Tobias Wayland is a passionate Fortean who has been actively investigating the unusual for over a decade. The first several years of his investigative career were spent as a MUFON field investigator and following that he investigated independently prior to becoming the head writer and editor for The Singular Fortean Society. Tobias is a frequent guest on various podcasts and radio shows, has written several books and contributed articles to periodicals on the paranormal, has appeared on television and in documentaries, and is often invited to speak at paranormal conferences and events.
He was featured in season four of Unsolved Mysteries, the series premiere of Expedition X, and the Small Town Monsters documentaries Terror in the Skies and On the Trail of the Lake Michigan Mothman for his work investigating Mothman sightings in the Midwest. He and his wife Emily have been involved with the Lake Michigan Mothman investigation since its advent in the spring of 2017, and published a book chronicling the experience, The Lake Michigan Mothman: High Strangeness in the Midwest. His second and third books about unusual phenomena, Strange Tales of the Impossible and The Singular Fortean Society’s Yuletide Guide to High Strangeness, continue their work in investigating a variety of seemingly impossible events.
His years as an investigator have served him best by illustrating that when it comes to the anomalous, the preternatural, and the paranormal, any answers he’s found are still hopelessly outnumbered by questions.
Conference Presentation: Shadow Of The Mothman
Join investigator Tobias Wayland as he explores the strange phenomena often reported alongside winged humanoid sightings. From UFOs to poltergeists to shadow people, there is no shortage of high strangeness associated with the Mothman phenomenon. In this presentation, he’ll discuss a number of cases he has personally investigated and present hypotheses about what might be behind them.
Paul and Joe Giovingo and family. Courtesy of the Giovingo family.
The Police raids continued, and in 1930 a squad of federal agents was sent to the Rockford area. Agents from the United States Secret Service joined them. The Secret Service’s main interest was one of the gang leaders in Rockford, Tony Musso. They later learned that he moved out to California, and they followed Musso there. The leader of the task force, C. Edson Smith, who was a deputy prohibition administrator from Chicago, was kept busy organizing the raids. The gangs were feeling the pressure from the federal squad raids and the regular police. In the beginning of June, one such gang opened fire on the federal agents.
The federal agents were conducting a raid on a house on Sanford Street. It was a suspected distillery, and the agents were dismantling the equipment when they were almost “mowed down by a shower of machine gun bullets.” A car with curtains on the windows drove by, and suddenly there was the sound of machine gun fire. The bullets hit trees and the front of the house. No officers were hurt in this attack, but the act shocked the people of Rockford. “The mystery machine and the machine gunners were swallowed up by the night.” No arrests were ever made for this shooting, though police suspected that Dominick Rossi, who lived at 710 Sanford Street, was involved with the attempt on the officers’ lives.
On August 14, 1930, Joe Giovingo, a Rockford native, was standing on the curb by the corner of Morgan and South Main Streets talking to four men who were sitting in an automobile. One of the men was Tony Abbott. Abbott, whose real name was Abbatini, was reportedly part of Al Capone’s Gang from Chicago. Abbott allegedly killed one of “Bugs” Moran’s men, Jack Zuta, in Wisconsin and was in Rockford hiding out.
The scene of Joe Giovingo’s murder on South Main Street. From Midway Village Museum, Rockford, Illinois.
As Joe was speaking to Abbott, two detectives standing on the sidewalk near the car called him over to question him. They wanted to talk to him about the recent raid at Giovingo’s home on Harding Street. The officers were Folke Bengsten and Roy Johnson.
Roy Johnson and Folke Bengsten inspecting the car Tony Abbot was sitting in when the shooting took place. From Midway Village Museum, Rockford, Illinois.
They had just started to talk to Joe when a large “high-powered” Dodge sedan appeared on South Main Street. As it passed Abbott’s car, a shotgun was poked through the rear window, and shots were fired toward Abbott’s car and the three men on the sidewalk. The bullets struck the car that Abbott was sitting in. Abbott and the other men in the car scrambled out of the doors and hunched behind the car. Johnson hit the ground, and Bengsten ducked and then drew his gun to return fire. The car continued south on South Main and then turned onto Montague Road. Joe had seventeen wounds from the gunshot blast that had torn into his side. One slug hit his elbow first and then passed into his abdomen. He died a few minutes later.
