Few guys disappeared including one Taylor Street crew associate, 32 year old Anthony Ragucci. Ricca figured that Ragucci was talking to the Federal government so naturally he had to go. Even if he wasn't talking to the feds, every now and then Ricca had to set an example for the new members and to remind to old ones about the very strict rule of keeping their mouths shut. So the cops found Ragucci shot to death on October 1, 1953. He was face down in a sewer on 35th Street. Maybe there was some internal was because after the slaying of Ragucci, in March 1954, Tony Accardo almost received a bullet from an unknown assassin during a meeting in a car with the West Side administration Giancana, Jackie Cerone and Sam Battaglia. To be honest there’s not even a shred of evidence why it happened and who really ordered it. But there’s one FBI memo which says that the problem between Ricca and Accardo wasn’t finished yet and that Ricca was behind the shooting at Accardo. So in May 1954, the two former elders of the old Capone mob, Johnny Torrio and Tony Ricci came to Chicago from New York to patch up the differences between the two alleged warring bosses. Torrio and Ricci held a lot of respect on national level so their words were like steel and so legend goes that they brought the Ricca/Accardo alliance again in full effect. As additional info, three years later Torrio died from a heart attack in Brooklyn, New York while sitting in a barber's chair waiting for a haircut, as for Tony Ricci, he went to reside in the Miami area, where he acted as a fence for stolen jewelry, furs and other expensive items, and was also involved in bookmaking, loan sharking and narcotics. Over there he was constantly visited by many Chicago hoodlums including Gus Alex and Lester Kruse.
Tony Ricci
I believe that during the meeting it was considered that Outfit members Charles Gioe and Frank Maritote held a grudge against Ricca and Accardo for obvious reasons. Gioe was demoted from capo or area boss to a “made guy” and many of his union activities were taken over by other factions of the Outfit. There’s also another story in which Gioe had a financial conflict with Jake Guzik, and so back in 1942 he orchestrated his kidnapping and threatened to kill the old Jewish mob boss. As for Maritote, nobody posted the bond for his release of jail and so he spent the whole ten years. Maritote was high in the ranks during the Capone days and same goes for Gioe, who used to be the crime boss in Des Moines, Iowa. So this became unexceptable in their own minds, and I believe that maybe they tried to pull few moves here and there to make a conflict between Ricca and Accardo, which instantly became their own demise.
Also in July 1954, Charlie Gioe made a dumb move by asking the infamous mob lawyer Sidney Korshak about Ricca’s naturalization papers but Korshak felt suspicious and allegedly received information that Gioe was talking to the federal tax people about Ricca’s immigration status so on August 18, 1954 Charles Gioe was shot to death by Outfit hitmen allegedly sent by Ricca. Suspects in the murder were Melrose Park members Phil Alderisio, Marshall Caifano, and Charles Nicoletti who were under the command of Giancana and Sam Battaglia who in turn answered to Ricca and Accardo. Four nights later Ricca also ordered the death of Frank Maritote but in contrast to Gioe’s funeral, which drew only 50 people, Maritote’s chapel was packed with over 200 mourners and outside were scores of curious people from the neighbourhood. Maritote was buried in the usual ornate bronze casket which was surrounded by 45 elaborate floral pieces but the ones with gangland names were missing. None of the wreaths bore the names of Paul Ricca or Tony Accardo which indicated on who really ordered the murder. As additional info, shortly before his death, Maritote allegedly said that Gioe was killed for trying to muscle in on the union business.
