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Outfit boss DiFronzo fought the law, and the law lost

By Thomas Hunt

John No Nose DiFronzo

John DiFronzo

John DiFronzo, reputed boss of the Chicago Outfit, died late Sunday, May 27, 2018 (some sources: early Monday, May 28, 2018), at his home in River Grove, according to published reports. (Coverage: Chicago Tribune, ABC-7, CBS-2, NBC-5.) He was eighty-nine years old. Criminal defense attorney Joe Lopez told the media that DiFronzo suffered with Alzheimer's disease and had been "extremely ill." [1]

DiFronzo was widely suspected of involvement in the brutal 1986 murders of brothers Anthony and Michael Spilotro (depicted in the film Casino). His role was discussed during the 2007 Family Secrets trial of Outfit leaders. But DiFronzo was not a defendant in Family Secrets, and federal prosecutors were unable to assemble a convincing case against him. Attorney Lopez told CBS-Chicago that DiFronzo's greatest achievement was "beating the G." [2]

The press frequently referred to DiFronzo as "No Nose." The nickname sprang from the attempted robbery of a Michigan Avenue clothing store back in 1949, though the details of that story are disputed. Some sources say DiFronzo jumped through a window to escape capture and had a piece of his nose sliced off by the breaking glass. [3] (He neither jumped through a window nor escaped, but a glass injury cannot be ruled out.) Others say a bullet fired by a police officer tore off the nose. [4] DiFronzo had surgery to repair the injury. While underworld colleagues were said to call him "John Bananas," law enforcement believed that they used a gesture with each other - a mobster pointed a finger to his nose - to indicate DiFronzo without speaking a name at all.

Early life

Records indicate that Giovanni (John) DiFronzo was born December 13, 1928, the second child of Michele (Mike) and Addolorata (Dolores) DiFronzo. [5] His older sibling, brother Francesco (Frank), was born twenty-one months earlier. [6] While the two oldest boys were born across the Atlantic in the town of Capurso, Metropolitan Bari in the Apulia region of southern Italy, they entered the United States as citizens in 1931. Their mother entered as an alien. [7]

Michele DiFronzo

Michele
DiFronzo

That situation was the result of Michele DiFronzo's earlier stays in the U.S. and a fair bit of confusion. He first crossed the Atlantic as a single twenty-four-year-old, reaching New York harbor on August 16, 1923, and proceeding to Chicago's West Town to stay with his brother Pasquale, a resident of 1247 West Ohio Street. [8]

Just half a year later, Michele DiFronzo was naturalized a citizen at Cook County Superior Court, or, at least, he thought he was. He managed to obtain a certificate of naturalization by providing some incorrect information about the date of his arrival and the length of his stay in the country. It seems he genuinely believed that he was an American citizen when he returned to Italy and took Addolorata as his bride in 1926.

About a year after John's birth, Michele DiFronzo returned to the U.S. alone. This time, he claimed U.S. citizenship and referred to his "naturalization" at Chicago on February 8, 1924. He reported for the ship's manifest that he was heading to 515 "Rosina" Avenue. It seems likely that he meant 515 Racine Avenue, which was just a short walk from Pasquale's address on West Ohio Street. [9]

After another trip back to Italy, Michele returned to the U.S. with his wife and two sons in 1931. It was assumed that being born to a naturalized father, the two boys were also citizens of the U.S. The family headed to 545 North Springfield Avenue, several miles west of Michele's former neighborhood and beyond Humboldt Park.

Following this last transatlantic voyage, immigration officials looked into Michele's situation. They found that he had not properly obtained his citizenship. On June 7, 1932, his naturalization certificate was canceled by the U.S. District Court at Chicago, which, in the process, questioned Michele's "moral character." [10] His first two sons probably also lost their citizenship as a result. A third son, Raffaelo (Ralph) born in Chicago on November 9, 1931, a bit more than eight months after the family's arrival there, was the only American in the bunch. Briefly.

