Im back with another free article for all of you, so take your time 'cuz its a long one....and dont forget, screw all paywalls and youtube views.

Enjoy.


Intro

During the era of Prohibition, many of Chicago’s criminals received a chance to get mixed with members of the high society, mostly because of the illegal services which they provided the rich people with. The gangsters didn’t just made money from bootlegging whiskey and beer, no Sir, because they were also involved in countless other rackets such as gambling, extortion, prostitution and murder for hire. So, we all know that during that period a big portion of the gangsters’ illegal cash went into the pockets of many politicians, judges, policemen and priests. But the main thing was that you didn’t have to be just a crooked individual to get a piece of that sweet illegal cash, because there were also other more lucrative ways in achieving that same goal.

The Beginning

Back in the old days if you crossed the Chicago River, you automatically abandoned Al Capone’s turf and then you entered the North Side which was mostly controlled by rival gangs, and some of the bloodiest episodes in the infamous ''beer wars'' occurred in that same area. During the mid 1920's there were many gangsters and racketeers who operated on the streets of the North Side of Chicago, such as former Mafia boss Tony Lombardo and his underboss Joe Aiello, followed by other mobsters such as Dean O'Banion, Vincent Drucci or Hymie Wiess. Some of the old North and West Side groups were having a lot of problems with the South Side group or the John Torrio mob and so their conflict became the product of many casualties on the streets of Chicago. You see during that crazy and murderous era a lot of dead bodies piled up on the streets of Chicago and some of those dead corpses belonged to very wealthy and rich criminals which families and friends used to spend huge amounts of cash for their funerals.

One of the first Chicago crime bosses who was buried like an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, was Giacomo “Big Jim” Colosimo in 1920. To put it simply, it was an astonishing display of power by the criminal groups, intended to make a point about the hoodlums continuing presence and fear. And that was the main reason for which the funeral business became a real “cash cow” for some of the most prominent undertakers in that area, such as the infamous undertaker, State’s Attorney and later a Municipal Judge, John Sbarbaro.


John Sbarbaro


Criminal Ties

The multi-use property in the River North gallery district was once the home and mortuary of the Sbarbaro family. The Sbarbaros abandoned Italy and landed on the shores of the U.S.A. in 1880 and shortly after moved to Chicago to set up the Sbarbaro and Co. at 708 North Wells Street, the city’s first and oldest Italian-American owned funeral business. On January 20, 1890, John A. Sbarbaro was born on Chicago’s North Side to Antonio and Aurelia Sbarbaro. Sources say that at the time Antonio Sbarbaro was considered as “leader of Italians in Chicago”, a title which during those days was often given either to rich Italian businessmen, political figures or Mafia bosses.

In 1903, Antonio Sbarbaro acted as interpreter or translator for one of his alleged friends and possible Mafia associate or member known as Tony Dugo. The situation was that Dugo’s cousin Giuseppe Dugo was killed by “unknown” assassins and so Antonio Sbarbaro assured the investigators that Tony allegedly didn’t know anything regarding the problems. But those same government investigators allegedly didn’t believe Dugo and stated that all of the Italians from that same area where the murder occurred, had their “lips sealed” and no one dared to talk.


Antonio Sbarbaro

In 1908, Antonio Sbarbaro was only one among the many individuals and Mafia members who started receiving death threats from alleged independent Italian extortionists known as the “Black Hand”. In fact, Mafia bosses and ward representatives such as Mariano Zagone and Steve Malato were also targets of those same blackmailers, but they also all, including Antonio Sbarbaro, belonged to the infamous Unione Siciliani or later known as the Italo-American union. Their organization also became known as the “White Hand” which was fighting against all “Black Hand” extortionists. In fact, during those days Chicago’s Unione Siciliani and the so-called “White Hand” represented one huge unholy alliance between legitimate and criminal individuals and their main purpose was to defend that same connection from outside forces, and the Sbarbaro family played a major role in keeping that same relationship.