Also, back in the late 1940’s organized crime retiree "William ”Bob” Nelson" moved to Tucson, Arizona and lived rather quietly in his then-rural East Bethany Home Road neighbourhood for six years. Now you ask yourself, why the hell am I talking about this “Nelson” guy?! Well "Nelson" in fact was former Outfit associate and extortionist, and also a “stool pigeon” in the witness protection program, named Willie Bioff. Yes, Bioff changed his surname into Nelson, which was his wife's maiden name. In exchange for selling out his former associates, Bioff walked away from prison and got to keep the millions he had stolen as well. The thing is that Bioff wasn't really hiding out in Arizona and in fact he became rich and very likable person among the high society. Bioff was a natural fixer and understood the politicians and soon he became popular within the golden elite of Arizona politics. Eventually Ricca was informed about Bioff’s whereabouts and sent him a “present.” According to mob historian John William Tuohy, Ricca also knew that Bioff had power and connections in Arizona and most importantly he also knew that Bioff had stashed millions of dollars from the Hollywood extortion case. So in 1955, Detroit mob boss Peter Licavoli, who resided in Arizona, and Paul Ricca started to shake down Bioff for cash. Willie paid off for a while, but then he started making noise about going to the feds through his new pal, Senator Barry Goldwater. But Bioff didn’t know that Goldwater already knew Licavoli and Ricca and so one day, on November 4, 1955, many people were deeply shocked when Bioff got literally blown to pieces in his automobile. Now the score was settled and Bioff’s death sent shock waves through the high society in Arizona and around the country.
We can see that like any great city, Chicago also has its share of crimes of avarice, lust, and revenge. But it is hardly understandable that during that period, when the Mob in the U.S. was highly organized, the bosses of the syndicate still settled their differences with violence. In general, they have learned peaceful co-existence within their own circle but instead Ricca again managed to present the main rule which was that no one was above the Outfit’s top administration. The Chicago faction of America’s La Cosa Nostra used to be the bloodiest and most horrific segment of the organization with Ricca at the top.
Ricca never really had any big problems with running his organization but deep inside he knew that his biggest problem was the government which never stopped paying attention and tried to get rid of him by any means. They tried with conviction and jail, but that didn’t work so the only solution that left was deportation. Many of Ricca’s Mafia partners, like the old time boss of Chicago’s South Suburbs Dominic Roberto or like New York's Charlie Luciano and Joe Adonis, all got deported to Italy by the government. Mobsters have been deported to their birth places, but there were a lot of cases of failed deportations, like the infamous cases of New Orleans Mob boss Carlos Marcello and Genovese crime family boss Frank Costello and of course in this case, Paul Ricca. So now the agents from the INS started investigating the Outfit boss.
On May 30, 1955, Ricca, Campagna, Accardo and Ricca’s lawyer William Stewart went on a fishing trip to the southeast Florida coast and boarded on the “Nellie”, a boat owned by Stewart. While the bosses were fishing, they also enjoyed the sun with more than few beers on the side. So during the trip, Campagna started reeling with a 30 pound fish and after short period he felt sudden chest pains and dropped on the floor. Stewart immediately turned the boat around and headed for the coast but Campagna was already dead when they reached the mainland. His funeral was visited by all of the crime bosses from the state of Illinois, and the main guy who made all the arrangements was Accardo himself. Accardo has been in charge of the wake for two whole nights. His older mentor Ricca was seated in a car near by the grave, because Campagna’s death felt very terrible on his soul. Plus Ricca was diagnosed as diabetic and he was 58 years old, so I believe that he lacked from strength. As additional info, there’s another story, according to the Greater Miami Crime Commission, that during that faithful fishing trip, the real individuals on the boat with the late Campagna were Ricca and Tony Ricci together with Peter Arnstein a.k.a. Pete Arnold, another Outfit representative in Miami, and also Joe Fischetti.
In June, 1955, some of the Outfit’s leaders and also mobsters from the New York area, met at the Thunderbird Hotel in Miami, Florida to discuss the further situations within the Chicago faction and who’s going to be the successor of Campagna. By that time, almost every associate of Ricca, since the old Capone days, was either dead or out of the city in permanent retirement. The only guys that left were him and Accardo. Slowly the younger generation was coming up in the mob world so now Ricca had to take matters in his own hands again, because he understood the nature of the changing of the guard and decided that he and Accardo should shun the limelight for a while and that’s why, after the meeting in Miami, Ricca called his underlings at the Tam O'Shanter Restaurant in Chicago and presented Giancana as the newly elected boss, or as some sources say, as the day-to-day guy on the streets of Chicago. In the end Ricca declared that Accardo was going to be Giancana’s advisor and Ricca was going to take the place as his senior advisor.