Additional children were born to the DiFronzos in Chicago. Peter arrived in the spring of 1933. Joseph was born in the fall of 1935. A daughter Rosalia completed the family in spring of 1939. [11]

Michele tried to restore his American citizenship. He filed a declaration of intention to become a citizen in 1936. That effort was apparently aborted. He then filed another declaration in 1944, when his Italy-born sons, Frank and John, were seventeen and sixteen. He then petitioned for naturalization in June 1947, noting that son John was then serving in the U.S. Army, and was granted citizenship on December 2, 1947. Frank and John were both under 21, within the age limit for the time, and should have derived citizenship from their father. [12]

During the early 1940s, the family resided at 1901 West Erie Street back in West Town, where Michele worked as a candy maker. In the middle of the decade, the DiFronzos moved to the Village of Stone Park, settling at 1825 North Thirty-Eighth Avenue. [13]

Maturing in the mob

In the postwar years, John DiFronzo was a member of a burglary gang. The gang became known as the Three-Minute Gang due to its quick work. It was reported that the average response time for the Chicago Police to a burglar alarm was three minutes.

The Three Minute Gang did not always live up to its billing. DiFronzo was arrested for burglary in 1946. As a result, he was placed under court supervision for six months. But that did not convince him to change his ways. His continuing activities cost him a chunk of his nose on December 14, 1949, and a bit of his freedom, following a prison sentence in 1950.

Wounded John DiFronzo

Wounded John DiFronzo face down
in Fey Manning store, 1949
(Chicago Tribune)

He and Charles Scislo were surprised by police during an attempted robbery of the Fey Manning garment shop, 304 North Michigan Avenue. Gunshots were exchanged. One report stated that DiFronzo initiated the fight by shooting at the officers with a .45 caliber automatic pistol. Another stated that DiFronzo was on the receiving end of a shotgun blast and revolver fire after he shined a flashlight at three advancing police officers.

During the incident, DiFronzo earned his nickname, though accounts of the period do not say exactly how. While newspapers did not mention a crash through a plate glass window, they did note that a glass water cooler bottle beside him was shattered by shotgun pellets. A news photograph (shown above) indicated that DiFronzo fell face-down after being shot. So, it remains possible that the damage to his nose was caused by broken glass - that of the bottle. There also apparently were plenty of bullets and shotgun pellets flying around to do the work.

DiFronzo and his accomplice were taken to Bridewell Hospital, where they were reported to be in critical condition with gunshot wounds to the abdomen. (The press did not mention the nose wound.) When DiFronzo recovered, he went from a hospital bed into a cell. He was sentenced in April 1950 to six months in prison for assault with a deadly weapon.

Police believed they had finally broken up the Three Minute Gang, credited with stealing an estimated $100,000 of garments from local shops.

But this, too, was insufficient to deter DiFronzo. Following his release from prison, he went back to his burglary work, reportedly partnering for a time with Paul "Peanuts" Panczko. [14]

Peanuts Panczko

Panczko

The Chicago Outfit went through a transition in the 1950s. The Paul Ricca and Anthony Accardo leadership, established following the 1932 imprisonment of Al Capone and the suicide of Frank Nitti a decade later, gave way to Sam Giancana.

In 1961, John DiFronzo was briefly overshadowed by younger brother Peter. FBI agents arrested Peter in early May when a tractor trailer caught their eye. The agents wondered if the vehicle was stolen and went to check. Inside, Peter lost his cool, jumped out of the truck and fled on foot. Agents nabbed him on North Mannheim Road in the village of Stone Park. They found that the trailer contained many thousands of dollars worth of stolen cigarettes. The cigarettes were found to be part of the loot taken at gunpoint from a grocery warehouse several days earlier. Police learned the loot was being distributed around Illinois and Wisconsin.

