Again, great stuff and thanks.
Regarding the start of the violence towards the policy kings....they enjoyed very lucrative relationship with the Irish, Jewish and Italian mobs for more than two decades mainly because of bringing the black vote and also by paying street tax which at the time meant nothing for the rich policy operators. But I personally think that some of the first conflicts already started during the days of Prohibition and later the Benvenuti bros played a major role in protecting the policy syndicates. Even though they werent Sicilians or Calabrians, still the Benvenutis were millionaires and held a lot of influence both within the Italian political world and population. Thats why the Benvenutis were allegedly free to operate without being "subservient", although I believe they still paid their street tax and the Torrio/Capone used their political connections around the Northwest Side, and vice versa.
So when Ricca became Capone's successor, I dont believe that all of the conflicts with the black policy kings were sanctioned by the Outfit. Yes, Capone's lieutenant Sam Hunt had to place "few" operators in line mainly because they had problems with Cermak and Newberry. In fact, Newberry and Stanton previously belonged to a different mob, until they joined the Capone mob. Guys like Stanton or William White were loose cannons and thats why they were eliminated. Hunts caporegimes around the South Side were Phil D'Andrea and Jake Guzik who in turn both were deeply involved in politics and corruption, and still had the respect and also the control over the black vote.
As we're exploring the Policy racket era, I'm going add some more info from the book and see how that align with your research on the Outfit. During the 1930s-50s, How many southside crews did the Outfit have?
Excuse the gaps in response, work have me quite busy.
No problem pal, same goes here since we all have private lives.
During the early 1930's, the "leading" South Side crew was product of the old Colosimo/Torrio/ Capone mob and was allegedly headed by Capone's brother Ralph, followed by the Fischettis, Maddox, Willie Heeney etc. In fact, Willie Heeney was one of the prime overseers of both the policy racket and the narcotics trade around the south, possibly even before Hunt. Ralph Capone allegedly controlled the whole Cicero area at the time, including parts from the south side. By the early 1940s the Ciceroa was divided between the Capone and Ricca/Giancana crews on north and south. During the early or mid 1950's, the Capone group gave "birth" of the infamous Aiuppa crew.
As I previously stated, the next crew was headed by Phil D'Andrea (and Guzik) who in turn controlled the leading 20th Ward at the time, including the First Ward, followed by the Near South Side (including Chinatown) and also parts of the south side (and was also high level member of the Italo-American union). In fact, during those days the Ralph Capone and D'Andrea crews shared the large south area. Later D'Andrea was succeeded by Bruno Roti Sr. who in turn infiltrated official made guys within the First Ward, such D'Arco and Marcy. When Roti sr. retired, he was succeeded by Frank Ferraro (in 1956/57 became underboss for Giancana), Frank Caruso (Roti's son-in-law who became capo of the Chinatown area), Guzik's successors Humphreys and Alex (prime reps for all non-Itals), followed by Hunt's protege Ralph Pierce who I think doesnt need any introduction when it comes down to the policy racket. By the late 1960's this crew was half-dead and in 1976/77 the Giancana/Buccieri/Torello/LaPeitra crew from the West Side entered the Chinatown area by "forcing" Caruso into retirement and also absorbed all of his interests and remaining crew members and associates.
Speaking about the West Side.....I think that Giancana's main targets were probably Big Jim Martin and the Benvenutis, obviously because of their vast gambling empire around Giancana's areas, and after that he concentrated his sight at the Jones bros and the South Side, which somehow explains some of Giancana's/Buccieri's interests in that same area during the following decades.
Also, we must not forget to mention the Outfit's Chicago Heights crew which during the old days had jurisdiction around all southern suburbs, including Calumet City and Joliet, followed by Northwest Indiana where there used to be many policy wheels that were controlled by many black racketeers in alliance with the mob...
Hope this helps....
