Almost three years ago I wrote a short article on one infamous Chicago Outfit boss but to tell you the truth, this was at the beginning of my writing career, and so the whole story wasn't that much informative. So now I've decided to make a new one which I really hope is way better than the previous. Enjoy...


It’s like almost every big city around the world has its evil communities and it seems inevitable. As time passes by, the danger of evil is increasing because most of these evil forces have a tendency to unite and organize themselves and the reason is plain. Every wrongdoer or every individual, whose deeds are at variance with accepted standards and ideals, feels the unorganized but united force of public sentiment against him. So why not join with his fellow law breakers or violators of everyday society, right?! The most successful ones are forming criminal groups with formalized structure and of course whose primary objective is to obtain money usually through any illegal activity. Usually their main purpose in joining these criminal organizations is for fellowship and business connections and in most cases the larger the criminal group, the more connections. Also when a member is asked if he belongs to a secret society, he or she frequently deny their membership. Now to enter, one must demonstrate a range of personality characteristics, which must fit closely to the stereotype of the typical criminal. For example, in some of the largest organized crime groups in the world, one of the main rules is the elevating of the self-esteem and the ability to kill without questioning and without hesitation or compassion. The whole idea is the refusal to cooperate with government authorities and self-control in the face of hardships. In personal quarrels, the criminals usually take the law into their own hands and gain respect by using violence. Any offence might trigger a campaign of vengeance and every member always has to show improvement same as the people who work in big companies, and over several years, due to his skills for making money, the member can elevate to a higher position within the organization. In reality these crime groups, are a deeply enslaving with such culture for demanding obedience, loyalty and an extreme sense of belonging. Mainly these secret criminal organizations are founded without feelings or sentiment, which are considered as a sign of weakness.


Most of these crime groups around the world have different hierarchy, but they all start with one main individual and that is the leader or boss of that criminal organization. The boss controls his members promptly and deadly, with the help of a code of silence, secrecy, extensive rules and regulations but in reality those rules are meant only for the lower level members, not for the boss. By the end of the day, he also has the last word on certain business discussions and he also takes a cut from almost every legal or illegal operation that his organization controls. The boss also put up “layers” of insulation between himself and his street men in order to defeat law enforcement efforts to arrest him and so with the help of the “layers” or captains, the orders are then passed down the line to the runners. But being the boss of an illegal organization it’s not an easy “job”, because the government always targets the top administration of that certain organized crime group. So there is another kind of organized crime groups such as the Italian organizations, the Mafia and Camorra, who for example always had their own “branches” in the United States with different kind of style in their own hierarchies. For example in the old days, the two most infamous crime groups were the Genovese crime family in New York and the Chicago Outfit.


More specifically, I want to show you that within the same country coexist two “ethnicities” that of the Mafia or Sicilian and that which is Neapolitan. The Genovese family carries its name from a Neapolitan crime boss and alleged “Camorrista”, meaning member of the Camorra organization. And the Chicago Outfit was in fact formed by Neapolitans. The most important thing that made these two crime groups special wasn’t the mostly Neapolitan top administration, but instead it was their effectiveness to always hide the real boss or the real administration from the eyes of the law. The Chicago Outfit allegedly “invented” this position known as “front boss”, meaning a guy who acted as the boss of the family in front of other crime families and similar crime groups but in reality he received orders from the real boss or administration which mostly stayed in the shadows. This position was invented by some of the higher members who came next in line after the kind of bosses who loved their lavish lifestyle and attracted too much attention both from the government and media.


This is a story about a legendary Chicago mob boss who rose in blood and stayed in the background while maintaining a huge criminal organization for more then 30 years. He was quite a known fella by the general public and maybe still is, but he was never portrayed or investigated enough so we can clearly see the importance of this particular individual in the birth of Chicago’s organized underworld. The main reason I wrote this article is about this guy’s ability of conducting his criminal empire through the image and face, which always seemed clean but in reality it was the real face of organized crime.


Naples, Italy, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but same as Chicago, the city also has its own bloody criminal history, which still continues even today. The Camorra is one of the oldest criminal organizations in the world but it wasn’t always like that. Legend goes that in the beginning the Camorra had its germ in a little organization of Neapolitan rebels who long had suffered from the tyranny of Spanish rulers. Story goes that some of the Neapolitans band together not for protection, but collectively took an oath that each day one member should kill at least one Spaniard. So this little Italian band undertook the position of the avenging god and meted out punishment as seemed to it best. You see, early in its history there was undoubtedly an excuse for the existence of such organization and it had its heroic as well as its nefarious days and even had its golden age like Freemasonry. But in time the group assumed the right to regulate society but, with a consciousness of power and freedom from high ideals of honour and ethics, the members soon found themselves in the role of crime fugitives from justice.


By the late 19th century the Camorra controlled a big part of the “Malavita” which means the criminal society around the Campania area. And so the character of the group’s tools shows the depth of its blackness. In the old days its weapons were the boycott and the knife. In fact, the revolver was an unknown weapon among the Camorristi and many of them swore never to use a gun. But as time passed by and their criminal activities became larger, the revolver was gradually replacing the knife. With the large profits came greed and after that, the act of murder became a common thing. The organization was formed of chiefs or “capintesta” of each of the twelve districts into which the society was divided and each district also had a subchief or “capintrito.” The head chief and the chiefs of divisions constituted the high tribunal of the Camorra, from whose judgment there was no appeal. Two of the first rackets for the Camorra were blackmail and kidnapping, and in fact the organization originated for this sole purpose. The profits from these two rackets, which were usually practised on the higher classes, were quite large. From that point on the Camorra aimed high. It stood in with the clergy and wits faithful in its religious duties. There are some reports that the organization even numbered among its ranks men who were high up in the political scale, memberships which will be transferred years later in the “New World.”



Camorra members arrested in Naples, Italy


On November 14, 1897, in Naples, Italy, a boy by the name of Felice De Lucia was born to Antonio De Lucia and Maria Annunziata De Lucia. His father Antonio was a proud member of the Camorra and to murder he wasn’t a stranger. Mainly he was known extortionist who blackmailed or extorted wealthy merchants around Naples area and those who opposed him, suddenly “disappeared.” Many men at the time deserted the city because of criminals such as Antonio, and never came back because they had been warned that they were watched and that such an attempt would mean fast death sentence. By now the city of Naples was in a long fight with cholera epidemics, which was spreading rapidly and for the same reasons, in 1898, Antonio took his family to Ottaviano, a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, located about 20 km east of the city in the Vesuvian area. Until 1907, the De Lucia family received four more children, all daughters, including Emilia Beatrice, born 1898, Anna Clementina, born 1901, Clementina Eleonora, born 1905, and Luise Maria, born in 1907.


The cholera epidemics presented a huge problem for the criminal organizations in and around Naples, because it threatened the city with the closure of the harbour and with the diversion of the steam ships in another direction. The harbour and steam ships were the main “import/export” operations for the Camorra and so if closed, most of their operations were going to be shut down. So all of the Camorra bosses made an alliance with some wealthy boarding-house owners, and formed a mass anti-sanitary movement thus uniting the business community and organized labor in a common front against the sanitary policy of the Italian state. The leaders of the movement convinced the people that this was a plot made by people from the northern part of country to ruin Naples and advance the fortunes of Genoa.


Victims of cholera


Anyways, by 1910, Felice De Lucia was 13 years old and when his father wasn’t around, he was the man of the family house. Obviously De Lucia grew up in a family that was feared by the common people and lived by different rules and also different codes which were engraved in his genes. He wasn’t a poor kid because his father was a high level criminal and probably generated enough cash to go around. So according to their mentality at the time, it was expected of him to quickly join the “Malavita”, which represented the “farm team” for the Camorra, and to learn the way of crime first hand. In fact mainly the young and poor people were tainted by this “bad life” by which the lower strata of the Southern Italian society suffered terribly. So De Lucia was one of those young recruits who came from a traditional criminal environment which was a normal thing in the eyes of the teenager. Through the 1910’s Antonio proudly watched his only son slowly climbing the ladder of criminal success and made future plans for the young lad. De Lucia became very aggressive young “Tammurro” and a master in his work, meaning beating up people and collecting payments. There were three kinds of memberships in the Camorra at the time, being the “Tammurro” or beginner, the second was “Picciuotto” or aspirant, and the last was Camorrista or “Masto.”


De Lucia and the rest of the young crowd did the street stuff, but most of them dreamed about the day when their call comes to commit a murder and become a full member. In the old days, money wasn’t everything among the gangsters, but instead trust always came first. Don’t get confused by the word “trust” because these guys still swindled and killed each other, but “trust” in organizational meaning. If you kill someone for the organization, then everyone knows your secret and you are in it forever or until the day when murder is going to be considered legal. Also in those same old days, murder wasn’t only used for business obstacles, but it was mainly used during family feuds between two or more families. Usually the main reason for these bloody battles between the families was for shattered honour. For example, there was a tradition where two heads or the fathers from two different families make a deal on the marriage of their own children. No love, no knowledge between themselves, no nothing for the young “lovers”, only the most important thing was the good relationship and honour between the two families.


So in 1915, Antonio decided to give his oldest daughter Emilia to a boy from a family in which the father Raffaele Perillo was also a Camorra member but from a different clan, and the boy’s name was Emilio Perillo. Even though they had similar names, Emilio didn’t like Antonio’s daughter and refused the marriage. This was looked upon as huge disrespect and the clouds of war were slowly coming from the horizon. Antonio called upon his only son and gave him the “contract” and chance to defend his sister’s honour. As a real future Camorrista, De Lucia took a knife and followed the young Emilio to a garbage alley where he sliced the young man to death. But there was a problem because the murder was witnessed by a guy named as Vincenzo Capasso. After two year search of courage, Capasso finally found it and testified in court against De Lucia. On May 18, 1917, at the end of the trial De Lucia proudly looked straight in his father’s eyes as he was taken out of the court to jail. But he was lucky because of his young age he was sentenced to only three years in jail. He didn’t care about the conviction because he knew and was happy that he managed to defend his family’s honour and respectability and he also knew that when he gets out, a spot was waiting for him in the Camorra organization. That same month, De Lucia’s mother Maria died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 44.


While in jail, De Lucia managed to grow even more hatred towards the witness who testified against him. In jail he had seen what kind of rules and power led the Camorra, and he buried those lessons deep and forever in his mind. So now he wasn’t some everyday violent criminal, but instead he became a killer. When De Lucia was released from prison in May, 1920, he faced with the threat of “vendetta” from the Perillo family. So his father Antonio advised his son that he should take care of the Capasso problem and that he, meaning Antonio, was going to take care of the Perillo problem. Antonio was not a fool, he already contacted some of his relatives and peers in the “New World” and arranged everything for his son but first they had to accomplish their missions. As additional info, by now many Neapolitan gangsters travelled to the U.S. and already established their criminal “empires.”


Meanwhile, Felice De Lucia managed to find Capasso and sliced his throat from ear to ear and at the same time Antonio shot to death Raffaele Perillo. In a short time De Lucia kissed his mother and sisters and immediately fled Naples, never to return to his homeland again. After that his father Antonio took the heat by being charged with few others of his criminal associates for the homicide of Raffaele Perillo on July 1920 and with giving assistance to the "premeditated homicide on the person of Vincenzo Capasso, by causing culprit Felice De Lucia, his absconding son, to make up his mind to commit it." I believe that later Antonio was convicted to 20 years in prison, as for his son De Lucia was convicted to 21 years and 10 days in prison but this time in absentia.


De Lucia first fled to Apricena, which was ninety miles north of Naples, and from there, he abandoned his country by boat and journeyed to Boulogne, a city in Northern France, and boarded on another boat, but this time to the United States. On August 10, 1920 (some sources say 1917) De Lucia obtained entry to the U.S. through Ellis Island under the alias Paolo Maglio. Few days before his arrival, a real one Paolo Maglio already entered the U.S., a situation which will cause a lot of problems for De Lucia decades later. In New York, De Lucia was welcomed by Gennaro Calabrese, a friend of the family and De Lucia immediately took an occupation as a restaurant manager at a joint which was owned by the Gennaro family.


I’m not quite sure about De Lucia’s activities during this period, so my opinion is that there are two options. One option was that by the early 1920’s the Italian population in New York was dominated by the Sicilian Mafia. Mafiosi like Giuseppe Masseria and Salvatore D’Aquila ruled the Italian underworld with an iron fist and hard rules. I’m not quite sure but I think that 23 year old De Lucia didn’t belong to this crowd of people and if he did, I don’t think that they were going to accept him as associate so easily. The reason for that was the just finished mob war between the Mafia and Camorra in the “Big Apple”, in which the Sicilians ruled supreme. So my opinion is that De Lucia, as descendent of the Camorra, fled New York and went to Chicago, where the Camorra and other Neapolitan gangsters were just starting to rise to the top of the city’s underworld. In the old days, 23 year old guys like De Lucia were considered full fledge adults and they were more ambitious, and if considered a criminal, they were also much thirsty for the mighty dollar.


Or second option, which I believe is the mist realistic one, is that during the late 1910’s early 20’s a lot of Italian mobsters, mostly from the Brooklyn area, took trains from New York to Chicago, some as “importers” from other gangs, and some were just being “lucky” to arrive there. Two of the first New York gangsters that arrived in Chicago during the late 1900’s or early 1910’s were Giovanni Torrio and Gaetano Ricci a.k.a. Tony Goebels. They came on the request of Giacomo Colosimo, the Neapolitan mob boss on Chicago’s South Side, because he allegedly had problems with the Black Hand gangs. So I believe that Torrio and Ricci started “importing” many Italian immigrants and also mob members mostly from the Brooklyn area in New York. Anyway these were the main gangsters or as I want to call them, “fathers” of an organization which will rule the streets of Chicago for the next 70 years. By now I believe the only Chicago allies that they had were the ex-Black Hand members who switched their alliance to the Torrio/Colosimo mob and many different non-Italian gangsters that were born in the city. Also De Lucia maybe came by the same connections or was just one of the “lucky” ones, but according to some accounts, when he first stepped foot in Chicago he didn’t connect right away with the Brooklyn criminal faction in Chicago until some time.



John Torrio


While in Chicago, De Lucia again decided to “lay low” and took legitimate employment at the Dante Movie Theatre at 815 W. Taylor St. on the city’s Near West Side. By 1922, Chicago had some of the most exquisite movie palaces in the world and they were visited by all kinds of people, including judges, businessman, state representatives and also gangsters and so De Lucia was the guy who showed these people to their seats. With his job at the theatre, De Lucia also heard a lot about the workings of a theatre, and also the movie industry and its union dealings, a lesson which will bring him millions of dollars decades later but also it is going to be his first and biggest mistake.


At night, when De Lucia finished his job at the theatre, he stopped by for few sips of wine, right across the street at a restaurant known as the Bella Napoli Café at 850 Halsted. The local was owned by a very “influential” individual from Neapolitan descent known as Giuseppe Esposito a.k.a. Diamond Joe, who served guests such as local politicians, businessman and most important of all, big time gangsters. All of the Italians always spoke lovingly of their "Diamond Joe." Esposito came under Joe Marzano, a very powerful political boss from the old Nineteenth Ward and later became one of the most powerful politicians in the faction of United States Senator Charles Deneen. Esposito acted as a real “Mafia Don” since no child was born or christened without a gift from him personally. No wedding, no funeral, no street or church festival was complete without the presence of Esposito. On Christmas day no one went hungry, for in Esposito's famous Bella Napoli Café there were mountains of spaghetti and tons of hot bread which was all given for free.



Diamond Joe giving away free food for the poor


But Esposito also had a dark side of his, who was feeding it with huge illegal income from bootlegging operations and he also acted as protector for some of the local gangs and gangsters. He always said that he dedicated his life to help the needy and young unfortunate fellas, as he called them. So De Lucia saw Esposito as the key to all of his dreams and he knew that he had to get close to him in case he needed a real protection from the law. So in a short time, as fellow Neapolitan and with the “right kind of blood”, De Lucia got a new job at Esposito’s joint as a waiter and again, De Lucia served the same kind of people, but this time the gangsters were the most prominent ones.


By now Chicago’s West Side was also dominated by other more ruthless gangs such as the Sicilian clan known as the Genna brothers, who shared the same territory with Joe Esposito, and also the Torrio and Ricci gang from the Loop and South Side. Torrio and Ricci had an infamous underling or another Neapolitan and also “import” from New York, known as Alphonse Capone. Another prominent crime group was the Sicilian Aiello crime family from the city’s North Side and most of these individuals, especially the Gennas, cooperated with Esposito and often visited his restaurant. So now De Lucia had the chance to exchange words with individuals such as Angelo Genna or Joe Fusco from the Torrio mob. De Lucia was a smart individual because he was mostly interested in Esposito and the Gennas because by now this crime group gave him his “bread.” The West Side had other gangsters too such as Lawrence Mangano, or Mike Heitler, but by now the Gennas were the largest group of them all.


Esposito was too shrewd to become directly involved in the bootlegging operations, so he worked always with the factor of safety in mind. So besides having strong and deep political involvement and of course connections in very high places, Esposito also had a small group of gangsters and bodyguards around him, including his brother Sam Esposito, the Varchetti brothers Ralph and Joe, Joe Montano, Philip Leonatti, Frank DeLourentis, John Tucillo and Tony Volpe. And so Esposito wasn’t a guy who wanted to hang around with small time hoodlums so he had the pleasure to give that job to his peers.


Volpe was the main manager of the Bella Napoli and was a very close friend with De Lucia but besides that, he was also considered Public Enemy #2. Volpe was born in Argentina by Italian parents and later came to the U.S. First he started up in New York and then got “imported” and rose through the ranks of Chicago’s underworld. According to some sources, Volpe was the guy who introduced De Lucia to another “import” from New York and future “colleague” of his, Louis Campagna. In fact, Volpe was the main guy who introduced De Lucia to high level members from the Torrio gang and other crime groups. By 1924, Volpe and De Lucia were involved in reproduction and selling of counterfeit war savings stamps, or in plane words, they controlled a $500,000 a year racket by selling fake stamps. Once the cops arrested Volpe regarding the racket, later he was taken to a trail, pleaded guilty and the Judge sentenced him to 20 or 30 days in jail, which was ridiculous. If Volpe and De Lucia really often made each other company, then Volpe introduced De Lucia to quite “interesting faces” such as Daniel Serritella, city sealer of Chicago, or Alderman Albert Prignano or even Jewish “businessman” and pimp from the Near South Side Jake Guzik. In fact, I believe that Volpe played quite a major role in De Lucia’s start in Chicago’s underworld.



Tony “Mops” Volpe

Also Joe Montana was quite an “extraordinary” individual. The guy worked as a bootlegger and also a cop killer, because once he killed two police officers and was later acquitted, of course with the help of Diamond Joe’s connections because his connections reached quite high in the upper world. As for the Gennas, they had a huge army of small time criminals, killers and bootleggers and that’s why Esposito gave all of his support towards the Sicilian crime family. With the help of his crew, he sold sugar to various alky-cooking gangs in Melrose Park, Cicero, in Chicago Heights and also the Torrio mob on the South Side. Esposito also owned the Milano Cafe, where dry agents found a 1,000-gallon still, 3,800 gallons of alcohol, fifteen barrels of wine, and two barrels of whiskey. He even exported his product out of Chicago and around the Midwest, and that’s why to some people Esposito was bigger than the president of the U.S. And speaking about the president, there’s a story that Esposito personally met with U.S. President Calvin Coolidge and asked him to give him and few other men, special protection and all rights to bootlegging booze. As additional info, according to some reports, one of those few men was Joe Kennedy, who in fact was a close friend and business partner of Esposito.


But as some people say, some great beginnings have their own tragic endings. In 1925 the Gennas were at war with a group of gangsters from the North Side, in which the Genna crime family was totally destroyed. Now all of their former underlings went on separate ways around Chicago’s underworld. Many of the up above mentioned West Side gangsters took some of these up and coming criminals, such as the ruthless 42 gang, under their wings. So Volpe and De Lucia started hiring some of these young hoodlums in the name of Diamond Joe and if someone got caught, Joe’s people paid the bond or fixed the trial.


I’m not quite sure if anybody in Chicago’s underworld ever knew about De Lucia’s bloody past but by now he was a real “devil in disguise” because besides being a waiter, he slowly started working everything else, including smuggling whiskey, collecting and delivering payoffs, and maybe even murder. Story goes that his favourite weapon was the knife and his favourite “game” was cutting human throats, which was the sign of the old Camorra. But on Thanksgiving, he and the rest of Esposito’s underlings passed more than 3000 turkeys to the poor Italian people around the Patch, which was one of the poorest areas on Chicago’s West Side. Esposito sometimes even ordered for the guys to get dressed as Santa Claus and give presents to the poor children around the neighbourhood.


In January of 1925, De Lucia received sad news from back home that his father has passed away in prison at the age of 55. I believe that this was a very hard moment for De Lucia because he was forbidden to go back or otherwise he was going to end up in Italian jail, so there was no other way for him but to let it go. Now he had lost both of his parents and in a very short time and so De Lucia saw Esposito as a father figure and started taking his advices quite seriously. With the help of his new mentor, De Lucia received sort of finesse in his work and developed a sense for diplomacy and tact in all kinds of difficult situations. He also started dressing well and became a gentleman and a known name among female circles. He transformed into more sober, more elegant and less conspicuous than the rest of the gangsters. De Lucia also saw that Esposito's soft-spoken power would endure, and that’s why he took his image as a model. Styling himself after his mentor, De Lucia became committed to the ideal of the Camorrista as a sort of gentleman and a criminal at the same time. With the help of these characteristics, De Lucia became a very trusted and also likable person among his gangster friends. But the luckiest thing for him was that Esposito was a believer and had lots of faith in his underlings such as De Lucia, but because of that he was making a huge mistake which will have a deadly impact on his life.


