Al Capone's Grandniece Angered by Photo

A photograph taken long ago in La Salle County that purportedly shows Al Capone and Chicago's then mayor William "Big Bill" Thompson prompted one of the mob boss' relatives to step forward — with anger.

The photograph in question was snapped in December 1930, at St. Joseph's Health Resort in Wedron. The four-foot long, 15-inch wide panoramic shot shows several hundred people standing in front of and on top the resort, including Thompson. The occasion was Thompson's stay at the resort recovering from appendix surgery. It was the presence of another man among the other faces that caught the eye of Chicago mob researcher, author and University of Illinois at Chicago professor John Binder.




Binder said he was "99 percent plus positive" the man is Capone. Besides matching the general physical characteristics of the mob legend, the man also sported the well-known accoutrements: vest, overcoat and pearl gray fedora. One of the things that might have made it 100 percent, however, was missing: a Thompson submachine gun. Several of the men near this figure also wore similar clothes, the informal uniform of the mob under Capone.




Binder said the historical significance of the photo is it purportedly shows Big Bill Thompson and Capone together — cementing the tie between Prohibition-era City Hall and hoodlums.

The Times story about Binder and the photograph generated interest from local readers and editors at newspapers across the Midwest, including the Chicago Tribune. Binder said he showed the photo to other experts who agreed the figure was a dead ringer for Capone. Some of these experts said they also saw men in the picture with resemblances to John Torrio, who gave Capone his start in the Chicago rackets, and Capone ally Claude "Screwy" Maddox.

However, several months after the story hit the news, Binder was a bit surprised he hadn't heard from more people, considering there were several hundred people in the Wedron photo, which thinking exponentially means there would be several thousand relatives of the people pictured, a few of whom could be expected to have a copy of the photo or at least to know about it and come forward. But none did. Perhaps it has something to do with the subject matter: the underworld.

One writer challenged Binder's assertion Capone is in the photo. However, Binder described the writer as an "apologist" for Thompson who argues there was little if any link between Capone and the mayor.

However, Binder did hear from a woman apparently related to Capone, specifically the granddaughter of Capone's brother, Ralph. This woman also called The Times. In both cases she complained her family name was being smeared and she did not give approval for the Times story to be published. She further claimed the figure Binder and other researchers point to as Al Capone was instead her grandfather, Ralph. Binder dismissed this claim out of hand.

A few years ago, this grandniece of Al Capone was interviewed on NBC-Television's "Today Show" about her great uncle Al.

Despite a couple of naysayers, Binder rests comfortable the photo shows Uncle Al — so much so, his framed copy of the picture hangs prominently in an office in his home.

La Salle County is Capone crazy.
Ask just about any native and they'll tell you a Capone tale as quick as Big Al would have muscled in on a rival beer baron.

"Capone used to stay next door to my parents' house," or "my uncle was a bodyguard for Capone," or "my grandfather hauled bootleg booze for Capone."

There are too many of these stories for them all to be true, because if they're all true, then Capone must have only recruited henchmen from La Salle County. However, some are likely true, such as the case of the Wedron photo.

Chicago mob researcher John Binder spotted a cropped version of the photo in my book, "Capone's Cornfields: The Mob in the Illinois Valley." He reached out to me for more information about the photo and where he could get a copy.

Eventually getting a copy and looking at the full photo, Binder spotted a man he believes to be Al Capone — making the picture historically significant.

This was one of those stories that reached beyond the local area — and that's what folks love, seeing their part of the world put on the map.

Thanks to Dan Churney

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Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto's Son Laid to Rest After Being Gunned Down in Broad Daylight

The bells of an Italian Renaissance-style church in Montreal chimed softly Saturday as pallbearers carried the gold coffin of the son of the reputed head of Canada's most powerful Mafia family.

There was a heavy police presence in the city's Little Italy neighborhood at the funeral service for Nick Rizzuto, the son of Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto.

Nick was standing next to a black Mercedes last Monday when a gunman approached and fired several shots in broad daylight, killing him. Witnesses said the victim crumpled into the fresh snow. Police have not yet arrested the unidentified gunman.

Most of the mourners at Notre-Dame-de-la Defense church remained tightlipped as they filed out of the church, refusing to speak to reporters assembled outside.

Family friend Ricardo Padulo recalled the younger Rizzuto as "a gentleman."

"This turnout shows respect," Padulo said. "In the eye of God he's a great person. It was a beautiful service."

Henri Padulo knew Rizzuto from around the neighborhood, and recalled meeting him in local restaurants.

"He was a very polite boy, he never harassed anybody," he said. "Sometimes these things happen. Unfortunately, that's life. It's a sad day. He was young, 42 years old."

Some bystanders said curiosity brought them there.

