Month: February 2016

The Bowery Boys had been formed during the 1840s. They were anti Catholic as well as anti Irish and had fought the other gangs, especially the Dead Rabbits coming from Five Points Area. However, unlike that of the other gangs that existed during that era, who were mostly crooks, plain thugs, murderers and robbers, the Bowery Boys were said to rule Bowery area which lay north to Five Points.  This gang comprised mostly of mechanics, butchers, small entrepreneurs and bar bouncers. The members of the gang wore different types of uniform like black trousers and red shirts and pants that got shoved within the calf-skin boots. Majority of its members had black stove-pipe hats and oil slicked hair.

Their activities

Originally, this gang had volunteered as firemen and aligned towards American Political Party or Know-Nothing, lasting from 1849-1856, after which they supported the Democratic Party. The gang got itself attached to different firehouses having names like Black Joke, White Ghost, Red Rover and Dry Bones. They competed with the other gangs when it came to appearing first after a fire took place. They loved their fire-engines very much.

Famous boss of the gang

Bill Poole or ‘Butcher’ as he was called popularly was among the most well known Bowery Boy. By trade, he was a butcher and volunteer at the Red Rover Fire-Engine Co.  He was also a wonderful fighter and faced his arch opponent John Morrissey, who was an Irish immigrant. Poole was known to have a huge hatred for Catholics and Irish.

On 26^th July 1854, both the bosses met each other near Christopher Street at Amos Street Dock and almost had crushed Morrissey to death, when the wiser heads had intervened to separate them. This incident had Morrissey injured severely, leaving him incapable to walk the New York Streets on his own for about 6 months. But this did mean Poole had to face the wrath of his gang. Morrissey’s friend Lew Baker, on 25^th February 1855 had shot Poole at a bar to which the latter succumbed and died on 8^th March 1855.

Its downfall

After the death of Poole, the Bowery Boys slowly started to lose hold and kind of reputation they had. During the 1863, 3 Day Drafts Riots saw the gang to get involved the riots with the other gangs, which made thousands of people to get injured and many killed, until the State militia of New York intervened to have the riots quelled. After three days, the armed forces had the men of the city to be drafted into its forces, which also saw several Bowery Boys to register themselves. By 1860’s this gang ceased to exist.

Bill Dwyer is known to have started as an ordinary dockworker, then entered large scale bootlegging and was called ‘King of Rum runners’. He amassed huge wealth and made partners with several famous gangsters of numerous nightclubs in the city of New York. He also was the owner of football team of Brooklyn Dodgers and two professional hockey playing team which included New York Americans. During his death, he was flat broke  and nobody remembered him.

His early life

It was in 1883 at Hell’s Kitchen region of New York City’s west side  that he was born as William Vincent  Dwyer. During this time, the Gophers and Hudson Dusters had ruled the place. He avoided joining any of the gangs and took job on docks working for International Longshoremen’s Union as stevedore.

His entering the mafia world

It is this time that he started bookmaking operation. He used the money during the prohibition time to enter bootlegging business. He bought steel plated speedboats having mounted machine gun on them and numerous bigger rum running ships to offload illegal hooch.

He established ties in England, Caribbean and Canada to bring smuggled liquor into the States. He also made a system, wherein the supplier ships would provide supplies in the middle of the sea, which again was transferred to his speedboats to reach New York City shores. To achieve huge success in the bootlegging business, he also had bribed the Coast Guard and the police to look the other way. Very soon, he became the country’s largest illegal alcohol distributor.

To avoid his trucks being seized by hijackers in  hundreds, operating all over the country, he made partners with the Jewish and Italian mobsters and mafia families  and raked in millions of dollars. However, he was regarded to be more  as an entrepreneur and not a mafia. In 1924, he came across an Irish gangster named Owney Madden, also called ‘The Killer’. He called a meeting with Madden and made him his partner to take care of the hijackings. He also is known to have proposed about creating his own brew in New York City and hence, would require outlets, nightclubs, speakeasies, etc. It is from then that the Irish mob worked along with the Jewish and Italian mob for controlling bootlegging business across the country and this grouping came to know as ‘The Combine’.

Dwyer supplied money for the project, while Madden was the architect to create and nurture the empire.