So by now Esposito’s bootlegging operations represented a part of the “grease” which was intended for the wheels of Chicago’s political machine, but by 1926, things started to change in Chicago’s underworld. South Side boss Johnny Torrio was almost killed by assassins, and was replaced by his more ambitious protégé Al Capone. Capone and De Lucia met each other previously during their booze shipments and business deals for their bosses, but now Al became the boss of the South Side and the Cicero area. Capone’s territory was slowly turning into a criminal empire and he needed more men so he can maintain his presence. Many multi-ethnical gangs from around the city started to line up with the Capone group and achieved sort of memberships, thus making it a unique crime organization for many decades to come.


Story goes that De Lucia quit his job at the Bella Napoli and went to work for the Capone mob at the Hawthorne Hotel at 4823 22nd Street, Cicero and over there, as the hotel’s manager he had the pleasure to witness the rest of Chicago’s underworld. Many mob researchers are pointing out that De Lucia started his career with the Capones at the Lexington Hotel which is false because Capone wasn’t using that hotel until 1928, and he and De Lucia associated with each other at least 4 or 5 years earlier than that.


But during this period many gangs went to war over bootlegging profits, including Esposito’s gang. For example, one of Esposito’s main booze buyers was the Sheldon gang headed by Ralph Sheldon. On April 15, 1926, Esposito’s men Frank DeLourentis and John Tuccello were picked up and brutally murdered by rivals of the Sheldon gang. Then the killers left the bodies in an automobile which was parked outside the home of Ralph Sheldon as a warning to stay out of the Saltis – McErlane territory, which was operated by those two rival gangs. It was a time when everybody started packing guns and murder became an everyday thing and so Esposito’s illegal operations were slowly sinking down to the bottom. In 1927, De Lucia was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and he gave a new alias “Paul Viela.”



De Lucia arrested




The old guys had a sense on when to stop their illegal activities until the moment when the smoke cleared, but the younger generation saw things differently. Esposito already had the cash and political connections but the younger thugs such as Volpe and De Lucia, needed more of Esposito’s connections and business deals. So the old boss started having numerous problems with different groups such as rival bootleggers, political rivals backed by other gangsters, juvenile hoodlums who still needed Esposito’s protection, and even with members from his own organization. De Lucia was a smart fellow, who knew a ripe apple when he saw one and so he got near to Volpe and gave him a proposal and also presented to him a very lucrative plan. Maybe the idea came from Volpe himself, but one thing is for certain that high level members of the Capone mob backed the plan. For example guys such as Capone himself or Francesco Nitto a.k.a. Frank Nitti, Al’s brother Ralph or Charles Fischetti, all high level hoodlums within the Capone organization.


I believe that Capone knew that De Lucia was his only way to get Esposito and later to rule the West Side Bloc, as it was called. So to make the blood oath between the two gangsters even more meaningful, Capone became De Lucia’s best man at his wedding. De Lucia was a tall handsome guy, with a pale face, firm square jaw and half-closed eyes who had the “swagger” by wearing soft felt fedoras with different elegant grey fannel suits, double breasted pinstripes and foulard silk ties. He also had supple calfskin shoes and two toned black and white oxfords. The young man also knew how to wine and dine and it’s been said that he had much respect for beautiful women and never told an off colour story and that he rarely used any curse words. That’s why most of the ladies loved him because he was a real womanizer. But in January, 1927, De Lucia decided to tie the knot with a beautiful Neapolitan female immigrant named Nancy. They had a lavish party which was mostly occupied by the Capone gang. Instead of using his alias “Paolo Maglio”, this time he signed the marriage papers with his real name as Paul De Lucia, who in time became known as Paul Ricca.


In 1928, the government started using deportation as the main weapon against the Capone organization. One of the first gangsters that were struck with the law was Ricca’s pal, 38 years old Tony Volpe. When he was 15, Volpe entered the country and was naturalized in Chicago but later the government realized that he had made false statements in his application for citizenship and so his papers were revoked. Because of the problem, Ricca decided to retain American citizenship under the name of Paul DeLucia, because he probably assumed that the Italian government had notified the U.S. government, that he was living under the name Paul Maglio. This was a huge mistake that would come back to haunt Ricca decades later but for now, he swore that he was an American citizen and that Maglio was his actual name.


So now Capone and Ricca had to just wait for the right moment to get the old man and after a year of waiting, the real opportunity came along. Now you ask yourself on why killers such as Capone and Ricca waited for a real opportunity and not just walk to his door and shoot Esposito right in the head?! That’s because highly connected political mobsters such as Esposito had many allies or business partners who after the assassination, were going to acquire a good explanation and reason for the action, or the members of the plot were going to be next. So I believe that the plot for elimination of Esposito was sanctioned by mobsters not just from the Chicago area, but also from other cities as well.


The opportunity was that Esposito, who was already a Republican 25th ward committeeman, again was the primary candidate for re-election but this time against Joseph P. Savage, former assistant states attorney and by this time a member of Mayor William Thompson's staff of legal experts. Thompson was under a huge influence of the Capone organization and they guarded each others backs. Al Capone respected Esposito for a very long time until he became a problem. Some sources say that Esposito was even one of Al’s mentors. Capone allegedly went to see the old man himself and told him to back off. Esposito even received threatening phone calls at his home but still the old man refused to give up his candidature and with that he signed his own death warrant. Ricca was approached by Capone’s men, who in turn plotted the “hit.” First they had to remove Esposito’s right hand man and also a brother-in-law Phil Leonatti, who in February, 1928, was shot to death in his cigar store on West Taylor St. It was just like in the movies, the boss called upon his underlings for help but in reality they were the ones plotting against him and now, it was his turn.


Ricca and Volpe didn’t know Esposito’s daily routines because the boss kept everything in secret regarding the current situation but realised that they can use the dissatisfaction of Esposito’s constant companions and bodyguards the Varchetti brothers. The two brothers knew that Esposito was going to leave them high and dry after the elections and so Ricca and Volpe approached the brothers and asked them about Esposito’s plans in the next few days and also advised them about the plot. On March 21, 1928, Esposito was escorted out of his house at 800 South Oakley Boulevard by the Varchetti bros. While walking down the street Esposito and his bodyguards met an old lady from the neighbourhood and told her “I guess I haven’t much chance of winning, it won’t make much difference even if I had. If I loose I’ll move out of the ward, and then, perhaps, ill be missed.” After that, the trio continued to walk down the street in formation of left and right bodyguard with Esposito in the middle. Later according to the bodyguards and their wives who lived right across the street, suddenly a car with three armed guys showed up and was slowly approaching behind them. The two bodyguards probably noticed the car because with out any warning, both of them dropped on the ground while leaving old man Esposito alone in front of the killers. The poor guy was riddled with bullets while hopelessly screaming in despair. His screams and the shootings were heard all around the neighbourhood. His bodyguards didn’t receive a scratch which became very suspicious to some of the Chicago detectives. Plus on that same day, both of them forgot their guns. Later the coroner said that Esposito had 58 pellets of shotgun shells and numerous pistol bullets, and something which made things even more suspicious and that was a bullet in his arm but from the right side, and Esposito was riddled on his left side as he was in position of walking down the street. Plus he also had powder burns on his body which indicates that he was shot from close range, which for me personally raises the question on whether the Varchetti brothers were two of the shooters in the Esposito killing.


It will never be clear on who executed the shooting, but my opinion is that Ricca was deeply involved in the murder of his boss and mentor. Eight years ago Torrio and Capone killed of their mentor and Camorra boss Giacomo Colosimo and their criminal careers skyrocketed and the same thing happened later with the case of Esposito. Proof for that is Ricca’s criminal career, which also skyrocketed within Capone’s organization, immediately after Esposito’s death. The takeover of Esposito’s empire, presented the first and only really big push for De Lucia, which placed him high within the Capone organization for the next four decades. In fact, Esposito’s death was Ricca’s key to all of his desires and now he was representative on the city’s West Side under the command of the Capone mob and directly under Al Capone himself. Ricca, blinded by greed, betrayed his mentor and played the right cards and now he was on top of the game. Its one of the main rules in the world where the younger generation always takes over from the older one, and it doesn’t matter if it’s in peaceful or in violent way. It’s a natural process, especially within the criminal underworld. In reality, Ricca took two things from Esposito, including one which was his connections and second and above all, his image. He continued to be a man of “refinement,” who was also well read, spoke in English, but was also an interesting speaker, meaning in telling stories and stuff. He didn’t want to talk about business most of the time, but instead he loved to talk about his impoverished childhood in Naples and also loved to hear emotional stories and get involved in such conversations.


As additional info, my opinion is that by now Ricca and Volpe almost shared an equal amount of power on the streets of the “Windy City.” I say “almost” because during this period Volpe still had problems with his naturalization papers and he fought quite a long battle with the government regarding the case. As for Ricca by now he was “clean” and had almost no pressure from the government.


But in 1929, the eyes of the world were turned towards the Capone mob. On St. Valentines Day, seven associates of the rival Bugs Moran gang were slaughtered by machineguns in a small garage in Chicago and everyone around the country looked at Al Capone. By everyone, I mean not just the government and the public, but also the National Mob. So allegedly Capone became the reason for a big national meeting in Atlantic City between top mobsters from around the country, including Charles Luciano, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, all representatives of the Mafia clans from New York, also the non-Italian faction of New York/New Jersey areas, Meyer Lansky, Louis Buchalter and Jacob Shapiro, and from Philadelphia Irving Wexler, Harry Stromberg, and Max Hoff. There were also many other Italian and non-Italian gangsters from New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Kansas City, Florida and Louisiana. Chicago was represented by Capone himself, and allegedly Paul Ricca, Frank Rio and Jake Guzik were the ones who accompanied the boss. If this is true, then probably Rio acted as security, Guzik was financials and Ricca was Capone’s “prime minister for foreign affairs.”


The meeting was chaired by Enoch Thompson, the boss of Atlantic City and also Johnny Torrio as elder statesman for the New York and Chicago organizations. Many mob researchers say that the main subject of the meeting was the notorious Capone mob and its chief and the bloodshed on their territory. My personal opinion is that besides Capone being the accused one, his companion Ricca had a much higher purpose on that same meeting. I believe that during the meeting, Ricca established good connections with his fellow Camorrista Vito Genovese and Sicilian Mafioso Charles Luciano, and their relationship will result with the changing of the guard of the underworld across the U.S. Also I think that if Ricca really attended the conference in Atlantic City then I believe that in the end he didn’t return as Al’s supporter.


Ricca’s main role within the Capone organization was maintaining connections with the New York Mafia but by 1929, the Mafia around the U.S. was more disorganized than organized, meaning there were huge conflicts on both sides of the continent. In New York the Masseria clan was in war with another Sicilian group led by Salvatore Maranzano, and the same war was led in Chicago between the Capone mob and Sicilian Aiello crime family. In fact the Aiello’s received support from the Maranzano group in New York and Capone was backed by Joe Masseria and the other way around. So Capone sent Ricca to New York to inform the rest of the crime bosses about Chicago’s support for the Masseria clan. Ricca allegedly even issued a threat to the bosses that if someone had a problem with Chicago’s decision then they were ready for all out war. My opinion is that if Capone said that in his own flashy style, he would’ve been killed right there on the spot, but Ricca had a sense for diplomacy and knew how to use the right words. But there was a problem and that was Joe Aiello, the boss of the Aiello crime family, who was “made” member of the American Mafia or La Cosa Nostra and Capone was not. This is one of the reasons which made Ricca more respectable among the New York Mafiosi, and even though he belonged to the Camorra, still he was considered a “made” member of the Mafia because even in those days, after the Mafia/Camorra war, many Camorristi were absorbed by the Sicilian Mafia as members. So in 1930, Joe Masseria, or Joe the Boss as he was called, decided to make Capone a member of the Sicilian Mafia and boss of the Chicago area. There are also some accounts that the Mafia bosses told Capone to “make” ten more people from his “family”, which I believe that one of those ten ”made” members was Ricca. Now he was fully initiated into the American La Cosa Nostra. During this time the chairman for the Chicago Sicilian Mafia was a known Mafioso named Salvatore Loverde, but in reality the real power was Capone. I would also like to add that after St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, it wasn’t important if the Capone gang was involved or not because everybody strongly believed that they did it. So I believe that it was the main reason that a lot of high profile mobsters started to fear the Capone “menace”, including Joe Masseria who in fact made a smart move by making Capone a member of his “family.”



Joe Masseria


Ricca eventually had to do more important jobs within the Capone organization, and continued to act as messenger to the East Coast crime families. The bosses in New York had a nickname for Ricca which was "il Comparello". During his visits, he was often advised by the old Mafiosi that he should always play a waiting game, stay out of the headlines, and build support quietly, which was all opposite of his boss Al Capone. They also warned Ricca about Capone being too flashy and that he had to take a lower profile. But Ricca knew that it was the era of backstabbing games and so he spoke colourfully and knew how to manipulate the old bosses. In other words he said what they wanted to hear. Slowly but surely Ricca gained respect and made his presence to be known. For example, there’s a story that once Ricca had an argument in New York with an unknown individual from some of the crime families, and that same individual continuously insulted Ricca by calling him “waiter.” This crazy individual would taunt Ricca by laughingly ordering him to pour him some more wine, and continued calling him “waiter man.” The joke probably came from Ricca’s nickname which was the “Waiter” because of his previous work at the Bella Napoli Café. But soon this disrespectful individual will learn that nobody called Ricca like that in his presence. So shortly after, the cops found a nude torso of a body in a suitcase, which was dumped near a train station in NY. The head, arms and legs had been cut off from the torso with a very sharp tool, probably a knife, which was Ricca’s favourite weapon. As additional info, the murder was never pinned on Ricca or any other gangster from the New York area.


By 1930, Ricca had such a minor official police record that it amazed even the other gangsters in the organization. But that same year, the government had a close surveillance over some of the top gangsters in town after the publicized assassination of Chicago Tribune reporter Alfred Jake Lingle. So one day Chicago racketeers Ted Newberry, Jake Guzik, Dennis Cooney, Peter Fusco, Agostino Loverde, Eddie Vogel and Paul Ricca took a train to New York to watch a boxing match. But on their way, the train was stopped by the police and ordered the gangsters out. The cops also found a briefcase which contained $60,000 on which the gangsters planned to place a bet on the Sharkey-Schmeling fight. Later they were all released. Also during the 1930’s the Chicago press carried an article to the effect that Frank Nitti and Paul Ricca had been placed under police surveillance as leaders of the revived Cammora to control gambling, bootlegging, and all other rackets in Chicago.


Also on November 4, 1930, Ricca and several other associates were arrested in a speakeasy at 901 S. Halsted, which was owned by Frank Nitti. Ricca was arrested in that joint while in the company of three state legislators and several other members of the Capone gang, including Murray Humphreys, Ralph Pierce, Frank Rio and also State Representative Roland Libonati, attorney Saul Tannenbaum, Alderman and State Legislator Al Prignano, and also State Legislators Frank Novelle and Tony Pintozzi. Later an army of politicians rushed to the police station to get the prisoners released, including City Sealer Dan Serritella, Senator James Leonardo and Alderman William Pacelli. So after several court appearances, eventually all of the defendants were released.


By 1931, the face of the Mafia in New York was drastically changing. On April 15, that same year, Capone’s ally Joe Masseria was assassinated in a Coney Island restaurant. Five months later, on September 10, Masseria’s rival Sal Maranzano was also killed. It is not known whether these so-called “young turks” such as Genovese and Luciano asked for help from the Capone mob during these high profile assassinations, but there are some reports that in this next example, they surely did. Right after the Maranzano killing, one of Masseria’s captains known as Saverio Pollaccia, suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth. Story goes that Vito Genovese lured Pollaccia by informing him that they had an urgent meeting in Chicago. Meanwhile, on their way to the “Windy City”, the duo stopped in Pittsburgh where Genovese allegedly confided to some individual that he was escorting Pollaccia “on a one way trip to Chicago.” In Chicago the duo was met by none other than Paul Ricca who in turn probably killed Pollaccia, cut him into pieces and buried him in an unknown location.


In February 1932, Capone captains Phil D’Andrea, Frank Rio, Michael Costello and Paul Ricca were arrested at the Planters hotel in Chicago. They prepared for the main thing that came next, which was two months later.



Michael Costello, Phil D’Andrea and Paul Ricca


On April 18, New York syndicate gangsters Charles Luciano, Harry Brown and Meyer Lansky arrived in Chicago. They were sighted by the Chicago police at the railroad station, who immediately took up their trail. The policemen followed the pair to a night club on the South Side and to their hotel room at the Congress Hotel. There the cops took an adjoining room, and overheard Luciano's telephone talks. According to the police report, Luciano received more than thirty calls in two hours. The conversations mentioned Detroit, shipments, airplanes, and steamships. The name of Joe Fusco, Al Capone's right hand man in the bootlegging business, was also mentioned. The next day, one of the first national mob meetings, after the death of Masseria and Maranzano, was held in Chicago on April 19, at the Congress Hotel. Paul Ricca and Rocco Fischetti were the hosts and all together they decided the faith of the two organizations.


We will never know the true agenda of their meeting, but we can surely exclude the subject of the National Italian Mafia since some of the attendees were non-Italians, such as Lansky, and Harry Brown, one of Lansky’s main gambling operators. The first subject I believe it was the independence of the Chicago group, since they were previously under the jurisdiction of the Masseria clan in New York, and their own seat on the new Mafia commission. Second, the coming end of Prohibition and by looking at some of the individuals and their skills, such as Lansky’s and Brown’s, I believe that the third and one of the main subjects was probably gambling. At the time the Mob was spreading their gambling operations mainly in Reno, Nevada or Hurley, Wisconsin and even Havana, Cuba. For example, the Chicago mob had connections in Havana since the days of the late Diamond Joe, when the old man used to smuggle sugar in the U.S.

Maybe Ricca also wanted to explain to the New York bosses the current and future situation within the Capone mob since Luciano and Capone were dear friends. So I strongly believe that another thing on the agenda was the huge problem with the notorious Chicago boss. The low-key individuals such as Lansky and Ricca were supremely intelligent persons who always let other loudmouthed gorillas get the “spot light” and with that also the heat from the government but by now Capone went too far and became too much of an obstacle. Capone became a guy who everyone in the world was looking for. The national mob respected Capone a lot but business is business. There’s really no evidence about this claim but one month later after this meeting, Capone was sent to prison on tax evasion charges. So this raises the question whether the rumour is true, that on this particular meeting the group decided and also helped in the plan of putting Big Al in jail. As I previously stated in some of my past articles, some say that Capone could have walked free on the charges up to the last minute before the jury in the case retired to make its decision and all Capone had to do was pay the money on the back taxes that he owed. But someone didn’t want that to happen so it was nothing against Capone personally, but instead it was all just business.


Later when the meeting finished, as they were leaving the hotel, suddenly all of the gangsters were arrested by the Chicago Police, including Ricca, Luciano, Lansky, Sylvester Agoglia, Harry Brown and John Senna a.k.a. Rocco Fischetti. As additional info, Fischetti gave his alias “John Senna” to the police while being arrested. In Luciano's pockets the police found a statement of "accounts receivable," amounting to $46,655 and in cash, he carried over $900 and Lansky $250. The other men each carried more than $100. Later they were all released after being booked and printed since the cops had no reason to hold them. As additional info, Agoglia was another “import” from Brooklyn, New York, who came to Chicago and became member of Ricca’s crew or to be specific, member of the old Taylor St. crew.



Ricca, Agoglia, Luciano, Lansky, Fischetti and Brown


When Capone was sent to serve eleven years in jail, his associate Frank Nitti was sent also, however, he received only 18-month sentence. The same day when the bosses went to jail, Nitti sent word to Ricca to send some of his henchmen to murder Matt Kolb and 3 other persons. Kolb was an ally of Roger Touhy, Capone’s rival and he was killed at his speakeasy gambling club, the Club Morton on the corner of Dempster and Ferris Road. The other three murdered persons were brothers of Touhy. Suspect in all of the murders was Paul Ricca and many mob historians say that he was directly involved, a statement in which I highly doubt because by now Ricca was too high up in the ranks and was also too smart to get directly in a situation like that. It was obvious that Ricca ordered the killings because the Touhy-Kolb gang started to move in on Capone's gambling base, which was their next best thing. Ricca’s involvement in the murders was also confirmed by Roger Touhy himself, who was very positive regarding the question.


Now the old Capone gang was in the hands of the lieutenants of that same group, such as Frank Rio, Phil D’Andrea or Paul Ricca and at the same time the organization needed a new boss, but there was a huge problem. If the organization was really involved in Capone’s imprisonment, then to tell you the truth I don’t blame them. Capone made a spectacle out of the Mob and almost every possible newsman followed these so-called “Gangstars” and wrote their stories. Everybody in the country wanted to take a picture with Al Capone and his boys, which was a huge disaster for the alleged secret criminal society. So everybody in the Capone mob knew that with Capone’s and Nitti’s absence, Ricca was next in line to take the “acting boss” position and I believe that he really did. The reasons for that were obvious, his political and bootlegging remains from the late Joe Esposito and also he took over what Esposito left off in the labor rackets, also his Mafia contacts on the east and west coasts from which he had the full support, and above all, his intelligence, deadliness and greed, which guided him for the rest of his life. In the old days the U.S. mob always had some charismatic leaders, and Ricca was a guy who expressed his charisma, not through aggression by terrorizing members, but instead he made it possible through a sophisticated ability to involve all who feel the same way to unite in a common cause. Don’t get me wrong, Ricca also had the sense of ferocity but he mostly worked on getting involved all who needed to feel part of a common cause, which was the criminal organization. During this time high level criminals like Ricca and their common cause was obviously the control of illegal business, but to propose the business with little resort to violence. This kind of attitude helped the bosses to create a mythology of the Mafia leader in the minds of the general population and made them believe that the organization was more caring and protective, thus hiding its vicious and cruel aspects during the process of justification of its existence.


