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INTRO

Many of today’s followers probably heard about infamous African-American or black gangsters such as “Bumpy” Johnson, Teddy Roe or even Nicky Barnes, names that are written high on the history list of the world’s most dangerous criminals, possibly below the names of Pablo Escobar and Al Capone. In reality, black organized crime often followed the footsteps of the older and already established crime syndicates from different ethnicities, although the black gangsters managed to bring certain rackets on much higher level than before and also somehow managed to label those same rackets as their own. This situation brought the likes and also envy of many mobsters and as always, there were other lesser-known black gangsters who played major role in separating the black criminal element from the rest of the other ethnic criminal syndicates, thus becoming independent in their own ways, and even some notorious criminal bosses like Capone left them alone or joined their illegal ventures. But obviously not all crime bosses were the same and so, this is a story regarding the evolution of Chicago’s black organized crime and on how they managed to break the chains and battled their way through all of the obstacles, either from the government or from other and more powerful criminal organizations such as the infamous Chicago Outfit.

THE FORGOTTEN DAYS

Story goes that Chicago’s African-American criminals were already organized in syndicated vice, even before the arrival of traditional Italian organized crime groups. At first, the sophisticated black organized crime groups operated independently and also played an important part in creating the base for all future organized crime syndicates. Same as the Irish, Jewish and Italian organizations, the black criminal syndicates ran speakeasies and nightclubs, and participated in illegal policy gambling and prostitution even before the start of the 20th century, and Chicago’s South Side was a “black metropolis” that had its own elected officials, business community and criminal underworld that at first, it had little interaction with “white” Chicago but later the situation began to change, after all the U.S.A. was and still is the home of people from many ethnicities.

Reports say that by 1840, a large number of runaway slaves began arriving in the “Windy City” and by the end of the Civil War, there was already a large African-American population living in Chicago. The first blacks to settle in Chicago were concentrated in the center of the city along the banks of the Chicago River, but later the majority of the black population moved south where the rents were cheaper, located near the railroad terminals and Chicago’s vice districts. Chicago’s so-called South Side “Black Belt” grew to be the second largest African-American area in the whole U.S., except for New York’s Harlem area which exceeded it in size. Chicago’s black metropolis was populated by less than half-a-million residents at the time, and so Chicago’s highly organized “machine” of white politicians were willing to work with anyone who could deliver the vote and contribute financially to their political organization, and when the black precinct captains, doctors, lawyers and even gangsters became one of the main donators for the local political machines, it also became the main point when black and white organized crime also created a strong partnership, after all the black gangsters were the ones who controlled the whole black population from around the South Side, one way or the other, meaning either for voting or vice.


Chicago’s “Black Belt”

During the 1880’s Chicago’s black criminals were incorporated into both the First Ward political machine of Irish political crime bosses, “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Mike Kenna, and also the Second Ward organization of Republican Alderman William Hale Thompson. Later, the expanding African-American community on Chicago’s South Side developed into an independent political force whose endorsement was sought by both Republicans and Democrats, and so the black community quickly learned that the political life of the community was closely connected with the world of saloons, brothels and gambling houses.

Old-time Irish gambler Patrick “Patsy” King was a former Mississippi riverboat gambling operator who arrived in Chicago sometime during the late 19th century and became closely associated with the local Irish crime syndicate which at the time was headed by Casius “King Mike” McDonald. “Legend” goes that King allegedly devised one specific gambling game which late became known as the “policy” racket, and that King personally introduced some of African-American racketeers from the South Side. Policy was illegal, but it was played freely on the streets, storefronts, private homes and social establishments. One of the main attractions for the working-class bettors was the small amount of money which was required to play, and even the poorest bettors were able to win $50 with just a nickel or dime. A bettor would pick three numbers out of 100, and then would place a nickel to a dollar with a payout of 10 to 1, but the odds against winning were 1 in 1000. Then the bettor would handpick three numbers out of a box which was filled with 100 paper clips that contained the numbers from 1-100. If the bettor’s three numbers were drawn, he won.


