4. Next example on this so-called “top ten hit list” is another high profile Chicago mobster whose situation was somehow connected to the previous two examples. I mean it occurred during the same decade which was the 1940’s, when, as I already stated, many members and enemies felt that the organization was quite vulnerable and was exposed to the possibility of being taken over by more powerful factions. But obviously they all thought wrong since many of the evidences point out that the boys held their ground strong with killing many people during the process. During that same troubled decade, the old North Side Mafia was already in alliance with the Capone Mob and they all formed the Chicago Outfit. But during my long time research, I managed to notice that even though they were considered a part of the Outfit, still the so-called Northsiders were always overseen by former high profile Capone members, as if they watched for any possible rebellion. And to tell you the truth they were right. You see, the main boss or captain of the huge North Side area for the Outfit was one James DeGeorge, but two parts of his territory went to the former Capone big shots the Fischetti brothers and Frank Nitto. So according to numerous reports, DeGeorge was very loyal to the Outfit’s top administration but the main problem was his own crew wasn’t at all. Some of his crew members decided to use the same situation, or in other words, to make the same mistake as the late Lawrence Mangano or Danny Stanton. In fact, this was the crew which got the “best” of it, meaning many of their members ended up dead on the city’s streets but one contract murder stood out of them all. You see, one Vincent Benevento was the second in command under DeGeorge, with operations all around the North Side but mainly on West Grand Av., near Elmwood Park, which in fact was Accardo’s territory. Since the days of Prohibition, many former North Side Mafiosi tried to expand their rackets to the Northwest and further to the Near West Side, which always represented the main problem and conflict between them and the criminal clans who were already settled in those areas. After Prohibition or when the Outfit became complete, which included Capone’s old territories and also the whole North Side, still through the decades there was allegedly some hidden dissatisfaction from some of the old North Side Mafiosi towards the Outfit’s top administration which was mainly controlled by long-time Capone members and allies.


So the so-called cleanup of the North Side crew began in 1943 and by 1945, most of the members were running for their lives, except for Benevento who had similar way of stubborn thinking like the late Mangano, and decided to stay armed and refused to run. Since he was an easy target, meaning he had no bodyguards or any kind of armed company around him, the boys decided to pull off a simple job by shooting him and to manipulate the situation so it can look like a robbery. So on December 28, 1945, Benevento was working in one of his cheese stores at 1057 Grand Avenue, when suddenly three gunmen with bandanas on their faces entered the store and ordered Benevento to raise his hands. The stubborn old timer obviously refused and one of the gunmen simply fired four times from an automatic pistol at the victim. When the smoke cleared, Benevento was hit twice in the stomach, once in the neck, and once in his left armpit but miraculously he somehow managed to survive the attack. When the cops searched his apartment they found a huge arsenal of weapons, including a Thompson submachine gun, eight shotguns, six rifles, eight revolvers, two pistols and a basket full of ammunition. All of the weapons were loaded and well oiled, which means that he was prepared to defend himself from the wrath of the Outfit. This obviously a botched hit which was possibly executed by less skilful assassins or maybe Benevento was too lucky. No matter what was the real reason behind his survival, still the job had to be finished or some else was going to get hurt, meaning individuals from the hit squads. Now the main thing which managed somehow to fascinate me was the constant search for their target for almsot seven months, since on March 1, 1946, Benevento was out of custody and hospital care and so he informed his wife that he’s heading south and fled Chicago and travelled around the country constantly. So I don’t know if they somehow tapped his family’s phone or maybe he was betrayed by his own wife, since on September 20, 1946, Benevento called his wife Jane and told her to meet him at the Johnson Cabins, about three miles south of Lake Zurich, under a different name. In the early hours of September 21, Benevento and his wife were sleeping in their cabin when suddenly out of nowhere two cars filled with assassins came near the place. Only three hit men came out of the cars and came nearby, when they quickly burst open the cabin door and fired almost a dozen shotgun blasts and dozens of .45 caliber pistol bullets at Benevento, whose body was riddled by the blasts and so were the mattress beneath him and the even the wall behind the bed was penetrated since some of trees behind the cabin were also damaged. The main miracle was that Benevento’s wife was lying right next to her husband but somehow remained untouched by the hale of bullets which occurred in a tiny wooden and bullet-riddled cabin. As I already stated that I have no idea on how did they found out about his true location, but I know for sure that the assassins had one main job which was to make sure this time that Benevento was dead for sure, in which they obviously succeeded above all with the help of betrayal.


