Whats up fellas?! As I already promised in my previous article on Tony Accardo, that Im going to post one separate article regarding the alleged conflict which occurred in Chicago between two bosses, Accardo and Paul Ricca. I used the term “real” mainly because years ago legendary FBI agent Bill Roemer once wrote a fictional book regarding some alleged conflict between Mafia bosses and so, the following project is different and the story is real.

This is also another free article so all of you can check it out and don’t forget…fuck all paywalls. Enjoy!


THE REAL WAR OF THE GODFATHERS


In 1940, one key document compiled by Italian Treasury Police, was forwarded to a U.S. Customs supervisor in New York, who in turn sent it on to the supervising customs agent in Chicago and from there made its way to Federal Bureau of Narcotics or the FBN. The document showed that there was a presence of a “Grand Council of the Italian Mafia” in the U.S. and around nine men were in charge, including New York’s Mangano brothers, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Joe Traina, Stefano Magaddino from Buffalo, Al Polizzi and Frank Milano from Cleveland, and in the end Felice DeLucia a.k.a. Paul “The Waiter” Ricca from Chicago. This shows that the Italian authorities allegedly developed this information from their informers within the Sicilian Mafia and that the Italian crime organizations and Cosa Nostra were in close contact with the American Mafia.


Al Capone’s original successor Paul Ricca

This information obviously helped Chicago’s authorities in receiving knowledge on who really led Chicago’s Italian mob or who was the real boss, besides all of the newspapers at the time which used the names of other mobsters as alleged leaders of the old “Capone Mob’. So that same year in 1940, union leader George McLane filed a suit in Chicago circuit court charging that Paul Ricca, Frank Nitto, Louis Campagna and Murray Humphreys had moved in with an eye to the union's $125,000 treasury and $250,000 annual revenue, but later the prosecution’s case failed and the union was thrown into ownership of the Chicago Outfit and the charges were dropped. Because of that, during this period Ricca and the rest of the top guys received unwanted attention and became quite famous in the media. During that period the newspapers again charged that the Ricca-Campagna-Nitto ruling panel allegedly cleaned out the treasury of the Retail Clerks International Protective Association, Local 1248. When the bosses realized that the cover was up, suddenly all of the union’s books and records were destroyed and so the State’s Attorney had nothing left to show for.

These situations obviously made Ricca even more powerful in the eyes of his close cohorts, and also became confident because by now he managed to beat all raps, but it seems the top boss of the second largest city at the time was wrong. In 1943, Ricca together with members of Chicago’s top criminal leadership such as Campagna, Nitto, Phil D’Andrea, Charlie Gioe and Frank Maritote, were sentenced to jail regarding the infamous Hollywood extortion case, and each of the bosses received up to 10 year sentence in federal prison, plus $10.000 in fines along with court costs. Legend goes that Frank Nitto was the one who supposedly should’ve taken the fall for the rest of the bosses, mainly because it was for Nitto’s connections or associates who became informants, but the problem was that Nitto allegedly decided to commit suicide and was out of the picture.


Campagna, Ricca, Maritote and D’Andrea


Gioe


Nitto’s suicide scene

This situation forced Ricca to pick his own new and most trusted fellow members to defend the Outfit’s throne and those fellas were the boss of the Cicero-South Side group Charlie Fischetti, followed by one capo from the West Side Tony Accardo, and also Jake Guzik who in turn was the main corruptor and bookkeeper. While Ricca was in jail, Fischetti and Accardo managed to defend the Outfit’s throne during the so-called second conflict with the North Side crew by eliminating all enemies and on top of that, both Accardo and Guzik oversaw the donations and funds made by almost all Outfit crews, as corruption cash regarding the early release of their real boss Ricca. In fact, sources say that Accardo together with Guzik’s protégé Murray Humphreys both used the same alias of one of Ricca’s lawyers and Outfit member Joseph Imburgio Bulger. With this the Outfit was able to get into the penitentiary at Leavenworth and to consult with the boss regarding important issues.


