When the Outfit Ran Chicago, Vol II: The Al Capone Era

By James R Ashley

This book deals primarily with the Al Capone Era in Chicago. Technically this would cover a six-year, eight-month period of time from when Johnny Torrio was shot by “Bugs” Moran in January 24, 1925 to October 24, 1931, when Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for income tax evasion. However, the book will go back a bit earlier, when Johnny Torrio first brought Capone to Chicago from New York and follow through to Capone's time in prison, his retirement in Florida, and his subsequent death.

Al Capone’s function was to clear the decks and establish supremacy of the Chicago Outfit over the independent gangs in Chicago. He did that in such a spectacular and violent manner that he came to personify what people wanted to believe the quintessential gangster boss to be. Capone owns the judges and police and he does what he wants without their interference. What Capone wants is to rule Chicago and this means a death struggle with all the other gangs there. One by one he drives them from the field with machine guns, shotguns, and bombs until only the North Side Gang stands between him and the complete submission of Chicago.

The North Side Gang, however, is not inclined to step aside without a fight and goes toe-to-toe with Capone is a series of gun battles forever enshrined in Hollywood movies. The North Side Gang’s attack culminates in the 10-car Hawthorne Restaurant drive-by, where 1,000 rounds are fired at Capone. He, however, survives the onslaught unscathed and then launches a devastating counter-attack on February 14, 1929 known as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, which breaks the back of the North Side Gang. At long last Capone now rules Chicago but he will do so only for another two-and-a-half years, then will go to prison for the next 11 years. Upon release he will be little more than a vegetable.

Al Capone will die from a stroke on January 25, 1945. Only 350 people will view his body one last time and a mere 50 people will show up to pay their respects at his gravesite. Al of Capone's great wealth will revert back to the Outfit and most of what was left would go to the IRS. Al's wife Mae will have to continually sell off her remaining possessions to make ends meet. She will die in a Florida nursing home in 1986. After a series of odd jobs Sonny, Al's only child, will change his name to Albert Francis and disappear into obscurity. Al Capone will not be known as either a particularly good husband or a good father. His sole claim to fame will be his notoriety as the murderous gangster who ran Chicago during the “Roaring 20s.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: James R Ashley
• Release date: Jul 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301793716

