Murder in Canaryville by Jeff Coen

Author:Jeff Coen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2021-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

It would take another few years for Shorty LaMantia to be indicted. But when the case hit in 1993, the Twenty-Sixth Street crew was charged as a criminal enterprise within the Chicago Outfit, in a document that outlined years of activity and read like a sweeping account of illegal gambling across Bridgeport and Chinatown. There were even references to old-school “wirerooms,” where bettors could call in and get information on odds for horse racing and sports and place wagers.

“Defendant Joseph Frank LaMantia, also known as ‘Shorty,’ was one of the lieutenants or assistants to the boss of the enterprise,” the indictment read. “In that capacity he supervised others that were in charge of various income-producing activities of the enterprise. At times he collected ‘street tax’ payments, resolved disputes, and received reports of accounts as to the income producing aspects of at least a portion of the enterprise.”

A collection of players and associates were caught up as well, including LaMantia’s stepson, Aldo Piscitelli, known on the street as “Shorty Junior.” A man named Joe Wing, or “Joe Eng,” supervised the day-to-day parts of the business in Chinatown, reporting to Piscitelli.

Angelo LaPietra sat at the top of the food chain of the conspiracy, which the government said went back to at least 1978. And the enterprise they laid out was Mob 101, with various elements of the business propping up other parts in a circle of crime. Gambling was at the center, supported by juice loans, which were collected on under the threat (and delivery) of violence. Different branches of the organization paid street taxes to the mob to operate at all, effectively narrowing the margins for those closest to the action. Using the organization’s bookies was a bad deal to begin with, according to the feds. A loss meant losing the amount of the bet, usually taken on credit, plus 10 percent, while a win brought in just the agreed wager. The juice loans, often taken out to cover losses, cost the mob’s customers 5 percent a week, or 260 percent a year.

LaMantia was the overall manager, the feds said, while Piscitelli operated like a deputy of sorts. He recruited bettors, controlled the betting lines, and used a “clearing” system to maintain records.

“This system enabled certain participants in the business to call other participants in order to obtain the bets received by the particular clerks up to that point in the day, to determine the volume of betting activity, to establish a safe location for the maintenance of the bookmaking records other than the wire room locations and to insure the continued existence of the records in the event that wirerooms destroyed the day’s receipts because of law enforcement raids,” the feds wrote.

Prosecutors had clearly relied on the work to make the recordings and surveil the ring in the late 1980s, as they rattled off a dozen locations where they had monitored wire rooms or where bets could otherwise be placed. Among them were LaPietra’s Italian American club and the aforementioned local tavern.

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