NORTH/WEST SIDE 1900 - 1920

Lincoln Av, N Clark St, N Dearborn St, Irving Park Rd, W Belden Av, S Clark and Ontario streets, Loop

Jacob Tennes (North Side gambling boss and leader of the faction) (member of the Trust from 1903 until 1906)

-William Tennes (overseer on Lincoln Av and N Clark St)

-Edward Tennes

-Ed Wagner (18th St and Indiana Av, Near North Side)

-James Sweeney (gambling lieutenant on S Clark and Adams streets)

-William Knott (31st St and S Cottage Grove Av and Sweeney’s associate)

-Jack Ford (Dearborn St and Sweeney’s associate)

-Phil Green (saloon owner on 31st St and Indiana Av)

-John Fisher

-John Meyer (saloon owner on W Chicago Av)

-Jim Monday

-John Hogan

-Tom Walsh

-Joseph Moore (saloon owner on N Sheffield Av)

-John Newton

-Joseph Sangerman (enforcer and union racketeer)

-Henry Seeman

Jacob “Mont” Tennes was born in 1873 on Chicago’s North Side to a poor German family with five brothers and two sisters. During the early 1890’s he and his two brothers William and Edward ran many handbook operations and on his 20th birthday Tennes provided the start-up capital to open their first Billiard Hall on Lincoln Ave., near Wrightwood Ave. At the gambling joint Tennes also sponsored pool tournaments, in which he himself was frequently the victor. Tennes started stashing his big amounts of cash and by the late 1890’s slowly became the most prominent gambling operator on Chicago’s North Side.

In 1900 Tennes began opening a big number of saloons, cigar stores and many other gambling parlors on N. Clark St. in River North, and by 1903 he also operated a bookie joint which was a little cottage in Dunning at Irving Park Rd. and Narragansett, just outside Chicago city limits. They used to take wagers in the morning at homes and stores on the races that took place in the afternoon, and also settled accounts from the previous day's races. That same year Tennes continued to spread his gambling operations on North Sheffield Avenue, further down to 18th St and Indiana Av. With that, Tennes earned his seat on the underworld gambling commission known as “The Trust” which also included gambling bosses from the West and South sides such as the Gazzolo brothers and Jim Colosimo.

By the late 1910’s, Tennes also became part owner in the steamer boat known as “The City of Traverse” and also managed to enter the Loop and First Ward and the Levee, obviously with the blessing from the local bosses Mike Kenna, John Coughlin and Jim O’Leary. Also, when the Western Union was closed in 1904, two years later John Payne a telegraph operator of Cincinnati established a telegraph service that again provided results from race tracks around the country formed the Payne Telegraph Service. Tennes wanted in and by 1907 he purchased and took a part in the Payne Telegraph by taking the daily returns on races from tracks throughout the country. No gambling operator could secure race returns by telephone or telegraph unless he paid Tennes for the service and so all local bookies were required to turn over to Tennes' syndicate fifty per cent of the net daily receipts.

All of the trouble began by the end of that year when one day Tennes was physically attacked on the street near his home. Tennes, was convinced that O'Leary was behind the attack in retaliation for Tennes' efforts to have O'Leary's Dearborn Park poolroom in Northwest Indiana. Now, most of the South Side groups and O’Leary were on one side, while opposite of them were the Northwest clans such as the Gazzolo bros and Mike Heitler who joined Tennes. This situation became known as the infamous “Gambling War”.

On July 25, 1907 Tennes' home on Belden Av was bombed and completely destroyed and a month later, O'Leary's resort on S. Halsted was bombed. On August 19, the Tennes home was again victimized by a bomb which landed in the front yard and during the war over 30 bombs exploded at the business joints and homes of Chicago’s most prominent gamblers and racketeers, including lots of independent gambling operators who also suffered the consequences.

In 1911 the bombings suddenly ended and it was the beginning of the few quiet years for Chicago’s underworld. Sources say that almost 60 bombs were thrown during the conflict. When the smoke cleared, Tennes rose as the dominant force and opened his own wire service which was named the “Tennes General News Bureau” and immediately started a process of eliminating the “Payne News Service” from national control of the racing news service. A reign of terror prevailed over the Payne Service Agency which resulted in a legal, as well as illegal, war which eventually drove the Payne Agency out of business.

The number of Tennes bookmaking operations significantly increased when he made an alliance with South Side boss Jim Colosimo. The Loop flourished under Tennes and Colosimo and their penchant for vice, with fifty wide open gambling joints operated under the protection of the First Ward. With Colosimo’s help, Tennes also managed to spread his interests further down the South Side all the way to northwest Indiana. Following an investigation in 1911, the Civil Service Commission revealed police raids were made only under the instruction of Tennes and his associates like Colosimo and Mike Heitler, and then only against those who competed against their organization.

So in a very short time Tennes became the Czar of all race tracks gambling in the United States and Canada. From 90 poolrooms in Chicago and 70 in New York City, he received tremendous profits. Tennes was servicing cities all over the country including San Francisco, New Orleans, Baltimore and many more. He maintained control over the handbooks through violence, and those who opposed him could expect police raids, slugging and bombings.

