The
mafia in Chicago was once known as the Capone Organization by Law
Enforcement because they had no idea how the mafia worked. Known as the
Outfit by those on the street it was a highly successful Criminal
Empire. The man who led the Outfit into the new age was Anthony Arcardo
also known as Joe Batters. He ruled with an iron fist, yet he never
spent one night in jail. He may also have been responsible for the
decline of the Outfit. So what was it like in an Outfit Crew? Read on...
Family Life in the Chicago Outfit.
Recently
Frank Calabrese Jr and I were talking about the life and he said one
thing that rang true for me also. He said at one point in his life he
bought into the life fully, he was a true believer. That is how I felt
and also so many of my friends who have since left the life.
Frank
Jr.’s story starts when he was in 3rd grade and his family moved to
Elmwood Park into what was known as the Compound. It was a three story
home and the family lived on the top two stories. The basement was a
family room that they referred to as the Garden Department because it
was just below ground level. A couple of years later they would add a
huge addition to the house with more rooms and a professional gym and
sauna.
Frank's
father was Frank Calabrese Sr AKA “Frankie The Breeze” a Capo in the
Chicago Outfit. He had worked his way up from associate to made guy
under Angelo J. "The Hook" LaPietra the boss of the Outfit’s Chinatown
crew. Frankie would later lead this crew and he knew how to make cash.
Frank
Jr and his brothers were raised to be tight lipped about his family.
One day he came home from school and he asked his father what he should
say that he did for a living. Frank Sr told him to say he was an
Operating Engineer. What his father really did was make Juice Loans.
These were loans that required no credit checks and no collateral
except yourself. He was a Shylocks’ Shylock and he would make
everything from a knockdown loan (Principle and Interest) to an interest
only loan at 2.5 percent a week. I personally think people are better
off with a juice loan than a payday loan or a title loan because these
local lenders would work with you if you fell behind.
Frank
Sr also ran a huge sportsbook and during the Arcardo years Chicago
Bookmakers were organized into one huge book. This was highly effective
because they had a lock on the lines and the players. Frank Sr
schooled Frank Jr on how to basically rate a player’s credit. They
would look at the player, what they did for work and then decide how
much they could play a week. The main reason was so nobody got in over
their head because it could turn out real bad if a wife got scared and
ran to the FBI. If a player did not pay there were no threats, they
would just cut him off and there was no place he could bet. He had his
name out there and no Outfit book would deal with him. Frank Sr would
eventually drop the bookmaking and just collect a fee of 1000 dollars a
week from every bookmaker. This was a lot less work and he didn't have
to deal with politics or numbers of the liars and cheats that ran the
books. It was a flat fee and it got rid of the drama and bullshit.
The
Outfit was not the type of Family that encouraged the sons of made guys
to join. Most of the guys in the Outfit made sure their sons went on
to bigger and better things. This was not what Frank Sr had in mind for
Frank Jr. Frank Sr started to see some of himself in Frank Jr so he
started off having him do little things and showing him what the life
was about. He learned how to make the loans and how the interest rate
worked. He would do the books for the juice loans and Sports Books.
Then
Frank Sr got his hooks into a porn guy who owned 8 adult bookstores
with booths to watch a loop. These were huge money makers, bringing in
all quarters. The skim on these booths are huge. Frank Jr would go and
collect the quarters from the machines. This would average about 4,000 a
week and he would set aside 1800.00 for the Outfit. Frank Sr did not
want to put a dime back into the business and he was so hard on the guy
who owned them that the guy fled in terror. He probably could have had a
bunch of stores if he just was a little nice, but nice was not in Frank
Sr’s makeup. Frank Jr would order more loops for the booths and his
father would get pissed that he wasted any money “investing”. He would
also get pissed when the stores were down and not hitting the numbers he
expected.
This is when Frank Jr stepped up and threw himself into the life full force.
Frank
Sr’s crew was one of the two crews that did all the hits for the
Chicago family. They had even killed the Spilatro brothers in a scene
made famous in the movie Casino. Another series of killings they took
part in, was killing some of the burglers that hit Anthony Arcardo’s
house. These burglars were tortured and their faces were blowtorched.
They had been warned to give everything back and refused to listen, and
that was their punishment. This was the crew that Frank Jr was about
to join. Now that you know a bit of the background, next week stay
tuned for more on Frank Jr’s experience growing up gangster.
Good to see you updating your blog again Kenji.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Frank Jr think the status of todays Outfit is? How many made guys on the street?
I have read very different estimates from different people. Some say the Outfits dead, what does Frank Jr have to say about that?
I also read that some people think John DiFronzo is a dry snitch for the feds. What does Frank make of those rumours? Possible?
Thanks.
To answer anonymous question from my perspective ( grew up in chicago all my life) ....... the outfit is what it is and always will be . The second one.....everybody is entitled to their own opinion.
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