I first saw this movie in the theathre's back in november of '95, i recently watched it again and i have to say it is awesome. Pesci's character was a crazy guy so i decided to look him up, and i came up with some pretty reliable info..Here is some of the Chicago mob history from the Capone days to present..Here is what i came up with...

The Chicago Mafia better known as 'The Outfit' or 'The Syndicate' is not your average Mafia crime family, in comparison to the other Mafia family's 'The Outfit' allows non Italians within it's ranks. Namely Jews and Irish, it was probably the first crime family to make non sicilians a member, at first you had to be from sicily, someone like Al Capone (Napels) could not be made according to those rules, hell if you take it to present times, former Gambino boss John Gotti (also Napels) would not have been made either. They therefor don't have the same tradition as in who founded it, because it was more a gang getting together instead of 'the black hand' (cosa nostra)


The 'organized crime' in Chicago began at the time of the prohibition (1920), before that time there were some gangs but no real organized crime or Cosa Nostra. The Prohibition act closed down thousands of pubs and saloons and opened up tens of thousands of speakeasies across the country. Bootlegging and rumrunning became cottage industries in many towns, supplying alcohol to the masses through the capable hands of the crime gangs. There was so much money to be made through this lucrative industry, there was hardly a policeman or a judge that could not be bought off. These were the times of the millionaire criminals. It is estimated that Chicago's Al Capone made $60 million on the booze racket alone. The whole network, from manufacturing to delivery to final sales had to be run as a business and the dominant gangs of the early 1900s took on the challenge. The Organized Crime gangs were born.


The Chicago Mob had its early beginnings with James 'Big Jim' Colosimo. Big Jim emigrated from his Italian home-land with his father in 1895 at the age of 24. After trying his hand as a newspaper boy, shoe shine boy and street sweeper, Colosimo figured honest hard work was a mugs game and moved on to crime. It wasn't long before Big Jim became Chicago's premium whore dealer. Top of the list in a town brimming with dens of prostitution. However, Jim's high life did not go un-noticed by other members of the criminal underworld. The Black Hand Extortionists were soon pressing Jim into handing over ever increasing amounts of protection money or face the rosy consequences of a bullet in the head. Jim decided enough was enough and went looking for a solution to his problem. The solution came in the form of John Torrio, Colosimo's nephew from New York. A few short months and several bloody corpses later, the word was out that Big Jim Colosimo's prostitution empire was no longer open to extortion. Colosimo was pleased with the results of 'Little John' Torrio's work and rewarded him by making him manager of some of the lower rung whorehouses in Big Jim's empire of vice. Little John was soon promoted by Colosimo to be his chief aide. This effectively put Torrio in the position to run all of Colosimo's empire since Big Jim just wanted to take a back seat, enjoy his profits and generally take it easy.


In 1919, Torrio recruited a 19 year old hoodlum from the old New York gang he used to belong to, the James Street Gang. This young man would become Chicago's most notorious gangster - Al 'Scarface' Capone. Alfonse Capone was the brawn to Little Johnny's brain. Capone was the kind of man who liked to fix things the quick way - with the knife, baseball bat, gun or any number of murderous weapons. He became John Torrio's body guard, chauffeur and right-hand man. With Al by his side, Torrio decided to make his move on Colosimo. On May 11th, 1920, Jim Colosimo was shot dead in his cafe. With the demise of Colosimo, John Torrio and Al Capone set about systematically getting their teeth into every criminal venture in and around Chicago. With Big Jim dead, Torrio simply took over the whole organization and anyone who complained about it had to face Al Capone.


John Torrio had big plans for his inherited organization. Not content with just the whoring business like Colosimo, he wanted to unite all the Chicago gangs and take a piece from each of their criminal ventures. Each gang would have their own area of operations and stick to it. No interference from neighboring gangs was to be tolerated - each gang should stick to their own turf. So, he called all the gangs together - the Italians, Irish, Polish, etc. Torrio laid out his plans to the heads of each of the Chicago gangs - promised them millions of dollars if they towed the line and gang warfare if they did not. Warfare that he would undoubtedly win. The leaders of the various gangs were not weak men. They had got to where they were by being tougher than the next guy but most saw the logic in what Torrio was proposing - make money and live to enjoy it. Some of the harder headed Irish gangs agreed to join and then did their own thing anyway. The inevitable war began. In this war Torrio escaped death twice and finally told Al Capone: "It's all yours, Al. I retire".


At the age of 26, Al Capone became the leader of the largest criminal organization in America with over a thousand employees, the majority of them killers. But Capone's gang was merely part of his powerful empire. In his pocket, Capone had most of the police force and judiciary in Chicago, aldermen, attorneys, mayors, legislators, governors and even congressmen. Also belonging to the Mob were the big union bosses - particularly the infamous Teamsters Union.