3. Besides killing each other all over town and around the country, and no matter if there was war on the streets, still the old timers continued to expand their rackets and got involved in various new ventures which brought additional millions of dollars into their “cash register”. But sometimes they were “forced” to wash their hands in blood if some of the victims refused to include them in those same ventures. The thing was that many powerful businessmen at the time were becoming quite aware of the Mob and their extortion methods, and so they decided to protect themselves and to say “No” to the racketeers. Obviously for someone to make such a move, he or she had to be foolishly brave and to have some previous violent experience so the individual can mentally handle the dangerous situation which is about to consume his whole life. During this period one of those types of tough individuals was James Ragen, a very well known Chicago-born Irishman, who with the help of his short temper and business skills managed to “fight” his way up to the top of the racing wire service which connected all of the cities around the Midwest. Now that was Ragen’s “golden goose” which in fact was named the Continental Press, and serviced thousands of bookies between Chicago and Los Angeles and made millions of dollars, since this type of wire service was very important for the bookmakers at the time to manage their business because each bookie had to have fast, up to the minute information on the horse races running all across the country. You see, back in the 1930’s, Regan joined one gambling magnate known as Moe Annenberg and began working on a nationwide racing wire service from Chicago to St. Louis. So I don’t know if Ragen forgot or simply played dumb, but the roots of this operation were created by the old time Irish crime syndicates, which means that organized crime was present at any time. So at the beginning of 1946, Ragen was allegedly personally approached several times by Tony Accardo, Murray Humphreys and Jake Guzik., who in turn later also sent death threats to his house and work office. The Mob bosses even managed to set up a rival service called the Trans-American Wire Service, and so each Mob boss from around the Midwest had to take their services so they can take Ragen out of the business. Ragen was a very stubborn person and he didn’t back off and the problem was that in reality he was scared and made a fatal mistake by trying to make a deal through U.S. Attorney Tom Clark to provide information to the FBI on the bookmaking industry in return for protection, but the shady director of the FBI at the time J. Edgar Hoover turned down the offer and Ragen quickly became a marked man.


From April, 1946, James Ragen began carrying a revolver on daily basis and hired two highly professional and armed bodyguards to follow him during his daily routines. Ragen was usually riding in his car alone with his pistol on the side and was closely followed by his two armed bodyguards in a separate automobile, which in fact is a known tactic for protection, meaning if somebody attacked Ragen’s car, the bodyguards would simply hit the car or individual and start shooting and make it impossible for the attackers to finish their job, since by that time Ragen will be away from the scene. But as I previously explained that the main problem was that during this particular decade, the so-called murder tactics of the Outfit became more sophisticated, since obviously the 1940’s was one of the most murderous decades in the Outfit’s history and many of the assassins had the opportunity to improve their murdering skills. For example, some of the hit squads were known for using so-called hit-mobiles which often were same types of a dark coloured sedan designed for committing murders. For example, the car had three hidden switches under the dashboard and two of the switches disabled the taillights so it will make the car harder for tracking at night and the third switch opened hidden compartments that often held a scary collection of weapons and torture tools. One of the first infamous hit squads of that type at the time was the deadly duo which included Sam “Teets” Battaglia and Marshal Caifano. One day the cops searched their car and found a whole arsenal of hidden weapons such as sawed off shotgun, a rifle, a hand grenade and five pistols. Later another infamous duo used the same tactic such as the deadly relationship between Phil Alderisio and Charles Nicoletti. But according to some reports, in Ragen’s case the Outfit decided to use another type of deadlier tactic which was about too finish the job 100%. You see,