Patsy King

But the truth was that rarely happened so King became very rich with his game and his main connection to the black community was one African-American individual know as Sam Young aka “Policy Sam”, who in turn allegedly explained the rules to the black people and used the same tactics as King, by taking bets and pulling numbers out of his hat. With the financial backing of King, Sam Young took the policy game on a higher level. In fact, so-called policy wheels allegedly originated in Chicago, around 40 years before they arrived in New York or Philadelphia, mainly because the black gangsters on the East Coast didn't have the legit business fronts, police cooperation and political influence as the black gangsters of Chicago. By the early 1900’s, King together with one of Kenna’s underlings, Tom McGinnis, controlled the policy wheel companies called the ''The Union and the Phoenix'', which were located at their headquarters known as The Emporium, obviously with the help of black organized crime.


Sam Young

Besides Young, one of the black community’s earliest vice lords in Chicago was John “Mushmouth” Johnson who was born in St. Louis to a woman who had been a nurse for Mary Todd Lincoln. At the age of 30, Johnson migrated to Chicago and by 1890, he operated many gambling games on South Clark Street together with many white people, such as Andy Scott, a known vice operator who worked for the leading Irish mob. During those days many rising black racketeers in Chicago were brothel owners, gambling operators, pimps and policy runners. The policy gambling became a “homegrown” operation, obviously because I was played exclusively in the black neighborhoods and besides providing millions of dollars for its operators, it also provided jobs and expectations for many poor people, and so Johnson obviously saw his future in the whole scheme.

In 1901, Johnson became main partner in the “The Emporium” and besides craps, poker and billiards, the main game was Policy. The public quickly labelled Johnson as the head of a huge gambling syndicate, and was also referred as the "head henchman" or "lieutenant" of First Ward aldermen Kenna and Coughlin. Johnson could consistently garner the vote of the ward's black population for the two aldermen, and in return the corrupt aldermen also placed him in charge of collecting protection money from the gambling dens in the city's growing Chinatown district on Clark Street.

But in 1903, Chicago’s Mayor Carter Harrison revoked the license of one of Johnson’s biggest saloons and also described him as a “card cheat” who robbed patrons “stone blind” at his craps, hand faro and draw poker tables. Witnesses told the committee that it was impossible to win at Johnson’s gambling hall, and even if a patron did win a pot, every effort was made to “skin” him of his winnings at another game before he left the resort. Next, the city of Chicago had declared an all-out war on most of the major South Side brothels and gambling houses, which were shut down. The anti-policy legislation law became very drastic that targeted all persons involved in the racket, and the whole pressure on the policy racket forced the black syndicate to temporarily withdraw from the game and went completely “underground”.


“Mushmouth” Johnson

Finally, in 1906 tired from all of the continuing government assaults and also from the whole stress, Johnson allegedly retired and died of natural causes in 1907. A huge crowd attended his funeral at the Institutional AME Church, including many government officials and police inspectors. Some accounts indicate that Johnson’s money may have helped establish Binga State Bank, the nation’s first black-owned bank, in 1908, and later one of his daughters, Eudora Johnson had married Jesse Binga, the bank’s founder.

BACK IN THE GAME

Back during the 1890’s, Italian immigrants began arriving in great numbers on the city’s South Side, and one of the most prominent was Giacomo “Big Jim” Colosimo, who later became quite known in Chicago's First Ward mainly because he had many friends in the local criminal underworld and was also very popular among his fellow Italians who by that time represented the majority of the population on Chicago’s South Side. In no time, Kenna and Coughlin made Colosimo their prime “street tax” collector for every saloon and brothel from around the Loop, Chinatown and the South Side, and even the late “Mushmouth” Johnson’s had to pay monthly fee regarding every joint that he controlled and in fact, Johnson’s collections from the whole South Side first went to Colosimo who in turn gave percentage to Kenna and Coughlin. By 1911, there was so much corruption in Chicago, that one known Police lieutenant at the time known as Thomas J. Howard publicly said that there was no gambling in his city, a statement which instantly placed him on the list of Chicago’s so-called police “blind platoon”.