Authorities from the two states cooperated with federal agents on the investigation. Early in January 1962, a federal grand jury in Milwaukee indicted Peter and seven other Chicago area residents for conspiracy to transport stolen cigarettes, razors and hosiery. The list of defendants was reduced to just four - Peter DiFronzo, Anthony Daddino, Medo Calzavarra and John Terello - by the opening of the trial. In October of 1963, the jury convicted Peter DiFronzo, Daddino and Calzavarra (it did not convict Terello). Early in November, the three men were sentenced to lengthy terms in federal prison. [15]

John DiFronzo became fairly big news the next month. Law enforcement had been investigating a West Side loansharking gang, following the severe beating of a slow-paying debtor, and found that the gang was having meetings with Outfit leaders.

Factory worker Joseph Weisphal alerted police to the gang after a July 1963 series of beatings that left him with broken teeth, fractured ribs and head injuries. Weisphal's offense against the gang was failing to make his weekly twenty-five percent interest payments on the $2,000 he borrowed. Weisphal was put in protective custody as a case was built against the gang.

Joey Lombardo and John DiFronzo

Joey Lombardo and John DiFronzo
(Chicago Tribune)

DiFronzo, thirty-five, and then a resident of Seventy-Third Avenue in the village of Elmwood Park, was found to be the lead collector and enforcer of the gang. Joseph "Joe Gags" Gagliano, forty-nine, of 1731 Thatcher Road in Elmwood Park, was believed to be its chief. Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, thirty-three, was a member.

Investigators learned that the gang met March 9, 1961, with William "Willie Potatoes" Daddano, supervisor of Outfit rackets in Kane, DuPage and McHenry Counties. Daddano suggested that they expand their influence by channeling loansharking profits into legitimate businesses. The gang then met August 4, 1961, with Daddano and "Mad Sam" DeStefano. DeStefano led his own gang of Outfit loan sharks in northwest Chicago.

Charges were brought against the gang members in December 1963. John DiFronzo was accused of being one of those who kidnaped, threatened and tortured Weisphal.

Gagliano's group was unruly at arraignment, and they refused to cooperate in their processing. They would not be fingerprinted. They distorted their faces in front of the photographer (see photo above). They only relented when criminal court judges refused to consider release on bail until proper processing had taken place. [16]

Six defendants were brought to trial in March of 1964 for kidnapping and beating Weisphal. They were Joseph Gagliano, John DiFronzo, Joseph Lombardo, William "Wee Willie" Messino, and two former policeman, Albert A. Sarno and Chris Cardi. A mistrial was declared in early April, as authorities investigated an apparent attempt by a former police officer to bribe a juror. [17]

In May, the case was brought back into court. Joseph Lombardo was released because Weisphal could not identify him as one of the men who beat him. Weisphal told the jury that he was taken against his will to the basement of a tavern in Elmwood Park and handcuffed to a ceiling pipe. Gang members then beat and kicked him.

The jury found Weisphal an unconvincing witness and had trouble with some inconsistencies in the prosecution's case. After a trial of seven days, the jury deliberated for three and a half hours before deciding to acquit the five remaining defendants. [18]

Outfit leadership

Giancana's position became untenable in the mid-1960s. His links to the Kennedy Administration and to the CIA (see CIA joins with Mafia in effort to kill Castro") were getting some publicity. He brought a lawsuit against the FBI in an effort to halt its surveillance of him. And he was jailed in 1965 for contempt after refusing to testify before a grand jury that had given him immunity. When he was released, he fled the country for Mexico. The burdens of leadership - including the intense scrutiny of law enforcement - fell on Accardo and Ricca. Ricca was about seventy when Giancana left the country and would not live long enough to see him return. Ricca died in 1972. Top Outfit leaders Felix Alderisio and Sam Battaglia also died in the early 1970s.

