s influence since his main laundering system was being disrupted and top of that, many of his political connections, who were also involved in the scheme, were being hunted down by the investigators and some of them even resigned from their positions, including his close associate Andrew Flando Sr., 25th ward Republican committeeman who left his $447.50 a month county job, and also appeared before the county grand jury investigating the horse meat racket and refused to sign an immunity waiver. Another of their “key men” who also lost his position and was taken to trial was Charles Wray who held a job as superintendent of the state division of foods and dairies, and even Frank Balkan, the vice president of the Balkan Packing Company, the Outfit’s biggest buyer, was indicted by a Lake county grand jury. In the end, Siciliano and his crew were the only racketeers, who received from 2 to 5 years in prison for conspiracy and also for the bribing of one state food inspector, the same one who testified against them in court. Most of the so-called corrupt gang of food inspectors and government officials were released on bonds, some cases were dropped and some did not even started at all. In addition, Siciliano was later also released on a 54,000 bond.


The biggest problem for the Outfit wasn’t Siciliano’s imprisonment but instead it was the mentioning of the whole top administration, during the trials, including Accardo and Ricca. In fact, the situation was just an additional problem in Ricca’s “sea” of problems during that period. My personal belief is that the so-called horse meat scandal was the beginning of the end for Accardo’s career as boss of the syndicate, obviously because of the previous reasons, but still his administration achieved something which forced the everyday citizen for decades to question the source of beef which was bought in stores, or ordered in restaurants. According to some reports, the whole situation affected the sales of hamburgers in Chicago and allegedly fell for 50% and on top of that, many famous restaurants were closed down because of they were allegedly “horse meat positive”. Even if the meat was legit, still the hamburger never tasted the same in the mouths and minds of the buyers. The meat scandal was a great shame and also great loss for the U.S. government and its economy during that time period, but on the other hand the racketeers also never reached the same level in the meat business ever again.


Now I don’t know if you noticed, but during the whole scandal, nobody ever prosecuted or mentioned even one member from Prio’s group or the North Side faction. The reality was that Siciliano and Labriola or most of the previously mentioned fellas, were in fact Prio’s people, but by the end of the day, Accardo and Ricca got the most of it, indirectly. In other words, Prio got a pass or went under the radar, mostly because during that period the government did not have a clue regarding the Outfit’s hierarchy and who was under what faction. So Prio used the advantage and continued to under the government’s nose, mainly in the meat business. You see, Prio controlled a huge territory and also one of the most lucrative crews at the time, generally known as the Rush Street crew, which oversaw a great deal of bars, restaurants, hotels and food stores. The Rush Street area, which is located on the Near North Side, used to be one of the most lucrative areas for the whole Outfit and was being overseen by two of Prio’s main lieutenants, including Jimmy Allegretti and Joey DiVarco, the first being the “brains” behind the operation and the other one, took the role of the “muscle”. Besides being a racketeer, a pimp and also a pedophile, as I previously stated that Allegretti was the mastermind behind their next legit operation by using the advantage for being the secret owner of many restaurants and bars around the whole North Side, but above all around the city and also the country. So the trick was for Prio, Allegretti and DiVarco to open up their own meat packing company and to load their countless joints with their own product, which was about to be sold to the ordinary citizens.


The name of the operation was C & B Meat Co. which was located at 1136 Randolph St. and the so-called “working” team was formed only by five employees, including the firm’s president or the Mob’s front man Carlo Colianni. I really doubt that they ever sold horse meat, and according to one report the company sold meat cuts mainly in clubs and restaurants around the Gold Coast. On top of that, the company didn’t just sell meat only in Prio’s or Allegretti’s joints, but instead all of the Outfit-connected food joints also bought their products. So in other words, this was one huge legitimate operation which again successfully laundered their illegal cash and made the bosses happy. For example, few of the many famous places at the time such as Agostino’s Restaurant, Ciro’s Restaurant or the Valentino’s which was located at the Berkshire Hotel, all bought their meat products from the C & B. So I’m going to form you a picture of what I’m pointing out here, with the help of one report which says that the Valentino’s Restaurants generated over $120,000 per year only from the selling of food and beverage. Also the owners of Agostino’s, which counted the brothers Andy and Gus Sequia, besides being forced to buy the Outfit’s meat cuts and other products, they were also forced to “rent” their second floor of the joint as a meeting place for the Outfit’s top hierarchy, including Prio, Accardo, Humphreys, Gus Alex and also Accardo’s replacement who went by the name of Sam Giancana. As I previously stated that the new administration was way greedier than the previous one, meaning both Allegretti and DiVarco “polluted” their legit enterprises with illegal activities, thus transforming it into semi-legit businesses. I mean if you look at the situation clearly, at first they brought illegal cash which they obviously laundered it through the meat packing plant and their Mob-connected joints, but at the same time they again generated illegal income from the same locations of those same legit enterprises. In no time, Valentino’s became a front for a huge handbook operation or Ciro’s which became a front for a prostitution ring, with over 20 prostitutes working day and night and allegedly generating over 10,000$ a week. Back in the old days, some of the old timers almost never mixed their legit enterprises with their illegal operations but it looks like that this was possibly Giancana’s influence or way for making a double or maybe even triple income.