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When the Outfit Ran Chicago

Vol II: The Al Capone Era

James R Ashley

Copyright 2015 James R. Ashley

Smashwords edition

Table of Contents

Introduction

Joseph Aiello

Alcatraz

Louis Alterie

Samuzzo Anatuna

American Boys

Atlantic City Conference

Beer Wars

Byron Bolton

Chester Bragg

Fred Burke

Louis Campagna

Tony Capezio

Al Capone

Albert Francis Capone

Frank Capone

Mae Capone

Mafalda Capone

Matthew Capone

Ralph Capone

Cicero

Circus Gang

James Clark

Morgan Collins

Lewis Cowan

Robert Emmet Crowe

Phil D'Andrea

Jim Doherty

Vincent Drucci

Terry Druggan

John Duffy

Jose Esposito

Finnigan

Charles Fischetti

Charles Fitzmorris

Four Deuces

Frank Gullaccio

Angelo Genna

Genna Gang

Jim Genna

Mike Genna

Sam Genna

Tony Genna

Fred Goetz

Graves

Joseph Guinta

Frank Gusenberg

Pete Gusenberg

Jake Guzik

Hawthorne Inn

Hawthorne Kennel Club

Hawthorne Restaurant Drive-by

Hawthorne Smoke Shop Ledgers

Danny Healy

Mike Heitler

Adam Heyer

Henry Hoover

J Edgar Hoover

Joe Howard

Michael Hughes

Sam Hunt

Elmer Irey

Alexander Jamie

Edward Jarecki

George E.Q. Johnson

Joseph Klenha

Frankie Lake

Joe E Lewis

Lexington Hotel

Jake Lingle

Little Italy

Frank Loesch

Pasqalino Lorordo

Tony Lombardo

Richard Lonergan

The Loop

Fred Lundin

John Lyle

Claude Maddox

Mike Malone

Willie Marks

Joe Martino

Mattingly Letter

John May

Mayors of Chicago

Robert McCormick

Frank McEriane

Jack McGurn

William McSwiggin

Mike Merlo

Metropole Hotel

Hershal Miller

David Moneypenny

George Moran

David Morgan

Samuel Morton

Murder Twins

Needle Beer

Giuseppe Nerone

Eliot Ness

North Side Gang

Joseph Nosek

Ray Nugent

Dean O'Banion

John O'Berta

William O'Connor

Edward O'Donnell

Myles O'Donnell

William O'Donnell

Edward O'Hare

The Outfit

Tony Perotta

Pineapple Primary

Prohibition Agents

Public Enemies List

Ragen's Colts

Robert Isham Randolph

Charles Reiser

Fred Ries

Frank Rio

Pat Roche

Louise Rolfe

William Russell

Robert St John

St Valentine's Day Massacre

Joe Saltis

James Sammons

Schofield Flower Ship

Reinhart Schwimmer

Ralph Sheldon

Sherman Hotel Treaty

The Ship

Leslie Shumway

Sieben Brewrey

Edwin Simms

Billy Skidmore

Len Small

SMC Carthage Warehouse

South Side O'Donnell Gang

Special Intelligence Unit

Danny Stanton

John Stege

Joseph Stensen

The Stockade

Sullivan Ruling

Eddie Tancl

Jacob Mont Tennes

Nels Tessem

Bill Thompson

Thompson Submachine Gun

Johnny Torrio

Orazo Tropea

Unione Silicane

The Untouchables

Valley Gang

Ed Vogel

Volstead Act

War of the Sicilian Succession

Albert Weinshank

Hymie Weiss

West Side Gang

West Suburban Citizen's Association

White Hand Gang

James Wilkerson

Frank Wilson

Georgette Winkler

Gus Winkler

Frankie Yale

George Zigler

Jack Zuta

Bibliography

Map 1: Greater Chicago

Map 2: Central City Chicago

Map 3: Near North Side Chicago

Map 4: West Side Chicago

Map 5: North Side Chicago

Map 6: Near South Side Chicago

Map 7: South Side Chicago

Map 8: Southwest Chicago

Map 9: Cicero

Introduction

This book deals primarily with the Al Capone Era in Chicago. Technically, this would cover a 6-year, 8-month period of time from when Johnny Torrio was shot by Bugs Moran in January 24, 1925, to October 24, 1931, when Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for income tax evasion. However, the book will go back a bit earlier, when Johnny Torrio first brought Capone to Chicago from New York and follow through to Capone's time in prison, his retirement in Florida, and his subsequent death.

Al Capone’s function was to clear the decks and establish supremacy of the Chicago Outfit over the independent gangs in Chicago. He did that in such a spectacular and violent manner that he came to personify what people wanted to believe the quintessential gangster boss to be. Capone owns the judges and police and he does what he wants without their interference. What Capone wants is to rule Chicago and this means a death struggle with all the other gangs there. One by one he drives them from the field with machine guns, shotguns, and bombs until only the North Side Gang stands between him and the complete submission of Chicago.

The North Side Gang, however, is not inclined to step aside without a fight and goes toe-to-toe with Capone is a series of gun battles forever enshrined in Hollywood movies. The North Side Gang’s attack culminates in the 10-car Hawthorne Restaurant drive-by, where 1,000 bullets were fired at Capone. He, however, survives the onslaught unscathed and then launches a devastating counter-attack on February 14, 1929, known as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, which breaks the back of the North Side Gang. At long last Capone now rules Chicago but he will do so only for another two-and-a-half years, and will then go to prison for the next 11 years. Upon release he will be little more than a mental vegetable, his mind all but eaten away by syphilis.

In 1902 Big Jim Colosimo, a protection bagman for the 1st Ward aldermen ‘Hinky Dink’ Kenna and Bathhouse John Coughlin, married Victoria Moresco, a brothel madam. Colosimo moved up from knocking out slow-paying madams with brass knuckles to owning a string of 100 bordellos (one of which he named after his wife), gambling joints, and opium dens. Colosimo liked living the good life and began spending more and more time entertaining at Colosimo’s Café, his world-class restaurant. Black Handers soon try shaking him down and his wife called on her cousin Johnny Torrio from Brooklyn for help. Torrio came to Chicago and rubbed out the 3 blackmailing Black-Handers and in appreciation was asked by Colosimo to stay and run his bordellos, which he agreed to do. Torrio’s highly efficient management skills allowed Colosimo to spend ever more time socializing at his restaurant.