Joe Imburgio

On August 13th, 1947 Ricca and most of the other bosses were set free after just 3 years and 4 months of the ten years sentence. This was a very strange since they were handed sentences without the possibility of parole. This situation caused an uproar among the U.S. citizens, media and some federal authorities. According to some news reports from that period, the major players in making the parole come true were Chicago’s bosses Accardo and Guzik, New York’s Genovese crime family boss Frank Costello, followed by Owney Madden from Hot Springs, Arkansas.


Luciano family boss Frank Costello


Owney Madden

I personally believe that the so-called internal problem within the Chicago Outfit starts from this point or from the moment when Ricca was released but at the same time, he had to take a low profile, obviously because of the huge corruption scandal regarding his early release. In fact, from this point on Ricca’s life completely transformed into an ongoing battle with unwanted publicity from the media and above all, with the law. My personal opinion is that Ricca was quite aware of that situation and probably began developing some type of envy or became insecure regarding his top position for the whole organization.

It seems that same year of his release, Ricca decided to elevate Tony Accardo as the “acting boss” for the whole organization but placed one of his younger protégés and capo from the West Side, Sam Giancana, as Accardo’s number two guy or official underboss. Even though they both belonged to the Outfit’s West Side group, still the main difference between Accardo and Giancana was that Giancana allegedly belonged to Ricca’s personal Taylor St/Cicero crew which was always under the control of Ricca’s old time associate and former second in command Louie Campagna, while Accardo belonged to a different crew which was started by other members. So maybe Ricca’s and Campagna’s choice for Giancana becoming the Outfit’s second in command was somehow to assure themselves, especially Ricca, in keeping their positions and seniority by having the last word on all important issues.


Ricca and Campagna

During this period both Ricca and Campagna acted as “semi-retired” bosses, especially Ricca who in 1948 paid a wedding breakfast for his daughter at the Blackstone Hotel and in the end he handed $13,000 to the manager of the joint and all of it in hundred dollar bills, which he allegedly took out from his pocket. Also, just to clean his image, Ricca became very generous in his donations to assist Chicago's poverty stricken immigrant Italian community and like his former boss Al Capone, Ricca also financed many meals for the homeless and started acting like a real “Mafia Don” with his “throne” located at 812 Lathrop Avenue, River Forest, Ill.

Even though Accardo was probably one of the most profitable Outfit bosses of all time, still many mob historians are wrong when they say that Accardo was one of the most low-key bosses which the Outfit ever had, mainly because my sources say otherwise. During the late 1940’s or around the start of Accardo’s tenure as boss, few of the most lucrative rackets for the whole organization were gambling, union racketeering, the tobacco business and also the food or meat business. So, at the beginning of their leadership careers, both Accardo and Giancana started making a lot of money for the organization and it seems that Accardo was the main one who needed the satisfy the top bosses, Ricca and Campagna. But the first problem started when during the same time some prime members and associates of Accardo’s personal Elmwood Park crew were arrested regarding the cigarette or tobacco scheme. In fact, with the help of the same case, the government almost completely destroyed one of the Outfit’s most lucrative rackets, because it also affected the vending machine operations and other various semi-legit rackets.


Accardo

Next on the government’s list regarding the Outfit’s most lucrative rackets was the so-called meat business. The main scheme was with the mixing of 40 percent horse and 60 percent cow and they sold it as “100% beef”. According to some reports, the Outfit’s scheme even went national by creating wholesale meat companies, which dealt with hotels and restaurants around the country, especially in “open” cities such as Las Vegas or Miami. In fact, Accardo began infiltrating the industry right after his failure in the tobacco business, again so he can satisfy his top bosses.

The whole situation began to crumble when many owners started to blame the current political administration regarding the meat problem, and so the opposition gladly decided to take an advantage of the whole situation. By the end of that year, the horse meat scandal completely moved into the political arena when State's Attorney John Boyle blamed the current Governor Stevenson, who was about to take a step back because of the problem with the widespread racket.