Capone continued to war with the gangs that would not play by the rules and eventually succeeded in taking out all of his enemies. Probably his most famous hit was the massacre of the O'Banion gang at a garage at 2122 North Clark Street - The St. Valentines Day Massacre. The St. Valentines Day Massacre caused major public concern. Capone was no longer a supplier of wanted commodities to the people, he was seen as the killer he was. No longer did the public view the Mob as a gang who 'only killed their own', they were just plain killers. Public appreciation of Al Capone was on the decline. Capone was criticized by his underworld counterparts of the other big families at the underworld convention in Atlantic City for the massacre and so he agreed to go to jail for a cooling off period in the hope of diffusing public opinion. A collar on a firearms charge in Philadelphia put Al away for a short time. This was the only time served by anyone for the St. Valentines Day Massacre - and the charge was not even related to the event. Al Capone got out of prison and continued to run the Chicago family as before, through murder, intimidation and violence. But, by now, the government had had enough. Although Capone could not be fingered for any of the murders he had been involved with, he was finally nailed for income tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment. He was released in 1939 due to his poor health and spent the rest of his life at his Florida mansion where he eventually died of syphilis in 1947.


After the years of being in the spotlight of Capone came the low profile years of Frank Nitti, under Nitti the public image of The Outfit was pulled out of the gutter where Capone had left it. However when Nitti and several others were indicted after an enormous shake down of the movie industry, things went bad, several of Nitti's co defendants thought that he should take the rap, Nitti had just spent 18 months in prison and didn't feel like that. A day after a meeting with several of his co defendants at his house Frank Nitti blew his brains out.


Paul Ricca (one of the co defendants that thought Nitti should take the rap) would be the new boss but he was shortly after that sent to prison. And so new boss became Tony Accardo, under Tone Accardo the Outfit became one of the strongest Crime Family's in the U.S., they expanded to Las Vegas, things were going so well that Accardo decided that he was bored and thought he should step down as boss. Sam Giancana became new boss however Accardo stayed as his Consiglieri.


Under Giancana things went well, gambling expanded and everything looked good. However Giancana wasn't a low profile gangster he liked to be in the spotlight and so he became a target for the F.B.I., eventuelly he went to jail When he was released he found that Accardo was back and running things, he wanted his spot back but Accardo refused because he brought too much heat, Giancana stepped down and went on vacation to Mexico.


And so Accardo picked Felix 'Milwaukee Phil' Alderiso. Milwaukee Phil was, at one time, a top hit man for the Mob. It is known that he carried out at least thirteen contracts and was undoubtedly a party to many more. Knowing that this man is such a killer, it is unusual to find that Alderiso's years at the top were remarkably hit free. Of course, this may be due to the fact that Accardo was still acting as Consiglieri to the Outfit. Alderiso's reign at the top was short lived. In July of 1969, he was arrested for conspiring to defraud a Chicago suburb bank. The arrest was made at his home in Riverside and a cache of arms was found there. More trouble was to follow Phil once the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms got their hands on that. Alderiso was found guilty and sent to jail where he died some years later.


The Outfit now had yet another Boss to find. John 'Jackie' Cerone was the successful candidate. Jack Cerone was Tony Accardo's protégé. Groomed from an early age for the top spot by the man who was seen by many as the greatest Mob Boss ever, Cerone could have had an astounding effect on the world of organized crime. Unfortunately for the Mob, he would be arrested and imprisoned in 1970. Cerone fell foul of a 'disgruntled employee' Lou Bombacino. Bombacino got into an argument with his bosses, Don Angelinni, Joe Ferriola, Frank Aurielli and Dominick Cortina. The dispute was settled by Cerone who took the side of the four bosses. Bombacino was not happy with the outcome and decided to get his revenge by turning States Evidence. Cerone was convicted on racketeering charges along with all four of the bosses.


Tony Accardo had no more suitable mobsters to take the top spot and so he was again forced to come out of his semi-retirement and assume the hot seat. The only other viable contenders were Gussie Alex and Joe Auippa. Alex was by far the most experienced but he was not Italian and so could not be 'made'. There were guys in the outfit that would reserve judgment on the decisions of man who was not made, not one of their own. Joe Auippa on the other hand was made and had been around for a while, he was now in his seventies, but lacked the management skills to be top boss. So it was decided that the three of them, Accardo, Alex and Auippa would all take control together. As Auippa gained confidence and expertise, Alex and Accardo would step back and let Joe have the driving seat.