Torrio clearly saw that fortunes were to be made with the passage of Prohibition. Other gangs saw it too and are gearing up bootlegging operations, but Colosimo refused to allow Torrio to get involved. Any Prohibition violations would come under federal law, where bribery buyoffs were more difficult and jail sentences much stiffer that violations under state law. Colosimo really did not need the money anyway, as he was making over $50,000 a month from his existing vice operations in the Levee and at this point in his life just preferred not to rock the boat. This, however, did not suit Torrio, because he was in crime for the huge money to be made and unlike Colosimo he hadn’t made enough of it yet. When Colosimo married the angelic 19-year-old church singer Dale Winter and virtually abandoned his duties as the leader of his gang, this was the last straw for Torrio. He contacted his old friend from Brooklyn Frankie Yale and paid him $10,000 to come to Chicago and bump off Colosimo. About 2 weeks after his marriage to Dale, Colosimo was found dead in the vestibule of his restaurant

Torrio now ran the Outfit and he focused on making money, lots of it. He expanded prostitution and gambling operations and quickly moved into bootlegging. Torrio was, however, a talker not a fighter and his philosophy was negotiation over gunplay whenever possible. He was also a brilliant underworld strategist and a highly efficient manager. Torrio organized the gangs in Chicago is a loose organization for mutual financial benefit. Al Capone now joined Torrio from New York as his protégé to help him run his Chicago operations. Marked for death in New York for killing a White Hand Gang member there, the East Coast had become too hot for Capone and Yale made a call to his old friend Torrio in Chicago to get Capone a job there . Capone proved himself brutal and capable, working his way up from a street steerer (who propositions men passing by to come in and see the fast women inside) to a bouncer, to a bartender, to Torrio’s second-in-command.

The gangster activity in Chicago would not have been possible without the massive corruption of the political system, the judiciary, and law enforcement there. A large slice of the gangster’s income always has to be earmarked for payoffs; Capone’s annual payoffs were said to total over $30 million at his height, about one-third of his illegal income. The police had to be paid to look the other way, politicians to pass no laws detrimental to the underworld, and the governor to issue pardons in the unlikely event of a conviction.

The reformers now elected William Dever Mayor of Chicago. When he cracked down hard on vice and corruption in the city, Torrio was forced to move a large part of his operations into the suburbs. There, small town mayors, town councils, and police forces were easily corrupted and terrorized into submission. Vice operations that are set up in city after city meet with little resistance. The town councils were stuffed with Outfit supporters and no measures were ever considered that are against the interest of the Outfit, unless those proposing them want to chance a beating or death. Then came the election of Bill Thompson as mayor of Chicago. He campaigned on Chicago being an open city, which meant gangsters were free to run their operations unimpeded by politicians and law enforcement. Fred Linden, Thompson’s mentor and behind the scenes string-puller, soon organized one of the most corrupt Republican political machines in the nation. On his slate is Bill Thompson, Mayor of Chicago; Len Small, governor of Illinois; and Robert Crowe, State’s Attorney for Cook County. They will be known as the Thompson Machine.

In Chicago if an honest police officer could actually be found to arrest a gangster, the suspect would be remanded to the courts for trial. There, juries and witnesses were routinely bribed or terrorized. At that point most witnesses would suffer a disease known as Chicago amnesia and the gangster would frequently go free. If not, there was always a friendly judge that could be found to reverse the ruling for the right price. The easier route was frequently just to payoff governor Len Small for a full pardon just before going to prison (Small was said to have granted over 6,000 pardons during his terms in office as governor). But even if you had to serve some time in a Chicago jail, you can always bribe the warden and live comfortably with rugs on the floor, a feather bed, home cooking brought in, and traveling privileges at night to your favorite restaurant or nightclubs, after which you can stay overnight in the city with your wife or mistress.

Time after time Thompson was re-elected. However, the voters of Chicago finally became fed up with the lawlessness and violence and voted his machine out of office just about the time Capone was sentenced to an 11-year prison term for income tax evasion. This ushers out the Thompson Republican political machine.

Torrio’s rule of the Chicago gangs became tenuous and smoldering animosities had been building up like a pressure-cooker that was ready to blow. An us-against-them split was coalescing. Terry Druggan’s Valley Gang allied themselves with Torrio. Not only had Druggan no aspirations to go beyond its territorial boarders, but he owned five breweries with Joseph Stenson provided Torrio with a steady and dependable supply of quality beer. The Ralph Shelton gang was a Torrio satellite that mainly battled the Saltis gang for territory. Claude Maddox’s Circus Gang became a minor league extension of Torrio’s Outfit, being used both as a recruiting ground for talented killers and to battle the North Side Gang. The Saltis-McErland Gang also allied with Torrio, because buying beer from Torrio was much more efficient and dependable then running it in from Wisconsin.

