Outfit Capo Lee Magnafichi
Posted on 18. Nov, 2011 by Joseph Fosco in History, Organized Crime
Eligio Magnafichi became the proud father to his second son, Lee, on January 10th, 1927. The name Lee is the Americanized version of Eligio. Eligio’s son, Lee, grew up in the Galewood/Montclare area of Chicago near Harlem Avenue and Grand Avenue. Lee was the third child of four children, which included Evelyn (who I know personally and respect), Joe and Gloria. Lee’s mother, Josephine, passed away when Lee was a young boy.
Lee was a tough kid with a strong sense of respect and loyalty. These two key ingredients of his psyche would one day grant him access to Chicago’s most powerful crime syndicate, the Outfit. While he would eventually rise to the upper echelons of this criminal organization, his start in the Outfit would not occur in his early adulthood. As a young man Lee became best pals with Eco Coli. Lee and Eco, not having an adequate education, quickly turned to the streets to make their living. They were thieves who dabbled in other various schemes to churn a quick buck.
As a side note, Coli eventually went on to hold a prominent position with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was also a dear friend of my late father.
In the 1950s, one of Lee’s friends – a man named Jasper “Skeezix” Coconate, who had legitimate business ties regarding auto sales – was the person who introduced Lee to his business partner, future Outfit Boss John DiFronzo. This gave Lee his entrance into the Outfit. Impressed with the young man, DiFronzo arranged for Lee to meet Outfit leader Joe “Gags” Gagliano. Gags, with some assistance from Willie Messino, was the chief recruiter for the Jack Cerone crime faction.
From the late 1950s through the mid-1980s, Lee was a solider under Cerone. To give you an idea of what a typical day was like for Lee Magnafichi while working for the old, drunken crazy Jack Cerone, I will share an Elmer Conti story with you. For those who do not know the name, Elmer Conti was a longtime Village President of Elmwood Park, Illinois. One evening old man Cerone was walking out of an Elmwood Park establishment with Lee , Elmer and Joe Andriacchi. Apparently, Elmer did or said something inadvertently that aggravated the easily angered Cerone, when all of a sudden Cerone belted out, “Elmer, I’ll have these guys,” indicating Lee and Joe, “shoot you in your f***ing head!” Lee and Joe, never knowing what Cerone was going to do next, got ready to shoot. Obviously Cerone failed to execute the order and Elmer escaped Cerone’s wrath long enough to die of natural causes.
Lee served a few prison sentences. One of his early prison sentences was for counterfeiting. I believe that Eco Coli spent time with Lee during one of his early prison stints regarding a mutual case. I know that my friend Alfonse Bartkus shared a prison cell with Lee in the 1950s. Al is the man who first made the Double Jeopardy law known to the world (simply Google his name to read up on him).
Another cell partner of Lee’s would prove to play a very significant role in Lee’s life. His name was Rocky Joyce, and he was a close friend of the infamous hooligan Tony Spilotro. Sometime after their release from prison, Rocky Joyce introduced Lee to a beautiful young woman from Oak Park, Illinois, named Geraldine Tomaselli. Three weeks later Gerry became Mrs. Lee Magnafichi.
Nearly 47-years ago to the day, Lee, Joe Andriacchi (now an Outfit heavyweight), Peter and Joe DiFronzo (brothers of Outfit boss John DiFronzo) and the late Rich Penachio (an extremely tough Outfit associate), were busted in a store robbery in the State of Michigan. All but one of them, Joe DiFronzo, were indicted and sentenced to prison. In total, Lee served roughly 4-years on this conviction. His son Michael was six when Lee went away to prison on the Michigan case. At the time, Lee and his new family were living in Elmwood Park, Illinois, in an apartment house located on Fullerton Avenue.
After Lee’s release from prison in the early 1970s, Lee moved his family to a modest home in Bensenville, Illinois. Their home was not too far away from the now infamous house then owned by his brother-in-law Jimmy. It was in the basement of Jimmy’s house that Lee and John DiFronzo would take part in the gory execution of the Spilotro brothers in 1986.
That famous assassination was not the beginning of Lee’s career as a killer for the Outfit, though. From what I understand, Lee was responsible for a number of murders that were committed in the Bensenville area, though the bodies were not necessarily found in Bensenville. In fact, it has been said by some that, next to Johnny DiFronzo, Lee was one of Outfit Underboss Jack Cerone’s most prolific killers. Lee took part in some of the Outfit hits that targeted the numerous burglars assassinated because of their suspected involvement in the infamous Accardo burglary. He was even ordered to take part in the murder of one of his own friends, Jerry “Ding-Dong” (or “Dinger”) Carusiello. Apparently, his role in knocking down his own pal bothered him so much that he stayed in bed for 2-days.
Eventually, Lee, would move his family to Wood Dale, Illinois, which is where he resided for the rest of his life.
Lee was ‘made’ into the Chicago Outfit shortly after the assassination of Outfit icon Sam Giancana. In 1986, Lee was elevated to Capo by outgoing Outfit Underboss Jack Cerone. Lee believed that he was not entitled to such position, not before his best friend, Joe Andriacchi. In a show of this belief, Lee split everything he made with Andriacchi until the day he died.
Despite his involvement in the gritty business of gangland murder, It would not be a bullet or a knife that ended Lee’s life. It would be cancer, that most silent of killers, that would end Lee’s career with the Outfit.
While on his deathbed during the final week of the year 1989, his closest friends visited him in what is their typical deathbed visitation ritual, where several Outfit fellows unite to say goodbye to their partner in crime. Among those who attended were Solly DeLaurentis, Rocky “The Huck” Infelice, John and Pete DiFronzo, Willie Messino and Marco D’Amico. During their visit, Johnny found an opportunity to make a wisecrack about old man Cerone. As Lee was drinking his liquid morphine, he responded to Johnny’s wisecrack by saying, “Jack was pretty good to us, John.” In the end, it was proven that the only friend Jack Cerone had from his own crew was Lee Magnafichi.
After the fellows left the Magnafichi home, Joe Andriacchi came over, alone, which was his intention to do. Joe was Lee’s genuine friend, who was not interested in being apart of a dramatic Outfit entourage. Joe wanted to spend quality time with his dying friend, his selected brother. Lee asked Joe to look after his son Michael. Joe proudly agreed. The two friends hugged and cried and said goodbye to each other.
A few days later, Lee was waked at Salerno’s Funeral Home. Boss Johnny DiFronzo paid for the services, in what used to be the Outfit’s tradition when burying a ‘made’ guy.
Lee Magnafichi was a good son, brother, husband and father. If you ask a Chicago Outfit thug, you will hear that he was also a good gangster. However, he took other people’s lives, whether for his own reasons, or reasons of others. I wish to say a prayer for the families that Lee and his criminal cohorts, especially John DiFronzo, have destroyed.
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