McClellan Part 33: Lt. Joseph Morris on the Weinberg surveillance (10 July 1958), pp. 12730-12745

Chicago police Lt. Joseph Morris described the surveillance of James Weinberg's efforts to organize restaurant and tavern associations, including Weinberg's reported 'deal with Ross Prio' on the North Side and the 'old fellows' who wanted no violence.

Date: 1958-07-10
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. Lt. Joseph Morris of the Chicago police testified on 10 July 1958 (pp. 12730-12745) about the surveillance of James Weinberg’s efforts to organize restaurant and tavern associations.

He said Weinberg made clear he needed the cooperation of local bosses, and that in organizing the North Side Weinberg “had a deal with Ross Prio and Monk Gallagrette and Joey Ceaser” (about p. 12734). He said that the “old fellows” Weinberg’s group named, “Accardo, Guzik, Prio,” wanted no violence (p. 12738), while a group called the “Young Bloods” was dissatisfied.

The remarks are attributed to Weinberg and his group as the surveillance recorded them. They are a police witness’s account, not findings. 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.

itemMcClellan Part 33: testimony of Jack Cerone, Ross Prio and Joseph DiVarco (11 July 1958), pp. 12809-12824The 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.itemStatement of Deputy Superintendent Joseph Morris, Chicago Police Department, October 11, 1963A Chicago police history of the syndicate placed in the 1963 hearing record. It states that Paul Ricca led after Frank Nitti's 1943 suicide, and that Tony Accardo "became the syndicate boss in 1943."