Chicago’s Gambling War 1940’s

During the 1940’s there was considerable ammount of gang warfare in the Chicago’s underworld over gambling operations.It was just another epoch for the Chicago gangsters.The Outfit was the leading force during this period. Jake Guzik and Tony Accardo led the expansion into gambling for the Outfit.After Prohibition, these activities received the Outfit’s undivided attention and it soon monopolized gambling around the country.

Here are some of the situations that occurred during the gang warfare of the time period 1943-1946:

December 6 1943 big time gambling operator Thomas Naglia was shot and killed in a barber chair at 1608 Sedgwick Street.

January 14 1944 Ben Zuckerman gambling czar and political fixer of the 24th Ward was murdered in a gang land style.

March 2 1944 gambler Sam Gervase was shot and killed at 609 Division Street.

March 11 1944 James DeAngelo’s battered body was found in the trunk of his car in front of a 1526 N.La Salle Street.He was a politican and operator of bookie establishments.

March 13 1944 John Willams ,gambling lord of the 13th Ward was riddled with shotgun bullets in car.Willams was really lucky and survived.

April 7 1944 Livert Kelly,black labor leader,gambler and racketeer was shot and killed in a brawl.

April 13 1944 Jack Guzik ,one of the biggest gambling bosses of the Outfit, was allegedly kidnapped but released the next day on April 14 1944.

April 18 1944 James Larkin was shot and killed in a tavern owned by Matt Capone,Al’s brother at 4839 Ogdens Avenue.He was the owner of a big gambling establishment called the “Dome” at 7446 Irving Park Road.He was also known for doping race horses.

August 3 1944 Lawrence Dago Mangano was murdered allegedly on the orders of mob boss Paul Ricca.Maybe this hit has nothing to do with the gambling war but Mangano was a very close associate of Ben Zuckerman.

November 1 1944 Robert Bock was shot in front of his home at 7558 Kingston Avenue by a shotgun blast.Bock was lucky and survived.This was an example of the South Side gambling war.

December 29 1944 Joe Mondo was shot to deth in his car at 14th Street Wolcott Avenue.He was a handbook operator and a nephew of State Representative James Adducci.

December 29 1944 Paul Kare was shot but survived.He was a big shot in the Greek colony and their gambling operations.

January 1 1945 Mike Dooman was shot and killed in a cocktail bar at 938 Belmont Avenue.He was a gangster and a big time gambler and it is belived that this hit was done over the Greek gambling operations also.

April 7 1945 Willie Tarsch was murdered in front of a building at 3710 W.Roosvelt Road.He was a gambling czar and close associate of Ben Zuckerman.

May 25 1945 James “Red” Fawcett was a big time South Side gangster and gambling operator.He was shot to death in a saloon at 2462 East 75th Street.

July 13 1945 Morris Margolis was shot to death in his car at 1652 W.Ontario Street.Margolis was a handbook operator.

May 11 1946 Eddie Jones,king of the policy racket,was kidnapped by Outfit men sent by Sam Giancana and Tony Accardo.He was released after a ransom of 100.000$ and surendered his policy racket.

June 24 1946 James M. Ragen was ambushed and shot by a Outfit hitman.He died several weeks later.In the autopsy that followed, traces of mercury were found in Ragen's blood system.
He was a part owner of the Continental Press Service,wich was important for racing informations,and didn’t want to share it.Allegedly Tony Accardo ordered the hit.


September 7 1946 Outfit men attacked Teddy Roe at The Boston Club,but failed.Teddy Roe was a tuff guy so bullets were flying around.THe assassins fled the scene and Roe survived the attack.

September 10 1946 Robert Wilcox was shot to death at The Boston Club.He was Teddy Roe's partner in the policy racket.

This war resulted with the alliance between Chicago’s underworld,politicans and big time business men wich made organized gambling a big business in Chicago.In the early 50’s the Outfit also took over the Black Policy Racket wich resulted with another gang warfare and ofcourse many new casualties.

The outfit in the 40 ' s is very ineresting, ralph capone was active in the 40 ' s but the info in scare on him, also I don't believe gusik was ever kiddnaped

Not sayin that is true but why fake it for only two days?

^^^^^^^^^^

he probably got kidnapped.....the kidnappers just knew it wouldn't be smart to kill him

Well then who kiddnaped him?

