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Al Capone — Part 36

62 pages · May 08, 2026 · Broad topic: Organized Crime · Topic: Al Capone · 62 pages OCR'd
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for ranaom. —then thrests of f= Colosimo’ perenmattion evesed — mt - torture ana death, He de- elf a bodyguard | v. te £m: sork fo? U the pre aout 1910. ck a 20-year-old anny Torrio whom : one of the elder Five Polota gang. said that he was ian. . . « Hehad business sagacily, imagination. He duplicity of poll ficient in the civili- tongue and adroit e hed @ plausible co in heer and was @ WAR WwugiL Rain neneen ny isiness and declared said, “To hell with achery. fy and Doherty that Fe whi ae hls ane r on the north side a fy against Capone in i iported to get Capone. alieieineninhnterenndiirarainenan ne whom Johnny Patton t. Louis to kill Capone. ‘eland to kill Capone. erp a pone beer and booze, Al on election day. en wn gang in rivalry with ember of Capone’s body- conceal his treachery by nr ie while serving ag rum- nt gang hangout on the St. men executed their most vir norih side rivals, f the Untone Sictiione, was way with Capone, assisted of $250,000, i stool pigeon for the police ant Avie wrossca Capone. naan en “io! oang leader and ally of ing idan sping” front. “Ard . On Torrie’s arrival in Cricags, Yyed: ia the gun. It was “hia profession, When ahorily after his arrival {hres Black Handera demanded thst Gsto- © simo meet them with 625,000 under an Archer avenue viaduct, Torria sent four-men to the spet with sawed-off shotguns, When the Black Hand leader approached the dark touring car, asking, “Where is our package?” he middenly found him: . self looking down « 12-gauge mut zie. For the Bleck Handerg it was s rendezvous with death in the shape of lead slugs al a range of glx feet. - "Aw Torrio fett hin power his ambl- tion grew apace. Big Jim Colosimo = waa prospergus, fat, nearly forty, and growing contented with the status quo. The boundary of his ambition was the southern bor der of the First ward. But not so with Torrie. Torrio had his eye on the whole city and then some. He was heard saying to @ procurer friend one night on 22d street: - “Tm aleck of the Firat ward. There's no money in it. I'm going to start operating wherever I get a chance ail over ihe city and im the suburbs, too, even if Jim won't come along. A monopoly of alt Cook county ia the only way to handle thia business so it} really pay.” And Johnny Torrio scted on his iden. Torrio (owns eprapbg up. Prairie centera that hed once gone to bed at dusk and rigen at cockcrow now had to git up te all hours with Tor- rio’s growing roadhouse industry. The Brat of these towne was Burn ham, eighteen milea southeast of the loop and readily accessible to - couples and parties driving from southern Chicago, Gary, Hammond, Calumet, and other places for an evening’s entertainment. Dance halls, gambling dens, and night clubs of all deacriptions arose and ran wide open under the charge of Johnny Patton, the famous “ boy “mayer,” who considerately saw eye er had to eye with Torric, for reasons best known to himeelf. And then—on May 11, 1920--Colo- simo wae murdered. A mysterious Jone assassin, who bes never been identified, secreted Himself in the vestibule of Cotosimo’s café in the early hours of the morning, waited his ehance to fire the fatal shot. With Colosimo gone, Torrico was released from the Umitationa of his late boss, Prohibition, coming along at about this time, had caused the closing of the 15,00C legalized oases in Greater Chicago, This gave Torrid some- thing to think about. He was not a little darsied at the thirst-quench- ing possibilities in addition to the other business he aspired to control. The two brewerles he had leased to se am herg te resorts soon were . took on a measure of disciptl under hia driii sergeant brand of | leadership. His remarkable flair for organizing built up @ machine admirably suited to the task set for it. ‘The drivers, sharpshooters, spies, watehmen, lawyers, and others on the pay rol! knew what was expect- ed of them, and they did it. Few ever deserted or turned trattor. They