By the age of 20, Antonio’s son John Sbarbaro studied medicine and was accompanied by many high intellectual individuals but he also met people of different kind such as politicians, businessmen and of course gangsters, mainly with the help of his father. In time, Sbarbaro’s family’s parlor became the main “Funeral Home” for all of Chicago’s underworld. There are some reports that during the early 1910’s, Sbarbaro even protected some of the criminal groups, like for example one of the main crime crews such as the Nicolosi group, known Italian Mafiosi and kidnappers. On August 6, 1911, the son of a wealthy Italian merchant Antonio Mareno was kidnapped by the Nicolosi crew and later the police arrested Carmelo Nicolosi, his mother-in-law Biagia Cutrona, Giuseppe Nicolosi, Calogero Costandino and Leoluca Macaluso, and so Mareno's son was returned on August 11. After that out of nowhere Nicolosi's $10.000 bail (around $300,000 in today’s money) was posted by none other than John Sbarbaro and his friend, real estate agent and banker, Joseph DeVoney. This so-called “getting criminals out of prison” practice will be also presented in future by John Sbarbaro during his career, more than few times.

Man of The Law

By 1921, Sbarbaro stopped studying medicine and switched to practicing law and in a record time, or in 1924 he became Assistant State's Attorney. So being in the position that he was during the days of Prohibition, I think that it was very lucrative situation. There were many rumors that his funeral parlor served as a storage unit for illegal liquor and also as a hiding place for some of the infamous Chicago criminals, but still young Sbarbaro managed to successfully build an image of a fearless prosecutor who in turn sent few “bad apples” away for good.

For example, solving the “Leopold and Loeb” murder case in which Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were two wealthy University of Chicago law students who kidnapped and murdered 14 year old Bobby Franks by their psychotic desire to commit a perfect crime. The two lunatics, with the help of state attorney John Sbarbaro were convicted and sent to Joliet Prison. Many years later, when Nathan Leopold's record finally came up before the Parole Board, Sbarbaro was one of the first to advocate that Leopold should be set free, on the grounds that he had been completely rehabilitated. The case later became famous in the movie business.


State’s Attorney John A. Sbarbaro


The “Mystery Trial”

In 1925, one famous Chicago medical doctor William Shepherd was charged with the murder of 21-year old millionaire Bill McClintock. Shepherd was allegedly the sole heir of McClintock’s $1,000,000 (or almost 18 million dollars in today’s money) or the only living person who is legally entitled to inherit assets from another person under state inheritance laws. Shepherd allegedly planted a poisoned oyster in one of the last meals of the late McClintock and so Sbarbaro and his team allegedly wanted to find the truth, but the reality was quite the opposite because someone also killed the main doctor Oscar Olson who was either involved in the scheme or maybe wanted for the public to know the truth.

William Shepherd


First victim Bill McClintock


Second victim Dr. Oscar Olson

John Sbarbaro was one of the main prosecutors and allegedly wanted to find out from where the poisoned came and who really planted it in the oyster, while the answer was right in front of him. Sbarbaro even came up with a story that there was a great possibility that someone from Milwaukee came to Chicago and planted the poison but nothing ever came from that story. Sbarbaro’s uncle Louis Sbarbaro was one of the witnesses because he knew Shepherd for a very long time and on top of that, Louis worked at the fish market and his prime product was selling oysters. Louis told his story by saying that he knew Shepperd for quite some time, allegedly because the suspect mainly bought sea food from Louis Sbarbaro. Although later Louis “admitted” that he was allegedly once questioned by Shepherd on which part of the oyster can become most poisonous.


Louis Sbarbaro

After all of the testimonies and evidences which were given during the trials proved the existence of a foul play and it seems that the prosecutors weren’t doing their job to the fullest, obviously because in the end Shepherd was acquitted on all charges. Even the Judge who presided over the trial was quite disappointed from the final conclusion and expressed his dissatisfaction publicly. Since a lot of money were involved in the so-called scheme, it rises the question on whether Shepherd decided to share that same amount of cash with some of the prosecutors and witnesses such as the Sbarbaros?! But as I previously said that Sbarbaro’s main income did not come from his job as an attorney or bootleg booze, but instead the big cash came from his funeral parlor.


