Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime

Samuel A. Carlisi

Named by the Seventh Circuit in 1997 as the leader and financial backer of the Carlisi Street Crew. He died while his appeal was pending, and the court ordered his conviction vacated.

Aliases
Wings, Sam Carlisi
Family
Chicago Outfit, as the Seventh Circuit names it (1997)
Role
Leader and financial backer of the Carlisi Street Crew (Seventh Circuit, 1997)
Source
United States v. Zizzo, 120 F.3d 1338 (7th Cir. 1997)
Rights
Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state.

On the record

  • 1980s — United States v. Zizzo, 120 F.3d 1338 (7th Cir. 1997), describes the Carlisi Street Crew as "an arm of the Outfit operating in western Cook and DuPage Counties throughout the 1980's," and states that Carlisi "was the leader and financial backer of the group."
  • December 1992 — The same opinion: "In December 1992 a grand jury indicted eleven members of the Chicago Outfit" for the gambling and loansharking operations of two street crews.
  • Before 29 July 1997 — Zizzo: "After we consolidated their appeals, one of the defendants, Samuel 'Wings' Carlisi, the Outfit's former boss of all bosses — a title once held by the likes of Al Capone and Tony 'Big Tuna' Accardo — died."
  • 29 July 1997 — The court remanded "the case of Sam Carlisi to district court with instructions to vacate his conviction and dismiss the indictment as to him."
  • 1 May 2012 — United States v. Schiro, 679 F.3d 521 (7th Cir. 2012), identifies "the Carlisi Street Crew (also known as the Melrose Park Crew)."

The role line paraphrases the Seventh Circuit’s statement that he “was the leader and financial backer of the group.” The phrase “boss of all bosses” is the court’s wording, quoted in the events and not used as a title. CourtListener’s text of the “boss of all bosses” sentence prints “A1 Capone” and “Aecardo”; they are corrected above as errors in its scan.

The opinion does not give the date of his death, only that it came after the appeals were consolidated and before the decision of July 29, 1997, so the died field is empty. No opened record gives his birth date.

Records

itemUnited States v. Zizzo, 120 F.3d 1338 (7th Cir. 1997)Seventh Circuit opinion of July 29, 1997 in the Carlisi Street Crew gambling and loansharking case; it vacates Samuel Carlisi's conviction because he died while the appeals were pending and affirms the others.itemUnited States v. Schiro, 679 F.3d 521 (7th Cir. 2012)Seventh Circuit opinion of May 1, 2012 on the appeals of the five defendants convicted at the 2007 Family Secrets trial: Calabrese, Marcello, Lombardo, Schiro, and Doyle.