Timeline of Organized Crime in Chicago - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

8/13/2014 Timeline of organized crime in Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_organized_crime_in_Chicago 1/43

Timeline of organized crime in ChicagoFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chicago, Illinois has a long history of organized crime and was famously home to the American mafia figure AlCapone. This article contains a list of major events related to organized crime.

Contents

1 Events - timeline

1.1 1830s

1.2 1840s

1.3 1850s

1.4 1860s

1.5 1870s

1.6 1880s

1.7 1890s

1.8 1900s

1.9 1910s

1.10 1920s

1.11 1930s

1.12 1940s

1.13 1950s

1.14 1960s

1.15 1970s

1.16 1980s

1.17 1990s

1.18 2000s

1.19 2010s

2 See also

3 References

4 Notes

5 Further reading

Events - timeline

1830s



1837 - Chicago became incorporated as a city.[1]

1840s

1850s

1850 - Chicago had a population of 80,000 people, but the city had no police force, only nine "watch

marshals."[2]

1855 - The city had a bare-bones police force.[2]

1850s (late) - Because Chicago was built over a swamp, mud constantly oozed from beneath the city's

wooden streets. It was decided the whole city would be mudjacked 10 feet (3 metres) and the city would

rest on stilts, with stones at the base. This led to the beginning of the free-wheeling crime sub-culture that

overtook Chicago. After the city was raised, criminals in the area began practicing their trades in rooms and

tunnels beneath the city. English immigrant Roger Plant, who ran a whorehouse in the Chicago netherworld

called "Under the Willows," became the chief of this criminal underworld.[3]

Aug. 20, 1858 - Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna, one of the "Lords of the Levee," was born.

1860s

1860 - Chicago's mayor, John "Long John" Wentworth, serving two non-consecutive two-year terms,

reduced his police force to 60 officers. Criminals from other states moved the city's "underworld."[2]

Aug. 15, 1860 - John "Bathhouse John" Coughlin, the second of the "Lords of the Levee," was born.

1870s

Oct. 8, 1871 - Much of the city's population lost everything including their lives to a fire that lasted 36 hours

and brought rampant looting.[4]

1879 - At some point in Chicago's history, Michael Cassius McDonald moved to the city and later became

what some, whom the author of the book doesn't name, consider Chicago's "first true crime lord." He lived in

the midst of what was called "Hair-Trigger Block." McDonald was a gambler who understood the power of

a bribe. Also politically motivated, he brought his underworld friends and associates together to form

"McDonald's Democrats" and got Carter Harrison, Sr., elected as mayor in this year. McDonald gained

control of all of Chicago's and the State of Indiana's bookmaking rights. His gambling joint, "The Store," was

considered by some, whom the author of the book doesn't name, to be Chicago's, "unofficial City Hall."

McDonald and his people are credited with the term: "Syndicate," because of the gang's "crime

consortium."[5]

1880s



1882 - Michael "Hinkey Dink" Kenna opened a First Ward saloon.[6]

1882 - Chicago Police Chief William McGarigle, in the pay of Chicago crime lord Michael Cassius

McDonald, was indicted for graft and later fled to Canada.

1882? - John "Mushmouth" Johnson opened the Emporium Saloon and gambling establishment, began his

reign as Chicago's first South Side Policy racket king.[7][8]

1884 - Founding Outfit leader Giovanni "Johnny" Torrio, nicknamed "The Brain," who the source author

would call "the father of modern gangsterism," emigrated from Italy to New York City with his family, at age

two.[9]

1890s

1890s - The under-manned city police department totalled 1,100 officers, for a 2.1 million population with

"more than a dozen" vice districts.[10]

1890s - The Valley Gang formed in the city, beginning with pickpocketing and armed robbery.

Aug. 21, 1891[11] - Born in this year in Minnesota, future North Side Gang boss through gangland attrition

George "Bugs" Moran grew up on Chicago's North Side. He and another North Side Gang boss-to-be,

Dion O'Banion, became childhood friends. Moran "had committed 26 known robberies" and "served three

incarcerations" before age 21. He hated the city's flesh trade and regularly attended church.[12]

1892 - Born in this year, future North Side Gang leader Dion O'Banion was raised on Chicago's Near North

Side, in "Little Hell," a section of the city that was later used to build the Cabrini-Green housing project, now

demolished to make way for urban renewal. O'Banion grew up leading a double life. Part of the time he was

a choirboy at the Gold Coast's Holy Name Cathedral, within walking distance of "Little Hell." The rest of the

time he was a street tough, working for the Chicago Tribune, then Hearst newspapers, threatening and

terrorizing those who sold competitors' newspapers. According to the source's author, it's been speculated

that O'Banion committed more than 60 murders in his lifetime.[13][14]

April 5, 1892 - "Bathhouse John" Coughlin was elected a First Ward alderman.[15][16][nb 1]

1893 - Coughlin and Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna - "Lords of the Levee" - "form an alliance," ruling the

First Ward, which, commercially, was the "most important ward in the city" until 1992, when the districts

were redrawn.[17]

1893 - Chicago's South Side Levee District opened for business to serve customers who weren't only in the

city for the World's Columbian Exposition.

1894 - Frank Brunell founded The Daily Racing Form in Chicago.

1895 - Unione Siciliane was created in New York City in the 1880s as a fraternal organization and a

legitimate business to sell insurance, help with housing, help learn English, settle legal disputes (even with the

Black Handers) and do a number of other tasks to equip immigrant Sicilians with their new lives in America.

The Chicago branch was chartered in the mid-1890s; and, apparently from its beginning, 25,000 Sicilians



who lived in the city and 500,000 Sicilians who lived in Cook County, Illinois, were under the umbrella of

Unione Siciliane's Chicago branch, which was a tremendous influence on the people it served and therefore

was highly coveted for control by so many of the city's gangs.[18]

1895 - Future master pimp Giacomo "Big Jim" Colosimo immigrated to Chicago, at about age 17, with his

parents. Colosimo had no known criminal record when coming to America.[19][20]

1896 - The first of its kind "First Ward Ball," masterminded by businessman Michael "Hinkey Dink" Kenna

and Alderman John Couglin, first made an appearance in the City[21]

1897 - Michael "Hinkey Dink" Kenna became a First Ward alderman.[15]

1898 - Future North Side Gang leader "Hymie Weiss" (Earl Wajciechowski) was born. A well-rounded

crook, capable of accomplishing many criminal trades, Weiss was also a childhood friend of Dion O'Banion.

Weiss has been credited with the gangland term, "take for a ride (a one-way ride)."[22]

1900s

1900 - Because checking the immigration status of immigrants became so lax, more than two million

unchecked people lived in the city by this year.[4]

1900[23] - Six Sicilian brothers - ("Bloody") Angelo, Mike ("The Devil"), Pete, Sam, Jim and Tony ("the

Gentleman") - the "Bloody Gennas" - immigrated to America. They settled in Chicago's Little Italy in a

section called "The Patch." The brothers became the "Black Hand" extortionists. Two of the gang's earliest

gunmen were Sicilians Albert Anselmi and John Scalise.[24]

1900 - Future Outfit boss Ross Prio (Rosario Priolo), was born in Sicily.[25]

Feb. 1, 1900 - The Everleigh Club, run by Madams Ada and Minna Everleigh" (Ada and Minna Simms), at

2131-2133 S. Dearborn Street, opened its doors in Chicago's Levee District.

Dec. 16, 1903 - The Lone Star Saloon, on south State Street, was shut down after the owner/manager,

Michael Finn, was found to have been drugging patrons' drinks for years in order to rob them. This was an

orchestrated effort with the help of his saloon workers. This practice became known in popular culture as

giving someone a "Mickey Finn."

Apr. 28, 1906 - The Chicago Outfit's Boss-of-bosses for almost a half-century, Tony Accardo (Antonino

Leonardo Accardo), was born in Chicago to a Sicilian-immigrant shoemaker and his Sicilian-immigrant wife,

who both setteled in America in 1905. At the time of Tony Accardo's birth, the family lived at 1353 Grand

Avenue. The infant Accardo was baptized at Holy Name Cathedral, on Chicago Avenue and State Street.

He was the second oldest of six siblings.[26]

1907 - With the country's "biggest handbook center" in Chicago, Mont Tennes was the nation's undisputed

gambling "czar," under the umbrella and with the blessing of First Ward aldermen John Coughlin and Michael

Kenna. Tennes also controlled the nation's race wire system, which was important for horserace betting

across the country at the time. Control of the race wire led to a very maniacal public dispute between the



interested parties in the summer of 1907, including bombings. Tennes' own home was bombed.[27]

1907 - A group of leading Italian citizens, prominent businessmen, several ethnic organizations and the Italian

Chamber of Commerce formed the White Hand Society, a legal organization, to combat the Black Hand in

Chicago.

1907 - Chicago gambling racketeer Bud White's controversial gambling boat City of Traverse was closed

down after years of legally trying to stay afloat.[28]

Sept. 1907 - A grand jury convened concerning the violence which had taken place during the summer over

Chicago's race wire business. Two of the findings were that Chicago's mayor, Fred Busse, and the city's

police chief, George Shippy, were bought by Tennes' racket.[29]

1908 - The Chicago Coliseum sustained heavy damage from a bomb blast two weeks ahead of that year's

"First Ward Ball," after the ball received increasing disdain through the years from the city's respectable and

innocent citizens. Despite the blast, the ball was held there anyway. It's not known what, if any, information

was found as to who was responsible for the bombing.[30]

1908 - Future North Side Gang leader Earl "Hymie" Weiss was first arrested for burglary in Chicago. Weiss

was caught robbing a perfume store and was immediately dubbed the "Perfume Burglar" by reporters.

