Joseph Vincent "Caesar" DiVarco (July 27, 1911 – January 5, 1986) was a Chicago mobster with 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 ...

who was involved in numerous street rackets. He and Joe Arnold were partners in a local

haberdashery __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing store ...

during the 1960s. As an associate of North Side

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 ...

Vincent Solano Vincent Solano (October 1919 – November 16, 1992) was an American mobster and ''caporegime'' for the Chicago Outfit who ran a corrupt Laborers Union local in Chicago. A longtime organized crime figure on Chicago's North Side, Solano served as c ...

, DiVarco later oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Rush Street crew. During the 1970s and 1980s, these activities included

illegal gambling Gambling law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law ...

loan sharking 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 ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

, protection, "street tax" collections, and the operation of several

adult bookstore A sex shop is a retailer that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, pornography, and other related products. An early precursor of the modern sex shop was a chain of stores set up in Par ...

operations. DiVarco, along with James Alegretti watched over all the Outfit-owned night clubs, gambling halls, and

brothels A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe t ...

in the area. He was basically under the rule of

Ross Prio Ross Prio (born Rosario Priolo) (d. 1972) was a Chicago mobster and high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit criminal organization from the 1930s until the early 1970s, when he died of natural causes. Early years Born in Sicily, Prio was brought ...

. DiVarco was said to have performed many hits for Outfit boss

Sam Giancana Salvatore "Mooney" Giancana ( ; born Gilormo Giangana, ; May 24, 1908 – June 19, 1975) was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966. Giancana was born in Chicago to Italian immigrant parents. He joined the 42 ...

. After Giancana was murdered, DiVarco's power waned. In 1983, Solano ordered DiVarco to murder mobster

Ken Eto Ken Eto (衛藤健 ''Etō Ken''; October 19, 1919 – January 23, 2004), also known as Tokyo Joe and "The Jap", was an American mobster with the Chicago Outfit and eventually an FBI informant who ran Asian gambling operations for the organizat ...

. Eto had recently been convicted on gambling charges and Solano was worried about him testifying for the authorities. Two hitmen, Jasper Campise and John Gattuso, a

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

, sheriff's deputy, ambushed Eto in his car and shot him three times in the head. However, the two men had improperly packed their own ammunition and the shots did not penetrate Eto's skull. Eto survived and became a government witness. In retribution for the botched hit, DiVarco was stripped of his power and the two hitmen were murdered. Federal authorities learned of DiVarco's role in the Chicago Outfit through undercover

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

, government informants, and cooperation with other state and federal agencies. In 1985, DiVarco was convicted of

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was e ...

(RICO) violations and running a sports betting operation. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. On January 5, 1986, DiVarco died in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, while in federal custody.

References

Bureau of Narcotics The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, with the enumerated powers of pursuing crimes related to the possession, distribution, and trafficking of listed narcotics including cannabis, ...

, U.S. Treasury Department, "Mafia: the Government's Secret File on Organized Crime, HarperCollins Publishers 2007

External links

Office of the Independent Hearing Officer Laborers' International Union of North America

Chicago Sun-Times Jun 8, 2006: Mobster 'Toyko[sic] Joe' died in Georgia in '04: Ken Eto survived a 1983 Hit
by Steve Warmbir {{DEFAULTSORT:Divarco, Joseph 1911 births 1986 deaths American gangsters of Italian descent People convicted of racketeering Chicago Outfit mobsters American people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in United States federal government detention