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Introduction to the Special IssueThe Rise and Fall of Chicago's Organized Crime Family : A Brief History of the Outfit
John J. Binder and Arthur J. Lurigio Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 2013 29: 184 DOI: 10.1177/1043986213485645 The online version of this article can be found at: http://ccj.sagepub.com/content/29/2/184
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Introduction to the Special IssueThe Rise and Fall of Chicagos Organized Crime Family: A Brief History of the Outfit
John J. Binder1 and Arthur J. Lurigio2
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 29(2) 184197 2013 SAGE Publications Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1043986213485645 ccj.sagepub.com
Abstract Chicagos organized crime family emerged from the politically sponsored criminal activities of Jim Colosimo, which were concentrated in the citys corrupt Levee District. Unwilling to take advantage of the lucrative opportunities that accompanied the passage of the Volstead Act (Prohibition), Colosimo was assassinated and replaced by Johnny Torrio who partnered with Al Capone to lead the organization. Capone and his allies outfought other gangs during the Beer Wars and assumed control over bootlegging and other criminal activities, becoming the largest criminal organization at the end of the 1920s. The Outfit was born during Frank Nittis reign, expanding its reach into labor racketeering, gambling, and extortion. The Outfit thrived from 1930 to 1960, virtually unscathed by law enforcement activities and unchallenged by rival criminal organizations. Changes in the citys political structures, neighborhood compositions, as well as successful FBI investigations, forced the Outfit to contract its membership and activities during the previous 30 years. Keywords outfit, crime syndicate, Al Capone gang, beer wars, mob history
Chicagos crime family, known as the Outfit, has enjoyed a lengthy and profitable sovereignty in the citys underworld. The Outfit has dominated organized crime in the
1University 2Loyola
Corresponding Author: Arthur J. Lurigio, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, IL, USA. Email: alurigi@luc.edu
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city and its suburbs since the end of the Prohibition era. Before the Outfits consolidation of organized crime groups, numerous gangs and individual criminals vied for control of the citys bootlegging and other illegal enterprises. This special issue focuses on various aspects of the Outfit and its hegemony over organized crime in Chicago as well as on the governments efforts to curtail its criminal pursuits. The present volume is one of the few collections of scholarly articles that assume multidisciplinary (historical, sociological, criminological) perspectives in understanding the rise and fall of the Outfit. The current article, by Binder and Lurigio, briefly traces the origins, formation, and evolution of the Outfit from its roots to its heyday to its diminution in size, influence, and authority. The next article, by Lurigio and Binder, examines the popular myths and misapprehensions surrounding the Outfit and other organized crime families in the United States. In Article 3, Binder and Eghigian chronicle the history of gangland murders during the Prohibition era, which claimed the lives of hundreds of gangsters fighting over the citys illicit alcohol market. The fourth article, by Lombardo, explores the emergence of the Outfit from a sociological standpoint, noting the inability of alien conspiracy theory to explain the origin and growth of organized crime in the United States. In the fifth article, Corsino adopts a social network analysis to elucidate the intricate connections among the early members of the Chicago Heights Crew of the Outfit. Article 6, by Marshall, investigates the concept of the defended neighborhood by using recent data that test the relationship between crime and Italian American presence in Chicago communities. The final article in the issue, by Lombardo, describes local and federal law enforcements efforts to combat organized crime activities in Chicago.
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New York circa 1909. The cohorts membership consisted of men of Italian, Jewish, Irish, Greek, and other ethnic origins. The Colosimo gang is the lineal ancestor of the Capone syndicate, which subsequently became the Outfit.
Torrio
Al Capone left Brooklyn in 1919 to join Colosimo and Torrio, escaping the scrutiny of law enforcement and the vengeance of rival gang members. Contrary to Torrios recommendations, Colosimo was reluctant to pursue the tremendous economic opportunities afforded by Prohibition. When he returned from his honeymoon in May 1920, he was shot and killed in his own caf, most likely by New York gangster Frankie Yale, under contract from Torrio. No hints of conflict with other gangs at the time or any reprisals by Torrios group suggest that Big Jims underlings were also his murderers, viewing him as an impediment to entree into the illegal alcohol trade and therefore an ineffectual leader. The farsighted Torrio ascended to the helm of Colosimos criminal enterprise and leveraged his position to lay the foundation for a thriving criminal empire. He is credited with forging a gang cartel that apportioned the bootlegging industry to ensure optimal stability and profitability. The cartel members agreed that each gang would be allotted a geographic area (turf) where it maintained the exclusive right to sell beer and hard liquor.
