“[Expletive] FBI, don’t respect nothin’.” — SONNY CORLEONE (JAMES CAAN) AFTER CONFRONTING AGENTS AT DON CORLEONE’S DAUGHTER’S WEDDING IN “THE GODFATHER”
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EVERYBODY LOVES A WEDDING. And nobody loves a mob wedding more than law enforcement officers. When then-retired Outfit boss Tony Accardo hosted his daughter Linda’s nuptials, local detectives invited themselves to spy on the 700-guest reception at the mob hangout Villa Venice. They didn’t reveal much about what they learned, except for one juicy tidbit: Accardo allotted just one glass of champagne per guest. “Requests for more,” the Tribune reported, “had to be cleared [through] three hoodlum ‘hosts’ who shut off the drinks of small fry gangsters.”
* Estimated cost of the party, in 2008 dollars: $177,000.
* Estimated Mafia membership in Chicago in 1963: 300. Today: about 50.
* Menu at the reception: “pineapple boat” appetizers, beef tenderloin or chicken, and Venetian tarts, plus A 7-FOOT-TALL WEDDING CAKE.
Sources: Tribune archives, Encyclopedia of Chicago.
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nwatkins@tribune.com