This time Tony Accardo called for one Jewish hit squad which recently became the Outfit’s ally, since they received a part from the late Mangano’s territory and possibly were involved in his betrayal. The group was headed by three Jewish gangsters including the already mentioned William Block who was involved the Stanton murder and his everyday cohorts Lenny Patrick and Dave Yaras. These guys were different than the Italian hit squads since they previously fully prepared for the job in their own way. For example, since the so-called Ragen group was moving in two separate cars and they were all armed, the boys decided to use a delivery truck and they covered the whole thing with quarter inch steel plates, just to make it bullet-proof since they expected a quick retaliation from Ragen’s bodyguards and maybe even Ragen himself if they somehow miss their target. On one of the sides the truck had tarpaulin which can be easily lifted before the shooting occurred, and after finishing the job, the boys had to close down the door with one huge bullet-proof steel plate. So the stage was set and on June 24, 1946 the trio got into the truck and began following Ragen from his home down along State Street. At the corner of 39th and State Street Ragen stopped and waited for the green light, while closely being followed by his two bodyguards. Lenny Patrick was driving the truck and pulled to the right side of Ragen’s auto and as the target waited for the light to change, the tarpaulin on the left side of the delivery truck was pulled up and William Block and Dave Yaras pulled off their shotguns and aimed at Ragen’s vehicle. Two blasts were fired and one of them almost completely tore off Ragen’s right arm from his shoulder. The two bodyguards quickly jumped from their automobile and returned fire but the truck already sped away in a matter of seconds. Ragen was barely alive and was rushed to the nearest hospital. He was in critical condition but the tough Irishman remained alive until August 14, meaning over a month, when he died under mysterious conditions. It was later reported that Ragen’s autopsy showed traces of mercury in his blood and abdomen indicating that someone had entered his room and poisoned him. Two weeks later, two unknown figures with diamond rings and gold teeth, tried to snatch Ragen’s body from the cemetery vault. They told the lady who worked there that they are seeking the key from the vault and also offered her money. She refused and told them to come back later so her husband can give them the key from the vault. The two unknown persons disappeared and the lady became suspicious and notified the police. The apparent attempt to steal Ragen’s body was made to thwart the poison investigation because the chemists began tests to determine whether there was enough mercury in Ragen’s vital organs to cause death. Either way the Outfit won the war and again showed their ability in eliminating anyone at anytime and at anyplace.


2. To tell you the truth, there’s really nothing special regarding this particular contract killing except excellent marksmanship during fast speed or during a drive-by shooting and the fact that this type of murder will be often seen during the next decades especially during the 1960’s, 70’s and onward. The main reason for that is the fact that is quite faster, cleaner and did not require many special skills, except for knowing how to shoot while being in movement. Also the types of weapons which were used during these types of hits also changed, meaning some of the hit men began using more sophisticated weapons rather than Tommy guns which can easily hurt some innocent pedestrians. You see, 1950’s was the golden era for the Chicago Outfit and the syndicate largely expanded their operations but above all their membership and the reason for this was simple, meaning the younger and hungrier generations were taking over and the number of skilled individuals in the sphere of murder was getting bigger and bigger. On top of that, during this same period Chicago’s faction of America’s Cosa Nostra was slowly becoming one of the most powerful national Mafia clans and so they did not battle only on their own territory, but instead they killed people all around the country. They also stopped killing their bosses and completely changed their ways and tactics when a murder was ordered. I mean they still kidnapped people off the streets and tortured them in basements for several days and later threw their dead bodies in sewers and garbage dumps. The cops still found garrotted victims or simply shot to death and placed in car trunks, which two decades later or during the 1970’s became the main murder fashion among the Outfit’s ranks and was also known as “trunk music”. Even though the new and up and coming bosses wanted their problems to go away on a more quiet style, such as the previous ones, still when somebody was needed to be made an example, bombs and drive-bys were the main answer to some of their problems.