The Sbarbaro Funeral Home

One of the first big prominent individuals who “visited” Sbarbaro’s funeral parlor was former laborer, Mafia boss and head of the Unione Siciliani Michele “Mike” Merlo who died of cancer on November 8, 1924, and his funeral was allegedly financed by none other than Al Capone’s former boss John Torrio, including one of Merlo’s closest friends Carmen Vacca. So, John Sbarbaro made one of the most spectacular funerals in Chicago's mob history by placing a $100,000 (or around $1,800,000 in today’s money) flower bouquets which were transported from the funeral home to the cemetery with the help of more than 30 cars. Also, Sbarbaro made a $5,000 (or $89,000 in today’s money) wax statue of Merlo and covered all of the black cars with all kinds of flowers. More than one thousand cars were in the procession through the Loop area and the whole traffic was blocked for more than an hour. Merlo's funeral was attended by more than 10.000 people, including bankers, aldermen, judges, police officers, gangsters, fruit vendors and balloon makers. Few of the most prominent faces that attended the wake were Mayor William E. Dever, State Attorney Robert E. Crowe, Chicago Police Chief Morgan A. Collins and the Cook County Board President and future Mayor Anton J. Cermak. I believe that many of the gangsters in Chicago and around the country at the time, probably wished for a funeral like that and from that point on they surely knew where to arrange it.


Mafia boss Mike Merlo


Merlo’s wax statue being prepared for the funeral services

Sbarbaro knew that Merlo’s death was in fact the beginning of an endless cash flow through his funeral business. You see, the late Merlo also used to be the main “peace keeper” between the warring groups and so with him out of the picture, gang war was inevitable. The gangsters fought for control over the liquor business and so they used the services of Sbarbaro very often. In fact, Merlo’s death started off the gangster funeral era, during which big and quite expensive funerals were considered proper and fitting for their criminal mentality.

Two days later after Merlo’s death, on November 10, 1924 Dean O’Banion got whacked, allegedly by associates of the Capone mob. Young prosecutors John Sbarbaro and William McSwiggin started "questioning" some of the Capone gang members and they made a conclusion that Capone wasn’t involved so when Sbarbaro's law enforcement duties finished, he saw a chance to show his true funeral arranging values, again. One of the attendees at O’Banion’s wake explained the situation in few simple words and that person was Municipal Court Judge John Lyle, who in turn said that this was “the most nauseating thing” that had occurred in his life experience. Also, one Chicago newspaper commented that “Presidents are buried with less to-do.”


O’Banion’s funeral services being started at Sbarbaro’s funeral parlor

The remains of the late O’Banion were exhibited for three days at the undertaking establishment of Sbarbaro and his funeral services were explained by many witnesses. Silver angels stood near his head and feet with their heads bowed in the light of ten candles that burned in solid golden candlesticks, which the statues held in their hands. Beneath the casket from silver and gold, was the marble slab with the inscription “Suffer little children to come unto me”. There were also 26 truckloads of flowers which worth around $50,000 (or around $900,000 in today’s money) and a casket with a price over $10.000 (or around $180,000 in today’s cash). Also featured were many more floral displays but one of the most notables was labelled "From AL" which was Al Capone who in turn was also present at the funeral and they were only few feet away from Hymie Weiss, George Moran, Louis Alterie and other members of the O'Banion crew. The hoodlums were observed turning revolvers over to henchmen, evidently there was an understanding that a truce would be in effect during the services. After O'Banion's body had been lowered into the ground, the newsmen saw the gun bearers return the weapons to their superiors. No words were exchanged between the rivals but it seems that everybody present felt the hatred floating in the air.

Sbarbaro also placed musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to play soft and sad music in the background while O'Banion's family cried over the casket. There was also police escort following the 10.000 mourners. The newspapers also published the names of many congressmen, judges, state legislators, aldermen and other public officials who were among the rest of the mourners. When a Catholic priest defied the cardinal and prayed at the grave site, he was promptly reassigned to Central America for his insubordination. Story goes that Sbarbaro was the one who convinced some priest to give O’Banion’s “last rites”. O’Banion’s funeral became national attention and fascination and Sbarbaro quickly reached for material success and felt very proud.