Besides being Italian, story goes that Colosimo was also quite respected by the black population from around the South Side, obviously because he knew every one of their so-called leaders, including precinct captains, saloon owners and racketeers. Colosimo’s prime rackets were extortion, gambling and above all prostitution, which means he was involved in “white slavery” that mainly included white, Chinese and also many black women. Colosimo exploited every one of his sources to the black community regarding his rackets that brought millions of dollars at the time, literally. This means that the Italian boss, together with his Irish protectors Kenna and Coughlin, was able to return or give the needed political protection to the black racketeers, thus playing a major role in bringing back the policy racket on the scene, big time. Reports say that for every two-dollar that the prostitutes earned, Colosimo took around $1.20 and that’s why I believe that Colosimo was mostly interested in his “golden egg” aka the prostitution racket, instead of the policy operation, but the black racketeers were able to satisfy him by supplying him with their “product” that gave them the “green light” to operate their own rackets. It wasn’t all “fun and games” because many women were raped or beaten on daily basis, or were under the influence of narcotics, and some were even killed.


“Big Jim” aka “Diamond Jim” Colosimo

Besides Colosimo and his Irish political connections, there was another Italian family that also played a major role at the time in bringing back Chicago’s black crime syndicate on its feet. After the death of Johnson, it was allegedly Sam Young who continued in -re-building the old policy empire but with the financial backup of the Benvenuti family. Interesting thing to note is that the Benvenuti’s didn’t arrive from Sicily or the southern part of Italy, but instead their roots were from the northern part or from the town of Pisa, something which was quite rare in Italian organized crime at the time. Another thing which was quite rare was that the Benvenutis lived on South State St, near 29th St, an area that had few Italians and was mostly populated with Jewish and African-American immigrants. The Benvenuti brothers, Julius, Caesar and Leo, must've gained early familiarity with the black population due to growing up on the same block and this was probably a big push for their multi-million dollar criminal careers as "policy kings" in primarily black communities.

The Benvenutis were also politically connected and one of their best friends was First District congressman Arthur W. Mitchell. Same as Colosimo, they also walked freely through the black neighborhoods and everyone was glad to have their acquaintance. In reality, it was allegedly Julius Benvenuti who brought back Sam Young in the Policy game and also gave him the financials to open up a new policy wheel at the Pullman Restaurant at Thirty-First State Street, which was named the Frankfort, Henry and Kentucky policy wheel, including Chicago’s first “well-regulated” policy wheel called The Blue Racer. Benvenuti allegedly placed Young as his prime operator for their policy wheels and also supervised the games at many carnivals or picnics that were organized by Benvenuti himself.


Julius Benvenuti

By the end of the 1910’s Benvenuti and Young operated another policy wheel called The Interstate Springfield Policy Company, which became the largest policy operations in Chicago, and they allegedly began generating millions of dollars a year. The Interstate Springfield Company employed almost 500 policy runners who collected bets from 10 cents to one hundred dollars throughout the South and West Sides of Chicago. Benvenuti was a close friend of Jim Colosimo and his new lieutenant John Torrio, and it is quite possible that Benvenuti paid his “street tax” which was far from the cash that he made on monthly basis, and conducted the campaigns for many government officials.

Colosimo and the Benvenuti brothers obviously played a major role in bringing the black crime groups near the top of Chicago’s crime scene at the time, but the reality was that they also played a major in bringing the lucrative policy racket under their “umbrella”, or at least they were the so-called “bridge” between Italian and black organized crime, in which the old Italian racketeers will keep their deal while the younger generation will exploit the so-called “deal” on a much different level.

THE NEW BLACK SYNDICATE

Since the late Johnson was and possibly still is considered as the city’s first “big time” black racketeer who began creating his own “small” criminal empire, obviously it was Young who inherited all of his lucrative operations, political connections and criminal contacts. Young and his associates slowly became the most important financiers of both Chicago’s political world and criminal underworld, from the obvious point of view of their numbers, their wealth and their power. That’s why some African-Americans later also became staunch supporters of the Republican Party and the newly elected Mayor William Thompson, the most corrupted government official in Chicago’s history. Sources say that it was Young who introduced Mayor Thompson to one of his candidates known as Oscar De Priest, and since the mayor depended on the black vote, he placed De Priest as a Second Ward Alderman, who in fact became the first influential black alderman.

