Chicago Outfit

Chicago Outfit

Founder	Giacomo "Big Jim" Colosimo
Founding location	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Years active	Early 1900s – present
Territory	Chicago metropolitan area, northwest Indiana, Milwaukee to the west coast
Ethnicity	Mostly Italian-American, Polish-American and others.
Membership (est.)	50-200 made members and roughly 1,000 associates.
Criminal activities	Racketeering, gun running, bribery, conspiracy, contract killing, arson, burglary, coercion, robbery, larceny, skimming, hijacking, loansharking, drug trafficking, fencing, fraud, money laundering, murder, illegal gambling, assault, battery, extortion, threats, chop shops, prostitution.
Allies	Five Families, Philadelphia Mafia, Outlaws, Folk Nation, People Nation, Los Zetas, Mara Salvatrucha.
Rivals	In the early years, the North Side Mob and the Genna Brothers, and now any criminal entity in Chicago that rivals it for power.

The Chicago Outfit, also known as The Outfit, Chicago Syndicate and Chicago Mob, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Dating back to the 1910s, it is part of the American Mafia; however, the Chicago Outfit is distinct from the "Five Families" of New York City, though all Italian-American crime families are ruled by The Commission.

The Outfit in the city of Chicago has no true monopoly on traditional organized crime. It competes for turf, for business, with many other organizations, including the current 'Russian Mafia' and the 'Jamaican posses', among others. The Outfit's control reportedly reaches throughout the western United States to places as far away as Los Angeles, California and parts of Florida. The Chicago Outfit is also known to have large control over neighboring states including Iowa, Wisconsin and other areas of the Midwest. They also have satellite families, or crime families that answer to or are under Outfit control. These include: the Iowa family, the Las Vegas family, the Los Angeles family, the Nebraska family, and the San Diego family.

The Outfit has used other ethnic groups besides Italian Americans as high ranking associates since the families earliest days. A prime example of this was the Jake Guzik ("Greasy Thumb") who was the top "bagman" and "accountant" for decades until his death. He was Jewish and either Polish or Russian depending on the source. More prominently was Murray Humphreys, who was of Welsh descent. Another associate is an African American, Grambling T Dominique Jr. (aka "The Kid" "Niqo" or "GT") a trained boxer is listed as a enforcer and Japanese-American associate Ken Eto (aka Tokyo Joe). To this day, the Outfit bears the influence of its best-known leader, Al Capone. In fact for decades after Capone had left the scene, the Outfit was known as "the Capone Gang" or "the Capones" to outsiders. The Outfit's membership is moderately estimated to be between 50-200 "made" members comprising a core group with more than 1,000 associates estimated.

Overview

Since its founding, the Chicago Outfit has been operating in order to keep and expand its status and profit throughout the Chicago area among others. During the prohibition era, its leader at that time Al Capone competed with other gangsters like George "Bugs" Moran for the bootlegging business and as well as other rivalries. Because of this there appears to be a business and personal rivalry between the Northside (North Side Mob) and Southside Chicago gangs of which Al Capone was the southern and George Moran was the northern.

There also appeared to be cultural differences between the two sides since the North-Sider was more Irish-American and the South-Sider was more Italian-American. This conflict led to numerous crimes such as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and numerous drive-by shootings resulting in the death of George Moran's associates and others on both sides. The Tommy gun was a trademark weapon in these. In the early 1940s, a handful of top Outfit leaders went to prison because they were found to be extorting Hollywood by controlling the unions that comprise Hollywood's movie industry. The manipulation and misuse of the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. There were also allegations that The Outfit was involved in strong-arm tactics and voter fraud at polling places, under Salvatore Giancana in the 1960 presidential election. Along with the voting allegations, The Outfit was involved in a Central Intelligence Agency-Mafia collusion during Castro's overthrow of the Cuban government. In exchange for their help, the Outfit would be given access to their former casinos if they helped overthrow Fidel Castro (Operation Mongoose or Operation Family Jewels). Having failed in that endeavor, and facing increasing indictments under the administration of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), they are subjects of conspiracy theories regarding the JFK assassination, and that of JFK's brother Robert Kennedy. The Outfit controlled casinos in Las Vegas and "skimmed" millions of dollars over the course of several decades. Most recently, top mob figures have been found guilty of crimes dating back to as early as the mid 1960s.

History

Pre-Prohibition

The early years of organized crime in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were marked by the division of various street gangs controlling the South Side and North Side as well as the Black Hand organizations of Little Italy.

Giacomo Colosimo ("James," "Big Jim") centralized control in the early 20th century. Colosimo was born in Calabria, Italy, in 1877, emigrating to Chicago in 1895, where he established himself as a criminal. By 1909 he was successful enough that he was encroaching on the criminal activity of the Black Hand organization.