May 24, 1908 - According to the Chicago Bureau of Vital Statistics, Outfit front boss Sam Giancana was

born, Gilormo Giangana, on this date and lived in Chicago's "Patch," west of the city's "Loop," on south

Aberdeen Street. His parents immigrated from Castelvetrano, Sicily, some years earlier. However, whatever

city records state about Giancana's birth date, he and his family celebrated his birthday on June 15. His

baptismal records also show his birth date was June 15, 1908, with the given name Momo Salvatore

Giancana.[31]

1909 - North Side Gang leader Dion O'Banion was imprisoned three months for robbery.[32]

1909 - After enduring the "First Ward Ball" for over a decade, citizens groups pressured Mayor Fred Busse

into putting an end to the "debauched" extravaganza in this year.[33]

1910s

1910 - Chicago police arrested over 200 known Italian gangsters and known Black Hand members in a raid

in Little Italy. However, none of them were convicted as many of the notes of extortion threats could not be

traced to those men.

Jan. 1, 1910-March 26, 1911 - Thirty-eight people were killed by Black Hand assassins, many by the

unidentified assassin known only as "Shotgun Man," between Oak Street and Milton Street - "Death's

Corner" - in Chicago's Little Italy.[34]

Mar. 15, 1910 - The Chicago Vice Commission was organized by the, then, Chicago Mayor Carter

Harrison, Jr., to be able to bring an end to the Levee District brothels and panel houses.

1911 - A young Filippo Sacco ("Johnny Roselli"), immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, from Italy, with his



mother. Sacco's father had already immigrated there. Sacco later became the Outfit's man in Hollywood and

Las Vegas.[35]

1911 - Again, North Side Gang leader Dion O'Banion was imprisoned three months for a "concealed

weapons" conviction.[32]

Aug. 1911 - By this time, there were 50 gambling establishments in the Loop. Respectable hotels hosted

some form of gambling to draw patrons. According to the source's author, every block in the Loop had a

gambling house in one form or another. Mont Tennes managed, oversaw, controlled it all, through his

lieutenant, Mike "de Pike" Heitler. The only police raids that ever occurred at this time were on gambling

establishments that competed with Tennes.[36]

Oct. 24, 1911 - Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison, Jr., ordered the Everleigh Club closed down permanently,

after the Everleigh sisters' fame and good fortune prompted them into distributing brochures for their brothel

in respectable hotels and restaurants, where visitors to the city stayed and ate. Other brothels were then

raided and closed in Chicago, which brought violence. The building which housed the Everleighs' brothel

stood until July 1933, when it was demolished.[37]

1912 - By this time, "Big Jim" Colosimo, then married to a brothel madam, controlled 200 prostitution

houses. Colosimo took his place in Chicago's criminal history after becoming a leader in the city's Street

Laborers Union and City Street Repairers Union - doing "honest work." He had already formed his own

social club. Thus, Colosimo didn't go unnoticed by the Coughlin-Kenna political machine, who was looking

to expand its votes base to other ethnic groups. It took Colosimo under its wing. When Colisimo began

delivering big results, the First Ward "Machine" gave Colosimo "protected status." He became Democratic

precinct captain. Police could not bother Colisimo, whatever he was doing. And, what he began doing was

picking-up brothel pay-offs for the "Machine."[38]

Jan. 18, 1912 - Jim Cosmano, a major Chicago Black Hand leader, was severely wounded in an ambush by

Johnny Torrio, near the 22nd Street police station. Cosmano had previously demanded $10,000, threatening

to destroy Colosimo's Cafe if he didn't receive the money.[39]

July 18, 1914 - The closing of Levee brothels had incited violence in the area for some time, and on this day

brought about the death of Police Detective Sergeant Stanley Birns and the wounding of a second officer.

The Chicago Tribune entered the fray and directly blamed Michael Kenna and Police Captain Michael

Ryan, who was dubbed, "Chief of Police of the First Ward," for the violence.[40]

Nov. 7, 1914 - Outfit extortionist, counterfitter and robber Charles Carmen Inglese ("Chuckie English") was

born.[41]

1915 - Boston, Massachusetts-born William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson, "politically unknown at the time,"

was elected mayor of Chicago with the help of Chicago powerbrokers William Lorimer and Fred Ludin.

Thompson was in office for two consecutive terms, then lost, or withdrew from - depending on the source,

the 1923 election which was won by reform candidate and Massachusetts-born William Dever. Thompson

ran again in 1927 with $250,000 of help from Al Capone, won, then, was defeated again in 1931, by Anton



Cermak. That was Thompson's final term. His time as mayor brought brazen corruption to the Mayor's

Office and to the city. He promised the underworld and upperworld powers that were at the time "a wide-

open city," which translated to: any vice, any corruption - any time. "An unabashed defier of Volstead,"

Thompson was also a key member of the Sportsman's Club. This group actively solicited bribes from all of

the various Chicago underworld figures and also solicited their memberships in the club, including that of

brothel racketeer Jim Colosimo. In addition to the underworld members, it also had Charles Healy,

Chicago's chief of police, and Morgan Collins, a Chicago police captain as members.[42][43]

1915 (approximately) - After future Outfit powerbroker Johnny Torrio had made numerous trips to Chicago

to do "mob chores" for his uncle through marriage, racketeer and "the biggest whoremaster in the city," Jim

Colosimo, Colosimo brought Torrio to Chicago permanently to run Colosimo's "houses," the kind of work

Torrio was already doing for himself in New York. Colosimo's business thrived under Torrio.[44]

1916 - The Illinois State's Attorney's office began an investigation of the Sportsman's Club.[45]

Jan. 16, 1917 - Indictments were handed down by the Illinois State's Attorney's office charging eight men

with bribery and graft concerning the Sportsman's Club. The eight were: Chief of Police Charles Healy,

Police Captain Tom Costello, Tennes' gambling lieutenant Mike "de Pike" Heitler, William Skidmore, a

saloon keeper, a gambler, a well-known politician of the time and two police officers.[45]

1919 - By this year, Jim Colosimo was one of the "overlords of the underworld," in Chicago, "though there

were others who operated in spheres of influence" in the city.[46]

1919 - Interested parties, including local businessmen and private citizens fed-up with rampant local thuggery

and murder in the city formed the Chicago Crime Commission, founded by Chicago Attorney Frank J.

Loesch. In the 1920s, he was the one to coin the term, "Public Enemy," concerning Chicago's organized

crime figures. In the 1930s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started using this term for the

hoodlums and "n'er-do-wells" who would plague various parts of the nation.[47]

Jan. 16, 1919 - The Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition) was passed at the federal level, redefining

American law. One calendar year was given to drinking establishments, breweries, etc., across the nation to

close down. Drinking any alcohol was not, however, prohibited by the Eighteenth Amendment.[48]

July 27, 1919 - A full-scale race riot began in Chicago, with accompanying arsons, lootings and murders.

The riot was initiated when a gang of racist thugs known as "Ragen's Colts," which started as a baseball team

formed by two brothers, stoned and drowned an African-American swimmer who had strayed into the

segregated "White" area of a South Side beach.[49] The riot ended on Aug. 3, 1919.

Oct. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9, 1919 - The 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati

Reds, played in part at Comiskey Park, had its memory forever tarnished when it was verified that a group

of Sox players conspired to "throw" the series for financial gain. In the aftermath of the series scandal, eight

Sox players were banned for life from professional baseball, even if they only knew about the "fix," but yet

didn't participate. The players were: Arnold "Chick" Gandil, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (questionable

involvement at best), Eddie Cicotte, Claude "Lefty" Williams, Oscar "Happy" Felsch, Charles "Swede"



Risberg, Buck Weaver and Fred McMullin. The 1919 Sox have been referred to as the "Chicago Black

Sox" since that time. Finally, though always denying publicly that he had any part in the 1919 World Series

"fix," New York City rackeeter and gambler Arnold Rothstein has been repeatedly mentioned over the

decades as the one who financed this scheme to "throw" the 1919 series, in order to personally reap a

financial windfall through betting on the series.[50]

1919 (late) - Johnny "The Brain" Torrio brought his cousin and Al Capone from New York City to Chicago

to help with business, after he faced a couple of murder charges in New York.[44][51]

1919 - Under the tutelage of forward-thinking racketeer Johnny Torrio, Al Capone stood in front of Jim

Colosimo's multi-use house of prostitution the, "Four Deuces," at 2222 S. Wabash Avenue, barkering to

male passers-by to enjoy what "Big Jim's" business had to offer. Johnny Torrio also ran Colosimo's holdings

from that building. Pre-Prohibition, Colosimo's influence through Torrio, by then into suburban Chicago as

well, had given Colosimo holdings of more than "a thousand gambling joints, brothels and saloons." Estimates

are that Colosimo-Torrio was grossing $4 million a year at that time.[52][53]

1920s

1920s - By this decade, with the encouragement and allowance of First Ward aldermen John Coughlin and

Michael "Hinkey Dink" Kenna "more than 100 gambling and bookie joints" thrived in the Levee District, and

there were 800 more throughout the city. The opening up of houses of prostitution "spread like wildfire."

