The Gangster Report has obtained an FBI document and attached Chicago Crime Commission memo from 1999 pertaining to the underworld affairs of Chicago mobster John (Pudgy) Matassa, Jr., which cites several confidential informants and sheds light on Matassa’s activities and history in the Outfit. The CCC memo, dispatched to federal and state law enforcement agencies in Illinois, was drafted to chronicle Matassa’s recent removal as president of Local 2 of the LIUNA for his ties to the mafia. Matassa, 65, was indicted for labor racketeering and social security fraud related to his current work as secretary and treasurer of the Independent Union of Amalgamated Workers’ Local 711. Here are the highlights: CI says Matassa is a capo of the Outfit’s Northside crew and his father was a Cicero cop and bodyguard for former Chicago mob don Sam Giancana CI says Matassa and his father came up in organized labor circles through Local 750 of the Chicago Truck Drivers’ Union and that deceased Northside capo Vincent (Innocent Vince) Solano got him appointed to spot his spot in the LIUNA – he became a part of the union in 1985, voted in as business manager in 1987 and president in 1989 before ascending to vice president of the union’s entire district council and its’ auditor and committee coordinator in the wake of Solano death in the early 1990s. CI says Matassa was an enforcer for Vince Solano on the Northside for many years and was often used by Solano to relay messages to the Outfit’s other crews. CI says Matassa was primarily groomed in the Outfit by his “uncle”, Michael (Mikey the Fireplig) Glitta, one of Vince Solano’s top street bosses and the king of the Chicagoland pornography racket, who was actually his second cousin. CI says Matassa does all of Glitta’s collections and is Glitta’s driver and bodyguard. CI stated that Matassa began work at Schulman Air Freight in 1976, around same time he became a driver and bodyguard for Mike Glitta. CI saw Matassa meeting with then Outfit underboss John (Jackie the Lackey) Cerone at Brookwood Country Club in suburban Chicago in the spring of 1983. CI saw Matassa meeting with Cerone and then-Outfit boss Joseph (Joey Doves) Aiuppa at restaurant located inside the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Rosemont in the fall of 1982. CI says Matassa helped oversee and operate a backdoor casino at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Rosemont in the 1980s. CI says Matassa is the Northside crew’s liaison to Southside crew in the sharing of Asian gambling lieutenant Ken (Tokyo Joe) Eto. CI says Matassa was made into the Chicago mob at a 1989 Father’s Day induction ceremony held at the Como Inn on Milwaukee Avenue. CI saw Matassa meet with Outfit figures Michael (Big Mickey) Marcello and Alphonse (Al the Pizza Man) Tornebene at Horwath’s on numerous occasions in the mid-1990s. CI says Matassa got into verbal altercation with Al Tornebene at Andrea’s Restaurant in 1994 and angrily waved his finger in Tornebene’s face requiring a sit down and Matassa being assessed a cash fine. CI says Matassa, along with his cousin and fellow Outfit figure Thomas (Skinny Tommy) Matassa co-owned National Consolidated Industries on North Shore Drive – “NCI” provided optical services to labor unions. CI says Health Marketing, Inc., a labor-union health-care services company, paid Matassa’s kickbacks for contracts obtained and he personally witnessed him laundering and siphoning money through NCI at NCI offices and then distributing payouts to surrogates every Sunday at Harbor Point Towers condo complex located at corner of Michigan Ave. and Randolph Street. CI says Matassa takes meetings at Lino’s and Magnum’s on West Ontario and Manny’s Deli on Jefferson and Roosevelt, Mr. Edward’s Restaurant on West Diversey Ave., Sally’s Waffle House on North Harlem Ave. and Gianotti’s in suburban Norridge. CI says Matassa had a sitdown at Gianotti’s to settle beef between Matassa and rival Chicago mobsters Joseph (Joe Kong) Cullotta and Marco (The Mover) D’Amico over vending machines placed in a social club on Irving Park Boulevard on the city’s Northside. According to the CI, Matassa boasted of his recent making at the meeting and the sitdown resulted in a favorable outcome for Matassa. CI says Marco D’Amico and D’Amico loyalists Robert (Bobby the Truck Driver) Abbinnati, Robert (Rocco) Dominic and Anthony (Tony D) Dote bad mouth Matassa because they don’t believe he should have been made. CI says Matassa and fellow Outfit soldiers Victor (Popeye) Arrigo and Frank (Babe) DeMonte were a shakedown team for Vince Solano and Mike Glitta in the Northside porn racket of the 1970s and 1980s – Matassa admitted in a Chicago District Council hearing collecting four thousand bucks from the owner of an after-hours gay bar called Carol’s Speakeasy on behalf of DeMonte when DeMonte was sent to prison, but denied it was a street tax. CI says Matassa collected street tax for Vince Solano’s second-in-command and the Outfit’s Rush Street entertainment district boss, Joseph (Little Caesar) DiVarco.