In no time, De Priest organized a “colored voters club” that demanded contributions from local gamblers in order to support upcoming elections, another move which completely cemented the relationship between black organized crime and local politics. This also meant that no matter the ethnicity, every gambler from their area was obliged to donate cash to De Priest and his organization. “King Oscar,” as the Chicago Tribune referred to De Priest, ran what was described as his own “Tammany Club” from a real estate office at 35th and State. De Priest received a monthly tribute of thousands of dollars from gambling houses and brothels that he protected in the “Black Belt”, and so their rackets flourished free without any police interference and also without any problems from potential rivals.


Oscar De Priest

For example, in 1916 eleven black gambling operators were arrested by the cops and the individual who appeared on behalf of the defendants, was Assistant City Attorney Sam Hamilton, and in the end the case was dismissed, a situation which brought “mild public furor”. Besides assistant attorneys and politicians, De Priest also had several professional bondsmen such as Abraham Poll, who also had his own gambling place on the city’s South Side that was operated by De Priest’s people. One of De Priest’s prime black gamblers was Henry “King Teenan” Jones who in turn operated several lucrative joints, such as the Tammany Club at 31st Street and also the Pioneer and Pekin Inn clubs and several other gambling rooms, all located on South State Street.

Four other prominent individuals who were part of De Priest’s organization were William Lewis, another black gambling operator who was allegedly the “number three guy”, followed by Arthur Codozas who in turn was owner of the infamous Elite No. 1 Café, also Dr. Brown who was a black physician that also worked as collector for some of De Priest’s gambling profits and Joe Davis who had connections in almost every police station around the South Side, thus often having the information if a police raid was on its way to some of the gambling dens. The same job was also given to another individual known as Arthur Filed, black managing editor for the Illinois Chronicle. Government sources at the time reported that De Priest, Jones and Lewis were allegedly the “top unofficial representatives of the syndicate”, a report that was not far from the truth. Some sources at the time speculated that old man Patsy King returned from Florida and again joined Sam Young in the lucrative operation that was headed by De Priest, and both remained as “puppet masters” for the whole syndicate. Besides Chicago, they also allegedly expanded their operations around Northwest Indiana, probably with the help of their Italian accomplices.

Old racketeers such as Young and De Priest played it smart by mainly having legitimate and publicly respected individuals doing their “dirty work” and that’s how they kept their clean image in the eyes of both black and white communities, at the same time. But as any criminal syndicate, they also had their own enemies who refused to bow down to their requirements. One of those enemies was an individual known as Alfred “Mexican Frank” Gordon, former gambling operator for the old Irish mob who had an unsuccessful conflict with De Priest’s organization and lost everything, and that’s why in January 1917, Gordon decided to testify against De Priest and his cohorts. Even though De Priest had all of the right connections to get everyone out of trouble, something wrong happened that forced most of his accomplices to also start talking to the government, including his prime lieutenant Henry Jones. In the end, De Priest obviously used his contacts only for himself, and besides losing his alderman seat, the following year he was acquitted on all charges. In 1919, De Priest had no shame at all and again tried to ran for alderman but was defeated by another black candidate known as Louis B. Anderson.

THE NEW REGIME

By the late 1910’s, large portion of the black population moved westward along Lake Street and into the Near North Side’s “Little Hell” Italian community, where the rents were the cheapest. The thing was that same area was under the control of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra organization and rules were quite different then the previous ones with Colosimo and Torrio. During those days the Sicilian Mafia was still fighting its way up the ranks of both Chicago’s organized crime and political groups and they also had many internal conflicts, and so the black racketeers didn’t have much problems with the Sicilians regarding their rackets. As for the ones who remained on the city’s South Side, they continued their close collaboration with the Colosimo syndicate. In 1920, Colosimo was killed and was allegedly succeeded by his former lieutenant John Torrio, who in turn allegedly brought Al Capone from New York to Chicago.


