June 6, 2020 – Reputed Chicago mob figure Nino Cisternino died of natural causes earlier this year at 77. A former member of the old-time Chicago Heights crew, Cisternino was laid to rest on Belmont Avenue back in the winter.

According to FBI records from the 1970s and 80s, Cisternino was a top lieutenant of Chicago Heights skipper Albert (Caesar the Fox) Tocco and fought on the frontlines of the Chop Shop Wars, the Outfit’s bloody takeover of the stolen-car racket. Tocco died of a stroke in 2005 serving a federal prison sentence for extortion.

Chicago Crime Commission files note Cisternino’s close friendship with Chicago cop and reputed Outfit enforcer Renato (Ray Ray) DiSilvestro. When the history-soaked Chicago Heights crew, responsible for Outfit affairs in the South suburbs and Northwest Indiana dating back to the Capone era, disbanded, Cisternino was allegedly moved into the Elmwood Park crew and then finally transferred to the Cicero crew.