The seventies were very active times for the Mob and a lot of 'examples' had to be made. The casinos in Las Vegas were not producing as much income as they used to and so a new man was sent to oversee the operation - Tony 'The Ant' Spillotro (Known from the movie 'Casino' with Robert DeNiro, in the movie Spilotro was played by Joe Pesci). There were five gangland murders very soon after his arrival. Another example was made of Sambo Cesario. When Milwaukee Phil Alderiso had gone to prison, Cesario began seeing Phil's mistress. This was a violation of Omerta where 'made' guys could not mess with the wives and girlfriends of other members of the Outfit. Sambo was blasted while sitting on his front lawn. March of 1972 saw the demise of Chuck Carroll. He was bound, gagged and blind folded, shot and stuffed into the trunk of his car. April 14th 1973 was the day Mad Sam DeStefano was gunned down. On December 20th of the same year, Dick Cain had his head blown off in Little Sicily for double crossing another mobster. Cain was also an informant for the FBI but the Mob never knew that until the FBI revealed that fact, as Cain had asked them too, when he died. 1974 saw ten documented gangland slayings and there were nine more in 1975.


One of the hits in 1974 was a tough decision for the Mob leadership. It involved a hit on an ordinary business man called Daniel Seifert. The decision was tough since Seifert was not a mobster and the Mob was only supposed to kill their own - other gangsters. But Seifert was set to testify in a case which could bring down too many good men that the Mob could not afford to lose. The hit was sanctioned and Seifert was blown away with shotguns. As if killing an ordinary citizen was not enough, the hit team performed the deed in full view of his wife and young child. The news media lapped up the story and Consiglieri Accardo was furious at the killers for their stupidity.


One of the killings in 1975 would also grab the presses attention. One time Mob Boss Sam Giancana was killed at his home in Chicago. Giancana had been making a fortune for himself off the casinos he had set up in Mexico, Cuba, Iran and various cruise liners. Sam felt that he owed the Mob nothing since he had effectively been thrown out of the Outfit by Accardo in the sixties. The Mob saw things in a different light. Giancana had been holding out and not paying his tribute. He was whacked in his basement with a .22 silenced pistol. He was shot in the back of the head and the throat.


1975 saw the release from prison of Jackie Cerone. Cerone rejoined the mob as second in command to Joe Auippa although in reality it was Cerone who was now running the show. Jackie did not want to come back to the limelight after his release but reluctantly accepted the position on the insistence of Tony Accardo. One thing Cerone had insisted on was using Auippa as a front so most of the press and police attention would be aimed in Joe's direction and not Cerone's. It is believed by some that Auippa was not aware of this arrangement and still believed himself Boss whilst all the time Jackie Cerone was pulling the strings.


One of the first things that had to be settled by the Cerone-Auippa leadership was the whacking of Chris Cardi. Cardi had done numerous small jobs for the outfit including collecting, 'juicing' or load sharking, and general muscle. Cardi was not happy with the return on his dealings and so took a road that was very taboo while Tony Accardo was still involved with the Outfit. Cardi began dealing drugs. In the Outfit of Joe Batters, dealing drugs was a cardinal offense. However, Cardi did not get the usual treatment of a bullet in the back of the head. When Cardi was arrested for his heroin racket, the Mob went to the judge assigned to the case. The judge was on the take and he was instructed to give Cardi the maximum sentence possible for his crimes. Chris Cardi served his time and was then released. Three weeks later, while he was out walking with his wife and three kids, two masked gunmen shot eight rounds from .45 pistols into his back. Then, just for good measure, he was popped in the face.


Other hits sanctioned in 1975 included two bookmakers. The first, Nick Galanos, was an independent bookmaker who kept up with his street tax. His crime was moving into the Forest Park area. Forest Park was a Mob controlled district and Galanos had not asked for permission to operate in the area. He was shot in his basement on August 30th with .45 caliber pistols. Nine rounds in the back (naturally) and again in the chest just for good measure. The second bookie was Tony Reitinger, also an independent. His crime was not paying his tribute to the Outfit. He was hit at the end of October by two masked men. Reitinger suffered four .30 caliber rounds to the back and side and two shotgun blasts to the head.


January brought yet another sanctioned hit. This time the target was a jewel thief who had caused trouble for the Mob when one of his jobs got solved by the police. The thief's name was Frank DeLegge, Jr. The police had an informant in on the burglary and were able to arrest and imprison the gang. Also imprisoned were two made Mob men who were nailed for conspiracy. DeLegge was whacked, probably by Tony Spillotro, soon after. His throat was cut from ear to ear and his body was left in a ditch near Elmhurst. The body was discovered later, frozen solid.