The Genna Gang was centered in Little Italy and had a huge alky-cooking operation, with thousands of residents there being paid $15 a day to watch stills in their homes, which produced about 350 gallons of rotgut per still every week. So much was in fact produced that it outran the demand in Little Italy and the Gennas began to peddle it in Dean O’Banion’s North Side, at two-thirds his price and in violation of his treaty with Torrio. This, of course, did not sit well with O’Banion who complained to Torrio but to little effect. Klondike O’Donnell’s West Side Gang only grudgingly accepted Torrio’s leadership and when Spike O’Donnell went to prison, his South Side Gang had a large portion of its territory absorbed by Torrio (from Madison Street south to the Indiana border), with the remainder being given to the Saltis-McErlane Gang. Every gang jockeyed for position, only waiting for the right time to make their move.

The lid finally blew off when bribes and political pull convinced’ Governor Len Small to give Spike O’Donnell a full pardon. This marked the beginning of the so-called Beer Wars. Spike recruited a small but tough crew (George Meegan, Phil Corrigan, and Jerry O’Connor) and proceeded to highjack Torrio beer trucks and peddle beer in territory controlled by Torrio and the Saltis-McErlane gangs at $5 a barrel below Torrio’s price. McErlane then went on a murderous rampage, killing Meegan, Corrigan, and O’Connor and almost killedSpike. Seeing the writing on the wall, Spike left Chicago before his number was up," thereby dissolving the South Side Gang.

O’Banion, simmering with rage, went out of his way to insult the Gennas. Angelo Genna has a $30,000 gambling marker at The Ship, a Capone-Torrio owned gambling roadhouse which O’Banion had a 15% interest in. When Capone and Torrio suggested that they tear up the Genna IOU as a goodwill gesture, a furious O’Banion called up Angelo Genna and demanded that he pay up in full within a week or else. O’Banion then hijacked a $30,000 whiskey shipment from the Gennas. The Gennas voted death for O’Banion but Torrio prevented that sentence from being carried out only because the highly influential Mike Merlo, head of the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siciliane, was against settling the issue with violence.

O’Banion now proceeded to burn his last bridge with Torrio. O’Banion, Capone, and Torrio owned the Seiben Brewery as a partnership. O’Banion, upon hearing that the brewery is soon to be raided and shut down, decided to run a sting on Torrio before that happens. He told Torrio he had made enough money and wanted to leave Chicago as soon as he can dispose of his assets. O’Banion offered his interest in the brewery to Torrio for $500,000 and only asked him to be at the facility during the next delivery in order to reassure the brewery workers about their jobs. Torrio’s usually good judgment was blinded by his happiness in seeing O’Banion depart Chicago so easily and cheaply and agreed to the deal. The day O’Banion set for the last shipment is May 19, 1924, the day of the police raid. O’Banion knew that as Torrio has already been arrested once for a Prohibition violation and a second arrest would result in a mandatory jail sentence.

The raid caught Torrio completely by surprise but O’Banion’s obvious happiness at the result told Torrio and he had been setup.. O’Banion also later refused to return Torrio’s $500,000 payment back to him. It is now clear that O’Banion's days are numbered. When Mike Merlo dies from cancer on November 8, 1924. Frankie Yale, who has come to Chicago for Merlo’s funeral, makes the hit on November 10, 1924. The scene is now set for an all out battle between the Outfit and the North Side Gang, now led by Hymie Weiss.

Weiss now had a score to settle, as O’Banion was like family to him. He, Bugs Moran, and Schemer Drucci first went after Torrio, badly wounding him. It turned out that Torrio can dish it out but he couldn’t take it. He knows that all-out war will soon be coming and negotiations will count for nothing. He is a strategist not a fighter. On his way to jail for the Seiben Brewery conviction, Torrio turns over the Outfit to his second-in-command Al Capone and tells him after his prison sentence he will go to Italy with his mother.

Capone begins to clear the playing field. The Genna Gang now comes apart at the seams. Angelo Genna is gunned down in his car. And although the North Siders are strongly suspected to have been the triggermen, it was more likely Capone, who was anxious to replace Angelo Genna as president of the Unione Siciliane with his own man, Tony Lombardo. Mike Genna and the Murder Twins now ambush Moran and Drucci, but only succeed in wounding them. The police see the trio speed down the street after their ambush and give chase. The car crashes, and the Murder Twins run off, while the police trade fire with Mike Genna. Genna bleeds to death from a police bullet which severs the femoral artery in his leg. Little did Genna realize that the Murder Twins had switched sides to Capone and would have murdered him that day, had the police not pursued them.