The Dodge sedan was recovered the next day about a mile and a half from the city on Montague Road. This led the police to believe this was a premeditated hit. Bengsten and Johnson also reported that Abbott appeared nervous as he was sitting in his car prior to the attack. Abbott kept checking the rear view mirror as if looking for someone.
Deputy Chester Pence and Roy Johnson inspecting the car used in the Giovingo killing. From Midway Village Museum, Rockford, Illinois.
Police officers could not agree whether the bullets were meant for Abbott or Giovingo. Abbott and his bodyguards were taken into custody but later released. Family members of Giovingo would later say that Joe’s murder was a case of mistaken identity. They stated they knew that Abbott was the intended target because Al Capone actually called the Giovingo house to speak to Joe’s mother. Capone apologized that Joe had taken the bullet instead of the intended target.
Paul Giovingo, Joe’s brother, came to the station to speak to police and then left with Abbott. Paul and Abbott were apparently good friends. Paul hosted his brother’s funeral at his house at 1033 Montague Road. Joe’s funeral was one of Rockford’s largest, with over 1,500 people attending. There were 150 cars in the procession from the house to the Catholic cemetery. The scene was mass chaos, as police officers, gang leaders, city officials, police officials, friends and family all wandered around the yard, waiting to leave for the funeral. Joe’s mother and sister were hysterical, and their shrieking could be heard as the casket was loaded into the car. Members of the Italian Athletic Club acted as Joe’s pallbearers.
Paul Giovingo would testify in September at an inquest about his brother’s death, stating that Abbott was the true target of the assassin’s bullets. Giovingo also told the jury that Abbott had recently been killed by the same men who had shot Joe. Paul, suspected to have gang ties himself, would soon become the subject of the police’s interest.
Jack DeMarco was the next man to fall victim to the gang’s retaliation. Jack DeMarco was born in Italy on November 28, 1891. He immigrated to the United States around 1917 when he was twenty-five years old. A suspected bootlegger, Jack DeMarco was in and out of trouble during the early part of the 1930s. He was arrested on suspicion that he was the leader in a stolen car ring and also several times for bootlegging and fighting. In 1928, he and the suspected leader of one of the bootlegging gangs, Tony Musso, were arrested when they were caught fighting in the street in front of the cafe where Joe Giovingo would later be killed.
In June 1930, DeMarco was operating a still from his home on Romona Avenue when he was arrested and sent with other defendants to Freeport to stand before Stanley M. Vance, United States deputy commissioner. The trial would be one of the most “spectacular trials in the history of Northern Illinois.” Eighty men and one woman were charged with “conspiracy to violate the Prohibition Act.” Fifty-nine of those arrested were sent to trial. The trial, conducted in Freeport, Illinois, started on January 12, 1931, and lasted until February 2. Thirty-six men were found guilty, twenty-eight of them were sentenced to prison and the rest were either given short-term sentences or placed on probation. The names of the men sentenced are: John Alto, Joe Baraconi, Joe Bendetto, Joe Fizula, Frank Theodore, Andrew Saladino, Tony Giovingo, Paul Giovingo, Frank Rumore, Theodore LaFranka, Louis Verace, Joe Stassi, Thomas Rumore, Tony Musso, Joe Domino, Alfred Falzone, Lorenzo Buttice, Tony Carleto, Frank Buscemi and Peter Sanfillipo. DeMarco would be sent to Leavenworth to serve twelve months of an eighteen-month sentence. It was while serving his time at Leavenworth that rumors started to spread about one of the twenty-eight men talking to the federal agents.
Rockford woke on January 20, 1932, to headlines that announced that gunfire had once again been heard in the southwest neighborhood. “Gangland guns, still in Rockford for the last year, roared a leaden greeting of death to Jack DeMarco, forty six, a local bootlegger at his home at 7 o’clock last night.”
The story went on to say that DeMarco, who had been released from Leavenworth penitentiary the day before, was killed in his own home on Romona Avenue. Jack’s family and friends were hosting a welcome home party when three well-dressed men knocked on the kitchen door and asked to speak to Jack. They flashed badges and were admitted into the home.