Johnny Torrio

During the days of Prohibition, the illegal production and import of alcohol was considered the biggest racket both by the government and also by most of Chicago’s criminal underworld. Same as his late predecessor, Torrio also continued their old connection to the black syndicate mainly from around the South Side, and also mainly used their saloons and brothels for selling illegal alcohol, while the income from gambling and prostitution came on second place. Besides having one of the most lucrative gambling rackets, still some of the black racketeers decided to enter the so-called “booze” trade, a move that was probably influenced by their Italian accomplices. Some say that the question remains on who was the new main representative for the black syndicate from around the South Side during Prohibition, and if ever there was really one, but the following information might give us the answer regarding that same problem.

The time period from 1920 until 1923 was quite terrible for the black gambling syndicate, especially for the so-called “Policy Kings”, mainly because of the numerous police raids which closed their operations on daily basis. In June 1923, two black gambling operators were killed during a shootout with the police, and the whole situation was followed by huge police haul of known local black racketeers, which also included Patsy King, Sam Young and Oscar De Priest. The problem was that both King and Young were already considered only as “elder statesmen” in the lucrative policy racket and were far from being the leaders of the South Side’s black syndicate, while De Priest continuously tried to re-enter Chicago’s politics by constantly sponsoring his own candidates regarding the old Second Ward.

According to most police reports from that period, the real alleged crime leaders of the Second Ward were three black gambling operators known as Earl Walker, Malcolm McDonald and Pete Robinson. Sources say that Walker was also know as “King of Slot Machines” but his real racket was allegedly operating policy wheels both around the North and South sides, mainly with the help of McDonald’s and Robinson’s connections around the 2nd and 4th wards. Few of their prime lieutenants were Sanford Overall, Eldrige “Cap” White and also one Philip Collenger who in turn was allegedly the main “North Side” connection to the Torrio/Capone group, including one Joe D’Angelo who was also labeled as bootlegger. This crew allegedly controlled numerous gambling joints, including the Baseball Club at 3301 State St, the Lewis Club 121 East 31st St, the Waiters and Porters’ Club at 3415 South State Street and also the Bass at 478 East 31st Street.

In August 1928, 38-years old Walker made one huge mistake which brought a lot of unwanted government attention on him, and that was the beating of a police officer, who in turn a week before that visited one of Walker’s joints and caused problems. In Walker’s mind, the cop was just another black individual who wasn’t expected to “harass” other black individuals, but in the government’s eyes Walker attacked one of their officials and had to “pay” for it. That’s why, the following month, Walker appeared in front of a grand jury and talked freely about his income and also about his dealings with some of his underlings, but never mentioned the names of the Benvenuti brothers or Sam Young but besides being protected, still the whole situation with Walker brought their names in the newspapers. The problem was that Young and the Benvenutis controlled the lucrative “Springfield – Interstate” policy wheel that was located at 29th and La Salle streets, and they didn’t want any of their operations being jeopardized because of stupid mistakes. Some sources at the time still speculated that Young together with the Benvenuti brothers were behind many policy wheels from in and out of the Chicago area, and I personally don’t deny that because the Benvenutis were still considered at the time as the prime players in the policy game business and they still depended on the black criminal element. For example, according to some reports, one black gambling operator known as Walter J. Kelly was the alleged overseer regarding the gambling operations in Gary and Hammond, Indiana; for the Young-Benvenuti syndicate.


Caesar Benvenuti


Leo Benvenuti

SAY HELLO TO THE OUTFIT

By 1931, Al Capone became the undisputed crime boss in the second largest city at the time, and also became nationally recognized as leader of Chicago’s Italian criminal element aka the Chicago Outfit. This meant that all of the local crime groups were either with Capone and his “army” or were against them, and the Benvenutis together with the black crime leaders chose the obvious “side”, meaning they continued collaborating with their old associates who by now reached the top of Chicago’s criminal underworld. Some mob historians say that the Benvenutis allegedly never paid a dime to the Outfit and remained independent, a statement which I personally highly doubt, mainly because they were obliged to pay their “street tax” to the Mob, meaning if the Benvenutis refused to pay and remained independent, that was obviously a bad sign for the Outfit’s influence and its reputation within the brutal criminal underworld. In fact, from that point on, the so-called black crime syndicate became “headless”, meaning by becoming part of the leading Chicago Outfit, all of the black crime leaders were “forced” to answer to the non-Italian bosses of the leading crime group, instead to one of their own. Who knows, maybe the whole situation could’ve been worse?!