As Tony Genna, who had been hiding out for weeks, was getting ready to leave town, Guiseppe Nerone, the gang’s former accountant, asks to see him. Nursing a grudge for not being promoted into a higher position by the Gennas, Nerone and the Murder Twins put 5 bullets into Tony. When Sam, Pete, and Jim Genna flee to Sicily, the bottom falls out of the Genna Gang.

Meanwhile, hoping that Capone will be tied up in his battle against the North Side Gang and the Genna Gang, Klondike O’Donnell (no relation to Spike) allies his West Side Gang with Hymie Weiss's North Side Gang, in an attempt to push Capone out of Cicero. Undercutting Capone’s price on beer by $10 a barrel, Klondike makes significant inroads into Capone’s beer sales in Cicero. Klondike then goes after gambling in Cicero and his success there decreases Capone’s daily gambling revenues by $5,000 per day. However, in the aftermath of the McSwiggin murder, where Capone tries to kill Klondike and Myles O’Donnell but mistakenly kills Assistant State’s Attorney McSwiggin instead, Klondike and his brother Myles decide to call it quits This is the end of the West Side Gang. Capone leaves town for 2 months, fearing that the police will now shoot him on sight. When Capone returns to Chicago he is questioned about the murder, then released.

Joe Saltis now defects to the North Side Gang. However, the attrition on his gunmen takes its toll and in early March 1927 it is clear that losses in his gang had been so heavy that it is no longer able to defend its territory. Saltis now retires to Wisconsin and Capone takes over his territory.

It was said that Hymie Weiss was the only gang leader that Capone had really feared, both because of his intelligence and unpredictable viciousness. Tony Lombardo, representing Capone, has a sit-down with Weiss and asks him his price for peace between them. Weiss asks for the heads of the Murder Twins, 2 of O’Banion’s murderers. Capone, however, refuses to sell out his own men for a killing he himself had authorized and upon hearing this, an angry Weiss stalks off. On September 20, 1926, Weiss leads a 10-car drive-by on the Hawthorne Inn, where Capone is drinking coffee. Over 1,000 bullets are fired but miraculously only 1 person is injured. Capone is unscathed but is clearly impressed and frightened at Weiss’s audacity. On October, 11, 1926, Capon's gunmen set up a crossfire on Weiss’s headquarters above the Schofield Flower Shop and guns down Weiss as he is crossing the street. The hot-headed Schemer Drucci now takes over the North Side Gang. Drucci fails to kill Capone in Hot Spring, Arkansas on March 14, 1927, but is himself killed about 3 weeks later, on April 4, 1927, in a hot-headed argument with detective Dan Healy.

Bugs Moran now assumes the leadership of the North Side Gang. Widely considered slow in the head and not very intelligent, Moran, however, is the last leader the north Side Gang has. Capone feels that if he can kill Moran the North Side Gang will finally fold up. The ensuing St Valentine’s Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, wipes out 4 of Moran’s top men (plus a groupie and a mechanic) but ironically misses Moran, as he was running 15 minutes late to the arranged meeting because his haircut took longer than anticipated. It does not matter much, however, because Moran first flees to Canada, then to Europe, to take an extended vacation. The North Side Gang is done and its territory largely falls to Capone, who parcels the gambling and nightclub operations on the North Side to Ted Newberry, who had run Moran’s gambling operations and had quite likely fingered Moran for the St Valentine's Day hit, undoubtedly believing him to have been too weak to successfully run the North Side Gang as an independent entity.

Capone, however, did not enjoy his victory for long. On October 24, 1931, about two and a half years later, he is convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to a prison term of 11 years. When Capone’s appeals are exhausted, he is sent first to Atlanta penitentiary, then to Alcatraz. The dose of syphilis that he caught in his youth will proceed to the tertiary stage and he will leave Alcatraz little more than a mental vegetable. He will live out his remaining years in Florida, his brain virtually eaten away by the disease. He will be unable to even care for himself without assistance and will spend most of his time fishing from his boat dock.