Sam Giancana
Another thing, which occurred after the sudden deaths of Nitti and Campagna, was that all of the money and interests which were stashed by these deceased hoodlums were never to be found. Campagna died suddenly and Nitti killed himself in a stage of depression, so none of them told their families on where they stashed their riches. Nitti’s relatives found very little, as for the Campagnas, they found nothing. So now Ricca issued an order that their hidden interests should be placed on their wives’ or relatives names, so if the Outfit member should die, his wife and family can benefit from the hidden stock. Also if someone has buried cash or any kind of treasure, because this was the time when some of the gangsters still buried their money, they should at least tell one of their most trusted family members about the whereabouts. These rules were very important because many members died and left their families penniless and so duty fell on the rest of the Outfit higher ups to “feed many hungry mouths.” Looks like the old timers like Ricca really took care for their own and it was such a pity that those rules didn’t apply for the new comers or in other words they didn’t care anymore.
During the mid 1950’s the Outfit looked like this: Ricca was the chairman and president of a board of directors, Accardo served as senior advisor and Giancana was the general manager and the rest were directors or managers of certain territories or departments, which counted not more than six or seven individuals. But my point is that between Giancana and the rest of the management, there was the non-Italian faction which now was headed by Murray Humphreys and Gus Alex. They were the guys that spread the given orders throughout the organization, including made members, associates and public officials and also, they were the ones who gave out the “contracts” to the “hit departments.” So even though Ricca came from traditional mafia values, he still adopted the old Capone ways by mixing his organization with different nationalities.
Almost 30 years ago, Ricca bought himself a four acre summer house in a village in Long Beach, Indiana. The estate had a tennis court and huge underground garage which was large enough for fifty cars. So when the National Syndicate took over the International Teamster Union in the mid 1950’s, which was headed by Jimmy Hoffa, Ricca again exercised his power by directing Hoffa to purchase Ricca's summer house for $150,000, even though the property was valued at only $85,000. So on June 19, 1956, since the property was on the name of Ricca’s wife Nancy, she first deeded it to one of Ricca’s attorneys James Imburgio Bulger and later on August 8, Bulger sold the property to the Teamsters.
Aerial view of the estate
By the late 1950’s the Jewish crew of the West Side faction, which was headed by Leonard Patrick, was entering the Rogers Park area which was controlled by the North Side crew headed by Ross Prio. So according to some reports Prio granted Patrick’s wish with the blessing of Giancana. Now if you ask me, I consider this statement false because Prio was one of the top Outfit bosses since the late 1940’s, way before Giancana so my point is that Prio wasn’t a guy who was going to easily throw away parts of his territory because of Giancana’s wishes. Instead, Patrick received his share only because his daughter was dating one of Ricca’s sons. And I believe that Prio had more respect for Ricca and less for Giancana.
In 1959, Ricca’s luck again ran out when he had problems with the Internal Revenue Service and the tax evasion charges came for the second time. The government charged 62 year old Ricca with unreported income from gambling in 1948, 1949, and 1950. In the 1948, 1949, and 1950 returns Ricca reported taxable income on the minus side. The 1951-55 returns disclosed that he had nominal income in 1951, 1952, and 1953, except in the first of these years when he included profit from the sale of his Kendall county farm. However, in 1954 he reported gross income of $79,149, of which $76,512 was lumped under "personal wagering at tracks, etc." His tax was $33,248. For 1955, he reported gross income of $90,760, including $86,050 described as "personal wagering at tracks, etc." He paid $38,826 in taxes. So the source of 1948-50 funds which the government contended was unreported income estimated on a theoretical basis, and which the defence contended was $300,000 hidden in Ricca's River Forest attic, also be supposed to be from gambling. Ricca’s attorney James Bulger was also charged with the making of a false statement in vouching for Ricca's attic cache story.