Few of Tennes’ most prominent associates in the gambling business were Ed Wagner, who in turn was connected to racetracks all around the country with headquarters on Chicago’s 18th St and Indiana Av, followed by James Sweeney on S Clark and Adams streets, and also at 914 Clark St. Sweeney was Teens’ guy on street, meaning besides gambling he also had connections to numerous gangs from all around the city. Two of Sweeney’s prime operators were Jack Ford at 221 Dearborn St and William Knott on 31st St and also on 2232 S Cottage Grove Av.

Joseph Sangerman owned a barbershop at 1447 W Winona Av on the city’s North Side and was also a business agent for the Master Barber’s union. But besides that Sangerman was also connected to many bombers and arsonists, something which brought the attention of Tennes and other syndicate leaders, like the Mafia from the 19th Ward. Another Tennes lieutenant was Phil Green who owned the Arlington Club saloon on 31st St and Indiana Av which in fact was huge gambling operation, followed by another gambling establishment at 6022 N Clark St knows as the Otis saloon.

In 1916, Federal appeals court judge and future baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis launched a personal investigation on Tennes' gambling schemes, in which it was revealed that his operations netted around $100,000 each year. Tennes hired superstar attorney Clarence Darrow and eventually Landis' inquiry ended with the conclusion that interstate transmission of gambling information wasn't illegal under federal statues, and actual gambling was a local phenomenon and so not under a federal court's jurisdiction. However, on January 16, 1917, indictments were returned based on official corruption growing out of gambling. Many raids on the gambling parlors were accomplished by the government, including one of Tennes’ gambling joints on 743 N. Clark St and also his news agency at 303 West Chicago Av.

By 1919 Tennes was slowly losing his political protections and on top of that, he and his associates lost thousands of dollars because of the betrayal of their cipher code. In 1920 Robert E. Crowe was elected as state’s attorney and declared war on the gambling business and its bosses. A “big haul” was made and over 100 associates were arrested, and the raids were sensational with axes and breaking doors and furniture. O’Leary’s ancient stronghold was also raided and closed for good. Crowe was now after Mont Tennes himself, James O’ Leary and the rest of the gambling brotherhood. The campaign shook the foundations of Chicago’s gambling empire and so Tennes fled the city and went down to Florida until the situation cooled down.


18th and 19th Ward, W Madison and Polk streets, W Jackson blvd

John Gazzolo (18th Ward political crime boss who owned a poolroom and saloon at 1342 W Madison St, and close associate of alderman Johnny Rogers) (member of the Trust from 1903 until 1906) (died in May 1914)

-Frank Gazzolo (18th Ward alderman and West Side saloon owner at 461 W Madison St) (died in December 1914)

- Lewis Gazzolo (18th Ward political crime boss and West Side saloon owner at 1356 W Madison St) (died in April 1917)

- Frank Kilcrane (enforcer for John Gazzolo)

- Henry Hughes (gambling operator and close associate of alderman John Powers from the 19th Ward)

- Jim Lavelle

- Fred Pond (saloon owner in Melrose Park)

- Michael Heitler (West Side rackets boss in the 18th and 19th wards)

- Coleman Heitler (saloon owner on West Madison)

- William Skidmore (saloon owner on the West Side)

- Robert Pearlman

- William Freise (gambling operator on W Chicago Av)

- Louis Kirsch

- Charles Hirsch

- Sam Bloom

- Peter Cohen

- Louis Marks

- Louis Frank

- Thomas Jones (saloon owner at 381 W Van Buren St)

- Martin Michaels (gambling operator on Taylor St and Ogden Av)

- Mike Rold (gambling operator on 6 N Clark St)

- James Considine (attorney, 19th Ward politician and saloon owner on W Madison)

The Gazzolo family arrived in Chicago around the 1850’s and the three brothers were actually all born in the city during the 1860’s. Their parents were from Genoa Italy, and it is quite possible that the Gazzolos might’ve been among the early founders of the Chicago Italian Diaspora. The brothers were born in the 18th Ward, in which Frank Gazzolo served two terms as alderman while his two brothers, John and Lewis, controlled all illegal activities. Frank Gazzolo’s home was located at 12 North Leavitt St on the city’s North Side.

By the late 1890’s and early 1900’s many Sicilians and so-called Mainlanders arrived in Chicago and during those days the Gazzolos already controlled large number of Italian votes, something that made them instrumental in the creation of the Italian political bloc in which both the Mafia and Camorra began to infiltrate sometime after that. Besides being from the northern part of Italy, some of the most prominent Italian southern criminals began working as precinct captains and enforcers for the same political candidates and racketeers that were already backed or associated with the Gazzolos for years.

The gambling schemes of the Gazzolo’s were located around the whole West Side and their prime illegal operations were centered on W Madison, Polk, and W Chicago streets, in the form of brothels and gambling saloons. Same as their associates from the South and North sides, in 1903 the Gazzolos were also members of the gambling combine known as the “Trust” with John as their representative. During that period the brothers also spread their gambling operations further west to Melrose Park on 5th Ave and their operator there was Fred Pond.

John Gazzolo was also closely connected to another West Side racketeer Mike Heitler and during those days they both backed alderman Johnny Rogers, a corrupt political boss and also one corrupt state senator known as John Broderick. Michael "The Pike" Heitler was a Jewish racketeer who began operating brothels in Chicago since the late 1890’s together with his brother Coleman.