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each gang was determined to increase its earnings by abrogating the territorial treaties and invading the turfs of neighboring criminal organizations. Gangsters excluded from the cartel also competed for a share of the highly lucrative illicit alcohol trade. One of the first encroachers was Spike ODonnell, leader of the South Side ODonnell gang, which impinged on the turf of the Sheldon and Saltis-McErlane gangs in 1923. An intergang cadre of gunmen from the Combination attacked members of the ODonnell gang and forced them to retreat to their original 63rd Street boundary.
Gang Alliances
Friction between the Gennas and the OBanion gangwhich was expected, given the large Sicilian neighborhood along Division Street in the heart of OBanion territorysparked a war between the mostly non-Italian North Siders and various Italian contingents in the area. This conflict led to the killing of OBanion in November 1924, probably by Frankie Yale and two Genna gunmen, thereby igniting the Prohibition era Gang Wars. The Sheldon gang, the Gennas, Druggan and Lake, and Guilfoyle were TorrioCapone allies, as well as the Circus Gang, a latecomer to the battle. A gang in Chicago Heights, located south of Chicago, at a site for illegal stills, joined Capones forces in 1926 after Capone helped non-Sicilian gangsters in that city appropriate the rackets from the local Sicilian gang. Chicago Heights gangsters monopolized criminal activities in Joliet and in an area east of Indiana and south of Chicago. The North Siders were allied with gangsters in the Northern suburbs of Chicago and on the far Northwest side of the city as well as with the West Side ODonnells and the Saltis-McErlane gang. The Saltis and the South Side ODonnells contingents were mostly independent. After being shot by avenging North Side gunmen in January 1925, Torrio left Chicago in March of that year. As the shooting spree continued, Al Capone succeeded him, assuming leadership over Chicagos largest gang.
Capones Victory
The Gennas were the first gang to surrender to the Capone forces after the North Siders, led by Hymie Weiss in 1925, murdered the Genna gangs leaders. The Gennas rackets, including the Unione Siciliana, which was a corrupt Sicilian American social and political organization, were summarily subsumed by the Capone organization, which installed Tony Lombardo as the Uniones president; the North Siders later killed Lombardo. In 1926, the West Side ODonnells and Capone Mob collided over liquor sales in Cicero; the West Siders capitulated and also were absorbed into the Capone gang. The Sheldon gang, led by Danny Stanton after Ralph Sheldon left Chicago, joined the Capone contingent, as well. The gang wars continued for several years. In October 1926, Capone gangsters murdered Hymie Weiss of the North Siders while a police officer killed Weisss companion, Vincent Schemer Drucci. Following Weisss murder, George Bugs Moran became the leader of the North Side gang, consisting of gamblers Barney Bertsche, Billy Skidmore, and William
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Johnson; vice czar Jack Zuta; the Gusenberg Brothers; and the Aiello Brothers, who operated the Sicilian rackets from their Division Street base after Lombardos death. The number of gangland slayings in Chicago peaked in 1926. Despite the copious bloodshed, the territorial map was changed little overall, until after the St. Valentines Day Massacre in 1929. The death of six Moran men (and the optometrist, Dr. Schwimmer) in the massacre, which occurred in a garage on North Clark Street, and the killing of Zuta and Joe Aiello by Capone gunmen in 1930, eventuated in Capones takeover of the North Side territories in 1931. Not long thereafter, Capone eliminated all of Morans allies on the Northwest Side and in the Northern suburbs of Chicago, including Roger Touhy, who the Outfit helped frame for kidnapping. When the beer wars ended, Capones group and its allies controlled bootlegging in the city of Chicago and its suburbs. While Capone fought with his rivals over the alcohol trade, his gang began exploring other rackets in anticipation of the demise of Prohibition. These criminal ventures included labor union corruption, gambling, and business racketeering. Even before it gained dominion over Chicagos criminal enterprises, the Capone gangs activities spread beyond the city. Unlike many types of liquor that improve with age, beer is ready for consumption only days after brewing. Therefore, the hard liquor that Chicagoans craved rarely emanated from stills in Chicago Heights or on Taylor or Division Streets; it originated from outside the country. Cooperation with Detroits organized crime groups and those elsewhere was required to import hard liquor from Canada to Chicago. In return, the local alcohol production of Capones gang was heavily exported to Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Iowa; it also was wholesaled to other gangs, including those in the Chicago suburbs. Relationships with gangsters outside of Chicago created a business infrastructure for later expansion. Also during Prohibition, political corruption increased dramatically, as police and public officials were paid considerable amounts of money to ignore criminal activity. In fact, instead of the partys political leaders, gangsters selected and supported for election many candidates for local, county, and state offices. As a result, Chicagos underworld (primarily the Capone gang after it ascended to the top echelon of organized crime in the city) garnered widespread political influence and the lions share of political protection.
