Grand Avenue Crew Member Chuckie Russell Died

Charles (Chuckie) Russell, who boasted of pulling off thousands of burglaries in a four-year period,   died before he could be sentenced for gun possession in connection with a 2016 robbery plot, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, attributing this to court filings.

Chuckie Russell 


Russell, 70, a reputed member of the Chicago Outfit's Grand Avenue Crew (Joey the Clown Lombardo’s old bailiwick), was suffering from prostate cancer.

On Dec. 21, 2016, he was arrested after purchasing eight guns from an undercover federal agent in Chicago. He pleaded guilty last year to possession of a revolver that agents found during a search of his home in Schaumburg.

He reportedly faced at least 15 years in prison.

However, because of his illness, Russell was released from jail and allowed to live at home via electronic monitoring, and was never healthy  enough to be sentenced.

Russell had arranged to stay in a condo owned by girlfriend Patricia Spilotro, a relative of Anthony and Michael Spilotro, the Outfit members whose 1986 double murder figures in the climax of Martin Scorsese's Casino.







On Dec. 20, 2016, Russell met at a restaurant with a federal informant and an undercover agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Russell enlisted their help in a plot to rob a 70-year-old former attorney of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

During the meeting, Russell showed the ATF agent a photo of a car riddled with bullets, then handed the agent an Illinois driver’s license of a man, saying, “He’s deceased.”

Agents confirmed the man on the driver’s license was shot in November 2016. His killing remains unsolved.

Russell reportedly once bragged that his victims never refused to open a safe when he directed them to. He usually persuaded them by applying a butane torch to the bottom of their feet.


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