Chicago’s South Side Mob – Part 1

Since my teen years I had many friends who were Italian, and later I became Italian by marriage, so my sons are partly of Italian heritage. When I decided to write a historical mystery novel based on a friend whose family had loose ties to organized crime in the late 1950s, I did a fair amount of research.

The Mystery at Mount Forest is now available, and I’d like to share with you some of what I found most interesting with a particular focus on the South Suburbs where I grew up and my story takes place.

I was particularly interested in the South Suburbs where I grew up and where my story takes place. I thought that the things that caught my interest might also interest my readers. I’m not trying to compete with the experts on all things Chicago Mob, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I will be including some references with my blog.

From personal experience with Italian friends and family-by-marriage, I noticed subtle signs of mob connections. An uncle who led a well-to-do lifestyle with no apparent job. Guests wearing suit and tie, appearing nervous, appeared at a cousin’s back door during family gatherings. They would follow the cousin to his “office” and he would close the door. Another cousin getting a break as an entertainer in a known mob-owned club. Hush-hush talks and laughter using terms such as “connected” and “fell off the truck.” Bragging about high-end merchandise purchased at ridiculously-low prices from someone’s basement or trunk. Statements like, “Let me know if you want someone to take care of him for you.” Just enough to let me understand this was outside the norm.

So I approached my research with a number of questions in mind. This article is meant to answer the questions that were foremost in my mind, and to highlight what I found of particular interest, and are my opinion where disagreements in facts appear. If you doubt me, please refer to the sources I will list at the end of the series of articles. They are much more knowledgeable than I am.

To begin, what exactly is organized crime, and what is the difference between The Mob, The Chicago Outfit, The Mafia, and The Cosa Nostra?

The terms are not interchangeable.

One definition of organized crime is a grouping of criminals who operate in a centralized manner, engaging in illegal activity for profit.

The Mob is a loose term generally used to refer to a group of violent criminals engaged in organized crime. A common association is an Italian identity.

In the United States, the Mafia is understood to operate only out of Sicily. Sicilians and their family may be in the U. S., but Mafia operations in the U. S. originate in Sicily, not here.

The Cosa Nostra, or American Mafia, on the other hand, arose during Prohibition as an offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia. It developed into a separate entity of Italian-American gangsters and Italian crime groups, not required to be of Sicilian origin. Members do not report to a Cosa Nostra boss, but hold discussions and make decisions for mutual benefit. Chicago is a member.

The Outfit is Chicago’s own brand, or the Chicago Mob. It refers to the organization as it operated in Chicago under Al Capone, and continues to this day. Capone, by the way, used the term with a lowercase “o.” It was not until the 1950s that Outfit capitalized became popular.

Why is organized crime in the United States associated with Italians?

During the years of heavy immigration from Italy and Sicily, it was typical that men came first and later sent for their wives and families. In general Italian immigrants had few skills and were looked down upon, even by other immigrant minorities. This anti-immigrant bias limited job opportunities to poor-paying rough labor. In addition, discrimination forced the immigrants into communities of close-knit social networks. With no one else to turn to, Italians could depend only on themselves.

Prohibition offered a unique opportunity to unskilled Italian men as the tasks of operating stills, transporting product, etcetera required no skills and the tremendous profits were tempting.

What made Al Capone’s gang and the Chicago Outfit so notorious?

The short version is that Al Capone was a great leader. He made good decisions. He just did things better.

Many factors made the Chicago Outfit stand out from other organized crime networks, some due to location and coincidence, but many due to wise decisions by Capone and other leaders.

Al Capone inherited an organization that had been founded by “Big Jim” Colosimo and Johnny Torrio, which got him off to a good start. When Prohibition became law, Chicago already had a larger mob presence in vice, gambling, and labor racketeering than other mob syndicate, and the experience and cash available from these activities gave Chicago a real advantage in funding and carrying out a bootlegging operation.

The Chicago Outfit always had excellent leadership at the top—people like Al Capone and Frank Nitti. They also had strong underbosses throughout the years—people like Ricca, Accardo, Guzak and Humphreys. Strong underbosses also ensured uninterrupted operation in the event of prison terms or other reasons top leadership may be temporarily unable to maintain full control.

The Chicago area had a large Italian population, providing for strong recruiting and an ideal market. The Outfit also made the wise decision to welcome a multi-ethnic membership and include talented non-Italians. A pattern was established of being good innovators and taking advantage of opportunities.

The level of commitment and devotion at all levels was unique. Underbosses were loyal, informers were few. Only Outfit activities were performed; ordinary crime such as robbery was avoided even at the lowest levels of the organization. Other forms of crime in the area were stamped out, such as Black Hand activities. This led to fewer jurisdictional disputes or family wars, and when conflicts did arise the Outfit usually won.

Unlike Eastern United States, Chicago had no competition from nearby rival cities and other large criminal organizations. Territory was for all intents and purposes unlimited, and able to spread into communities, then suburbs, then other states.

Ample funding and profits were available. The political and law enforcement environments were highly tolerant, if not equally corrupt, allowing organized crime to flourish. Although it cannot be denied that greed and personal gain were large factors, it can also be argued that the Outfit was only providing consensual activities. Customers weren’t forced at gunpoint, they only got what they wanted: drink, gambling, and vice. Criminal activity was tolerated in order to have access to these activities.

Certainly, an element of luck was also at play here!