 Welcome to the original gangsters podcast. I'm Scott Bernstein your host quick hater edition. We're going to go out to the windy city in Chicago Maybe more specifically out to Springfield, Missouri in a prison medical hospital. We're talking about that Mike Sarno big Mike Sarno the large guy You know acting boss of the Chicago mafia for for you mob washers out there ran the family from 2005 to 2010 on the street has been locked up doing a 25 year sentence on a extortion racketeering conviction where he was found guilty at trial in 2010 I've reported that in his five years as acting boss he Made a batch of at that time really young guys from Cicero some from Elmwood Park I believe that were just only loyal to him maybe Two dozen guys maybe these guys are now in their You know 40s and 50s and they are the future of the outfit and from what I'm hearing from sources. We kind of thought that Mike Sarno was maybe a thing of the past in the outfit and I'm hearing that he is very much a thing of the present and the future that Sarno from behind bars is Counseling these protégés of his in Cicero His boots on the ground as everybody knows as long time underboss right hand man Salvatore Sammy cards Caught at Catadela is the underboss right now to Sally D. Who's the who's the Don Sally is You know I would guess is either going to be Retired or possibly dead in eight years from now when Mike Sarno comes out but Mike Sarno himself will only be in his early 70s. I think as of right now it's being planned that Mike Sarno if he comes out And is of health Will become the overall Don of the Chicago ma Chicago ma I know his attorneys push back on the notion that he is Even in good enough health to continue serving his prison time. They've been trying to get a medical compassionate release or sentence Shortening over the last couple years claim that he's in a wheelchair. He's down to like hundred and eighty pounds or something And is you know has a variety of ailments that that make him unfit to serve prison sentence. So I'm guessing if you talk to them They would say there's no way that he is a chiming in on anything mob related from prison Nor has any plans on on taking over the crime family when he comes out in right now his out date is two thousand thirty two My sources are saying the opposite that he has been advising and counseling the Cicero guys Almost from jump since he went in there 15 years ago and that it's it's even become more prevalent in terms of this Advisory role since Jimmy and Dino died last year and these new Cicero guys it's like they were on deck and now it's kind of their time to take over the family We know that there were some court filings a couple years ago related to the Cicero crew where Sarno was named as someone that was receiving a portion of gambling profits And what I'm reporting now is something that's happened in the last couple weeks is that he's now having to or I don't I shouldn't say now he is This is good and a role he's been playing all along but I know there's been some minor internal dust ups within Cicero Some different factions setting up other factions to be robbed and beaten or whatever and I'm told that just in the last week or two Sarno had to get all these guys kind of on a phone call and he squashed the beef from his prison prison phone So just something to keep an eye out for Mike Sarno seems to be back in play in a major way in the Chicago outfit right now Sally D and Albie are still running the show Rudy fratto and then some of the younger guys over on the south side Nikki Ferriola little Frankie Caruso are kind of being groomed by the Tootsie Babe and his guys That's kind of the Southside younger group and then you got a Cicero and Elwood Park younger group So you know I would say that reports of the outfits demise or predictions that they don't exist anymore they don't wheel power anymore There's only 10 members that's just false there's a lot of new blood in this organization and a lot of positive momentum towards the future Now I will say just this is my analysis these guys that Sarno was brought in that are loyal to him these let's say just roughly two dozen guys maybe more I would say that they tend to be more gang banger types than buttoned up wise guy types or maybe a hybrid of the two You got guys that are earners kind of white collar guys but then you got a lot of street guys that come from more of a street gang background 12th street players Cicero feeder club And a lot of these guys just are I would say more gangster than racketeer So we'll keep an eye out for it, but I'm being told Mike Sarno is settling beef from prison with the Cicero crew in the winter of 2024 OG pod Scott Bernstein out