Al Capone will die from a stroke on January 25, 1945. Only 350 people will view his body one last time and a mere 50 people will show up to pay their respects at his gravesite. Al of Capone's great wealth will revert back to the Outfit and most of what was left would go to the IRS. Al's wife Mae will have to continually sell off her remaining possessions to make ends meet. She will die in a Florida nursing home in 1986. After a series of odd jobs Sonny, Al's only child, will change his name to Albert Francis and disappear into obscurity. Al Capone will not be known as either a particularly good husband or a good father. His sole claim to fame will be his notoriety as the murderous gangster who ran Chicago during the Roaring 20s.

Joseph Aiello

Giuseppe Aiello

Joseph Aiello was born in Bagheria, Sicily, in 1907. The family migrated to the United States and at first set up a grocery import business in Chicago, then opened a large commercial bakery and confectionary shop there. Aiello later became a partner with Tony Lombardo in a cheese importing business.

With the start of Prohibition, Aiello found it extremely profitable to supply bootleggers, who were illegally distilling alcohol with sugar. At first Aiello supplied Little Italy’s alky industry run by the Genna Gang and then, with their demise, took control of their alky operation himself. Aiello was supported by eight brothers, numerous cousins, some hired gunmen, and the remnants of the Genna Gang. Although Aiello was now making a small fortune, it was not enough for his ambition; he hungered for the recognition and prestige that only the presidency of the Union Siciliane could give him and now directed all his efforts to securing it. Al Capone, however, also saw securing the presidency of the Union Siciliane to be of considerable importance. Not only did the organization have political control over the 40,000 Chicago Sicilian Italians, but the community’s alky-cooking industry generated $10 million in income annually. And although being a native of Naples rendered him ineligible for its presidency, Capone was determined to have one of his loyal Outfit cronies assume the office.

When Mike Merlo died on November 8, 1924, Frankie Yale appointed Angelo Genna president of the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siciliane. In the summer of 1925 Capone had Angelo murdered, as well as his brothers Mike and Tony. However, before Capone could install his trusted bodyguard in the office, Samoots Amatuna, the chief bodyguard of the Genna Gang, assumed the presidency. Capone, however, killed off Amatuna on November 10, 1925, and was then finally able to install Tony Lombardo as president.

Aiello now allied himself with Billy Skidmore, Barney Bertsche, and Jack Zuta, who all had resented how Capone had forced his way into their vice and gambling rackets. Then Aiello allied himself with the North Side gang under Bugs Moran, who totally despised Capone, frequently referring to him as a gorilla. Now Aiello felt he was ready to go after Capone.

Discovering that Capone regularly dined in Diamond Joe’s Esposito’s Bella Napoli Cafe, Aiello offered the chef there $35,000 to put prussic acid in Capone’s minestrone soup. Although the chef had agreed to do so, he soon thought better of it. He evidently figured that he would certainly suffer a horrible death at the hands of Capone’s vengeful gang and he decided to disclose the plot to Capone. Aiello then put a $50,000 bounty on Capone’s head for a one-way ride to Mount Carmel Cemetery. At least 10 gunmen from Chicago, New York, St Louis, and Cleveland tried to collect the money, but Capone’s intelligence network discovered them and within a few days of their arrival all were found murdered with a nickel in their hand, the signature of Capone's top gunman, Jack McGurn.

On November 10, 1927, two of Aielo’s brothers, Robert and Frank, were gunned down in Springfield, Illinois. On November 27, 1927, police discovered one of Aiello machinegun nests overlooking Lombardo’s house and another inside the Atlantic hotel, overlooking Michael Kenna's cigar store at 311 South Clark, which Capone was known to visit daily. Implicated as having hired the assassins to kill both Lombardo and Capone, Aiello was picked up and taken to the detective’s bureau for questioning. Within an hour of Aiello’s arrest Capone was informed of it.

Detectives saw a number of taxicabs stop in front of the 13-story detective bureau and a dozen fully-armed gunmen, making no attempt to conceal their weapons, step out and surround the building, as if to lay siege to it. Three of the gunmen, led by Louis Little New York Campagna, walked toward the entrance of the detective bureau and were duly arrested, disarmed, and put into a cell adjacent to Aiello’s. With the apprehension of the 3 gunmen, all the others got back into the taxicabs and sped away.