Accardo

Accardo

Accardo reportedly attempted to function behind a screen provided by Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa (see files on Aiuppa in the FBI "Vault"). In 1975, Giancana returned to Chicago. The move was unwise. A Senate committee immediately made plans to have the former Outfit boss testify about his connections to the CIA. Giancana was murdered before he could be brought before the committee.

In the 1980s, Accardo moved himself into full retirement. Joseph Aiuppa was taken out of Chicago in 1986, when he - along with codefendants John "Jackie" Cerone, Joseph Lombardo and Angelo LaPietra of Chicago and Milton Rockman of Cleveland - received a long prison sentence for skimming money from Las Vegas casinos. [19] The exits of Accardo and Aiuppa led to the brief reign of Joseph Ferriola.

Joseph Ferriola

Ferriola

Ferriola had leadership potential. He served as an enforcer under Giancana and supervised gambling operations in northern Cook, Lake and McHenry Counties. He had considerable experience in legitimate enterprises, having run a sanitation company and several dry-cleaning businesses. A reasonably long reign was conceivable, as he was just in his late fifties when he became boss. But he had legal issues - the FBI and the IRS were investigating him - and serious health problems. Soon after taking charge he began relying on Samuel Carlisi, an Aiuppa ally and longtime manager of Cicero gambling rackets, to help him run the Outfit. Ferriola created a problem for the Outfit when he doubled the "protection tax" for independent bookmaking operations in the Chicago area. A number of the bookmakers refused to pay the tax, threatening both underworld discipline and mob income. By the fall of 1988, some observers were suggesting that Ferriola had drifted far into the background and Carlisi was functioning as day-to-day boss of the Outfit. [20]

Law enforcement experts immediately spoke of John DiFronzo as the new boss in March 1989, when sixty-one-year-old Ferriola died at Methodist Hospital in Houston following heart surgeries. At the time, DiFronzo portrayed himself as merely the owner of a West Side car dealership, but careful observers had seen him take control of Outfit members and rackets in the weeks leading up to Ferriola's death. [21]

Attention from the 'G'

John DiFronzo attempted to keep a low profile. In contrast with Ferriola, who immediately followed his "promotion" with the construction of a brick mansion in an exclusive Oak Park neighborhood, DiFronzo resided with his wife Rosemary in an apartment at 8065 West Grand Avenue in the village of River Grove, just west of Elmwood Park. But DiFronzo quickly learned that being top man in the Chicago underworld meant a low profile was impossible. [22]

Samuel Carlisi

Carlisi

A federal indictment unsealed on January 10, 1992, charged DiFronzo, Samuel Carlisi and eight others with conspiring to gain control of gambling at a proposed casino at the Rincon Indian Reservation in California's San Diego County. The indictment, which charged defendants with racketeering, extortion, mail fraud and wire fraud, was based upon government wiretap evidence. The extortion offense stemmed from Outfit efforts to extort $225,000 from five men who owed loan shark debts to the murdered Anthony Spilotro.

DiFronzo, then sixty-three, and codefendant Michael Caracci, fifty-three, of Bensenville, were arrested in Chicago, processed and freed on bond. Seventy-year-old Carlisi was arrested at his Weston, Florida, home as he was heading out for a round of golf. The list of defendants also included underworld associate Chris Petti and a San Diego attorney, Nicholas DePento. All faced trial in San Diego.

According to prosecutors, the Outfit presented several proposals through Petti and DePento to the Rincon tribe to obtain a contract to operate the planned casino and bingo parlor on the reservation. Mob financing for the proposals was withdrawn after several months, when it was observed that a similar operation in the Baltimore area was losing money. Petti went in search of other investors and unluckily came into contact with an undercover federal agent posing as a money launderer for a Colombian cocaine dealer. [23]

While awaiting his federal trial in San Diego, DiFronzo was called before a federal grand jury in the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago. The grand jury was investigating a series of bombings apparently related to the Outfit. Initially a response to a May 17, 1992, car bombing that seemed designed to intimidate turncoat mobster Leonard Patrick, the probe expanded to include the June 24, 1981, bombing that killed trucking firm executive Michael Cagnoni and the September 6, 1990, bombing that targeted but did not kill Teamsters official Lucien Senese. Other witnesses called before the grand jury included Marco D'Amico, Joseph LaMantia, Anthony Dote, Sam Carlisi, Joseph Andriacci, Frank Calabrese, James Marcello and Anthony Zizzo. [24]

The death of Anthony Accardo, May 27, 1992, occurred as the grand jury investigation was under way.

