Although the notorious “Scarface” Al Capone and his Chicago “Outfit” would always receive the lion’s share of attention from the press and law enforcement, over the years, several other Mafia families were operating in the State of Illinois that largely flew under the radar. One of them was a small Family based in the City of Rockford located in the far northern part of Illinois.
Based in Winnebago County, the Joseph Zammuto Family was headed for decades by a low-key and shadowy Sicilian-born boss named Giuseppe (Joe Z) Zammuto.
The City of Rockford has a base population of 145,000 residents, but when the surrounding Greater Metropolitan Area is counted, it boasts a total population of almost 350,000 residents. Because it had been a thriving metropolis since at least the 1920s Prohibition Era, it was always fertile territory for the Italian underworld and gave birth to one of the most successful mafia networks in the entire United States.