In July, 1958, the whole situation began to come out in the open when the McClellan Senate Rackets Committee agents started probing many Chicago racketeers and their alleged attempts to seize control of the tavern and restaurant supply business. Both Prio and DiVarco were questioned by investigative committee at the same time, together with Jack Cerone and during the questionings, Senator Robert Kennedy referred to the C & B Meat Co. as being under the control of DiVarco and others who in turn took orders from Accardo who also had interest in the same meat supply company, but after every question Prio and the boys each took the Fifth Amendment more than 90 times. In September that same year, another individual was the C & B president Carlo Colianni who was asked for an explanation regarding the appearance of the name "Mooney ", which in fact was a nickname used by Giancana, on documents in the company’s offices. Obviously Colianni wasn’t a fool and quickly took the Fifth, same as everybody else who was asked the same question. On top of that, several Rush Street restaurant owners testified that they placed orders with the C and B firm, under pressure from DiVarco and the Mob. Even though the whole situation managed to uncover the scheme, still after the hearings the firm continued to run and also to prey over the honest restaurant businessmen. The only thing which the Outfit managed to change was their old and already “famous” front man with a new one, known as Morris Lasky who, same as Siciliano, was also a former butcher. Things went smooth until six years later, when the company’s licence was revoked after the receiving of a petition which was signed by many restaurant owners, who in turn had enough of the strong-arm tactics. Lasky was constantly denied for an application regarding the food distributor's license, which in fact was a direct order from Chicago’s Mayor at the time, on the advice from detectives of the license control unit who maintained that Lasky was just a "front" for the crime syndicate gangsters.


Even though few of the Outfit’s main legit enterprises were being closed down out of various reasons, still some of the boys managed to flow under the radar but it was the same old song, meaning they only used the food business as front for their illegal activities, until they slipped somewhere along the way. Remember Meyer Ditlove, the guy who was Siciliano’s associate and served time for his involvement in the meat scandal? Well by the late 1950’s he was out and was also back in business, but this time he got connected to a different crew. In 1957, Ditlove quickly collected all documents and cash for the opening of the Twin Food Products Company, which was located at 3250 Wentworth Av. and mainly produced shortening products. In fact, shortening is any fat that stays in a solid form at room temperature and it’s used to make crumbly pastry and other food products that should not be elastic. Although butter is also solid at room temperature and is frequently used in making pastry, the term "shortening" seldom refers to butter, but is more closely related to margarine. In addition, the shortening business is lucrative same as the previously mentioned legit businesses but the problem for Ditlove was that he thought that because of his old reputation of being Mob-connected, many of his costumers or rivals would fear of him and would obviously buy his products or make deals with him. But the reality was quite different, meaning during the first few months, Ditlove’s income from the company was quite small and so if he wanted to maintain his business, he obviously needed to find more money. So Ditlove quickly turned for help to his buddies in the Mob, such as Leo Rugendorf, the enforcer who was previously mentioned regarding the meat business, back in the late 1940’s.