Few of Capone’s prime “barons” around the South Side area were his brother Ralph Capone, Phil D’Andrea, Jake Guzik, William Heeney, the Fischetti brothers, Dennis Cooney and Sam “Golf Bag” Hunt. Reports show that Hunt was probably one of Capone’s loyalists who was very much interested in the policy racket, and his fearsome reputation allegedly also preceded him, thus opening “every door” to the world of Chicago’s black organized crime. Large part of Capone’s illegal income allegedly came from the black areas and all of the gambling houses, brothels and also so-called “speakeasies”, especially the ones with the so-called black “jazz’ orchestras, a music style that was on the up and up during those days and the black population was at the top of it. Some sources say that Capone’s financial operations for keeping up the black speakeasies and their illegal operations, somehow allegedly boosted the careers of many famous black musicians and singers.


Sam Hunt

Sam Hunt probably belonged to one of Capone’s old South Side crews that was previously headed by one old Irish mobster and also old Capone loyalist, Dennis Cooney, who mainly operated within the old First Ward, controlled large prostitution rings around the Loop and south, and was also already infiltrated within the world of “policy”. After the days of Prohibition, or from 1932 until 1939, the main black organized crime leaders from around the Chicago area were allegedly the Jones brothers, Edward and George from the South Side, followed by James “Big Jim” Martin on the city’s West Side. During that time, “Big Jim” Martin was probably at the top of all black gambling operations, and his main headquarters was the Airplane Inn at 1900 Lake Street, while the Jones brothers had operations both on city’s North and South sides. In reality, Martin and the Jones brothers came up the ranks of the former criminal organization that was previously headed by Patsy King, Sam Young and the Benvenutis, and also managed to bring the whole “policy” game on a much higher level by working with everyone from the leading crime groups that controlled Chicago at the time, such as Sam Hunt and Capone’s Outfit.


Chicago Tribune article

For example, when Sam Hunt was indicted on murder charges and was about to go to prison, his top “soldier” and black policy operator Ira Kelly from the South Side and Walter’s brother, was the prime guy who tampered witnesses against his boss and that same year he was also arrested on those same charges and never spoke a word against Hunt or any of his people. Kelly and two of his associates, Joseph Monroe and Gus Saunders tried to bribe the prime witness known as James Baxter who in turn saw the murder of his friend, the late Mike Wade, because of a traffic quarrel between him and Hunt.

Hunt’s “right-hand” man regarding their interests in the policy business on the city’s South Side was Ralph Pierce, who in turn had direct contact with the black racketeers regarding their “street tax”. But this time the situation was a little bit different mainly because Pierce wasn’t some friendly individual but instead, he was a young killer who was fighting his own way within the Outfit’s ranks, same as all of the other younger criminals who all wanted their share from Chicago’s illegal rackets, and so Pierce also took percentage from the rackets that were controlled by those same black racketeers. Even though they already had millions of dollars in their own pockets, the thing was that the black racketeers still depended mainly on the Outfit’s political connections and also on their “muscle” or murder, if needed, meaning if they wanted to keep their cash, they need to go with the Outfit.

The so-called Edward Kelly-Patrick Nash political machine in Chicago was allegedly closely connected to the non-Italian “block” of the Outfit, which at the time was represented by Jewish mob boss Jake Guzik who in turn previously witnessed the days of Oscar de Priest and the late Jim Colosimo. Reports show that Guzik probably used the Jones brothers and Martin as one of the Outfit’s prime “donators” for the Kelly-Nash party, by giving them millions of dollars throughout the years, obviously so the black operators can freely rule their gambling empires without any problems. The game and rules were always the same since the old days of “Mushmouth” Johnson, only the faces changed as the decades passed by, but things were about to change for the worse.