Capones Downfall
Capone had little time to enjoy his triumphs. His heavy hand in the violence in Chicago during the 1920s and his flamboyant leadership style made him a highly visible and desirable target for law enforcement. Local authorities were unable or unwilling to act against Capone; however, the federal government did, launching a two-pronged offensive. The first prong attacked Capones breweries and was orchestrated by Eliot Ness and other Prohibition agents. The second prong investigated his income and payment of income taxes. In the midst of the gang wars, IRS agents were building a solid case against Capone and he was convicted of income tax evasion in October 1931. Capone boarded a train for the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta in May 1932 as Frank Nittiformerly the underboss of the organization and manager of the gangs financeswas
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returning to Chicago from prison. Nitti replaced Capone as boss during the waning days of Prohibition.
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to borrow from banks but who could be vouched for by an Outfit member or associate. Numerous business owners companies or homes fell into mobsters hands as loans defaulted. Besides Guzik and Humphries, other competent racketeers joined Nittis inner circle, such as Paul the Waiter Ricca (Nittis underboss who was first active in the Taylor Street neighborhood), Tony Joe Batters Accardo, Claude Screwy Maddox, and Anthony Tough Tony Capezio; all were alumni of the Circus Gang. Also in leadership roles were Louis Little New York Campagna, Capones bodyguard and Nittis protg; Willie Heeney, the boss of Cicero; Rocco Mr. Big DeGrazia, the boss of Melrose Park; killer and gambling operator Sam Golf Bag Hunt; and Jimmy Emery and Frank LaPorte, who oversaw illegal activities in the South Suburbs.
Low Profile
Nitti learned a lesson from Capones ill-fated celebrity and kept the Outfit out of the public eye. As FBI agent Bill Roemer noted, the Outfit stayed subrosa. The Mobs low profile was enabled by the post-Prohibition absence of banner headlines and newspaper reports on the spectacular battles being waged over liquor territories. From Nittis ascension to the late 1950s, the Outfit was virtually unmolested by law enforcement. Many of the local police and judiciary had indeed been installed in their positions by the syndicate and were the recipients of routine payoffs (i.e., they were in the Outfits pocket). After winning a string of convictions for income tax evasion against Outfit members, federal authorities, including the FBI, focused on other matters, including the apprehension of bank robbers, kidnappers, Communists, and World War II spies and saboteurs. The Outfit was so proficient at laying low that federal agents, including Eliot Ness, declared the Capone gang finished in 1932. The FBI embraced this view and, until the mid-1940s, noted that organized crime in Chicago was inactive. In reality, throughout this period, the Outfit thrived, gaining influence in other major cities, such as Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Rockford and Springfield, Illinois; and Kansas City. It also established a foothold in Los Angeles. During World War II, the Mob counterfeited ration coupons for gasoline and other commodities. In addition, the organization functioned in states with local Prohibition ordinances by engaging in small-scale bootlegging. The Chicago Crime Commission, led by its operating director, Virgil Peterson, was the only government organization to publically confront the Outfit between the early 1930s and the late 1950s. From the early to mid-1930s, a number of major gangland killings occurred. As operations were consolidated into the Outfit, the last battles were fought against gangsters who refused to relinquish their rackets and other insubordinate operators; those who could no longer function in peacetime became expendable, such as Machine Gun Jack McGurn, architect of the St. Valentines Day Massacre. Nearly broke and uncomfortable with the new leadership configuration, he was killed in February 1936. Attrition among the original Capone gangs members created a more cost-efficient and -effective organization with a lower payroll.
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On release from prison in the mid-1940s, Outfit gunman and driver Sam Giancana proposed to Accardo the co-optation of the numbers game (policy rackets), which was endemic to Chicagos African American community. The game was similar to the Pick Three lottery game operated by state lottery systems. In 1946, the Outfit pursued the policy operators, forcing most out of business and seizing the games. The lone resistor, Teddy Roe, died from several shotgun blasts on August 4, 1952. During the 1950s, the Outfit was at the peak of its power. Reigning supreme in Chicago, its gambling and vice activities included clubs and casinos on Rush Street (in the heart of the old North Side cabaret district), in Cicero, and on the Strip in south suburban Calumet City, which was nationally renowned for its vice establishments. The Mobs vice activities evolved from simple prostitution to the ownership of strip clubs that serviced customers sexual needs. Local gambling included the famous floating crap game, so-named because its site was changed regularly to avoid the detection of police and sheriffs officers. Gamblers were not expected to be able to discern these locations; instead, special drivers ferried them from downtown hotels to nondescript settings. One of the syndicates most successful ventures in the 1950s involved casino gambling outside the city. The Outfit invested heavily first in hotel casinos in Havana, Cuba and later in Las Vegas, helping construct several hotels and casinos on the Strip. By 1961, the organization held major interests in the Stardust, the Riviera, the Fremont, and the Desert Inn. Its Las Vegas holdings were acquired with the cooperation of Moe Dalitz and were overseen by John Roselli. The Teamsters Central States Pension Fund financed the casino construction. The Outfits enormous profits from Las Vegas stemmed from skimming the casinos, meaning that that the houses significant winnings were never counted in its net income and that taxes on those winnings were never paid.
