This addendum will cover the late Chicago Outfit Boss John DiFronzo. By early 1997 he was the modern-day Al Capone of the Chicago Outfit in the hearts and minds of many. For those who saw him as such, the assumption often is that John relished his role as the figurative boss of bosses.
John DiFronzo, however, might have held a different opinion. His relationship with the power structure of the Outfit was a rocky one, as you will discover.
John DiFronzo was born in Chicago on December 13, 1928, and passed away on May 27th, 2018. The amount and quality of information that I possess on this subject is overwhelming. However, in this addendum, I will cover only specific highlights that I feel are most interesting at this time. Surely I will cover more in future addendums. This addendum will allow you to understand how it is that John DiFronzo was one of the most cunning and traitorous Chicago gangsters of all time.
Sometime around 1948, a young John DiFronzo caught the eye of a very well-known then mid-level Chicago Outfit operative named Joe “Joe Gags” Gagliano. John was then a small-time thief, who quickly showed signs of criminal greatness. Joe Gags, as John once told me personally, “brought me into the picture.” Joe Gags was Outfit heavy Jackie Cerone’s top enforcer. They ran the Chicago Outfit’s Elmwood Park crew. Ultimately, John would succeed Joe as Jack’s top enforcer after Joe’s sudden death in 1971.
Wherever John went, his younger brother Peter was with him. Their bond was extremely close. While his name is not nearly as known as John’s, Peter was involved in all of his older brother’s biggest decisions. According to sources, there were no secrets between them.
Joseph Fosco and John DiFronzo in February 2015
If any of you are wondering what my connection was with John, I will tell you. Beginning in the mid to late 1990s he and I established a very casual acquaintanceship, which was easy to do because of my friendship with Outfit operative Willie Messino and with the family of his then former boss, the late Jack Cerone. Our acquaintanceship primarily centered on discussing Jack Cerone, Esquire (gangster Jackie Cerone’s son), and the health of the then-ailing Romie Nappi, my uncle, who I would visit from time to time. John seemed to appreciate my routine updates on both individuals.
Little did we know then that I would one day attempt to sue John in federal court. Being the head of the Chicago Outfit, John would be included in any indictment involving his Elmwood Park underlings extorting money from me. As you will read later, John was no stranger to navigating RICO cases. I may go into detail with respect to my now dismissed lawsuit in a future addendum. The complaint is discoverable for those who want to read it.
One thing I will tell you is that if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have included John in my lawsuit.
The 1970s was a very successful era for John DiFronzo. He was a legitimate car dealer and was purportedly filing a healthy six-figure annual income. His legitimate income was a mere pittance compared to what he one-day would earn through Outfit rackets and his silent interest in his brother Peter’s wife’s company, D & P Trucking, though John believed he could have done better. In later years John was known to tell those around him of his regrets over getting involved with the rackets. He believed that he could have been one of the largest car dealers in the Midwest if he had the freedom necessary to accomplish this goal.
This is one of the many indications that John had mixed feelings about his involvement in the Chicago Outfit.
After the 1975 murder of Outfit heavy Sam Giancana, Joe “Joey O” Aiuppa was clearly defined as boss of the Chicago Outfit, and Jackie Cerone his underboss. Around this time John DiFronzo was made capo of the Elmwood Park crew.
In 1986, Joe Aiuppa and Jackie Cerone went off to prison along with several other Outfit members. They were unsuccessful defendants in a criminal case that involved Las Vegas. This case later inspired the famous Martin Scorsese to produce the 1995 film Casino. However, just prior to their departure from society, Joey O selected Sam Carlisi to succeed him as boss of the Chicago Outfit, and Jackie selected John and Willie Messino to jointly succeed him as the underbosses of the Chicago Outfit. Lee Magnafichi replaced John as capo of the Elmwood Park crew. However, Willie’s responsibilities and authority as co-underboss were limited to his then oversight of the Chicago Outfit’s dealings with Kansas City. Willie had in-laws who were prominently established in the Kansas City-based Outfit, which served as one of the main reasons for Willie being selected for this specific position.
Unfortunately for Willie, his gig as co-underboss was very short-lived, as his explosive temper triggered concern among Sam and John. Both of them were worried that Willie’s temper would get them in trouble. This caused Sam to demote Willie a few months later.
Now the sole underboss of the Chicago Outfit, John DiFronzo was almost where he wanted to be. At the time, John was still interested in becoming the boss. According to a source, John believed he could do a vastly better job managing the Outfit than Joe Aiuppa or even Jackie Cerone. However, John well knew that his influence was limited by four very powerful men: Anthony “Joe B” Accardo, Joe “Joey O” Aiuppa, Jackie Cerone, and Sam Carlisi. Each man would have to be persuaded to go John’s way or be neutralized to clear a path to the top.