The Unholy Connection

In reality Sbarbaro’s funeral business also had one more sinister purpose because the connection between the politicians and gangsters became stronger and significant during every gangland funeral. The wakes of the underworld bosses clearly revealed the nature of the friendly and human relations out of which the alliance of crime and vice with politics became stronger. In the hour of death, personal ties were disclosed, which in life were concealed. All of the politicians always recognized the importance, even though they were not moved by real sentiment, of participating on all ceremonies such as christenings, marriages and funerals. In the great gangland funerals, the presence of the most powerful political figures attests the sincerity and the personal character of their friendship towards the deceased, and this marks them as being intimate in both life and death.

Political power usually rests upon friendship between politicians and underworld figures, and in reality, it means it is better for both sides to keep their word or else, something which resembles a feudal relationship. The feudal system is based not on law but on personal loyalties and so politics is in fact a feudal system. Criminal gangs like the Capone mob were also organized on feudal basis such as loyalties, friendships and above all regarding cash. This is the main reason on why politicians and gangsters understand one another so well and frequently enter into alliances with each other against the more remote common good. Proof for that is the following situation.

The Show Must Go On

After O'Banion's funeral, another North Side racketeer known as Hymie Wiess allegedly took control over the crew and kept fighting against the Capone clan. One day Weiss and one of his close associates Vincent Drucci walked toward the Standard Oil Building, where they were supposed to meet with Sanitary District Trustee and leading member of the 20th Ward Morris Eller and John Sbarbaro. On their way to the meeting, Drucci was arrested and the cops found $13,000 (or over two hundred thousand dollars in today’s money) on him. Drucci claimed that the rival criminals were after his money and so he decided to get it out of his house but some sources claim that the cash was bribe money for the North Side gang’s sponsors such as Eller, Sbarbaro and the rest of the higher ups from the leading 20th Ward.


Vincent Drucci

On Saturday January 24 1925, allegedly in retaliation for the O'Banion hit, John Torrio barely survived assassination attempt and at the hospital he was questioned by none other than John Sbarbaro and in fact he was the leading prosecutor investigating the shooting of Torrio. "Who did it, don't you know who they were" asked Sbarbaro and Torrio replied "Of course I know, will tell you later", but he never did and neither Sbarbaro ever bothered asking again. Sbarbaro also received the same answer while questioning Torrio’s second in command Al Capone. It seems during this period Sbarbaro played both sides, which is the main characteristic of a corrupt government official.


John Torrio wounded and also his bullet riddled car

But the problem was that Capone was no fool because he and his cohorts already knew on who was the real protection for their rivals. Sbarbaro’s partner William McSwiggin was also involved in shady deals with the criminal underworld, even though he was named the ``hangman prosecutor`` for his feat of obtaining seven death penalties in eight months, but on the evening on April 27, 1926 McSwiggin was shot to death while in the company of other criminal hoods. Everybody in Chicago wanted to know on who was responsible for the murder and as usual Capone was arrested but released three days later, thanks to John Sbarbaro, because of insufficient evidence. I also believe that by this time Sbarbaro probably saw the writing on the wall and so he was slowly becoming also loyal to the Capone crew.


McSwiggin’s funeral

The conflict continued on October 11, 1926 when Hymie Wiess was riddled with bullets by several shooters with machine guns and so Sbarbaro’s services were needed again but this time it was going to be different. Since these so-called gangster funerals attracted a lot of audience, Sbarbaro received an idea. During this period Sbarbaro had big ambition in becoming a Municipal Judge and election days were nearby and so he thought to advertise himself during the funeral services for Weiss. During the spectacular and also very expensive funeral, many of the funeral cars bore huge posters saying "John Sbarbaro for Municipal Judge". Some of the saner people couldn’t believe their eyes that Eller and Sbarbaro placed their placards to Weiss's hearse to advertise themselves. The whole affair looked like one big circus. Also, during the proceedings, Sbarbaro again showed his loyalty towards the underworld by organizing Weiss’ last rites, since he was previously denied by the Catholic Church because he was a known gangster and murderer.