A year later, a federal jury in San Diego convicted John DiFronzo and Donald Angelini of conspiracy and fraud in connection with the Rincon casino proposal. They were each sentenced to serve thirty-seven months in a federal prison. Angelini also faced sentencing on a fraud conviction related to bingo gaming in Baltimore.

On appeal, DiFronzo managed to have his sentence reduced to sixteen months. He was released from prison in 1994. [25]

Joseph Lombardo

Lombardo

While he was behind bars, his old colleague Joseph Lombardo was released on parole, and observers speculated that Lombardo could wrest the boss position from DiFronzo. A local newspaper reported, "Federal authorities say [Lombardo] is an odds-on favorite to move up again, perhaps succeeding Anthony Accardo, the late boss of organized crime in Chicago." FBI experts suggested that Lombardo would be victorious in a power struggle against DiFronzo or Sam Carlisi. [26]

No such power struggle was seen. The underworld reportedly fell in line behind DiFronzo. By 1997, the Chicago Crime Commission asserted that John DiFronzo was top man in the Outfit and Lombardo and Angelo LaPietra were serving as his advisers. There were reports that DiFronzo's brother Peter had become his top aide and most trusted adviser. [27]

Even the "G" began to see things DiFronzo's way. When the IRS took issue with his claim of defense attorney fees as a business expense, a U.S. Tax Court judge backed the mob boss. Judge Arnold Raum ruled that the business expense was legitimate even if the business was not legitimate. He said DiFronzo's criminal convictions sufficed as proof of his line of work. At the time, experts cautioned that there were limits to underworld deductions. Firearms and bullets probably would not be allowed as business expenses, they said. [28]

Debtor becomes pot farmer

John DiFronzo's brother Joseph was linked in the early 1990s with what was described as the largest indoor marijuana farm in the state of Illinois. Authorities in March 1992 seized about 1,600 live plants from the basement of a Colonial home at 1411 Drummond Circle in the Chicago suburb of Inverness. The basement was equipped with bright grow lights and a watering system. A few days later, they discovered an additional 1,000 marijuana plants being farmed by the same operation within three trailers at a warehouse in a Carol Stream industrial park.

A grand jury returned a seven-count indictment, naming Joseph DiFronzo and eleven others as defendants, in the summer of 1993. The indictment was sealed, but authorities believed word of it was leaked to Joseph DiFronzo, who vanished before it was unsealed on July 23, 1993. Joseph was not seen for five years.

While he was a fugitive, defendant Michael Coffey, the owner of the Inverness home, pleaded guilty and told prosecutors his story. According to Coffey, he obtained a $10,000 loan through Joseph DiFronzo with a weekly interest of five percent. He was unable to keep up with payments, and the balance owed grew to $18,000 in just a few months. Joseph suggested that Coffey could erase the debt by agreeing to grow the marijuana in his home. He did so for two and a half years before the raid.

In mid-May 1998, FBI agents finally arrested Joseph DiFronzo, then sixty-three, at an apartment in Boca Raton, Florida. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

One last shot

Federal investigators were aiming for reputed underworld leaders DiFronzo and Alphonse "Pizza Al" Tornabene when they launched Operation Family Secrets at the end of the 1990s. Benefiting from the cooperation of Nick Calabrese, son of longtime Outfit big shot Frank Calabrese Sr., the FBI was able to assemble evidence of mob murders, loan sharking, gambling and conspiracy committed by mob by mob bosses.