Jack was in the dining room placing another record on the Victrola when the men entered the room. All three pulled guns, stated they were the police and asked to speak to Jack alone. One of the men shepherded the family members into a bedroom while another watched the kitchen door. The third man walked DeMarco into the living room. Jack had just enough time to state, “You’re no sheriff or police” before the man opened fire. Three shots roared from the gun in quick succession followed by two more. The next sounds the family members heard were running feet and a car roaring away.
They crawled out of the bedroom window and ran for safety. Sam Gorrenti, a neighbor and friend of the DeMarco family bravely poked his head into the living room.
The autopsy revealed that Jack had been shot once in the back, once in the back of the head, and then after he fell, he was shot twice through the left ear. One bullet lodged in the floor next to DeMarco’s head. All shots came from a .45-caliber revolver.
Jack had only been home for ten hours. His wife, Fannie, was devastated by the loss of her husband. She was too hysterical to be questioned by police. Coroner Walter Julian and State’s Attorney Karl Williams read the letters that Fannie received from Jack during his time at Leavenworth looking for clues about who might have wanted him dead.
Undertaker F.S. Long conducted the funeral inside DeMarco’s home on January 22, 1932. The little band of mourners made its way to the cemetery, where the coffin was opened for a final goodbye. Fannie DeMarco, who spent most of the funeral moaning, suddenly hurled herself into Jack’s coffin and, for the last time, kissed his lips. Sobbing uncontrollably, she was carried back to the car by her family.
The Register Republic article stated, “A lone sexton silently lowered the casket into the grave. The last tragic chapter had been written to Jack DeMarco’s ‘home-coming’ from Leavenworth, a brief celebration terminated by five bullets from the guns of gangland’s executioners last Tuesday night.” DeMarco’s murderers were never caught.
Paul Giovingo was another of the Rockford bootleggers to be sent to the Leavenworth penitentiary. He was sentenced to two years and was released in the fall of 1932. A lot had changed in Rockford during the time he was away. Since th3 1931 indictment had cleared many of the small dealers out of way in the illegal liquor business, the much larger, better organized and more powerful liquor syndicates from Peoria, Springfield and southern Wisconsin swept in to take control.
Giovingo was using strong-arm “buy your liquor from me or else” tactics and kept running into resistance from the local speakeasies. The tensions were building, and trouble seemed imminent. Things came to a head on February 12, 1933. At around 7:00 p.m., Giovingo went to get his shoes shined at Midway Shoe Shine Parlor on East State Street.
When Giovingo left the parlor, he stopped at his house at 1033 Montague Street to visit with his wife and children. He shaved and changed his suit before he left his house on the way to his “exclusive” speakeasy on South Main Street.
Paul never reached his destination. He must have suspected that something bad was coming because when police found his body, his gun, though unfired, was in his hand. There was supposedly a letter that had been delivered to the house the day before, warning Paul that he should stay home that night. Giovingo was only a block from his home on South Winnebago Street when his time finally ran out. His car had been forced against the curb between Loomis and Montague Streets and was riddled with shotgun and revolver blasts on the driver’s side and back of the car. Paul’s body had eight slugs in his left side and there were four gunshots to his head. His car was found next to the curb with the ignition turned off and the emergency brake set.
The killers must have wanted to ensure Paul’s death because evidence showed they stopped the car and fired several revolver shots to the back of his head. Powder marks indicated that these were contact wounds.
Even though a large crowd of people gathered at the death scene, no one could or would tell the police anything. The police talked of it like coming up against a wall—a wall of silence. The assistant chief of police, Homer Read, and police captain Charles Manson involved themselves in the investigation right from the beginning, but nothing could penetrate the wall. The investigation that started out very slow quickly ground to a complete stop.
The motive for the shooting was very clear. The Morning Star newspaper stated, “Giovingo’s career has been linked closely to the rise and fall of the liquor industry in Rockford. Paul was first known in Rockford as a barber, affable and efficient, and with a large following. Then the easy profits of the liquor business became apparent to him and he abandoned his trade to become a bootlegger.”
This was a decision that he would not live to regret. The regret would be carried by his family, a mother who had already buried one son due to violence and his wife, who was left to raise their two young sons, Sam, seven, and Elmer, five.