THE GREEDY GENERATION

In January 1939, the syndicate’s prime black representative in Northwest Indiana, Walter Kelly, was shot to death by unknown assassins. At the time, none of the investigators knew the motive behind the murder but instead, they simply added Kelly’s name to the long list of murders that occurred during that same decade. During those the days the leadership of the Outfit’s Chicago Heights crew was still fighting to keep the “throne”, allegedly because there was still some internal backstabbing and also numerous betrayals, mainly because of some of the old Sicilian remnants who previously decided to join to wining Capone mob but now, they decided to take the leading spots in their own hands, thinking that Capone’s Outfit was allegedly “weak”, but they thought wrong.

The old Chicago Heights crew had jurisdiction over Calumet City, Will County and also around Northwest Indiana, or mainly in Gary and Hammond. So, from 1933 until 1939, numerous killings occurred around the Chicago Heights, Calumet City, Joliet and Northwest Indiana areas, and most of the victims belonged to the so-called “old rebel group”, which means that Capone’s Chicago Heights loyalists were sending a “message” one last time regarding their already established positions and lucrative interests, and that’s why I personally believe that Kelly was either one of the many victims of that same conflict, or he was eliminated because of another and completely different reason. In addition, the late Walter Kelly was former drug dealer and was also the brother of Ira Kelly who continued working as top lieutenant for Sam Hunt and the Jones brothers on Chicago’s South Side.


Walter Kelly’s murder scene

The other problem was that during the same time period and later during the early 1940’s, “Big Jim” Martin survived an assassination attempt and also several of his joints were bombed by unknown individuals, and they also tried to extort him multiple times, including a robbery. Reports say that the botched murder attempt on Martin was carried out by Outfit member Jack “The Lackey” Cerone. The Benvenuti brothers also started feeling the same pressure with the bombings of some of their establishments, and even Jake Guzik was allegedly kidnapped by some group of people who in turn allegedly asked for ransom and so, Guzik was later released. This means that someone was obviously putting pressure over the “old guard”, and that same “someone” wasn’t coming from the government but instead, the pressure was coming from within the Chicago Outfit.

In 1940, Edward Jones was on trial regarding tax evasion charges and was sent to jail, where he unknowingly met the biggest problem of his life, or in plane words Jones met Sam Giancana, who in turn was a soldier for the Outfit at the time and was also imprisoned regarding similar charges. The problem was that Giancana was the prime definition of being both treacherous and cunning individual at the same time, and was also part of the rising younger generation of the Chicago Outfit, that “ate” everything in its way. Most mob historians believe that Giancana’s alleged plan for taking over Chicago’s policy racket started during his stay in prison or during his new business relationship with Jones, but I personally think that the so-called “plan” was already in full effect even before Giancana went to prison back in 1939. This also means that Giancana and his cohorts probably had the backing of some of the Outfit’s top bosses, which in fact was a sign of some type of “slavery” and also disturbance of the peaceful collaboration between the black racketeers and Italian organized crime.


George and Edward Jones

By 1942, both Eddie Jones and Giancana were released from prison, and Jones was again instantly attacked by the government regarding a different case but this time, Jones managed to beat the case but he obviously wasn’t able to beat the “case” against Giancana and the Outfit. In May 1946, “Big Ed” Jones was kidnapped in front of his house and the three kidnappers even started a chase with a police patrol car, in which one police officer was wounded by a bullet that was shot by one of the abductors. Some sources say that the three abductors were Giancana and two of his closest associates Fiore “Fifi” Buccieri and Leonard “Fat Lenny” Caifano. According to reports, after his release from prison, Giancana allegedly received the captain or “capo” position for the Taylor Street/Cicero crew, and so both Buccieri and Caifano were his soldiers or crew members. Giancana and his boys first allegedly told Jones to take a permanent “vacation” or else, and in the end, they also allegedly asked for $100,000 ransom or 1.6 million dollars in today’s cash, and so the victim was released.