Coughlin and Kenna had such a grip on what went on in the ward, not "a cop or a city inspector" could

succeed making a move against them. The bribes totalled $60,000 a year, $10,000 more a year than when

the aldermen hosted the, "First Ward Ball."[54]

1920 - Perfected in this year, the Thompson submachine gun, or the "Tommy Gun," aka, "the Chicago

typewriter," became the weapon of choice for at least some of the city's mobster gangs. The Saltis-McErlane

Gang was the first to use this gun in Chicago.[55][56]

1920 - Future Outfit consigliere "Paul Ricca" (Felice DeLucia) came to America from Sicily, at age 23, and

eventually landed in Chicago, after serving two years in an Italian prison for murder, at age 17. After his

prison sentence, Ricca murdered the witness against him whose testimony put him in prison. Ricca was

suspected of killing others, but nothing ever came of any of that.[57]

1920 - 14-year-old Tony Accardo's parents filed paperwork with the authorities claiming young Accardo

was two years older so that he could leave school and go to work, an apparently common practice in that

day.[58]

Jan. 16, 1920 - Prohibition ("Volstead Act") took effect for 13 years. While all legitimate establishments that

served alcohol had to close because of Prohibition, it's estimated that 200,000 speakeasies sprang up across

the country to take their places. Between 1920 and 1928 the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversaw

bringing bootlegged alcohol-making gangs - which included bathtub gin made by locals - to justice, fired 706



agents and prosecuted another 257 agents for taking bribes related to Prohibition alcohol. In Chicago,

Prohibition had some professionals scrambling. Fifteen-thousand doctors and 57,000 druggists "applied for

'medicinal' liquor licenses," and sacramental wine sales rose by 800,000 gallons the first year of the new

law.[59][60]

1920? - With the dawning of Prohibition, the Genna brothers decided to switch from extorting the wealthy to

producing illegal alcohol (with help from many Italian- and Sicilian families in Little Italy). Having only a

permit to make industrial-grade alcohol, they took the finished product, put additives in it to make it

palatable, then labelled it whatever they wanted - gin, bourbon, etc. Drinking the brothers' alcohol was

known, even at that time, to "cause psychosis."[61] The Gennas' base of operations was an alcohol

processing plant at 1022 Taylor Street, in "The Patch," where allegedly the Gennas openly paid monthly

bribes to a large number of police from the neighborhood Maxwell Street precinct and even had money left

over for few men in the state attorney's office.[24]

Feb. 2, 1920 - Labor racketeer Maurice "Mossy" Enright was killed near his South Side home.

May 11, 1920 - Three weeks after marrying his second wife, gambling racketeer and "whoremaster" Jim

Colosimo was gunned down in the lobby of his self-named restaurant at 2126 S. Wabash Avenue,

supposedly waiting for a shipment of some kind. Nobody was ever charged with the murder. Police

considered the "prime suspect" to be New York City gangster and Torrio-Capone ally Frankie Yale. At

Colosimo's funeral, there was an open, obvious mix of gangsters and politicians at the "lavish" affair.

Aldermen Coughlin and Kenna were kneeling before the coffin.[62][63]

1921 - Within a fraction of time of Jim Colosimo's murder, Johnny Torrio had brokered a deal with all the

city's major gangs to share the city's Prohibition wealth by dividing the city into territories that each gang had

a piece of. Only the South Side O'Donnell Gang refused to come to the table. The gang was shortly

thereafter eliminated. Within weeks of Colosimo's murder, Torrio had moved into the suburbs with his

"army" stock of gambling, girls and booze. He persuaded the Gennas and Unione Siciliana to side with him,

even though Torrio wasn't Sicilian.[64]

1921? - After the Torrio organization partnered with the Gennas, buying whatever alcohol the brothers could

produce, taking in shipments of Canadian liquor, and adding the "vice" element to his organization, Torrio

brought in $10 million a year, with the blessing of Unione Siciliana president Michele "Mike" Merlo, now a

Torrio friend.[65]

Apr. 15, 1921 - Sam Cardinelli, extortionist and "Black Hand" leader, was executed by the State of Illinois

for the murder of a saloon owner, after a challenge to the execution was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

1922 - Publishing magnate Moses L. "Moe" Annenberg bought the rights to The Daily Racing Form.[66]

Mar. 22, 1922 - Tony Accardo was arrested for a "motor vehicle violation" just before his 16th birthday.

This was his first known arrest.[58]

1923 - Al Capone established his headquarters at the Lexington Hotel, at the corner of east 22nd Street

(Cermak Road) and south Michigan Avenue, in Chicago. He also gained control of the Chicago suburb of



Cicero, Illinois, as a "safe base" for his illegal operations.

1923 - Because of city political reforms, the number of aldermen per ward was reduced from two to one.

Michael Kenna gave up his aldermanic seat in favor of his friend and ally, John Coughlin. Kenna was then

elected First Ward Committeeman.[67]

1923 - Tony Accardo was charged with disorderly conduct, for "loitering" around a pool hall where people

of questionable character were known to congregate. He was charged $200 and court costs. He was still

living at his parents' home.[68]

1923 - Around the time of his first disorderly conduct arrest, Tony Accardo hit the little "Big Time" and

joined the Circus Cafe Gang, which met at the Circus Cafe, 1857 North Avenue. At the time, the alleged

leaders of the gang were Claude Maddox ("Screwy Moore"), Anthony "Tough Tony" Capezio, and

Vincenzo De Mora ("'Machine-Gun Jack' McGurn"). Accardo steadily rose in the gang by going from

pickpocket, to doing home invasions, to driving trucks loaded with Prohibition alcohol. He was arrested

eight times before age 21 while the young tough was with the gang, mostly for disorderly conduct.[69]

Sept. 17, 1923 - George Meegan, a Chicago bootlegger allied with the Southside O'Donnells, and

Southside O'Donnell member George Bucher were killed by Frank McErlane.

1924 - Prosperous Irish mobsters Paddy Lake and Terry Druggan, of Chicago's little-known Valley Gang,

each got a year in jail for contempt of court. This gang was willingly taken in and made a part of Capone's

organization by the end of Prohibition.[70]

Apr. 1, 1924 - Frank Capone, brother of Al Capone, was killed by Cicero policemen during a gunfight

which broke out in the city during the 1924 Chicago elections, during strong-arming support at the polls of

gangster-backed, Republican politician Joseph Z. Klenha. Brother Al made sure his brother, Frank, had a

"lavish" send-off at his funeral.[71]

May 1924 - Out of loyalty to one of his men, top Outfit boss Al Capone shot to death freelance hijacker Joe

Howard at Heinie Jacobs' saloon on south Wabash Avenue after he'd assaulted Outfit accountant Jake

"Greasy Thumb" Guzik and then insulted Capone, himself, when he tried to find out why Howard "slapped

and kicked (Guzik) around."[72]

May 19, 1924 - Despite conflicting accounts of the situation and its aftermath, on this date crime lord Johnny

Torrio handed over $500,000 to rival crime lord Dion O'Banion, after Torrio believed O'Banion's story that

he was tired of his life of crime and wanted to leave the rackets; thus, he wanted to sell Sieben Brewery to

Torrio for $500,000 and make a clean break with his old life. What O'Banion didn't tell Torrio was that

O'Banion knew the brewery was to be raided by the authorities, thus bringing beer production to a

screeching halt and bringing possible jailtime for the apprehended offenders.[73]

Nov. 8, 1924, Legitimate Unione Siciliana President Mike Merlo died of cancer. Of all of the Chicago

"talking heads" of the day people would gravitate to, Merlo was one who tried to foster "peace" and civility

among the warring Chicago gangs. Unione Siciliana was then taken over by "Bloody Angelo" Genna.[74]

Nov. 9, 1924 - North Side Gang leader Dion O'Banion was shot multiple times and died, when three men



identified as Albert Anselmi, John Scalise (who both secretly had switched alliances to Capone) and the

handshaker, Frankie Yale, entered O'Bannion's flower shop, "Schofield's," 736 N. State Street, across from

Holy Name Cathedral, on the pretense of picking up a floral arrangement.[75] O'Banion's murder began a

five-year gang war between the North Side Gang under O'Banion, then under Hymie Weiss, then under

Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci (and later under George "Bugs" Moran), and Al Capone's Chicago Outfit,

that probably started when O'Banion swindled Outfit head Johnny Torrio out of half-a-million dollars when

O'Banion sold Torrio a Prohibition brewery O'Banion knew was going to be raided by the authorities.[76]

Nov. 1924? - Apparently following O'Banion's murder, another North Side Gang member, highly decorated

World War I veteran Sam "Nails" Morton, "known" by Chicago police to have committed several murders,

was riding a horse in Chicago's Lincoln Park, when the horse threw the gangster and then kicked him to

death. Morton's gangster buddies got the last word and exacted gangster revenge on the horse. The "hit" was

planned by "Louis 'Two Guns' Alterie" (Leland A. Varain).[77]

1925 - Joey "Babe Ruth" Colaro organized what would become Chicago's infamous, "42-Gang," which

would become a virtual "farm team" for the ranks of the Chicago Outfit. This group of street delinquents

would seem to do anything for a "buck", or to impress the "ladies". A number of these outlaws were

recruited into the Outfit, with some of them making it into its highest ranks, including: Sam Battaglia, Felix

Alderisio, Sam DeStefano, Marshall Caifano and his brother, Leonard, Charles Nicoletti, Fifi Buccieri,

Albert Frabotta, William Aloisio, Frank Caruso, William Daddano, Joe Caesar DiVarico, Rocco Potenza,

Leonard Gianola, Vincent Inserro and Sam Giancana.[78][79]

1925 - Outfit front man and "42-Gang" graduate Sam "Momo" Giancana's arrest record consisted of more

than 70 criminal offenses by this year. Giancana was considered the "prime suspect" in three murders before

age 20, including the murder of a witness against him.[80]

1925 - Vigilante citizens raids took place in Cicero, gainst Capone's whorehouses and gambling dens.