Even before Paul Giovingo died, the illegal booze racketeers were feeling the pressure from within and without. The rival gangs had just about killed each other off, and the police were taking advantage of the fact that the people of Rockford were tired of all the violence on their streets. The writing was on the wall.
The Twenty-first Amendment that repealed the Eighteenth Amendment (also known as the Prohibition Act) was submitted to the states on February 20, 1933, and was ratified on November 7, 1933. The illegal liquor business was, for all intents and purposes, finished. The violence in the streets of Rockford, unfortunately, was not.
Sources:
Rockford (IL) Morning Star. “Federal Seize Still and Owner in Beloit,” June 13, 1930. ___________. “Gang Dictator Slain Here.” February 12, 1933. ___________. “Jack DeMarco Shot to Death Here.” January 20, 1932. Rockford (IL) Register Republic. “Smiles Mingle with Tears as 21 Go to Prison.” February 21, 1931. Rockford (IL) Republic. “Hunt for Owner of Death Car Here.” August 16, 1930. ___________.”Local Man Slain from Death Auto.” August 15, 1930. ___________.“Murder Marks New Chapter in Old Liquor Feud.” January 20, 1932. ___________.”Paul Giovingo Is Victim of Alky Gunmen.” February 13, 1933. ___________.”Wife of Gangland Killer Victim Collapses at Grave Site.” January 22, 1932.
AJ Gutierrez is an experienced paranormal investigator, haunted objects collector, and cemetery explorer with over 265,000 followers, and 20 Million views on TikTok and YouTube. For the past 20 years, he has traveled to some of the world’s most haunted locations, documenting supernatural encounters and attempting to uncover the mysteries of hauntings and the afterlife. While he focuses on paranormal, he also talks about true crime, cryptids, and UFO’s. Through social media and LIVE investigations, he continues to captivate audiences with chilling encounters and unexplained phenomena.
Conference Presentation: Haunted Objects: The Most Disturbing Encounters From My Collection
Step into the eerie world of haunted objects as I share the most chilling and unexplainable encounters from my personal collection. From dolls that whisper in the dark, to artifacts that carry a dark energy, this presentation will explore the real life paranormal activity surrounding these objects. Are they merely relics of the past, or do they hold something far more sinister?
As Seen on the 44th Annual Telly Awards winning series, Expedition Entity, from the PARAFLIXX Paranormal+ Network. Larry is an author, filmmaker, and historian who focuses on lesser-known haunted locations in the American Midwest. His current research project focuses on the Black Hawk War of 1832, where he has published his findings in his book “Ghosts of the Black Hawk War,” and the effects artificial intelligence and social media have on the paranormal community.
Conference Presentation: Expedition Entity’s Most Haunted Locations
Expedition Entity, the PARAFlixx original series starring Dan Norvell and Larry Eissler III, sought out some of the American Midwest’s lesser-known most haunted locations to prove that even the smallest locations can still be haunted. With investigations at the Tinker Swiss Cottage, the Veterans Memorial Hall, Brodhead Manor, and the Freeport Masonic Temple, the Expedition Entity team proved that you don’t have to spend a fortune for high quality investigations. Join author, filmmaker, and paranormal researcher Larry Eissler III as he covers the show’s most haunted locations while sharing stories and evidence captured at each one.
Richard Estep is the author of more than 30 books, in genres ranging from ghosts/hauntings to cryptids/UFOs, to military history and true crime. He is a series regular on the TV shows “Paranormal 911,” “Haunted Hospitals,” “Paranormal Night Shift” and “Haunted Case Files.” Richard has guested on the shows “Destination Fear” and “A Haunting.” He is a regular columnist for Haunted Magazine, and regularly presents at conferences and public events across the United States and in the UK. English by birth, Richard lives in his adopted Colorado where he serves as a 911 paramedic. In his free time, he can usually be found reading, writing, or fussing his dog.
Conference Presentation: The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer
Go behind the scenes of Fox Hollow Farm, former home of serial killer Herb Baumeister…the I-70 Strangler. Paranormal researcher Richard Estep was granted unprecedented access to the property during the writing of his book “The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm,” featured in the Hulu TV series “The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer.” Richard will take you on a guided tour of this haunted house, with video footage and interview material never seen on television. This is the story of Fox Hollow Farm as it has never been seen before.
