Angelo J. "The Hook" LaPietra, head of the Outfit's Chinatown-Southside Crew aka The 26th Street Crew, skimmed $2 million from Las Vegas casinos in the 1980s. He used the money to move his headquarters from west 26th street to the brand new structure pictured here, The Old Neighborhood Italian-American Club, in 1981.

Angelo was called "The Hook" because of how he murdered people who could not pay their mob loans. He would hang them up by a meat hook jabbed in their ribs and torture them with a blowtorch. They would die from suffocation.

The FBI wiretapped the club, suspecting that it was being used for gambling and street juice--loans made for very high interest under the threat of mob violence or death. Ten people were charged with illegal gambling as a result of this evidence. On January 21, 1986, LaPietra pleaded guilty to conspiring to conceal ownership in a syndicate-controlled Las Vegas casino. He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment and fined $143,409.

In October 1996 Alderman Danny Solis presented to LaPietra a plaque and reward for his leadership and commitment to the community. It recognized him and the Italian Club as "decision makers." LaPietra was in prison at the time.

Currently the club is not run by mobsters but some say a few old timers still frequent the place.

"We're not influenced by us any more," says one member.