not only reapected their boss but they feared what he would do to any man who ereased him. The mind behind thet massive, heavy Mpped face was unfathomable. Ca- pone did things as if by magic. One day he ordered one of hie own brew- ery. ‘Watchers to “Lay off gabbin’ with that Jos Pits. ‘You he's aot with ws.” “How did the hig feller know I'd been talkin’ with Jos lately?” the man asked his wetch pariner that night. - “O, Al's got spies everywhere,” came the reply. When it became necessary to do away with the various rival gangs who contested the Torrio-Capone monopoly over all Cook county's liquer and vice business Capone did not hesitate to gend his army out te meet the enemy, His orders were; “Wait till they get where you want fem, then let ‘em have ft.” pet know days was an unobtrustive four-story structure at 2222 South Wabash av- enue known as the Four Deuces. looked like a rooming mouse from the . 3} The headquarters of the Capote . Torrio organization in these early e during the rise of thy player from Brooklyn only sx were to be brought to trial. Of the | eix all were to be acquilted save one—Sam Vinci, who chose the oo- casion of a coroner's inquest to dix patch John Minatt} with a .<5<calk - ber automatic. His explansiion WSs: “John killed my brother Mike, andl thought ti the tc hoy was going Pts) tree hin.” Vinci was gent to Joliet "penitew: tlary for twenty-five years, The situation already was beyond Dever’s controL In the fall of 1923 Capone had no iewer than 706 men on his pay roll, and there was @ ger ~ eral stampede of criminal opportu- nists to his camp, He soon formed an ailfance with the surviving south side CYDonnells. The wholesale liquor industry was flourishing. Money, which last year had been measured in Ce ($100 bills}, now was lightly discussed in terms of the “ grand” ($1,000). And the imapecunious young pimp, who had been delighted with an annual selary of $25,000 a coupie of years before, now handed out In the booze trafic plone apes, ae wre aiysad perahas JO Jeu ayy “ou Buz ay} Uy FeywUe: AWOL relama auee soZBT ut Suind syayojoudoy a3 S0cot Lene gp ep Be UE Yeh age - Ito jo Jaalip se qof B pauyeyqe woos ay ‘UTOd SEM BY BIOYM AYUNWUIOD WIET BMOT SY} Wor SasTOYy JO quawmdias 2 UWA sanID Way eq} uy BopAype daze AO 91Q BIS B FF Taares BY Pit eard Per outside, but {t actually was a den of iniquity of the first order, On the 38 ground floor were the Torrio-Ca- B] -uZaq “SzET UT SHOdwaUuA Uy vem pone general offices and a saloon od -aoytod uBsayan B SBA PSU ‘ad AIOYS SHY} JO JUST Rw and café. The second and third. ito floors were devoted to gambling end | “Ut SIG ut] Up pjoz seat ‘S700 TEU! “wD 3uy ut int e Ag pisudn pues the fourth to the demi-monde. The’ , place was widely known to have 1 Ayyures pupyayiyg aul Aq pakivyo been the scene of twelve murders, © We se pUuRpay “a au “APH Fut all unsolved. jo Surtuls pue Aupdyupry syi JO Bswo Having proved the efficacy of nie wre | YR UE aed BYET “sOHOd JO Jays methods in the Joe Howard case, ALIy; SBM [THsUNIg quvig Jad yey BT adopted ruthlessness as a basic pal- 145 ‘OZBT Ul Ae AVIS 7805 icy in eliminating businesa compé-‘agq uoda jsaw ayppiM ey} Jo uous} F tition, The folowing September, 2yz ay} snocy 02 uPBaq a19u1 1923, in the process of expanding histag «= suejarypod Aq uguund pue south side territory, he encountered g,, 1a)s3uuS jo wop}oaj0Id out the opposition of a sang known agrees = guW siepINW SITOdVANNI the south side O'Donnells, Spike ‘ O'Donnell, the leader, had for part iL 3NAVM “8 ners his brothers, Steve, Walter, and O'Connor, George “pot” Bucher, wholesale territory was to invade a P , speakeasy which had not been buy: ¢ + ing their liquor, let the proprietor) q pAoyy OH “Who you buying from?” After listening to the anawer. “Tommy, ae well ag three thick. © stodpeatiy 5} soqtod Grak and Georgia Meeghan. The O'Don- see their artillery dangling in belt wed caetfay suggen. = Well, ROW I i A skinned henchmen named Jerry 12725 Jo sepes F jo ptoses eq af FMD nell method of expanding thelr holsters, and put the question. -“t4 tactfully suggest, “ Well, how
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