Kathi Kresol has worked at the Rockford Public Library for years and loves sharing her enthusiasm for reading in any way possible. After working for some time as a Library Branch Manager, Kathi, in 2021 was offered the position of Mobile Library Manager. Kathi loves the new and exciting challenges of bringing Rockford Public Library resources into new and different locations and neighborhoods.
A member of the Rockford Historical Society, Kathi is always digging through Rockford’s past and she gives all the credit for her research skills to local history specialists Jean Lythgoe and Jan Carter of the Rockford Public Library.
Kathi Kresol has been researching the history of Northern Illinois for twenty years. She has published two solo books: “Murder & Mystery in Rockford, Illinois,” (2015); and “Haunted Rockford, Illinois,” (2017). Kathi has also collaborated with other local authors and shared articles in three books featuring compilations of Rockford authors.
Kathi shares the stories she researches in presentations for local organizations and in events sponsored by the Rockford Public Library and her business Haunted Rockford events. The local newspaper, Rock River Times has shared Kathi’s stories for several years. He column “Voices From The Grave” has allowed Kathi to share her passion for history with a larger part of Rockford’s community. She is always honored when someone mentions reading one of her stories.
Kathi’s main goal in sharing her stories, whether they are true crime, ghost stories, or local history, is to honor the lives of the men, women and children who came before. Some of the stories reflect a tragic moment in these people’s lives; but Kathi also tries to show the courage that the survivors displayed as they move forward from what must have been the worst moment in their lives. She also hopes that these stories illuminate the compassion that the folks of Rockford have always displayed for those who are suffering.
Samantha Hochmann is a historian by trade and also a paranormal enthusiast. She is the Executive Director of Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum, a widely known paranormal hotspot in the Rockford community. She also participates with various historical committees and boards in the Rockford area. Sam has been volunteering with the Haunted Rockford team for the past couple of years.
Sam’s love for history started at a very young age, and her interests in the paranormal stem from growing up with a sensitivity to the paranormal realm. When she is not researching in the library or giving tours of the museum, you can find her reading spooky stories and walking through the local cemeteries.
David Dotz, a police informant during Prohibition. From Rockford Daily Republic.
Prohibition was a dangerous time in Rockford’s History. Police conducted
raids on houses and speakeasies, seeming to be always one step behind the rumrunners. By 1923, the police were desperately trying to catch up. They developed undercover men called “snoopers” and “spotters.” These men worked from the inside of the bootlegger business and reported back to the police on the makers and the sellers of the illegal liquids. Rival gangs also employed snoopers to gain inside knowledge of the other gangs’ activities.
But these undercover operators had a terrible side effect. When these men started reporting what they found, the gangs retaliated with gunfire. The first incident occurred on the corner of South Main and Morgan Streets. This area of Rockford was the center for the illegal activity associated with these gangs.
Believed to be one of the first victims was nineteen-year-old Adam Lingus. Lingus lived on South Winnebago Street and was known in the neighborhood for his disfigured face. He had a noticeable scar and a hair lip that made him very self-conscious. Lingus became a ward of the state when his parents forced him to leave their house. Phillip Oddo owned a cafe called Oddo Inn at 219 Morgan Street and supposedly helped Lingus by feeding him. On December 30, 1923, Oddo shot Lingus. Lingus lived for a while after the shooting and gave conflicting stories to the police. Phillip Oddo first claimed that an unidentified drunk man shot Lingus. Then after hours of intense questioning by the police, Oddo stated the shooting was an accident. He was cleaning the gun in the kitchen, and it discharged and hit Lingus in the side.
The .38-caliber bullet entered into his right side and passed through both of his lungs.
The police suspected they had the actual shooter in Oddo. What they could not discern was the motive. There was no known argument between the men, no love triangle and no jealousy issues. They could not find that any reason for Oddo to shoot Adam Lingus. Phillip Oddo was charged for Lingus’ murder, and at trial, acquitted, and he went back to running his cafe. He was arrested numerous times over the years for selling illegal liquor. A newspaper article from 1930 suggested that Adam Lingus was a spotter for the police and that Oddo had discovered this and shot him.