Since Ricca belonged to the Italian criminal society and the Capone gang was multi-ethnical, Ricca decided to transform the gang into more of an Italian type of criminal organization with specific hierarchy, territories, different business enterprises and money flow within the group. First above all, only the Italians received the top spots such as territorial bosses or capos, or top administration like boss, underboss and top advisor. They were given specific territories with associates under their rule, who hustled daily on the streets. After that the huge sums of money made from numerous illegal activities were taken and distributed up the ranks. The non-Italian members kept their territories but by now they mostly answered to their Italian superiors. But none the less, some of them still had their own votes on certain matters because at the time the Chicago syndicate had few of the most powerful non-Italian gangsters in the country. They were still involved in the inner workings of the organization and shared the daily profits. So now this new organization became known as the Chicago Outfit.


According to some sources, Ricca was quite different than the rest of individuals around him. For example, when he sat with legit associates or public officials he used his talent to cloak his criminal nature. But in front his underlings Ricca was a merciless person because during sit downs he acted like a cold and heartless person and people had to be very calmed because of somebody looked suspicious, the gangster paranoia might took place which can be quite deadly. He also didn’t want to see emotions during business conversations because he was still young and had quite a big temper, and if someone said something wrong to his face, that individual received the taste of a hot lead in his mouth or in a worst case, the feeling of the sharpness of his blades. In plain words, Ricca was a guy who could laugh and cut a guys tongue out at the same time or cry on a baptism at church. He knew what to say and also knew the effect of his words that will have on someone else. In other words, Ricca was a real devil.


By 1933, the men who controlled the Italian faction of the Chicago Outfit were the Neapolitan gangsters Paul Ricca, Frank Rio and Frank Nitti on the top. Ricca was the commission representative and political “fixer”, Nitti was the union and gambling rackets overseer and Rio was leader of the “strong-arm and cement shoes” department. Under them were the Sicilian bosses such as Lawrence Mangano from the West Side and Phil D’Andrea on the Near South Side and Loop. As additional info, I believe that the current leader of the Sicilian faction or Mafia in Chicago was considered to be Phil D’Andrea. There was also Tony Pinelli and Vincenzo DiGiorgio on the North, Charles and Rocco Fischetti on the Southwest, Dominic Roberto controlled the South suburbs, and Ralph Capone and up and coming leader Louis Campagna controlled Cicero. Most of these guys were from Neapolitan heritage and by now a big part of Chicago’s underworld was always controlled by the Neapolitans for nearly 20 years, including the past eras of Colosimo, Torrio, Esposito, Capone and now Ricca and Nitti. Also the boss of the non-Italian faction was considered to be Jacob Guzik.


After his release, the government considered Frank Nitti as the day to day boss of the Outfit. In fact, Nitti stayed close to Capone for a very long time, and had all of the street knowledge that a one crime boss could ever have. He was always well dressed, well mannered and presented an educated man but on the other hand he was also a “shoot first, ask questions later” kind of a guy. And that’s why he received high publicity which was perfectly “ok” with Ricca and the rest of the bosses. On the East Coast, especially in New York the mobsters always fought for the top spot, but in Chicago things were different. I believe that the “front boss” position was invented by its self, a situation influenced by the current complications which were caused by the publicity, which in turn was caused by flashy bosses such as Al Capone. Nitti wasn’t the same type of a guy, but some reports say that he wasn’t the brightest individual in the organization. Maybe the other members knew who really ran the organization but for the public, the government and the rest of the criminal gangs and associates, Nitti was the “capo dei capi.” The plan also stood very well with the rest of the crime families, which main proof was their meetings with Ricca, who in reality was the main Chicago “rappresentante“ since Nitti was being very careful about violating his federal parole.



Frank Nitti


One example in deceiving their rivals, on who was the real boss of the organization, was when the first real threat that the newborn Outfit failed to notice, which occurred in 1931, when Anton Cermak was elected Chicago's 36th mayor, by defeating Republican William Hale Thompson and immediately established a Democratic stranglehold on the mayor's office. Cermak built the strength of the Democratic Party by bringing together diverse factions and was a very ambitious guy, but maybe too ambitious for a man in his position. In fact, there’s a story that Cermak was backed by the Outfit and to make a long story short, Cermak wanted to take over the city of Chicago, literally, and went on a mission to destroy the Outfit by turning his back with the help of creating rival gangs. Ted Newberry, the guy who was arrested with Ricca back in the old days during their trips to New York, sided with Cermak against the Outfit and Newberry probably assured Cermak that their main obstacle was Frank Nitti. So on December 19, 1932, Cermak, in a gangland fashion, summoned two members of his special squad, Harry Miller and Henry Lang to Nitti’s office at 221 N. LaSalle Street. So the duo entered Nitti’s office, arrested the boss and suddenly detective Lang fired five shots into Nitti. Miraculously Nitti managed to survive and slowly recovered in a hospital. So I believe that Cermak and Newberry thought that Nitti was the boss and so with “the head dead, the body dies.” But they were wrong and now they were in real danger.


Now Ricca again took the top position as “acting boss” of the Outfit and now it was in his responsibility to determine whether the organization should retaliate or not. My opinion is that the rest of the National Syndicate was against such a decision, because everybody knew that with knocking down the mayor of the nation's second largest city would bring down more heat on the Mob then one simple Cermak ever could. I’m not going to imply on anything but this is how things went down the next year. Word went out that Cermak was going to attend the speech of President Franklin Roosevelt in Miami, Florida, on February 15, 1933. One week before the gathering, Outfit members Murray Humphreys, a known labor terrorist, and Rocco Fischetti were arrested in Florida and were questioned for their purpose in Miami and later were released. Besides being involved in the labor rackets, Humphreys was also a good logistician for orchestrating kidnappings, bombings and murders. Few days later on February 13, Frank Rio and William White were also arrested and questioned for their purpose in the Miami area. Now these two guys had also rackets of their own, but their main job was murder.


So on February 15, among the thirty or more noted visitors and local leaders on the platform, present was also Mayor Cermak. Suddenly the President singled him out for greeting when he arrived. He then spoke briefly, standing in the back seat of his car. There were great cheers as he finished and immediately Mayor Cermak rose from his seat and stepped to the front of the stand. Leaning over he shook hands with Mr. Roosevelt and later the Mayor moved away. While Cermak stood few feet away from the President’s car, there was a startling interruption when at that moment five shots rang out. A man in about the fifth or sixth row of spectators stood up and began shooting. The Mayor was only a few feet away from the car and about as near as Mr. Roosevelt to the man with the pistol. Neither was more than twenty feet from the man who fired. Cermak received a bullet in his stomach, and four other individuals, who stood behind Cermak, were injured, while President Roosevelt remained unharmed. Cermak died 19 days later from complications of the operations that he was submitted on, not from the bullet hole. Zangara was declared as crazy anarchist who missed his original target which was the President. And just twelve days after Cermak’s death, Joe Zangara was executed by the government. There’s not even a shred of evidence about any Mob involvement in the assassination, but if you ask me, the problem is that there’s too much coincidence in the story. Some of the police detectives in Chicago strongly suspected that the assassination was in fact an Outfit related shooting and so they contacted the police department in Miami and gave them a list of Chicago gangsters who resided or were on a trip at the time in that area, including 18 gangsters, 12 of whom were known Chicago Outfit members and associates. But the arrests were never made because it turned out that the request had been deleted by the State's Attorney Thomas Courtney. If the mob was really involved in the Cermak killing, then I believe that Ricca gave the last “go-ahead” for the job.



Cermak is helped after being shot


In 1934, the Outfit was getting heavily involved in the gambling and slot machine business. That same year in June, Ricca visited New York and had a meeting with Mafia chieftain Frank Costello who ruled supreme over the gambling business in the U.S. Ricca established a very good business relationship with Costello and became allies and once they got arrested during a raid in a Blue Island gambling place. Later Costello has admitted having an acquaintanceship with Paul Ricca in New York. The same month Ricca also attended sort of a mob gathering in Louisville, Kentucky. This was a very busy period for the Outfit’s “emissary” because it was the time when the Outfit bosses started gaining their gambling stronghold on the Midwest. At the same time, back at home, the non-Italian faction of the Chicago Outfit, headed by Murray Humphreys and overseen by Charles and Rocco Fischetti, launched an attack on Chicago’s South Side dry cleaners union and it was one of the first big financial sources for the organization. The gangsters learned that with control over the unions, they also controlled the work force and also controlled the lives of countless families sustained by those jobs. The tactics of strong-arming the unions, created a new army of up and coming mobsters. If there wasn’t any union, the Outfit quickly made one up and many people suddenly became members of some unions they’d never heard of before. As additional info, that same year Ricca bought a house for $15,000 and after that the house burned down and later he collected $50,000 from the insurance. The American Camorrista was living the “life.”


On November 22, 1935, Ricca age 37, 5300 West Jackson Boulevard, owner of the Playhouse Theatre applied for insurance in the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company. With this record we can see that Ricca had a legitimate job and was the owner of the famous World Playhouse theatre and it looked like he still had his connections in the theatre business since the old days of the late Diamond Joe. As I previously stated, this so-called theatre business will bring a lot of cash for the boss but also a lot of headaches. As additional info, three years later Ricca applied to the Equitable Life Assurance Society for a retirement annuity and he even gave applications for beneficial membership in the Italo-American Union formerly known as Unione Siciliana.


For example, during the mid 1930s, Nitti and Ricca were part of an extortion plot involving the International Alliance of Theatrical, Stage Employees & Motion Picture Operators union. Nitti and one of his main lieutenants and boss of Des Moines, Iowa, Charles Gioe, had their own associates Willie Bioff and George Brown acting as front men for the organization. In fact Bioff was brought to the attention of Ricca by Lawrence Mangano and Browne was brought by Nitti himself. On Christmas Eve 1934, as boss of the Outfit, Nitti held a party for the Outfit's Royalty, including Ricca, Campagna, Gioe, D’Andrea and Rio. Also invited were Browne and Bioff. During the evening Nitti brought the topic of Tommy Maloy, labor leader and a close friend of everybody in that room. Reports say that Nitti needed to control Maloy’s union by any means and to continue his domination of the all the unions that ran the entertainment business. Browne and Bioff knew that Maloy was a walking dead man. Then they met again at Harry Hochstien's house in Riverside, a political leader from the 20th ward who owed a favour to Frankie Rio. Also present at the dinner was Ricca. After the meal, Nitti again mentioned Maloy’s union and said that they should take it over as soon as possible. After that there was a silence in the room and Frank Rio turned to Nitti and said "Will Maloy stand for partners moving in on him"
Nitti said "Not Maloy"
Ricca said "Can we scare him?"
Nitti answered "Not at all. We really ought to have the projectionists"
Rio said "Ill take care of it right after the first of the year"

Two months later, on February 4, 1935, Outfit assassins fired shots at Maloy, thus blowing half of his head. With Maloy dead the Outfit took over the projections union and looked forward for the movie industry. Now the Chicago mob took over the movie unions and many known movie stars from back in the days were sponsored by the gangsters, people like Gary Grant, Clark Gable, Jimmy Durante, George Raft and even the Marx Brothers.


That same year, Frank Nitti, who by now had the last word regarding the union activities, decided to spread the Outfit’s influence. So he sent a message to George McLane, a veteran business agent of the Chicago Bartenders and Beverage Dispensers union, Local 278, to put Louis Romano on the union’s payroll "or else." At first McLane refused but later he was called on a meeting with Nitti, Ricca and Louis Campagna the LaSalle Hotel. Ricca and Campagna kept quiet during the meeting but Nitti told McLane that "The only way to overcome this is to put one of our men in as an officer", meaning to put Romano on the payroll. McLane replied that this was impossible, and Nitti said, "We have taken over other unions. You will put him in or get shot in the head." After that statement, Ricca and Campagna, true cold-blooded killers, gave two very serious looks at McLane, who in turn developed low blood sugar from the tense situation. And so McLane agreed and placed Romano on the union’s payroll with a “no show” job. But the problem for McLane was that this was just the beginning of the pressure. After very short time, McLane was again summoned to the old Capri Restaurant on the third floor of 1232 North Clark Street. He said present at this meeting were Nitti, Ricca, Campagna, Joe Fusco, Jake Guzik and Murray Humphreys. When McLane entered the restaurant, Nitti called him over to his table to take a seat. Again, Ricca and Campagna kept quiet as Nitti told McLane that he had to put his man Romano in as an officer of the union. McLane replied that this was impossible as he had to have the approval of the executive board, and the man had to be a member of the union. After that Nitti replied "Give us the names of anyone who opposes, and we will take care of them. We want no more playing around. If you don't do what we say, you will get shot in the head. How would your wife look in black?"


Now McLane took the “proposal” to the executive board which in turn refused to accept Romano as an officer. When McLane returned and told the gangsters about the decision, Murray Humphreys became very angry and then demanded the names of those who had opposed, and McLane refused to give them to him. Then Humphreys said, "We will take care of that. This is your last chance. This is the only way we will stand for anything. Put in our man or wind up in an alley." McLane then again went back to the board and told them about the threats and what it meant, and it was finally
agreed in the latter part of July, 1935, to put Louis Romano in control of the union.


Also George Scalise, a union racketeer with the help of Campagna, arranged a meeting in Chicago with Nitti and Ricca, to discuss a plan for taking over the building service international and affiliated unions, including the strong Chicago elevator operators' union, which was run by Matthew Taylor, an honest labor official with a record of 39 years of service to the labor movement. The two top bosses favoured Thomas Burke for head of the union, but that a deal was made whereby Scalise should get the job, in return for which he was to "kick back" part of his take to the Outfit. So Scalise immediately bought up a group of small unions out of the treasury of the building service international and began a campaign to take over Matthew Taylor's elevator operators with 3,500 members. In 1936, Nitti and Ricca sent Louis Schiavone to approach Taylor and informed him that the Outfit wanted to put their own man in his union and he was also promised that he would be paid well if he would get out. Taylor refused and short time later, he was summoned to the Bismarck Hotel, and there he met Campagna. When they got thru dinner, Campagna threw a certified check for $50,000 at Taylor and said “Matt, I want you to step out as president of the elevator operators' union, and we want to take that union over, because we can help our cause then. We can’t get any place now because Burke is disliked in the Loop.” Campagna referred to Thomas J. Burke, the vice president of the building service international. Even though Taylor again refused the offer, Scalise was made president of the union. Taylor, realizing he was beaten, agreed to bring his union into the international, but first he went to Atlantic City and obtained from Scalise a written promise that the local funds would not be touched and that there would be no interference with local affairs. Scalise gave the written promise, but he continued his campaign to get the union treasury. On May 18, 1939, Taylor was robbed by stickup men of his brief case containing the Scalise written promise. There was also $5,000 of bonds in the brief case, but these were nonnegotiable and valueless to the thieves. On July 5, 1939, Louis Schiavone was shot and killed in Oak Lawn and story goes that he might have been killed for attempting to double-cross Ricca and the bosses.

Back in 1936, with the blessing of Paul Ricca, the Outfits political boss John Patton spread the gambling operations by getting directly involved in many dog tracks in Florida. Under the directions of Jake Guzik, Patton made the dog tracks in Florida known as the Capone gang tracks. Another partner in the operation was Edward O’Hare, a lawyer who was known as the "Capone Syndicate czar of dog racing." That same year the Chicago Tribune published a chart of the Chicago Outfit that listed the names of Patton, O'Hare, Guzik, and Ricca as share holders in some of the Nation’s dog tracks like the Miami Beach Kennel Club, Inc., the Jacksonville Kennel Club and the Orange Park Kennel Club, Inc. But in 1939, O'Hare was suspected of being a rat and so he was shot to death on the orders of Paul Ricca.


With these kinds of schemes the Outfit made millions and took its place as the leading crime family on the Midwest with Ricca at the top. For example, during this time period he established good business relationship with the Los Angeles crime family. He has sent one of his underlings named Johnny Roselli to be his first representative on the West Coast. In fact some sources say that at the beginning Roselli started his criminal career in Chicago, but later he transferred to Los Angeles where he acquired membership in La Cosa Nostra. After that he was again transferred to the Chicago Outfit. Ricca liked Roselli because he was also from Neapolitan heritage and Roselli took the image of his mentor as an example on how a real gangster should be like.


As I previously stated, by now Ricca’s West Side faction of the Outfit was led by Lawrence Mangano, who in turn was followed by two former Circus gang members Tony Capezio and Tony Accardo and former member of the South Side James Belcastro. Ricca also had one very successful slot machine operator and distant relative known as Guido DeChiaro, who made a lot of cash for the boss. As for the boss, he was driven by a personal driver, constant companion, political enforcer and also Outfit associate known as Harry Hockstein.


But by the late 1930’s Ricca and Nitti “opened the books” for new membership and ordered to his underlings to present their best proposals. For example, Ricca and Campagna both had their own favourite contestant named Salvatore Giancana, former member of the 42 gang which ruled supreme on the streets of Chicago’s West Side. Other members of the same gang and “winners” for Outfit membership were Sam Battaglia and Leonard Caifano. Battaglia was probably sponsored by Louis Fratto, another former West Side hoodlum and “next in line” boss of Des Moines, Iowa. From these examples we can see that Ricca was forming his own stronghold which was formed by new members, mostly from the same territory. He even had his own loyal underlings in the Jewish neighbourhood of the Lawndale area. According to Jewish hoodlum Lenny Patrick, after he got out of prison in 1940, he took a job running dice games in Chicago for gamblers who put up the stakes. It was at that point, he said that he met Paul Ricca and started working for the Chicago Outfit. By now most of these “young turks” worked as bodyguards, drivers or even hitmen and they all looked at Ricca like he was their "General.” Other prominent criminal associates or so- called “farm team” on the West Side was led by one of Ricca’s oldest associates John Montana and included Rocco Iaccullo, Michael Greco and Joe Esposito Jr. For the last one, meaning Esposito Jr., he was the son of the late Diamond Joe Esposito Sr.


With opening the doors to the organization, Ricca formed a huge criminal army. He was the main leader who was able to represent the code of the Chicago Outfit, thus becoming guarantor of a story, that of La Cosa Nostra, which was formed of blood relations from way back home in Italy and lessons about organized crime. The Outfit never had a formal ceremony such as burning cards with saints, but their only “ceremony” was a formal dinner or just a tap on the back, followed by the words “You’re in.” A formal Mafia ceremony requires the presence of all area bosses, including advisors and boss, so there are big chances that this kind of gathering might turn the attention of the government and reveal this secret criminal brotherhood. So that’s why the Chicago boys used to arrange a meeting between 4 or 5 people tops, just to inform everybody about new changes.


The Chicago mob never had huge numbers of “made” members like in the New York crime families, but most of these Chicago “young turks” were followed by countless of lower street level criminals and associates, who formed the first layer of the Outfit’s “pyramid.” By doing my research on Ricca and the Outfit I’ve noticed that most of these new members, if not all, were maniacs, psychopaths and above all, serial killers, but every one of them possessed a sense for business. Many of them were clever tacticians and there was nothing in the world that could’ve stopped them from accomplishing their goals. So during the 1940’s, the West Side faction was almost finished in establishing its stronghold, which was the city of Chicago. Also back in the late 1920’s, during the Capone era, over 30 percent of the members in the Outfit were with Italian background, but by now, they were over 60 percent.


In 1940, one key document, compiled by Italian Treasury Police, was forwarded to a U.S. Customs supervisor in New York, who sent it on to the supervising customs agent in Chicago and from there made its way to Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The document showed that there was a presence of a “Grand Council of the Sicilian Mafia” in the U.S. and nine men were in charge, including New York bosses Vincent and Philip Mangano, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci and Joe Traina, also Stefano Magaddino from Buffalo, from Cleveland Al Polizzi and Frank Milano, and in the end Paul Ricca from Chicago. This shows that the Italian authorities developed information, possibly from their informers within the Italian Mafia that the Italian syndicate was in contact with the American La Cosa Nostra.



Commission boss Paul Ricca


But as smart, shrewd and aggressive as they were, still Nitti and Ricca made one huge mistake. They have forgotten that they were the bosses of the organization so that means that they should’ve used “middle-men” or “front men” to make the contacts with men such as George McLane for example. Now if one day “Georgie boy” decided to show and tell to the government about the operation, automatically all of the bosses were threatened with jail sentences. And “unexpectedly” that faithful day really came. In 1940, because of all of that pressure made by the mob bosses, George McLane filed a suit in Chicago circuit court charging that Nitti, Ricca, Campagna and Humphreys had moved in with an eye to the union's $125,000 treasury and $250,000 annual revenue. But the problem was that McLane only testified in front of the cops but later during the hearing he invoked the Fifth Amendment. With that the prosecution’s case failed and the union was thrown into receivership of the Chicago Outfit and the charges were dropped.


