GR SOURCES: Notorious Reputed Chicago Outfit Associate Getting Eyes In Westside Fed Inquiry

Longtime trusted Chicago mob associate and alleged “hitter” Fred (Porky) Pordyla has had his name creep into the racketeering probe launched against Grand Avenue crew boss Albert (Albie the Falcon) Vena and his Westside Outfit regime, according to sources close to the investigation. Gangster Report posted a story last week quoting sources as saying a RICO indictment was fast approaching for Vena and a number of other unnamed individuals he’s associated with and would be filed by the end of the year. Whether authorities are aiming to include Pordyla, unable to be “made” into the Windy City mafia due to his Polish heritage, in the pending indictment is unclear.

Although Pordyla, 72, has seen his name bandied about in several racketeering and homicide inquiries in the past, he has a relatively clean criminal record. Yet, on the streets of Chicago, Porky Pordyla’s reputation precedes him wherever he goes, sources within Pordyla’s orbit claim. They say he’s a legendary Outfit enforcer, dating back to the days of his former partner and mentor in the mob muscle game, Frank (Frankie the German) Schwehis, one of the most feared gangland figures to ever stalk the streets of the Illinois underworld, who died in 2008 while facing murder and racketeering charges in the landmark Operation Family Secrets case. Schweihs was the No. 1 lieutenant for imprisoned former Westside capo and Outfit consigliere Joseph (Joey the Clown) Lombardo, convicted and jailed for life for his role in Family Secrets, from the 1960s until they each were taken off the street in the staggering, high-profile bust a decade ago.

“This guy (Porky) is as loyal as they come….and deadly,” said one source. “He’s the type of man that would give his life for the Outfit. And the kind to take a life, if told to by the right person. Porky scares a lot of people.”

Fred “Porky” Pordyla

Pordyla’s name popped up in the Family Secrets Investigation back in the early-to-mid 2000s, ultimately, however he was never charged in the indictment. Family Secrets star witness Nicholas (Nicky Slim) Calabrese, the first and only made member of the Chicago mafia to ever testify against the syndicate in court, putting Lombardo, then-Outfit acting boss James (Jimmy the Man) Marcello and his own big brother, Southside crew loan shark and hit man Frank (Frankie Breeze) Calabrese, behind bars for the rest of their lives, fingered Pordyla as taking part in the planning of west coast Outfit associate Emil (Little Mal) Vaci’s murder, one of the 18 mob slayings charged in the Family Secrets indictment which dropped in 2005.

Vaci, 73, ran a Phoenix, Arizona restaurant called Ernesto’s Backroom. He was kidnapped and killed in June 1986, after testifying in front of a federal grand jury regarding his connection to mob-backed vacation junkets being flown from Chicago to Las Vegas. Nick Calabrese, released from prison and in the Witness Protection Program, admitted to traveling to Arizona and shooting Vaci in the head in the days leading up to his participation in the infamous Spilotro brothers slayings, where the Outfit’s crew chief in Las Vegas, Anthony (Tony the Ant) Spilotro and his younger brother and protégé, Michael, were beaten and strangled to death in a Chicagoland residence’s basement in front of crime family brass.

Spilotro, portrayed by Oscar-winning actor Joe Pesci in the 1995 movie Casino, had raged out of control unchecked atop his self-built mafia kingdom in the desert, developing a drug habit, carrying out a dangerous love affair with a key associate’s wife and openly talking of killing his way to the front of the Chicago mob pecking order. Tony the Ant was a “favorite son” to Outfit boss Joseph (Joey Doves) Aiuppa, who following his own conviction and incarceration for pension-fund loan fraud and his role in a wide-spanning Las Vegas casino skim tired of Spilotro’s antics and signed off on his hit contract. Joey Lombardo, Tony the Ant’s direct superior and another mafia powerhouse with a Spilotro soft spot, was locked up at the time as well and helpless to stop the bloodshed.

Besides Porky Pordyla, two other prominent Outfit members had their names tied to murder conspiracies in the Family Secrets case, but avoided charges. Both current Chicago mafia Godfather John (Johnny No Nose) DiFronzo and recently-anointed suburban Lake & McHenry County crew chief Louis (Louie Tomatoes) Marino were linked by Nick Calabrese to the Spilotro brothers’ murders. Calabrese claimed DiFronzo was the point man in the overall orchestration of the double homicide and admitted to being one of the half-dozen individuals that beat and garroted the Spilotros to death on the afternoon of June 14, 1986.

The aging DiFronzo (86 years old) is said to be in semi-retirement and running the Chitown mob through acting boss, 76-year old Salvatore (Solly D) DeLaurentis. Marino, 83 and Solly D’s close friend, was sprung from an over two decade prison stint for racketeering last year and given the Lake and McHenry County racket territory by DeLaurentis as a “welcome home present,” per sources.

According to these same sources, Porky Pordyla, sometimes called “Porky the Pig,” “Pork Chop” or just “Chops” came up in the Outfit’s Elmwood Park crew under the tutelage of the syndicate’s then-No. 2 in command, John (Jackie the Lackey) Cerone. For the past 30 years, Elmwood Park has been DiFronzo’s territory. Chicago Crime Commission records peg Pordyla a former driver and bodyguard for Cerone and an occasional chauffer for Joey Aiuppa, the Outfit’s then don, out of Cicero.

Frankie the German circa 1963

His roots in the Westside crew were planted in the 1970s when he was placed with Lombardo and Frankie Schweihs, assigned to the crime family’s enforcement unit they oversaw. He’s long received some of the Outfit administration’s toughest collection assignments, sources assert, and John DiFronzo has dispatched him on a quite a few strong-arm endeavors in his two-and-a-half decade reign as boss, normally relaying tasks through his brother and reputed aide-de-camp Peter (Greedy Petey) DiFronzo, like No Nose also said to be in semi-retirement now. Schweihs died in 2008 awaiting trial on murder and racketeering charges spawning from the Family Secrets.

Sixty-seven year old Albie Vena took over the Westside-Grand Ave crew following Joey Lombardo’s 2006 incarceration and subsequent conviction in the Family Secrets case, first on an acting basis for Joseph (Joe Kong) Culotta and then in full capacity around six years ago, according to state police files. His own reputation for ferocity equals or possibly exceeds Pordyla’s. Since the Vena probe includes putting the proverbial microscope on past unsolved murders either he or the Westside regime may have been involved in, it’s not surprising to some that Porky’s name has surfaced (Albie & Porky are known to be pals and social companions).

“If there’s a homicide in the Outfit, whether he participated in it or not, Porky’s going to get eyed by law enforcement, the Feds and the cops in Chicago have their list of hitters, guys they know put in wet work, know how to commit murder, and they are the ones that naturally get the first lookover,” one source said. “This is a Westside investigation and Porky is Westside affiliated going back a while now, with the kind of rep he has, how could they not be at least glimpsing in his direction.”