In 1925, there was another bad batch of hooch that circulated, but this time, the effects were worse than just making people sick. Near the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad line in Rockford, there was a sand house that was a popular hangout for hobos and transients near Kent Creek. Two of the men who rendezvoused there were John Wickler and William Waller. These men were old friends, and they had been unemployed for a while by November 1925. Apparently, the men had made a visit to their favorite bootlegger on November 4. Neither of the men could know that it would be their last. Police found John Wickler not far from the sand house around three o’clock that cold afternoon. Wickler was staggering around, and police initially thought he was intoxicated, so they took him to jail to sober up. Wickler soon started having seizures and died in his cell.
A short time later, an anonymous person called in a tip that there was a body inside the sand house near the railroad line. The police went to investigate and found William Waller inside. He was obviously dead, and the appearance of his body led officers to believe that he had been so for several hours. Despite an intense investigation, the makers of the poisonous liquor were never found.
Authorities in Rockford decided to go all out on for a “Make Rockford Dry by Christmas” campaign. The police department and the sheriff’s office combined forces and held a succession of raids of houses and known speakeasies. On December 2, authorities raided ten houses and arrested two men and two women. Police, working with spotters from Chicago, had gathered evidence for weeks until they had enough to act. Mr. and Mrs. Choppi of 144 Fourteenth Avenue, John Castree of 1224 South Main Street and Mary Pushca of 7 Magnolia Street were all arrested on charges of selling liquor. They pleaded guilty and were fined SI,000 each. During the raid, over one thousand gallons of wine plus three dozen bottles of beer were found at the Choppi house.
On the same day as these other raids, federal agents, working independently from the local authorities, raided the warehouse and then the home of William D’Agostin at 208 Fifteenth Avenue. First, the federals swooped down on the D’Agostin Soft Drink warehouse at 324 North Madison Street and collected eight hundred gallons of alcohol. Then they proceeded to the D’Agostin home, cut the telephone wires and arrested D’Agostin. Within fifteen minutes, the agents had taken D’Agostin into custody and confiscated seventy gallons of liquor. The Rockford Police Department, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office and even State’s Attorney William D. Knight had no idea the raid was going to take place. The federal agents were in Rockford less than two hours for the whole process.
Some of the leaders of the bootlegging gangs met to discuss joining forces to protect themselves against the raids. But as sometimes happens, one party thought another party wanted too much of the pie and negotiations literally exploded into gunfire.
This time, it was the attempted murder of police spotters David Dotz, twenty-three, and his eighteen-year-old brother, Alex, on September 22, 1926. The Dotz brothers were called spotters deluxe because of the number of bootleggers they reported on.
David Dotz’s car after the shooting. From Rockford Daily Republic.
The boys were leaving their house at 905 Sixth Avenue and climbing into their vehicle when they noticed a large sedan approaching. The four men in the passing car opened fire with their shotguns, and as a result, David was injured in his eye. He would later lose sight in this eye because of the wound. Alex was grazed in the head and took a full hit to his shoulder that broke his scapula. The car continued down Fifth Street toward Keith Creek, turned west onto Eighth Avenue and then onto Kishwaukee Street, where it was lost in traffic. Police found one of the firearms in a creek a few blocks down the street from the Dotz home.
Later, State’s Attorney Knight took David to a garage where a car matching the description was found. David identified the car and told the police that he recognized Phillip Caltagerone, George Saladino and Tom DiGiovanni as the shooters.
The next spring, the three men were put on trial for the attempted murder of Alex Dotz. The trial lasted fifteen days and ended in an acquittal for the men. It was described in the newspaper: “The trial of the three defendants was one of the most sensational and long drawn out criminal trials in the legal history of Winnebago County.”
After the trial, State’s Attorney Knight was quoted, “I have seen the signs of this growing boldness for some time and this shooting is what I’ve been expecting. It is time the people of Rockford awoke to the bootleg menace here. The time has come to choose to decide whether it will become another Cicero or Canton.”
The Dotz brothers were so frightened by the attack that they not only left Rockford but also Illinois and moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Later, they would be arrested for a robbery that occurred at the Kenosha Theater in which $ 1,000 was taken. The Dotz boys claimed they were framed. It was a hard fall for the once-legendary spotters.