Some of Nitti’s labor operations were slowly crumbling down and Ricca and the rest of the top guys received unwanted attention and in the early 40’s Ricca became quite famous in the media. So during that period the newspapers again charged the Nitti-Ricca-Campagna ruling panel that had cleaned out the treasury of the Retail Clerks International Protective Association, Local 1248. Story goes that Max Caldwell, alias Max Pollack, an Outfit associate and also close associate of Ricca, had been in charge of the union funds. In a very short period, the gang managed to steal more than $1,000,000, which belonged to 10,000 clerks, $25 and $20 a week employees who paid $25 for “initiation” and $2 a month dues for protection. When the gang got thru with the union, there was only $62 left in the bank. Also when the gang 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. Another subject that disappeared along with the records was Pollack himself. Later the main witness Michael Savachka refused to testify against Pollack and the Outfit, and allegedly the reason was based on the fear that he would’ve incriminated himself. Since none was talking, Ricca and bosses were confident that just as they had so far beaten all raps, they will ultimately beat this government case also, which they really did.


The year of 1942, when the world was at war for the second time, the U.S. government took a break and started a new promising battle against the Chicago Outfit and its bosses. The problem was when Bioff, Browne, Roselli and Nick Circella, with the blessing of Ricca, extorted millions of dollars from the major Hollywood studios. Browne and Bioff were in direct contact with Nitti or Phil D’Andrea, as for Roselli, obviously he was their contact and main extortionist in Hollywood, and later the extortion cash was sent back to Circella in Chicago, who in turn spread the cash among the bosses. Nitti's demands for more cash were so compelling that Browne, Bioff and Circella kept "biting" the film industry harder and oftener. Strikes were called and then settled for larger sums and soon the extortionists had the motion picture executives doctoring their books to hide the blackmail.


The big problem came when the bosses became too greedy and told the picture magnates to dig up 2 million dollars for the organization. Twentieth Century- Fox, Paramount, and Warner Brothers were "assessed" $550,000 for the immediate needs of Browne and Bioff. So one of the picture makers had enough and finally asked the federal government for assistance. Then a Federal Grand Jury was conducted in Los Angeles on matters pertaining to income tax evasion, labor racketeering and restraint of trade and during the hearings numerous film executives and union officials testified regarding the extortions. After their testimonies the Atherton Detective Agency indicted Bioff, Browne and Circella for extortion. Dean, plead guilty and received an eight year sentence while Bioff and Browne received 10 and 8 year sentences. But then Ricca made a huge mistake by giving order to his underlings to place pressure over Browne’s and Bioff’s families so the two racketeers could kept their mouths shut. But all of threats to the families of Bioff and Browne backfired because now after serving two years in Alcatraz, both agreed to testify against the Outfit bosses.


On December 30, 1942 Nitti was indicted together with Roselli for attempting to extort over a million dollars from several Hollywood studios, including Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, RKO Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. Other indictments were also coming down the way, and so Ricca immediately called a meeting at Nitti's home and story goes that Ricca told Nitti that he should find a way and take care of Bioff and Browne and if not, he, meaning Nitti, had to take the fall for the rest of the gang. Later Ricca also blamed Nitti and said that this was his scheme and the rat Bioff was brought by him. Nitti had no choice so on March 19, 1943 he decided to take his own life. After the suicide of Nitti, Ricca became the ultimate power in the Chicago Outfit. Few months later the government also indicted Phil D'Andrea, Louis Campagna, Nick Circella, Charles Gioe, Ralph Pierce and Paul Ricca. Federal Judge John Bright said “The evidence showed the guilt of these defendants was practically without dispute. Except for Kaufman, not one of them was a member of the union nor had any right to interfere with the activities of the union. The evidence amply sustains the verdict. The activities of these defendants were obviously in violation of an act of congress and certainly showed some indication of disgraceful conduct in the union."



Ricca during the extortion hearings


Ricca’s mugshot


So on December 30, 1943, Ricca and the rest of the bosses each received up to 10 year sentences in federal prison, plus $10.000 in fines along with court costs, only their East Coast connection Louis Kaufman was given 7 years but also a $10,000 fine. The only mobster who was released from all charges for the lack of evidences was Ralph Pierce. As additional info, Nicholas Schenck, head of Loews Movie Theatres, which owned by MGM, who was also convicted with Bioff and Browne in the infamous extortion case, but was surprisingly pardoned by President Harry Truman and resumed his powerful position within the movie industry. Also Ricca’s close associate Harry Hockstein was also indicted and charged with perjuring himself before the grand jury that indicted Ricca, but he was not convicted.


Ricca and the gang were sent to the Atlanta penitentiary which was operated by Warden Joseph Sanford. On top of that, Sanford was allegedly a high level member of another kind of criminal organization known as the Ku Klux Klan, meaning Sanford didn't like the Italians very much. There’s a story that one night Outfit commission boss Phil D'Andrea was beaten senseless by the Warden himself. Reason for that was, when D'Andrea complained and asked for a doctor since he allegedly felt ill and when then the doctor conducted a urine test, suddenly D'Andrea threatened his life unless the results came out alright. The doctor fearful for his life reported the threat to the Warden who in turn marched down to D'Andrea's cell and beat him senseless. This action made Ricca and the rest of the bosses really scared for their lives, for the first time after a long time period. Now the FBI reported that Ricca still continued to put some kind of influence even from that prison, but the problem was that he and the other bosses could expect no kind of assistance in Atlanta. So one day the bosses decided that they should be transferred to Leavenworth prison since it was closer to Chicago and probably safer but the request was immediately denied. Now Ricca became really mad and took the situation in his own hands. He was known in the past for doing lucrative scams that involved members of the "upper world" and so on May, 1945, Campagna, D'Andrea, Gioe, and Ricca, formally requested that they be transferred to Leavenworth prison because the trip to Atlanta was too great of an expense for their families to bear. The wardens of both prisons protested against the decision, but the gangsters were granted their wish. In July of 1945, they were moved to Leavenworth and no records were left to explain on who was responsible for this action, or from where the order originated.


While Ricca was spending time in jail and the only way to get his messages and orders to his men was through Tony Accardo and Murray Humphreys who both used the same alias of one of Ricca’s lawyers 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 on running the day to day operations for the Outfit. It was on one of these visits that Accardo told Ricca that the one of issues on the mob agenda was Lawrence Mangano, one of his oldest confidants and captain of the West Side and the old Taylor Street group.


Even in prison, Ricca still held the position as boss and his voice on the outside was Tony Accardo. Now Accardo still worked under Mangano who in turn felt that he was superior over Accardo and he was next in line for the “acting boss” position. So maybe Mangano grew envious of Accardo and started muscling in on his operations. Many older mobsters, such as the North Side crew, started doing what ever they wanted because they felt superior over the younger Accardo. There was even a rumour that these mobsters were backed by their associates from other cities that were represented by the Outfit, such as Kansans City and St. Louis, in an upcoming rebellion against the current ruling administration. But Ricca always looked at the younger generation as the real future of the Chicago Outfit so he made his word clear by ordering the deaths of all “rebels.” From 1943 until 1947, Ricca’s allies and their hit teams hunted down six high profile Mafiosi and silenced their ambitions forever.


Back in 1946, the infamous NY mobster Benjamin Siegel, backed and financed by the National mob, started to built the Flamingo Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The funding for the final construction of the project was provided by several crime groups, including Tony Accardo, the Fischetti brothers and Paul Ricca from Chicago. Even though Siegel worked mainly for the New York mob, he was closely watched by the boys from Chicago. And how they managed that? Simple, the Fischetti brothers found a woman spy, and the woman they chose was the same woman Siegel came to call his Flamingo, Virginia Hill. Still, the boys back in Chicago never trusted Hill, and so the lovely pair was overseen by one of Ricca’s men Johnny Roselli. On June 20, 1947, Siegel was riddled with bullets by unknown assassin in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills home. Allegedly his death was the result of his excessive spending and possible theft of money from the mob. Immediately after Siegel’s death, the mob sent for few people to take over the Flamingo casino. One of those men was Chicago mob associate Gus Greenbaum, who later brought the struggling casino out of debt within several months, and at the same time he controlled several other Outfit casinos and bookmaking operations in Arizona within several years.


Also according to some mob historians, the Hollywood extortion case spread a lot of waves through out the underworld. This resulted with Accardo’s actions with reinforcing the Outfit’s operations around the Midwest and even east of Los Angeles and that is Las Vegas and a little bit more eastern to Arizona. When it comes to organized crime, some of these areas were considered as "haven" and virtually untapped territories.


Now Ricca’s organization changed its face for the first time in over a decade. Besides Accardo being the boss and the West Side still being the powerbase of the organization, other crews became quite powerful but under the watchful eye of the ruling combine. Crews such as the new North Side crew, since the old one was exterminated, or the Cicero crew which played one of the main roles in this next example… back in Leavenworth Prison, Ricca was making a plan with the help of his constant visitors, Accardo and Humphries, to get out of prison as soon as possible but his gang had to make a few steps first. The organization has put a lot of effort to save their boss and in other words, this is the most important proof about Ricca’s importance. If all of these top mobsters stayed in jail for ten years, that would’ve been a big setback for the mob in Chicago and around the U.S.


Now the first step in getting out was to pay off the tax debt that Ricca owed to the U.S. because a prisoner cannot be paroled if he has another case pending. There were back taxes on the part of Campagna and Ricca to the extent of about $500,000 and they settled it for about 20 cents on the dollar. By the end of the day, they settled for around $100,000. Also one of Ricca’s layers went to the appointed judge with the $160,000 on his desk and informed him that this was for Ricca and Campagna. As additional info, all of this “payoff” cash was collected from all of the crews that were faithful to the old guard, including the boys from Cicero, North Side, the Near South Side and the South Suburbs.


Second step was to dismiss an indictment for mail fraud. This problem was solved by promising the Attorney General of the United States Tom Clark, the next appointment to the Supreme Court. Clark accepted the deal and Ricca's indictment for mail fraud in New York was vacated. The next step was to influence the parole board and rumours are that the Parole Board members accepted a $500,000 bribe. So on August 13th, 1947 Ricca and the other bosses, except for Frank Maritote, were set free after just 3 years and 4 months of the ten years sentence. This was a very strange since they were handed a sentences without the possibility of parole. This situation caused an uproar among the U.S. citizens, media and some federal authorities. According to some reports, major players in making the parole come true were Chicago’s Jewish boss Jake Guzik, New York’s Genovese crime family boss Frank Costello and Owney Madden in Hot Springs, Arkansas. These were the times when the Mob had the ultimate power to walk free out of jail when ever they wanted to and with that they also had the licence to steal and also kill. And the most realistic thing was that these guys would’ve received an even much earlier release than three years, but the problem was that according to the law they had to serve at least one third of their sentences.


The night after they got released from prison, Ricca and Campagna were accompanied by Outfit tax lawyer Eugene Bernstein on a plane ride from Kansas City to Chicago. Bernstein bought six tickets for this flight and that six tickets were used with two of the passengers keeping their identities secret. When the gangsters were asked about who donated the cash for their parole, they said that they had no idea where the money came from to settle their income tax liens but they assumed that it was contributed by their friends. Campagna also allegedly boasted that “It was an act of God!” As for their tax lawyer Bernstein, he said that “I don’t know who gave me the money. Men I didn’t know and haven’t seen since, came to my office and, one at a time, dropped bundles of money on the table. One would say “Pay this for Paul.” Another would say “Pay this for Louis.” These kind of people I don’t ask who they are.”


Now Ricca was again a free man but the problem was that he already got “the curse of Al” meaning the newspapers targeted Ricca at the moment he stepped foot out of jail and in a record time he became the center of media and government attention. The good cops knew that there were plenty of other gangsters to hunt down, but they also knew the fact that Ricca was the real deal of the organization and the real legacy of the infamous Al Capone. Maybe Ricca never wanted to be like Capone but in reality they shared the same kind of life which was always followed by huge attention from everyone and from this point on, Ricca’s life transformed into an ongoing battle with unwanted publicity and above all, with the law.



Ricca

Once he was out, on January 24, 1948, Ricca 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 took out from his pocket. Also to clean his image, Ricca became very generous in his donations to assist Chicago's poverty stricken immigrant Italian community. Like his former boss 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. When he wanted to take a short break from the everyday troubles, he usually went to his summer estate which was located near Long Beach, Indiana, and worth about $100,000 at the time. He also had a farm in Kendall County, Illinois, about 1,100 acres there, which has been managed, or was, during his imprisonment by Francis Curry, a coin machine racket boss from the Joliet area. Few years later Ricca also bought another huge $80,000 mansion in Miami Beach at 4385 Pine Tree Drive, which was one of the swankiest sections of the resort city. Before buying the house Ricca complied with local police regulations relating to ex-convicts. He was also reportedly been investing tremendous sums in real estate and legitimate businesses.

So now the ex-convict had to be also very careful because the government was watching his every step. He went back to the streets and tried to get back as boss of the Outfit but there was too much heat and pressure and also too much obstacles. One of the biggest obstacles was that he could not associate with known mobsters. So I believe that in 1947/48 Accardo officially was elevated to the top position of the Outfit but with Ricca as his top advisor. The “top advisor” position within the Chicago Outfit was very different than the “advisor” position among the New York crime families for example. In New York that particular high level member of the organization has the role of the voice or representative of the members within the family, and that he may help to resolve or mediate in disputes for the family. In some cases they even had their own operations and schemes and also crew members. But in Chicago, the “top advisor” position was a boss who went to semi-retirement and lived on a “pension” but still had his own voice and sometimes last word on major decisions. That individual also took a cut only from the most lucrative illegal or legal operations and even had the power to issue a “contract” on another man’s life. So Accardo might’ve been the day-today boss of the Outfit, but still he did not make a large move without Ricca’s approval and by studying these two individuals, I believe that they respected each other very much and always backed each other on certain matters. In fact, Ricca and Accardo will lead the way for the Chicago mob for a quite long period, thus controlling a huge illegal empire and leaving many dead bodies along the way.


In July, 1948, a congressional committee considered an unsolved problem on how these four notorious gangsters were given federal paroles and so the congressmen Rep. Clare Hoffman and Rep. Fred Busbey issued arrest warrants and asked for re-imprisonment of Ricca, Campagna, Roselli, D’Andrea and Gioe. The first one that the government managed to hunt down was Gioe. He was seized in his Chicago apartment and was quickly checked in prison while Campagna, who evaded arrest at his Michigan estate to gain a habeas corpus hearing in Chicago, was also back in a cell in Atlanta prison. Campagna and Gioe were in fact sent back to prison for a hearing as to why they violated their paroles. Ricca was arrested on a similar warrant, but his return to prison was halted by court action, D’Andrea had serious health issues so he was watched at his home and as for their underling Johnny Roselli, he was permitted to remain in Los Angeles jail. But on December 20, 1948, Federal Judge E. Marvin Underwood said “The evidence, adduced and unrebutted, shows that there was no violation of parole, and therefore no reliable information upon which to base the warrants" and so he released all of the bosses and all posted bonds of $5,000 each. This was a huge win for the Chicago Outfit and Ricca continued to laugh in the face of justice.


By now the West Side Bloc controlled the political destiny of the "River Wards" for nearly 20 years and the Bloc's hold was so powerful that the common people were very afraid to vote against it. It was composed of six or seven members whom the gangsters have put in the legislature as if they were elected as Republicans, but in reality they didn’t voted Republican. They voted Ricca because they belonged to the Outfit. Most of them were lawyers, and as such members of the judiciary committee. Also some of the Outfit’s political candidates, started out as procurers or business agents for prostitutes. And so the Outfit financed the politicians with the kind of gambling profits such as the “never- give-the-sucker-a-break gambling” or “pay-off-the- politicians-and-cops gambling.” One of Ricca’s associates and member of his organization was James Adduci, who was elected for State Representative back in 1935. Adduci was typical example of the new breed of crooked politicians who came to power at the same time when Ricca and the Outfit established their stronghold in Chicago. So Adduci in fact represented Ricca’s enclave on the city’s West Side, who also switched his alliance from the Republicans to the Democrats to suit his purpose. But in October 1948 election for the 2nd district, William John Granata, the Republican candidate, was running against State Representative Adduci and Granata’s attempt to unseat Adduci proved to be fatal because Ricca issued a contract on his life. One day Granata was returning home when an armed assassin with a meat cleaver crept from behind on him as he entered his building. Later Granata was found with his skull split wide open. Another rumour also spread that Granata was killed because he and his brother Rep. Peter Granata, had refused to trade votes that they controlled on the West Side for the benefit of Paul Ricca and the Chicago Outfit. My opinion is that the gruesome murder of Granata was a sign of the West Side crew, or to be specific, the assassin was probably Marshall Caifano, younger brother of Leonard Caifano and close associate to the former 42 gang headed by Giancana and Battaglia. There are many reports that by now almost every joint owner or criminal gang on the West Side together with the West Side political bloc, were eating out of Ricca's hand.



James Adduci


Remember Peter Fosco, the guy who was arrested with Ricca on a train to New York back in the 1930’s? Well by 1949, Ricca still had his fingers in the union business thanks to that same Peter Fosco, and also Tony D’Andrea, brother of Outfit Mafia chief Phil D’Andrea. He and Fosco ruled over many thousands of Italian-American laborers in Chicago and vicinity. D’Andrea was the president of the Construction and General Workers District Council of Chicago and Fosco became a very powerful politician as Democratic committeeman of the First Ward and also main representative of the Hod Carriers’ Union. D’Andrea came under the late Mike Carrozzo, labor boss of more than 20 unions with over 15,000 members. As for Fosco, he was the main connection between Ricca and other high level politicians and on top of that, everybody knew that he and Ricca were long time close friends. Fosco’s main lieutenant and precinct captain on the city’s West Side was Ignatius Spachese a.k.a. Ned Bakes, who was also a close friend with Ricca and the late Nitti. Besides handling few gambling houses on the West Side for Ricca and the Chicago Outfit, also a trucking company and a restaurant, back in the early 1940’s Bakes also worked as a Cook County deputy sheriff and also as a messenger between the bosses and Ricca. Fosco and Bakes were few of the main suspects in the parole investigations of the bosses back in 1948. Bakes was said to have told friends he was informed that federal bureau of investigation agents would call on him to ask what help he had given Paul Ricca and the rest of the bosses in getting out of prison and that he had told the FBI nothing. Some of the investigators wanted to know if Bakes could tell the identity of a "mysterious Mike Ryan," the man who paid $15,000 to Attorney Maury Hughes as a fee for handling matter preliminary to securing federal paroles for the bosses. As additional info, Hughes was a close pal of United States Attorney General Tom Clark, who was also probably involved in the securing of the paroles.


Also in October, 1949, the Sheriffs of Palm Beach County in Florida went to see Governor Fuller Warren regarding some “mysterious” mob rivalry around the state. It was reported that during the winter season in Miami, two hoodlum groups one led by New York mobsters and another one by the Chicago mob, allegedly fought for control over the gambling rackets through out the entire Florida area. The alleged principal leaders in this situation were Ricca, Jack Guzik and Murray Humphreys on one side, and Meyer and Jack Lansky, Joe Adonis and Abner Zwillman on the other. Later, information was received that the Chicago Outfit had allegedly contributed $40,000 for the campaign of Governor Warren. Following the visit of the two Sheriffs, the Governor left Florida by plane to an unknown location.


In September, 1950, Ricca and the rest of the top echelon of the Chicago mob were served with subpoenas regarding the hearings of the Kefauver U.S. Senate Committee in Washington. This was the first huge public attention for the mob across the country but also a first big win for the government over this secret criminal society. Here’s a small part of the investigation regarding Ricca’s shady financial status:

The Chairman: Mr. De Lucia, you have been previously sworn in this proceeding, and Mr. Robinson has some additional questions he wants to ask you.

Mr. De Lucia: Before you start, Mr. Robinson, I received a letter the other day about me bringing some more checks. I tried to see you yesterday, and I want to explain. I haven't got them checks. That was from away back.

Mr. Robinson: I see. I think you previously testified regarding the fact that you had in cash the sum of $300,000 before you went into the penitentiary.

Mr. De Lucia: Yes.

Mr. Robinson: And that you had that sum, of course, when you came out of jail.

Mr. De Lucia: That is right.

Mr. Robinson: Was that the total amount that you had?

Mr. De Lucia: I had about that much, yes. I give it the best I could.

Mr. Robinson: What have you done with that $300,000 since you came out of the penitentiary?

Mr. De Lucia: I used it on my farm, for living, and that is all.

Mr. Robinson: How much of it do you have left at the present time?

Mr. De Lucia: I told you I had about $40,000 left.

Mr. Robinson: $40,000 left out of the $300,000.

Mr. De Lucia: That is right.

Mr. Halley: You testified some time ago that you still had $30,000 or $40,000 left of your own money.

Mr. De Lucia: Now, yes.

Mr. Halley: Is that in addition to the $40,000?

Mr. De Lucia: No, all included.

Mr. Halley: So that right now is it your testimony that you are broke except for the money you borrowed from Mr. Hugo Bennett (real name Benvenuti)?

Mr. De Lucia: No, I ain't broke. I got about $40,000.

Mr. Halley: You have about $40,000.

Mr. De Lucia: Yes.

Mr. Halley: But you say you got $40,000 from Mr. Bennett a few months ago?

Mr. De Lucia: Yes.

Mr. Halley: Is the $40,000 you have in addition to what you got from Mr. Bennett?

Mr. De Lucia: No, I mixed all I had. When I got the money I mixed it with some money I had in the bank.

Mr. Halley: So right now you have…

Mr. De Lucia: $40,000. It would be a little less now.

Mr. Halley: That $40,000 is what you owe Mr. Bennett, is that right?

Mr. De Lucia: Yes.

Mr. Halley: Also you owe him another $40,000 on the mortgage?

Mr. De Lucia: That is right.

Mr. Halley: Why is it that when you get a sum as large as $40,000 you take that in cash and do not put it in the bank?