For example, during the mid 1950’s more than few hits occurred on some of the Outfit’s high profile members but none of them were sensational, like the 1954 murder of Charlie Gioe, who after dinner at some restaurant, the target and his companion entered their car at the parking lot, when a black car approached them and two hit men opened fire from two pistols, while hitting Gioe in the head and instantly killing him. Also the 1955 murder of Alex Louis Greenberg almost went wrong since while the old man was leaving some restaurant in the company of his family, out of nowhere he was shot possibly by the same two hit men who were previously involved in the Gioe hit, but surprisingly Greenberg turned out to be a tough guy and so while being shot, still he somehow staggered after the men as they fled on foot and almost hit them. Greenberg collapsed about 12 feet of the curb and the killers were never caught. Maybe the so-called loudest murder which occurred during that decade was the contract on one former Outfit associate and extortionist later turned informer named Willie Bioff who changed his surname into Nelson, which was his wife's maiden name, and relocated to Tucson, Arizona; out of obvious reasons. So on November 4, 1955, many people were stressed to the bone when Bioff got blown to pieces in his automobile, which sent shock waves around the whole area, personal “regards” from Paul Ricca and the boys. But for me personally there was one murder contract which occurred a year earlier from the Bioff hit, which I personally noticed some real professionalism which again strangely managed to fascinate me and made me place it on the number two position. You see, as I already stated that during this decade the Outfit was at the top of the criminal food chain in the U.S. and beneath all of those numerous rackets and schemes, under all of that huge pile of lucrative operations, the highly “sensitive” narcotics business was deeply buried and silently filled the bosses’ pockets with additional cash. The racket wasn’t their prime money source but still it was under strong control by the top hierarchy and the main rule was “deal but don’t get caught, because if caught, you’re going get whacked”. So Tony Accardo’s and Sam Giancana’s hit teams were quite busy during this period and somewhere among those dozens of killings, one hit squad managed to pull off an “amazing” job for their bosses. During the early 1950’s, both Accardo and Giancana controlled the Outfit with Ricca at the top or in the shadows and as I already stated they controlled various rackets, including dope peddling. So one of those so-called Outfit “junk crews” was headed by one Mob associate known as Anthony Pape, who in turn was an individual with blood relations to some criminal old timers from the Chicago area such as former members of the old 42 gang and above all, he possessed extraordinary skills regarding the counterfeit business.


Tony Pape was also involved in other schemes such as the lucrative auto-theft racket which additionally tripled his underworld connections and made him the right guy for the likes of the Outfit’s top hierarchy. He was also the right guy for the dope racket since the operation required a large number of people so the product can be quickly and easily spread around Chicago’s city streets, and Pape knew a lot of street level or low level criminals. This is not the point in this example, but I only wanted to capture the picture for you regarding Pape’s lucrative status in the eyes of the Outfit’s top brass since he really managed to screw things up when on March 16 and 17, 1954, FBN agents arrested eleven members on narcotics charges, including Pape and quickly took them into custody. Now, the main problem was that three of the defendants had direct contacts, not only with some members of the Outfit, but also with some of the top level guys such as Accardo and Giancana, and the main guy from those three defendants was Tony Pape. That’s when the bosses quickly disconnected themselves from the operation by giving the thumbs down. Immediately, “somebody” posted the $25,000 bonds for all defendants and they were released and the trial was set for April 22, 1954. On the day of their release, April 10, 1954, Tony Pape together with his brother James got into their car and drove home. While driving down Flournoy Street, suddenly another car with two masked men tried to block their path and James Pape, who drove the car, quickly made a wild effort to elude the hit squad by turning his car around. The car chase lasted for more than a mile, since the Pape brothers were also known for fast driving and getaway operations but the hit squad somehow managed to get near their targets. Now this is one the most “fascinating” moments and that’s when one of the assassins, in a matter of seconds, managed to fire only two shotgun blasts, thus fatally hitting James in the head and also fatally wounding his brother Tony also in the head. Suddenly their car went out of control, struck the corner of a building and crashed on the sidewalk. James’ body was found sprawled face down in mud with his brain missing and with his legs still under the steering wheel, while Tony was quickly taken to the Garfield Park hospital in a critical condition and possibly in coma and died two days later. My obvious point is that the skilful assassin somehow managed to pull off two almost impossible headshots with a shotgun, in a couple of seconds, during a high speed chase on broad daylight. I really don’t have a clue on who actually executed the Pape job but whoever it was he surely did one helluva murderous job. I mean the assassins were not stuck in one place so they can take their time and hit their targets from a close range, nor they used some kind of machinegun like AK-47 or Kalashnikov from far range or in this example, during a car chase which is the most “preferable” weapon in a situation such as that one, by simply spraying hundreds of bullets in few seconds, thus eliminating everything that moves.