The investigators came to the conclusion when they connected two of Accardo’s crew members Joe Siciliano and Paul Labriola, who in turn were main players that allegedly oversaw the meat racket for Accardo. Arrest warrant was previously issued for Labriola, who in his own style tried to avoid it by constantly hiding from the police, which in turn, later succeeded in finding the enforcer and questioned him regarding numerous beatings in the meat industry but it was all for nothing since he kept his mouth shut regarding the situation. That same month, in March, 1952, Accardo was also wanted for questioning by the special Cook County grand jury regarding the several beatings of a “mystery witness” whose identity has been kept secret by the state's attorney and also regarding the disappearance of Accardo’s associate Joel Miller. The “stone faced” killer, which was Accardo, refused to answer many of the questions and also denied every allegation, and was later released.


Labriola

Even though Accardo was protected by his associates, still during Siciliano’s trial, the prosecutors named the Outfit’s top hierarchy as possible conspirators behind the scheme, including Accardo, Ricca and Campagna. The main problem for Accardo was that his boss and mentor Ricca was mentioned during the trials, who in turn was still closely watched by the government regarding the previous corruption scandal. On top of that, previously or in 1951 Accardo made another wrong move by buying a huge multi-million dollar mansion which was one of the largest homes in the River Forest area and so he instantly brought additional “heat” from the government and also the envy from his fellow mobsters.


Siciliano

Story goes that Siciliano even almost received a “contract” on his head since according to one wiretapped conversation that occurred several years later between a couple of unknown Outfit members, they trash-talked Siciliano and did not trust him a bit. They even criticized their boss, which was Accardo, for not making the right choices and for allowing Siciliano to take control over the operation: "Accardo picked too many lugs, too many palookas, like that Siciliano. We should have put that guy’s legs in cement (referring to Siciliano)". This was possibly Ricca’s influence since his main laundering system was being disrupted and top of that, many of his political connections, who were also involved in the scheme, were being hunted down by the investigators and some of them even resigned from their positions, including his close associate Andrew Flando Sr., 25th ward Republican committeeman who left his $447.50 a month county job, and also appeared before the county grand jury investigating the horse meat racket and refused to sign an immunity waiver.

The biggest problem for the Outfit was losing the lucrative meat racket and also the mentioning of the whole top administration, during the trials, which included Accardo, Campagna and Ricca. In fact, the situation was just one of those huge problems for Ricca and the organization in general. My personal belief is that the so-called horse meat scandal was the beginning of the conflict between Ricca and Accardo since the problem became a great shame and also great loss for the U.S. government and its economy during that time period, but on the other hand the racketeers also never reached the same level in the meat business ever again. In fact, the whole scandal almost destroyed some of the Outfit’s connections within the highest circles of U.S. politics.

Because he almost lost two of the Outfit’s most lucrative rackets, acting boss Tony Accardo decided to concentrate more on the union racketeering business and also the narcotics trade. During my research on the Chicago Outfit, I’ve noticed that some both high or low level members decided to finance some narcotics deals just so they can send their monthly envelopes to their superiors. On March 16 and 17, 1954, FBN agents arrested eleven members on narcotics charges, and in fact Accardo was the one in trouble mainly because in a matter of months before the arrests, one of drug dealers was seen going in and out of Accardo’s home for more than 20 times. Naturally the Mob boss was scared from the bad publicity and was ready to eliminate anyone if things went out of control. Besides killing everyone who was connected to him and the narcotics case, still this was a third problem or “strike three” for Accardo in the eyes of Ricca and Campagna.

The whole situation boiled over when the Outfit already began dividing in two separate groups, with one being headed by Ricca, Campagna, Giancana and their main West Side representative Sam Battaglia, while the other group was headed by Accardo and his long-time mentor and friend Tony Capezio, followed by the representative for the South Side “Mafia” Bruno Roti Sr. That same year, Accardo’s associates Paul Labriola and Jimmy Weinberg planned the potential murder of the infamous lawyer and Outfit frontman Abraham Teitelbaum. During those days Teitelbaum was the president of the thriving Chicago Restaurant Association, and story goes that Labriola and Weinberg wanted a piece of it. Both gangsters were backed by the syndicate’s big shots such as Sam Hunt who in turn belonged to the South Side group headed by Bruno Roti Sr, followed by Tony Accardo. When Labriola and Weinberg were making arrangements for setting up their beverage association, Hunt and Roti advised them that they should get in touch with Giancana’s representative on the West Side Sam Battaglia and inform him that their operation was occurring in his territory, and that he and Giancana are going to get their share.