Campanga told Aiello that he was a dead man and would not get to the end of the street still walking. A terrified Aiello offered to settle the matter and begged Campanga to think of his wife and baby. Campagna called Aiello a dirty rat and said he had broken faith with the Outfit twice now and they were going to finish his treachery. When his lawyer presented a writ of habeas corpus to the police, Aliello refused to leave the detective bureau. Aiello begged Chief O’Connor for police protection but to no avail. Later in the day Aiello was supposed to make a court appearance, but instead Aiello sent his attorney, who presented a doctor’s certificate claiming his client was in the middle of a nervous breakdown. A frightened Aiello now left Chicago with his brothers Tony and Dominic and went to Trenton, New Jersey.

While in New Jersey, Aiello opened negotiations with Frankie Yale and worked out a deal for his support. Yale was president of the national chapter of the Unione Siciliane in New York and carried considerable weight in appointments to the Chicago chapter of the organization. Yale had become angry over Capone’s appointment of Lombardo to the Unione’s Chicago presidency, as he was diverting the huge alky cooking profits that the Unione had traditionally controlled to the Outfit instead of splitting them with Yale, as had formally been the case. The deal that was reached was that Yale would support Aiello for the presidency of the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siciliane in return for the restoration of his former income there.

On July 1, 1928, however, Yale was killed by Capone gunmen. In an attempt to make up for the loss of income from the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siciliane, Yale had been hijacking Capone beer trucks headed to Chicago from New York. Backed by Yale’s gang, thirsting for revenge for the murder of their boss by Capone, Aiello returned to Chicago and allied himself with the North Side Gang.

On September 7, 1928, North Side gunmen James Clark and either Frank or Pete Guesenberg shot Lombardo down in front of a restaurant. Capone then appointed Pasqualino Lolordo to the presidency, but he was also shot down the same North Side gunmen who killed Lombardo. Joseph Guinta, supported by Capone, now won a hard fought election against Aiello and became the president of the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siliciene. Once again the office of the presidency had eluded Aiello, but now for the last time.

Aiello now intrigued with the highly ambitious Guinta, telling him that with Capone out of the way Guinta could rule Chicago. All Aiello asked for his support was that he be to be given the North Side to run. Together they recruited Capone’s Murder Twins, with the promise of them running large areas of Capone’s territory. Capone, however, soon heard of the plot and arranged a banquet to allegedly honor the trio for their hard work on behalf of the Outfit. At the end of the meal, however, Capone beat Guinta and the Murder Twins to a pulp with a sawed-off baseball bat for their treachery, then ordered each shot in the head.

With the death of Guinta, Aiello at long last secured the presidency of the Unione Siciliane for himself, but it was to be a short tenure. Realizing that he was now marked for death by Capone, his nerves gave way at the continual thought of it. Aiello now went into hiding at an apartment of Pasquale Prestogiacoma (Patsy Presto), his partner in the Italo-American importing company and the current treasurer of the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siciliane. One of Capone’s informers soon discovered Aiello’s whereabouts and Capone gunmen rented two apartments nearby; one directly across the street from where Aiello was staying and another facing the alley next to the building.

Ten days after his arrival, on October 23, 1930, Aiello was ready to leave Chicago. He had a one way train ticket to St Louis and an address in Brownsville, Texas, a stopover likely on the way to Mexico. At 8:30 pm Aiello stepped through the front door and walked toward the awaiting cab. No sooner than he did so then machinegun fire from across the street hit him. Staggering around the corner to the alley on the side of the apartment building, Aiello was hit by fire from the second machinegun nest. A total of 59 bullets were fired into Aiello’s body, which was a record in Chicago at the time. No one was ever identified or indicted for his murder.

Alcatraz

The Rock

The site was named during the 18th century by Spanish explorers after the pelicans that roosted there, Isla de los Alcatraces (Island of the Pelicans). The island was 12 acres in size and 136’ above the San Francisco Bay. It lay 1.5 miles away from the mainland, across ice-cold water with a 4 mile-per-hour current going against any swimmer attempting to reach the mainland. Alcatraz Island was given to Julian Workman by Mexican governor Pio Pico in June 1846, in order that a lighthouse be built on it (completed in 1853, it became the first one built on the Pacific Coast). In 1846 military governor of California John C Fremont purchased the island for $5,000 from Francis Temple on behalf of the United States government. However, the sale was later invalidated and Fremont, who had expected a large finder’s fee from the United States for the purchase, instead got nothing.

