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Al Capone — Part 36
Page 46
46 / 62
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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