Chicago 1978 This paper examines the goings-on of the "Outfit"ÃÂ in Chicago in the year 1978. The overriding theme of the year seemed to be the Chicago outfit's connection with Las Vegas. This connection seems to come up over and over in the articles I read. This was also the year James T. "Jimmy the Weasel"ÃÂ Fratianno become a FBI informer. I will give a sample of what was going on in Chicago each month of the year 1978.
Not all that much happened in January of 1978 according to the newspaper. The article that I came up with dealt with phony ID cards that were for sale. The article says "it is startling to find that they (Las Vegas) were apparently ignorant of a phony identification card racket that had its office in that city and advertised all over the country."ÃÂ The article claims that the appearance of a Tribune article on this subject helped the Las Vegas officials learn of the Computer Security Card Co.
English: Sketch of the 1901 maxi trial of suspecte...
Chicago Outfit Roller Derby
English: Chicago Outfit MemberThey closed it down and arrested the man who ran it.
February of 1978 was quite a bit more eventful in the scheme of things. First off there was the killing of five burglars who may have been killed after trying to independently "fence"ÃÂ stolen goods in Las Vegas. These men probably were killed because they lacked a mob license to steal. The men were Vincent Moretti, Donald Swanson, Bernard Ryan, Steve Garcia, and John Mendell. These men were all suspects in the $1 million dollar theft of jewels, furs, and cash from Levinson's.
The next big event was "Jimmy the Weasel"ÃÂ telling a jury about 20 gangland killings. This was brought about because Fratianno learned he was implicated in a bombing death of Daniel J. Greene. He feared he could go...