Giancana
The federal government, particularly the FBI, engineered the Outfits slow decline. After a New York State Police raid in 1957 revealed the existence of a National Commission of the Crime Syndicate at a meeting in Apalachin, New York, the FBI instituted the Top Hoodlum Program and devoted massive resources to combating organized crime. This was happening just as Sam Mooney Giancana became the Outfits boss. Giancana had risen through the ranks of the Outfit during the Accardo years; Accardo had recognized Giancanas astute business sense after Giancana had brought the numbers game to his boss attention. Giancana was made (formally inducted into the organization) with Accardos sponsorship. Giancana became Accardos driver/bodyguard/lieutenant, as reflected in a Chicago Police department lineup photo of the two men together in 1945. Accardo voluntarily stepped down from the day-to-day role of Boss in 1957, partly to lead a quieter life and partly to forestall the deepening of a federal probe of his income taxes. Although Giancana succeeded Accardo, he still reported to Accardo and sought counsel from Ricca.
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the Outfit quickly monopolized in the Chicago area, were the two main illegal gambling activities throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Labor racketeering was also declining. Juice loans and corollary extortionate activities were the only rackets that continued unabated.
Mob Lite
Aiuppa remained the Outfit boss until he was convicted in the Las Vegas skimming case in 1986. Joseph Joe Nagall Ferriola then replaced Aiuppa. Sam Wings Carlisi ascended to the position of Boss on Ferriolas death in 1989. Carlisi was convicted in 1993 and replaced by John No Nose DiFronzo. During each regime, Accardo served as the Chairman of the Board. In 1983, the Outfit was organized into five street crews (capos in parentheses), covering the North Side (Vince Solano), the South Suburbs (Albert Caesar Tocco), Chinatown (Angelo the Hook LaPietra), the West Side (Joey the Clown Lombardo) and the Western Suburbs (Ferriola). A separate group, led by Tony Spilotro, oversaw the Outfits interests in Las Vegas. By 1990, the Outfit had six, much smaller crews: North Side, Chinatown, West Side, Western Suburbs, Grand Avenue, and Lake County. Chris Petti served as the Mobs representative in Las Vegas after Tony Spilotro and his brother Michael were found buried in an Indiana cornfield in 1986. The decrease in the number of made members in the Outfit was not necessarily detrimental to business; nonetheless, it reflected a diminution in the extent of the organizations influence and activities. Lower membership numbers were also a consequence of federal progress in the prosecution of Mob cases owing to the power of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act. Decreasing the ranks of made members and increasing associates resulted in fewer criminals who could become serious informants against the Outfits leadership. Until the current decade, only two high-level Chicago mobstersand neither were bosseswere publicly identified as federal informants: Ken Eto in the 1983 and Lenny Patrick in 1991. In the 1990s, the Outfit continued its focus on sports gambling and video poker machines. Only three street crews were identified in 1997: the first covering the South Side and Southern suburbs (operating from Chinatown); the second, covering the West Side and DuPage County; and the third, covering the North Side, Elmwood Park, and the north suburban Lake County areas. The recruiting grounds for future Mob members and associates included gangs of young thieves and burglars operating in Elmwood Park and on the West Side of the City. Time also took its toll on Mob leadership. Tony Accardo died in May 1992 after providing leadership for nearly six decades. Federal and local authorities were never able to convict him. Since the early 1990s, several successful federal prosecutions have forced the Outfit to go underground, which has been its customary response to the removal of its top leadership, During the 1990s, no Mob murders occurred until the1999 shooting of Ron Jarrett (who died in 2000). Intelligence also suggested that street-level mobsters had been directed not to threaten gamblers who reneged on their debts. Instead, mobsters were instructed to ban delinquent gamblers from future betting or refuse to