Jan. 12, 1925 - North Side Gang members Hymie Weiss, George Moran and Vincent "Schemer" Drucci

followed the limousines that Al Capone and Johnny Torrio were riding in to a restaurant, at south 55th Street

and west State Street. Both limousines were fired on in a hail of gunfire, but neither Capone, nor Torrio were

hurt. However, Torrio's chauffeur and dog were killed in the attack.[81]

Jan. 24, 1925 - North Side Gang members again ambush Johnny Torrio as he returned from a Loop

shopping trip with his wife. The gunmen shot him several times and wounded him and his chauffeur, Robert

Barton. As George Moran was about to kill the wounded Torrio, the gun misfired and Moran was forced to

flee as police arrived on the scene. For two weeks after he was shot, it looked like Torrio would die, but he

recovered.[82]

Feb. 9, 1925 - Johnny Torrio was sentenced by Judge Adam Cliffe to nine months in the Lake County,

Illinois, jail, in Waukegan, for being the owner of the Sieben Brewery when it was raided by the authorities.

The jail was supposedly chosen by Torrio's lawyers as a facility necessary for Torrio to receive proper

medical treatment for gunshot wounds; however, the jail was actually chosen for Torrio's protection as the



prison warden, Sheriff Edwin Ahlstrom, was in the pay of Torrio's organization. Torrio was later escorted by

Capone out of the city after his release. After much time to reflect in jail, Torrio decided the gangland empire

he was trying to build was too risky, personally. He handed the entire works to Capone. When Torrio left

the city for Brooklyn, New York, for good, at the end of 1925, or in early 1926, he took $30 million with

him.[82]

1925 (Spring) - One year after Republican Joseph Klenha won the mayor's office of Cicero with Torrio and

Capone's support, Klenha vowed in print to "run his office independently of the gangster element." Al

Capone went to the Cicero City Hall and beat the mayor unconscious in full view of the police, who did

nothing to Capone. Thus, Capone became Cicero's "de facto mayor." At risk to the Torrio-Capone machine

were 100 saloons and 150 gambling establishments installed in Cicero since Klenha had taken office.[83]

Note: It's not known if Johnny Torrio had left Chicago's organized-crime scene by this point, because he

would have still been in jail.

1925?-'26?-'27? Top-dog in the Chicago underworld, Al Capone's organization was pulling in $105 million

a year. Adding flash to his personality, Capone began buying $5,000 suits and custom fedoras at some point

along the way.[84]

May 25, 1925 - "Bloody Angelo" Genna was murdered after being followed in his car by the North Side

Gang and Genna smashing into a lamppost after being chased. Someone then stepped out of the other car

and shot Genna to death. Apparently, nobody was charged with the gangster's murder.[24]

June? 1925 - A month after his brother's death, Mike Genna and Genna Family members Albert Anselmi

and John Scalise, who had secretly switched alliances to Al Capone, were going for "a ride," where Genna

was unknowingly going to be killed. During the drive, the gangsters got involved in a shoot-out with police.

Genna was wounded and immobile, and Anselmi and Scalise bolted from the scene. Mike Genna died two

hours later. Two cops also died because of the shoot-out. Following Mike Genna's killing, brother Tony

Genna was killed by a trusted friend, after Tony Genna went into hiding following Mike Genna's death. Tony

Genna's death ended the Genna crime family for good.[85]

1925 - Sometime after Angelo Genna's murder, professional fiddler and gangster Samuzzo "Samoots"

Amatuna walked into the Chicago branch of Unione Siciliane and declared himself the winner of the local

chapter elections that hadn't happened yet. Al Capone became furious at Amatuna for this, because Capone

had his own guy in mind for the job, Antonio Lombardo ("Tony the Scourge").[74]

Nov. 13, 1925 - Samuzzo Amatuna, an ally of the "Bloody Gennas," was gunned down after sitting down in

a Cicero, Illinois, barber shop chair, allegedly by North Side Gang members Jim Doherty and Vincent

Drucci. Amatuna died at the hospital, before he could marry his fiance. Al Capone then had Tony

Lombardo installed as president of the local chapter of Unione Siciliana.[74]

1925?-'26 - Realizing Outfit boss Al Capone was a "train wreck," according to one biographer, Capone

mentor Johnny Torrio returned to Brooklyn, New York, and began work on, "The Commission," realizing

that having a centralized ruling body overseeing organized crime in America would bring the overseers untold



wealth and power and ultimately give more wealth to - and, in theory, produce less violence among - the

individual crime families. The meeting took place at New York City's Park Avenue Hotel. The participants

included: "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano" (Salvatore Lucania), who masterminded New York's five crime families

and was the Genovese crime family's first boss, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, who went on to head-up organized

crime's assassins-for-hire group, "Murder, Inc.," Abner "Longy" Zwillman, who was a "Prohibition gangster"

and who also went on to be a member of "Murder, Inc.," "Joe Adonis" (Giuseppi Antonio Doto), was one of

the key criminal minds in beginnings of 20th-century American organized crime, "Frank Costello ("The Prime

Minister", Francesco Castiglia), a powerful gangster who also went on to head the Genovese crime family,

"Meyer 'The Brain' Lansky" (Meyer Suchowljansky), known as the "Mob's accountant" and a good friend

and business associate of "Lucky" Luciano, and Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, allegedly the 'most feared' member

of Murder, Inc. This meeting was reported in the New York Times, in 1935, and was, "ratted out," by one

of the participants, Reles, in 1941. Following Reles' revelation, he either jumped or was forced out of a hotel

room window. He died from the fall.[86]

1926 - Beginning this year, forces from Chicago to Washington, D.C., had been at work to "dethrown"

gangster Al Capone. With "The Big Guy" being the lead name of those who were turning the city into a

shooting gallery, Chicago Loop banker, Rufus C. Dawes, and his brother, Vice-President of the United

States Charles Dawes, under President Calvin Coolidge, launched an all-out assault on Capone. The

brothers' reason was clear. Rufus Dawes was president of the World's Fair Corporation at the time, which

would bring the Century of Progress to the city, in 1933. Fear of being hurt or killed by gang gunfire while in

the city could affect attendance, and the fair and showcasing Chicago life and business could be a financial

disaster for the city and state. Capone had to be removed. The Dawes' lobbied both Coolidge and his

successor, President Herbert Hoover. By May 1927, the brothers had handed to them "the goose that laid

the golden egg," which would allow the feds to nab Capone and put him away for a long time.[87]

Apr. 27, 1926 - After the South Side O'Donnells had been inching their way in on Al Capone's Chicago

territory for a while, then in on Cicero, Illinois, Capone had had enough. With five cars and 29 gangsters, he

went to greet the O'Donnells at Cicero's Pony Inn. No O'Donnell member was wounded, however.

Capone's men did kill an assistant state's attorney who had been drinking with the O'Donnells. Realizing the

gravity of what had taken place, Capone hid out in Michigan for a time. While Capone was in hiding, not

only was the tide of citizen sentiment turning against him, police "sought reprisal, ransacking Capone's

speakeasies, gambling joints and whorehouses, some beyond repair." His cash-cow Cicero whorehouse was

reduced ashes by a fire. While six grand juries addressed the attorney's killing, no indictments followed.[88]

July 1926 - When Capone returned to the city after hiding out, he went to the Cicero police who wanted to

question him about the assistant state's attorney's killing. Capone responded with an apparently unconvincing

line that he didn't kill the attorney, and he'd "liked the "kid" so much, Capone had personally given the

attorney a bottle of alcohol for his father the day before the murder.[89]

Sept. 20, 1926 - Using 10 cars in a successive motorcade, North Side Gang leader Hymie Weiss and his



crew ambushed Outfit boss Al Capone with a cavalcade of bullets during his stop at the Hawthorne Inn in

Cicero. Capone, being protected by his bodyguard Frank Rio, didn't have a scratch on him, neither did Rio.