It was on 12^th January, 1894 that Sr. Ralph Capone was job in Angri, Italy. Ralph is considered to be among the nine siblings of Teresa and Gabriel Capone, as well as Chicago outfit’s future boss, Al Capone’s elder brother.

Migrating to the United States

Ralph, his mother along with Vincenzo, his brother had arrived at Ellis Island in the U.S., on 18^th June, 1895.  Already a home was established by his father near Brooklyn, New York’s Navy yards and worked for a barbershop nearby. The family had moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1910.

On 24^th September 1915, Ralph got married to Filomena Muscato and had a son on 17^th April, 1917 called Ralph Gabriel Capone. But their marriage was short lived, as they got divorced in 1921.

Mafia life

While Ralph was busy establishing his family, Al, his brother was groomed by Johnny Torrio, a famous Brooklyn gangster. On the behest of Torrio, in 1918 Al and Ralph had left for Chicago anticipating the Prohibition.

Ralph took charge of bottling plants for the Chicago mafia family version known as the Outfit. At this time Torrio attempted to have non-alcoholic beverages to be monopolized, which were used for mixing drink. The Outfit in this endeavor made huge profits and also become the country’s 2^nd biggest soft drink vendor at World Fair of 1933.

Al, his brother was in full control by 1930 of Chicago Outfit, including all illegal alcohol which flowed through Chicago. Chicago Crime Commission had declared Al to be the public’s number one enemy in April 1930 and Ralph at number three position. By the next year, Al was imprisoned for 11 years for tax evasion and the Outfit’s new boss was Frank Nitti. Ralph was in charge of Cotton Club, the Mafia family’s front with regards to syndicate gambling.

During his entire tenure with the Mafia family, Ralph never held any powerful position, but was regarded to be a loyal, trustworthy front man, who steered clear of the mafia’s dirty side, preferring to make money from the different legitimate business fronts. But for tax evasion, he had to serve three years from 1932.

On his release, he shifted base to Mercer, Wisconsin, and bought a hotel called ‘The Red Hotel’ along with an attached tavern ‘Billy’s Bar’ and a home.  This place was a haven for the mafia members and to help them lie low from the law. In Hurley, Wisconsin, on 22^nd November, 1974 he died due to natural cause.

Giacomo Colosimo was popularly known as ‘Big Jim’ and an Italian immigrant, who started his criminal activities as a pickpocket. Later, he developed the Chicago Outfit, the American mob’s city version. He tried to bring together the pimps, extortionists and the street thugs for building a racket, which went on to dominate the Windy City’s organized crime for over a century.

It was bootlegging and success of Colosimo that made Chicago to become the criminal’s paradise, including his doom. Several future mafia leaders were given birth by him like Johnny Torrio, Al Capone.

Early life

It was on 16^th February, 1879 that he was born to Giuseppina and Luigi Colosimo, Colosimi town, Italy. In 1895 the family moved on to Chicago and settled in the most corrupt district of the city, the First Ward. It is after arriving that he assumed the name of James.

His growth as a Mafia

On his arrival, for income, he started to shine shoes and sell newspapers. Later on, he started petty thievery and organized prostitutes. It was during this time that he got introduced to Victoria Moresco, a madame and got married in 1902, after which they opened together a brothel.

Black Hand’, an Italian extortion scheme was engaged by him, targeting residents and threatening them with violence, in case, huge amounts were not paid to them. The racket got its name with the extortion letters bearing hand stamped with ink. This way, Colosimo got exposed to the Chicago underworld.

Besides this, he also did a legitimate job to work along with fellow Italian immigrants. He had his co-workers to be organized into social club, thereby giving him influence among his fellow hoods and immigrants. A pool hall was opened up to become an activity center for street gangsters.

Through his brothel business, he came in contact with Alderman and Michael, two main Chicago politicians, corrupt to the core, controlling prostitution in the city. In some years, Colosimo was running a huge network of about 200 brothels, gambling as well as different types of racketeering. He came to be called ‘Big Jim’, but due to his notoriety and flashy dresses, he had earned another nickname ‘Diamond Jim’.

He led an organization called the Outfit that still exists today and bears his name. White slavery or sex trafficking ring of violent nature was established during his peak. It was on 11^th May 1921 that Colosimo was shot to death by a gunman.