His expanding organization required the procurement of extra muscle. This came in the form of Colosimo's nephew Giovanni Torrio ("Johnny the Fox") from New York. In 1919, Torrio brought in Al Capone, thus providing Capone's entrance to Chicago. In time, Colosimo and Torrio had a falling out over Torrio's insistence that they expand into rum-running, which Colosimo staunchly opposed. In 1920, Colosimo was killed by Frankie Yale allegedly on Torrio's orders, ending the argument.

Torrio brought together different parts of Chicago criminal activity, with a lasting effect on Chicago in general, and Chicago crime in particular.

Outfit development with Al Capone

Severely injured in an assassination attempt by the North Side Mob in January 1925, the shaken Torrio returned to Italy and handed over control of the business to Capone. Capone was notorious during Prohibition for his control of the Chicago underworld and his bitter rivalries with gangsters such as George "Bugs" Moran and Earl "Hymie" Weiss. Raking in vast amounts of money (some estimates were that between 1925 and 1930 Capone was making $100 million a year), the Chicago kingpin was largely immune to prosecution because of witness intimidation and the bribing of city officials. The Chicago Outfit during Al Capone government was certainly one of the most dangerous gangs in the world. In the 30's, Al Capone and his successor, Frank Nitti, developed the Outfit rapidly in all the surrounding areas. One of the prime areas of interest was in Canada, the main source of alcohol which the Outfit was smuggling into the States. This illicit alcohol was then distributed to all the "titty bars" (brothels) of Chicago. During prohibition, this was one of the greatest sources of income for the Outfit. The Outfit was based on a great relationship of trust between the gangsters and the "boss of bosses" and a value system based on trust, established by that of Capone. The heads of various divisions of the outfits were controlled by the boss through a system of informers infiltrated with, and who betrayed the honor was executed. Among the most active representatives of Al Capone Outfit happy memories DeLuca (assets in Illinois and Wisconsin), Bob Calandra (Ontario), Vince DeLuca, Tom Ciampelletti (formerly the caretaker of super boss mom and active in Montreal, QC) and the same Frank Nitti, who acted as intermediary between Al Capone and gangsters more important.

From Nitti through Accardo

After Capone was jailed for tax evasion, his hand-picked successor, Frank Nitti, a former barber and small-time jewel thief, only nominally assumed power. In truth, power was seized by Nitti's underboss, Paul Ricca, who was acknowledged as "boss" by the leaders of the growing National Crime Syndicate. Over the next decade, The Outfit moved into labor racketeering, gambling, and loan sharking. Geographically, this was the period when Outfit muscle extended its tendrils to Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, Kansas City, and especially to Hollywood and other California cities, where The Outfit's extortion of labor unions gave it leverage over the motion picture industry.

In 1943, the Outfit was caught red-handed shaking down the Hollywood movie industry. Ricca wanted Nitti to take the fall. However, Nitti had found years earlier while in jail for 18 months (for tax evasion) that he was claustrophobic, and he decided to end his life rather than face more imprisonment for extorting Hollywood. Ricca then became the boss in name as well as in fact, with enforcement chief Tony Accardo as underboss.

However, later in 1943, following the "Hollywood Scandal" trial, Ricca was sent to prison for his part in The Outfit plot to control Hollywood. He, along with a number of other mobsters, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Through the "magic" of political connections, the whole group of Outfit mobsters was released after three years, largely due to the efforts of Outfit "fixer" Murray "The Camel" Humphreys. As a condition of his parole, Ricca could not associate with mobsters. While Accardo theoretically took over as day-to-day boss, by all indications Ricca continued behind the scenes as a senior consultant. He and Accardo would share de facto power for the next 30 years, but with Ricca staying in the shadows.

Accardo joined Ricca in semi-retirement in 1957. Starting in 1957, Ricca and Accardo allowed several others, such as Giancana, Joseph Aiuppa (also known as "Joey Doves"), William Daddano (also kown as "Willie Potatoes"), Felix Alderisio ("Milwaukee Phil"), Jackie Cerone ("Jackie the Lackey"), to serve as front men over the years, this due to some "heat" that Accardo was originally getting from the IRS, in the 1950s. Most of the front bosses originated from the Forty-Two Gang. However, no major business transactions, and certainly no "hits," took place without Ricca and Accardo's knowledge and approval. Ricca died in 1972, leaving Accardo as the sole power behind the throne.

The Outfit reached the height of its power in the 1960s. With the aid of Meyer Lansky, Accardo used the Teamsters pension fund to engage in massive money laundering through the Outfit's casinos, aided by the likes of Sidney Korshak and Jimmy Hoffa. The 1970s and 1980s were a hard time for the Outfit, as law enforcement continued to penetrate the organization, spurred by poll-watching politicians. Off-track betting reduced bookmaking profits and illicit casinos withered under competition from legitimate casinos. Replacement activities like auto theft and professional sports betting did not replace the lost profits.

