Lawrence “Little Five” Rassano

Lawrence Charles Rassano aka “Little Five” (1913-1975) was allegedly a member of the Chicago Outfit who operated in Cicero. Rassano was born on 25 Oct 1913 in Calabria, Italy or Potenza, Italy to parents Paulo Rassano and Rose Centomoni. It’s believed that he immigrated to the United States in 1914 with his mother. Lawrence was the chauffeur and bodyguard for Chicago Outfit boss, Joseph “The Doves” Aiuppa. Rassano ran a string of B-gril joints for Aiuppa and was friends with him for over 20 years.

Lawrence was married to a women named Louise Mangelli together they had two sons who names were, Robert, born July 16, 1943, and William, born May 9, 1947. His wife suffered a terminal illness of leukemia for two years and died July 27, 1959, at which time Robert was age 16 and William was 12. Mrs. Rassano was buried in the Chicago area. Following the death of his wife in 1959, Lawrence oldest son, Robert, married and resettled. Lawrence other son, William joined the United States armed forces in mid-1967. He was sent on active duty to Vietnam as a member of the 25th Infantry Division. While on a search and destroy mission near Saigon he was killed in ambush by enemy fire on March 2, 1968. His remains were returned to this country and he was given a military burial next to his deceased mother in Mount Carmel Cemetery.

In 1934 he was convicted of the offense of robbery and was sentenced to a prison term of from one year to life, but actually was required to serve only six months of that sentence. He was again convicted in 1952 of the crime of burglary and sentenced to five years probation and was never required to suffer imprisonment during such period of probation. In 1963-1964 was acquitted of bombing Dimitri’s restaurant in suburban Countryside, In 1968 Lawrence was facing a deportation order because of his criminal convictions.

Lawrence died on 10 Apr 1975 in Olmsted County, Minnesota.

Source:

Lawrence Rassano v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 377 F.2d 971 (7th Cir. 1967): https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/276006/lawrence-rassano-v-immigration-and-naturalization-service/

Lawrence Rassano, Petitioner-appellant, v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Respondent-appellee, 492 F.2d 220 (7th Cir. 1974): https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/492/220/322007/