The Chicago Outfit during the Prohibition years was led by Francesco Raffaele Nitto, popularly called Frank ‘Enforcer’ Nitti. He is known to have become the Outfit’s leader after Al Capone after the Prohibition period. Frank had created a dreadful Mafia organization in the city, but was regarded to be just a boss in name. For avoiding prison time, he had killed himself.

His early life

It was on 27^th January 1886 that Nitti was born in Angri, Salerno, Italy. Rosina and Luigi Nitto were his parents and some historians are of the opinion that he could probably be Capone’s cousin. His father died when he was two years old, after which his mother got remarried to Dolendo Francesco. The family moved to New York when Nitti was just seven years old and got settled in Brooklyn.

After 7^th grade, Nitti dropped from school and worked as pinsetter in bowling alley, as barber, factory worker. At the age of 14, he left home because of a bad relationship with his stepfather. Through his barbershop, he began to fence stolen jewelry and soon befriended brothers of Capone and Navy Street Boys, their gang.

His life as a Mafia

It was in 1919 during the beginning of the Prohibition that he had name a name under Capone as Chicago Mafioso. He had arrived in 1913 in Chicago and established a barbershop, which served as criminal activity front and to make proper connections with the Chicago underworld figures like the boss of North Side Gang, Dean O’Banion.

In Dallas, he married Rose Levitt in 1917, after which he joined the crime syndicate on moving to Galveston, Texas.  In 1918, he duped two Galveston mobsters and fled to Chicago to continue his criminal activities there.

His activities had caught the attention of Giovanni Torrie and Capone. The fencing ring and jewel theft by Nitti is what had impressed them, however, what they were interested was a part of the alcohol smuggling operation. Over time, Nitti boasted of a properly established smuggler network that was able to bring in Canadian whisky into the city from across the border, therefore, making him invaluable to Torrie and Capone. Although he started as Capone’s bodyguard, he soon rose among the ranks. Nitti’s fortunes rose under Capone’s regime. Divorcing Rose, he married a Mafia doctor’s daughter named Anna Ronga.

Nitin later was imprisoned for 18 months for avoiding tax payment. On 19^th March 1943, Nitti shot himself and got buried in Hillside’s Mount Carmel Cemetery, Illinois.

It was during the prohibition heyday that that Alphonse Gabriel Capone called popularly as Scarface is known to have led the Chicago Mafia Family. He started his obscure life as Brooklyn tough and later on became the most known American mobster of all time. He dealt in various illegal activities like Prostitution, gambling and illegal liquor during the 1920s and earned the distinction of being a violent person of the country.

A Mafia legend

On his orders, people in hundreds were murdered. Even after killing many with his own hands, he never got convicted of violent crime. However, he got imprisoned for tax evasion and by his release, he had become insane, while the organized crime world has passed by him. He is said to have died leaving a mayhem legacy, which according to historians is yet to get surpassed by anyone.

His early life

It was on 17^th January 1899 in Brooklyn that he was born to Teresina and Gabriele Capone, Italian immigrants. His father was a barber, while mother sewed for a living. His two brothers joined him in bootlegging, but the third is known to have become federal agent.

His stepping into the criminal world

At the age of 14, he got expelled from school for hitting a teacher. He run small time gangs like Junior 40 Thieves and Bowery Boys and later on moved on to Five Points Gang, which at that time had full  control over Lower Manhattan’s criminal activities. He was able impress a Brooklyn Billiards hall owner and criminal syndicate leader named Giovanni Torrio, popularly called ‘Papa Johnny’, involved in opium trafficking, prostitution and gambling.

He got hired as bartender in 1917 at Harvard Inn, which as Coney Island tavern that was owned by Frankie Yale, Torrio’s partner. It was at this place that Al had earned his nickname ‘Scarface’ due to an incident took place, where the brother of a woman to whom Al had passed lewd comments had cut him on the face’s left side three times.

During the prohibition period, Torrio took over the Chicago Outfit and had made Capone to rise in ranks. Both had developed a strong liquor business that centered more upon the Southern Side as well as Cicero, the neighboring town. Capone created a corrupt political system for backing him in his different ventures. With Torrio out of the way due to his decision to retire from the criminal scene after his involvement with O’ Banion and his failed assassination, Al Capone was given  the reins of the Chicago Outfit.