Their operations were stretched all around West Madison Street and by the early 1900’s Mike Heitler had become one of the leading crime figures in the prostitution business. His brother Coleman owned a saloon at 201 Washington St, and they allegedly used to collect street tax from many brothels and gambling parlors on the West Side for the 19th Ward political machine, and sometimes Mike collected by himself and sometimes with the help of other criminal associates such as corrupt police officials.

Two of those officials were chief inspector Edward McCann and Detective Sergt. Jeremiah Griffin of the Desplaines street district and they wouldn't let anyone operate in their districts without first paying tribute to this small criminal syndicate. A lot of bad women and men went to the police station and settled their debts with McCann and Griffin in person. Heitlers other criminal associates who also collected street taxes from the prostitutes and gamblers were Peter Cohen, Louis Marks and Louis Frank, who in turn was also a saloon owner and a politician.

In 1903, the Heitler clan was represented by Gazzolo in the gambling combine and during that period, besides white slavery and extortion, the Heitler brothers were also involved in gambling and few of their prime operators were Louis Kirsch, Charles Hirsch and Sam Bloom and in 1909 all of these guys, including the Heitler bros, were indicted on gambling charges but later the case was dropped. According to some news reports at the time, this small syndicate allegedly accumulated over $100,000 a year from the brothels and saloons on the West Side.

Even though gambling was their prime illegal income, the brothers were also involved in extortion. For example in 1905, John Gazzolo together with Frank Kilcrane wrecked the grocery store of one local fruit dealer from Washington blvd in Oak Park. When the so-called Trust broke apart, an era of bombings occurred and almost every big time racketeer had problems with keeping their establishments in one piece, like for example the Gazzolos owned the Coliseum Annex saloon on W Madison St that was bombed during the gambling wars of the late 1900’s.

In 1911, a bomb also exploded in front of Mike Heitler’s saloon on W 35th St, but when the smoke cleared, the Gazollos and the Heitlers ended up with close connections to the winning faction that was headed by Mont Tennes from the North Side and Jim O’Leary from the South. That same year, one informant stated that both Gazzolo and Tennes joined forces and controlled large number of gambling parlors all across the West and North sides.

Some sources say that Heitler also strengthened his connections with the Tennes syndicate and some news reporters at the time even labeled Heitler as being a “lieutenant” for Tennes which is false. The interesting thing was that by now he and the Gazzolos began creating alliances with other organizations from both the 18th and 19th wards. For example two of Gazzolo’s prime connections to alderman Johnny Powers from the 19th Ward were Henry Hughes, a gambling operator from the West Side and James “Dick” Considine who in turn was an attorney and also a saloon owner at 2757 W Madison St.

In May 1914, Gazzolo’s headquarters on W Madison St was blown to pieces and almost 50 people were injured, mostly individuals that worked near the joint or were walking by it. At first it was said that the explosion was caused by gas leakage but that was later nixed from the case, and so the investigators began to suspect that the establishment was allegedly bombed by some rivals. The problem was that the gambling wars were over and after that the brothers allegedly didn’t have problems with anyone or maybe they entered another racket known as arson and fraud since in the end they collected the insurance.

By the end of 1914, both Frank and John Gazzolo died of natural causes, followed by their third brother Lewis in 1917. So by the mid 1910’s the Gazzolo dynasty was finished and it wasn’t a coincidence that during that same time period the southern faction of the Italian Diaspora began to rise within Chicago’s West Side politics.

In 1917, a big case for Illinois State’s Attorney Hoyne painted a centralized organized crime triumvirate that appeared to be largely for prosecution purposes more so than actually having cracked the decentralized clustered organized crime network. Hoyne’s men raided a luxury office at 109 North Dearborn Street and discovered Mike Heitler, William Skidmore and two other corrupt government detectives sorting through packages of money secured by rubber bands.

The raid also uncovered that one of the detectives was carrying a small notebook that included lists of protected hotels, brothels and saloons. The prosecutors at the time labeled both Heitler and Skidmore as “rulers of the vice world” on the city’s West Side, and well connected to other members in Chicago’s organized crime network such as Jim Colosimo and John Torrio from the South Side.

William “Billy” Skidmore started around the Lawndale area and later became close associate of Heitler, but Skidmore also had connections to many Jewish clans, such as the Guzik family and also to some Italian factions such as the Gazzolos. Skidmore was also known for being a “fixer” in both the 18th and 19th wards since 1908, when he became connected with the so-called Roger C. Sullivan wing of the Democratic Party, and in 1912 both Skidmore and Sullivan were sued for not paying any cash on their rents for several West Side saloons. In 1916, Skidmore also became assistant sergeant at arms at the Democratic convention.

By 1917, Skidmore owned a saloon for almost a decade which was located at West 1958 Lake St but that same year the license of joint was revoked by the mayor of Chicago, followed by two more of his saloons around the Northwest. Besides the ownership of several Northwest saloons, by now Skidmore also allegedly reached some of the South Side areas which were mostly populated by African-American people, and so he had several associates who represented Skidmore’s gambling interests in those same areas.