Battaglia

Reports show that Labriola and Battaglia probably knew each other since the old days, especially from around the West Side and Grand Avenue areas, and in fact, Labriola was the stepson of the late West Side capo Lawrence Mangano who back during the 1940’s tried to overthrow both the old and new leading regimes of the Outfit, which were still under the rule of Paul Ricca. After the murder of his stepfather, Labriola allegedly moved his operations on the North Side under Nick DeJohn who was also slain in San Francisco in 1947 because of his rebellion towards Ricca and the West Side faction. After the murder of DeJohn and also the murders of all of his former associates, some members decided to stay within their old crew but under the new leadership of Ricca’s ally Ross Prio, while others decided to join other crews mainly from around the Grand Avenue and Elmwood Park areas. That’s why I personally believe that Labriola probably joined the old Elmwood Park crew under Accardo and Tony Capezio.

But there was problem when Battaglia realized that he and his cohorts were going to receive a much smaller share from the operation than the other old time bosses such as Hunt, Roti and Accardo. So Labriola and Weinberg failed to get permission from Battaglia to enter their operations on West Side unless they were able to give Battaglia and Giancana an equal share. In fact, there was already a huge problem in which Labriola already lined up some restaurants and bars from around the West Side without the approval of the Ricca-Giancana-Battaglia group which was about to receive again a much smaller share than the rest of the factions. Roti Sr. and Hunt allegedly advised Labriola that their names should be kept out of any conversation and if they wanted to send a message, they should contact a courier of Sam Hunt known as Ben Warner. According to some sources, Accardo also secretly took a cut from the scheme, meaning they kept the “double cross” money only for themselves.


Sam Hunt

For example, Roti’s associates Jake Guzik and Murray Humphreys were not informed about the operation, including the rest of the members of their crew, but still the first guy who allegedly received information about the double cross was Guzik’s lieutenant Gus Alex. Story goes that Labriola and Weinberg were not the kind of people who kept their mouths shut and so they revealed the information to one of their crew members Nick Kokenes who in turn was with the Labriola gang since the early 1940’s. Back in 1944, Kokenes was charged with the murder of Jens Larkin, one of Guzik’s former collectors. In other words, Kokenes had quite a resume and in this case the most important thing was that Alex was very close to Kokenes. In fact, Alex was the godfather of one of Kokenes’ children. So out of jealousy, Kokenes probably told Alex about the scheme who in turn received an ace up in his sleeve by holding such a valuable information. Alex knew that the West Side bloc and the South Side mob relied on each other and the Outfit did not need an internal conflict, but on the other hand this was a huge chance for Alex to go up within the organization.


Kokenes

So “somebody” sent a message to the West Side capo Sam Battaglia about the scheme and Battaglia immediately called Labriola and Weinberg for a sitdown just to see if the information was true. Then the duo made a huge mistake by threatening Battaglia with the information that behind their operation stood Roti and the organization. They thought that when Battaglia was going to hear Roti’s name, he would back off. But they were wrong because of their effort to “impress” Battaglia which completely backfired to Labriola and Weinberg. This became a huge problem for the organization because if the West Side crew decided to go to war, all of the Outfit’s operations would be jeopardized. Members like Roti Sr., Hunt and Accardo were just too important for the organization and it would’ve been a shame if something happened to them.

