Chicago wiseguy Sammy Galioto, the nephew of an Outfit don, died of natural causes this week at just 57. Galioto’s uncle was James (Jimmy the Man) Marcello, the Chicago mafia’s acting boss in the early-to-mid 2000s who is currently serving a life prison sentence. His father Billy Galioto, a bookie and former Chicago Police officer, used to occasionally drive for Marcello’s mentor, Sam (Wings) Carlisi, the Outfit’s Godfather from the late 1980s into the early 1990s. His brother Johnny was forced to relinquish a labor union post due to his organized crime ties two decades ago. Sammy Galioto was indicted in 2015 for tax evasion related to his alleged hiding of a $3,000,000 consulting fee in the purchase of the residential Pittsfield Building in the Windy City’s business district known as “The Loop.” He and his dad were busted for running a sports gambling ring in 1994, but had the case thrown out before they reached trial. In 2000, the younger Galioto was convicted of medical insurance fraud out of Missouri and served a year in federal prison. The Galiotos were involved in Chicago’s movie and television industry for years. Between 1975 and 1995, the family owned a company that leased equipment to Hollywood productions teams doing business in Illinois. A deal to build a production studio themselves fell through in the 1990s when a loan from the City of Chicago was quashed once the family’s background and Outfit connections became public. Sammy Galioto visited a friend of Chicago mob associate Joey Cusumano’s in a Nevada jail in the summer of 1999 to discuss a potential movie project linked to the life of Texas gangster-turned-casino mogul Benny Binion and his son, Ted, slain in 1998, according to FBI records. Having financed films in the past, including the Francis Ford Coppola picture, The Cotton Club, Cusumano helped look after Outfit affairs on the west coast and in the 1970s and 1980s was a part of notorious Las Vegas crew boss Tony (The Ant) Spilotro’s inner circle. The man Galioto visited in the Clark County Jailhouse in August 1999 (Rick Tabish) was about to go to trial for Ted Binion’s murder — Tabish, the boyfriend of Binion’s wife, would be convicted in the case, then granted a new trial and acquitted. The Chicago mob has lost a half-dozen members and associates since the spring. Esteemed Outfit boss John (Johnny No Nose) DiFronzo died of dementia in May, kicking off the slew of passings. DiFronzo had been in semi-retirement for years and ran the crime syndicate through a string of acting bosses, like Marcello. Back in 2007, the 74-year old Jimmy Marcello was convicted in the epic Family Secrets case, found guilty in the 1986 gangland execution of Spilotro and his younger brother Michael for the elder Spilotro’s insubordinate behavior in Vegas. Galioto’s mother is Marcello’s sister. Spilotro’s violent reign in the desert was the focus of the classic 1995 Martin Scorsese flick Casino, with Oscar-winner Joe Pesci playing the Tony the Ant character (called Nicky Santoro on screen) *Cover image courtesy of ABC7 TV in Chicago.