During that same time period, Skidmore’s senior associate Mike Heitler was arrested with 30 other individuals in his cigar shop at 28 North Halsted St and later all charges were job, but few months after that Heitler was indicted on another case and was sentenced to 1 year in prison on white slavery charges. When the law of Prohibition took its turn in 1920, Heitler and his associates quickly rushed to join the “venture” and so in October that same year, he together with Robert Pearlman were arrested regarding the robbery of $175,000 worth of booze.

Both Heitler and Skidmore entered the era of Prohibition as two long time established criminal bosses and mentors of many future criminals from the West Side area, but the most important thing was that they were also accepted by the new rising syndicates which were more ruthless than every other criminal organization before.


Taylor St, Grand and Milwaukee avenues, Milton and Gault Court streets, North/West Side

Salvatore DiGiovanni (Neapolitan crime boss in the 19th Ward) (killed in 1901)

-Joseph Morici (president of “Sicilian society”)

-Frank Morici (saloon owner on Grand Av)

- Onofrio Serritella (close associate of 17th Ward representative and ass. State’s attorney Steve Malato)

-Joseph Mariso (another possible crew leader)

-Pietro Misuraci

-Antonio Sparacini

-Salvatore Quatrocchi

-Frank Catalano

Salvatore DiGiovanni was Neapolitan criminal who arrived in Chicago sometime around the late 1880’s and was labeled as “leader of the Italians” around the city’s Near West Side. DiGiovanni started in New York and before coming to Chicago, he landed in St Louis and lived under the alias Dr. Raffaelo Guidone. One conflicting source from 1901 says DiGiovanni was a Chicago resident for 10 years, which might be wrong and a third source says that one time he had been married in Kentucky. Whatever was the truth regarding DiGiovanni’s travels before his arrival in Chicago, still this brings a suspicion if he was a part of some criminal network or organization already operating in the US as well.

While in Chicago, he became involved in the 19th Ward which during those days the Italian bloc was headed by prominent Italian faces such as Sabatino Falone, Raffaele DeBartolo, Antonio Greco, Vincenzo Pacelli, Giuseppe Spingola and others, while the alderman for the whole ward was John Powers. Powers was also connected to the Italian bloc from the 17th Ward by sponsoring their newspaper known as La Democrazia which in turn was operated by locals such as Steve Malato and Onofrio Serritella.

In fact, Malato was Sicilian who at first became representative for the 17th Ward and later assistant state’s attorney, but some say that his position in the ward was scandalous because he previously lived in the 19th Ward and transferred to the 17th several weeks prior to his election, while the rule was for one candidate to live at least two years in that same area before becoming a candidate. If this was true than it might confirm Malato’s alleged connections to Powers and the rest of the 19th Ward boys.

Malato was also a member of the “White Hand”, a society which was against all “Black Hand” extortionists, but besides legit guys the organization also had Mafiosi as its own members although it is possible that some of the newspapers at the time confused the organization with another one known as the Unione Siciliana. In addition, in September 1900 Malato’s close associate and manager of his newspaper, Onofrio Serritella, was shot to death by one Pietro Ianello who in turn was allegedly defrauded by Serritella regarding some land.

DiGiovanni lived at 114 West Polk St and he was closely connected to the Morici bros, Joseph and Frank, who in turn were Sicilians and came from the Near North Side or Milton Av but owned a saloon on 57 Grand Av. Besides acting as enforcers for the 19th Ward, the gang was mainly involved in extortion, burglaries and counterfeiting which means that they were not some ordinary “Black Hand” criminals but instead they were slightly more sophisticated and possibly belonged to some “secret societies” or national criminal networks.

In September 1898, DiGiovanni was arrested on murder attempt charges when he tried to kill one Joseph Palundo. When the cops questioned DiGiovanni, he gave his name as Guliano Gambordella and later reports came up that Palundo left the city but swore revenge. Sources say the whole problem began regarding some expensive watch that was stolen from a prominent West side politician, which should’ve been bought by DiGiovanni but instead it landed in the hands of Joe Morici.

Later Morici was arrested regarding the theft but was released because of lack of evidences. Several days after his release, Morici was almost killed by “someone” who slashed his throat but managed to survive. In fact, the same thing almost happened to Palundo which means that DiGiovanni was also Morici’s attacker. So DiGiovanni was arrested and questioned regarding the attack and surprisingly he admitted to it but was released on bond and allegedly fled Chicago for a couple of days. When DigIovanni returned, the case was dropped since Morici didn’t press any charges. In addition, it is interesting to note that the knife or razor was usually a traditional weapon used by members of the old Camorra clans when they wanted to execute someone who “hurt” their honor or to kill a member of the government.

On February 21 1901, the crew had a gathering in Morici’s joint on Grand Av and the guys on the table were DiGiovanni, Morici, Joe Mariso, Antonio Sparacini, Sal Quatrocchi, Frank Catalano and also one close friend of DiGiovanni who arrived from New York several days prior known as Carlo Battista. All of the men were armed and story goes that this was in fact a trap for DiGiovanni since later a shooting occurred outside which left Mariso wounded in the mouth, while DiGiovanni was lying dead on the ground.

When the cops searched DiGiovanni’s pockets, they found the gun from which he previously fired four bullets and this was quite a “mystery”. They also found many counterfeit coins and also few letters in which DiGiovanni’s was called back to New York by some criminal organization regarding a murder for which he was about to get indicted. It is also possible that Batista was sent to Chicago to bring DiGiovanni in New York and this is a proof that he or they belonged to some national criminal network, possibly the Camorra or maybe even the Mafia.