Mr. De Lucia: That is a lot of money to put in a bank, $40,000, all at one time, Mr. Halley…

Mr. Halley: Don't you think it is a lot of money to keep in your house in cash?

Mr. De Lucia: Well, I needed some cash for the house. I needed some cash, you know, you never can tell. So I figure I can keep the money. I always like to keep money in my hands.

Mr. Halley: For what did yon need sums in money in cash?

Mr. De Lucia: I always like to keep money in cash on hand. I was told when I was a boy to keep cash money on hand at all times.

Mr. Halley: That is very nice, Mr. Ricca, but we are serious about that. I don't care about what yon were told since you were a boy. What I want to know is this: We have seen your books. They were kept for the benefit of the parole officer, and everything is paid by check and kept in the books in great detail. Will you tell this committee what you needed large sums of money in cash for 3 or 4 months ago?

Mr. De Lucia: I always have cash in my home.

The Chairman: Mr. Ricca that is not a very satisfactory answer. You have a bank account and keep a lot of money there.

Mr. De Lucia: Senator that is the best answer. Maybe you won't believe it, but that is true.

The Chairman: There isn't anything about this security matter. The money is more secure in a bank than it is in a box in your house.

Mr. De Lucia: That is right.

The Chairman: We want to know why you had to keep such large sums of money in your house or on yourself.

Mr. De Lucia: I am sorry, Senator, I can't give a better answer than that, and I mean it. I am sincere about it. I always like to keep money in my hands.


From the above conversation we can see that Ricca, whether true or false, answered all of the questions that were presented by the committee. In fact, he never used the 5th amendment although it was his right to do so but instead, Ricca lied like a son of a b*tch. It sounds really funny to me when a senate committee such as this one, asks the gangsters to take an oath and expect them to give truthful answers. I mean Ricca was a criminal and a killer at the same time, he lied, and in fact his job was to lie and to swindle people. So how can you expect from a person like that to give a truthful answer?! As additional info, after Ricca’s testimony, Hugo Bennett resigned as track auditor from the Sportsman’s Race Track.



Ricca at the Kefauver hearings









In 1950, the Outfit’s commission was ruled by Ricca and Campagna at the top, with Accardo as the day-to-day boss and Campagna still having his own territory which was the Cicero area, the lower and upper west sides were headed by one old time Capone mobster named Tony Capezio and his protégé Sam Giancana, the West Side suburbs were controlled by Rocco DeGrazia and Sam Battaglia, and since D’Andrea was retired from the mob because of his health problems, now the Near South Side and the Loop was controlled by one of his old Mafia lieutenants Bruno Roti Sr. and the Southwest, South Suburbs and North Side still belonged to Rocco Fischetti, Jim Amaratti and Ross Prio. Accardo was very well respected by Ricca and the Outfit in general because he expanded their gambling operations and took over some of the nations sports betting wire services. Accardo controlled the wire operations and betting parlors from northwest Indiana to the northern suburbs of Chicago. But he was always careful not to act superior around Ricca, the man who had trained him for the top position. During this period many people claim that Ricca and Accardo shared an equal power over the Outfit but I have to disagree because Ricca was once Accardo’s boss and always remained as one. Plus Ricca was older than Accardo so he always has been like his mentor and with that he always had the last word regarding important decisions. But one day the good relationship between Accardo and Ricca became threatened.


In 1951, Accardo made his first dumb move by buying a huge mansion which was one of the largest homes in the River Forest area and with that he also brought the heat from the FBI and also the envy from his fellow mobsters. So the next year the government issued warrants for two of Accardo’s associates in the horse meat business, Joel Miller and Joe Siciliano. The horse meat business was a very lucrative operation and because of that Ricca wanted the operations to remain untouched by the government. But the problem was that government agents had already uncovered the multimillion dollar trade in horse meat sold as hamburgers at restaurants and many other locals around the Chicago area. On 27 March, 1952, Accardo was wanted for questioning by the special Cook county grand jury that was investigating the horse meat racket. The group wanted to question Accardo about the several beatings of a mystery witness whose identity has been kept secret by the state's attorney and the disappearance of Joel Miller. But things got worst when the body of Joel Miller was taken out from the Illinois River and investigators said that this had connection with the horse meat scandal and that the murder was ordered by Outfit members. Also investigators believed that Miller was a "muscle man" for the horse meat racketeers. In fact, Miller was a high ranking associate in the company of Siciliano and a “stone in the shoe” for Accardo. So Siciliano has refused to submit to a lie detector about Miller's disappearance and was placed under indictment in Lake County on charges of bribery and conspiracy. Joseph Siciliano was sentenced to 5 years in prison on charges of bribing a state food inspector and during the trial 4 high ranking Outfit members were mentioned, including Ricca, Campagna and Gioe. The scandal was so big that it became national.


Story goes that Ricca became very angry at Accardo for the disruption of the horse meat business. He was mostly mad because he controlled a big number of butcher shops and meat markets on the city’s West Side. On March 30, that same year, the Chicago Tribune published an article named “RICCA REPLACES ACCARDO AS TOP SYNDICATE BOSS!” The article stated that information came from reliable underworld sources that Accardo has been ousted for bungling the Outfit’s handling of the horse meat and cigarette tax stamp rackets. During a secret meeting, the organization, still headed by Ricca and Campagna, agreed that Accardo should have picked better men to head the meat and cigarette rackets. The few who defended him pointed out that the rackets grew so vast in Illinois that the ordinary secret syndicate method of operation was impossible. But Ricca and Campagna, as the elderly leaders of the Outfit’s commission, were interested only in numbers and secrecy, which in this particular case, both things were being disrupted. One of the bosses allegedly commented that "Accardo picked too many lugs, too many palookas, like that Siciliano. We should have put that guy’s legs in cement." So it was decided that a sharper man was needed at the top so he can make the syndicate comfortable, with better direction and ability to escape detection. In other words, Ricca, Campagna and Accardo groomed one of their best until he became ready to take the top position. That individual was Sam Giancana. As additional info, some FBI reports claim that after Accardo was ousted as boss, Campagna took the position while Giancana prepared himself for the huge responsibility.


So the problems continued when that same year, Ricca and Campagna were arrested again on the suspicion regarding their involvement in the recent murders of former police lieutenant William Drury and Marvin Bas, an attorney. In fact, the two Outfit bosses went voluntarily to police offices accompanied by their attorney, William Scott Stewart. Stewart said that they had heard that the police wished to question them and that the suspects wished to come in and make statements rather than face arrest by states attorney’s police. Ricca explained to the cops that he was at home watching an eclipse of the moon the night Drury and Bas were killed and Campagna said that he was at his farm near Berrien Springs, Michigan and that was that. The cops had no evidences to hold the two crime bosses so they had to let them go.



Ricca and Campagna


Both Ricca and Accardo had many new tax trials on their way and so naturally the bosses became a little bit more paranoid from the pressure that the government gave them. Ricca started to sense informers everywhere around him and often used his famous phrase "Make'a him go away", a commandment which was often given to Giancana and his crew. Usually these so-called “contracts” were first given as “proposals” by the area bosses of the organization. These “proposals” were usually given to Gus Alex or Murray Humphreys who in turn informed Accardo or Giancana. Then one of the two bosses took the information to Ricca who was the last individual that “signed the contracts.” And after that Accardo or Giancana took the order to Humphreys or Alex, who later turned it over to Sam Battaglia or Ross Prio.

Few guys disappeared including one Taylor Street crew associate, 32 year old Anthony Ragucci. Ricca figured that Ragucci was talking to the Federal government so naturally he had to go. Even if he wasn't talking to the feds, every now and then Ricca had to set an example for the new members and to remind to old ones about the very strict rule of keeping their mouths shut. So the cops found Ragucci shot to death on October 1, 1953. He was face down in a sewer on 35th Street. Maybe there was some internal was because after the slaying of Ragucci, in March 1954, Tony Accardo almost received a bullet from an unknown assassin during a meeting in a car with the West Side administration Giancana, Jackie Cerone and Sam Battaglia. To be honest there’s not even a shred of evidence why it happened and who really ordered it. But there’s one FBI memo which says that the problem between Ricca and Accardo wasn’t finished yet and that Ricca was behind the shooting at Accardo. So in May 1954, the two former elders of the old Capone mob, 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 so their words were like steel and so legend goes that they brought the Ricca/Accardo alliance again in full effect. As additional info, three years later Torrio died from a heart attack in Brooklyn, New York while sitting in a barber's chair waiting for a haircut, as for Tony Ricci, he went to reside in the Miami area, where he acted as a fence for stolen jewelry, furs and other expensive items, and was also involved in bookmaking, loan sharking and narcotics. Over there he was constantly visited by many Chicago hoodlums including Gus Alex and Lester Kruse.



Tony Ricci


I believe that during the meeting it was considered that Outfit members Charles Gioe and Frank Maritote held a grudge against Ricca and Accardo for obvious reasons. Gioe was demoted from capo or area boss to a “made guy” and many of his union activities were taken over by other factions of the Outfit. There’s also another story in which Gioe had a financial conflict with Jake Guzik, and so back in 1942 he orchestrated his kidnapping and threatened to kill the old Jewish mob boss. As for Maritote, nobody posted the bond for his release of jail and so he spent the whole ten years. Maritote was high in the ranks during the Capone days and same goes for Gioe, who used to be the crime boss in Des Moines, Iowa. So this became unexceptable in their own minds, and I believe that maybe they tried to pull few moves here and there to make a conflict between Ricca and Accardo, which instantly became their own demise.


Also in July 1954, Charlie Gioe made a dumb move 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 so on August 18, 1954 Charles Gioe was shot to death by Outfit hitmen allegedly sent by Ricca. Suspects in the murder were Melrose Park members Phil Alderisio, Marshall Caifano, and Charles Nicoletti who were under the command of Giancana and Sam Battaglia who in turn answered to Ricca and Accardo. Four nights later 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 neighbourhood. Maritote was buried in the usual ornate bronze casket which was surrounded by 45 elaborate floral pieces but the ones with gangland names were missing. None of the wreaths bore the names of Paul Ricca or Tony Accardo which indicated on who really ordered the murder. As additional info, shortly before his death, Maritote allegedly said that Gioe was killed for trying to muscle in on the union business.


Also, back in the late 1940’s organized crime retiree "William ”Bob” Nelson" moved to Tucson, Arizona and lived rather quietly in his then-rural East Bethany Home Road neighbourhood for six years. Now you ask yourself, why the hell am I talking about this “Nelson” guy?! Well "Nelson" in fact was former Outfit associate and extortionist, and also a “stool pigeon” in the witness protection program, named Willie Bioff. Yes, Bioff changed his surname into Nelson, which was his wife's maiden name. In exchange for selling out his former associates, Bioff walked away from prison and got to keep the millions he had stolen as well. The thing is that Bioff wasn't really hiding out in Arizona and in fact he became rich and very likable person among the high society. Bioff was a natural fixer and understood the politicians and soon he became popular within the golden elite of Arizona politics. Eventually Ricca was informed about Bioff’s whereabouts and sent him a “present.” According to mob historian John William Tuohy, Ricca also knew that Bioff had power and connections in Arizona and most importantly he also knew that Bioff had stashed millions of dollars from the Hollywood extortion case. So in 1955, Detroit mob boss Peter Licavoli, who resided in Arizona, and Paul Ricca started to shake down Bioff for cash. Willie paid off for a while, but then he started making noise about going to the feds through his new pal, Senator Barry Goldwater. But Bioff didn’t know that Goldwater already knew Licavoli and Ricca and so one day, on November 4, 1955, many people were deeply shocked when Bioff got literally blown to pieces in his automobile. Now the score was settled and Bioff’s death sent shock waves through the high society in Arizona and around the country.


We can see that like any great city, Chicago also has its share of crimes of avarice, lust, and revenge. But it is hardly understandable that during that period, when the Mob in the U.S. was highly organized, the bosses of the syndicate still settled their differences with violence. In general, they have learned peaceful co-existence within their own circle but instead Ricca again managed to present the main rule which was that no one was above the Outfit’s top administration. The Chicago faction of America’s La Cosa Nostra used to be the bloodiest and most horrific segment of the organization with Ricca at the top.


Ricca never really had any big problems with running his organization but deep inside he knew that his biggest problem was the government which never stopped paying attention and tried to get rid of him by any means. They tried with conviction and jail, but that didn’t work so the only solution that left was deportation. Many of Ricca’s Mafia partners, like the old time boss of Chicago’s South Suburbs Dominic Roberto or like New York's Charlie Luciano and Joe Adonis, all got deported to Italy by the government. Mobsters have been deported to their birth places, but there were a lot of cases of failed deportations, like the infamous cases of New Orleans Mob boss Carlos Marcello and Genovese crime family boss Frank Costello and of course in this case, Paul Ricca. So now the agents from the INS started investigating the Outfit boss.


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. While the bosses were fishing, they also enjoyed the sun with more than few beers on the side. So during the 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. His funeral was visited by all of the crime bosses from the state of Illinois, and the main guy who made all the arrangements was Accardo himself. Accardo has been in charge of the wake for two whole nights. His older mentor Ricca was seated in a car near by the grave, because Campagna’s death felt very terrible on his soul. Plus Ricca was diagnosed as diabetic and he was 58 years old, so I believe that he lacked from strength. As additional info, there’s another story, according to the Greater Miami Crime Commission, that during that faithful fishing trip, the real individuals on the boat with the late Campagna were Ricca and Tony Ricci together with Peter Arnstein a.k.a. Pete Arnold, another Outfit representative in Miami, and also Joe Fischetti.


In June, 1955, some of the Outfit’s leaders and also mobsters from the New York area, met at the Thunderbird Hotel in Miami, Florida to discuss the further situations within the Chicago faction and who’s going to be the successor of Campagna. By that time, almost every associate of Ricca, since the old Capone days, was either dead or out of the city in permanent retirement. The only guys that left were him and Accardo. Slowly the younger generation was coming up in the mob world so now Ricca had to take matters in his own hands again, because he understood the nature of the changing of the guard and decided that he and Accardo should shun the limelight for a while and that’s why, after the meeting in Miami, Ricca called his underlings at the Tam O'Shanter Restaurant in Chicago and presented Giancana as the newly elected boss, or as some sources say, as the day-to-day guy on the streets of Chicago. In the end Ricca declared that Accardo was going to be Giancana’s advisor and Ricca was going to take the place as his senior advisor.



Sam Giancana


Another thing, which occurred after the sudden deaths of Nitti and Campagna, was that all of the money and interests which were stashed by these deceased hoodlums were never to be found. Campagna died suddenly and Nitti killed himself in a stage of depression, so none of them told their families on where they stashed their riches. Nitti’s relatives found very little, as for the Campagnas, they found nothing. So now Ricca issued an order that their hidden interests should be placed on their wives’ or relatives names, so if the Outfit member should die, his wife and family can benefit from the hidden stock. Also if someone has buried cash or any kind of treasure, because this was the time when some of the gangsters still buried their money, they should at least tell one of their most trusted family members about the whereabouts. These rules were very important because many members died and left their families penniless and so duty fell on the rest of the Outfit higher ups to “feed many hungry mouths.” Looks like the old timers like Ricca really took care for their own and it was such a pity that those rules didn’t apply for the new comers or in other words they didn’t care anymore.


During the mid 1950’s the Outfit looked like this: Ricca was the chairman and president of a board of directors, Accardo served as senior advisor and Giancana was the general manager and the rest were directors or managers of certain territories or departments, which counted not more than six or seven individuals. But my point is that between Giancana and the rest of the management, there was the non-Italian faction which now was headed by Murray Humphreys and Gus Alex. They were the guys that spread the given orders throughout the organization, including made members, associates and public officials and also, they were the ones who gave out the “contracts” to the “hit departments.” So even though Ricca came from traditional mafia values, he still adopted the old Capone ways by mixing his organization with different nationalities.


Almost 30 years ago, Ricca bought himself a four acre summer house in a village in Long Beach, Indiana. The estate had a tennis court and huge underground garage which was large enough for fifty cars. So when the National Syndicate took over the International Teamster Union in the mid 1950’s, which was headed by Jimmy Hoffa, Ricca again exercised his power by directing Hoffa to purchase Ricca's summer house for $150,000, even though the property was valued at only $85,000. So on June 19, 1956, since the property was on the name of Ricca’s wife Nancy, she first deeded it to one of Ricca’s attorneys James Imburgio Bulger and later on August 8, Bulger sold the property to the Teamsters.



Aerial view of the estate



By the late 1950’s the Jewish crew of the West Side faction, which was headed by Leonard Patrick, was entering the Rogers Park area which was controlled by the North Side crew headed by Ross Prio. So according to some reports Prio granted Patrick’s wish with the blessing of Giancana. Now if you ask me, I consider this statement false because Prio was one of the top Outfit bosses since the late 1940’s, way before Giancana so my point is that Prio wasn’t a guy who was going to easily throw away parts of his territory because of Giancana’s wishes. Instead, Patrick received his share only because his daughter was dating one of Ricca’s sons. And I believe that Prio had more respect for Ricca and less for Giancana.


In 1959, Ricca’s luck again ran out when he had problems with the Internal Revenue Service and the tax evasion charges came for the second time. The government charged 62 year old Ricca with unreported income from gambling in 1948, 1949, and 1950. In the 1948, 1949, and 1950 returns Ricca reported taxable income on the minus side. The 1951-55 returns disclosed that he had nominal income in 1951, 1952, and 1953, except in the first of these years when he included profit from the sale of his Kendall county farm. However, in 1954 he reported gross income of $79,149, of which $76,512 was lumped under "personal wagering at tracks, etc." His tax was $33,248. For 1955, he reported gross income of $90,760, including $86,050 described as "personal wagering at tracks, etc." He paid $38,826 in taxes. So the source of 1948-50 funds which the government contended was unreported income estimated on a theoretical basis, and which the defence contended was $300,000 hidden in Ricca's River Forest attic, also be supposed to be from gambling. Ricca’s attorney James Bulger was also charged with the making of a false statement in vouching for Ricca's attic cache story.



Ricca



Ricca won a delay on charges of income tax evasion back in 1958



Twenty two individuals and firms, who had business deals with Ricca, were called to testify during the trial. The list included bankers, architects, and automobile, real estate and insurance dealers. One of the witnesses Hugh Garden was an architect and part owner of the firm Garden and Erikson. So Garden told the prosecutors that Ricca, whom he knew as “Paul Salvi,” was the main sponsor of the Italian Village at the 1933 Century of Progress exposition, for which Garden was the architect. Garden also added that when it came time to pay the contractors, Ricca would appear and lay large sums of cash in bills on the table. He said Ricca would have the contractor to sign a receipt in an adjoining room and then Ricca would walk out, thus leaving the contractor to pick up the money. Another witness Max Moss, an automobile dealer, said that Ricca bought dozens of cars from him from 1934 until 1940. The dealer said that after Ricca bought his first car from him, people began to come in and said “Paul sent me.” The prosecutors even called for Ricca’s associate Hugo Bennett, former auditor at the Sportsman’s Park race track in Chicago and Miami, to take the witness stand.


In the end, with all the efforts and battles, Ricca was found guilty and began serving a 3-year prison sentence on 1st of July, 1959. The other day the Supreme Court in Washington declined to review his case and Ricca then surrendered to the United States marshal to start his three year prison term. He was sentenced to the penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, and in those days it was good to know that Ricca was at last undergoing punishment for one of his crimes even though he should have been sent away long ago for the much more serious offences of which he was guilty.


In prison, Ricca had the image of a bald old man, who everyone in the prison, including the guards and warden, was afraid of. He was constantly visited by all kinds of people, who usually asked for favours, or showed respect or even handled messages for the old “Don.” When the visitors left, they never turned their backs at the old boss, but instead first they took few steps back before turning and walking away. One of the most notable visitors was Democratic State Senator from the West Side and long time mob associate, Roland Libonati. This guy used to take pictures with the late Al Capone during baseball matches and labelled people such as Ricca, “charitable” and “patriotic” fellows. When Libonati visited Ricca in his prison cell on August 24, 1960, the scene was like taken out of the Godfather movie. According to a federal informant, there was a display of affection with hugging and kissing, like two “made guys” should salute each other. I’m not saying that Libonati was a member of the mob but he surely knew how to act like one. After that the two individuals exchanged few whispers and departed with a grin on their faces. I believe that Libonati came personally to assure the boss of Chicago’s underworld that he’s getting out early. In fact according to FBI reports during Ricca’s stay in prison, his main connection guy Murray Humphreys was in constant contact with Libonati to expedite the early release of their boss.


While Ricca was away, as usual, again his absence upset the balance in Chicago’s underworld. Some reports say that there were at least five gangland slayings that were somehow connected with Ricca and his prison term. Old-timers like Fred Evans got whacked on Chicago’s West Side by two killers who waited patiently for their target and pumped few bullets into Evans’ head. Evans headed six Chicago laundry firms specializing in handling of industrial items and diapers and after his death, the mob completely took over these firms. In other words, Giancana and rest of the gang were doing what ever they wanted, especially Giancana. He brought unspeakable “heat” from the government and media, and above all, he made an un-repairable damage within the organization.


Giancana’s “independence” was caused by the difference between Accardo’s and Giancana’s reigns as bosses of the Outfit in Chicago. When Ricca was in jail, Accardo became the acting boss, but when Ricca got out, to my opinion is that Accardo became the front boss, which means that Accardo consulted all important decisions with his superior. There was no reason for Ricca to retire because during that time he was still in full effect. But when Giancana became the day-to day boss, both Ricca and Accardo had huge legal problems so they had no available time to lead the organization, and again to my opinion, during the late 1950’s and early 60’s Giancana became Ricca’s successor and for almost 6 years he held the position as the supreme boss of the Chicago Outfit, no fronts, no “acting bosses”, no nothing.