I remember reading somewhere that the old mobsters like Guzik or Charlie Gioe didnt like Giancana so much.So maybe the Giancana gang did it to put Guzik in his place and the rest of the old guard,who knows?!...just sayin,because it's the perfect time period for Giancana's rise.

I don't think so, ricca ,hump,and accardo must also be considered the old guard and nothing happened to them, my question is why only guzik, It doesn't make sense

You cannot consider Accardo as the old guard because he was older that Giancana for only two years.Mooney was THe Humps and Ricca's underling since the 20's.He did a lot of jobs for them.The financial brains like Guzik and Gioe didnt like violence.The Hump was one of the brains alright but he was a ruthless bastard.He did a lot of kidnappings and murders in his time so it was like a different faction.No need to say anything about Ricca.

PLus during that period(the alleged kidnapping)Ricca was in jail.Also during that time Accardo had to like Sam because of the policy racket.Accardo's main vice was gambling.And during Mooneys reign,Gioe was murdered and Guzik died of natural causes(cardiac arrest),too much pressure maybe who knows?!

About the question "Why Guzik?"i really dont know.We can only speculate

I agree in some respects, the young turks was pushing against the old guys because they felt like the old guys got rich and they was just sitting on thier money, not trying to explore new rackets or ruffle any feathers while the young guys was broke, "teets" was apart of the young turks, al capone had a lot of black friends and ordered his outfit to leave the black policy race teens alone, in those times the first murdered people all the time so what your saying is not far fetched, what do I know, I believe al capone had say so within the outfit right up to the day he died

Fbi murdered people all the time

Yes very good point.I also remember reading somewhere that the young turks sometimes joked around about Guzik.He was a very peaceful and good mannered guy,so maybe they just wanted to scare him a little bit.But ill say it again that theres no reliable source for this kind of info

That doesn't mean that your wrong, even reliable sources can't be depended on once the media gets involved. Do u remember that famous quote from jay guzik when the reporter asked him if al capone was coming back to run the outfit and guzik replied "al is as nutty as a fruitcake"? Well I've learned those words was taking out of context, it was just a small fraction of what he said, his words was meant to make fun of the stories about capone, he said" according to u guys al can't walk a mile without holding someone's hands"

I remember that one of these hits were particularly brazen, a flatbed truck with a load pulled up to guy in the middle of downtown Chicago traffic and the hitters popped up from hiding places on the truck and riddled the car with shotgun blasts and tommy guns. The truck sped away and of course no one was even arrested.

Continental Wire was built from the ashes of Moe Annenburg's Nation-Wide Wire Services, which was a partnership with the Outfit. Annenberg was a newspaper mogul who started his career using Chicago street gangs to trash the news-stands of people who refused to boycott competing papers. In the 1930s Annenberg got in big with Republican politics but he got a federal rap for tax evasion and died in prison. His son went on to become very close to Ronald Regan and was named Ambassador to England, two of the best journalism schools in the country are named after his son.

Thanks for the info Tony.

The story I heard about Guzik's kidnapping went something like this:

Accardo decided it might be time for Guzik to retire so he had Giancana "grab" Guzik and hold him for a couple of days. Guzik was eventually released and when questioned by police, said he had been spending time with some friends.

There are several other versions about Guzik's kidnapping, but Accardo and Giancana were arrested on Feb. 25, 1945 and questioned about the death of James Larkin (see Toodoped's timeline above) which occurred about a year earlier. Both men were released the next day.

Two points here: Accardo and Giancana working together, which they did very often, and Accardo did spend the night in jail.

Well looks like this story is a real match with my claimings.Thanks for the info GaryMartin.Theres also another proof for the Giancana/Accardo close relationship and thats a picture with just the two of them from back in the 40's(sorry i cant find bigger size)

Toodoped - exactly. That's the picture of Accardo and Giancana made when they were picked-up for questioning in the murder of James Larkin ( Feb. 12, 1945). The picture is included in Roemer's book, hardback edition, page 146.

accardo and giancana were ricca's top guys so of course they worked together

giancana just went overboard and got killed

Good read Toodoped thanks!

No problem man,cheers

ChiTown - any thoughts relative to Guzik's kidnapping? Also, same question about the chain of events involving Ricca, Accardo and Giancana when the torch was passed to Giancana around 1957.

I would be interested in your opinion.