Sources say that Battaglia decided to take this problem to the higher ups, not Accardo but to Paul Ricca. By now Battaglia had a very close relationship with Ricca so he decided to ask the top guy of the organization to settle the problem. So, Ricca advised Roti and Hunt to withdraw their support for Labriola and Weinberg. Roti and Hunt had a good reason to withdraw their support and turn their backs at them because their involvement was already exposed by both Labriola and Weinberg. Ricca realized that if Hunt or Roti still supported the operation there was going to be an all-out war. As for Roti and Hunt they already had things pretty well wrapped up because they didn't want any violence which will obviously bring a lot of “heat” on their operations.

Other reports say that after all the problems, Ricca also allegedly asked Accardo to step down as boss of the Outfit, who in turn allegedly refused to relinquish that same position. If you look at the whole situation, it seems that high level members such as Tony Capezio and Sam Giancana possibly remained neutral to an extent during the whole conflict between Ricca and Accardo. It is also possible that Capezio was the one who allegedly kept the throne and tried to smooth the situation, followed by Giancana who in turn had huge respect for Capezio. At the beginning of March 1954, Accardo together with his lieutenant Jack Cerone had a meeting with the opposing faction headed by Battaglia and Giancana. The meeting allegedly occurred in car when suddenly a bullet almost hit Accardo. Story goes that there was some family brawl near where the meeting occurred and that the husband allegedly took a shot at his wife but missed her, and the bullet allegedly ended in the car in which the meeting occurred, and almost hit Accardo. To be honest I personally don’t believe the story, especially in such “coincidence” when the whole conflict occurred at the time and so the question remains if the bullet was meant for Accardo and if someone like Ricca really ordered it.

Maybe the so-called “unconfirmed” attempt on Accardo’s life was just one of reasons for which Jake Gzuik and Murray Humphreys gave Gus Alex the role as a mediator between the warring factions. In fact, one of Guzik’s and Humphreys’ jobs was to maintain peace within the organization and to keep it as one family. According to one statement, Jimmy Weinberg personally asked Alex if he could smooth things over with the West Side crew under Ricca and Battaglia. The main problem was that both Roti Sr. and Sam Hunt allegedly convinced the West Side Bloc that Labriola and Weinberg masterminded the double cross and acted on their own. This placed both Labriola and Weinberg in big trouble because the infuriated Battaglia required justice, meaning he wanted blood as an example to the other members of the organization.

Ricca, Campagna and Battaglia pressured both Roti sr. and Accardo to take care of their two underlings in the most gruesome way. Gus Alex previously betrayed his bosses from the South Side faction, and that’s why my opinion is that Alex was the one who lured Labriola and Weinberg to their demise by organizing a non-existing sitdown between the opposite factions. On March 15, 1954 the police found the two dead bodies of the so-called “sacrificial lambs” Paul Labriola and James Weinberg stuffed together in a car trunk. Labriola and Weinberg were two quite tough guys and it seems that at first, they were poisoned and later they were garroted to death, according to their autopsies.


Labriola


Weinberg

Reports show that even with the murders of both Labriola and Weinberg, the problem between Ricca and Accardo wasn’t finished yet. In May 1954, the two former elders of the old Capone crew and respected associates of the Genovese family, Johnny Torrio and Tony Ricci came to Chicago from New York to patch up the differences between the two alleged warring bosses. Torrio and Ricci held a lot of respect on national level and so legend goes that the Ricca/Accardo conflict was coming to an end but with a price.


Torrio


Ricci and Paul Ricca

It seems that Roti Sr., Hunt and Accardo allegedly had other supporters or allies in the previous scheme or conflict, who came from the West Side area such as Charlie Gioe and Frank Maritote. It is possible that Gioe’s and Maritote’s betrayal or grudge against Ricca was because back in 1947 when Ricca, Campagna and Phil D’Andrea received their early releases, Maritote was the only one who still remained in prison and lost most of his operations around Cicero and the Lower West Side to the younger generation, and the same thing happened to Gioe, meaning he also allegedly lost his stature as caporegime, including many of his interests in the union business. This became unacceptable in their own minds, and it is possible that both Gioe and Maritote previously sided with Accardo against Ricca and the younger generation from the West Side, something which instantly became their own demise.

