John DiFronzo (December 13, 1928 – May 27, 2018), nicknamed "No Nose", was an American

mobster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...

and the reputed former

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

of the

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or the Organization, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family based in Chicago, I ...

Biography

DiFronzo, a former enforcer and ''

caporegime A ''caporegime'' or ''capodecina'', usually shortened to ''capo'' or informally referred to as "captain", "skipper" or "lieutenant", is a leadership position in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia). A ''capo'' is a "made m ...

'' in the

, first appeared with a criminal record in 1949. He got the nickname "No Nose" because he sliced off part of his nose while jumping through a window during a 1949 clothing store burglary. Reportedly, the police gave him back the missing part, which was almost perfectly restored. In 1950, DiFronzo served two years in prison for burglary. DiFronzo was a suspect in the unsolved 1952 murder of Charles Gross, a

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham ...

politician with suspected ties to organized crime. He was a member of the Three Minute Gang and identified as a member of a

loansharking A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of collection, and generally operates outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate ...

operation along with former

Chicago police The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Chicago City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United ...

officers Albert Sarno and Chris Cardi in 1964. Imprisoned syndicate leader Joseph Aiuppa chose DiFronzo to head criminal operations in Chicago's western suburbs over acting syndicate boss

Joseph Ferriola Joseph Ferriola (March 16, 1927 – March 11, 1989), also known as, "Joe Nagall," "Mr. Clean" and "Oscar," was an American mobster who was Crime boss, boss of the Chicago Outfit, from 1985 to 1988, after Joseph Aiuppa and Jackie Cerone, John ...

. Eventually, he became one of several de facto leaders running the Outfit in Chicago. His brother, Peter DiFronzo, a "

made man In the Sicilian and American Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. In order to become eligible to be "made", an associate must fulfill several requirements, such as being Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by ...

", was convicted of warehouse burglary in 1963. In 1993, DiFronzo was convicted along with Chicago boss Samuel "Black Sam" Carlisi, his gambling capo Donald "The Wizard of Odds" Angelini, and four other men of federal

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

charges for attempting to subterfuge gambling operations at the Rincon Reservation near

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. The 1993 conviction was reversed on

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

, however, and DiFronzo was released from prison in 1994. In 2009, DiFronzo, Rudy Fratto and several others were named in a

civil lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. T ...

by Joseph Fosco, the son of late

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a trade union, labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a di ...

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

Armando Fosco Armando Fosco Sr. (July 13, 1922 – February 5, 1987) was the American Secretary-Treasurer of Local 738 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. According to FBI documents, the government believed Armando was a member of the Chicago Outfi ...

, alleged to have tried to extort $400,000 from Fosco. DiFronzo died from complications of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

on May 27, 2018.

References

Bibliography

* Capeci, Jerry. ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia''. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. *Mannion, James. ''101 Things You Didn't Know About The Mafia: The Lowdown on Dons, Wiseguys, Squealers and Backstabbers''. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media, 2005. *Wilkins, David E. ''American Indian Politics and the American Political System''. Oxford: Rowman & Littleton Publishers, 2006. *United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. ''Implementation and Enforcement of the Indian Gaming Regulatory ACT, Public Law 100-497''. 1992.

*Devito, Carlo. ''The Encyclopedia of International Organized Crime''. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. *Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York:

Da Capo Press Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is now an imprint of Hachette Books. History Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers, it had additional offi ...

, 2005. *Coen, Jeff. ''Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob''. Chicago:

Chicago Review Press Chicago Review Press, or CRP, is a U.S. book publisher and an independent company founded in 1973. Chicago Review Press publishes approximately 60 new titles yearly under eight imprints: Chicago Review Press, Lawrence Hill Books, Academy Chicago, ...

, 2009.
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(TheChicagoSyndicate.com) {{DEFAULTSORT:Difronzo, John 1928 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American criminals 21st-century American criminals American gangsters of Italian descent American male criminals American people convicted of burglary American prisoners and detainees Chicago Outfit bosses Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Illinois Deaths from dementia in Illinois People convicted of racketeering Prisoners and detainees of Illinois Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government