Leonard “Fat Lenny” Caifano and Sam “Mooney” Giancana

Four months later, Jones’ prime repair man for all for his gambling paraphernalia, Robert Wilcox, was shot to death by unknown hitmen and so, Jones obviously realized the point of the “message” and took the first train to Mexico and allegedly never returned to Chicago ever again, thus leaving his rackets or what was left of them to some of his lieutenants such as Theodore Roe. Story goes that Roe’s dad was Italian while his mother was allegedly black (maybe it was the opposite), something which probably made him a pure example and possibly last evidence of the old and good relationship between both the Italian and African-American populations, including criminals. Roe started as lieutenant for the Jones brothers and back in 1945, he managed to avoid a kidnapping attempt for the first time, mainly because Roe was more of a “gangster’ rather than racketeer, meaning he had the so-called “street sense”, knew his way with weapons and was also a natural tough guy.

The problem was that in June 1951, Giancana’s men again tried to kidnap Roe, but this time the black gangster fought back, thus killing Giancana’s personal capo “Fat Lenny” Caifano during the process. In fact, Roe was probably the first Chicago black gangster who had the courage to show the “middle finger” to the more powerful Italian mob, and was probably the first one who implanted the idea in the minds of the black criminals that sooner or later they will be to do everything on their own. But by the end of the day, or in August 1952, Roe was killed allegedly by two hitmen that were sent by one of Giancana’s lieutenants Sam “Teets” Battaglia, and the black criminals were reminded once again that there was no “playing around” with the Outfit. Story goes that Roe was terminally ill of cancer and simply “sacrificed” himself because he allegedly already knew that he was going to get killed by the Mob. In addition, that same year, “Big Jim” Martin also finally saw the “writing on the wall” and decided to take all of his cash, family and friends, and also fled to Mexico.


Theodore Roe

During the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, while being Tony Accardo’s underboss, Giancana never released his “clutches” from the policy racket, mainly because some of the Outfit’s lucrative operations were on the downfall, including the tobacco and meat rackets. That’s why Giancana and his cohorts still relayed on the advices that were given by the older bosses from the South Side, such as Guzik and Hunt. In fact, Hunt created one of the Outfit’s first official policy crews that was directly controlled by official Outfit members and associates, such as Pierce, the Manno brothers, Pete Tremont and also three infamous black policy operators known as James Irving, Charles “Fat Charlie” Avent and Tom Pierson. The main purpose of this group was to directly bring the millions of dollars from the policy racket within the Outfit, without sharing it with any other separate ethnic criminal syndicate. For example, Tremont and the Manno brothers allegedly took over all of the interests which were previously controlled by “Big Jim” Martin, while Irving and Peirson took over the South Side, previously controlled by the late Teddy Roe and the exiled Jones brothers.


Tom Pierson

In 1951, Sam Hunt was indicted on gambling charges and one of his prime black lieutenants Charles Avent was also listen in the same case and so, Avent fled the city for some time until the government issued a search warrant. In October that same year, Avent returned to Chicago and turned himself in, but he never mentioned Hunt’s name or any of the fellas who belonged to the Outfit. As usual, later the case against Hunt was dismissed but so the old boss began spending some time out of the Chicago area, together with his daughter, and probably continued receiving his weekly or monthly envelopes from his interests in the gambling racket from around the South Side. Hunt’s obvious successor as the prime overseer of the policy racket and the rest of the illegal activities that were controlled by the black racketeers, was Ralph Pierce who still answered to Jake Guzik and also to his second in command and also highly respected non-Italian mobster known as Murray Humphreys. In fact, during this period Guzik was unsuccessfully trying to avoid the government’s attacks, and similar as Hunt, the old Jewish boss and prime representative for the Outfit’s non-Italian group began spending time in Florida or other places which were far from the reach of Chicago’s local police and government investigators. This meant that both Humphreys and Pierce slowly began to take completely control over Guzik’s Loop and South Side crew, including his old political, union and police contacts, with allegedly Humphreys being Guzik’s future and logical successor.


Murray Humphreys

By this time, all of the policy interests from around the large North Side area completely fell under the jurisdiction of new Italian caporegime that was represented by Ross Prio and his crew of made members and associates. Prio and his crew were also very much interested in taking over lucrative operations that previously belonged to other ethnic gangs, such as the “Bolita” game that was mainly operated by the Latino population and was similar to the African-American policy racket, an operation that was already inherited by the Prio group.