Chicago Outfit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chicago Outfit is a crime syndicate that has a long and extensive history dating back to long before Prohibition and part of the U.S. phenomenon known as the Mafia. However, the Chicago Outfit is distinct from its cousins, the "Five Families" of New York's La Cosa Nostra.
The Chicago Outfit's power and influence rivals the New York Mafia. It is the only criminal organization that has a monopoly of traditional organized crime in their home city of Chicago, whereas the Five Families compete with each other for control of racketeering activities in New York. The Outfit's control reportedly reaches throughout the central U.S. to places as far away as Las Vegas and parts of Florida.
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[edit] Impact of the Chicago Outfit
The most well known impact would be during the Prohibition era when Al Capone monopolized the sale of illegal liquor in Chicago.
Allegations of voting fraud in the 1960 presidential election
Control of casinos in Las Vegas and the embezzlement of millions of dollars over the course of years
Alleged involvement in the Kennedy assassination though there is absolutely no evidence the Outfit was involved besides rumor and speculation.
[edit] History of the Chicago Outfit
[edit] Pre-Prohibition
The early years of organized crime in Chicago were marked by the division of various street gangs controlling the South Side and North Side as well the Black Hand organizations of “Little Italy”, before James Colosimo centralized control in the early 20th century.
"Big Jim", as he would later be nicknamed, was born in Calabria, Italy in 1877, emigrating to Chicago in 1895, where he became a criminal. By 1909 he was successful enough that he was encroaching on the criminal activity of the Black Hand.
This required the procurement of extra muscle, which came in the form of Colosimo's nephew Johnny Torrio from New York. In 1919, Torrio brought in Al Capone, thus providing Capone's entrance to Chicago. In time Colosimo and Torrio had a falling out over Torrio's insistence that they expand into bootlegging, which Colosimo staunchly opposed. Torrio arranged for Frankie Yale to kill Colosimo, ending the argument.
Colosimo's mark on Chicago in general and on the criminal element specifically is quite indelible in that it was "Big Jim" who brought together differing parts of Chicago criminal activity.
[edit] Torrio-Capone and the birth of the Chicago Outfit
Severely injured in an assassination attempt by the North Side Mob in January 1925, the shaken Torrio returned to Italy and handed over control of the business to Capone. Capone was notorious during Prohibition for his control of the Chicago underworld and his bitter rivalries with gangsters such as Bugs Moran and Hymie Weiss. Raking in vast amounts of money (some estimates were that between 1925 and 1930 Capone was making $100 million a year), the Chicago kingpin was largely immune to prosecution due to witness intimidation and the bribing of city officials.
Capone's reign came to an end when Eliot Ness of the Bureau of Prohibition devised a strategy of using the Supreme Court's 1927 decision on the bootlegger Manny Sullivan (Sullivan had argued that the Fifth Amendment prevented him from reporting how much income tax evasion he had engaged in). Ralph Capone and a number of the other Outfit members were soon indicted, but Capone went unscathed until June 1931, when he was indicted for concealing more than $165,000 from the IRS.
[edit] From Accardo to Giancana Era
After Capone was jailed, Frank Nitti moved the Outfit into labor racketeering, gambling, and other things like exploitative loan sharking. Geographically, this was the period when the Outfit extended its tendrils to Milwaukee and Madison, and Kansas City, and especially in Hollywood and other Californian cities, where the Outfit's control of labor unions gave it leverage over movie production.
In the 1960s, the Outfit reached its apogee under Tony Accardo. With the aid of Meyer Lansky he used the Teamsters pension fund to engage in massive money laundering through the Outfit's casinos, aided by the likes of Sidney Korshak and Jimmy Hoffa. The '70s and '80s would be a bad time for the Outfit, as law enforcement continued to penetrate the organization (spurred by poll-watching politicians), off-track betting reduced bookmaking profits, and illicit casinos withered under competition from legitimate casinos. Replacement activities like auto theft and professional sport betting did not replace the lost profits.
[edit] Recent years
Mobsters James Marcello, Nicholas Ferriola, Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo, Michael "Mickey" Marcello, Frank "The German" Schweihs, Frank "Gumba" Saladino, Frank Calabrese, Sr., Paul "the Indian" Schiro, former CPD officers Anthony "Twan" Doyle, and Michael Ricci, Thomas Johnson, Joseph Venezia, and Dennis Johnson are under indictment as of April 25, 2005 in connection with eighteen murders stretching back four decades.
Two among the indicted have died. Frank "Gumba" Saladino was found dead in a hotel in Hampshire, Illinois. FBI agent Robert Grant said there was no indication of foul play, and he did not believe Saladino, 59, had killed himself. Grant said $25,000 in cash and $70,000 in checks were recovered at the scene. Michael Ricci has also died.
In April 2005, federal indictments for racketeering and murder were brought upon many top mobsters for gangland slayings including Michael Albergo, Dan Seifert, Paul Haggerty, Henry Consentino, John Mendell, Donald Renno, Vincent Moretti, William and Charlotte Dauber, William "Butch" Petrocelli, Michael Cagnoni, Nicholas D'Andrea, Richard D. Ortiz, Arthur Morawski, Emil Vaci, Anthony Spilotro, Michael Spilotro and John Fecarotta [1].