Weiss’ funeral

After Wiess, the next in line as leader of their crew was as new potential “costumer” of Sbarbaro’s funeral services, and that was Vincent Drucci. Some sources say that Drucci gave envelopes filled with dirty cash to Morris Eller on daily basis who in turn took what he needed and then passed the envelopes to Sbarbaro who in turn would also take his share and then hand the envelopes to someone else and no one ever discussed who that someone else was. On April 4, 1927, the Chicago P.D. shot to death crazy Vincent Drucci and again Sbarbaro made the funeral arrangements. Three days later on April 7, Drucci’s body was placed in a $10,000 (around $180,000 in today’s money) flag draped, aluminum and silver casket at the Sbarbaro & Company funeral home. The place was surrounded by $30,000 (around $530,000 in today’s cash) worth of flowers, many of the arrangements arriving from William J. Schofield, O’Banion’s partner in the flower business. Drucci was buried the following day after a funeral service held at Sbarbaro’s.


Drucci’s funeral

A crowd of at least 1,000 mourners milled around Sbarbaro’s chapel. There was no priest, but family members and several close friends recited prayers led by the undertaker John Brizzolam. The hearse was draped with an American flag and was also preceded to the cemetery by 12 carloads of flowers. Drucci’s body was interred at Mount Carmel Cemetery and the funeral was surely comparable in lavish expenditures to the one of Dean O’Banion because it had the added dignity of an armed escort or rifle squad from Forth Sheridan, which fired a 21-gun salute and a bugler played taps, while the mourners bowed their heads. The reason was that Drucci served two years in the navy during World War I and was honorably discharged. In the long line of followers there were such notables as George Moran, Joe Saltis, James Sammons, John Oberta, Maxie Eisen, the Gusenberg brothers and their worst enemy Al Capone. In the old days, the ones who probably ordered the murder usually attended the victim’s funeral. Drucci’s pretty blond widow who was about to inherit a $400,000 estate ($7,000,000 in today’s cash), turned to a reporter as she left and said, "A policeman murdered him. But we sure gave him a grand funeral." There was also a rumor that the cop was in fact linked to the Capone gang.

Political War

That same faithful day when Drucci got shot, Sbarbaro also won his judgeship for Municipal Judge and so his dream came true, probably with the help of the leading Capone crew. So, at the beginning of the year 1928, a political war erupted between corrupt candidates and the conflict was named “The Pineapple Primary”, because of the type of bombs which were used during the battle. In just six months prior to the primary election, 62 bombings took place in the city of Chicago, and at least 15 people died, including two politicians. The sounds of bombs exploding at night became a Chicago “tradition”.

The primary election began with the bombing of John Sbarbaro’s property by blowing to pieces the backroom that he used to store bootleg liquor. I believe that this wasn’t a coincidence but instead it was an underworld message but some sources claim that it was a mistake, a story in which I hardly believe. Suspects were arrested at 4747 North Robey, including Joseph Caminiti, Dominic Lanza, Oliver Clemente, Tony Scalofora, Salvatore Aiello and Joe Greco, all alleged associates of Mafia leader Joe Aiello, who were later released for the lack of evidences. Some sources from that period reported that the bombing of Sbarbaro’s establishment was some type of “mistaken identity”, but that was obviously a move made either by Sbarbaro or some of his connections so they can keep Sbarbaro’s respectability. Those Mafia guys knew on what really went down within Chicago’s criminal underworld and Sbarbaro’s was obviously on their bombing list and probably looked at him as one of their enemies.


Sbarbaro’s establishment after the bombing


Alleged bombers being arrested by the cops


Back to Business

In the early morning hours of May 8, 1929, the mutilated bodies of former Capone associates, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi, and also new Chicago Mafia representative Joseph Giunta, were discovered along the road near Hammond, Indiana. All three had been severely beaten and shot to death. The remains of Anselmi and Scalise were returned to their families in Italy, except for Guinta who was taken to the funeral parlor of John Sbarbaro. And again, Sbarbaro made another spectacular gangster funeral by making beautiful and quite expensive tombstones for Giunta’s grave and a $10,000 (around $180,000 in today’s money) bronze casket.