1. So finally we came to the last example or my personal pick regarding the number one spot for the Outfit’s so-called greatest hit list, and possibly even the Mob’s list in general, which goes to the fella or fellas who orchestrated and executed the 1975 “Machiavellian” contract killing of Sam Giancana, one time and also most infamous boss of the Chicago Outfit. For me personally this was the most original and cunning murder contract which ever occurred during the Outfit’s history, out of various reasons. For example, as Mob history taught us that one of those reasons was for Giancana becoming the chief executive for the so-called Chicago Mafia at the most possible wrong time mainly because during the late 1950’s, the feds already started their secret surveillance program and the Outfit was their prime target. But even with that, somehow Giancana managed to stay at the top for 8 whole years until 1966 when he went out of the country to further spread the syndicate’s international operations. Even though he was mostly out of the country, still the media and the government never really stopped “harassing” him, which means Giancana managed to reach higher level of popularity rather than his predecessor the infamous Al Capone. Things went “smooth” until July, 1974, when the government of Mexico decided to expel the Giancana from the country straight to the U.S. within 24 hours. The strange thing was that neither the U.S. Embassy nor anyone from the government at the time did not gave any specific explanation regarding Giancana’s deportation since there was no kind of official indictment, nor any kind of strong evidence that at the time he was involved in any illegal activities, meaning no matter if he really was since he was “clean”. The only explanation was given by the by the Mexican authorities who in turn reported that it was “just an internal decision” to expel the “unwanted alien”, who was living illegally in their country. Now, according to many investigations, Giancana had a lot of property around Mexico but the thing was that he rarely stayed there since he was constantly travelling around South America, to Canada, around Europe and Africa. On top of that there were many speculations that Giancana took a lot of money with him, which can obviously explain his real estate around Mexico and different countries, and story goes that he literally bought many Mexican government officials, which is something that every Mafia boss would do while staying in a different country and I hardly doubt that during those days most of the highest Mexican officials weren’t corrupt, since their “product” are today’s most dangerous drug cartels.


Well this is how I believe they began to carryout the contract killing on the old boss…you see, before getting out of the states, Giancana personally oversaw a huge and quite lucrative international operation, which included few of the Outfit’s most lucrative and at the same time, elusive members such as Eddie Vogel, Gus Alex, Richard Cain, Hyman Larner and many more and these particular guys had obviously higher ranks. So this so-called overseas group was dubbed by the feds as the “Combine”, which obviously later became Giancana’s only ticket to be simply not around, meaning in the Chicago area. The problems started during the late 1960’s when Cain went to jail and Larner took over his position, while Alex was appointed for Chicago. Cain was killed in 1973 since he was ousted from the business and allegedly informed on some local gang. So when Larner took over, story goes that the Outfit ordered him to slowly cut loose Giancana from every international operation, and that’s what Larner really did. So without his main money source, Giancana slowly began to sell some of his real estate around the world and during the first half of 1974, he almost completely lost his cash. How that really happened, it is very unclear to me. I mean surely the selling of most of his real estate would’ve cost a couple of million dollars at least which means would’ve bought him additional 3 or 4 years, give or take. Although we cannot say anything about Giancana’s lifestyle at the time, since we all know that during his criminal career, he always spent his cash lavishly, which means if he continued that kind of life style, there’s a great possibility that he managed to spend that kind of cash for even shorter time period. My point is that if he managed to spend the money, than there’s a great possibility that the corrupt Mexican officials dried him out of his finances and betrayed him. But the problem is that I personally doubt that if Giancana was aware that his finances were coming to an end that he would’ve still stayed in one place and wait for them to deport him, which is obviously pure nonsense. So I believe that yes they obviously betrayed him but not because for his alleged zero finances but instead it was someone from the American side who really must’ve pulled some strings in the highest circles of the Mexican government for that kind of betrayal to be executed, meaning to deport someone who regularly fills your pockets with cash. So story goes that besides deporting him, those same Mexican authorities also confiscated or seized Giancana’s remaining real estate and they even placed their hands on some of his hidden cash, which I believe was the main reason for his fast and complete economic downfall. In plane words, Giancana was robbed and kidnapped during night time from his sanctuary, and with the speed of light, he was deported to the U.S. in his pyjamas and slippers. I mean yeah, he obviously had secret bank accounts but usually the gangsters’ prime stash or getaway cash for “rainy days” is always nearby.