In July 1954, Charlie Gioe made a fatal mistake by asking the infamous mob lawyer Sidney Korshak about Ricca’s naturalization papers but Korshak felt suspicious and allegedly received information that Gioe was talking to the federal tax people about Ricca’s immigration status. Gio’s biggest mistake was trusting Korshak who in turn immediately informed Ricca about the situation. So, on August 18, 1954 Gioe was shot to death by Outfit hitmen allegedly sent by Battaglia. Accarding to witnesses, prime suspects in the murder were Battaglia’s crew members Phil Alderisio and Charles Nicoletti. According to Maritote’s own words, Gioe was allegedly killed for trying to muscle in on the union business which by then was given to one of Ricca’s protégés Joey Glimco. Four days later after Gioe’s demise, Ricca also ordered the death of Frank Maritote but in contrast to Gioe’s funeral, which drew only 50 people, Maritote’s chapel was packed with over 200 mourners and outside were scores of curious people from the neighborhood. None of the wreaths bore the names of Ricca, Giancana or Battaglia, a situation which indicated on who really ordered the murder.


Maritote


Gioe’s murder scene

After the murders of Maritote, Gioe, Labriola and Weinberg, and also after the so-called peace meeting, the tensions between Ricca and Accardo slowly began to fade away but one crucial meeting or situation literally cemented their friendship. On May 30, 1955, Ricca, Campagna, Accardo and Ricca’s lawyer William Stewart went on a fishing trip to the southeast Florida coast and boarded on the “Nellie”, a boat owned by Stewart. During the fishing trip, Campagna started reeling with a 30-pound fish and after short period he felt sudden chest pains and dropped on the floor. Stewart immediately turned the boat around and headed for the coast but Campagna was already dead when they reached the mainland.

Story goes that the main guy who made all the arrangements was Accardo himself who has been in charge of the wake for two whole nights, while Ricca was seated in a car near the grave of his former friend and associate, obviously because Campagna’s death felt hard on his soul. This was probably a way for Accardo to show his respect towards Ricca and the whole West Side group, and to bring back the trust which was previously given to him by the Outfit’s top administration. Less than two months later, Accardo’s longtime friend and protector Tony Capezio also died from a heart attack and again, a huge crowd of people attended his funeral. Some sources say that Capezio’s funeral was mainly visited by the wives of all high-level members, allegedly because they wanted to stay away from all of the publicity and newspaper men. Although I think that the main reason was the remaining or unfinished differences between Ricca and Accardo, mainly because other sources say that Sam Giancana together with Capezio’s longtime associate Claude Maddox appeared at the funeral. Besides that, this means that both Ricca and Accardo lost two of their longtime friends and criminal associates, a situation which signaled the creating of a new friendship and criminal association which was never seen before in the Mafia’s history.


Accardo and Ricca

The peace between Ricca and Accardo was officially established in June 1955, when Chicago’s crime leaders and also representatives from the New York area, met at the Thunderbird Hotel in Miami, Florida to discuss the dangerous situation within the Chicago faction and on who was going to be the successor of the late Campagna. By that time, many associates of Ricca and Accardo from the old Capone days, were either dead or in permanent retirement because of health issues and Ricca was diagnosed as diabetic and he was in his late 50’s, so I believe that he also lacked from strength. On top of that, the younger generation headed by Giancana and Battaglia was coming up within the Outfit’s ranks and both Ricca and Accardo understood the nature of the changing of the guard.

It seems that Accardo decided to take a step back as official boss of the Chicago Outfit but was elevated on even higher position or right next to Ricca, or in other words Accardo was the one who took the position of the late Campagna with Ricca being the top representative for the whole organization. This means that Accardo was probably satisfied with his new position, same as Ricca who in turn remained at the top. The thing was that they also needed to appoint a new day-to-day boss for the Outfit and after the meeting in Miami, at the beginning of 1956 Ricca gathered his underlings at the Tam O'Shanter Restaurant in Chicago, including Accardo, Giancana, Humphreys and Frank Sortino a.k.a. Ferraro. In fact, it seems that right after the conflict in which also included the representative for the whole South Side faction Bruno Roti Sr., old man Roti took a step back and remained as capo only for the Chinatown area while his underling and lieutenant Ferraro became the new South Side representative with Gus Alex as his prime and most trusted lieutenant. On top of that, that same year Jake Guzik also died of natural causes and his position as representative for the Outfit’s non-Italian faction and also the so-called “connection guys” was inherited by Murray Humphreys.