However, DiFronzo and Tornabene were not included in the list of defendants when the Family Secrets case came together in the early 2000s. Just about every other significant Outfit leader was indicted.

There were fourteen defendants in the case, including Joey Lombardo, James Marcello, Michael Marcello, Frank Calabrese Sr., Nick Calabrese, Paul "the Indian" Schiro and Frank "the German" Schweihs. A number of other defendants reached plea deals before trial in 2007. Schweihs was severed from the trial due to his poor health (Schweihs died in July 2008).

Anthony Spilotro

Spilotro

During the proceedings, Nick Calabrese testified about the 1986 killings of Anthony and Michael Spilotro. He stated that John DiFronzo took part, along with defendant James Marcello, in beating the brothers to death.

Still, no charges related to those murders were brought against DiFronzo.

In September of 2007, a jury found five remaining Family Secrets defendants - James Marcello, Frank Calabrese Sr., Joseph Lombardo, Paul Schiro and former police officer Anthony Doyle - guilty on all charges. Later in that month, the same jury also found Calabrese, Marcello and Lombardo guilty of racketeering murders dating back to 1970. Sentencing occurred in January 2009: Calabrese, Marcello and Lombardo were sentenced to life in prison; Schiro to twenty years and Doyle to twelve years. [29]

Rather than remove DiFronzo from power as initially intended, Family Secrets provided him with additional security. There was speculation that the Marcello wing of the Outfit was a threat to DiFronzo's status. James Marcello was sent away for life through Family Secrets, largely for his involvement in the same killings attributed but not charged to DiFronzo. Marcello's brother Michael, who reached a Family Secrets plea deal, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.

John DiFronzo

DiFronzo

Early in 2009, investigators proclaimed DiFronzo the "undisputed boss of the Chicago mob." Still living at his River Grove apartment, DiFronzo was said to make regular drives in his pickup truck to a local restaurant, the Loon cafe on Thatcher Avenue. There he met with brother Peter, Marco D'Amico and other underworld figures. In March of that year, reporters from ABC-7 in Chicago intruded on a DiFronzo lunch meeting. The boss was polite but unrevealing with the news team. [30]

The DiFronzo hangout closed in spring 2010 (it has since reopened as a new restaurant). [31] The boss's effectiveness as a leader likely did not last much longer. But, even in his decline, John DiFronzo avoided the lengthy prison terms experienced by so many of his colleagues. He could not escape the ravages of old age, but in large part he did succeed in "beating the G."

 

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Notes

Goudie, Chuck, and Barb Markoff, "Chicago mob boss John 'No Nose' DiFronzo dead at 89." abc7chicago.com, May 28, 2018, accessed May 29, 2018; Marin, Carol, and Don Moseley, "John DiFronzo, top Chicago mobster, dies," nbcchicago.com, May 29, 2018, accessed May 29, 2018; "Chicago mob boss John 'No Nose' DiFronzo dead at 89," chicago.cbslocal.com, May 29, 2018, accessed May 29, 2018; Goldsborough, Bob, "Reputed Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo dies at 89," Chicago Tribune, May 30, 2018. The Chicago Tribune article indicated that DiFronzo died on Monday, May 28, while the broadcast stories pointed to Sunday, May 27.

"Chicago mob boss John 'No Nose' DiFronzo dead at 89," chicago.cbslocal.com.

Goudie, Chuck, and Barb Markoff, "Chicago mob boss John 'No Nose' DiFronzo dead at 89." abc7chicago.com; Marin, Carol, and Don Moseley, "John DiFronzo, top Chicago mobster, dies," nbcchicago.com.

Goldsborough, Bob, "Reputed Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo dies at 89;" O'Brien, John, and Gary Marx, "Mob may shrug off boss' death," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1989, p. 1; "Chicago mob boss John 'No Nose' DiFronzo dead at 89," chicago.cbslocal.com.

