St. Rocco's journey from Simbario to Chinatown
Roti family patriarchs Bruno Roti Sr. and his brother-in-law Bruno Bertucci began the tradition when they founded the society in 1920 to honor St. Rocco, patron saint of Simbario, the southern Italian village they left for Chicago. St. Rocco was a French nobleman in the 1300s said to have healed people with the plague in Italy.
Membership is restricted to men with ancestors from Simbario, or who marry into a family from Simbario. Among past members: the late Ald. Fred B. Roti, who went to prison for taking bribes.
"I've been a member since I've been born, by birthright," then-union leader Bruno F. Caruso said in a 2000 deposition.
Caruso -- identified in a 1999 FBI report as a member of the mob -- is a grandson of the late Bruno Roti Sr. and is vice president of the St. Rocco Society, according to a 2004 program celebrating the 100th anniversary of Santa Maria Incornata Church, now known as St. Therese Chinese Mission.
The society is still based in the church in Chinatown, a few doors from the home of co-founder Bruno Bertucci. His grandson, Bruno A. Bertucci, is the society's treasurer.
St. Rocco is involved in "religious activities, including prayer groups, novenas, celebrations of mass and benediction,'' the younger Bertucci wrote in a letter to a judge in 1998 on behalf of Frank Caruso Jr., a member who was convicted in the racial beating of Lenard Clark. Caruso is a great-grandson of Bruno Roti Sr.
Three months ago, Bertucci pleaded guilty to obstructing justice in the Hired Truck scandal. Bertucci, who declined through his attorney to comment, was caught taking a $5,000 bribe in July 2004 to have city workers chop down two trees for a developer in Lincoln Park. The bribe occurred two months after Bertucci retired as the third-highest-ranking staffer in the city's forestry bureau.