When the case was brought in 17th Ward leader Steve Malato took a hand in clearing up the mystery, and so he cleared all Mafia involvement by stating that from the whole gang, only Joe Morici was a member of a “Sicilian society” and the murder was a product of a quarrel and that Morici acted in self defense. The cops took Batista shady testimony but they also questioned Sal Quatrocchi whose testimony was taken as most “credible” and was confirmed by Malato and so Morici was released.

Giovanni’s life and death shows us that early in the days there were close connections and rivalries in Chicago between the Mafia and Mainlander criminals. We don’t have a proof that most Calabrian and Neapolitan syndicates in Chicago joined forces into one "Camorra" organization or that many Mainlanders were made into the Mafia, but instead we have proof regarding more than few early connections which confirms the previous statement to an extent.

After the murder of DiGiovanni, Joe Morici took over his area and opened his own saloon at 181 N Sangamon St on the city’s Near West Side and their prime racket became arson. In 1909 the place was caught by a mysterious fire and burned to the ground. The government investigated the case but the Moricis usually blamed the “Black Hand” gangs and often collected the insurance.

The Moricis originally came from Termini Imerese, Sicily and there were more than few families around the Northwest Side from that same town. One of Joe Morici’s nieces Josephine Morici, in 1914 married Vincenzo "Jimmy" Vinci thereby suggesting another potential link between the Sicilian Mafia and Southern Mainlanders as the Vincis were from Simbario, Calabria and were stationed on Chicago’s South Side.

Joe Morici’s partner in the wine and grape business was Peter Misuraci and they owned a wine shop at 838 Grand Av, and this guy also became a treasurer in a patent medicine company and also owned a fruit business in Danville, Illinois but in November 1909, a nitroglycerin bomb wrecked the whole place and Misuraci took the insurance. By 1911, both Morici and Misuraci owned a building on the corner of W Grand Av and N Green St, which was also blown to pieces.

We don’t have any proof if the Morici brothers or any of their associates were members of the Mafia, but we have proof that they were more sophisticated and wealthier than some of the other Italian criminals from that period, an image that perfectly fits with some of the Mafiosi at the time. Another interesting thing to note is that from 1902/03, one individual known as Mariano Zagone was the alleged leader of the Mafia in Chicago and he was killed in 1909, and after that Joe and Frank Morici began slowly to fade away from the newspaper headlines.


Gault Court (Cambridge Avenue) Oak St Milton Av and North Sedgwick St, Grand Av and Near West Side

Mariano Zagone (alleged leader of the Chicago Mafia and cigar manufacturer on Gault Court and Oak streets) (killed in 1909)

Rosario Dispenza (possible second in command and succeeded Zagone in 1909) (killed in January 1914)

Anthony D’Andrea (imprisoned in 1903 and released in, and succeeded Dispenza in 1914)

- Pietro Dispenza (died in 1912)

-Louis D’Andrea

-Michele Merlo (close associate of D’Andrea and allegedly held high rank in the Mafia)

-Martin Merlo

-Carmelo Nicolosi (saloon owner on Milton Av) (imprisoned in 1911 but released in 1914)

-Giuseppe Nicolosi (possible second in command) (imprisoned in 1911 but released in 1914)

-Anthony Puccio (killed in January 1914)

-Victor Barone (killed in February 1914)

-John Barone

-Pete Catalanetto (killed in June 1915)

-Tommy Petrotta (in 1915 fled the city)

-Tony D’Acunto

-Vincenzo Roselli

-Vincent Cutaia (alleged cousin of Dispenza and operator on Milton Av)

-Frank Cutaia (alleged cousin of Vincent Cutaia)

-James Marzano (19th Ward political boss)

-Joseph Esposito (labor enforcer and 19th Ward political boss)

- Sam Esposito

- Gaetano Esposito

-Pete Fosco (labor enforcer)

-Paul Labriola (deputy bailiff and associate of alderman John Powers)

- Anthony Volpe

- Phil Leonatti/Leonetti

-Peter Nota (enforcer for the Nicolosi bros and arrested in 1911)

-Tony Nota (arrested in 1911)

-Joseph Taddeo (arrested in 1911)

-Gianni Alongi (enforcer for the Nicolosi bros and sentenced to prison on white slavery charges)

-Aldurino Mazzone (Alongi lieutenant)

-Angelo Genna (enforcer for D’Andrea on Taylor St)

-Sam Amatuna

-Frank Gambino

-Victor Tortoriello

-Louis Battaglia

-Peter Granata

In time, this faction probably became the largest syndicate in Chicago mainly because their power was based on membership and of course, illegal income. This was the so-called original Mafia, an organization that began to build on national level, something similar to what we already saw in the DiGiovanni/Morici case, meaning they had contacts in New York and other cities around the country. As we already said, by the late 1910’s this became a huge organization and that’s why we’ve decided to include only the prominent names that are important to us regarding this project.

