Gangland Chicago - A History of the Outfit

Welcome to Gangland Chicago

Two Years Online as of February 23, 2012

    SITE DESCRIPTION
“What will I read about here?”
   Sure, everyone knows about Scarface Al. But do you know about the Big Tuna? Unless you’re new to Chicago underworld history, you probably do. How about Mooney? Again, unless you’re new to this, you already know all about him, too. Well, let’s see here, how about Jimmy the Monk, The Saint, Needle Nose . . . Cherry Nose . . . No Nose? Any of those names peak your interest yet? If so, take your coat off and stay awhile.

   On this site you will read about and look at pictures of notorious past and present Chicago gangsters with nicknames like those and more.

Would you like to discuss, debate, and ask questions about the Chicago Mob?

If your answer is “Yes,” please visit the .

Follow Gangland Chicago on Twitter

:: Latest Featured Article

In 1978, defiant thieves played with fire (and got burnt) when they impulsively burglarized the suburban home of legendary Mafia kingpin Tony Accardo. An intensive local and federal investigation was launched to probe the relentless slaughter of the burglars in an effort to topple the Outfit’s leading bosses.

:: Previous Featured Article

:: Special Feature

Al Capone and Tony Accardo

:: Offsite Articles

:: What’s new?

The History Box :: 35 Years Ago
The Murder of Sam Giancana

(Posted - June 2010)
   On the night of June 19, 1975, Momo Salvatore “Sam” Giancana, age 67, was murdered in the basement of his suburban Oak Park, Illinois, residence by an unknown gunman who shot him seven times in the head with a silencer-equipped .22-caliber automatic pistol.

   Giancana was better known as Samuel M. Giancana. His most common alias was Sam Mooney. Known by his underlings as Mo, Mooney, or The Cigar, he was the Outfit’s top boss from 1956 to 1966.

   During Giancana’s rule as the Midwest’s leading Mafia boss, the Chicago Crime Commission tracked more than 80 gangland-style murders throughout the greater Chicago area. As the Outfit’s CEO, he had to have ordered the vast majority of those hits.

   Like Al Capone before him, Sam Giancana became a celebrity gangster. Just like with the Big Fellow decades earlier, that led to the Cigar’s downfall.

   After spending a year in jail on contempt charges, he stepped down from his lofty position atop the Outfit and left for Mexico in mid-1966. He stayed far away from Chicago for eight years, building up international gambling interests.

   In 1974, the Mexican government escorted him out of the country and turned him over to American authorities. He was taken back to Chicago. Various medical ailments prevented him from straying too far this time. He was back home long enough for a trusted friend to end his life with a volley of bullets to the head at point-blank range.

PHOTO: New York Times headline

   Why was Giancana killed? At the time, there were numerous theories regarding that. None have ever been confirmed.

   Who gave the order? This question is an easy one to answer.

   Law enforcement sources agree that the hit could have only been sanctioned by then top boss Joseph J. “Joey Doves” Auippa and the Outfit’s so-called “bosses of bosses”: Anthony J. “Joe Batters” Accardo.

   Who pulled the trigger? There were several suspects. None have ever been confirmed as the actual killer.

Suggested Reading: Brashler, William. “The Don: The Life and Death of Sam Giancana.” New York: Harper & Row, 1977. >>>

Suggested Link: 186 pages of Giancana’s FBI file from the FBI’s Electronic Reading Room >>>

R E A D T H E B L O G

Anatomy of a Mafia hit (Part 3)
December 16, 2010

In the two previous installments in this series on the attempted murder of Chicago mobster Ken “Tokyo Joe” Eto, how the botched Mafia hit was intricately set up and how it went down was detailed.

The last article left off with the victim in an ambulance headed to Northwest Community Hospital. ...

About This Site
This site is designed and maintained by J.P. Rich, who has researched the American Mafia since the early 1990s. A portion of his research and writings on the Chicago mob is displayed for public viewing within these electronic pages.

FAQ
This site is compatible in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers. To surf this site, use the Navigation Bar at the top of the page. Most text on this site that is red is a link and, thus, clickable. Any visitor experiencing technical difficulties may contact the site by clicking on the above Contact button.

Subscribe
To receive e-mail alerts on site updates, click on the above Contact button and be added to an e-mail subscription list.

Chicagoland

View Larger Map

Outfitspeak
The Outfit has its own lingo. To crack the code visit the Glossary, a special Outfit dictionary on this site.

Site Traffic
As of April 2012, this blog has had over 100,000 page-views since it was launched on Feb. 23, 2010.