Joe B was basically retired and only carried honorary power in the Outfit, though this power was fierce. Joe B was the elder statesman of the Outfit, a retired general who could be approached by the worthy for good advice. Allegiances to Joe B by this time were purely out of respect. I wish to note that many Outfit members and associates had enormous respect for Joe B, therefore, John felt an obligation to Joe B.
Joey O and Jackie were incarcerated and had relinquished their powerful titles and positions. The threat these two men posed to John was somewhat a futuristic concern, depending on whether they would live to see the light of day. If successful in acquiring freedom, they might be able to reclaim their old positions, forcing John back down the ranks.
Sam Carlisi was by far the most dangerous man on John’s list. As it was somewhat addressed in Late Chicago-Based Teamsters Officials Armando Fosco And Dominic Senese Exposed!, John was detecting signs of trouble from his boss. In early 1988, John was not consulted when Sam ordered the murder of Teamsters boss Dominic Senese, which was subsequently botched. After this, several major Outfit decisions were made by Sam without consulting John.
John not being consulted by Sam in serious Outfit moves was a major break in protocol. Deviations this large were enough to make any naturally paranoid criminal see a large red flag. John had good reason to believe that he might be next on Sam’s hit list.
According to a source, it was under Sam’s reign that John began to rethink his career in the Outfit. John’s previous aspirations of taking over the Outfit were dashed by the adversarial relationship he had with Sam. As many of my sources have related, Sam was a tyrant. There was no real chance to change his mind on anything. John’s greatest asset, his extreme cunning, was useless to him in manipulating Sam. It would be of use to other people though, and these people were deeply interested in destroying Sam Carlisi.
One night in December of 1989 at John’s 61st birthday party at the now old Maroons Club in Elmwood Park the situation came to a boil. Sam, who was in attendance, purportedly had a chance to talk to John alone. During their intimate conversation, John vented over being left out of important decision-making matters. Under Jackie, John’s role as an adviser was taken seriously. Jackie would listen to John who, being the man on the street, often had a better idea of the real situation.
Sam, however, had no interest in listening to John’s counsel. Carlisi was furious with John’s questioning of him, and sharply reminded his underboss exactly who was in control. Sam then abruptly left John’s birthday party before dinner was served. Immediately after that experience, John confided in a few of his close allies about the matter and voiced his concern that Sam was going to have him killed.
Two people who helped ease tension between John and Sam were Charlie Nicosia, my surrogate uncle, and Outfit boss emeritus Joe B. Charlie was a well-connected Outfit operative who was extremely close to both Sam and John. Joe B was Joe B. These connections helped John deal with his concerns about Sam, and vice versa. At the end of the day, though, this was only as successful as Sam allowed it to be. John knew that even Joe B could not get through to Sam if he set his mind to a particular outcome.
In addition to relying on Nicosia and Accardo to defuse tensions, John, in a calculated plan, orchestrated what he seemed to think was the successful cultivation of a good friendship with James Marcello, one of Sam’s close Outfit allies. John hoped Marcello would give him privileged access into Sam’s inner circle.
Early 1992 marked an interesting time for John and Sam as they were indicted along with seven others on a federal case in California. The indictment included three Los Angeles-based Outfit members. The defendants were charged with attempting to takeover a gambling hall that was owned by the Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, of the Rincon Reservation, located in Valley Center CDP, San Diego County, California.
It’s important to note that by mid-1992, both Charlie Nicosia and Joe B had passed away, roughly 18-months apart, with Charlie having passed first. No longer having Nicosia or Accardo around for help with Sam left him feeling somewhat vulnerable again. John knew neither of them could always change Sam’s mind, but the pressure they exerted could definitely be helpful.
As John’s federal criminal case in California developed, John’s brother Joe caught the attention of Sam Carlisi over his involvement in a marijuana farm in the greater Chicagoland area. Joe ended up becoming a fugitive over his involvement in the marijuana farm for several years before being captured in 1998 by the FBI. Sam Carlisi was livid over Joe’s involvement in the marijuana farm. According to excellent sources, Sam wanted Joe dead. Sam’s wishes were made known to his underboss, John.
Sources explained that John was haunted by the memory of Sam’s attempt to kill Dominic Senese, without John’s knowledge, so it made him doubly concerned that Sam had expressed his wish to John that he wanted to kill his brother. My sources have told me that John deceived Sam by agreeing that he was on board with killing Joe. John’s agreement seemed to appease Sam. John quickly made arrangements with personal friends of his to hide his brother in Florida, which is where Joe remained until he was captured in 1998.