Ricca
Ricca won a delay on charges of income tax evasion back in 1958
Twenty two individuals and firms, who had business deals with Ricca, were called to testify during the trial. The list included bankers, architects, and automobile, real estate and insurance dealers. One of the witnesses Hugh Garden was an architect and part owner of the firm Garden and Erikson. So Garden told the prosecutors that Ricca, whom he knew as “Paul Salvi,” was the main sponsor of the Italian Village at the 1933 Century of Progress exposition, for which Garden was the architect. Garden also added that when it came time to pay the contractors, Ricca would appear and lay large sums of cash in bills on the table. He said Ricca would have the contractor to sign a receipt in an adjoining room and then Ricca would walk out, thus leaving the contractor to pick up the money. Another witness Max Moss, an automobile dealer, said that Ricca bought dozens of cars from him from 1934 until 1940. The dealer said that after Ricca bought his first car from him, people began to come in and said “Paul sent me.” The prosecutors even called for Ricca’s associate Hugo Bennett, former auditor at the Sportsman’s Park race track in Chicago and Miami, to take the witness stand.
In the end, with all the efforts and battles, Ricca was found guilty and began serving a 3-year prison sentence on 1st of July, 1959. The other day the Supreme Court in Washington declined to review his case and Ricca then surrendered to the United States marshal to start his three year prison term. He was sentenced to the penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, and in those days it was good to know that Ricca was at last undergoing punishment for one of his crimes even though he should have been sent away long ago for the much more serious offences of which he was guilty.
In prison, Ricca had the image of a bald old man, who everyone in the prison, including the guards and warden, was afraid of. He was constantly visited by all kinds of people, who usually asked for favours, or showed respect or even handled messages for the old “Don.” When the visitors left, they never turned their backs at the old boss, but instead first they took few steps back before turning and walking away. One of the most notable visitors was Democratic State Senator from the West Side and long time mob associate, Roland Libonati. This guy used to take pictures with the late Al Capone during baseball matches and labelled people such as Ricca, “charitable” and “patriotic” fellows. When Libonati visited Ricca in his prison cell on August 24, 1960, the scene was like taken out of the Godfather movie. According to a federal informant, there was a display of affection with hugging and kissing, like two “made guys” should salute each other. I’m not saying that Libonati was a member of the mob but he surely knew how to act like one. After that the two individuals exchanged few whispers and departed with a grin on their faces. I believe that Libonati came personally to assure the boss of Chicago’s underworld that he’s getting out early. In fact according to FBI reports during Ricca’s stay in prison, his main connection guy Murray Humphreys was in constant contact with Libonati to expedite the early release of their boss.
While Ricca was away, as usual, again his absence upset the balance in Chicago’s underworld. Some reports say that there were at least five gangland slayings that were somehow connected with Ricca and his prison term. Old-timers like Fred Evans got whacked on Chicago’s West Side by two killers who waited patiently for their target and pumped few bullets into Evans’ head. Evans headed six Chicago laundry firms specializing in handling of industrial items and diapers and after his death, the mob completely took over these firms. In other words, Giancana and rest of the gang were doing what ever they wanted, especially Giancana. He brought unspeakable “heat” from the government and media, and above all, he made an un-repairable damage within the organization.
Giancana’s “independence” was caused by the difference between Accardo’s and Giancana’s reigns as bosses of the Outfit in Chicago. When Ricca was in jail, Accardo became the acting boss, but when Ricca got out, to my opinion is that Accardo became the front boss, which means that Accardo consulted all important decisions with his superior. There was no reason for Ricca to retire because during that time he was still in full effect. But when Giancana became the day-to day boss, both Ricca and Accardo had huge legal problems so they had no available time to lead the organization, and again to my opinion, during the late 1950’s and early 60’s Giancana became Ricca’s successor and for almost 6 years he held the position as the supreme boss of the Chicago Outfit, no fronts, no “acting bosses”, no nothing.