Well by now Rugendorf went up through the Mob’s ranks and also had a legit job as a bondsman but the important thing was that he was connected to one of the Outfit’s most powerful crews at the time, the so-called Melrose Park group, which was heavily involved in the loan sharking business. So Ditlove asked Rugendorf for a loan, who in turn quickly took the request to his superiors such as Albert Frabotta and Phil Alderisio, the two fellas that served Sam Battaglia, the captain of the group. The interesting thing was that during this period, Battaglia’s group lend money not only to ordinary individuals, but they also gave loans to companies which were on the downfall such as car companies, building supplies wholesale companies, clothing factories and in this particular case, food companies. So in no time, the company became quite successful, mainly because of guys like Battaglia, Alderisio or Marshal Caifano who held interests in the company and also became few of the main stockholders. Beside Detlove, the group’s main front men at the company were Rugendorf, who served as the company’s president, and also Ditlove’s son-in-law Lawrence Rosenberg, who in turn served as secretary and treasurer. Since many of these members of the Melrose Park crew were quite known for their violent and murderous styles, automatically hoodlum tactics were quite often applied on many night clubs, hotels and restaurants to induce them to buy the products from the Twin Company. And since the business was quite lucrative, the company’s administration opened up two more so-called sister companies such as Twin Distributing Company and The P&S By-Products Company, which were used for the production of meat by-products used in the manufacturing of commercial shortening, and obviously tripled the income. In addition, meat by-products are the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals, which includes lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, fatty tissue, stomachs and intestines, mostly suitable for the use in the producing of food for animals such as dogs and cats.


But as I previously stated that it was a matter of time for the government to knock on the door, since the group began using these companies as places for lending money or in other words, for loan sharking operations. Countless of individuals, happy or frighten, went in and out of the firms and so people began noticing or hearing things. On top of that, the hot-headed Battaglia and Alderisio slapped or chased people around regarding “juice” debts in public places or in the firms. So many investigators, and also newspaper reporters, began eyeballing the operation that quickly lighted up with the 1961 Chicago Tribune article which disclosed that the Twin Food Company was working without a rendering license since 1957, and on top of that, they also reported that the company was controlled by known Chicago hoodlums and was protected by unnamed high profile member of the Democratic Party. So in March 1961, the government forced the chief sanitary officer of the Chicago Health Department to testify against the Twin Food plant, who in turn gladly revealed numerous violations of the health laws, and the rendering operations of the same company. In no time the whole operation was quickly ordered to be halted and on top of that, health inspectors condemned over 1,000 pounds of meat and other products. And so like any other criminal case, this one also began with a trial, in which the company’s president Leo Rugendorf was called in for questioning. While some of the witnesses testified against the firm, Rugendorf tried to intimidate them by making motions as if cutting his throat. As I previously stated that the problems for the Twin Food firm did not begin from the company itself but instead it began from the loan sharking operations, which were overseen by the same people who controlled it. So one thing led to another and next thing you know the company was completely closed down for the next year.


The 1960’s was the so-called “Golden Era” for the Outfit’s entrance in the legitimate world, and one of the first individuals who warned the nation regarding the problem was Virgil Peterson, operating director for the Chicago Crime Commission at the time. In fact, Peterson especially warned the Chicago board of health and other government agencies to keep a sharp eye on the criminal activities in the food industry. So by now if we count the years regarding the Outfit’s involvement in the meat or food business, we might look at several decades, which was the main reason for Peterson’s warnings. In other words, he was quite aware that it was very hard for the Outfit’s top administration to simply forget the operation, since as I previously stated that it was their main money laundering scheme and so their main legit income had to be huge. For example, Tony Accardo, the one-time chief executive and also one-time overseer of the meat business, continued to stick his fingers in the food industry with the help of Dominick’s Finer Food Super Market which was located at 6415 North Central Avenue, or even his successor Sam Giancana took the old school way by presenting the finest Italian dishes at the infamous Armoury Lounge, until he decided to transform the joint into his own headquarters. Story goes that one Outfit associate Joe Pignatello was the best Italian chef at the time in all of Chicago who worked at Giancana’s headquarters, but later he was relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he cooked for the biggest players at the Villa d’Este, located east of the Vegas Strip which in fact was the main meeting place for the Outfit’s top hierarchy. Giancana’s bodyguard and Outfit member Dominick Blasi also controlled his own food enterprise known as Mr. B’s, which in fact was a beef stand located in Melrose Park. As I previously stated at the beginning of this story that one of Chicago’s most favourable dishes was and still is the Italian beef sandwich, which in fact really grew in popularity during this decade, the time when also the deep dish pizza and the hamburger were already infiltrating the big popularity. Blasi’s front men were one John Contagessi and also Angelo Ruggiero who in turn was a known Mob lawyer, and their beef stand was just one of the many “competing” beef stands which suddenly popped up around the West Side, especially Taylor St., and succeeded in making the Italian beef sandwich primarily a city thing, instead of a neighbourhood thing. In addition, Sam Giancana enjoyed his food so much that during his stay in prison, which occurred in 1965, some of his peers smuggled in all kinds of steaks, fried chicken parts, sausages, pasta, whiskey and wines into his jail cell.