Catherine Caruso: Father tied to Al Capone, brother a 'made' mob member: FBI

The Chicago Sun-Times reports not your average obituary:

Sunday dinners were a long-standing tradition at Catherine Caruso's home in Chinatown. Mrs. Caruso, whose family called her "Katie" or "Nana," typically cooked for 21 people every week, a ritual that continued when she was well into her 80s, according to her son Frank "Toots" Caruso.

Mrs. Caruso died Friday at the age of 96.

Her family was recently profiled by the Chicago Sun-Times in a three-part series called "Chicago's First Family of Clout."

Mrs. Caruso's younger brother and longtime next-door neighbor was the late Fred Bruno Roti, a once-powerful Chicago alderman who, according to the FBI, was also a "made" member of the mob.

Their father, Bruno Roti Sr., was considered by the FBI to be the head of a key organized-crime unit with ties to Al Capone.

And Mrs. Caruso's grandson Frank Caruso Jr. went to prison for the racially motivated 1997 beating of Lenard Clark, a 13-year-old black youth.
'She never held back'

But 50th Ward Ald. Bernard Stone, who has known the family for decades, said he remembers Mrs. Caruso in a different light.

Stone described her as the outspoken matriarch of "a typical Italian close-knit family."

"She was a wonderful woman; she never held back," Stone said. "If she liked you, you knew it, and if she didn't, you knew that, too."

Stone said Mrs. Caruso's three sons and daughter were "very devoted to her" and often dropped by the house to keep her company, even when Mrs. Caruso wasn't making her customary Sunday feast.

Mrs. Caruso, wife of the late Frank "Skid" Caruso, also is survived by her daughter, Frances Karagianes; two other sons, Peter and Bruno; 10 grandchildren; 15 great-grand- children, and her sister, Josephine Barber.

For more on Bernie Stone's concern for his "reputation".