During the late 1950’s Giancana managed to bring the old Capone mob from its ashes. The organization again reached the old annual revenue of $100,000,000 which they used to made during the old days of Prohibition. But now instead of booze, they controlled the gambling racket, which included wire services and handbook operations, the Policy and the Bolita rackets, card and dice games, slot machines and casinos all around the country and foreign states. Speaking about foreign states, some of the boys made deals in Central and South America, Western Europe and even the Middle East. In some of these countries they also controlled the vending machine business which was their huge thing in Chicago and around the country. The gambling racket was followed by huge loan sharking operations, which generated millions of dollars. The greatest thing for Ricca and the boys was of course the labor rackets, from which they controlled the worker man’s everyday life. They even extorted or owned almost every kind of legitimate businesses in and out of the Chicago area. And just to maintain their old tradition, the Outfit still controlled the prostitution business in their own city. By now Ricca’s organization, known as the Outfit, was the leading crime family in the U.S.


When Giancana took over, the Outfit has changed for the third time. Now most of the leading mobsters were born in Chicago and grew up in the poorest of neighbourhoods with people from various nationalities. These guys had less respect for the hierarchy within the organization, and they broke the rules on daily basis but even with that, they still made more cash than the previous administrations, all combined together. Speaking about administrations, during Giancana’s reign from 1957 until 1964, the Outfit took a completely new face. The West Side faction was still in full effect, but with many new faces. Giancana’s multi-million dollar empire was overseen by two main individuals, including Frank Ferraro from the First Ward and Sam Battaglia from the Western Suburbs. Even though Giancana was a full fledged American type of gangster, he still respected the Italian type of hierarchy and formation which was presented by his mentor Ricca. The old boss trusted his successor and felt relaxed regarding the general state of the organization, which was the “weight” of their income. Even if they were in jail or in out of space, the bosses still expected their weekly income. If not, somebody was “gettin’ whacked” for sure.


Just how much Ricca was still the top boss it was confirmed on a wiretapped conversation between Los Angeles gangster Jimmy Fratianno and Ricca’s West Coast emissary Johnny Roselli. Fratiano said "I understand Sam is the boss out there now." "Sam's the boss," Roselli replied, "but the man in Chicago is still Paul Ricca. Sam doesn't make any moves without consulting Paul...He's been the man in Chicago since Capone went to prison. Forget Frank Nitti and Joe Batters. They listen to Paul, believe me." Now Roselli was known to be very talkative individual but besides that he was a high level mobster and he had a first hand knowledge on who was who within the Western crime families but above all, he had the best knowledge about his own crime family which was the Chicago Outfit. So I don’t understand all of the doubts about Ricca being the number one guy since the imprisonment of Capone. Yeah, he used to be the top guy and by 1962, he still was.


A very powerful example of Ricca’s “abilities” as Mafia boss can be easily described with the entertainment industry that they had at the time. According to an interview with corrupt Alderman Donald Parrillo, in 1962 Ricca was playing cards with Parrillo and some other friends of his, including his son Paul Jr. This happened in Ricca's basement recreation room at his home in River Forest. Also at a separate table Ricca was playing another round of poker with five other people because the old man loved playing the cards. Even Accardo and the rest of the old guys loved playing cards. Suddenly they heard music and applause coming from the upper floors of the house and that was because Ricca's wife Nancy was entertaining some ladies' group. After a while, she came down to the recreation room with a handsome young man from Italy who had a guitar strapped around his neck. She referred to her husband “Oh, Papa, I just love this young man, he's got such a beautiful voice. Can you help him?” Ricca replied "Well, what does he want?” and then he turned to the young boy and asked him “What do you want, young man?”, and out of nowhere the boy replied “I'd like to be on the Ed Sullivan Show!” “When would you like to go on it?” Ricca asked, and the boy again replied, “As soon as possible.” So Ricca allegedly said to some guy who was seated next to him “Call the Jew in California and tell him to put this guy on the Ed Sullivan Show next Sunday.” As expected, after few days there was this young Italian singer right on TV, who was named Sergio Franchi.


Sergio Franchi

Ricca helped and mentored a lot of people in his life but his most successful minions were “hidden in his closet.” For example Ricca mentored two Outfit members such as Romeo Nappi or Sam De Stefano, who in turn were two individuals very different from each other. De Stefano met the Outfit boss back in the 1940’s in Leavenworth prison, where Ricca “blessed” his new recruit and gave him a chance to make some real cash and eventually to be initiated into the organization. But the problem was that this kid De Stefano had no special skills and was a very illiterate individual but he had a quite “nice” history for Ricca’s taste. De Stefano knew Giancana, Nicoletti, Caifano since the days of the old 42 gang and “Dino” as he was known, was the most psychotic of them all. So now De Stefano was one of the most successful loan sharks in Illinois and above all, one of the most bloodthirsty, and according to some accounts even satanic killers that the Outfit ever had. As for Romeo Nappi, he was something quite opposite of the murderous De Stefano. He was the younger brother of Ralph Nappi, one of Ricca’s oldest mob associates. But huge tragedy occurred when Ralph was murdered back in 1941, during a drunken saloon fight in Wisconsin. So from that point on Ricca took care and at the same time mentored Ralph’s younger brother into corruption and crime. Besides being directly connected to the city’s “boss of all bosses”, Nappi also had direct connection to the First Ward and Pat Marcy. Nappi also took a cut from the policy racket and had strong ties in Chicago’s Police Department. As additional info, the Nappi brothers were in fact nephews of one of Ricca’s associates since the old Capone days, named Anthony Iorii.


After their deaths, Ricca took care for many mobster’s wives and children. For example when Nitti took his life, Ricca took care of his kid or when Capone went to jail and even after his death, Ricca and the Outfit took care for his wife and child, until one day when Giancana decided to stop the “tradition.” Ricca respected the codes that guided his criminal brotherhood because with out those codes and rules, their organization could’ve never existed. But by the early 1960’s the only few guys that still respected the rules were the last ones who witnessed the Capone era, including the non-Italians such as Murray Humphreys and Eddie Vogel. According to Humphreys, the new generation in the organization lacked from respect and toughness.


Now the First Ward was represented by political figures and Outfit “henchmen” John D’Arco Sr. and Pat Macy, who in turn were overseen by Frank Ferraro and Gus Alex, who in turn were overseen by Humphreys. Now these guys, and including Libonati and dozen of other associates on high places, played a major role, as I previously stated, in the early release of Paul Ricca. So on October 21, 1961, the government released the boss after serving two years and three months out of a three year sentence. When he was released from jail, Ricca wasn’t ready to take control of his organization because the government wasn’t finished with him yet and so there was another huge problem waiting on the outside.


Even long before his second conviction, the government realized that Ricca’s real name was not “Paul Maglio” but instead it was Felice De Lucia who was in fact was a murderer on the run and so they revoked his citizenship. Story goes that back in 1947, when Ricca was released from prison, the cops allegedly received an anonymous phone call by someone who disliked the old boss. "Ricca's real name is Felice De Lucia," the mysterious caller whispered, "He was convicted of two murders in Italy. Check under the name De Lucia and you will see." With these words, the person who apparently bore a grudge against Ricca furnished the government with the clew it needed to the gangster's true identity. So this one phone call gave immigration authorities the information they had sought to institute denaturalization and deportation proceedings. On June 8, 1957, Judge Walter La Buy of the Federal District Court ruled that Ricca has obtained his citizenship by fraud and ordered his citizenship revoked.


Judge La Buy acted after the government had produced 2 witnesses and 70 documents and charts at a series of hearings during which Ricca presented no defence and volunteered nothing more than his name and address. The government’s most telling witness was the real Paul Maglio, the man whose name and identity Ricca had taken. It was Maglio, a laborer in the United States since he has immigrated in 1920, who told Judge La Buy that he ha worked in the city hall at Apricena, Italy, keeping track of birth and death records, an that he was the only Paolo Maglio born in that city of 6,000 people. At the time of the court hearings, Maglio had been under strong guard of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for three years and FBI agent was always at his home. Another witness, thru a deposition, was Mrs. Margaret Perillo Terribile, also an American citizen now, who testified that her brother was murdered in their native town in Italy, and that the murderer, Felice De Lucia, got off with a three year jail term because of his youth. While Mrs. Terribile was returning to her native Italy, she fled the country in terror. Federal agents visited her and got her story several months before and when they returned to her home to take her deposition, they discovered that a "stranger" had visited there in the interim. Mrs. Terribile’s husband was quite frightened, and he persuaded her not to talk.


While the witnesses were testifying, the dapper Ricca sat in court, alternately fixing them with a stony glare and chuckling at their broken English. Another witness received different treatment. He was the Rev. Nicholas Scola, who officiated at Ricca's marriage back in 1927, with Al Capone and Capone's sister as witnesses. Father Scola admitted that he was an unwilling witness and William Stewart, Ricca's lawyer, was heard to say, "That's all right, father, we understand you were an unwilling witness." An unwilling witness is given assurance that he has nothing to fear. Others, who honour their obligation as citizens to tell the truth in court, appeared in terror and one even fled the country. Everybody was scared of the old man.


Everyone thought the end of the road was in sight and that soon Ricca would be winging his way back to Italy or whatever country receives him. So now the judges of the United States Court of Appeals were forced to listen hours and hours of long arguments from Ricca's lawyers regarding his appeal of the deportation order, and after a while took the petition under advisement. Ricca's attorney, William Stewart, argued that the crime of which Ricca was convicted in Italy was not "moral turpitude," and that it was "voluntary homicide with provocation," tantamount to justifiable homicide. But Robert Caffarelli, assistant United States attorney, argued that Ricca served a three year prison term in Italy for the crime, and that he had falsified his citizenship application by concealing two murders back in Italy.


So with out any hesitation, the government ordered for Ricca to be deported from the United States but again the boss appealed. On April 2, 1962, the U.S. Court denied another hearing and Ricca was asked to choose a country where he would like to be deported to. But Ricca’s lawyers had written letters to 47 nations in Europe, and South and Central America, purportedly asking refuge there but in reality with each letter Ricca enclosed press clippings detailing his crime syndicate connections. All 47 countries immediately replied that he wasn't welcome. The United States, it appeared, was stuck with Ricca. Only one country said that would take Ricca and that was Monaco but only as temporary guest. When the reporters asked Ricca about the situation, he replied "No country in the world would take me permanently, so I guess I have to stay in this country for a while".



Ricca during the deportation trial






The kind of lives that people like Ricca lived or live, or at least criminals on his level, is not the “easiest way” to get through this journey of ours, but on the contrary, it is a very difficult, ugly and violent kind of life. A normal individual simply could not go through that same kind of life because you have to deal with all kinds of bad people on daily bases, and on top of that, you have to deal with the law, also on daily basis. So besides his constant legal problems, Ricca also had to deal with problems within the National Syndicate since he was one of the original Mafia Commission members.


During the early 1960’s, the infamous New York Mafia boss Joe Bonanno was aware of the tremendous wealth emerging on the west side of the country and so he wanted to make close connections with the Los Angeles crime family which already had an alliance with the Chicago Outfit. Rumours were that Bonanno had plans to depose Frank DeSimone, the southern California boss, and replace him with his own son Bill Bonanno. As a member of the commission, Bonanno already had oversight jurisdiction over the two northern California families such as San Francisco and San Jose but the Chicago guys didn’t like that. Also one of the Commission bosses Joe Profaci died in 1962, and was succeeded by a good friend of Bonanno's Joe Magliocco. Story goes that Bonanno and Magliocco plotted against some of the members of the Mafia commission, Tommy Lucchese and Carlo Gambino, but in fact it wasn’t Bonanno who made the plan but it was Magliocco himself, but who knows?!



Joe Bonanno


Whatever was the truth, by 1963, Bonanno was in serious trouble with the New York crime families, the Chicago Outfit and other crime families from around the country. Story goes that Bonanno was called before the Commission to explain himself but he refused by not showing up and rumours were that he was hiding in Tucson, Arizona. Here’s what Ricca, Giancana and one Mafioso who acted as investigator for the Commission and was also a high level member of the Genovese crime family in New York, Tommy Eboli, had to say about the Bonanno situation:

GIANCANA (referring to Eboli about Bonanno): Why don’t you just kill this guy? Why do you want to send him a message for? What are you doing is giving the guy an opportunity to strengthen his position and give you trouble. Now we don’t want no trouble.

EBOLI: That will be straightened out. Hey Paul (referring to Ricca), when I got to tell you something, I talk to you the same way as I talk to Vito (Genovese), but what I want to talk about over here is between you and I. I don’t want you going back talking to Sam (Giancana) and I don’t want Sam going back and talking to Tommy Brown (Tommy Lucchese). I’m not coming here to say anything. I want to give you my opinion now that you asked me…

RICCA: Listen, first of all, it’s true, Bonanno has the right to ask for those three guys, but in a case like this, its technicality. When they sent Angelo Bruno, and he’s representing the Commission, you should of listened to him. If this guy (Bonanno) is honest, if the guy has nothing to worry about, but by him not coming in, it makes you believe he gots something to worry about.


Then a year later, Joe Bonanno came back to New York and mysteriously disappeared and was not heard from again for almost two years. It was claimed that Joe was kidnapped in front of his lawyer's apartment in New York City by rival factions. It still remains a mystery whether this is true or not, but during this period there were many tapped conversations between mobsters from around the country, badmouthing Joe Bonanno. The same year his crime family split into two factions and that was the start of the infamous “Banana Wars”. As additional info, Tommy Eboli and Ricca’s slot machine operator distant relative Guido DeChiaro were related thru marriage.


On July 29, 1963, Ricca chaired a meeting at the Staley’s Restaurant in Chicago, in which most of the top members of the Outfit were present, including Accardo, Frank Ferraro, Jack Cerone and Joey Glimco, and also present were the non-Italian faction bosses such as Murray Humphreys, Gus Alex, Fred Smith and Ralph Pierce. It is not known what was the purpose of this meeting but my guess is that there might’ve been more than one topic. Regarding Giancana’s absence on this meeting because of his constant travels with famous girls, so I strongly believe that he was one of the topics. Ricca and Accardo had to take a more active role in the day to day actions because Giancana’s absence caused a rebellion within the organization so the two top elders kept the Outfit from breaking into several factions which in their opinion would’ve make it extremely vulnerable to government investigations and also loosing business to other crime families. Another problem that some of the guys like Ferraro and Humphreys had with Giancana was he sanctioning an interview between two federal agents and one of his henchmen Charles Inglesia. During the interview Inglesia allegedly said that the legendary singer Frank Sinatra was used by Giancana as intermediary between him and the President John Kennedy. Story goes that Humphreys was so mad because the simple involving of Sinatra caused a great damage of the hoodlum organization around the country.


Another topic might’ve been the constant government attacks on the gambling business in Chicago and the converting more to the labor rackets and the vending machine business. I say the vending and union businesses because of the presence of Alex, Smith, Humphreys and Glimco. And my third opinion is that one of the topics must’ve been the Bonanno situation on both west and east coasts of the U.S.


Another big meeting was held two months later in September during a wedding party of the son of an Outfit associate known as Ben Felichio. The wedding was held at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in which the bosses received a separate room for their meeting which now included Giancana, Ricca, Accardo, Ferraro and Humphreys. By now these five individuals controlled the infamous Chicago Outfit. I have a very funny picture of this meeting by Giancana being placed in the middle of the circle and also being questioned like a little naughty boy, but in reality some sources say that the main topic on the meeting was the extreme downfall of the gambling racket in Chicago. I also believe that on this meeting Giancana was told to “lay low.” But even though Ricca was the “almighty”, still Giancana had many supporters who by now were elevated on higher positions within the organization which means that most of these guys controlled many soldiers and associates who in turn represented Giancana’s “army.” And I also don’t believe that a guy like Ferraro had the guts or even stature within the organization to talk against the boss in his face. Giancana was always a trouble maker and I believe that Ricca was very well aware of that even before he made him boss and that’s why Ricca used to always let things go.


In October 1963, Ricca and Giancana attended a meeting with Buddy Jacobson, representative of the First Ward and Democratic organization, in which the bosses told Jacobson that they were satisfied with the workings of the Democratic party but there was too much pressure from the FBI and so Ricca advised Jacobson that the organization must be patient and wait for the pressure to lift. On November 16, 1963, Ricca together with his associate Guido De Chiaro took a flight to Miami and the duo was greeted by old timer Tony Ricci. While leaving the airport, the trio as arrested by the Miami intelligence squad and were taken for questioning. They said that they were visiting their old friend Ricci while vacationing and so they were released. While in Chicago, Ricca and Accardo started having meetings in open places or among large crowds. For example, during December, 1963, Jack Cerone chaffered Ricca and Accardo on daily basis, usually to the Loop area where the two bosses would usually get out of the car and immediately mingled with the crowd.


Because of these constant meetings, the federal agents who followed Ricca’s every step, now they were quite sure about his position within the organization and that’s why the government decided to take another shot at Ricca. In 1964, the government decided to act again and quickly and so on July 7, less than an hour before Ricca was to be bundled onto an airliner bound for Italy, his lawyers acted faster and quickly field a petition for review with the United States Court of Appeals and so Ricca was safe again. The lawyers acted within minutes after Chief Judge William Campbell of federal District court had denied Ricca’s plea for a stay of the deportation order and a writ of habeas corpus. But Ricca had yet another legal maneuver up his sleeve and he used it. That September, while the temporary stay order of the appeals court remained in effect, Ricca asked the immigration board of appeals to re-open his case. He said he had new evidence to present and the request was immediately granted. Now “Felice” in Italian means “happy” I think, so I believe that the old boss was very happy about the whole situation.



Ricca and his attorney Jack Wasserman




While fighting with the law and dealing with national mob problems, Ricca’s son, 26 year old Richard, decided to get married. His father didn’t hesitate for second and arranged the wedding. At first it started as a quiet affair with no more than 100 guests that attended at the St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic church in River Forest. But a big number of uninvited guests such as news photographers, reporters, members of Chicago’s Intelligence Unit and River Forest Police officers, milled about outside. The only Outfit members that arrived at the church were Tony Accardo and Jack Cerone. This was an indication that Cerone was slowly groomed by Ricca and Accardo for the top position. Later, the old “Don”, dressed in a grey suit, welcomed his guest at the mob owned Villa Venice Restaurant on a lavish party. Now the guest list has changed quite a bit because many “scary faces” started to appear, such as the new “acting boss” of the organization Sam Battaglia who was followed by Marshall Caifano, Albert Frabotta, Phil Alderisio, Gus Alex, Ross Prio, Joey Glimco and Murray Humphreys. The mobsters and their furclad wives and girlfriends were quickly ushered into the restaurant by seven bodyguards while the hikers quickly moved their cars away from the entrance. But like any other criminal organization, there are always those who attract too unwanted and unneeded attention. For example Ricca’s “crazy student” Sam De Stefano drove his car slowly around the cops and reporters while constantly glaring at them. He wore sweater and slacks at the wedding. Also one of the Inglesia brothers, Charles, yelled at the cops “You guys are wasting the taxpayer’s money!” Some of the gangsters arrived with taxis by previously leaving their cars in a nearby garages or parking lots so the police won’t check the licence plates.


By the end of the year, many members of the Outfit were confused on who was running the organization. So the First Ward faction which was the “command centre”, and now was headed by Pat Marcy and Gus Alex, held separate meetings with Accardo and one of Giancana’s underlings Phil Alderisio to determine whether Sam Battaglia, the number two guy, was the “acting boss” of the organization. By 1965, it was concluded that Battaglia was the new leader of the Outfit, while Giancana served one year in jail.


We can see that there are no records of Ricca being present on these meetings and that’s because by now he was back with the deportation problem. But Ricca attended one meeting in 1965, with Joe Bonanno’s son Bill, who came to Chicago to attend a meeting with the Outfit’s top echelon at a restaurant located in Melrose Park. The agendas of the meeting were the New York plot, Bonanno’s huge presence in Arizona and dividing territories. Story goes that Bill asked for help from the Outfit to operate freely in Arizona and that Ricca agreed on the terms, after all Arizona was an open territory and assured the young mobster that he wasn’t going to have any troubles with the Chicago faction. Later Bill Bonanno said that he was very impressed by Ricca and that he was a true Mafia “Don”.


Countless series of hearings were held that same year in Chicago and the "new evidence" amounted to a plea by Ricca’s team that Italian police would persecute him if deported. For more than 20 times in just few months, Ricca travelled to the offices of the United States immigration and naturalization service and that’s why his lawyers argued that the gangster was also a sick man, and was very hard for him to travel all the time. So now plans of a top secret legal maneuver were designed for the filing of a petition before the Tribunal in Rome, asking that Ricca be declared not a citizen of Italy. During this period there are many FBI surveillance recordings of Ricca at the O’Hare Airport while meeting with numerous Outfit members and associates, mostly politically connected, such as Giancana, Accardo, Gus Alex and Ricca’s attorney Jack Wasserman, regarding the deportation problem.



Ricca at the offices of the United States immigration and naturalization service






In November, 1966, Ricca’s brother-in-law Michelangelo Chiacchio was his guest in Chicago. Chiacchio was a famous lawyer in Naples, Italy and was married to the Ricca’s’s sister Louisa. There was also another brother-in-law, Enrico Iervolino who was married to his sister Clementina, but this guy was quite influential, meaning he was the long time Mayor of Ottaviano, Italy. And obviously these two individuals were some of the most instrumental people in obtaining Ricca’s freedom because the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the deportation order of Ricca and in the meantime the Italian government finally had revoked his murder conviction and refused to accept him by any means. So the U.S. government had no other choice but to allow the Outfit boss to remain in the country, unless or until they find a country that would accept him, which was impossible. Ricca’s attorney Wasserman said that “We accomplished our objective at 3 o’clock. If we hadn’t done it they would have deported him at 5 p.m.” As additional info, during his meetings at the O’Hare Airport, Ricca also met other unknown individuals from Italy and also entertained other similar guests at his home in River Forest.