Guinta’s funeral

By 1930, the old North Side mob was almost finished and was quickly replaced by members or allies of the most powerful crew in the city which was the Capone group and now all of the crooked politicians belonged to only one organization. Later with the imprisonment of Al Capone in 1932 and the end of Prohibition in 1933, the Mob’s finances were cut short and so were their lavish lifestyles. They even realized that those same mob funerals can be quite a problem for their underground organizations, since everybody knew on who was who. In fact, the funerals attracted the kind of wide attention, which was very bad for business since the newly formed La Cosa Nostra organization known as the Chicago Outfit, very much hated the spotlight. A decade later, the new representative for the Chicago mob, Tony Accardo strongly advised his underlings to avoid any huge funeral gatherings, especially if it looked like a parade.

End of The Glory Days

This meant that Sbarbaro’s glory days as the city’s best funeral organizer for the underworld, were coming to an end. I also think that with the end of the old North Side gang, the Capone mob and with the birth of the new Chicago Outfit, Sbarbaro did not hold any significant position as associate within the “new criminal order”, which I believe was the main reason that turned his attention towards his career and family. But in those days if you lacked for underworld backing, you had tough chances to win any election and so that same year Sbarbaro was defeated for re-election in the Municipal Court. The bar committee said there was a division of opinion among lawyers of his service, but the committee believed he was qualified for office.

During this period some former bootleggers ended their criminal carriers and lived long rich lives with the money they stashed, by some ending up as legitimate businessmen or others as politicians and government people. The old political guard was threatened by the new up and coming younger criminal generation which was fully backed by the Chicago Outfit. So, Sbarbaro shortly cut off from his connections to the underworld, mostly because of the previous reason, and dedicated his life to charity work for the Italian community. He was quite interested in the history of Italian people and ancient Rome, and also had connections to Italy’s top political administration. On July 15, 1934 a 4-ton marble column, which was found at Ostia, ancient Rome's seaport, has been sent to Chicago by Italy’s Premier Benito Mussolini as a commemoration of General Balbo’s Atlantic flight, which occurred the previous year.


John Sbarbaro

In 1937, Sbarbaro’s father Antonio died of pneumonia at the age of 73 and managed to remain as respectable Italian immigrant in the eyes of the public and also as contributor to Chicago’s politics, even after his death. Antonio was survived by his widow Aurelia, two sons John and Anthony Sbarbaro, and also a daughter.

They Pull Me Back In

In 1940, Sbarbaro was elected as Chief Justice of the Superior Court and now the ex-undertaker was back in the game. On February 3, 1943, Chicago Outfit member and also member of the leading Elmwood Park crew, William Aloisio was subjected to a lie detector test in connection with the Christmas morning slaying of Robert E. McLaughlin. Aloisio was a known tavern owner and reputed gambler, but was freed by Chief Justice John Sbarbaro on a $100 cash bond. Sbarbaro allegedly acted on the recommendation of James Cunningham, assistant state’s attorney, who reported that the police had placed no charge against Aloisio although investigators asserted that his replies under the lie detector were quite unsatisfactory. But there was a problem because that same year most of the Outfit’s top administration was sent to jail and now the government wanted to show its ability to chase down the corrupt people and began massive arrests of many government officials and so Sbarbaro knew that he had to “lay low” for some time until the “smoke cleared.”


Willie “Smokes” Aloisio

Respectable Citizen

Besides his “adventurous” career, Judge Sbarbaro was also very fond of sports especially baseball and basketball and so in 1944, he acquired control of the Chicago franchise of the newly formed Basketball Association of America. He has been known for sponsoring the basketball programs at the Chicago Stadium for many years later. But by 1946, all of the so-called alleged arrests of corrupted officials stopped, and the machine of corruption was back in full effect.