Many Mob historians labeled Mariano Zagone as the first Mafia boss in Chicago and we don’t deny that but instead, we think that there might’ve been already some Sicilian criminal “society or societies” present in Chicago even before he arrived in the city. Zagone was born in Ciminna Sicily, and immigrated to the US in 1899 and by 1902 he was in Chicago according to his marriage record, coincidentally the year right after the murder of Salvatore DiGiovanni and other situations. It is possible that Zagone's father also had ties to Caccamo, which of course is right next to Termini Imerese from where one of the Morici clans arrived.

Mariano Zagone married to a widow known as Biaggia Spatafora who had six children with her late husband and Zagone became their stepfather. The newspapers say that Spatafora’s late husband used be a wealthy Italian from the North Side, type of information which opens up few possibilities like for example, he was either a successful businessman or a Mafioso.

Either way, the family lived at 150 Gault Court and Zagone’s headquarters was a saloon at 134 Gault Court where other criminals also gathered on daily basis. Few of Zagone’s most prominent associates were the Nicolosi brothers, Carmelo and Giuseppe, and the D’Andrea brothers, Tony and Louis. For example, Joe Nicolosi was Zagone’s son-in-law by marrying his stepdaughter, while Carmelo was in charge of Zagone’s establishments. In addition, the Nicolosis allegedly arrived from Corleone Sicily.

We don’t know much regarding all of Zagone’s rackets except for posing as wealthy cigar maker, although sources say that he was involved in coin counterfeiting and it is possible that his crew was also involved in kidnapping for ransom. The D’Andrea bros were allegedly in charge for the gang’s counterfeiting operations, while the Nicolosi clan was in charge of kidnapping. Lots of other Mafiosi also lived in the same area such as Rosario Dispenza, Pete Catalanetto, Victor Barone, the Merlo bros and all of the Morici clans, and these fellas were involved in all types of rackets and legitimate enterprises and were probably connected to Zagone or were under his rule.

According to sources, the troubles for Zagone began in 1903 when the government arrested and sent to prison Tony D’Andrea on counterfeiting charges, and so Zagone’s bosses back in New York allegedly weren’t quite happy about it mainly because he was also exposed as being leader of the counterfeiting gang. The first attempt on Zagone’s life was registered in November 1906, followed by another one 15 days later, and two more attempts during the following years, once when Zagone received a bullet in his back but survived and the second attempt when one of his 13 year old stepsons was wounded by a bullet for seating right next to his stepfather. The police believed that one of Zagone’s stepsons Joe Spatafora was behind the attempt when his stepfather received a bullet, mainly because Joe allegedly was against the marriage of his mother with Zagone.

Besides his enemies in the Mafia, it is quite possible that Zagone also had love problems, meaning some sources say that he dishonored some girl back in Italy and that one of her relatives followed him all the way to the US or to Chicago. If that was true, then Zagone dishonored both families including his current one with the Spataforas. So it is possible that Zagone disappointed his close associates around him and slowly lost his protection, because for an alleged Mafia boss he surely was on his own. For example if it was only one guy after him, we don’t believe that was going to be a big problem for Zagone to solve but instead, we believe that there were more than few guys after him and were protected by someone.

In May 1909, Zagone sat down with his son-in-law Joe Nicolosi at their saloon on 134 Gault Court when suddenly a man walked near Zagone and fired few bullets in his stomach, thus fatally wounding him. After that Zagone staggered outside the saloon and fell into a coma right in front of it. He was taken to a hospital and died there. Later the cops found out that “someone” tried to clean the blood from the table where Zagone and Nicolosi previously sat, which caused suspicion that Nicolosi was also involved in the conspiracy to kill his boss and father-in-law. Nicolosi lied that he stood behind the bar while the shots were fired and allegedly couldn’t see a thing. So the cops decided to arrest both Nicolosi and Zagone’s stepson Joe Spatafora but were later released because of lack of evidences.

After Zagone’s demise, it seems that some of his associates began to expand their operations like for example Carmelo Nicolosi opened up another saloon at 1000 Gault Court which by 1910 also became a gathering place for Italian criminals from the Near North Side such as the Nota bros, Pete and Tony, and on top of that, sources say that Zagone’s successor as boss of the Mafia in Chicago became Spatafora’s relative Rosario Dispenza who possibly orchestrated his former boss’ demise. Sources show that Dispneza’s nickname was “Heartless” probably because he ordered the deaths of many men but also opened the doors to many “forbidden” rackets such as kidnapping and prostitution.

For example one alleged “Black Hand” leader known as Gianni Alongi was close associate of the Nicolosi bros, and besides extortion he was also involved in prostitution. In 1911, Alongi was sentenced to prison on white slavery charges. Also in August 1911, both Carmelo and Joe Nicolosi together with their wives were arrested regarding the kidnapping of 7 year old Angelo Moreno who lived on 852 Gault Court. In October that same year both Carmelo and Joe Nicolosi were sent to life imprisonment but in May 1914, they were acquitted on all charges and released from prison. So the question remains on whether the Nicolosi bros were really innocent, or the wheels of Mafia justice began to turn and helped the brothers to get out because of their stature in the organization? We currently don’t have an answer to that.

Same as his predecessor, Dispenza also came from Ciminna Sicily and this guy posed as wealthy banker who owned the Banca/Banco Siciliana on the corner of Milton Av and Hobble St. Dispenza’s close associate in the banking business was one Anthony Puccio and both were also members of the “White Hand” society and the Unione Siciliana which also included prominent faces such as Steve Malato.