U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1, Ancestry.com, accessed May 29, 2018; Michele Difronzo Petition for Naturalization, U.S. District Court at Chicago, no. 327713, June 12, 1947. Michele DiFronzo was born in Capurso, Italy, on Oct. 7, 1898. His wife Addolorata was born in the same town on Nov. 20, 1904. They were married in Capurso on June 3, 1926.

Francesco was born March 13, 1927.

Passenger manifest of S.S. Conte Biancamano, departed Naples on Feb. 14, 1931, arrived New York on Feb. 23, 1931.

Passenger manifest of S.S. President Wilson, departed Naples on Aug. 4, 1923, arrived New York on Aug. 16, 1923.

Passenger manifest of S.S. Roma, departed Naples on Oct. 30, 1929, arrived New York on Nov. 8, 1929.

10 Passenger manifest of S.S. Conte Biancamano; Michele Difronzo Petition for Naturalization, U.S. District Court at Chicago, no. 327713, June 12, 1947. Michele DiFronzo explained this on his later petition for naturalization: "I also filed petition No. 57186 on Oct. 24, 1923, in the Superior Court of Cook County at Chicago, Illinois and was granted certificate of naturalization No. 1782934 on February 8, 1924, which certificate was cancelled by the United States District Court at Chicago, Illinois, on June 7, 1932, for fraudulent and illegal procurement, false testimony as to residence, and lack of good moral character.

11 Michele Difronzo Petition for Naturalization, U.S. District Court at Chicago, no. 327713, June 12, 1947.

12 Michele Difronzo Declaration of Intention, United States District Court at Chicago, no. 202172, Dec. 23, 1944; Michele Difronzo Declaration of Intention, United States District Court at Chicago, no. 202172, Dec. 23, 1944; Michele Difronzo Petition for Naturalization, U.S. District Court at Chicago, no. 327713, June 12, 1947.

13 United States Census of 1940, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, Ward 28, Enumeration District 103-1762; Michele Difronzo Declaration of Intention, United States District Court at Chicago, no. 202172, Dec. 23, 1944; Michele Difronzo Petition for Naturalization, U.S. District Court at Chicago, no. 327713, June 12, 1947.

14 "Police bullets fell 2 trapped in dress shop," Chicago Tribune, Dec. 15, 1949, p. 1; "Police break up gang in Windy City," DeKalb IL Daily Chronicle, Dec. 15, 1949, p. 8; Goldsborough, Bob, "Reputed Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo dies at 89;" Goudie, Chuck, and Barb Markoff, "Chicago mob boss John 'No Nose' DiFronzo dead at 89." abc7chicago.com; O'Brien, John, and Gary Marx, "Mob may shrug off boss' death," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1989, p. 1.

15 "Driver flees; FBI nabs him, stolen cargo," Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1961, p. 10; "U.S. charges name eight in $40,000 theft," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 11, 1962, p. 48; "Three convicted of hauling loot," Stevens Point WI Journal, Oct. 7, 1963, p. 15; "Jury finds 3 are guilty in cigaret case," Chicago Tribune, Oct. 8, 1963, p. B8; United States of America v. Peter Difronzo, Medo Calzavara and Anthony Daddino, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit - 345 F.2d 383 (7th Cir. 1965), April 29, 1965, law.justia.com, accessed May 29, 2018.

16 Wiedrich, Robert, "Hood plan to expand loan racket told," Chicago Tribune, Dec. 13, 1963, p. 30; "Mug for cameras," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 1, 1964, p. 40; "Suspects in 'juice' beating in court," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 8, 1964, p. 21.

17 "Question Gagliano in jury fix attempt," Chicago Tribune, April 3, 1964, p. 8.

18 "12th woman juror named in juice trial of 6 hoods," Chicago Tribune, May 13, 1964, p. 54; Koziol, Ronald, "Jury acquits all in loan beating case," Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1964, p. 1.