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give them subsequent loans. Since the mid-1990s, even the best-informed authorities have been unsure about the Outfits central figures. DiFronzo, Lombardo, and Joe the Builder Andriacchi are most frequently named as boss, underboss, or consigliere (not necessarily in that order); opinions about Outfit leadership are still conflicting. James Jimmy the Man Marcello, a long-time Carlisi lieutenant, was likely the boss until his conviction in the Family Secrets Trial in 2007 (see below). With respect to narcotics, the Outfit had a purported long-standing policysupposedly promulgated by Ricca and Accardoprohibiting made members from drug trafficking. Some members defied this edict and were murdered. However, the evidence suggests strongly that the Outfits made members never completely eschewed the drug business. After Accardos death this ironclad rule fully relaxed, with the leadership instituting a dont ask, dont tell policy. Since 1992, Outfit made members have participated in drug wholesales by bankrolling major purchases by street gangs and other dealers at the street level. Trafficking in illegal drugs was henceforth not forbidden for made members as long as they were careful to avoid implicating the top echelon of leadershipnot sharing in the profits, avoiding any of the direct risks, and repudiating members indicted or convicted of drug offenses. In the 1990s, the Outfits presence in Cicero again gained notoriety in the case of the town governments involvement with the syndicates boss of Cicero, Michael Spano. The president of the town, Betty Loren-Maltese, was appointed to her position in a closed-door session following the death of her predecessor Henry Klosak. LorenMalteses husband was Klosaks driver and former town assessor Frank Baldy Maltese, who was also a member of the Outfits Cicero crew. Spano, Loren-Maltese, and others were convicted of stealing US$12 million from the towns coffers through insurance fraud and other related criminal activities. One of the most successful FBI investigations against the Outfit was launched in 1998 when Frank Calabrese, Jr. expressed his willingness to cooperate with authorities while incarcerated in federal prison for juice loans, an activity he had undertaken as a member of his fathers street crew. He audiotaped numerous incriminating conversations with his estranged father, Frank Calabrese, Sr., while both were imprisoned in a federal penitentiary. While Frank Jr. was taping conversations with Frank Sr., the elder mans brother Nick Calabrese also became a cooperating witness in a comprehensive case (a 43-page indictment) against the Outfit, known as Operation Family Secrets. The trial began in August 2007 and encompassed 18 murders and 1 attempted murder that had occurred between 1970 and 1986. Based mostly on Nick Calabreses detailed testimony, as well as 125 witnesses and 200 items of evidence, 5 primary defendants were convicted and sentenced to prison: Lombardo, Calabrese, Sr., Marcello, Nick Calabrese (who was given a reduced sentence for his cooperation), Paul the Indian Schiro, and Anthony Twain Doyle (Passafume). Despite the decline in the Outfits fortunesa fate that has befallen organized crime families in all the major cities in the United Statesthe organization is still functioning. Members can be found congregating in their favorite bars, clubs, and restaurants although they strenuously avoid the public eye. The Outfit remains prepared to pursue new criminal ventures, as evidenced by the misappropriation of public
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funds in Cicero. The more things have changed in Chicagos organized crime family, the more they have remained the same. The Mobs current configuration would be appreciated by Colosimo, who would certainly notice how similar the 2012 Outfit is in its scope, structure, and size to the gang he led before Prohibition. Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
References
Bilek, A. J. (2008). The first vice lord: Big Jim Colosemo and the ladies of the levee. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing. Binder, J. J. (2003). The Chicago Outfit. Chicago, IL: Arcadia Press. Demaris, O. (1969). Captive city: Chicago in chains. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group. Eghigian, M. (2006). After Capone: The life and world of Chicago mob boss Frank the Enforcer Nitti. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing. Helmer, W. J., & Bilek, A. J. (2004). The St. Valentines Day Massacre: The untold story of the gangland bloodbath that brought down Al Capone. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing. Roemer, W. F. (1989). Man against the mob. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. Russo, G. (2001). The role of Chicago Outfits underworld in the shaping of modern America. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.
Author Biographies
John J. Binder is an associate professor of finance in the College of Business at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been studying organized crime in Chicago for more than 20 years and was the president of the Merry Gangsters Literary Society. He has been the technical advisor to numerous shows on organized crime in America. He is the author of the Chicago Outfit and a work of fiction entitled, The Girl Who Applied Everywhere, a tale of college admissions and college choice. Arthur J. Lurigio, a psychologist, is a professor and faculty scholar in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology and the Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Loyola University Chicago, where he also serves as the associate dean for faculty. He has won several awards for his contributions to scholarship and practices in psychology and corrections.