So while being back home, the government did not miss a chance to question the former Mob boss with the help of grand juries, mainly regarding his past CIA connections and activities and also regarding his illegal activities post the year of 1966, or after his alleged self-imposed exile. You see, the government knew that Giancana was an “old book” full of Mob secrets regarding America’s Cosa Nostra in general, but the main reason was that Giancana also knew a lot of government secrets which could’ve destroyed any past or current government administration, if they got out. And if that ever happened, there goes the Mob’s protection and main “shield” from honest investigators. And as it was already expected, their “safety” became quite disturbed when in January, 1975, Giancana agreed to appear before a federal grand jury in return for the feds to stop their close surveillance on the former boss, which was all granted. Now this was the kind of problem which made a lot of Mob-connected people worried, such as politicians and businessmen, regarding their own safety and lucrative positions. You see, a lot of people knew that Giancana was tired from all those “Gestapo” tactics and on top of that he began having serious health problems, which meant that he wasn’t ready for another jail term. On top of that, some rumours spread that Giancana was ready to talk and implicate many government individuals for which he held a lot of old grudge. So my personal belief is that there was pressure over some Outfit people from government individuals or in plane words, it wasn’t direct fault or there wasn’t direct involvement by some of corrupt officials from the government, but still there was some kind of indirect involvement and fault by those same people in wanting or placing pressure for Giancana to be removed from the whole picture. So now we can slowly unravel the real villains or logisticians behind Giancana’s demise, which I personally believe were his old buddies from the so-called “Combine”. I’m not talking about Ed Vogel who was retired by now and lived like a Pharaoh, but instead I’m talking about Gus Alex, the Outfit’s main corruptor and financial schemer who one the time was the main individual between the Mob in Chicago and the corrupt government, but later became some sort of adviser and mediator with more power than some of the high level Italian members. So if you really think about it, Alex was the guy who succeeded the late Murray Humphreys as top non-Italian boss, Alex was the guy who was seen having heated conversation with Richard Cain before being killed like a dog, and Alex was the guy who supervised Hy Larner’s overseas activities. On top of that, Hy Larner who was the “second in command” regarding the Outfit’s overseas schemes, especially around Central and South America, I personally believe that he never really relinquished his CIA contacts since he was quite valuable individual for the secret agency mainly because his close contact with high level individuals from various countries. You see, Larner was previously in a similar situation like Giancana, meaning it was too hot for him to stay in his home country and so he fled to Panama, but obviously the underling managed to stay longer in those same waters rather than his mentor and former boss and continued to be valuable in the eyes of the secret government. So my point is that these two guys, meaning Alex and Larner, had too many high level government connections which were quite valuable for the Outfit and also their own positions and safety within the organization, or in plane words they were the ones who possibly brought the problem in front of the Outfit’s top bosses. In addition, Alex was actually one of the three top bosses until 1975.