A fort was originally built on the island which, when completed by the opening of the Civil War in 1861, mounted 85 cannon to protect San Francisco Bay. During the Civil War the island was used as a prison for Confederate sympathizers on the West Coast. After the Civil War the fort was rendered obsolete and in 1867 a brick prison was built on the site, which was designated as a military prison for offenders with long sentences. During the 1906 San Francisco earthquake civilian prisoners were transferred to Alcatraz to guarantee the safety of San Francisco. In 1909 the main concrete cell block was begun, which was completed in 1912. By 1920 the 3-story facility was operating at full capacity.

On October 12, 1933, just as the military was preparing the close down the site, the U.S. Justice Department decided that it would make an excellent escape-proof prison, due to its 1.5-mile distance from the mainland and the cold and strong 4-knot current of San Francisco Bay, which surrounded Alcatraz. The Justice Department spent $260,000 to upgrade the facility and opened it as a federal prison in August 1934. The penitentiary claimed that during its 29 years of operation no prisoners escaped, although 36 prisoners tried. The most notable prisoners housed on Alcatraz were Al Capone, George Machinegun Kelly, Alvin Creepy Karpis, Arthur Doc Barker, and Robert The Birdman of Alcatraz Stroud.

Called The Rock by its inmates, Alcatraz was America’s foremost maximum security prison from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s. By 1963 Alcatraz had become too expensive to operate and on March 21,1963, it was closed by order of Attorney General Robert Kennedy. It had cost nearly $10 a day to house a prisoner at Alcatraz compared to $3 a day at Atlanta. Salt water had severely eroded the buildings on the island and the inmates and staff there had significantly polluted San Francisco Bay. Everything had to be sent to Alcatraz by boat. As the island had no fresh water supply, nearly one million gallons of water had to be shipped to the island every week. It was estimated that it would take $3.5 million just for the restoration and maintenance necessary to keep the prison open

In November 20, 1969, a group of Native Americans (who were not native to American at all, no one actually was. They were just the first to arrive in North America from Siberia, across the Bering Strait) occupied the island, claiming ownership as stipulated in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), which called for the return of all abandoned federal land acquired from the Sioux. During the 19 months of Native American occupation a number of buildings were damaged or destroyed by arson. The departure of the Native Americans was accompanied by significant graffiti on the buildings. In 1972 Congress included Alcatraz in the Golden Gate National Recreational Area, and the island was opened to the public a year later. Over one million tourists visit the island every year.

A total of 6 guard towers enclosed the prison during the 1930s, each equipped with a .30-caliber carbine and a high powered rifle. A 12’-high cyclone fence topped with barbed-wire surrounded the work areas, and barbed-wire was strung along the shoreline. Between the main entrance to the prison and the cell block were 3 doors. Anyone attempting to pass through the 1st door had to be identified through a glass panel by the 1st guard. To admit the visitor, a 2nd guard, who held the key, threw a switch, which slid back a steel panel covering the lock The 2nd guard would view the hallway between the 2nd and 3rd doors and, if clear, would unlock the 2nd door to admit the visitor into the hallway, lock the 2nd door, and go to the 3rd door to unlock it. While the 2nd guard was walking down the hallway, the visitor would be standing in the hallway between 2 locked doors. Because the 1st guard, who operated the 1st door, remained stationed in a sentry box of steel and bulletproof glass, a visitor would achieve nothing by overpowering the 2nd guard. Metal detectors were also installed along the route, and a buzzer would sound for any hidden mental objects detected. There was 1 guard for every 3 prisoners at Alcatraz, compared to other federal prisons where there was 1 guard for every 6 to 9 prisoners.

In the cell block itself, which was painted red and pink, the depression-era budget had limited the conversion of the soft steel bars to tool proof steel to only about 50% of the total doors. The cells were all 4’ x 8’ and designed to accommodate a single prisoner. They contained a fold-up bed attached to the wall, a fold-up table and chair, a shelf, washbasin, toilet, and a ceiling light with a shade around it. The Oriental toilet in the cell was an opening in the floor and could only be flushed outside the cell. The mattress in the cell was removed by a guard every morning.

At Alcatraz a prisoner had 4 rights: food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. There was no prison commissary where a prisoner to buy items with the few cents a day he earned while on work detail. Prisoners were not allowed to wear watches, the time being indicated by the bells, which rang every half hour. Correspondence was restricted to 1 letter a week to relatives and 3 letters back from them. Censors edited everything out of the letters which did not strictly pertain to family affairs. There were no fixed visiting days and when the monthly visit took place, it was limited to 45 minutes. Plate glass separated the prisoner from the visitor, and speech was through a sound diaphragm that required voices to be raised loud enough for nearby guards to hear. There were no incentives