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| Chuckie English |
It is standard mob procedure to eliminate those figures more likely to form a protective web around the target before he is killed or in other cases to eliminate those most likely to attempt vengeance. Some supporters however are left alone, an indication after a period of time that they have been granted a “pass” from the bloodletting. They are usually allowed to retain their posts in the family, although sometimes they suffer a demotion in rank.
English was allowed to live, but he was busted from lieutenant to common soldier and assigned to the Joe Lombardo crew, a division of at least 40 soldiers. In time English got a few bones tossed his way, a situation that should have contented him. That was not Chuckie’s style unfortunately, and for years he often whispered to others that the regime under his old buddy Giancana had been so much better than the current one. Amazingly it took a full decade for English to outwear his pass.
Eventually Chuckie’s bleating got more vocal and the boss of bosses of the Chicago outfit, Tony Accardo, had enough. English was taken out in the parking lot of his favorite hangout, Howarth’s. His example made it obvious that a pass demands a certain code of behavior. Of course, those granting the pass are also supposed to follow a code of behavior—unless the pass is granted with fingers crossed.
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A case in point was Willie Boy Johnson, a mob associate of John Gotti’s, going back to their kindergarten days. In later years Willie Boy got very upset about how the mob was treating him, and when he got in trouble with the law, he bargained his way out by agreeing to inform on gang activities. In a monumental screw-up by authorities Gotti found out about Willie Boy’s longtime snitching, which appeared to have been fairly selective.
In any event both he and Gotti were brought up in a case of attempted murder, and if Willie Boy had talked more Gotti would have lost his “teflon don” image early on. According to Sammy “the Bull” Gravano in Underboss, Gotti told Willie Boy: “You did a bad thing all them years. But I’ll forgive you. It’s not the first time it happened. You can never be with us after this case. But nothing will happen to you.”
According to Gravano, Johnson wanted more assurance and asked Gotti to swear on his dead son’s head. Gotti did, and Willie Boy stayed with the defense. Gravano recalled that Willie Boy swallowed Gotti’s promise completely.
After Gotti beat the rap, he waited until Willie Boy really believed he’d gotten a pass. One day Willie left his house and his pass expired as he went down with 13 bullets to the head.
A pass that has apparently held up was one for Joe Bilotti, the brother of Tommy Bilotti who went down with Paul Castellano in 1985. In the aftermath of the double murder, Gotti took over the family and he was inclined to take out Joe Bilotti as a matter of prudence. According to Sammy the Bull, he intervened and told Gotti that Joe was a good soldier and would live by the rules. Another Gotti supporter agreed with the Bull, and the dubious Gotti permitted Gravano to meet with the surviving Bilotti.
Gravano claimed he reassured Joe all was well, that the killing of his brother was simply business. He reminded Joe that he had a tough job with 18 kids to take care of (Joe and Tommy each had nine kids). Rather proudly the Bull bragged in his book: “And Joe’s still alive today.”
It may be Joe Bilotti did not care for those words in Underboss, since it essentially pegged him as a Gravano man, something that might not sit well since Gravano became the greatest mob stoolie of the 1990s.
It could become another example that a pass is not necessarily forever.
