McClellan Part 33: testimony of Jack Cerone, Ross Prio and Joseph DiVarco (11 July 1958), pp. 12809-12824

The three men testified together and each declined to state an occupation. Chief counsel Kennedy told Ross Prio the committee had testimony that he helped set up syndicate-sponsored trade associations in 1952-53 and was a major North Side bookmaking figure; Prio declined to answer.

Date

1958-07-11

Kind

hearing

Source

Internet Archive, scan of the printed hearings (Boston Public Library copy)

Retrieved

2026-10-12

Rights

A work of the United States Congress, printed by the Government Printing Office. Public domain in the United States under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

Part 33 of the McClellan Committee’s hearings covers the restaurant industry in the Chicago area, July 1958. Jack Cerone, Ross Prio and Joseph DiVarco testified together on 11 July 1958 (pp. 12809-12824). Each declined, on Fifth Amendment grounds, to state his business or occupation, and each was ordered to answer. Cerone also declined to state his birthplace or citizenship.

Chief counsel Robert Kennedy told Prio (p. 12813) that testimony the day before showed he had “a very prominent role in the setting up of these syndicate-sponsored trade associations in Chicago in 1952 and 1953,” associated with James Weinberg and Paul Labriola, with “Golf Bag” Hunt in charge and Tony Accardo above him, and that he was “one of the most important figures in Chicago as far as bookmaking is concerned,” operating chiefly on the North Side. Prio declined to answer. Exhibit 25 was a photograph of Prio and Libby Nuccio.

Counsel’s statements are not sworn, and the witnesses did not answer them. Residential addresses given at the hearing are not repeated here. Quotations follow the Internet Archive’s OCR of the printed volume. Page numbers are the printed running heads and can be off by one near a page break.