A Capone gunman, Louis Barko, and an innocent bystander, outside in a car during the attack, were slightly

injured. Capone gave the injured bystander $5,000 for her medical bills. When Capone was asked who was

responsible for that drive-by shooting, he reportedly said "Watch the morgue. They'll show up there."[90]

Oct. 4, 1926 - In a show of magnanimity, Capone sent out RSVP invitations to host a city-wide gang summit

as Johnny Torrio had done. However, still enraged because of Dion O'Banion's murder, Hymie Weiss

responded he'd be at the summit "with grenades exploding and guns blasting." He also wanted the heads of

O'Banion's killers, something Capone would never have given up.[89]

Oct. 11, 1926 - Three weeks after the last assassination attempt on Al Capone and one week following his

summit invite, Hymie Weiss and his bodyguard were gunned down and three bystanders were wounded

when the gangsters walked into their gang's clubhouse, the second floor of gangster Dion O'Banion's old

flower shop, on north State Street. Weiss' estate was valued at over $1.3 million.[81] Across the street from

O'Banion's flower shop, Holy Name Cathedral still bears the bullet holes today from the ambush on Weiss.

Oct. 20, 1926 - Capone's gangland conference took place as planned, at the Hotel Sherman, across the

street from a "chief of police headquarters." All of the major city gangs attended, and a still living North Side

Gang member presented the conference's opening talk. But, the conference's goodwill was temporary.[91]

1927 - A study found that in the city, 1,313 gangs existed, claiming 25,000 members.[92]

1927 - Outfit heavyweight Paul Ricca got married. Al Capone was his best man.

1927 - Highly ineffective and short-lived against the criminal gangs who were raging against the city at the

time, Chicago police tried to stop the criminals by employing groups of police officers who would be ready

to shoot known criminals with machine guns at the drop of a hat. This group of officers was known as,

"O'Connor's Gunners," after Chicago Police Chief of Detectives William O'Connor.[93]

1927 - Sam Valante, recently hired by Joe Aiello, was killed while arriving in Chicago.

Jan. 26, 1927 - The Hawthorne Inn restaurant owner and Capone friend was killed by members of the

North Side Gang. However, per the gang-conference agreement, Capone didn't retaliate. Yet, when the

West Side's Joe Saltis killed gang member Ralph Sheldon, another Capone friend, Capone vented his rage

on the West Side gunmen who killed his friend. Following the murders of these gunmen, Joe Saltis wisely

"retired" to Wisconsin.[94]

Apr. 4, 1927 - Arrested after being taken into police custody for perpetrating election violence, North Side

Gang leader Vincent Drucci was shot four times and killed by Chicago Police Department Detective Dan

Healy, while Drucci was in police custody. According to one report, the shooting was highly

controversial.[95]

May 16, 1927 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that profiting from "illicit traffic(ing) in liquor" would be

taxable by the feds (U.S. v. Sullivan).[96][97]



Nov. 9, 1927 - Singer and comedian Joe E. Lewis was viciously attacked and slashed on the face and neck

and left for dead in his Commonwealth Hotel room by henchmen associated with Outfit lieutenant "Machine-

Gun Jack" McGurn, who was at least part-owner of the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, 4802 N. Broadway, in

Uptown, where Lewis had been under contract, but decided not to renew. After the attack, Lewis initially

lost his ability to speak, but regained it with therapy. Al Capone stepped up and gave Lewis $10,000 to aid

his recovery.

Apr. 10, 1928 - The extraordinary level of violence leading up to Chicago's Republican primary election led

to the election being called the, "Pineapple Primary" because of the handgrenades used liberally by both

sides. Adding to the chaos were "about 1,000" Capone minions breaking arms and legs of those who

opposed Capone's candidate for mayor William Hale Thompson. Chicago Crime Commission founder

Attorney Frank J. Loesch paid Al Capone a visit to "demand" that the gangster get his and all the other gangs

to cooperate in a cease-fire leading up to the November general election. Capone made that work, and there

was peace in Chicago.[98][99]

July 1, 1928 - New York City gangster Frankie Yale was gunned down in New York City by alleged

Capone mob members, after Yale had tried to take over Chicago's Unione Siciliana by backing Capone

opponent Joe Aiello, who was also backed by Chicago's North Side Gang. A second reason Yale was

killed may have been that Capone found out that Yale was stealing Capone's liquor shipments and then

selling them back to him.[100][101]

July 25, 1928 - Aiello gang member Salvatore Canale was killed outside his home in Chicago.

Sept. 7, 1928 - Capone's former consigliere and Unione Siciliane president, Antonio Lombardo, was

gunned down during a busy Chicago rush hour, where north State Street divides Madison Street between

east and west, apparently by the Aiellos. Capone vowed revenge and retaliated by killing four of Aiello's

brothers.[101][102]

1929 - The Capone organization was bring in $6 million a week. Capone had a personal worth of $40

million.[103]

1929 - Tony Accardo was allegedly made head enforcer for Capone's Chicago Outfit.

1929 - Chicago native Eliot Ness returned to the city as a U.S. Bureau of Prohibition agent, under the U.S.

Treasury Department, with his "Untouchables" to try to stop the flow of illegal booze and bring down the

Capone empire.[104]

Jan. 8, 1929 - Unione Siciliane leader Pasquale "Patsy" Lolordo was killed in his apartment, supposedly by

Joe Aiello and members of Moran's North Side Gang.[101]

Feb. 14, 1929 - Four unidentified men, dressed as Chicago police officers, stormed into a Near North Side

garage, S-M-C Cartage Co., at 2122 N. Clark Street, and murdered members of gangster George Moran's

North Side Gang and two groupies, but missed killing Moran, who was not around when the killings

happened. Known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the attack effectively ended the five-year gang war

between Al Capone and the North Side Gang, which had presumably started some years before, when one-



time North Side Gang leader Dion O'Bannion swindled Outfit founder Johnny Torrio in a deal for a

Prohibition brewery O'Banion knew would be raided. A second scenario believed to be the reason for the

killings was that Capone found out that Moran's gang was hijacking Capone's booze shipments, so a phony

shipment was set up to lure Moran's gang to its demise. Moran and gangster Joey Aiello went into hiding

after the killings. At the time of the murders, Capone was vacationing at his Palm Island, Florida, compound.

Nobody was charged with this massacre, but seemingly everyone known to be allied with a gang in the U.S.,

in the late 1920s, has been broached as a suspect in the Chicago gangster crime biographies written through

the decades since the bloodbath. However, since the killings, it has been found through ballistics that one of

the guns involved in the massacre was also involved in two other killings, that of a Michigan policeman and

New York City gangster Frankie Yale. The gun was traced to Capone man Fred "Killer" Burke.[105][106]

Mar. 1929 - In the wake of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Chicago Daily News publisher Frank Knox

and Chicago Crime Commission director Frank J. Loesch pled with President Herbert Hoover for federal

intervention in Chicago's gang wars. At that time, there were 63 gang-related murders a year. Besides the

work of Knox and Loesch, there was group of crime-fighting Chicago businessmen known as the "Secret

Six" who were working behind the scenes to bring Capone down.[107]

May 7, 1929 - Gangster Al Capone claimed he wanted to hold a party in honor of three mobsters in his

ranks who he'd found out were actually traitors behind-the-scenes to mobster-rival Joe Aiello and Aiello's

desire to wrest Unione Siciliane from Capone's grip. So, Capone held a ruse dinner at a roadside inn in

Hammond, Indiana, in honor of ferocious killers Albert Anselmi and John Scalise and Capone's man heading

Unione Siciliana at the time, Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta. After the party was in full-swing, Capone personally

beat the three traitors with an "Indian club." Then, Capone shot all three men. Their bodies were found on a

roadside near Hammond. Contrary to popular culture, Capone enforcer Tony Accardo wasn't mentioned as

having played any role in either account.[108][109]

May 13,14,15,16, 1929 - While the St. Valentine's Day Massacre outrage was still brewing around the

nation for many gangsters, mobsters from across the nation got together in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the

Hotel President, for the Atlantic City Conference, the first of its kind, to attempt to construct a national

"crime syndicate," or so-called, "crime corporation," aka "The Commission." To ensure that things went

smoothly, Atlantic City political boss and racketeer Enoch "Nucky" Johnson paid off law enforcement. The

purported attendees at the conference besides Johnson were future Murder, Inc., boss Albert Anastasia

(Umberto Anastasia), New York City bootlegger and numbers racketeer Dutch Schultz (Arthur

Flegenheimer), another head of Murder, Inc., Louis "Lepke" Buchhalter, future head of the Genovese crime

family Frank Costello (Francesco Castiglia), Genovese boss Lucky Luciano" (Salvatore Luciana),

Prohibition bootlegger and Murder Inc.-associate Abner "Longy" Zwillman, bootlegger, racketeer and future

"Mr. Las Vegas" Morris "Moe" Dalitz, Genovese family member Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (Benjamin

Siegelbaum), Kansas City, Missouri, political boss Tom Pendergast, who had just helped launch future

President Harry S. Truman's political career seven years earlier, and Al Capone. Capone brought with him



to the conference Daily Racing Form owner Moses L. "Moe" Annenberg and Capone accountant and

political "fixer" Jake Guzik. Former Chicago gang mastermind Johnny Torrio was there from New York, as

he had instigated "The Commission" in the first place. The conference was called for to work toward a united

front among the nation's organized crime leaders while removing the "old" mafia and bringing in the "new"

mafia, cooperation during Prohibition and gambling concerns. While a "14-point peace plan" was the result

of the conference, "Capone the man" also became a hot topic for discussion at the conference, because the

other racketeers understood that despite payoffs to local authorities, the Feds would only take so much of

what was going on in Chicago gangland before they would find a way to deal with it, and that treatment of

Capone by the Feds might spill over onto other organized crime-controlled cities. Jealousy concerning

Capone's "success" seemed to find its way into the conference: with their eyes on the Chicago turf war,

which by the time of the conference was finished for good, the other organized crime bosses demanded that

Capone "immediately dismantle" his gambling empire and give it to "The Commission." However, Capone

"adamantly refused to be forced into that humiliation." The crime bosses also had the audacity to install

deadly Capone-opponent Joey Aiello as the Unione Siciliane's Chicago branch president, which didn't last

long.[110][111]

1929 - Most likely following the Atlantic City conference and for reasons not quite clear, Chicago gang boss

Al Capone "strolled" through Philadelphia, and was "arrested" on a concealed weapons charge. The arrest,

which was solely a PR move, landed him in prison for "a year" at the Eastern Penitentiary, in Philadelphia.

