Chicago Outfit: Sam “Mad Sam” DeStefano

Sam “Mad Sam” DeSefano

Sam “Mad Sam” DeStefano
The Mob’s Marquis de Sade
American Mafia
Wikipedia: Sam DeStefano
Find-a-Grave: Sam DeStefano
Sam DeStefano
Organized Crime Encyclopedia Wiki: Sam DeStefano

Chicago Outfit: Ernest Rocco “Rocky” Infelise

Since this month is Organized Crime: The Chicago Outfit month, I decided my first post would be a bit personal, so to speak. It is about Ernest Rocco “Rocky” Infelise. Or, as I knew him, Uncle Rocky (when I was a little girl). I have read a lot about him, but none of those things tell the story of the man I knew. I remember him fondly, as a my uncle, who always had a dollar and a hug for my sister and I. We had no idea “who” he was or what he did for a living, nor did we care.

Note from blog owner:
Hi. A reporter is working on a project about Rocky. If any of you knew him and want to participate, please email me and I will send the info to you. I tried to email some, but everything came back to me. Thanks!

Find-A-Grave: Ernest Rocco “Rocky” Infelise
Ernest Rocco Infelise (Infelice): Cicero Mob Boss
Mobster Known For Brutality Dies In Prison
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ROCCO ERNEST INFELISE, SALVATORE DELAURENTIS, et al.
Chicago Syndicate
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ROCCO ERNEST INFELISE, et al., Defendants-Appellants
Murder & Intrigue on the Good Ship Lollipop
Organizational Chart
Ernest “Rocco” Infelise
Teamster Troubles

This Date in History: Louis “Lepke” Buchalter execution in 1944 for the murder of Joseph Rosen

This Date in History: Louis “Lepke” Buchalter execution 1944
CrimeLibrary: Murder, Inc.
Wikipedia: Louis Buchalter
Death Sentence for Lepke Upheld
Lepke, Scheduled To Die Tonight, Denies ‘Singing’
Members of Murder Inc. Executed
Final Resting Place of Louis Buchalter
FBI: FOIA documents for Louis Buchalter
Find-A-Grave: Louis “Lepke” Buchalter

Books
The Life and Times of Lepke Buchalter: America’s Most Ruthless Labor Racketeer

Movies/Documentaries
Murder, Inc.
Louis Lepke: King of the Labor Racket
LLepke

Louis “Lepke” Buchalter

This Day in History: Al Capone’s birthday

Alphonse “Al” “Scarface” Capone
Born 1/17/1899, Brooklyn
Died 1/25/1947, Florida

The most notorious gangster in the history of the nation, Alphonse Capone, better known to most as Al Capone or Scarface, ran Chicago with blood and guns.

Capone was born in Brooklyn in 1899 to two Italian immigrants. From the beginning, he never responded well to authority. He beat a female teacher while in his sixth grade year and left after the principal verbally chastised him for the incident. Facing a life of low paying jobs, he joined the street gang led by Johny Torrio and Lucky Luciano.

Late in December 1918, Capone killed a man in an argument. Rather than face the charges, he called his old friend Torrio, who was now in Chicago. Capone moved to Chicago on the invitation of Torrio.

He carried his rough style of dealing with people to Chicago. As the bartender at Torrio’s club, he broke the bones the arms, legs, and even skulls of those he evicted from the establishment.

However, Torrio did not bring Capone to Chicago to beat up drunkards. As Torrio’s right hand man, he received the job killing off “Big Jim” Colosimo, who ran Chicago’s underground. After the passage of prohibition in 1920, Torrio was constantly harrasing the boss to establish underground drinking esablishments. Tired of hearing “NO” from Colosimo, Torrio had him killed by Capone on May 11, 1920. Torrio became boss of Chicago, and Capone became the manager of alcohol for the city.

Al Capone became head of the Chicago mafia after Torrio was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt and stepped down from the head spot in 1925. Throughout his reign he ran the streets of Chicago with his mob. When his mob with at its prime, Capone had city aldermen, mayors, legislators, governors, congressmen, and over half the Chicago police force on his payroll.

In 1929 he made his biggest blunder by ordering the shooting of Bugs Moran, part of another Chicago underground faction, on February 14. In what is known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Capone’s men killed a group seven people, but Moran was not in the group. The even, however, changed the public mind about pursuing organized crime.

By now, the IRS had been gathering tax evasion information on Capone for some time through a hired agent, Eddie O’Hare. O’Hare ran Capone’s dog and race tracks and told the IRS where they could find Capone’s financial records. On November 24, Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in Federal prison, fined $50,000, charged $7692 for court costs, and $215,000 in back taxes for tax evasion.

He was released in 1939, after serving seven years and paying all of his back taxes. His mental and physical condition had severely deteriorated and he entered Baltimore hospital for brain treatment immediately after his release. He died of a stroke and pneumonia on January 25, 1947, having killed Eddie O’Hare before he died.

Links

Al Capone
Crime Library Story
Al “Scarface” Capone
FBI Famous Cases
Al Capone
Al’s grave
Al Capone