 Welcome into the original gangsters podcast. I'm your host Scott Bernstein quick hitter edition We're gonna we're gonna go back to some News that was breaking last year and we're gonna tie it into some new news. So we're gonna talk about the 1981 disappearance of Chicago Mafia associate Salvatore Puglia and how it might play into all of the Dead bodies that are surfacing in Lake Mead over the last couple years With the water levels dropping and bodies coming to the surface and the FBI in Las Vegas as well as Clark County Trying to put to bed some cold case Murders and cold case disappearances to the old Tony spolato era in Las Vegas Salvatore Puglia was a Politician a democratic committeeman in the sixth ward that was put into his post by some pretty powerful Chicago mob guys Joey I upa and Jackie Serone who were the boss and under boss of the Chicago mob at that time. I believe the in the right when I upa and Serone were taking power. They took a young Puglia who was in his 20s and put him Into place in the sixth ward he got reelected twice in 1981 Was going for a third re-election and was told by I upa and Serone to not run for re-election to step down and leave politics there was People in the mob that were upset with Puglia for some Cooperation that he had given he was a Cook County employee worked with the tax assessors and Had cooperated in some tax related Cases and seemed to be proud of it was running around town showing a Commendation letter. I think he thought it was gonna help him get reelected I don't know if he understood he should have understood how it made him look like a rat to the mafia Yet people tell him that this is a really bad look In addition to telling I upa and Serone that he was going to ignore their order to step down It was going to run for re-election despite them not wanting him to he's running around showing a document that demonstrates he was cooperator He disappeared. I believe it was June 4th 1981 He was last seen a night on the town spent at Geonades at first the old Geonades and then ended his his evening at Rocky's Drive-In which was a Place not far from his his home in Melrose Park and was owned by Jackie Serone disappeared from Rockies Drive-In was never seen again right now. I'm being told in Las Vegas that Puglia is one of the names of the missing people that they're looking to tie to these Bodies that they've been finding and we know that Tony Spilacro had a Very high-profile very violent run as the Chicago mobs Point man in Las Vegas. You saw it in the movie Casino Joe Pashie played him went to went to Las Vegas to look after the Chicago mobs interest in the Hotel and casino in industry and just went totally off the reservation Was unchecked took over the streets of Las Vegas was talking about killing his way to the top of Chicago Mafia and then he was murdered in 1986, but you know over Three dozen homicides were tied to him during his reign from 1971 in 1986 in Vegas and right now I'm being told that Puglia could be One of the people That disappeared into that lake. He was someone who went to Las Vegas quite a bit Was someone that was known to sometime socialize with Tony Spilacro when he was out there Iupa was the one who was in charge of splotcher out there via Joey Lombardo but There there was a belief that he had gone to Vegas and Never came home. So we shall see but it's interesting You know 42 years later people still talking about Salvatore or Puglia I guess his dad was a if not a wise guy. It was somebody that was tied into the West Side regime thiefy Bouchieri and that crew that eventually became the Lombardo crew on Grand Avenue and Joey Iupa, you know traced his roots to Melrose Park as well Seem like as somebody in his 20s Salvatore Puglia was looked at as a real asset for the Mafia But by the 80s it had run its course and he wasn't doing what he was told. Oh again Only time will tell we'll keep you updated It looked for a while a couple months ago. It looked like Johnny Pappas was a name that they were coming up upon as that You know either the body in the barrel or another one of the bodies that had come up started in in the late spring of 2022 bodies started coming to the surface the word was coming in that it was Feds thought it was Johnny Pappas. We have not gotten Any word to confirm that Pappas was a Chicago guy that came to Las Vegas was involved in politics was was running the Echo Bay Resort on behalf of splot growing those guys and Disappeared on his way to a meeting in August of 76 So we'll take you back out to Vegas when we have more information But Salvatore Puglia 33 years old disappeared in June of 81 has not been seen Feds in Las Vegas are looking to tie his remains Or his DNA to remains that were found In Lake Mead or around Lake Mead in the last year and a half. Oh G pod Scott Bernstein