On January 30, 1928, Larry McGill, a twenty-three-year-old watchman at the Joseph Behr junkyard, was shot. He was with a couple of friends in a Behr Company truck at a house on the corner of Keefe and Fifteenth Avenues. His companions were William Oberg and Joseph Kranski, both seventeen years old. The house that Larry was observing that evening was owned by Joseph Choppi.
As he lay dying, Larry McGill testified to Assistant State’s Attorney Karl Williams and Robert Nash at Rockford Hospital. Later, he would tell police that he was just curious and decided to watch the house. There was a betrothal party going on at the house, and McGill wanted to see who attended. The other two boys’ stories matched McGill’s.
According to Larry, two men and a woman left the house. One man, dressed in a long fur coat, spotted Larry and his companions sitting in the truck. The man approached the pickup truck, yelled profanity, slapped one of the men with McGill and then shot McGill. McGill told police that Vince “Big Jim” Diverno shot him. Diverno was known to police as a “rum runner, racketeer, and a general bad character.” He had also been questioned in Freeport as a suspect in other shooting and stabbing assaults.
Diverno owned a grocery store in Freeport, and police from both Rockford and Freeport searched for him. They followed tips in several different cities, and there were reports that police met with Diverno’s wife to work out a possible surrender. But it was all in vain, and authorities never found Diverno.
Police suspected that Larry was working undercover as a spotter for one of the local gangs, and his cover was blown when he got careless. They did not believe his story of just being curious about the party goers.
Coroner Fred Olson searched for family members to claim McGill’s body and had just about given up hope when McGill’s estranged wife appeared. She made arrangements for Larry’s body to be shipped to Cherry, Illinois, where she lived with their young son. Mrs. McGill promised Coroner Olson that she would bury Larry like “his parents would have wanted.”
Less than a week later, another murder, this one even more violent, took place. Tom Perra, thirty-five years old, also known as Redda, was once in the bootlegging business. He lived at 726 South Winnebago with his family. During the first week of January 1928, all of Perra’s bootlegging equipment was confiscated by the boss of one of the local gangs. A couple of days later, he decided to approach the police to offer to become a spotter for them. He was assigned to a partner who was working in Freeport. Perra moved his family to a new home at 810 Houghton Street on January 30, 1928. Later that day, he left the house, and his family never saw him alive again.
Perra went missing on Tuesday, January 30, but evidence showed he had only been dead a couple of days when he was found on Tuesday, February 6, 1928. Perra was the first Italian to turn into a spotter, and the man who worked with Perra in Freeport said that Perra was very spooked by the whole idea.
Perra’s body was found around 9:00 a.m. on February 6 by Ben Olsen, a farmer who lived near Cherry Valley. Olsen was headed into New Milford with his wagon when he made the gruesome discovery. Perra was found in the woods off Perryville Road “by the old rifle range,” one mile east of New Milford.
Perra was lying on his left side about fifty yards east of the road in the wagon ruts that lead through the woods. He had been shot in the head four times, and blood covered his face. The bullets had entered the back of Perra’s head on the right side and exited on the left side of the forehead. He had his arms up in front of him as if he was trying to protect his head. The gun used for the killing was found a short distance away from the body.
Another farmer, Frank Carlson, told police he heard several shots on Sunday morning. He did not report the gunfire because he thought it might be a hunter. Another farmer who lived in the area said he noticed cars coming and going in the woods, but that was usual for a Sunday. It seemed that the location was popular as a lover’s lane.
Perra’s wife, Rose, had been in bed since shortly before he went missing. She was expecting their next child. Rose gave birth, and police waited to tell her of her husband’s death because she was in serious condition after the birth of her fifth child. The Welfare Society and Visiting Nurses nursed the mother and baby while caring for the other four children. The family was left destitute by the death of Perra.
Police were searching for Walter Filkins, the man who was Perra’s partner for the spotter job in Freeport. They were hoping he could shed some light on the motive for the killing. They also suspected that the partner might have told local bootleggers of Perra’s true identity as a police spotter. Police never found Filkins, and Perra’s murder was never solved.
The bootleggers in Rockford got very nervous after the deaths of Perra and McGill. There were also rumors that federal agents were heading into Rockford for a “mop-up” campaign. The sellers were so cautious they turned customers away if there were any strangers in the area or the buyers were unfamiliar. There were also rumors that since it was suspected that some of the police force might be involved or at least warning the bootleggers of the raids, federal agents were working independently of local authorities.