Speaking about Ricca’s connections in Italy, there is a wiretapped conversation between Ricca, Gus Alex and Accardo, where Alex stated that he was planning to take a trip to Naples and so Ricca advised him to inform him about the time of the trip so he can inform his people over there about his presence. And in fact Ricca’s family was quite powerful over there, obviously because his brothers-in-law. Here’s a small part from the conversation between the three bosses regarding “contracts” and travelling advices:

ALEX: I’ll see you on Saturday, right?

RICCA: No, no, no Saturday. I’m’a busy. What do you want from me? I’m gonna be busy. What do you want from me? AAAhhhh...tomorrow I got a date at 12:30 at the Imperial House...want to come?

ALEX: What time?

RICCA: 12:30

ALEX: No, you can’t. That’s when the show is on. (some fashion show)

ACCARDO: On Thursday? I thought it was on Friday.

RICCA: No, that’s right. It was the Palmer House.

ACCARDO: Now, you say one joint, and then you wind up at another. Do you know where the hell are you going?

RICCA: Empire room.

ACCARDO: Oh, that’s in the Palmer House. (laughs)

ALEX: I didn’t get a chance to tell you. I got the “contract”, and on Sunday, the thing was consummated. We get to find the little guy. The guy that counts (laughs)...When do you figure of giving out these contracts?

ACCARDO: Right after I come back (from Mexico). We’ll start planning something.

ALEX: Paul, how many relatives do you got over there? (referring to Italy)

RICCA: Four or five, maybe, why?

ALEX: I’m going over.

ACCARDO: Don’t bother to go to Naples. You won’t miss anything there.

RICCA: They watch you there. If you want to go to Naples, I’ll send word.

In 1966, Giancana was out of prison but was ordered by Ricca to take a short vacation in Mexico, for at least two or three years, and join their associate Nick Circella in spreading their international gambling operations. Giancana wasn’t an easy person to be told to take a vacation, so I believe that the only individual in the Outfit that had the courage and authority to accomplish that was Ricca. Giancana was still the boss and never officially stepped down from the position and Ricca never pushed him for, so now the “acting boss” of the Chicago Outfit was Sam Battaglia, which indicated that Giancana still had his power in Chicago since Battaglia was one of his closest associates and allies. But in reality, by now Battaglia was loyal to Ricca and Accardo, not to Giancana. Less than a year later Battaglia was imprisoned on extortion charges and again, the Outfit was a “headless” organization. It is not known for sure if Jack Cerone or Phil Alderisio ever ruled the years of 1967 and 1968, but by 1969, Accardo was the “new” boss with two other “contestants” under his rule, including Joseph Aiuppa and one non-Italian boss, Gus Alex. Alex was a very well connected racketeer and corruptor, who dreamed for the last 10 years about retiring from the Outfit but Ricca and Accardo, especially Ricca, has forbidden for Alex to leave the mob and so, just for punishment, he elevated the Greek mobster to a boss of a ruling panel. If you were a talent in the Outfit, that was it, the only way you were getting out of the organization was in a wooden box. All of these guys such as Alex, Alderisio, Cerone and including Accardo, still gave Ricca a considerable respect and deference, which indicates that he was still the top boss of the organization.


By 1968, Ricca was 71 years old and his troubles with diabetes were giving him hard time. But still the biggest problem was the law and the government who wasn’t about to give up and so they decided to strike again. In November, 1968, Ricca ordered his long time pal Tony Accardo to go on a trip to Naples, Italy, and bring along Ricca’s oldest sister Emilia De Lucia. So that same month Accardo and Emilia arrived in Chicago for visit to her older brother. But on December 5, 1968, she was summoned to appear before an immigration hearing officer to show cause why her visitor’s visa should not be revoked sine she falsely stated on her visa application that she had never been convicted of felony, when in fact she was convicted of a murder back in Italy, several years ago. So when Ricca received information about the order, he immediately placed his sister on the Alitalia Airlines flight back to Naples, Italy, on December 4.


So maybe his sister’s shortened vacation was good for Ricca because he was about to face a new trial and did not have the time for excursions. On August 19, 1969, the U.S. Attorney’s Office made an indictment against Jack Cerone and four other Outfit members Joe Ferriola, Don Angelini, Dom Cortina and Frank Aureli, on interstate gambling charges thanks primarily to Lou Bombacino’s testimony. During the trial, among numerous other mobsters old man Ricca was also subpoenaed to testify for the prosecution. On April 28, 1970, Ricca was rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair, dressed in his pajamas and bathrobe because he was recovering from fractured pelvis. He was asked if he ever associated with Jackie Cerone and his testimony was needed to confirm that Cerone and Bombacino, a bookie and a rat at the moment, knew each other. Ricca had first-hand knowledge about the connection between Cerone and Bombacino but at first he didn’t say a thing by taking the Fifth Amendment. In fact, Bombacino personally met with Cerone and Ricca. Ricca knew Bombacino because Bombacino's brother used to make dietetic pastries for the boss. But later the government used the same strategy, which was used also on Giancana several years ago, with the help of Chief Judge William Campbell who forced Ricca to admit his associations under a grant of immunity.



Paul Ricca taken to a trial on a stretcher regarding his medical condition


Now Ricca had two choices, one choice was by keeping his mouth shut and of to prison, or talk his way out of it and break the “omerta”, or the Mafia’s code of silence. Now the whole organization was clearly mad at Bombacino, but they were mostly mad at Cerone for implicating the boss of the Chicago mob. I believe that it was decided by Accardo and Alex that Ricca should answer only the questions regarding his “normal” associations with Cerone. And that’s what the old man did. He was asked more than hundred questions by the prosecutors, on which he mostly gave shady answers but he managed to confirm Bombacino’s testimony about his meeting with Cerone at a restaurant in Harwood Heights, Illinois. In fact, Ricca admitted that he was present during Cerone conversation with Bombacino regarding gambling matters. And so the prosecutors were satisfied because Ricca’s testimony was the key part in sending all of the defendants to prison on May 9, 1970. Ricca was considered too big to take the fall for a guy like Cerone. I mean don’t get me wrong, Cerone was also high profile member of the Outfit but he wasn’t even close to Ricca’s stature. Plus he was a sick old man so another conviction would’ve been a real death sentence for the old “Don” and that’s why I strongly believe that Cerone never objected regarding this matter. As additional info, five years later Louie Bombacino was killed by the Outfit in Arizona while hiding under false name.


By 1970, Ricca, the original elder statesman of the Chicago mob, acted like a real old good fella in retirement. One day he stood in the front the yard of his River Forest home, idly pushing aside small heaps of dried leaves with his pointed alligator shoes as a fail sun shone on his bald pate. "You know," he said wistfully to one of his friends, "It's not like the good old days anymore. Remember when the dog tracks were running in Illinois? There was so much money around to be made." Ricca paused to rub his custom tailor-clad paunch and look back on a career as a Mafia chief that started back in 1920 when he entered the United States illegally. "I guess someday they’ll deport me to Italy," the old hoodlum said. "But I'll be back. Right now, I’m kinda worried about Tony Accardo. You think he’ll beat that federal gun charge? It's a bum rap." As he talked, Ricca's gesticulating hands caused the solar rays to ricochet off his solid gold cuff links which bear the likeness of Pope Paul VI, a treasured gift from an old Mafia pal in Rome. "No, it s not like the good old days," he repeated. "All the old-timers are either dying off or in jail." He turned to face that two-story concrete fortress he calls home at 1515 N. Bonnie Brae Av., River Forest, as he paused for effect. "It's just not much fun any more, hanging around the house with nothing to do," he said in the tones of a man indignant with society’s failure to face the problems of this nation’s well heeled Mafia senior citizens. Then Ricca clambered into his black and yellow Oldsmobile and slowly drove off into the setting sun toward Meo's Norwood House restaurant, there to break bread with his pal, Accardo.


In the summer of 1970, the government had to turn up the temperature even more for Ricca and Accardo by serving them subpoenas which took them before a Los Angeles federal grand jury, a body deeply interested in the reported hoodlum control of three Las Vegas emporiums and that time-honoured gangster practice of illegally skimming off millions of dollars from gambling casino take. Now, none of this government attention would probably have been focused on these two elder mob statesmen if it wasn’t for their long time associate and also a know “blabbermouth under stress” Johnny Roselli. With granted immunity from prosecution, Roselli reportedly began talking freely with authorities about his long time association with Accardo and Ricca, whose west coast and Las Vegas interests he has represented for over two decades. And apparently, Roselli's inability to dodge the government’s questions has now prompted the Justice Department to give serious thought of attacking the Outfit’s leadership. That same year, Roselli even tried to extort money from Morris Dalitz, an infamous Jewish mob boss in the Las Vegas area. So Ricca called upon his trusted “capo” from the Chicago Heights area, Frank LaPorte and gave him instructions to tell Roselli to stop any further actions regarding the extortion of Dalitz. So Roselli became extremely agitated and kept repeating over and over to LaPorte that he was being made to look foolish and that in fact Dalitz owed money to Roselli. But LaPorte again told him that this order came from the top, meaning Ricca and Accardo, and that he had no intentions of going back to the bosses with information such as that one, because he knew that he was going to run back and forth with messages. By now Roselli became quite a problem for Ricca and the Outfit, but the biggest problem was that Ricca himself strictly forbidden any high profile “hits” during this time period and so Roselli was spared, for now.


Slowly the government realised that they started loosing the battle with Paul Ricca, because by now he and the rest of the organization kept a very low profile and the violence was brought to a minimum, an order which was issued by Ricca himself. So now the government was mostly concentrated on the New York crime families because of the constant bloodshed that was going on for more than few years. As the search for New York mobsters went on, Accardo and Ricca kept their cool. They took a long look at the slaughterhouse that was building in the “Big Apple” and issued orders that any other forms of unnecessary violent conflict should be avoided. In a Northwest Side restaurant in August, 1972, the two former directors of Chicago’s criminal underworld sat at a back table and discussed current activities while having lunch. They resembled of Statler and Waldorf, the famous pair of the comedy series “The Muppet Show” but in Mafia style. Now witness the following conversation, which took place between the two elder statesmen…


First, Accardo laid the groundwork for the exchange: A certain New York family, he told his friend of many years, had been trying to keep all the rackets for itself. It was this family that was to blame for the scandalous violence. "That family is having a lot of trouble," Accardo continued, “They want to keep it all in the family. The mother wants all the black market, which means $600,000 or $700,000 a year. And the son wants all the extortion rackets. The son placed himself in a bad position on that." Ricca nodded gravely and grunted his agreement. The two old hoodlums were constantly eating and most of their words became muffled by their vocal gourmet artistry. It was clear that Accardo and Ricca were talking about the Colombo crime family and were obviously dismayed at the gunning down of the family boss Joseph Colombo, as he addressed an Italian-American Civil Rights League. They recalled the murder of another old friend of the national mob commission days, Tommy Eboli, who was also a victim of the East Coast warfare on July 16, 1972. They even discussed Eboli’s partner and their long time friend, Louie DeChiaro who was in charge of looking after Eboli’s sons Thomas Jr. and Louis. In fact, Louis Eboli was member of the Outfit located in the Stone Park area. They dicussed the situation of their dead father in New York, and that DeChiaro was walking the streets of Chicago in the company of two bodyguards. But Accardo and Ricca were in no mood to permit similar indiscretions in Chicago so they assured DeChiaro and the Eboli brothers that nothing was going to happen to them. By the end of the meeting both Mafiosi closed their dialog by stating "Better them than us," Accardo offered philosophically. "You're right, Joe," Ricca replied, "Better them than us." With these last statements, they definitely showed their frame of mind.


Towards the end of his life, still many FBI agents were assigned to tail Ricca everywhere he went. By now old man Ricca was 74 years old, bald on the top with white hair on the sides, a diabetic who slowly became senile. Story goes that he often spent his remaining days at his favourite place, the O'Hare Airport, just watching around, sometimes in the company of the few old timers who often came to visit him for a chat. So some reports say that Ricca was faking it and the Justice department thought that Ricca was doing something illegal and so it doubled the number of agents assigned to the old man.



Ricca’s last known photo


During the last few years Ricca’s health deteriorated and also suffered a diabetic stroke. Diabetes alone is a very serious risk factor for heart disease and so on September 14, 1972 Ricca was brought to hospital for treatment of a heart ailment. During his stay in hospital, he was often visited by Accardo and Gus Alex but after almost a month, on October 11, 1972, Ricca died of a heart attack in his sleep at the Presbyterian St. Luke’s hospital. As additional info, the Outfit’s union boss Joey Glimco was the last person to see Ricca alive at the hospital.


As usual, at the funeral, for the most part, the mourners were either Mafia members, family, or friends. Few of the curious got past the eagle-eyed musclemen generously distributed about the funeral chapel on North Harlem Avenue. Some journeyed from afar and some from not so far, in fact, from just across the street in Elmwood Park. But to a man they all agreed that the criminal cartel that is the National Brotherhood of Crime had lost one of its finest. For there was little doubt, even in their own minds, that things would never again be the same.


There was time to be spared for a few kind words about the deceased mobster, lying there in a casket surrounded by big red roses, a rosary clutched in his hands. There were moments to offer a warm welcome to Ricca family members who had flown the thousands of miles from his native Italy to pay homage to their departed relative. There was even time for a few snickers at the mode of dress affected by Antonio and Luigi Iervolina, Ricca's nephews from near Naples, and including his brother-in-law Angelo Chiacchio, followed by Ricca’s sister, Clementina Iervolino. During the funeral the men gathered in small huddles, anxiously discussing what the future might bold for them' and their tottering house of racket-riddled cards. Most of these guys were dry-eyed because after all, real gangsters don’t cry. The only gangster that was truly crashed by Ricca’s death was none other than Tony Accardo. According to some sources, the tough old man had tears in his eyes when he allegedly said to the people around “I lost the best friend a man could have”, which was also written on some of the flower bouquets at the funeral.


At the cemetery, a very unusual and a rare thing occurred and that was a Roman Catholic priest, in a Christian way of forgiveness, delivered something that it looked like a brief message of condolences, which in fact was an initiation of last rites of the Catholic Church. Later the priest told the reporters that “Paul De Lucia received last rites of the church upon his death. What greater consolation can there be for a family than to know that their loved one died in the grace of God.” Indeed it was a “great consolation” for the family because Ricca was twice-convicted murderer and many mobsters, if not all, were forbidden to be given last rites by the church because of their criminal history but this was another proof that even after his death, Ricca still received huge respect from Chicago’s society. But to be honest I believe that one of the proudest moments for the family was the large floral piece which was inscribed in gold letters “OUR DEAR GRANDFATHER”.


Besides Accardo, other prominent individuals that occupied the imposing mausoleum at the Queen of Heaven cemetery were Leo Manfredi, big time bookmaker from the Cicero area, Frank Carsuo, boss of the Near South Side, and Joey Aiuppa, the current boss of the ruling panel and inside, the gangsters listened to Mozart music. But once some of the gangsters saw the reporters, they immediately put their dark shades over their eyes and walked away before Ricca’s remains were interred.



Accardo coming out of Ricca’s funeral


Perhaps Ricca’s true power and danger during his leadership, was the ability to arouse admiration and consent from groups not only from the local territory but also foreign criminal groups, and political people who distained themselves from compliance with the laws and so instead they represented the core values of the Chicago Outfit. Paul Ricca believed in the ability of exercising power with being at the same time charismatic, intimidating and paternal. This ability has a strong power and social recognition which was the main factor for the ability of the Outfit to lay its claim in Chicago and Illinois in general, for a long time period. Besides being the Mob’s chairman emeritus, he was also a murderer. In fact, they were all murderers and they wisely kept the fear of violence as constant threat. There are many false stories such as Mafia strict rules against killing public officials especially in the U.S. Allegedly gangsters like Charles Luciano or Frank Costello or Paul Ricca found it more profitable to bribe than to kill. Yet, Officer Drury was killed, Attorney Bas was killed, and many other public officials. The reality is that the Outfit killed them all, the minute they saw a chance to do it.


In the end I want to say that Felice De Lucia a.k.a. Paul Ricca was a legend, not the kind of which heroes are made, but a legend made from a material from which real life villains are made. He lived by the sword, but luckily for him, he died in bed. The sad thing is that such a good talent was wasted over the pursuit of gold, viciousness, corruption and murder. He was responsible for decisions which led to the deaths of a legion of gangsters, businessmen, politicians, lawyers and even cops, usually who stepped out of line. But moments after the door of his crypt slammed shut, Ricca was forgotten as far as the day-to-day business of the Outfit was concerned. In fact, that was the point of his “criminal machine” to further function even with out his presence. But another thing that occurred during the few years after his death, which was the killings of the many of his former associates, including Sam De Stefano, Ned Bakes, Richard Cain, Sam Giancana, Johnny Roselli and Charles Nicoletti and it looked like that Joey Aiuppa and Gus Alex erased the members that were formerly protected by Ricca himself. My point is that all of these murders caused further destruction of the organization, a problem which was overlooked by Accardo himself.


Even after his death, Paul Ricca still remained in the shadows of mob history, just as the same as he was during his life time. Thru the years, many mob historians or movie producers mostly studied Al Capone, Frank Nitti or Sam Giancana, but no one ever wrote a book or made a movie about Ricca. My opinion is that if it wasn’t for Ricca, maybe the Chicago crowd would’ve had a nicer and cleaner history. Chicago probably will never see a gangster like that ever again because he was the last one of the fathers of this criminal society and to my opinion it would be shameful to remain unnoticed in history by the general population. He was the devil who had refined evil into a lucrative tool and it is to be hoped that weapon was safely buried with him. Ricca left behind his wife, two sons, a daughter and many grandchildren and he never allowed his family to get involved in the “life”, not while he was still alive.


This article is completed from various infos, mostly collected from FBI reports and other criminal records, crime related books and articles, and personal opinions.

Nice Work Toodoped . When is Jackie Cerone project ready ?

Read some bits and pieces and once again great work T.

I'm gonna read the rest tonight on my tablet when I'm home, looking forward to it..

Some good work, Toodoped. I've tried for years to find answers to some of the questions you point out in your post. So far I've only come up with plausible scenarios. The problem seems to be two fold; the people involved are dead and the folks who pass on the stories on Internet sites generally share their version of what happened. And we are left to decide for ourselves the version we like best.

No one has been able to say exactly what happened when the torch was passed from Accardo to Giancana; lots of theories, but actual facts are hard to come by. Same with Giancana during the years when Ricca was in prison and Accardo was tied-up with his tax problem. We know for sure RICCA WENT TO PRISON IN '59 and got out in the fall of '61. Accardo's tax appeal ended in the fall of '62. It's very plausible that Giancana was acting on his own during this time. We also know that the FBI came to town in '57 around the time the outfit was at it's peak. And I think it's fair to say things became more difficult for the Outfit after the FBI came to town.

Giancana's strength was his money-making ability and he was accustomed to doing things his way......and he did. Long story short, he brought too much attention and heat to the Outfit. Failure to follow Ricca and Accardo's advice led to huge problems for the Oitfit. There was simply no one "minding the store" and things started coming apart. McGuire, Sinatra, Kennedy, the CIA, all led to way too much attention on Giancana and the Outfit. Finally, the immunity deal and Giancana was trapped. There was no "out," no place to hide after Mexico threw him out. And we all know what happened.

I do believe that the way the Outfit was/is structured makes it very difficult to know exactly who is "calling the shots." Accardo bearded for Ricca and may very well have been the voice who passed on decisions since Ricca was forbidden to associate with known criminals and was under constant fear of deportation. But who really knows about these things. We are all left with speculation.

Thanks so much for the information. Obviously you worked very hard putting this together.

If the FBI THE G never got involved with the Outfit Giancana would of been boss for a longer time then he was. once the bugs went in that was it all the outfit secrets was known

Thanks Billy and Ricky, I really appreciate it. Ricky soon kiddo

@GaryMartin I totally agree with you about that particular period being the most complicated of them all, but im almost positive that during the period of Ricca's jail term, or to be exact from 1959 until late 1962, Giancana mostly acted on his own. For example, when Ricca went to jail, Giancana replaced some of Ricca's operators with his own people, such as Guido DeChiaro who was Ricca's distant relative and main coin operator on the West Side. The guy was "unemployed" when Giancana came to the scene. The same thing happened with many more. I dunno maybe im rushing with conclusions but that is the most obvious explanation for me. Maybe Ricca and Accardo were the top guys but Giancana held the power. Just look at his guys, Buccieri, Caifano, Battaglia, Alderisio, Nicoletti, Gianola, Cain etc. These guys were the muscle for the Outfit for almost two decades. I believe that Ricca's main purpose in the Outfit was to hold things from falling apart. If he ordered the death of Giancana, I believe that the Outfit was going to be divided in two or three "crime families." Ricca was aware of that, because I believe that he was the only guy in Chicago that understood the problems within the crime families in New York and that was the New Yorkers killed their bosses, the Outfit did not. Instead after the death of the old boss, Aiuppa, Alex and Accardo waited until Giancana's power hit the bottom and then reacted in the right time. Don't forget that Giancana was still the official boss of the Outfit until 1970 or 1971.