The main problem for Giancana was that he was a very disrespectful person and was known for holding grudges during his whole life time. You see, in May, 1975, one of the world’s most famous and at the same time Mob-connected singers like Frank Sinatra arranged for a secretive party for his “Chicago Italian friends” and according to some FBI records, Outfit members such as Dominic Blasi were personally contacted by the singer and especially invited to be present, but Giancana refused since he and Sinatra had some conflict during the early 1960’s. So my point is that Giancana made a mistake by disrespecting his old peers, instead of accepting the situation as it was and pay his debt to the government and possibly die in prison. If you really think about it, this same situation occurred several decades earlier when Frank Nitto took his own life just to avoid prison sentence and answering questions in front of grand juries, since he was labelled by the media as Al Capone’s successor. So Giancana obviously refused to do that, meaning going to prison or taking his own life and that was the final decision for the Outfit’s top brass to order the contract killing. Now, by looking at Giancana’s situation at the time, I believe that it was easier to kill the president of the United States rather than the retired Mob boss, since he, meaning Giancana, had more media and federal coverage than any other high level government official. Even though he was previously granted for the feds to stop following his every step, still his house was on constant surveillance from a close distance and the newspaper men followed him every where he went. So if someone wanted to get near Giancana and to execute the job, he or she had to be his loyal and trusted companion, and the Mafia was excellent in providing that kind people or forcing them to make such a move. According to numerous FBI reports, Giancana’s closest people at the time where obviously his family members, his caretaker and his family, but also two of his old confidants such as Charles Inglesia a.k.a. English and Dominic Blasi. These fellas were always direct with him when he was the boss of the Outfit and allegedly remained like that even during his stay out of the country, but I personally believe that their main job was to closely watch the former boss and report back to their current top administration, which was Tony Accardo, Joey Aiuppa, Jack Cerone and Gus Alex. So English was the guy who rarely but still visited Giancana from time to time, but Blasi was the guy who more often visited his former boss. Now according to Giancana’s caretaker, both fellas were instructed by their former boss to visit him during day time so the feds can notice them and that nothing was really going on, but if they wanted to talk business, during night time Giancana would’ve slipped through the back door of his basement kitchen and go wherever he wished to. Giancana’s caretaker also stated his boss owed him money for seven months and one time when he asked about it, which was one day before Giancana’s demise or June 18, 1975, the old boss assured him that he was going to have the money in few days and that he was going to get much more than that. So obviously someone was filling Giancana’s mind with wishful thoughts, and I believe that individual was Blasi. You see, Giancana just returned from a serious operation and so he couldn’t move much, which allegedly was the main reason for Blasi’s one time night visit at 11 PM on June 19, 1975. Obviously Blasi was the “chosen one” since after arriving, he immediately ordered for Giancana’s caretaker to bring him a bottle of scotch, which was something rare for Blasi to make in Giancana’s house and means that something was bothering him and he needed to calm his nerves, since it wasn’t easy for him to kill his old boss, but above all, his old friend. And as for Giancana, it was his second day out of hospital and on top of that, he was getting old and possibly failed to recognize the signs. According to the caretaker, Blasi began drinking and didn’t say a word, while he and Giancana were looking at some broken water pipe. After that, or at 11:20 PM, the caretaker went upstairs and left the two men to talk and after watching TV for almost an hour, the caretaker looked from his window and noticed that Blasi’s car was gone from the driveway which meant that he took off. So the caretaker decided to visit his boss downstairs and when he opened the kitchen door, he was stunned by the situation since Giancana was lying on the floor with his face up and a huge pool of blood under his head and neck.


At first the investigators found six .22 caliber pistol casings and later a seventh one, which means that Giancana was shot one time at the back of his right ear, which was the shot that brought him down on the ground and possibly killed him, but his assassin had to make sure that the old boss was dead by placing the gun in the area under the chin and close to the neck and fired six more rounds. Many people say that the six shots were in fact a Mafia “message” but that’s completely false since that’s the area where the bullets can easily penetrate the skull and enter the brain. Whoever did the job had to make sure that the boss was dead but the confusing thing was that Giancana’s wallet was out of his pockets and laid beside him. So we can obviously rule out that somebody went for the money since they found $1400 in his pockets, but the question remains on what was in Giancana’s wallet which made the assassin or assassins to search for. According to some of Giancana’s caretaker and also closest family friends, the late boss almost never took out his wallet in front of other people since he always carried his money in his pockets instead of his wallet which he always used only for credit cards and important paper slips. Allegedly Giancana had some paper sheet in it, possibly with some kind of unknown and dangerous information which was later missing from that same wallet. Whatever happened and whoever ordered and also executed the contract killing on Giancana, those individuals obviously had a lot of backing and experience in the job, since nobody ever saw or heard anything that night, while the whole world was watching over Giancan’s Oak Park home that same evening when the murder occurred. It was a chaotic labyrinth of corruption, betrayal and greed in which one old and stubborn boss got the “best” of it, since everyone wanted him out of the picture including the feds who were constantly being sued by him, or the CIA which had quite a troubled and expensive past with him, and in the end his peers in the Mob who had quite enough of his disrespectful behaviour and pulled off the hit of the century.