The next time the guns roared, it was not a spotter they were aimed at. Gaetano DiSalvo, known as Tom DiSalvo, twenty-nine years old, owned a cafe at 1301 Seminary Street. He was a well-known racketeer who ended up at the wrong end of a gun. Tom’s body was found on September 2, 1928, on the 200 block of Morgan Street, inside a car he had borrowed from another alleged gang member, Peter Salamone. DiSalvo was slumped over the steering wheel of the fancy LaSalle Roadster with nine steel jacket bullets inside his body. Police had a difficult time with this investigation because no one wanted to share any information. They uncovered the fact that DiSalvo had moved to Rockford a year before his death from Cleveland. He still had a brother in Akron, Ohio.
DiSalvo was finely dressed and had a large diamond ring on his finger and a diamond stickpin in his tie. DiSalvo carried a bankbook with entries that added to over $1,000. He also had papers that declared his intent to apply for citizenship. The papers stated that he moved to the United States from Italy in 1923.
Police questioned DiSalvo’s supposed sweetheart, Lillian Tinney, who denied that they were lovers. Apparently, DiSalvo had a wife whom he left back in Italy. Lillian did admit she worked for him at his cafe and was in love with him. She claimed to have no idea why someone would kill him. Lillian was with DiSalvo on the night he was killed. DiSalvo took Lillian for a drive before dropping her off at home around six o’clock in the evening.
Others who remained nameless did admit to the police that DiSalvo was in the illegal alcohol business and that he had crossed another prominent local bootlegger and paid for it with his life. Another theory that was shared with police was that DiSalvo was killed as retaliation for the torture and murder of Tom Perra.
One thing was certain: when DiSalvo pulled his LaSalle Roadster up in front of the blacksmith shop on Morgan Street, there were at least two men waiting for him. One was probably on the sidewalk and engaged DiSalvo in conversation. Another man approached from the street and fired a bullet into the back of DiSalvo’s head. Both men opened fire and shot eight more bullets into DiSalvo’s body.
Only six people showed up for DiSalvo’s funeral. Even his girl, Lillian, stayed away The paper claimed that DiSalvo had no friends and no one mourned his death, except for maybe his wife in Italy, who, not knowing of his brutal shooting, waited for his return.
Sources:
Rockford (IL) Daily Register Gazette. “Hint Gambling Is Motive in Local Slaying,” October 12, 1925.
___________. “Take Alky in Night Raid.” December 3, 1925.
___________. “Tragedy Ends Scuffle Over Unloaded Gun.” December 31, 1923.
___________. “Trap Four in Pre-Holiday Liqour Raids.” December 3, 1925.
Rockford (IL) Republic. “Big Jim Diverno Hiding in Cicero, Police Hear.” March 9, 1928.
___________. “David Dotz Spends Morning on Stand.” May 12, 1927.
___________. “Fear More Liquor Gunfire Here.” September 23, 1926.
___________. “Gangland Code Seals the Lips of Girl Witness.” September 5, 1928.
___________. “Gangland Guns Blaze Death to Racketeer.” September 4, 1928.
___________. “Hootch Sells at $7.00 a Pint.” September 29, 1920.
___________. “Nine Shots Fired into Man’s Body.” September 4, 1928.
___________. “Not Guilty Verdict in Three Hours.” May 27, 1927.
___________. “Oddo Swears Killing Was Accidental.” February 7, 1924.
___________. “Pals Desert Murdered Racketter at Funeral.” September 8, 1928.
___________. “Rockford Has Seven Unsolved Deaths on Records.” August 17, 1930.
___________. “Search for Slain Man’s Pal Futile.” February 7, 1928.
___________. “Sheriff Raids Three Alleged Liquor Resorts.” May 9, 1931.
___________. “Shotguns Roar in War Against Booze.” September 23, 1926.
___________. “Truckload of Liquor Seized.” November 19, 1925.
___________. “Victims Taken for a Ride and Shot to Death.” February 6, 1928.
___________. “Wife Promises Decent Burial for Slain Man.” February 3, 1928.