However, Capone was actually free to leave the prison when he wished, according to one biographer. The

"incarceration" had been set up by Philadelphia racketeer Max "Boo Boo" Hoff, with Capone's knowledge

and consent. While "incarcerated" in prison, Capone had a number of comforts, including use of the warden's

office phone. Capone allegedly tipped the arresting policemen $20,000.[112][113]

May 29, 1929 - Thomas McElligot of the Westside O'Donnells was killed in a Chicago Loop saloon.

1930s

1930s - Rival gangs threw dynamite into the others' cabs in what became Chicago's, "Taxi Wars."

1930 - By this year, President Herbert Hoover's work on behalf of Chicago's "Al Capone" problem began

to "get legs." A Washington, D.C., special prosecutor, Dwight H. Green, was dispatched to Chicago to

"send Chicago gangsters to prison," specifically Al Capone. Any government ammunition Green needed to

bring down Capone was at Green's disposal, as long as he could prove the need. However, Capone wasn't

ignorant of the growing ground-swell of sentiment against him across the nation, even that his deeds had

reached the fed's ears, who he knew had started to make plans of their own against him by motivating men

such as Frank J. Wilson, a U.S. Secret Service agent, and Elmer Irey, the Internal Revenue Service head.

So, Capone sent some of his legal team to the nation's capitol, "to put in the fix," by spreading Capone's

wealth around in the tens of thousands of dollars, at least. Yet, while the money was taken, it bought Capone

no influences at all in Washington, D.C. To wit: The investigation into Chicago gangsterism also brought



charges and convictions for tax evasion against Capone underlings "Frank Nitti" (Francesco Nitto), who was

sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine, and Capone's brother "Ralph" (Raffaele Capone, Sr.),

who got three years in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary and a $10,000 fine.[114]

1930 - Months before Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle's murder, Chicago Daily News news

reporter Julius Rosenheim was shot to death by gangsters, after Rosenheim blackmailed bootleggers,

whorehouse overseers and gamblers by threatening to write exposs about them. Apparently, nobody was

ever charged with the murder.[115]

Mar. 1930 - Gangster Al Capone had had enough of his PR exile in Philadelphia, so he left the prison.[113]

1930 (likely the end of the Spring semester) - Soon-to-be "Super Lawyer" Sidney Korshak received his law

degree from DePaul University College of Law. One of his most important functions for the Outfit was his

work in eventually getting cash siphoned from the Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund to infuse

organized crime's "promised land," Las Vegas, with cash. But, one to never be seen with any mobsters in

public, a sanitized Korshak also "moved easily" in elite Hollywood- and in sports team circles and with

captains of industry and commerce. Korshak's California office was at a Beverly Hills eatery called "The

Bistro," where women and men would fawn over him, or want an audience with him. However, for Outfit

business he always used the restaurant's pay phone. The "Super Lawyer" could do miracles for his legitimate

clients anywhere with one phone call, even though he never tested for the California bar exam. His clients'

bills went through Korshak's Chicago office.[116]

June 9, 1930 - Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle was gunned down in broad daylight, in a busy Illinois

Central commuter train station underpass, at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street. At first,

the deceased reporter was hailed as a hero. Over time though, people began to learn that Lingle's death had

more to do with who his friends were, than what his news reporting was about. A one-time low-level

member of St. Louis' Egan's Rats, Leo Vincent Brothers, found his way to Chicago and was convicted of

Lingle's murder. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but was released from prison in 1940. It was noted

by the author of this end-line reference that Brothers may not have been the one to shoot Lingle.[117]

Aug. 1, 1930 - One-time pimp and former Outfit accountant Jack Zuta was gunned down while hiding out at

an inn on Upper Nemahbin Lake, near Delafield, Wisconsin, after defecting to the North Side Gang. Some

believe Zuta had even ordered the contract on Jake Lingle.

Oct. 28,[118] 1930 - North Side Gang bootlegger Joe Aiello was shot to death after unsuccessfully

attempting to bribe a hotel cook to poison Al Capone. Trusted Capone associate Louis Campagna has been

alleged to be Aiello's killer as Aiello walked out of his apartment on north Kolmar Avenue. No one was ever

charged with the murder.[119]

Nov. 6, 1930 - Forty-two-Gang member at the time and soon to be Outfit rising star Sam "Teets" Battaglia

and two other thugs executed a brazenly stunning armed jewelry robbery on the, then, mayor of Chicago's

wife, Mary Walker "Maysie" Thompson, as she walked into her apartment. The crooks ran-off with

$15,000 in Thompson's jewelry and also with the gun and badge of Thompson's chauffeur-cop. Battaglia



was never identified by witnesses of the crime.[120]

1931 - William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson was defeated for mayor of Chicago by Anton Cermak.

1931 - Long-time freelance Chicago, "assembly-line" pimp Mike "de Pike" Heitler was found burned to

death in the wreckage of his house after he defied the poor treatment he was allegedly getting, due to a

Capone takeover of his whore house business, by "ratting" details concerning Chicago Mob business.[121]

1931 - Sometime in this year, a group of mostly college graduates in the Chicago area, dubbed, "College

Kidnappers," decided it was going to take the bold step of kidnapping low-level, area gangsters and holding

them for ransom. Allegedly, the Klutas gang, named after leader Theodore "Handsome Jack" Klutas, took in

a half-million dollars from these kidnappings in about a two-year span.[122]

Oct. 17, 1931 - Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion following a four-day trial in Chicago. While

Capone's original jury had been bribed by his underlings, the presiding federal trial judge, James Wilkerson,

switched the jury at the last minute. It was also reported that Capone's defense team was ill-prepared to

protect him against the stream of witnesses testifying to the gangster's "lavish lifestyle." However, Capone

had "cut a deal" with the prosecutors during the pre-trial to drop 5,000 Prohibition violations that could have

"nailed him" for 25,000-years-to-life if convicted on all the charges. The public talk concerning the trial,

during and afterward, was that the poor showing of Capone's lawyers in his defense smacked of a set-up

against Capone. Capone's close associate Paul Ricca was quoted explaining that Capone had to go away for

a while, for the benefit of the organization. It has been said by the author of this end-note reference that

Capone underling Gus Winkler was prevented by other Capone men from freeing him outright with

$100,000 upfront tax payment (not a bribe) to the federal taxman.[123]

Oct. 24, 1931 - One week after being convicted of tax evasion, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in

federal prison (first, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, then Alcatraz Island), fined $50,000 and charged $30,000

in court costs. While awaiting transfer to Atlanta to serve his sentence, Capone sat in Cook County Jail,

where it was reported in this accoount that he had all the booze and women he wanted.[124]

Dec. 1931 - Months before the nationally broadcast news about the kidnapping of aviator Charles

Lindbergh's baby, in 1932, and some time before any federal kidnapping law was enacted, Outfit lieutenant

Murray "The Hump" Humphreys kidnapped and held for $50,000 ransom Robert G. Fitchie, president of

the Milk Wagon Driver's Union. Fitchie was released when the ransom was paid to Humphreys, who went

to get the money, it was alleged.[125]

May 1932 - Capone began serving his 11-year sentence for tax evasion, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was

eventually transferred to Alcatraz Island to finish his sentence.[126]

1933 - Chicago "reform" Mayor Anton Cermak sent two city cops to Outfit frontman Frank Nitti's office to

put a "hit" on the gangster. Apparently, the mayor wanted to take over Outfit territory and give it to the likes

of Teddy Newberry, someone more to the mayor's liking. Nitti eventually recovered from his injuries.[127]

1933 (early) - Theodore "Handsome Jack" Klutas was machine-gunned to death by cops after one of his



gang turned on Klutas, ending the gang's kidnapping spree.[122]

1933 - Des Plaines, Illinois, gangster Roger Touhy was arrested by the FBI and eventually sentenced to 100

years in prison for kidnapping a Capone associate, con man Jake Factor. The kidnapping has been widely

seen as a frame-up by the Outfit to take over Touhy's rackets. Allegedly after Touhy's conviction, Outfit

mobsters flooded into Des Plaines.[128]

Feb. 15, 1933 - Corrupt Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was riding in an open car with President-elect

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in Miami, Florida, when Cermak was hit with sniper bullets. He died three

weeks later. Speculation for years afterward was that Cermak had always been the sniper's real target, not

FDR, the president-elect, in part because Cermak had put a failed "hit" of his own out on Outfit frontman, at

the time, Frank Nitti. Cermak's assassin was a sharp shooter during his time in the Italian army.[129]

Dec. 5, 1933 - Prohibition legally came to an end with the signing into law of the U.S. Constitution's 21st

Amendment, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was time for organized crime across America to find a

new money-making racket.