Sam may have been somewhat distracted with their legal problem in California, but John feared that it was only a matter of time before Sam would discover that he hid Joe, and would then finally have John killed for his deception. Beyond this, John’s engineered friendship with Marcello was not producing any helpful results. Ironically, John seemed to feel as if he was duped by Marcello. To top it off, John’s son and namesake was struggling with a deadly addiction that was causing John’s wife to suffer greatly. This son ended up dying around this time. Then word came that John, Sam, Marcello and others were about to be indicted on a big Outfit gambling case in Illinois.
John was dealing with many personal and legal complications in his life, and he believed that many of these problems could be laid at the feet of Sam Carlisi. The Outfit was waning in power, the federal government was stronger than ever. It seems like John believed Sam could not become the right kind of leader to avoid sinking the entire ship. If it was not the charges in California, it would be the new ones in Illinois, or some other catastrophe right around the corner. Now could be the right time to make sure Sam would never be in a position to harm him.
Encouraged by his brother Peter, John discretely reached out to the government to flip on Sam Carlisi and James Marcello. However, John wanted much more than to lock Sam up for the rest of his life. He wanted to protect himself from future prosecution on any crimes he had committed in the past or any potential past crimes that he could be pulled into through RICO conspiracy.
After John began serving his prison time on the California criminal federal matter, he was discretely debriefed by covert agents of the government’s DOJ. These meetings were well-hidden. John had been particularly careful to protect himself and avoid setting off a storm of investigations as a result of working with the government. He was particularly adept at limiting the government’s scope of prosecution to only the men he wanted to see behind bars. John was always careful not to put his own allies at risk.
John’s work with the government not only helped him serve less prison time on the California case, but, according to a source, upon the completion of his work with the government in nailing Sam Carlisi, James Marcello, et al, John received the immunity deal that he wanted. It is a testament to John’s extreme cunning that he was able to make this incredible deal and still manage to dominate the Chicago Outfit in the years to come.
The work that John took part in heavily pertained to the government’s case regarding Outfit gambling in the suburbs of Chicago. By or around John’s 64th birthday in December of 1992, the government was moving to indict Sam Carlisi and James Marcello, et al, in Illinois on a hefty gambling case. An indictment for John was curiously missing.
As a result of the Illinois gambling charges, Sam was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison. Sam died in January of 1997, which was a few weeks short of appellate arguments. Approximately five months earlier Jackie Cerone died of cancer. It happened four days after his release from having served 10.5 years in prison. The following month Joseph “Joey O” Aiuppa passed away. Joey O had been released early the previous year from prison, and John did his best to keep members of the Elmwood Park crew away from him, while he strung the old man along on delays with meetings. Joey O might have been furious with John over these delays, but his memory had been falling since late 1996. Sadly, Joey O may never even have realized what John was doing to him.
By the time of Joey O’s death in late February of 1997, John DiFronzo had his life back. All his past crimes were wiped from the books, all his past enemies and/or people he answered to were in graves. Even though he was not technically the boss, no other Outfit guy in Chicago was more powerful than him.
All he had to do now was keep his nose clean. John knew that business as usual would see him back in a prison, most likely until death, so he benched the entire Elmwood Park crew. John knew that if any of the guys from his Elmwood Park crew would get in trouble for any Outfit-related racket he would stand a good chance of being pulled into their criminal case. The deal he made with the government was solely on any past cases or RICO cases covering past years.
This move meant John was effectively turning his back on the Outfit, not caring if Cicero would run it. All he wanted to make sure was that his crew was benched. The Cicero crew could do as they pleased because none of them were linked to him, and he was truly no longer the boss.
John believed these moves would put him in the clear. His wish to be free of the Outfit’s profitable but illegal rackets was finally realized. John would never return to prison for the rest of his life, though his involvement with the federal government was not entirely over.
In the early 2000s when the Family Secrets Case was being assembled, John was yet again missing from the indictment list. John secured protection for himself just as he did in the earlier gambling indictment that sent Sam Carlisi and James Marcello to prison. This time his work with the government only related to Marcello. John told the government that Nick Calabrese was on the Spilotro hit. With this information, the government knew to pressure Calabrese to a point where he would break, which they did successfully.
In 2018 John passed away a free man, unlike many of his predecessors who either died in prison or spent almost all their final days in a cell. Whatever you can say about him, it looks like his plan worked.
I will address the types of moneymaking schemes that some of the benched Elmwood Park crew members engaged in a future addendum.
Feel free to inbox me at jfosco@americannewspost with comments or questions if you are not interested in posting comments on our Facebook page (which is the now popular way to comment) or the comment section on ANP’s website.
For those unfamiliar with Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit, you may access it by clicking here.
You may also read Addendum One by clicking here.
6/24/20 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Three
7/18/20 – Mafia Report: Chicago Outfit – Addendum Four