Humphreys

By 1957 Giancana was officially recognized as the new boss for the Chicago Outfit by the all of the national crime bosses, including the national Mafia commission, with Frank Ferraro as his number two guy or underboss. Giancana was the so-called “second” Chicago representative on the national commission, right after Ricca who in turn sometimes accompanied Giancana on some of those same gatherings. In some cases, if Ricca wasn’t available, it was up to Accardo to act as Giancana’s senior advisor and accompanied him on some of the meetings.

The connection between Ricca and Accardo produced the type of criminal duo and also the special type of leadership which controlled the second largest city at the time, and also gave the blueprint for all of their future successors. The Ricca-Accardo leadership resembled a two-headed snake that lurked around the streets of Chicago and swallowed everything which stood in its way, including other cities from around the country, and soon the world. Or someone once said “Truth is as straight as an arrow, while a lie swivels like a snake."


Cheers

....in addition, stay tuned for more free articles like the future ones on Tony Pinelli, Louis Campagna and many more. Salut'

This is from 1952 when Accardo started fucking up the Outfits most lucrative meat racket....

Thank you TD. I find these guys to be the most interesting. 50-60 years on top. As your article demonstrates, things weren't always kosher in the Outfit. However, they put aside their differences and kept this thing going. I wonder what Accardo was thinking when he saw all of the NY Boys going away after the commission trial.
I would like clarification on the whole part of Accardo getting popped with the cigarettes and meat industry. Are you implying, that he was stretched thin trying to profit for Ricca and Campagna or did he just get sloppy and that's why everything went to shit?

You're welcome bud. During the 1980s old man Accardo almost went to jail twice but as you already said, he watched from far distance the commission trials and on how some of his old commission cohorts went to jail, including his own underlings regarding the Vegas scheme. Both the commission and Vegas trials signaled the beginning of the end for the mob.

To answer your question regarding Accardo....my personal opinion is that Accardo had similar faith as Giancana's, meaning he became boss at the wrong time. From 1943 until 1947 Accardo was involved in a war with the old North Side crew, while on the other hand he often visited his imprisoned boss and transferred instructions to the rest of the organization and on top of that, he was also involved in the whole corruption process for Riccas early release from prison. The war and all of those actions brought heat from the government.

When Ricca and the rest of the bosses were released in 1947, it became a national scandal and Accardos name was also all over the newspapers. So Ricca and Campagna played it smart by placing Accardo as the new boss (probably so the government can place its sight away from the two bosses and to concentrate on Accardo), mainly because both recently released bosses needed to take a low profile.

Thats why during the late 40s and early 50s the government almost completely dismantled three of Accardos and also the Outfits most profitable rackets such as the meat and tobacco businesses, which also affected the vending machine racket. On top of that, during the meat trials both Ricca and Campagna were mentioned as leaders of the syndicate and so "goodbye" low profile. As I already explained in the article, according to wiretapped convo, the membership wasnt satisfied from Accardos actions and even wanted to kill one of Accardos associates in the meat racket. And in fact, one was killed.

So, by losing two of his prime incomes and also being blamed for it, Accardo probably felt betrayed by Ricca and was "forced" to make deals with other bosses behind Riccas back. In fact, thats how the problem with Battaglia occurred and also this is the point when Accardo really fucked up.

If you ask me, if the problem wasnt solved, there was great possibility that the Outfit was going to divide itself in two groups or they were going to return to their former state when there were two families in Chicago, but obviously Torrio and the Genoveses again managed to "keep the peace" to an extent and the Outfit remained as one monolith organization.