The Last Supper photo
Who are these guys?
You've asked for it. You've got it.
Here they are:
The photo is from 1976
In the front row, starting from the left is Tony Accardo, retired CEO of the Outfit, "Black Joe" Amato, Joseph "Little Caesar" DiVarco, and James "Turk" Torello.
Standing in the back is, to the left, Jackie Cerone, the underboss, and Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, reputed boss of the Grand Avenue crew.
In the back row is Joseph Auippa, the boss of the Outfit at the time; Dominick DiBella, Vincent Solano and Al Pilotto.
Kudos to poster J.P. for putting the first post up to correctly identify all the men in the picture.
Lombardo said in direct testimony that the late lunch for was for DiBella, who was dying of cancer at the time.
The feds are using the photo, among other evidence, to show that Lombard was part of mob leadership.
Lombardo is saying he stumbled upon the dinner and was at the restaurant with a friend when he was called over to share a drink.
In Robert Cooley's book, he mistakenly ID'd Dibella as Martin Accardo, Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo's brother.
In Cullotta's book, DiBella is also identified as Accardo's brother
In Robert Cooley's book, he mistakenly ID'd Dibella as Martin Accardo, Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo's brother.
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Actually, in Cooley's book, he didn't identify anybody in "The Last Supper" photo so he couldn't have mistakenly ID'd Dominick DiBella as Martin Accardo. There would be no way Accardo's brother would be at a high-level meeting like that anyway.
I haven't read Cullotta's book yet, but I wouldn't put too much stock into it. Everybody in that photo was ID'd by organized crime experts out of Chicago. Put them up against Frank Cullotta, and they far outweigh him in credibility. Also, take a look at DiBella in the picture. You can basically see the cancer taking its effect on him. You can tell that he's frail and ailing.
If I remember correctly, when the photo was first seized and the IRS etc... were playing around with ID'ing the guys, someone conjectured that the one guy was Martin Accardo. But that ID is incorrect and as the last poster said, everyone at the meeting was high level (which eliminates Martin Accardo from being there).
Perhaps someone got hold of the old newspaper article with that i.d.
DiBella was dying and Solano was succeeding him as head of the North Side crew so the banquet may well be to celebrate Solano being "upped" to have a street crew. Basically, the traditional way they intiated/promoted guys in Chicago, before Infelice or someone else got the idea to do it the East Coast way.
Tony Accardo was in that restaurant frequently. The seafood was fresh and good and apparently he liked both the food and service there.
wsj
Is there a possibility that any of these guys didn't like each other? Were there any grudges among this group?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: I don't know about the past, but there hasn't been any testimony that the defendants didn't get along.
In fact, some of the defendants claim they never even met the other defendants until they were all arrested and brought into court.
Currently, though, none of them is too thrilled with Frank Calabrese Sr., according to sources familiar with the matter.
There's a general feeling among the defendants that none of them would be there if it weren't for Calabrese Sr. talking on tape about mob hits and having his son and brother turn against him and testify.
Does anyone know if these guys were drinking vino?
Did someone bring some home-made prosciutto?
Was Aiuppa a boss over Accardo after Accardo retired?
Is there even a hierarchy like this anymore?
Do they even participate in the community like Accardo and LaPietra did?
I hear that Al The Pizza Man Tornabene is the head.
Has there been any mention of that in the trial, Steve?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: The most interesting mention of Tornabene at trial came in a conversation in 1999 between Frank Calabrese Sr. and his son Frank Jr., when they were both in prison and Frank Jr. was secretly working for the feds.
In the recorded chat, Calabrese Sr. refers to Tornabene as "a sleeper," someone under the radar of law enforcement but important in the mob.
Frank Sr.'s brother, Nicholas, also testified that Tornabene was one of the men who presided over the 1983 ceremony where the two brothers were allegedly made into the Outfit.
Is there more that you can tell us about the Pizza Man, steve?
Was that his driver on ABC's report a few weeks ago?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: I am told his driver is Leo Caruso, who is part of the Caruso family of Chinatown/Bridgeport.
Here is a copy of the June 10 story I wrote on Tornabene, which ABC 7 News was good enough to follow up on.
No telling who's boss of Chicago Outfit
Who will be the new Tony Soprano of the Chicago mob?
With so many mob leaders on trial or dead, the Chicago Outfit is in disarray, law enforcement sources say.
It could be the "Pizza Man" acting as caretaker.
Or "No Nose" could still be pulling the strings, some Outfit watchers believe.
The "Pizza Man" is Al Tornabene, the 84-year-old former owner of a suburban pizza parlor. He has kept an extremely low profile for a reputed mob leader and has never been arrested by the FBI.
Recently, his name has come up in conversations the FBI secretly recorded in prison between reputed top Chicago mob boss James "Little Jimmy" Marcello and his younger brother, Michael Marcello.
LOW PROFILE
Tornabene has been seen eating in Rush Street restaurants with another top reputed mobster, Anthony "Little Tony" Zizzo, who was last seen leaving his Westmont home in August last year and hasn't been heard from since.
Zizzo was responsible for overseeing one of the Outfit's most lucrative enterprises, the illegal video poker machines in bars throughout Chicago.
Tornabene has long been a mob leader, authorities say. In 1983, for instance, he presided over a ceremony at which several mobsters were inducted into full membership rights of the Outfit, court records show.
Among the men who were made were Zizzo, reputed mob hit man Frank Calabrese Sr. and his brother, Nick Calabrese, who has admitted in a plea agreement with the feds that he killed at least 14 people for the Chicago Outfit. He is cooperating with the FBI.
"No Nose" is the much better known John DiFronzo, who is in his late 70s and has long been reputed to be a respected elder of the Chicago Outfit.
DiFronzo is known for his business acumen and
wide range of investments, including car dealerships. Some mob watchers think DiFronzo has long been rivals with James Marcello and is not overly upset over his arrest.
Tornabene hung up during a phone call Friday when asked if he was running the Outfit.
DiFronzo could not be reached for comment.
Who knows anything about these guys? I keep hearing that Lombardo was a personable, friendly guy and you had know idea that he was a convicted felon.
I heard Aiuppa was friendly too. Accardo, I haven't heard anything about.
I heard Turk was friendly also.
first New York, then Detroit, now Chicago the federal authorities have really done some hard work putting reputed Mafia capos away.
Joseph "Little Caesar" DiVarco is my dad's uncle. From what I've heard from family stories, this photo was seized from the house of one of the men when it was raided.
This photo was the only evidence the government had that all the men really knew each other.
This photo, and the proper identifications were used to sentence several of the men in the photo, including DiVarco, who died in prison, in 1990 if I'm correct.
My last name is lombardo