Rocco DeGrazia

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(Photo courtesy of John Binder).

( Gumballs,"Rocky" or "Mr. Big"; a.k.a. DeGrazio; in his later years affectionately called "Gramps" by younger gangsters).

He claimed to be 23 when he entered the U.S. and most newspapers accepted 1900 as his birth date.(Probably 1897).

He arrived from Italy in 1923.In July, 1932, he suffered serious spinal injuries in a wreck two

miles west of Bloomingdale, Illinois, and was hospitalized in Elgin, where he refused to discuss

the machine gun in the back seat of his car or the police star he was wearing at the time. (With him

was gangster Anthony "Tony the Mouth" Bagniola, and they had crashed into a farmer's vehicle while

driving at high speed to a roadhouse, partly owned by DeGrazia, that had just been raided.

He is arrested in a barber shop at 954 Harrison street along with Anthony Accardo and Sam

"Golfbag" Hunt.All were charged with disorderly conduct and discharged in municipal court Nov.16,1932.Started as a driver for the Capone mob.Later makes his way up the ladder as gunman and gambling chief. DeGrazia was reputed to be in charge of accomodations for the St. Val. massacre shooters. In 1934 Rocco, living at 1040 North Elmwood in Oak Park, threatened to

kill IRS agents until he learned who they were. He and his brother Nick, residing in Maywood, were

indicted on July 27, 1934, for failure to pay income taxes during 1929 and 1930 on some eighteen

handbooks in Melrose Park, for which he paid $1,200 a month protection. On February 5, 1935, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eighteen months in Leavenworth, plus a fine of $1000. In 1946 Rocco and his brother Andrew, partners in a tavern called the Lumber Gardens, were picked up and questioned for allegedly threatening a Melrose park pharmacist over opium and morphine, which they were demanding to settle the druggist's gambling debts. Rocco surrendered to authorities on March 19,1946,

disposition of that case unknown. (Rocco had insisted that the drugs were for doping horses,

although his brother was believed to be addicted. Andrew's wife later committed suicide with a gun,

and Andrew himself ended up, in May of 1958, falling asleep at the table and choking to death

on italian sausages. Another of Rocco's brothers, Anthony, served as a Chicago

police lieutenant until a 1959 vacation trip to Europe with Tony Accardo led to his suspension.

This scandal also brought unwanted publicity to Rocco,whose undertaking license was revoked on the basis of "poor moral character" and with "hoodlum connections."

He had been running an undertaking establishment at 3425 Chicago Avenue.

He had also been working for the city as a safety lane inspector. He was suspended after accepting bribes to let faulty autos drive thorugh without penalty.

Sam Hunt, Accardo, Covico and DeGrazia

In his later years DeGrazia dropped in stature, becoming a minor henchman of Sam Battaglia. His

sole remaining holding was his lavish gambling club, the Casa Madrid at 171 North 25th Street in Melrose

Park, which doubled as his residence. On September 23, 1961 Rocco was arrested at the Casa Madrid and safes were seized, but the disposition of the case is unknown. The club was later closed ,but Syndicate bosses continued to meet in the basement as late as 1969. DeGrazia's wife Margaret died in 1975 and he faded into obscurity afterwards, dying largely unnoticed of natural causes in Melrose Park on

(Special thanks to Rick Mattix and Mari Abba for some of the info).


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DeGrazio; in his later years affectionately called "Gramps" by younger gangsters). He claimed to be 23 when he entered the U.S. and most newspapers accepted 1900 as his birth date.(Probably 1897). He arrived from Italy in 1923.In July, 1932, he suffered serious spinal injuries in a wreck two miles west of Bloomingdale, Illinois, and was hospitalized in Elgin, where he refused to discuss the machine gun in the back seat of his car or the police star he was wearing at the time. (With him was gangster Anthony "Tony the Mouth" Bagniola, and they had crashed into a farmer's vehicle while driving at high speed to a roadhouse, partly owned by DeGrazia, that had just been raided. He is arrested in a barber shop at 954 Harrison street along with Anthony Accardo and Sam "Golfbag" Hunt.All were charged with disorderly conduct and discharged in municipal court Nov.16,1932.Started as a driver for the Capone mob.Later makes his way up the ladder as gunman and gambling chief. DeGrazia was reputed to be in charge of accomodations for the St. Val. massacre shooters. In 1934 Rocco, living at 1040 North Elmwood in Oak Park, threatened to kill IRS agents until he learned who they were. He and his brother Nick, residing in Maywood, were indicted on July 27, 1934, for failure to pay income taxes during 1929 and 1930 on some eighteen handbooks in Melrose Park, for which he paid $1,200 a month protection. On February 5, 1935, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eighteen months in Leavenworth, plus a fine of $1000. In 1946 Rocco and his brother Andrew, partners in a tavern called the Lumber Gardens, were picked up and questioned for allegedly threatening a Melrose park pharmacist over opium and morphine, which they were demanding to settle the druggist's gambling debts. Rocco surrendered to authorities on March 19,1946, disposition of that case unknown. (Rocco had insisted that the drugs were for doping horses, although his brother was believed to be addicted. Andrew's wife later committed suicide with a gun, and Andrew himself ended up, in May of 1958, falling asleep at the table and choking to death on italian sausages. Another of Rocco's brothers, Anthony, served as a Chicago police lieutenant until a 1959 vacation trip to Europe with Tony Accardo led to his suspension. This scandal also brought unwanted publicity to Rocco,whose undertaking license was revoked on the basis of "poor moral character" and with "hoodlum connections." He had been running an undertaking establishment at 3425 Chicago Avenue. He had also been working for the city as a safety lane inspector. He was suspended after accepting bribes to let faulty autos drive thorugh without penalty. Sam Hunt, Accardo, Covico and DeGrazia In his later years DeGrazia dropped in stature, becoming a minor henchman of Sam Battaglia. His sole remaining holding was his lavish gambling club, the Casa Madrid at 171 North 25th Street in Melrose Park, which doubled as his residence. On September 23, 1961 Rocco was arrested at the Casa Madrid and safes were seized, but the disposition of the case is unknown. The club was later closed ,but Syndicate bosses continued to meet in the basement as late as 1969. DeGrazia's wife Margaret died in 1975 and he faded into obscurity afterwards, dying largely unnoticed of natural causes in Melrose Park on December 17, 1978. (Special thanks to Rick Mattix and Mari Abba for some of the info).