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

mobster A gangster 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 of organization and ...

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-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...

Biography

DiFronzo, a former

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and

caporegime A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a '' made member'' of an Italian crime family who he ...

, 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 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 interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

operation along with former

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

officers Albert Sarno and Chris Cardi in 1964. Imprisoned syndicate leader

Joseph Aiuppa Joseph John Aiuppa (December 1, 1907 – February 22, 1997), also known as "Joey O'Brien" and "Joey Doves", was a Chicago mobster who became a leader of the Chicago Outfit from 1971 until his skimming conviction in 1986. Early career Joseph A ...

chose DiFronzo to head criminal operations in Chicago's western suburbs over acting syndicate boss Joseph Ferriola. Eventually, he became one of several de facto leaders running The Outfit in Chicago. His brother, Peter DiFronzo, a made-man, 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 charges for attempting to subterfuge gambling operations at the Rincon Reservation near San Diego. The 1993 conviction was reversed on appeal, 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 a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

by Joseph Fosco, the son of late

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a 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 ...

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

Armando Fosco, alleged to have tried to

extort Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, al ...

$400,000 from Fosco. DiFronzo died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on May 27, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Difronzo, John 1928 births 2018 deaths American crime bosses American gangsters of Italian descent Chicago Outfit bosses Chicago Outfit mobsters Criminals from Chicago People convicted of racketeering Deaths from dementia in Illinois Deaths from Alzheimer's disease

Biography

Further reading

References