Jackie Cerone and Joe Auippa were eventually collared by the FBI in 1986. The FBI used electronic bugs and turn-coat mobsters to obtain evidence of racketeering on fifteen mobsters in a case they code named Strawman II. They were all charged with skimming $2,000,000 plus dollars from Las Vegas casinos. The trial started in the latter half of 1985. Cerone and Auippa were found guilty and sent to prison in 1986. Cerone was now 71 and Auippa 78 years or age.


Strawman II was the culmination of five years of investigative work by the FBI. The Strawman I and Strawman II (a continuation of Strawman I) caused the Chicago Mob more trouble than any other investigation. In 1978 the District Court in Kansas City authorized the FBI to use electronic bugging devices in Mob hangouts. Telephone taps were used, hidden microphones and other listening devices were put in place and Mob subjects were tailed everywhere. Seizures of money being skimmed from the casinos were made and raids were made on mobsters houses. In one such raid a set of books, detailing every aspect of the mob operations he took part in, was found in the home of Carl DeLuna, the underboss (second-in-command) of the Kansas City Outfit. These proved to be invaluable to the prosecution in the two trials that were to follow. In 1981, the cream of the Kansas City Mob were indicted for skimming the Tropicana casino in Las Vegas. All but two of the defendants would be convicted. One of the two was the Boss of the KC Outfit and he was never tried because he died whilst in custody. This was the result from Strawman I. Strawman II was a continuance of Strawman I. Using much of the same evidence and lots of new stuff, members of the Chicago Outfit were tied directly into the operations of the KC Outfit. Hence, indictments were brought on many of the top echelon members of the Chicago Mob also.


The Outfit required another Boss. On the recommendation of Tony Accardo and Gus Alex, that Boss was Joe Ferriola. The first thing Ferriola did as Boss, on the same day he took up leadership, was put out a contract on Tony Spillotro. The Outfit was blaming Spillotro for all the grief caused them by the FBI in the past months. After all, it was Spillotro's responsibility to watch his men in Las Vegas and it was those men that had turned states evidence for the FBI. Tony was also becoming a renegade - performing un-sanctioned burglaries and running drugs. He had drawn attention to himself with all his recent court cases and high profile actions in Las Vegas. He had to be silenced. In June of 1986, Tony Spillotro and his brother, Michael, were clubbed unconscious and buried alive in a corn field in Indiana.


Although Ferriola was the Boss, he was suffering with incurable cancer and so passed on the mundane day to day running of the Outfit on to Sam 'Wings' Carlisi. Ferriola died of his cancer in 1991. Carlisi is generally acknowledged to have been the Boss of the Chicago Mob from the late 80's until he was put away in December of 1993 for racketeering, gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, arson, tax fraud and conspiring to murder.


And that is where the information runs out for me. It is thought that Joe Lombardo, released from prison in November 1992, may be calling the shots in the Outfit now but through the guise of his cousin, Joe Andriacci. Lombardo cannot be seen as active in the Mob or he will violate his parole and go back inside. Other prominent members of the Outfit that are still around are Dominic Cortina, Joe Spadavecchio, Robert Salerno, Al Pilotto, Joe and Larry Petitt, Angelo LaPietro, Pete DiFronzio, James Inendino and Marco D'Amico to name a few. Although the actions of the FBI have had a serious effect on the organized crime families of the Mob and natural attrition has taken it's toll on the original gangster members, the Mob is still alive and kicking and still making a tidy living from the gambling rackets of Chicago.

[ January 21, 2002: Message edited by: Tony Montana ]

thanks for the info tony i saw the movie and i thought it was amazing, i like the extra info

Very interesting Thanks for the info.

Lawrence Bergreen, Capone's most recent biographer, takes a somewhat different view of the early days of the Chicago mob. According to him, Torrio didn't recruit Capone--he was sent to Chicago by his patron, Frankie Yale, Brooklyn's "Prince of Darkness," because Capone was being chased by an Irish mob, the "White Handers" (he had beaten up one of their members and was on the lam from two murders he had committed). And when Capone got to Chicago, Torrio put him to work for Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, Torrio's right-hand man, a big-time pimp and ward-heeler. Guzik taught Capone about brothels, bars and bookkeeping. Bergreen also says that Yale assassinated Colosimo. But it's absolutely right that the early Chicago mob wasn't a Mafia family. The Mafia in Chicago in the Twenties was called the "Unione Siciliano" and was a kind of civic organization with muscle. In addition to using Jews and Irish, Capone also used WASPs and Welshmen--Murray "The Camel" Humphreys was in charge of the Chicago mob's labor rackets into the '70's.

You're welcome, Tony. Thanks for your informative post.