"It's tourism," said Jean Fournier. "I'm here to see what it's like, who these people are."
During the packed service, the priest, dressed in fuchsia robes, addressed the somber crowd in Italian.

One burly man angrily ushered journalists outside after they entered the church to watch the funeral.

Vito Rizzuto, who is serving a sentence in Colorado for racketeering related to three Mafia murders, was not seen at the funeral. The victim's grandfather and namesake Nicolo Rizzuto Sr. was there, wearing a dark cashmere coat and his trademark fedora.

Nicolo Rizzuto began his Mafia career in Canada as an associate of the Cotroni crime family that controlled much of Montreal's drug trade in the 1970s while answering to the Bonanno crime family of New York.

Adrian Humphreys and Lee Lamothe titled their book "The Sixth Family" after the Rizzuto clan, saying it rivals any of the five mob families in New York, which includes the Lucchese, Bonanno, Gambino, Colombo, and Genovese mob clans.

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La Cosa Nostra Associates Plead Guilty in New York

Federal law enforcement officials in New York City ended 2009 by taking a big bite out of organized crime in two separate cases: one involving Gambino Crime Family associates, the other involving a captain with the Genevese Crime Family. There are five families running La Cosa Nostra ('our thing") organized crime in New York.

Two associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family, Letterio DeCarlo and Thomas Dono, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court to participating in a conspiracy that resulted in the murder Frank Hydell on April 28, 1998. The defendants also admitted to their participation in a conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business in the late 1990s, according to documents examined by the National Association of Chiefs of Police's Organized Crime Committee.

According to the Indictment, other court filings, and statements made during today's guilty plea proceeding before United States District Judge Colleen McMahom: One of the goals of the Gambino Organized Crime Family was to protect its members and associates from detection and prosecution by law enforcement, by intimidating and seeking reprisal against individuals who provided testimony or other information to law enforcement. As associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family, the defendants committed various crimes, including murder, assault, robbery, burglary, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.

DeCarlo and Dono agreed with others to murder Hydell in order to maintain and increase their standing as associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family. Hydell was murdered to prevent him from providing information to law enforcement about ongoing criminal activities of the defendants and other Gambino Organized Crime Family members and associates, including the January 1997 beating and murder of Frank Parasole.

DeCarlo, 47, and Dono, 34, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Each count also carries a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on March 22, 2010, by Judge McMahon.

Co-defendant Edmund Boyle is scheduled to go to trial beginning on January 19, 2010, on related charges of racketeering conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering.

In a separate organized crime case, Michael Coppola, a captain in the Genovese organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment by United States District Judge John Gleeson following his conviction by a jury on racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges.

The jury heard evidence of Coppola’s participation in a three-decade-long conspiracy to extort the leadership, and defraud the members, of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1235, a union that represents port workers in New Jersey.

The trial evidence established that Coppola and others in the Genovese family controlled a succession of presidents at the union since the 1970s and extorted substantial tribute payments to the detriment of union members. The evidence included wiretap intercepts of calls in 2005 between Coppola and the son of Local 1235’s then-president in which Coppola was informed that tribute payments to the Genovese family had recently “almost doubled.”

In 1996, after being served with an investigative summons to provide a DNA sample to the state of New Jersey in connection with a murder investigation, Coppola fled and remained a fugitive for the next 11 years, using identification in numerous assumed names and traveling between residences in California and New York. The FBI captured Coppola on March 9, 2007, when a team of agents spotted him walking on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Thanks to Jim Kouri

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Tony Accardo - The Genuine Godfather

Anthony Joseph Accardo--aka Joe Batters and The Big Tuna--began his mob career as bodyguard to Al Capone. A triggerman in the St. Valentine's Day massacre of 1929, Accardo eventually became 'consiglieri' of the Chicago mob.

Related by William F. Roemer, the former senior FBI agent on the Organized Crime Squad in Chicago, "Accardo" is the story of the rise of the most powerful mob boss of all time.

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Mafia Wars Changes on Facebook

In case you've been taking a hiatus from your FarmVille, Mafia Wars, etc. over the holiday, you're going to notice some changes when you resume your regular Facebook gaming schedule.

The biggest difference? You might have problems sending in-game gifts to friends. However, it's not a problem at all, rather the result of Facebook setting limits on how many people you can send gifts to per game, plus an overall limit on gifting per day.

A Zynga rep had this to say about the changes, "Unfortunately since we do not control these changes we cannot provide "exact" details as there is no exact science as to how many requests you will be able to send on a per game/per day basis."

Of course, considering the millions of people who play these games (and send gifts), we're sure all of that activity taxes Facebook's backend resources, so we can understand why the social network decided to lay down the law.

Thanks to Libe Goad

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