Sorry looks like ive missed this post previosly but thats a very cool info.I never knew that the picture is from the questioning about the Larkin murder.Thanks

Accardo and Giancana were arrested for disorderly conduct and questioned about the Larkin murder and the Guzik kidnapping. Both were released the next day.

One of the very few pictures of the two men together.

The outfit kidnapping guzik doesn't make any sense, guzik continued to work for the outfit long after the alleged incident

In the early 50's Guzik was sort of retired.He was a shareholder on a few horse/dog tracks and that was that.He had too much heat from the cops and was on constant surveliance.In 1951 he was questioned before the senate committee and in his last years he was arrested more than 5 times.He even got arrested and sent for questioning two mounths before his death for the murder of one his old friends Alex Loui Greenberg in December 1955,wich Guzik had nothing to do with it.Greenberg was also one of the members of the old Capone gang that got whacked during Giancanas rise.

Toodoped great read poeple forget the gambling war of the 40's and 50's.

Thanks F_white.Btw that's why we are here,to remind and inform... Salut'

Here's a book that talks about the Guzik kidnapping / abduction. Apparently something happened and Guzik disappeared for a couple of days. I've seen this story several times in different publications, but who knows? Just sharing info. Hope this link opens.

http://books.google.com/books?id=6HLk7E0...ped&f=false

BTW - I've been searching for info on Ralph Capone and I can't find much. Even looked in some FBI files and there's was very, very little info. I'll give it another try in a few days.

THeres a story that there was a little disruption between the gangs when Al went to jail and that Ralph played a major role in organzing them again.

During the 30's and 40's Ralph Capone spent a lot of time in Hurley,Wisconsin.It was the Outfits favorite place to relax,recreate,do busniess and hide.Maybe thats why theres not much info on him.

They had more than 200 saloons,brothels and gambling joints so Ralph owned alot of businesses over there.I even think that he died over there in a hospital,but im not sure.

I read where he went to Wisconsin, but info is sketchy. Didn't' know about all the saloons, brothels, etc. Thanks

When al capone was released from prison Wisconsin was his favorite hangout, that's where capone met with outfit memberers, al capone nephew once gave an interview saying he saw al capone sitting at a table with a bunch of outfit bigwigs and lots of food, al capone would also go to his mother house in chicago and meet with outfit figures there, there was actually coded messages over the phone leaving from al capones house to Chicago but the fbi never was able to decipher them, the fbi even interview his wife Mae capone but she wouldn't talk, after al capone was released from prison ralph capone was his messenger, that's y I don't believe guzik was kidnapped because al capone would never have stood for it

Yes it was a famous Capone area since the 1920s called Silver Street in Hurley, Wisconsin

You could be right, maybe it didn't happen. I would agree that Capone would never allowed it, but in 1944 Capone was pretty much "out of it." Nitti died about a year earlier, and for the most part Ricca had been in charge for some time. Accardo was "subbing" for Ricca who got caught up in the Hollywood Extortion case. So it's hard to say about these things. And you could be right, maybe it didn't happen.

About the Hollywood extortion case, an outfit member by the name of nick cievella (probably misspelled his last name) was collecting the payments from the Hollywood producers, and for a reason I can't explain, ralph capone started collecting the payouts, but he was in ever indicted in the Hollywood extortion case

Very odd how some outfit guys were charged and others walked.

I know the Outfit had good connections in the Court system but i also think that some top figures were secret informants

Yeah, I believe someone was "talking."

@big fella Capone's brains were scrambled eggs from syphilis in his later years. In fact he was battling dementia.

I don't belive so, in an interview capones nephew (the son of his brother hart) admitted when he was a teenager he walked into a big outfit meeting with capone and all of the big wigs from chicago, they held meetings at the resort in wisconsin, capone got treatment after he was released from jail which made him close to normal, he was still able to conduct meetings, and the outfit sent him money until the day he died

Back to the topic.....the war for control of the racing wire during this time frame fascinates me. Ragen was a dead man walking when he defied the Outfit, and it is surprising he lasted as long as he did.

There is a ton of testimony on the Race Wire war in the Kefauver hearings. In St. Louis, when Continental went away, Pioneer News became the new provider of race wire results.

An interesting legal battle began, because one of Pioneer's owners, William Molasky, was also a significant owner of Western Union, who owned the wire. There were attempts to cut off the phones and the wires at Pioneer, due to illegal activity, and the case went to district court, then circuit court and finally, the Missouri Supreme Court. It was appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court, who denied the petition to hear the case.