1934 - Colorfully versed Mob "girlfriend" and Mob courier Virginia Hill came to Chicago to be a coochie

dancer at the 1933-34 World's Fair. She eventually became more than "arm candy" for some of the top

brass in the Outfit, before she moved on to others and eventually to Genovese Family mobster Benjamin

"Bugsy" Siegel. First, she met Mob tax expert and top Chicago bookie Joe Epstein, who was smitten with

Hill throughout his life, even after they broke up. Then, she was seen with the Fischetti brothers, Charles,

Rocco and Joseph, Murray Humphreys, Frank Nitti and [Tony Accardo, who is believed to always have

been faithful to his one wife.[130]

1934 - Outfit member Tony Accardo married his fiance and former showgirl, Clarice Porter. Within a short

time after the marriage, Accardo became a capo who oversaw Outfit gambling.[131]

June 13, 1934 - The Copeland Act, federal anti-racketeering legislation, was signed into law by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt.[132]

Feb. 4, 1935 - Thomas Maloy, president of local 110 of the Motion Picture Operators Union, was killed by

multiple gun blasts from a pair of gunmen while Maloy drove down Outer Lake Shore Drive, near the former

site of Chicago's 1933-34 World's Fair. FBI Agent William F. Roemer believed the gunmen were Tony

Accardo and Gus Alex, with Frank "Strongy" Ferraro going along to help out.[133]

Feb. 15, 1936 - Once a top Outfit player, Jack McGurn was gunned down by three unknown assailants at

Kafora Bowling and Billiards Parlor, 805 N. Milwaukee Avenue. Members and associates of the Outfit are

the leading suspects in the murder. But, nobody was ever charged.[134]

Nov. 11, 1938 - Former First Ward alderman and "Levee Lord" John Coughlin died on this date, at age 78.

January 1939 - Once feared and respected, Mob leader Al Capone was transferred from Alcatraz Island to

the Federal Correctional Institution on Terminal Island, near Los Angeles, California, because of

deteriorating health due to an advanced case of syphilus.[135]



Nov. 8, 1939 - Chicago Attorney Edward O'Hare was shot to death by two unknown gunman who drove

alongside his car while O'Hare drove down Ogden Avenue. Apparently, O'Hare double-dealt the Outfit by

managing some of its affairs and also by feeding information about the Outfit to authorities for years.

O'Hare's son, Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare, who became "the Navy's first flying ace" and a Medal of

Honor recipient in World War II, became the namesake for Chicago's O'Hare Airport sometime after his

father's death and during the initial airport building stages in late 1943 or early 1944. The name proposal was

suggested by Chicago Tribune publisher Colonel Robert R. McCormick, who had been part of the Illinois

National Guard, which served a tour of duty in Europe beginning in 1917, during World War I.[136]

Nov. 16, 1939 - Steadily declining in mental capacity and in overall health, Outfit boss Al Capone was

released from federal custody and sent home to Chicago.[135][137]

1940s

1940s - The Latin Kings criminal organization was formed in Chicago. The alleged motivation for forming

this group was an attempt to overcome the prejudices that Hispanics faced at the time.

Mar. 19, 1943 - Facing extended incarceration for the extortion of Hollywood film studios and being

claustrophobic, Outfit front boss Frank Nitti got drunk and publicly committed suicide on an Illinois Central

railroad track, in North Riverside, Illinois, blocks from his home.[127][138]

1943 - The court in the "Hollywood Extortion" trial found eight men associated with the Outfit, Paul Ricca,

Louis Campagna, Phillip D'Andrea, Frank Diamond (Maritote), Charles Gioe, Johnny Roselli and a New

Jersey union boss, Louis Kaufman, guilty of conspiracy and extortion. They were all, then, sentenced to 10

years in Leavenworth Penitentiary. Though he was charged with these crimes, Frank Nitti was exempted

from sentencing, because he'd committed suicide. Having steadily risen in the Outfit ranks, Tony Accardo

became acting Outfit boss while Ricca was away in prison, with some claiming Murray Humphreys was co-

boss with Accardo during that time.[138]

1943 - Paul "The Waiter" Ricca met "Mad Sam" DeStefano in Leavenworth Penitentiary and must have told

him to look-up the Outfit boss when DeStefano got out.

Aug. 3, 1944 - Lawrence Mangano, a mobster who oversaw Outfit interests on the Near West Side, was

gunned down at Blue Island Avenue and Taylor Street, along with his body guard, "Big Mike" Pantillo,

during a night of Mangano's partying with a lady friend, after the Mangano car stopped because the partiers

realized they had been followed for some distance that night. There were at least 200 shotgun pellets in

Mangano's body, after being shot when he got out of the car to see what the problem was. Pantillo was shot

when he tried to pull Mangano out of harm's way. The murders have never been solved. However, it's been

suggested that Mangano's death made for an easier ascension and transition to power for new top Outfit

boss Tony Accardo.[139]

Aug. 23, 1945[140] - Capone-era, prolific Outfit bomber James "Jimmy the Bomber" Belcastro died of heart



disease.

Sept. 1946 - Gangster James M. Ragen died of mercury poisoning, which followed Ragen being shot at with

a hail of bullets and landing in the hospital the previous month, after the Chicago Outfit gave Ragen a chance

to have his race wire business bought out by the mob.[141] Nobody was ever charged with the murder.

Oct. 9, 1946 - Former First Ward alderman and "Levee Lord" Michael Kenna died from heart problems

and diabetes at age 89.

Dec. 22, 1946 - During this week, the Outfit sent a delegation of its top mobsters to the "Havana

Conference," in Havana, Cuba, a historic organized crime conference for top mobsters from throughout the

U.S. The decisions and policies decided at this conference applied to the American Mafia infrastructure of all

of the Mafia Families for decades thereafter. Acting Outfit head Tony Accardo was there, as well as Capone

cousins, the Fischetti brothers, Charles, Joseph and Rocco. However, some of the Outfit's top brass had to

be excused, because they were in Leavenworth Penitentiary. The 1946 conference was the last time the

American Mafia's Top "Boss of bosses" Charles Luciano could have the full-expression of his power mean

something, because earlier in 1946 he'd been deported from America back to Italy, but got to the Cuba

conference on a forged passport. It was during this conference it had been decided that Genovese mobster

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel would be assassinated for allegedly skimming Flamingo building funds for his own

purposes and allegedly for being a terrible businessman in overseeing the casino's construction. Singer and

Hoboken, New Jersey native Frank Sinatra, allegedly, was the conference's entertainment.[142]

1947 - The Outfit higher-ups who were each sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Hollywood extortion

case were paroled from Leavenworth Penitentiary in 42 months, a decision granted at the time by U.S.

Attorney General Tom C. Clark, under President Harry S. Truman. About two years later, Clark was

appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. One condition of Paul Ricca's release from prison by the court was

that he was banished from ever associating with the criminal element or he was to, then, face serving the rest

of his prison sentence; which, depending on what the reader believes, there were enough corrupt cops in

Chicago to shield Ricca from even one appearance before a local judge for the rest of Ricca's life.

Jan. 25, 1947 - One-time head of the Chicago Outfit Al Capone died at his Palm Island, Florida,

compound, of an advanced case of syphilus.

June 20, 1947 - Following the murder of Genovese Family mobster "Bugsy" Siegel, which happened on this

date, his "girlfriend," Mob courier Virginia Hill, was told by Outfit taxman Joe Epstein she "had to" return any

money Siegel stole from his bosses during his building of the Flamingo, in Las Vegas. She did.[130]

1950s

Apr. 6, 1950 - After failing to keep his promise to use $200,000 of borrowed Mob money - mostly from

the Chicago Outfit - to get newly elected Missouri Governor Forrest Smith to "open up" Kansas City and St.

Louis to Mob interests, or to even pay the money back, Kansas City mob boss Charles Binaggio and his top

enforcer Charles Gargotta were found shot to death, each man having four bullet holes in his skull showing a



dice pattern, a way to murder a victim that is considered by law enforcement a Mob "hit." Binaggio and

Gargotta were killed in Kansas City's First Ward Democrat offices. These killings were the springboard for

the originally stalled United States Senate Kefauver Committee hearings, then just a month in the future. This

was also the political ward which launched the political career of President Harry S. Truman, in 1922, whose

Attorney General in the Truman administration, Tom C. Clark, set free on parole the incarcerated Outfit

higher-ups who perpetrated the extortion of Hollywood celebrities and movie studio owners in the 1930s

and early 1940s.[143][144]

May 10, 1950-May 1951 - Broadcast live across America even though the majority of households didn't

have televisions yet, the Kefauver Committee hearings (aka, United States Senate Special Committee to

Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce) convened in allegedly mobster-controlled cities around the nation,

including in Chicago, where former pimp, Outfit accountant and legal wiz Jake Guzik made an appearance.

Outfit "West Coast" man Johnny Roselli testified, but said a lot of nothing. Also, to testify was Captain Dan

Gilbert, chief investigator for the state attorney's office in Cook County, Illinois, after not raiding a single

jurisdictional "bookie joint" in more than 10 years. He was called, "The World's Richest Cop," by reporters.