On April 2, 1947, former police detectives William Drury and Joe Connelly appealed their firings to the courts and the discharge was overruled in Superior court by Judge Sbarbaro, who in turn was overruled by the Appellate court, when the city appealed. The Appellate court decision was upheld by the State Supreme Court and so the United States Supreme court refused the detectives a hearing. Later in an unusual twist Sbarbaro also overturned his decision by discharging the detectives. The same month, Chicago Outfit big shots William and Edward Vogel, Tony Fragassi and Skokie's village president and its trustees were indicted and convicted on operating slot machines in Skokie, Illinois. So, on May 13, 1947, Judge Sbarbaro overturned the conviction on the Vogel brothers and all of the indicted in the conspiracy.

Even though sometimes Sbarbaro released the bad guys, he also knew how to keep some type of balance by being the “citizen’s man”. In 1950, Sbarbaro the Crawford business group sued the city, indicating they had a petition signed by owners on Pulaski Rd frontage supporting a return to the Crawford name. In 1951, Superior Court judge Sbarbaro did just that, and so after 18 years, Pulaski Rd. became once again Crawford Ave. Also in 1956, Sbarbaro was preparing to become one of the candidates for the incoming elections for becoming a Republican president but the only problem was that by now Sbarbaro was 67 years old or in other words, he was becoming an old man.


Judge John Sbarbaro blowing out candles on a cake for his 70th birthday at the “mob-owned” Tavern Club


Tragic Death

On March 10, 1960 Sbarbaro’s wife Mable flew to Miami, Florida to have a check on her back injury, and so a week later, on March 17, her husband John took the Miami bound Northwest Airlines turbo-prop plane, which later exploded high over Ohio River bottom lands and spewed wreckage over a five-mile area, killing all 63 aboard. At least 75 farmers and sportsmen in the rugged terrain below heard the double blasts, separated by a few seconds, and saw the tumbling pieces. One wing and an engine fell away from the cabin and were found three miles from the main structure. Farmers and police said they viewed a scene of horror. Clothing, bits of flesh, and fragments of metal had showered a field and were clinging to trees and bushes. A crater estimated 50 feet across and more than 20 feet deep in mixed mud and snow marked the grave, of all aboard. Government air experts were summoned with the first word of the accident, and they were quick to point out that this accident was almost exactly like an earlier still unexplained Electra in-flight explosion. The earlier accident occurred October 29, 1959, at Waco, Texas, when a new Electra plane blew up, killing 34 aboard. I believe this was one of the main reasons for which Sbarabro’s family filled up a $250,000 damage suit against Northwest Airlines for the death of the Judge and later they won. John Sbarbaro’s life ended at the age of 70 and besides his widow, he was survived by his brother Anthony and his sister Angelina.

The late John Sbarbaro remains in history as one of Chicago’s jurist who made major contributions to society both as a public official and as a private citizen. As a man of law, he is warmly remembered for his many acts of judicial enlightenment and compassion. But on the other hand, he also largely contributed in strengthening the connection between organized crime and politics, a connection which I strongly believe lasts even today.

Cheers

...in addition, heres a pic of Guinta's tomb stone which was also made by the Sbarbaros...

Sbarbaro was also honorary president of the Legione Garibaldi order and in fact, Sbarbaro's career somehow reminds me of the careers of shady or Mafia connected government officials such as Italy's Giulio Andreotti who managed to keep their respectability and wealth, while constantly escaping the hand of the law with the help of corruption and personal connections within masonic societies.

This is from 1932...

Very interesting, TD. Thanks.
I knew of Sbarbaro as a funeral director because every photo of every big funeral of every big gangster of the Prohibition era shows his mortuary prominently. Didn't know about the rest of his life and career(s). Now I do.

Thanks a lot pal, I really appreciate it.

If you look at that whole bloody era, it seems that Sbarbaro was at the top of the game by having a respectable image within Chicago's high society, followed by his underworld connections and in the end, he also managed to take large amounts of cash right out of the pockets of some of the city's richest gangsters and Mafiosi with the help of his funeral parlor, thus becoming a multi-milionaire.

@TB, also heres the source regarding the questioning of Capone by Sbarbaro regarding the assassination attempt on Torrio...

Besides Benito Mussolini, another fascist who Sbarbaro personally met with in 1933, was infamous Italian Army General Italo Balbo....this rises the question on whether guys like Vito Genovese later used those same old connections to Mussolini's fascist regime...