Operation PENDORF (codenamed for penetrate Allen Dorfman) and the "Strawman" case ended the Outfit's skimming and control of their Las Vegas casinos. These events are fictionalized in the film Casino.

Accardo died in 1992. In a measure of how successfully he'd managed to stay out of the background, he never spent a day in jail (or only spent one day, depending on the source) despite an arrest record dating to 1922. However, compared to how organized crime power struggles emerge in New York City, Chicago's transition from Accardo to the next generation of Outfit bosses has run rather smoothly.

21st century

On April 25, 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice launched Operation Family Secrets, which indicted 14 Outfit members and associates under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). U.S. District Court Judge James Zagel presided over the Family Secrets trial. The federal prosecutors were Mitchell A. Mars, T. Markus Funk, and John Scully. The jury found James Marcello, Joseph Lombardo, Frank Calabrese, Sr., Paul Schiro, and Anthony Doyle guilty of all counts, which included extortion, illegal gambling, tax fraud, loan sharking, and murder (Doyle was not found guilty of murder) on September 10, 2007. Scully retired, and Mars died prior to sentencing (which was handled by Funk). Paul Schiro was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Frank Calabrese, Sr. was sentenced to life in prison on January 28, 2009. On February 2, 2009, Joseph Lombardo was sentenced to life imprisonment. James Marcello also received life imprisonment on February 5, 2009. March 12, 2009, Anthony Doyle received 12 years of prison. Nicholas Calabrese was sentenced to 12 years, 4 months of imprisonment. This lenient sentence was due in part to Calabrese's cooperation with the government. Nick Calabrese turned government witness in the early 2000s and was the star witness at the Family Secrets trial. Additional punishment was added on April 6, 2009. to the five guilty men, over $24 million in fines and restitutions to be paid. Also, $4.3 million to the relatives of the 14 men murdered by the Outfit. The five would split the restitution cost, but Doyle has to pay the least. Zagel's words, "...I hold Defendants Calabrese, Sr., Marcello, Lombardo, and Schiro jointly and severally liable." Judge Zagel found that Calabrese during the closing argument threatened to kill prosecutor Funk (muttering "You're a fucking dead man" in Funk's direction); Calabrese reportedly was subsequently incarcerated under highly-restrictive measures.

However, during the Family Secrets' trial, it was found that a Deputy U.S. Marshal named John Thomas Ambrose had leaked information on Nicholas Calabrese that led back to the Chicago mob as early as 2002. Ambrose would eventually be put on a Mob Leak trial himself (with Markus Funk returning as the lead prosecutor, working alongside Diane MacArthur) and a jury would find him guilty on April 28, 2009. He was charged with theft of Justice Department property, disclosing confidential information and lying to federal agents who questioned him about the leak. He was however acquitted of two charges of lying to federal agents. The information went to William Guide, a father figure to Ambrose and an officer convicted in the Marquette 10, and then to the mob. This is noteworthy as the first ever breach in the Witness Protection Program. In the end, Ambrose was sentenced to 48 months incarceration, which was almost three times higher than the top of his sentencing guidelines range—Judge Grady found "nothing mitigating" about Ambrose's leaks to the Chicago mob.

Document's revealed at John Ambrose's trial show that the Justice Department's Family Secrets also intended to indict and convict Alfonso "Pizza Al" Tornabene and John DiFronzo.

Historical leadership of the Chicago Outfit

Boss (official, acting and front)