It is possible that Dispenza’s bank "Banco Siciliano" was linked to the original Banco Siciliana in Sicily that was formed to offer loans to farmers around Palermo but was overrun with Mafiosi in the late 19th century who used it of course to extort farmers. In Dispenza’s case story goes that many Italian residents were forced to make deposits in his bank and if someone made a huge deposit, he or she was usually killed on Dispneza’s orders and so the cash remained in the bank.

Another Dispenza associate was Victor Barone who portrayed himself as a wine merchant and his shop was located at 1024 Cambridge Avenue, and from there he sold imported Italian wine and sold it around the local saloons, restaurants and other liquor shops. One of Barone’s associates in the grape growing business was Tommy Petrotta, who in turn also represented himself as a wealthy wine broker by owning or had connections to thousand hectares of wine grape on the west coast. In no time, besides the local owners on Chicago’s North Side, Barone’s organization began transporting their product even around the Midwest, thus providing huge amounts of legitimate cash for the organization. In addition, from this point on many Chicago businessmen also began investing in the importation of California products in their own city and even on the east coast.

By 1910, the D’Andrea brothers spread the group’s operations by opening a restaurant at 2727 S Archer Av on the city’s South Side, and the owner was Louis D’Andrea who same as his brother Tony, was also arrested on counterfeiting charges that same year. Louis was arrested in gambling establishment that was located on N Dearborn St.

One of their associates in the business was Chris Davidson aka Richard Davis who was known forger all around the country and arrived in Chicago back in 1901. In 1909, the D’Andreas and Davis sent their own men to New Orleans as presenters for their forged checks but the team got arrested which included Oscar Ryan, Carmelo Lucchese and Dominick Catalano. All of them went to trial and were sentenced to Louisiana state penitentiary but Tony D’Andrea remained untouched while his brother remained in custody for several months.

In 1912, Tony D’Andrea was the grand master of an Italian gathering presented by the society “Tripoli Italiana” that honored the “Consiglio Supremo di Trinacria Fratellanza Siciliana” which means something like the supreme council of the brotherhood of three cornered Sicily. They donated cash to Italian Tripolitania which in fact was an Italian colony located in present-day western Libya and believed in the expansion of Italians around the world. This was also a proof that during the Dispenza regime, the Mafia in the U.S. was connecting or was already connected to their counterparts in Europe and around the world.

In 1913 one of D’Andrea’s and Dispenza’s associates, Paul Labriola, was arrested regarding an assault with a deadly weapon after he tried to extort one firm owner. Labriola worked as bailiff in the Municipal court and according to investigators at the time, Alderman John Powers quickly rushed to rescue Labriola from imprisonment. It is possible that Labriola was one of the prime connections between Powers and the Dispenza/D’Andrea regime.

Even though their business ventures were going pretty steady, on January 23, 1914 Dispenza and Tony Puccio were ambushed on 1031 Milton Av, allegedly by one assassin who in turn killed his victims one by one. When the cops searched the bodies of the two dead men, they found some letter on Puccio that arrived from New York and in it, the investigators saw that order was sent from the Mafia bosses to Dispenza to tell his lieutenant D’Andrea to go and post a bond for one of their imprisoned Mafia members in some small town in Illinois.

Ten days later, Barone was also shot by a shotgun blast at Cambridge Avenue and Hobble Street, only a block away from where his crime boss Dispenza was also killed. After that, Barone was quickly carried to the Columbus Memorial hospital, seriously hurt, but because some of the slugs from the shotgun had deeply penetrated into his skull, he died shortly after the arrival. After the murders of Dispenza and Barone, in June 1915 one of their associates Pete Catalanetto also received a bullet right into his face from a very close range and died on the spot which marked the end of the Dispenza regime.

Proof for that were also some of the transfers that occurred during that period, such as their business partner Tommy Petrotta who completely dedicated himself to the wine selling business and one year later, he relocated to Sacramento, California, from where he continued to grow grapes and transport Italian wine all around the Midwest and became one of the wealthiest wine dealers in the country.

Petrotta wasn’t the only Chicago mobster who relocated far west and began growing grapes, but since the many shootings, by 1917 he was followed by others such as Tony D’Acunto and one Vincenzo Roselli, who in turn relocated few years later, and they operated around the West Market St. in Los Angeles, California; where many Italian fruit importers and exporters mingled and sold their products.

Tony D’Andrea succeeded Dispenza as boss of the Mafia from the Northwest, who in turn was probably the first most intelligent and powerful boss who headed the Chicago Mafia through various ventures. The D’Andreas arrived from Valledolmo Sicily, and the following leadership of the Chicago family seems to have been from this same area of western Palermo province.

By 1919 D’Andrea also became president of the Unione Siciliana and even became a Democratic committeeman and later candidate for alderman of the 19th Ward. The Unione Siciliana was important only among the Sicilians while the wards were important for organized crime in general, meaning being an alderman of the 19th Ward was more lucrative than just being president of the Unione. Besides that, the old Irish political leaders also needed the Italian vote and that’s why they had close connections to representatives from the Sicilian society.