During the late 1950’s Giancana managed to bring the old Capone mob from its ashes. The organization again reached the old annual revenue of $100,000,000 which they used to made during the old days of Prohibition. But now instead of booze, they controlled the gambling racket, which included wire services and handbook operations, the Policy and the Bolita rackets, card and dice games, slot machines and casinos all around the country and foreign states. Speaking about foreign states, some of the boys made deals in Central and South America, Western Europe and even the Middle East. In some of these countries they also controlled the vending machine business which was their huge thing in Chicago and around the country. The gambling racket was followed by huge loan sharking operations, which generated millions of dollars. The greatest thing for Ricca and the boys was of course the labor rackets, from which they controlled the worker man’s everyday life. They even extorted or owned almost every kind of legitimate businesses in and out of the Chicago area. And just to maintain their old tradition, the Outfit still controlled the prostitution business in their own city. By now Ricca’s organization, known as the Outfit, was the leading crime family in the U.S.
When Giancana took over, the Outfit has changed for the third time. Now most of the leading mobsters were born in Chicago and grew up in the poorest of neighbourhoods with people from various nationalities. These guys had less respect for the hierarchy within the organization, and they broke the rules on daily basis but even with that, they still made more cash than the previous administrations, all combined together. Speaking about administrations, during Giancana’s reign from 1957 until 1964, the Outfit took a completely new face. The West Side faction was still in full effect, but with many new faces. Giancana’s multi-million dollar empire was overseen by two main individuals, including Frank Ferraro from the First Ward and Sam Battaglia from the Western Suburbs. Even though Giancana was a full fledged American type of gangster, he still respected the Italian type of hierarchy and formation which was presented by his mentor Ricca. The old boss trusted his successor and felt relaxed regarding the general state of the organization, which was the “weight” of their income. Even if they were in jail or in out of space, the bosses still expected their weekly income. If not, somebody was “gettin’ whacked” for sure.
Just how much Ricca was still the top boss it was confirmed on a wiretapped conversation between Los Angeles gangster Jimmy Fratianno and Ricca’s West Coast emissary Johnny Roselli. Fratiano said "I understand Sam is the boss out there now." "Sam's the boss," Roselli replied, "but the man in Chicago is still Paul Ricca. Sam doesn't make any moves without consulting Paul...He's been the man in Chicago since Capone went to prison. Forget Frank Nitti and Joe Batters. They listen to Paul, believe me." Now Roselli was known to be very talkative individual but besides that he was a high level mobster and he had a first hand knowledge on who was who within the Western crime families but above all, he had the best knowledge about his own crime family which was the Chicago Outfit. So I don’t understand all of the doubts about Ricca being the number one guy since the imprisonment of Capone. Yeah, he used to be the top guy and by 1962, he still was.
A very powerful example of Ricca’s “abilities” as Mafia boss can be easily described with the entertainment industry that they had at the time. According to an interview with corrupt Alderman Donald Parrillo, in 1962 Ricca was playing cards with Parrillo and some other friends of his, including his son Paul Jr. This happened in Ricca's basement recreation room at his home in River Forest. Also at a separate table Ricca was playing another round of poker with five other people because the old man loved playing the cards. Even Accardo and the rest of the old guys loved playing cards. Suddenly they heard music and applause coming from the upper floors of the house and that was because Ricca's wife Nancy was entertaining some ladies' group. After a while, she came down to the recreation room with a handsome young man from Italy who had a guitar strapped around his neck. She referred to her husband “Oh, Papa, I just love this young man, he's got such a beautiful voice. Can you help him?” Ricca replied "Well, what does he want?” and then he turned to the young boy and asked him “What do you want, young man?”, and out of nowhere the boy replied “I'd like to be on the Ed Sullivan Show!” “When would you like to go on it?” Ricca asked, and the boy again replied, “As soon as possible.” So Ricca allegedly said to some guy who was seated next to him “Call the Jew in California and tell him to put this guy on the Ed Sullivan Show next Sunday.” As expected, after few days there was this young Italian singer right on TV, who was named Sergio Franchi.
Sergio Franchi