Hey, I think you are probably right, Toodoped, especially about Giancana's being on his own in the late 50's early 60's. Even when he went to Mexico he still had power. My point was that it was very difficult to know who was actually calling the shots at different times and eras. After Ricca died in Oct. 72, Accardo was considered the top guy by the FBI, CCC, et al. But the purge began for those who were Giancana loyalists. Some of those guys came on board with Aiuppa and Accardo, the others were eliminated.

I believe you are right about Buccieri, Battaglia, Caifano and Alderisio. But those guys were disgusted with Giancana by 63-64, give or take a year or so. The Phyllis McGuire relationship caused Giancana a lot of problems. Both Ricca and Accardo told him he needed to end the relationship, but Giancana didn't because he had enough power to do what he chose to do......and he did. He was AWOL so much that his men were becoming disgusted. All the pictures of him and McGuire on the front pages of magazines and newspapers caused morale problems within the Outfit. And eventually he was banished into self exile.

I'm certainly not sure of the point in time that Accardo, Cerone and Aiuppa decided that Giancana "had to go." I don't think there was any doubt after he agreed to the plea deal when he returned from Mexco, that he was in serious danger. Maybe the decision was made earlier, who knows?

I'm really not disagreeing with you. I'm simply stating my opinion that it was very difficult to know who was making decisions relative to Outfit matters at different times and era's. I also believe, like you, that Giancana did pretty much what he chose to do because he could. But he did pay the ultimate price for his indiscretions and bringing a lot of "heat" to the Outfit.

I could go on forever with this discussion, for what I consider the most interesting ear of the Outfit, but I'll stop for now.

Again, thanks for all the research and hard work.

Thank you for another interesting read. I enjoyed it. Keep them coming.

You're welcome blue and sure will do

great one toodoped, no one is better than you about the Chicago outfit, not even john binder, or gus russo.

TooDoped good read. I believe Sylvester Agoglia was in Chicago for a long time before this photo. He was with the Genna's in the early 1920s and one of their chief enforcers according to old time accounts.

Toodoped, I don't have the time at this moment to read everything, and I want to read it all at once, but I have a question. You're our resident Chicago expert, do you know/have info on la mano nera (the black hand) in Chicago? Seems like a precursor to the mob there.

Your a total pro toodoped, just would be good if I could read your stuff in an actual book, I'd buy it it my friend

@Binnie thanks you my friend for the kind words and also thank you for your constant support. But the thing is that Prof. Binder and Mr. Russo are the basic of my whole research, which was my previous point in the previous thread regarding the video on Ricca.

@fergie Also thank you for the kind words but my work still stays free...for now

@ChiTown To tell you the turth, I havent done much research on Agoglia but I believe that he came from Brooklyn, New York, and was a long time pal of Capone. He is most famous for his presence allegedly as a bartender during the "Christmas Massacre" in 1925 in New York and after that he possibly moved to Chicago together with Capone and operated around Taylor Street, which explains his close relationship with Ricca and possibly the Gennas. Later he somehow fell from stature and was given few operations around the Cicero area like so many other "retired" members during that period, such as Mops Volpe.

@Tandem I dont have much on Chicago's Black Hand except for one of my projects on this gang...

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthr...9682#Post889682

And also, few years ago I made this list of an alleged Black Hand extortionists from the Chicago area, but to tell you the truth I believe that the list might be quite inaccurate but its good to read about some names and territories...

Gault Court(Cambridge Avenue),Little Italy

Most prominent gangster: Carmelo Nicolosi and Giuseppe Nicolosi(kiddnappers and extortionists) and Mariano Zagone
Peter Nota(extortionist and a kiddnaper)
Tony Nota
Calogero Costandino(kidnapper)
Leoluca Macaluso(kidnapper)
Joseph Cima
Salvatore Caira
Prospero Caldone
Antonio Garaglono
Salvatore Agugino
Vincent Falsuale(assassin)
Gianni Alonzi(bomber)
Anthony Loungora (extortionist)

Short story:The Nicolosi gang was one of the oldest Black Hand gangs on the North Side.Mario Zagone was one of the gangs earliest leaders.Joseph Nicolosi, in-law of Mariano Zagone,was second in command.Zagone was known for coin counterfeiting.He was arrested many times but always was discharged for lack of evidence.One day in 1910 Zagone was shot to death outside his son-in-law's Gault Court saloon.Nicolosi became the leader of the gang and it is believed he worked closely with other Black Hand hoods like Anthony D'Andrea.It is also belived that Nicolosi killed Zagone to take over the rackets.The gang was also known for kidnapping little children for ransom.They owned a saloon at 134 Gault Court.


Most prominent gangster: Salvatore DiGiovanni(political Neapolitan crime boss)and later The Morici brothers (extortionists and assassins)
Joseph Novello(second in command and a big time assassin)
Joseph Mariso(assassin)
Giovanni James Scardini(bomber and assassin)
Frank Cutsia(extortionist)
Batiste Scardina(assassin)
Mike Rizzo
Victor Barone
Gianni Alonzi(bomber and extortionist)
Lorenzo Spigola
Nicols Gattuso
Tony Titcola
Giuseppe Matalone
Peter Montalbano

Short story:Chicago’s 19th ward leader Salvatore Di Giovanni's reign was cut short by the Morici bros.On 21 February 1901 he was shot in a dark alleyway.The Morici bros were ruthless mafiosos and sadistic extortionists.In their “black hand” letters they usually demanded from 300 to 500$.George Morici was the first black hand hoodlum to be ever convicted in a trial in thouse days.In 1912 Morici’s bakery on Milton Avenue blown up their own bakery for the insurance cash.The gang did a lot of extortion and ofcourse who didnt pay up,got killed.Later they also owned a lot of saloons and companies also.Joe Novello was one the gangs best hitman.In 1914 James B Moore was killed by Lorenzo Spigola,Nicols Gattuso and also arrested was Joseph Novello.

Other available info's on Black Hand related crimes and murders that occured in this area:
On January 1910 a grocery at 903 Gault Court was blown to pieces by a bomb.The owner Mr.Biumeforddo refused to pay up.
On April 24th 1910 Vincenzo Conetzara was shot to death in his own saloon at 913 Gault Court.
On April 26th Gartano Disolvo was shot and stabbed in front of his home at 1108 Gault Court.
On June 29th 1910 Leonardo Belleliva was shot to death at 853 Gault Court.
On September 13th 1910 Philipi Partaloni was shot to death at 878 Gault Court.
On January 19th 1911 Carmelo Marsala's butcher shop at 834 Gault Court was blown to pieces by a bomb.
On March 14th 1911 Tony Gathios was shot to death at 1008 Gault Court by a Black Hand assassin.


Milton Avenue,“Little Hell” or “Little Sicily”

Most prominent gangster: Rosario Dispenza
Anthony D’Andrea(frontman,owner and political boss)
Samoots Ammatuna(bodyguard and assassin at this time)
Modesto Barona(kiddnaper and extortionist)
John Gagliardo(once suspected as the “Shotgun man”)
Onofrio Puccio(extortionists)
Anthony Puccio
Victor Barone
Frank Seruso
Salvatore Pinachi
Charles Plumeri
Joseph Cutea
Betrucci Bros
Bruno Nordi

Short story:One of the most prominent gangsters in Chicago's underworld history.It is belived that Rosario Dispenza was the leader from 1909 to 1914.Dispenza owned a saloon in "Little Sicily" and it was belived that it was a school for future gangsters and he also had connections with the Morello gang in NY.Later Dispenza was murdered together with Anthony Puccio and he was replaced by Anthony D'Andrea.In 1902 D'Andrea and his wife are arrested and charged with manufacturing counterfeit U.S. dimes. The arrest takes place at their home, 2125 Archer Avenue.Also arrested was Pasquale Cartabellata and Vincent Notara.The former priest D'Andrea,was charged because he possessed 425 counterfeit dimes and passed four of them. He pleaded guilty.The charges against his wife were dropped.

In 1910 one of the Betrucci bros stand trial for murder.On the witness stand was his partner in crime Bruno Nordi.During the trial a misterious person entered the court room and waved a red handkerchief at Nordi and ran away.After that Nordi refused to answer any questions. In 1911.Antonio D’Andrea co owned a company at 20 East 31 Street with Martin Merlo,Mike's brother.In 1916 Tony D’Andrea and his wife had moved to Little Italy, located in the 19th ward, taking up residence at 745 S. Halsted St.In 1919 Tony became head of the Unione Siciliano in Chicago and became one of the leaders of the Black Hand movement.


Most prominent gangster: Salvatore"Charles"Gloriana
Dominick Nuccio(assassin)
Carl Moretti(assassin and extortionist)
The Colo Brothers Joseph and Carlo(extortionists and killers)

Short story:The infamous Gloriana gang were a small group of organized thieves and killers, primarily Italian and few Irish. They committed mostly burglaries, payroll robberies, and bank holdups.On October 15, 1919, Charles Gloriana was indicted with gang member Carl Moretti for the murder of a payroll guard during a robbery. The case was eventually crashed because witnesses didnt want to testify at trial.One of the gang members,Dominic Nuccio,later became a member of the Capone gang and was one of its biggest earners and hitmen.Gloriana, Nuccio, and seven other Gloriana gang members were convicetd for a violent burglary on November 2, 1919.All of them were convicted and were sentenced to 20 years in Joliet State Prison.On April 28, 1920, the Supreme Court reversed the convictions and remanded the defendants for a new trial, which was later dismissed.

Other available info's on Black Hand related crimes and murders that occured in this area:
On February 7th 1910 Joe Loverde was shot in home at 1117 Milton Street.
On May 2 1915 a assassin took a shot at Joseph Cutea at 827 Milton Avenue and missed but instead he hit a 7 year old kid.An hour later Cutea was attacked again and this time the hitmen did their job pretty well.
On February 11th 1915 the police found two bombs in Mrs.Locascio's(wife of a black hand member) basement at 940 Milton Avenue.
On May 13th 1915 Mrs.John Millers home at 1016 Milton Avenue,was wrecked by the Black Hand.


North Sedgwick Street

Most prominent gangster: Pietro"Sliver King"Catalanetto
John Catalanetto (son of Pietro)
Pietro Barone
John Locascio
Michael Locascio

Short story:The Catalanetto crew was a gang of fifteen Black hand members.Pietro Catalanetto was the leader and Barone was second in command.Pietro Catalanetto the Silver King lived at 230 West North avenue He was one of the most striking figures on the North Side huge of frame and with a fringe of snowy white hair encircling his swarthy features.He claimed that he was an olive oil vendor and people reffered to him as Don Pietro.After a while there was an internal war in the gang so Pietro Catalanetto was killed in 1915(he was shot multiple times in the face) and later his son John in 1916.Michael Locascio did the crimes on the orders of Barone.Later most of the gang members went "missing".

Other available info's on Black Hand related crimes and murders that occured in this area:
On August 21 1910,Dominco Dineas was stabbed 4 times on at 867 Sedgwick Street.
On January 21,1911 Carmelo Tumminia was shot to death on Elm and Sedgwick Street.


Oak Street,“Little Sicily”

Most prominent gangster:Joseph Aiello(assassin,extortionist and later a political boss)
Salvatore “Sam” Aiello
Pietro “Peter” Aiello
Dominick Aiello
Antonio “Tony” Aiello
Andrea “Andrew” Aiello
Dominick Catalina(assassin and arms smuggler)

Short story:Giuseppe Aiello, known as “Joe”, was born in 1890 in Sicily, into a very large family and he was the oldest of seven brothers together with a big number of cousins, uncles, and nephews. Most of the family emigrated to the United States in the first decade of the 1900s, including Joe, who arrived at New York in 1907, then moved west to Chicago shortly after.The Aiello family owned also the clothing shop “Aiello and Aliotto” at 516 Oak Street.During the 1910's the Aiello gang was mostly involved in extortion and sometimes in murder.Joe was a suspect in the 1917 shooting of East Utica resident Antonio Gagliano.Later he established a grocery business in partnership with Antonio Lombardo.Later both men served as leaders in the Chicago Unione Siciliana organization.

Most prominent gangster:Tony Baffa
Antonio Nudo,
Rafaelo Nudo
Pasquale Nudo
Giuseppe Caro
Ernesto Caro

Story:Tony Baffa's crew was a small gang mostly formed by teenagers.Baffa’s gang called themselves "Loguisto"which ironically translates to “The Society of Justice".They were mostly involved in petty crimes but they also did murder.Tony Baffa was arrested in July of 1909 for the murder of grocer Giuesppe Fillipelli and was sent to jail.Fillipelli had failed to submit to the extortion demands of Baffa’s Black Hand gang and was murdered infront of his child.Later,the teenaged boy Baffa,snitched on his friends and many of them went to jail.Later Baffa also betrayed many other Black Hand secrets.

Other available info's on Black Hand related crimes and murders that occured in this area:
On January 6th 1910 Ben Cinene was shot to death while in bed at 500Oak Street.
On March 14 1911 Anthony Dugo and Phillippi Maniscalo were killed by assassin on Oak Street.The bullet first went through Maniscalo and then hit Dugo.
On February 17th,1911 Vincenzo Subio was shot at 501 Oak Street.


Taylor street,West Grand Avenue and West Side Chicago

Most prominent gangster:Angelo Genna,Tony,MIke,Pete,Jim Genna(assassins,extortionists and owners)
Sam Esposito
Orazio "The Scourge" Tropea
Philip Maltese
Frank Marino(assassin)
Antonio Petrone(extortionist)


Other available info's on Black Hand related crimes and murders that occured in this area:
On March 13th 1911,Pasquale Marcadnaro was shot and killed at 807 West Taylor Street.
On January 5th 1915 Frank Marino was shot down at 2247 West Grand Avenue by Frank Minnine.,who later battled with the cops and adimited that he and Marino were extortionists.
On April 6 1915 J.B. Roti’s wholesale market at 920 West Grand Avenue was blown by a bomb.
On My 20 1915 Peter Carosillo’s building was dynamited by a Black Hand gang.


217 West 22 street The Levee South Side

Leader: Salvatore Cardinelli(assassin and a big time extortionists)
Frank Campione(extrtionist and a killer)
Nicholas Viana (assassin)
Thomas Errico (burglar and extortionist)
Leonard Crapo
Santo Orlando(driver for the gang)
Tony Sansone(thief)

Short story:One of the most diabolical gangs in the underworlds history.Black hand boss Cardinelli was born in Sicily 1868, and than he came to Chicago in 1900’s.Cardinelli was considered one of the toughest criminals in Chicago. He was known for targeting the wealthy and powerful people within the Italian community with violence and no remorse.When Sam became a member of the Black Hand he was so much feared that even other mafiosi paid him street tax.Cardinelli had hes own crew,mostly young thieves,wich he trained and teached them how to do stick ups and steal .He also trained his crew on how to do extortion and ofcourse murder.In a 6 mounths period,they have done over 400 holdups.It was estimated that the Cardinella mob killed at least 20 people who failed to pay up.One of his best triggerman was Nicholas Viana, nicknamed "the Choir Boy," because of his participation in a West Side church choir.A practiced and angelic looking murderer at the age of 18.Rumours are that Viana was responsible for 15 hits.He once shot a cop in the groin and left him for dead.On 15th of July 1921 Salvatore Cardinelli “The Devil” and his partners in crime,Nicholas Viana “the Choir Boy” and Frank Campione got convicted for murder and they hung for it.

Other available info's on Black Hand related crimes and murders that occured in this area:

On 14 October 1919 Sam Cardinelli’s gang robbed a pool hall at West 22 street and Frank Campione shot to death the owner Albert C Kublanza.Santo Orlando,the driver, was found dead in a canal 10 days later shot 5 times in the head.


Wentworth Avenue South Side Chicago

Leader: James “Sunny Jim” Cosmano(extortionist and assassin)
Charles Morstazze(extortionist and assassin)
John Morrissi(bomber)
Rocco Romacetti
Paul Cosmano
Lorengoni William
Timothy "Big Tim" Murphy(close colaborator of Cosmano,extortionist,frontman and member of the Sangerman's bombers)

Short story:A Black Hand gang that extorted 15.000$ a week from South Side italians.Jim Cosmano also tried to extort cash from Big Jim Colosimo.But in 1912 he was shot allegedly by Torrio's guys.Cosmano survived the attack,but in the hospital he was under police guard.Jim asked for help from Big Tim Murphy.So Big Tim really helped him.Gangsters walked into the hospital,knocked down the cops and took Jim out of state.

Other available info's on Black Hand related crimes and murders that occured in this area:
On April 8 1915 Joseph Coco’s home was blown by a bomb.He and his family were very lucky because they were in the house during the explosion.


Other mixed gangs that used the same methods of extortion and bombings and also colaborated with the Italian Black Hand Gangs(both of these gangs started in the 1910’s and became most prominent during the 20’s):


South Halstead Street

Most prominent gangster :James Sweeney
Paddy "The Bear" Ryan(second in command and also leader of the Valley gang)
Danny Stanton(chief enforcer)
Harry Bartlett(bomber)
Cornelius ConShea(bomber)
Frankie Lake
Terry Druggan
William "Gunner" McPadden
Hughey "Stubby" McGovern
Raymond Cassidy
Frank "Dutch" Carpenter

Short story:The first criminal gang of bombers was Chicago's Sweeney gang, which carried out wholesale bombing attacks during and after World War I. James Sweeney was the dean of the Chicago bombers.The bomb was a favorite tool for criminals in Chicago.More than 800 bombs were detonated in Chicago during the first 30 years of the 20th Century.Later the Sweeney gang(most of them got arrested) were succeeded by the Sangerman's gang.In 1920 Paddy Ryan was shot dead by his own gang.

Most prominent gangster :Joseph Sangerman
George Matrisciano(bomb maker)
Louis D'Andrea
Jerry Horan
Timothy "Big Tim" Murphy
Lena Shrock Rice
Fred Wamquist
Joseph Avanzio
George Martini
Frank Schiro
Mike Abbinanti

Short story:Sangerman's Bombers were a criminal group of bombers based in Chicago during the 1910's and 20s. Joseph Sangerman, a leading manufacturer of barber shop was head of the barbers' union.The Illinois Crime Survey called him "the directing genius of the bombing trust, the contractor of bombing." As an officer in the barbers' union, he began by hiring bombers to discipline barber shop owners who refused to operate their stores in accordance with union rules. Finding that this gang could do a job effectively and escape detection, he began to accept commissions in other fields. Arrested in 1925, Sangerman admitted to police that he maintained a full-time staff of six bombers, including one woman, and that his rates ran from $50 to $700 a job.George Matrisciano always carried two sticks of dynamite in his pockets.The gang was also involved in the the bombings in the 1916–21 Aldermen's Wars.

Make some cash before you run out of research man..you could get an ebook on Amazon, but preferably, just approach a publisher and get a book out and make some cash for your time

If your not sure, shit sinks...your posts always seem to float!

Thanks again for the good thoughts fergie, will try

BTW stay tuned in the next few days for my new project on the dope racket

In your opinion, who did al Capone leave in charge before he went to prision

In 1930 when Capone's tax troubles began to surface, at the end of that same year, Ricca and possibly Rio chaired a meeting at a speakeasy on the South Side which was alegedly owned by Frank Nitti, but he wasnt present at the gathering since he also had problems with the law. Attendees were Ricca, Rio, Humphreys, Pierce, and also and also Roland Libonati, Saul Tannenbaum, Al Prignano, and Tony Pintozzi. So we can only guess on what was the subject on this meeting but my personal bet is that Ricca and Rio were "representing" the new "acting" administration to the political groups which were Prignano, Libonati etc. Proof for this meeting was the raid which occurred that same day and everyone got arrested. In addition, Ricca, Rio and Prignano represented the West Side faction, which again might indicate that the South Side and Cicero factions, Capone's old crews, were no longer in charge. Previously, Diamond Joe was the boss of the West Side but when he got killed, Ricca, Mops Volpe and John Montna took over the territory.


In February 1932, Ricca again attended a meeting with D’Andrea, Rio, and one Mike Costello and they were all arrested during that same meeting. So by the end of that year, both Nitti and Capone were sent to jail, and i think that Nitti was sent to 18 months. So the moment they stepped foot in prison, someone immediately began calling the shots. For example the murder of Matt Kolb. Shortyl after his release, Mayor Cermak tried to eleminate Nitti, but failed. The problem was that Nitti ended up in hospital quite shot up. So my point is that during this period Nitti was absent and my personal bet is that Ricca was in charge at least for awhile. Although I have to be honest that the most confusing period on who was the boss, at least for me, is from 1934, when Nitti fully recovered, until 1940. Many big players came up during this period and one of them was Campagna.

I find it hard to believe that when Ricca went to prison for that Hollywood rap that accardo ran the day to day all by his self

Since Ricca and Campagna were jailed, the main guys during this period were Ralph Capone, Mangano, DeGeorge, Capezio, Fishetti's and obviously Accardo, with a lot of backing from Humphreys, Guzik, Heeney and Maddox. Now, Mangano was killed in 1944, DeGeroge was allegedly demoted by 1948 since many of his crew members were killed, Capone also slowly started fading away from the Chicago scene, and so that leaves the Fischetti's, Rocco and Charles, and Capezio, which possibly were the real power behind Accardo during that time.

You said al Capone started fading away from the scene about this time, so do you think al Capone himself may have been advising accardo during this period? Sending messages through Ralph?

Some great info here, Toodoped. Thanks for all the time-consuming effort to dig out the historical data. These guys were interesting for sure and Paul Ricca was one cool, smart, charming guy.

I think everyone agrees that when the FBI came to town in the late fifties, things would never be the same again for the Outfit. It took a few years, but a steady decline in criminal activity for the Outfit had begun. They were still very powerful, but nothing like the 40's and 50's.

Thanks again for all the research.