The first one who really started the battle for an Italian to become alderman for the 19th Ward was allegedly James Marzano, a wealthy undertaker, Democratic representative and both associate and mentor of some Mafia and organized crime figures. James Pasquale Marzano was born in 1882 in Chicago to parents who recently arrived from Ricigliano, Salerno. Same as the Gazzolos, the Mazanos were one of the earliest Italian families that settled in Chicago and there were so many Riciglianesi settled in the city, that in later decades they were called by the nickname "Richies" in the Italian communities.

In 1909, Marzano was the Democratic candidate for a ward committeeman against James Bowler and since then, he was constantly building up his political ambitions as the Italian population continuously grew in that same ward. One of Marzano’s rising stars from the West Side was another Mainlander known as Joseph Esposito who in turn had close connections with the D’Andrea and Merlo bros, and also with other bosses such as Jim Colosimo from the South Side. Esposito was born in 1872 in Acerra Campania, and in 1895 arrived in New York and went to work as laborer in Brooklyn. After that he went to Boston where he lived for one year and later again returned to Brooklyn where he worked in a bakery.

In 1905 at the age of 33, Esposito landed in Chicago and opened his own bakery in the old 19th Ward, and in 1908 he became business agent for the International Hod Carriers’ and Construction Laborers’ union, and also became the president of “Circolo Accera” which in fact was a organization made out of more than 500 men and women from his native town back in Italy. This obviously raises the question on whether Esposito already had underworld connections in Chicago, or he created them during his stay in the city? After all Esposito wasn’t your ordinary businessman with underworld connections since that same year he was involved in the murder of one Italian barber, but the following year the case was stricken off and the indictment was quashed.

So this raises another question on whether Esposito already belonged to some Italian “secret society” that was already established in the U.S. and which also possibly gave him connections to other criminal societies such as the Mafia? For example, one news report said that Esposito allegedly had a distant relative known as Gaetano Esposito and this fella owned a saloon at 606 South May St, but after committing a murder Gaetano fled Chicago and went to Bayonne in New Jersey, where he instantly opened a poolroom and assumed a different name. So if the connections are true, than there’s no question regarding Joe Esposito’s national criminal contacts which gave him the “power” or opportunity to survive on high scale in any other city around the country.

Esposito’s fast rise within Chicago’s underworld made him to forget his bakery business and transferred to the saloon and restaurant game by opening a new joint at 1048 W Taylor St, and once a shooting occurred in which Esposito’s brother Sam was wounded, although the attacker was quickly eliminated. By 1915, Esposito also became business agent for the Excavator’s union which was recently taken over by the D’Andrea regime and that same year Esposito was arrested two times, once with Pete Fosco after a fight with other labor representatives and the second time with the Mafia’s top leadership such as Tony D’Andrea and Mike Merlo, again regarding union racketeering. In addition, it is possible that this was the time period when Esposito became made member of Mafia under the D’Andrea regime.

According to government authorities, by the late 1910’s Esposito controlled a large gang on the West Side, allegedly overseen by two of his main lieutenants such as Tony Volpe and Esposito’s brother-in-law Phil Leonetti. Reports show that Volpe was illegal immigrant born in Argentina, a country that was allegedly infested by many Camorra members at the time.

So with the help of James Marzano, investigators showed that Esposito also became political force in the old 19th Ward and supported his political mentor. In February 1919, Marzano challenged Alderman Johnny Powers and story goes that the old time Irish boss spent $25,000 ($350,000 in today’s money) to defeat his Italian opponent and he succeeded in doing it. Powers started as half-Irish, half-German saloon keeper on the Northwest Side and was connected to both Mike McDonald’s “Democrats” and also to the Tennes gambling syndicate and he wanted to stay at the top but still to control the Italian vote through his underlings.

The fight wasn’t over since that same year D’Andrea ran for ward committeeman in the 19th Ward and after he got elected, the Illinois Supreme Court nixed the election and so he also lost Powers’ support and was looked upon as opponent. Proof for the previous connection between D’Andrea and Powers was that some of D’Andrea’s associates like Paul Labriola decided to stay with Powers and turned their backs to the boss. This is a proof regarding the huge power of the old Anglo-Saxson political crime bosses that was still present even during those days.

So during this period, few of D’Andrea’s precinct captains in the 19th Ward were Peter Granata from the third precinct, Pete Fosco from the fifth precinct, Louis Battaglia from the 6th precinct, Benjamin Geldrman from the 24th precinct and Victor Tortoriello from the 26th precinct, and in the end D'Andrea decided to run again for alderman against Powers and that was the beginning of the so-called “Aldermen's Wars”.

Besides his buddies in the Mafia, D’Andrea was also backed by other bosses, both Italian and non-Italian, during the war especially with the arrival of more than few experienced bombers. Few of D’Andrea’s enforcers during the war were the Genna brothers headed by one Angelo Genna who in turn arrived in Chicago during the mid 1910’s. Besides killing people, the Gennas were also involved in extortion and white slavery aka prostitution. It is also possible that Joe Sangerman for the Mont Tennes group was hired by or joined D’Andrea during the bombings of both Powers’ establishments and also unions.

Obviously the conflict wasn’t good for neither of Chicago’s crime syndicates because lots of bombs were thrown around the city of Chicago until the violence reached such a point that D'Andrea allegedly condemned it and dropped out of the race, although our belief is that he probably received pressure from his Mafia bosses back in New York because of all of the unwanted attention and loss of business.