‘Dapper & Deadly’: So. Illinois gangster ‘Black Charlie’ was a major hit man

A Southern Illinois gangster known as “Black Charlie” Harris wasn’t as famous as the Shelton brothers, Charlie Birger or Frank “Buster” Wortman.
But his thick FBI file labeled him a “vicious criminal” responsible for more than 20 murders.
“They contend he was a major hit man,” said Taylor Pensoneau, 69, of New Berlin, an Illinois historian who [...]

Feds have two top informants inside Chicago mob

May 17, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Federal authorities in Chicago have been cultivating information from two “upper echelon” members of the Outfit for decades, according to a court filing in a current Mob prosecution.
The existence of a pair of Mob moles, called “Confidential Informant One” and “Confidential Informant Two,” were disclosed by the defense team [...]

Feds hint missing mob figure was slain while embroiled in feud

VANISHED IN ‘06 | Court filing suggests clash with reputed Cicero street boss
It’s a Chicago mob mystery that’s still unsolved: Reputed Outfit boss Anthony “Little Tony” Zizzo — an aging, longtime survivor of mob intrigue and betrayal — drove away from his Westmont home on Aug. 31, 2006, never to be seen again.
His abandoned Jeep [...]

Infamous Outfit hit man dies in prison

71-year-old ‘was the hammer of the Chicago mob’
During the 1970s, just the mention of hit man Harry Aleman’s name was enough to strike fear into those whose doorsteps he happened upon.
“He was the hammer of the Chicago mob,” said Lee Flosi, a former FBI agent who headed the Chicago office’s organized crime section in the [...]

Judge imposes code of silence at wedding

A federal judge is allowing Casey Szaflarski, accused of running a video gambling business linked to the Chicago Outfit, to attend his daughter’s wedding this summer.
But Szaflarski is not allowed to talk to the father of the groom.
That’s because the lucky guy’s father is Frank “Toots” Caruso, a reputed leader of the mob’s [...]

War of the Godfathers

In 1986, the Chicago Mafia violently repulsed a bid by the Joe Bonnano crime family to wrest control of the Las Vegas underworld. It was a pyrrhic victory; afterward most of the top Chicago mob figures were convicted of various crimes. The author, a former FBI agent who investigated the Las Vegas brawl ( Roemer: [...]

Public Enemy No. 1

Tell people in Belfast or Melbourne you’re from Chicago and some of them are still apt to mimic a tommy assault, spraying you with 400 rounds of hot lead per minute. Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! A tommy, of course, is a Thompson submachine gun, the weapon of choice for Al Capone’s “outfit,” which deployed the guns to [...]

FBI searches home of late mob boss Angelo LaPietra

FBI searches home of late mob boss Angelo LaPietra. Bridgeport search comes after attempted burglary.
Chicago FBI agents are searching the home of the family of Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra, the late and widely feared mob leader, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Authorities have said the house in Bridgeport was the target last month of burglars [...]

Why Chicago is still Al Capone’s town

Chicago and Al Capone are linked more tightly than any other city and historical figure in America. Some memorable pairs do exist – Detroit and Henry Ford, New York and Boss Tweed, Philadelphia and Benjamin Franklin –but none are as vivid in the popular imagination.
For a while, Michael Jordan became the international symbol [...]

Guns, Gems, $725K in mob boss’s basement

The FBI raided Frank Calabrese Sr.’s home in west suburban Oak Brook Wednesday and found guns, jewelry and hundreds of thousands in cash.
Calabrese is already serving life in prison.
Federal agents went into Calabrese’s home looking for anything of value that might help satisfy the $27 million he owes the government as part of his [...]

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