The Family Debt: The True Story of Giacomo "Jack" Bianco

By Teresa Bianco

The Family Debt is a tribute to the authors father, Giacomo Jack Bianco. He was a man who lived his life with passion for his family, a man who worked hard at everything he did. His unselfish nature was exposed year after year, experience after experience. Giacomo was undoubtedly a family man who never let his family down; no matter the cost.

Never asking questions, he simply chose to rise to the occasion time after time to preserve the integrity of his family and to protect his personal and business interests. He didnt make excuses, he simply delivered what was required, when it was required.

Then suddenly one day the core of the family was taken forever; his life was extinguished. Over time, more questions surfaced, but unfortunately no answers or explanations. Did he know how steep the price would be to protect his family?

The detectives and investigators, they were simply told to shelve the investigation. This happened only three days after this horrible murder, a file never to be opened again. Almost forty years later the same questions still pierce the silence once filled by a fathers voice. His familys thoughts are finally revealed and shared for the first time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 9, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450207690

Teresa Bianco

It has been Teresa Bianco’s heart’s desire from early childhood, an unquenchable yearning to unveil her father’s short yet impactful life, not to mention his sudden, senseless, and unexplained death. A daughter’s perspective on a father’s love, a father’s passion, and a father’s early demise is revealed in The Family Debt.

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Copyright © 2010 by Teresa Bianco

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ISBN: 978-1-4502-0768-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-0769-0 (ebook)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-0770-6 (hc)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 02/04/2010

Contents

Dedication

Preface

1. The Miracle

2. Cold Case

3. The Beginning

4. Penzato-Biancos

5. Bulletproof

6. The Family Business

7. Tony’s Debt

8. Morto

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Dedication 

My father, Giacomo C. Jack Bianco, has been the greatest inspiration to me for this project. It has been my heart’s desire for almost forty years to share my father’s life and untimely death with the world. So, Daddy, this is for you!

To my mother, Mary Teresa, who suffered so much anguish throughout the years, both with and without my father—God Bless you, Mom! May you live in peace the rest of your days.

To my brother, Sam—who lived his life to the fullest until his death at age fifty-nine—may you be rejoicing with the angels in Heaven alongside our Dad!

To my sister, Josie, who has been the anchor of the family since our father’s death—may God continue to bless you and your family in every way. You’re the best, Sis!

To my daughter, Erika—although you did not know Grandpa Jack, you now have the opportunity to learn of him through this book. I believe the Lord blessed me with you to help with my loss after my daddy was taken. Thank you for being there for me!

This book is lovingly dedicated with the Lord Jesus’ blessings.

~ Teresa Bianco

Preface 

The original file on the murder of my father, Jack Bianco, stayed at the bottom of a musty, cardboard banker’s box in Gary, Indiana, for almost thirty years. There was no denying that his case was cold—the leads within were as dead as many of the police detectives who had worked the investigation.

The term cold case sounds so uninviting and final, and the prospects of reopening Dad’s case seemed equally bleak. But despite all this, in 1993, I called a retired police officer I knew, to help me find my father’s file. He asked for the assistance of his fellow officers to locate the Bianco file.

Every month for six months, I would call Jerry and ask what progress had been made. His answer would always be, We’re still looking but cannot seem to find it. Frustration started to build with my constant question:, Why can’t you find my dad’s file?

As we were going into the seventh month of searching for the file, I started to believe it did not exist. I made another call to Jerry. After all these months of supposedly searching for it, I was told the file on my father’s murder was lost in a fire the department had some years past. I asked the question that never would be answered: When did the fire occur and why did it take you seven months to find this out? Needless to say, I was not convinced his file was burned in a fire!

Then, a call to the offices of the Gary Public Library—where I could order reprints of old newspapers—helped to fill in some of the crucial blanks of that tragic day in August 1970. The librarian was of great assistance. While I was waiting anxiously on the other end of the phone, he was searching for the articles on microfiche. At first he wasn’t able to locate them, thinking they did not exist, but as we went over the dates again, there they were.

I received the articles about four days later in the mail, three consecutive days of the story. The first one, dated Monday, August 31, 1970, was on the front page of the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana, the day following his murder. The headline read, Owner of tavern linked to gambling gunned down here.

Linked to gambling? What was that about? As far as our family knew, my father was a legitimate businessman with no ties to gambling—we were enraged! We do know that my father’s half brother Tony Penzato—who was regarded by federal investigators as a top man in the Lake County gambling business—was regularly in the media. The only involvement we knew my father had was to help his brother get out of his unlawful practices.

Who would care about the 1970 slaying of a man from Gary, Indiana, with Mafia connections? His daughter for one.

This was the culmination of a lot of sleepless nights and worry-lines. For over twenty years, I had harbored resentment and anger that these killers had escaped punishment, after taking away a father, a husband, and a good man.

I was just fourteen years old—a week shy of beginning high school—when the doorbell rang in the middle of the night, as I waited for my daddy to come home from work, but it wasn’t Dad. He would never come home again.

1. The Miracle 

In 1993, I began my own investigation, and the facts soon fell into place. I bought my own banker’s box and started collecting clippings, gathering old photos, and writing down memories of our family and the circumstances that surrounded my father’s murder.

I had known for years that I wanted to tell Daddy’s story—to share his life and his death. He was only forty-nine when he was killed. We were still asking the same question: Who murdered Jack Bianco, and what were their reasons?

My newly developed business was starting to take hold and requiring a lot more of my time. However, when I had a moment, I would research documents online and call some family members for their thoughts and memories of my father. I knew it was time to start writing down the information I was collecting and catalogue it. I wanted to give it my undivided attention at that point, but I needed to concentrate on making a living, so for the time being; I had to put my father’s case on hold.

Three years sped by before I knew it and, yet again, I was faced with the second tragedy of my life. My only child, Erika Marie, newly married and at the young age of twenty-four, was suddenly fighting for her own life. On December 6, 1996 she had a near fatal auto accident while leaving my home office in Rose City, Michigan, not far from West Branch.

That frightful call from my son-in-law made our entire world come to a halt.

Erika has had a serious accident and her condition is critical. Meet us at the hospital.

As my husband and I arrived at West Branch Regional Medical