FBI seeks info 10 years after Chicago mob boss Anthony Zizzo vanished

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago crime boss Anthony Zizzo disappeared a decade ago on Wednesday. He is believed to be one of the outfit's last hits.

On August 31, 2006, George W. Bush was president and the Cubs were nearly in last place. And on that day 10 years ago, Zizzo kissed his wife goodbye and left their Westmont townhouse destined for lunch on Rush Street. He had been summoned to meet with some outfit colleagues, but Zizzo never returned. Now AWOL for 10 years, he vanished without a trace.

"Anthony Zizzo has connections to La Cosa Nostra which may have played a part in his disappearance," FBI Special Agent Garrett Croon said.

La Cosa Nostra, which means "this thing of ours" in Italian, is the favored federal lingo for the mob of which Anthony Zizzo was a high-ranking member.

"He was the underboss - traditionally a tough guy's job," said John Binder, author of "The Chicago Outfit."

Binder said Zizzo had left his house here in suburban Westmont and told his wife he had a lunch meeting on Rush Street. His car was found empty near a restaurant in Melrose Park.

Zizzo is said to have a falling out with mob boss Michael "Fat Boy" Sarno concerning illegal video poker machines.

"As they often do, they were going to sit down and smooth this out. But no - that's your death sentence," Binder said.

Investigators consider top hoodlums Joe "The Sledgehammer" Andriacchi and Albie "Falcon" Vena as possible suspects in Zizzo's disappearance, but no one has ever been charged.

Without a body, the FBI reiterates its $10,000 reward for information in the case.

"We need the public's help. Telephone the FBI. Tell us what you know if you were in that area at the time or you were around the rest or you knew Anthony Zizzo. Call us, tell us your information, no matter how small you think it may be," Agent Croon said.

"It's interesting that the FBI itself offered a $10,000 reward for information into the whereabouts or the disappearance of Tony Zizzo," Binder said. "Honestly, they would have seen him as valuable to them dead or alive in one sense or another. Possibly if they thought they could solve the Zizzo murder that would lead to a whole second round of indictments."

Zizzo vanished as the government's Family Secrets mob murder case was shifting into high gear 10 years ago.

A second round of Family Secrets indictments was always expected but never came. It isn't known whether authorities saw Zizzo as a defendant or thought they could turn him as a witness, but after he became unavailable, all the Zizzo options were off the table.