[edit] Bosses of the Chicago Outfit
- 1910–1920 — James "Big Jim" Colosimo (1877–1920)
- 1920–1925 — Johnny "The Fox" Torrio (1882–1957)
- 1925–1932 — Alphonse "Scarface" Capone (1899–1947)
- 1932–1943 — Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti (1903–1943) (front boss)
- 1932–1945 — Paul "The Waiter" Ricca (1897–1972)
- 1945–1956 — Anthony "Joe Batters" Accardo (1906–1992)
- 1957–1966 — Salvatore "Sam" Giancana (1908–1975)
- 1966–1967 — Sam "Teets" Battaglia (1908–1973)
- 1967–1969 — John "Jackie The Lackey" Cerone (1914–1996)
- 1969–1971 — Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio (1912–1971)
- 1971–1986 — Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa (1907–1997)
- 1986–1989 — Joseph "Joe Nagall" Ferriola (1948–1989)
- 1989–1993 — Sam "Wings" Carlisi (1914–1997)
- 1994–2003 — John "No Nose" DiFronzo (1928–)
- 2003–present — James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, (front boss) Anthony "Little Tony" Zizzo, (who has been mislabeled as the underboss)(disappeared Aug.31,2006), John "No Nose" DiFronzo, Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo, and Joseph "Joe the Builder" Andriacchi (who rule the Outfit in tandem as boss, consigliere, and North Side boss repectively) (Lombardo indicted April,2005 & arrested January,2006).
[edit] Note
- This is not official. The Chicago Crime Commission identified John "No Nose" DiFronzo as boss. It is speculated that either, John DiFronzo, Joseph Lombardo, Joe "the Builder" Andriacci, or James Marcello may be the Outfit boss. The Outfit is said to have 3 area bosses or street bosses, (West Side, Dupage County), (South Side, S. of Eisenhower, NW Indiana), (North Side, Elmwood Park, Lake County), who supervise Lt.'s with crews of soldiers
[edit] Consigliere
Unlike most Cosa Nostra Families in the U.S., the status of consigliere has been unique. Starting with Accardo who followed the advice of Paul Ricca to lower his profile and appoint Sam Giancana as boss, the position shifted importance. While far from being an inadequate boss, Accardo was a retired or senior member in a way, advising, but still with first recommendation and final say on all major business deals, assassinations, and so on. Accardo retained his power, but the limelight was off him. This still applies today. The Outfit has had fewer consiglieres than bosses mostly because of Accardo's long life and his inability to be incarcerated by authorities.
- Antonio Lombardo
- Paul "The Waiter" Ricca
- Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo
- Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa
- Angelo "the Hook" LaPietra and/or Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo*
[edit] Members
- Gus Alex "Gussie" "Slim"
- Harry Aleman
- Samuzzo Amatuna, "Samoots"
- Donald J. Angelini, "The Wizard of Odds" (d. December 8, 2000)
- Marshall Joseph Caifano
- Anthony Centracchio (d. 2002)
- William Daddano Sr., "Willie Potatoes"
- Mario Anthony DeStefano
- Michael DeStefano
- Charles Inglese, "Chuckie English"
- Frank Ferraro, "Strongy" (Underboss during Giancana's reign)
- Rocco Fischetti
- Charlie Fischetti
- Joseph Gagliano, "Pip the Blind"
- Jake Guzik, "Greasy Thumb"
- Murray Humphreys, "The Camel" "The Hump" "Curly"
- Nick LoCoco, "The Stick"
- John Manzella, "Bookie"
- James Marcello "Little Jimmy"
- Jack McGurn, "Machine Gun" (nee Vincenzo DeMora)
- Charles Nicoletti
- Ross Prio
- John Roselli
- Gerald Scarpelli
- Anthony Spilotro, "Tony the Ant"
- Albert Tocco, "Caesar"
- Bart Sibrel, "Fat Boy"
[edit] Associates
- Sam DeStefano, "Mad Sam"
- Ken Eto, "Tokyo Joe"
- Frank Rosenthal, "Lefty"
- Frank Schweihs, "The German"
- John Spilotro
- Michael Spilotro
- Victor Spilotro
[edit] Crews
The Outfit was made up of four groups:
- the Rush Street crew,
- the West Side crew
- the Cicero crew
- the South Side crew
The major highways divided up the territory. However, since 1997, the number of crews have reduced from four to three: the South Side, the West Side, and North Side.
[edit] In popular culture
- The Chicago Outfit has a long history of portrayal in Hollywood as the subject of films including Chicago Syndicate (1955), The Scarface Mob (1957), The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967), The Outfit (1973), The Untouchables (1987) as well as both the The Untouchables television series (1959-63; 1993-94). The television series Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986-1988, also portrayed a fictional syndicate mobster rising through the ranks of the Chicago Outfit.
- In The Simpsons episode Viva Ned Flanders the Las Vegas wedding-chapel priest cites the Chicago Outfit for vesting the power in him to marry.
[edit] See also
- Hired Truck Program scandal
[edit] References
- Binder, John. The Chicago Outfit. Arcadia Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7385-2326-7
- Russo, Gus. The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America, Bloomsbury USA, 2002.
- Mark Lombardi: Global Networks. Mark Lombardi, Robert Carleton Hobbs, Judith Richards; Independent Curators, 2003. (published for the travelling exhibition of his work, "Mark Lombardi Global Networks"). ISBN 0-916-36567-
[edit] External links
- American Mafia.com article
- Traditional Organized Crime in Chicago
- The New Criminologist - An Outfit Made To Last: Part One by P.J. Calder and John Guarnieri (registration required)
- List of former & current mobsters
- Outfit History by John J. Binder
- Chicago "Outfit" Organizational Chart
- Who's Who in the Chicago Outfit (1997)
- Crime Inc. - A century of Chicago mob bosses
- FEDS DETAIL 'OPERATION FAMILY SECRETS' - Prosecutors boast of 'a hit on the mob' by Todd Lighty
- With Chicago arrests, Mafia takes a hit by Amanda Paulson
- Fugitive Sought In 18 Murders Writes to Judge by Jodi Wilgoren
- MOB HIT: Wide-ranging federal indictment targets Outfit activity back to the 1960s
- When Corruption Was King - The Chicago Mob