• 1910–1920 — Giacomo "Big Jim" Colosimo ("James", "Diamond Jim") (1877–1920)
• 1920–1925 — John "Johnny The Fox" Torrio (1882–1957)
• 1925–1932 — Alphonse "Al" Capone ("Scarface") (1899–1947)
• 1932–1947 — Paul "The Waiter" Ricca (1897–1972) - remained as senior consultant (Consigliere) with final say on all decisions, he shared this power with Accardo from 1957 until his death.
  • Front Boss 1931–1943 — Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti (1888–1943) was the figurehead/front boss for Ricca.
  • Acting 1943–1947 — Antonino "The Big Tuna" Accardo (promoted to Boss, Ricca became Consigliere.)
• 1947–1957 — Antonino "The Big Tuna" Accardo ("Joe Batters") (1906–1992) - With Accardo becoming Consigliere in 1956 the Boss position became the Front Boss from 1956-1992. All the front bosses would take orders from Accardo and Ricca who remained the family's real power. Accardo remained Outfit's consigliere until his death and had final say on all major decisions.
  • Front Boss 1957–1966 — Salvatore "Sam" Giancana ("Momo," "Mooney") (1908–1975)
  • Front Boss 1966–1967 — Samuel "Teets" Battaglia (1908–1973)
  • Front Boss 1967–1969 — Jackie "the Lackey" Cerone (1914–1996)
  • Front Boss 1969–1971 — Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio (1912–1971)
  • Front Boss 1971–1986 — Joseph John Aiuppa ("Joey Doves", "Joey O'Brien") (1907–1997)
  • Front Boss 1986–1989 — Joseph "Joe Nagall" Ferriola (1948–1989)
  • Front Boss 1989–1993 — Samuel "Sam" Carlisi ("Wings") (1914–1997)
• 1993–present — John "No Nose" DiFronzo (1928) - undisputed boss from 1994–1999; Co-boss with Consigliere Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo 1999–present. In 2009, Lombardo was sentenced to life in prison)
  • Front Boss 2003–2009 — James "Jimmy the Man" Marcello ("Little Jimmy") (1943) (On February 5, 2009 he received life in prison.)

Chicago Outfit factions

Iowa faction

In Des Moines, Iowa there is a faction that works under the Chicago Outfit.

• 1936-1954 - Charles "Cherry Nose" Gioe
• 1954-1967 - Louis "Cock Eyed" Fratto (died in 1967)

Las Vegas faction

In Las Vegas there is a faction that works under the Chicago Outfit.

• 1931-1964 - Johnny Roselli
• 1964-1971 - Marshall Caifano
• 1971-1986 - Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro
• 1986-1993 - Donald "The Wizard of Odds" Angelini

Milwaukee Faction

The outfit also operates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, doing most of the Milwaukee Crime Famliy's rackets

Los Angeles faction

In Los Angeles there is a faction that works under the Chicago Outfit.

• 1924-1943 - Johnny Roselli "The Hollywood Kid" Roselli

Nebraska faction

In Omaha, Nebraska there is a faction that works under the Chicago Outfit.

• 1920s-1951 - Anthony "Fat Tony" Oddo

San Diego faction

In San Diego, California there is a faction that works under the Chicago Outfit.

In popular culture

The Chicago Outfit has a long history of portrayal in Hollywood as the subject of films and television

Films

• Scarface (1932)
• Chicago Syndicate (1955)
• The Scarface Mob (1957)
• The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)
• The Outfit (1973)
• The Untouchables(1987)
• Casino (1995) directed by Martin Scorsese is a fictionalized depiction of the Chicago Outfit's skimming operations in Las Vegas.
• Payback (1999), Mel Gibson fights organization crime initially called, "The Syndicate," then later in the movie called, "The Outfit".
• Road to Perdition (2002) was a film in which Al Capone and Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti were depicted acting in concert with an Irish gang in lower Illinois during prohibition.
• Public Enemies (2009 film) shows the organization as chiefly an off-screen presence, though Frank Nitti and his associates do appear numerous times. The chief examples of the Outfit being shown on screen are their network of safe houses, and their independent wire service that opened in Chicago, as well as mentions of their money laundering and whore house network.

T.V. series

• The Untouchables television series (1959–63; 1993–94)
• The F.B.I. showcased numerous, fictionalized, real Outfit cases on its television program during the 1960s and in to the 1970s.
• In The Simpsons episode "Viva Ned Flanders" the Las Vegas wedding-chapel priest cites the Chicago Outfit for vesting the power in him to marry.
• Crime Story, ran from 1986-88 on NBC, portraying a fictional Chicago mobster rising through the ranks of the "Chicago Outfit".
• Prison Break a FOX's TV series (2005-2009), character John Abruzzi is the incarcerated boss of the "Chicago Outfit".
• In the Star Trek episode, "A Piece of the Action", the Enterprise visits Sigma Iotia II, a planet that based its culture on the Chicago Outfit (specifically the book Chicago Mobs of the Twenties, which in the episode was a work of nonfiction published in 1992).
• In Boardwalk Empire (2010-)

See also

• Hired Truck Program scandal
• Organized Crime in Chicago
• Unione Siciliane
• List of Chicago Ourfit members past and current

References

General References

• Binder, John. The Chicago Outfit. Arcadia Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7385-2326-7
• Russo, Gus. The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America, Bloomsbury USA, 2002.
• Mark Lombardi: Global Networks. Mark Lombardi, Robert Carleton Hobbs, Judith Richards; Independent Curators, 2003. (published for the travelling exhibition of his work, "Mark Lombardi Global Networks"). ISBN 0-916365-67-0
• The F.B.I. (historical archives)
• The Chicago Syndicate
• http://www.ipsn.org/cc97.html