19 Delugach, Al, "5 mob figures guilty in Vegas skimming case," Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 1986; Koziol, Ronald, "28 years for Cerone in skim," Chicago Tribune, March 26, 1986, p. 3; Koziol, Ronald, "Aiuppa sentenced for casino skim," Chicago Tribune, March 28, 1986, p. 5; "Lombardo sentenced in skim," Chicago Tribune, April 2, 1986, p. 3. Following the jury's guilty verdict, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph E. Stevens Jr. sentenced Aiuppa and Cerone to 28 1/2 years in prison, Milton Rockman of Cleveland to 24 years, Lombardo and LaPietra of Chicago and Carl DeLuna of Kansas City to 16 years. The maximum sentence for their offenses was 40 years. All were eligible for parole after serving one-third of their sentences. A number of defendants pleaded guilty before the verdict in the "Strawman" case. They included Mafia leaders Carl "the Cork" Civella of Kansas City and Frank Balistrieri of Milwaukee. Anthony "the Ant" Spilotro also was charged in the case, but he was to be tried separately. He was murdered before he could come to trial.

20 O'Brien, John, and Gary Marx, "Mob may shrug off boss' death," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1989, p. 1; Luft, Kerry, and Jacquelyn Heard, "Joseph Ferriola, Chicago mob figure, dies at 61," Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1989, p. 1.

21 O'Brien, John, and Gary Marx, "Mob may shrug off boss' death;" Luft and Heard, "Joseph Ferriola, Chicago mob figure, dies at 61;" "DiFronzo may get top mob job," DeKalb IL Daily Chronicle, March 13, 1989, p. 3.

22 Koziol, Ronald, "Quiet Oak Brook draws quite a mob," Chicago Tribune, June 10, 1986; Koziol, Ronald, and John O'Brien, "Mob bosses find a home in Oak Brook," Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1989; Luft and Heard, "Joseph Ferriola, Chicago mob figure, dies at 61;" U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1, Ancestry.com. Ferriola's home was built at 716 Forest Glen Lane in the northeast corner of Oak Brook. (Mobster Harry Aleman, married to Ferriola's niece, resided in another brick mansion just a few doors away. These homes were a short distance from the home of Joseph Aiuppa.)

23 "Reputed mobsters face federal charges," Moline IL Dispatch, Jan. 11, 1992, p. 20; O'Connor, Matt, "4 indicted in mobsters' scam to skim Indian casino profits," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 11, 1992, p. 5; "Reputed mob bosses on trial," Woodstock IL Northwest Herald, Jan. 28, 1992, p. 7.

24 O'Brien, John, "Car bombing might backfire on the mob," Chicago Tribune, May 19, 1992, p. B1; O'Brien, John, "U.S. expands probe into mob-tied bombs," Chicago Tribune, May 21, 1992, p. B5.

25 O'Brien, John, "Chicago mobsters lose in California," Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1993, p. B2; Goldsborough, Bob, "Reputed Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo dies at 89."

26 O'Brien, John, "Lombardo back after 10 years," Chicago Tribune, Nov. 13, 1992, p. B1.

27 Goldsborough, Bob, "Reputed Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo dies at 89;" "I-Team report: Lunch with 'No Nose," abc7chicago.com, March 12, 2009, accessed May 29, 2018.

28 O'Brien, John, "Reputed mobster's legal fees deductible," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 12, 1998, p. B5.

29 "14 defendants indicted for alleged organized crime activities...," press release of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, April 25, 2005; Pistone, Ann, and Chuck Goudie, "Family Secrets convictions upheld," abc7.com, May 1, 2012; Developments in the Family Secrets trial were covered as they occurred through the Mob-News blog.

30 "I-Team report: Lunch with 'No Nose," abc7chicago.com, March 12, 2009, accessed May 29, 2018.

31 Announcement, April 21, 2010, Loon Cafe Facebook Page.