Outfit heavyweight Paul Ricca and bosses Louis Campagna and Charles Gioe were called to Washington,

D.C., to testify before the Committee, but all said they had made their wealth from the "race track." Al

Capone's living brothers, John and Ralph, also were called before the Committee in the nation's capitol.

However, many alleged mobsters in other organized crime cities came down with, "Kefauveritis:"

Spontaneous ailments which wouldn't allow the alleged mobsters to testify before the Committee at any

location it called them to.[145][146]

Sept. 19, 1950 - Outfit Florida-man Harry "The Muscle" Russell, with the help of Murray "The Camel"

Humphreys, set a federal precedent in testifying before the Kefauver Committee when Russell was the first

person in American history to invoke "The Fifth" - the right not to incriminate one's self - while sitting before

any Congressional committee.[147]

Sept. 25, 1950 - Fired former Chicago Police Detective William Drury was murdered in his garage, at the

time he was investigating the life and activities of Outfit "Super Lawyer" Sidney Korshak for the Kefauver

Committee hearings. Apparently, nobody was charged in the killing.[148]

Jan. 1951 - Secret Outfit boss Tony Accardo followed-up Harry Russell's Kefauver Committee precedent

by invoking "The Fifth" 140 times, in Washington, D.C. Outfit boss Joseph Aiuppa stopped saying anything

to the Committee and only chewed his gum. Both Accardo and Aiuppa were cited for Contempt of

Congress, but neither citation was upheld in federal court.[149]

March 15, 1951 - Mob "girlfriend" and secret Mob courier Virginia Hill was called to testify before the

Kefauver Committee for one, because the Committee knew that the Outfit had given Hill a ton of money for

unknown reasons. While the verbally incindiary, verbally expletive-laden Hill didn't give-up any information

of value, she did put on quite a show for Committeemen and reporters alike. The Committee was aware of

Hill's antics beforehand and had her sit down with it in a pre-Committee, closed-door session, as was



warranted.[150]

May 28, 1951 - Outfit lieutenant Murray Humphreys, who schooled other Outfit mobsters in the art of

"keeping quite" before Congress, had a contentious session with the congressmen while being asked personal

questions about his life and family. He was cited for Contempt of Congress, but the citation wasn't upheld in

federal court.[151]

1952 - The IRS forced Murray Humphreys to pay taxes on the ransom money he'd received for the 1931

kidnapping Robert G. Fitchie, president of the Milk Wagon Driver's Union. Humphreys paid $25,000 in

taxes on that money.[125]

Aug. 18, 1954 - Having weathered federal prison for participating in the "Hollywood Extortion Scandal" in

the 1940s, Outfit liuetenant Charles Gioe was murdered while driving on a Chicago street. Gioe's mobster-

associate passenger, Hymie Weisman, escaped being murdered by fleeing the car. Mob underlings who

worked for Outfit-connected labor leader Joey Glimco have been suspected of carrying out the

assassination. But, nobody was ever charged with the murder.

1955 - On order from soon-to-be Outfit front boss Sam Giancana, Outfit loanshark and "nutjob" Sam

DeStefano killed his low-level mobster- and drug-addicted brother, Michael. When DeStefano was

questioned about the killing, he laughed uncontrollably. So, while an untold number of connected guys may

have put Mob-associated blood relatives "to sleep" throughout the decades, just as part of their "job

descriptions," there is evidence that Sam DeStefano was a "devil worshipper."[152][153]

Nov. 4, 1955 - Extortionist, informer and former pimp Willie Bioff ("William Nelson") was blown to

smithereens by a dynamite bomb blast from under his car, after turning on the ignition at his Phoenix,

Arizona, home. He testified against his Outfit friends more than a decade earlier for a lighter sentence in the,

"Hollywood Extortion Case," and was found at that later time, supposedly by Outfit Las Vegas, casino

overseer and assassin Marshall Caifano (Marcello Giuseppi Caifano), to be working as the entertainment

director at Gus Greenbaum's Riviera Hotel and Casino. Nobody was ever charged in the

murder.[108][154][155]

Feb. 21, 1956 - One-time pimp, turned Capone confidant, Outfit legal wiz and top accountant, Jake Guzik

died of a heart attack at his post at St. Hubert's Olde English Grill, on Federal Street. However, the Mob

brass did not want Guzik to be found dead in a gangster hangout. So, they secreted his body to his home

and told his wife to tell medical personnel Guzik died there.

Feb. 21, 1956? - After the death of the Outfit's highly esteemed Jake Guzik, Outfit lieutenant Murray

Humphreys became the Chicago Mob's chief "political fixer."[125]

1957 - Outfit consigliere Paul Ricca was ordered by a court to be stripped of his U.S. citizenship and then

ordered deported back to Italy. But, in the midst of Ricca's legal team's maneuvering, court appeals and bid

to "tell the truth" about the mobster, neither Italy, nor any other country applied to, would take him.[156]

1957 (early) - Tony Accardo retired from the day-to-day leadership of the Chicago Outfit and appointed

Sam Giancana to oversee these operations of the crime syndicate. However, Accardo remained a presence



in the organization serving in an advisory capacity as consigliere on all major Outfit business and

assassinations.[157]

Feb. 25, 1957 - One-time Prohibition bootlegger and Al Capone nemesis George Moran died of cancer in

Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for bank robbery. He had just

completed a previous 10-year sentence for another robbery. Moran was buried in a wooden casket outside

the prison.[158]

Apr. 16, 1957 - Foundational Outfit leader Johnny Torrio died of a heart attack while in a barber chair in

Brooklyn, New York.

Nov. 14, 1957 - An aborted Mafia conference took place in Apalachin, New York, after state police and

federal investigators showed up at the home of Genovese Family member Joseph "The Barber" Barbara, Sr.

(some label Barbara as only a businessman with "friends" in organized crime), unannounced. Fifty-eight high-

level Mob members from various parts of the country were detained by the police. Outfit consigliere Tony

Accardo and newly elevated Outfit front-boss Sam Giancana, reportedly at the conference, were not among

those detained. They had gotten away unnoticed. Yet, any charges filed against any conference members

were not related to the conference itself, because it was simply a meeting. Conspicuous by their absences:

Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, "Doc Stacher" (Joseph Oystacher), the New Orleans Mob representatives

and Charles Luciano, who was deported at the time, didn't attend the meeting. There has been considerable

speculation over the years as to why the raid took place at all. One source said the raid happened because

of "money matters" between Barbara and the police. Another source pointed to recorded statements to back

the idea that this meeting and subsequent raid were allowed to occur as a set-up to embarrass in-coming

Mob boss Vito Genovese. Another source said the raid happened because of good police work by a local

cop. However, six-months after the conference, Genovese was arrested on drug charges and received a 15-

year sentence. He died after 10 years in prison.[159][160]

Nov. 27, 1957 - In the wake of the stunning news of organized crime's Apalachin conference, FBI Director

J. Edgar Hoover ordered all FBI field offices to implement his "Top Hoodlum Program: Anti-Racketeering"

and assign agents to investigate organized crime in those cities, including Chicago.[161]

1958 - The Vice Lords criminal organization was founded in St. Charles Correctional Facility by a group of

young thugs from 16th Street, on Chicago's west side.

1958 - During the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management

hearings (McClellan Committee meetings), in Washington, D.C., Outfit Nevada]-casino overseer and

"hitman" Marshall Caifano invoked the "Fifth Amendment" 73 times. During John "Jackie the Lackey"

Cerone's "testimony" at the McClellan Committee hearings, he took "The Fifth" 45 times.[162]

Dec. 3, 1958 - Brilliant accountant-Las Vegas point man and Outfit-connected Gus Greenbaum and his wife

were found brutally murdered in their Phoenix, Arizona, home. There could have been any number of

reasons for the Greenbaums' murders, including his alleged casino skimming, or the fact that he'd hired Outfit

"Rat" Willie Bioff to work at one of the casinos following the "Rat's" betrayal of his Outfit loyalties. Nobody



was ever charged with the Greenbaums' killings.[163]

Mid-1959 - Actor, producer and Desilu Productions owner Desi Arnaz had a Mob "contract" put out on his

life by the Outfit for creating and producing the very "less than accurate," cult-television hit, "The

Untouchables," which incited Italians across the nation at the time. Arnaz even refused to back down from

the project when he got a call from Al Capone's son, "Sonny," Arnaz's childhood classmate and one-time

best friend. The contract was apparently stopped when Al Capone's wife, Mae, dissented to the "hit" and

after singer Frank Sinatra, sent in to talk Arnaz out of the project, got a million-dollar deal to produce

whatever movie he wanted at Desilu.[164]

July 1, 1959 - Outfit heavyweight Paul Ricca was sentenced to 10 years (reduced to three years) at the

federal prison in Terra Haute, Indiana, for tax evasion. He served 27 months.[165]

Dec. 16, 1959 - After spending 26 years of his 100-year sentence in prison for a kidnapping that was

concluded by Federal Judge John H. Barns not to be a kidnapping at all, but instead was a "disappearing" by

con man Jake Factor, Des Plaines, Illinois, racketeer Roger Touhy was eventually released from prison one

month before he was gunned down on the s

Documents

Timeline of Organized Crime in Chicago - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia