Few mob historians say that Hyman "Hy" Larner aka “Red” Larner was one of the most low profile and shadowy figures in Chicago’s underworld history.Once when he was recognized by the government or the press,he was named by the tabloids as "The Ivy League Mobster",”The Riddle Man”,“Chicago’s Mistery Man” and also as “Chicago’s Meyer Lansky”.All the other mobsters that appeared in the papers every day, their pictures were all over the front page’s but when Larner’s name was mentioned,he was sometimes described as a “forntman” or “puppet” of some of the big shots in the Outfit and nothing more than that.In fact Hyman was a Jewish international mobster who was considered as a member and started from the bottom and than rose to the top and became very powerful within the Chicago Outfit and understood the rackets and was a very smart and shrewd person and there are many legends and riddles about his life.Larner belonged to the non-italian faction of the Chicago Outfit and he rarely appeared on any of the criminal charts but there are strong evidences and reports that he was involved with the Outfit’s major leagues and major businesses for a long period and was also recognized by some law enforcement as one of the mobs higher-ups.Also his life story may bring some unanswered questions about the Outfit in to the light.Did he really managed to stay in the shadows and pulled some strings here and there,or he really was just a puppet for the mob,its for you guys to decide.This is his story from my point of view…

Born in 1915 in Chicago,a jewish boy in a poor family which later was driven by the way of the streets and criminal life like any other young hood in Chicago’s South suburbs.He dropped out of school at young age and started working for political bosses around the Chicago area as a ruthless enforcer or as a “bummer” during elections and union protests.Since childhood he was a very tuff kid with a high pitched voice.He started his criminal career with other youngsters who were hired to descend on political or union gatherings of rival candidates for the sole purpose of creating a disruption by using bone-breaking tactics with fist fights and in some cases even a murder.Theres not much info about Larners criminal roots so we must get back in the criminal past of the Outfit to understand the circumstances that sorounded and brought him into the life.

Back in the 1920’s,the infamous Chicago mobster Edward Vogel was the one who originally invited many gangs into Cicero for the help of fixing the 1924 election.At that time the Italians like John Torrio and Al Capone headed one of the biggest and strongest gangs in Chicago.Even other gangs,like the Irish Northsiders or the Dean O’Banion gang, were also getting along.They all knew that if they all played along with Vogel and helped in the elections,millions of dollars could be made.Vogel also knew that if his choice as puppet mayor was elected, then Cicero would be a wide open teritorry for gambling, booze and prostitution. Millions were to be made for all the gangs(Italian,Irish,Jewish) who played along.Some of the gangs like the Torrio’s and O’Banion’s already had their own stakes in the bootleging and gambling operations in Vogels territory and they all have sent their own reinforcements to help with the election.This made a big conflict between these gangs and Vogel knew that,but the thing was he didn’t care because he just needed a backup for his own greedy needs.

So during this time period there was a war between the Torrio gang and the O’Banions.Torrio already had a big vice joint in Cicero but he had no political protection and the joint was closed many times.So the same year on April during Chicago’s Primary election,the so called “satellite” gangs that were connected with the Torrio’s immediately went to work.Many gangs started polling booths with machine guns to see if the local residents "voted right".They even attacked and kidnapped several campaign workers and cars filled with gunmen paraded the streets of Chicago.Some even entered the office of Democratic candidate William Pflaum,broke every bone in his body and wrecked his office.Democratic campaign worker Michael Gavin was shot in both legs and held against his will with eight other campaign workers until Election Day was over.Also Stanley Stanklevich,a Democratic worker was kidnapped and 8 others held as prisoners.The government heard about the violence and sent 70 Chicago police officers in which resulted with the death of Frank Capone,one of Al’s brothers.In the end Vogel won the election and Cicero became a captive city.Vogel’s main business,besides smuggling booze,was the gambling business.Vogel,from his connection with the new mob in power reaped richly from it's benefits.David Morgan was a Chief investigator for the Minister's and Citizens association and was under Vogels payroll.He also had a share from the gambling rackets in Cicero so one day,for unknown reasons,Morgan tried to inform the government about Vogel and his associates.So on July 8,1925 Vogel,with the “ok” from Torrio,sent few of his underlings to find Morgan and put him on the spot.He was found and was shot multiple times but survived the shooting and never again said a word about the operation.


Edward Vogel

Back in the days,during the mid 1920’s Vogel with the help of the Capone’s passed the word along the suburbs that they wanted to install coin machines and gambling devices around the locals.Matt Kolb was one of the obstacles.Kolb was a big time racketeer and a gambling czar who ruled the North West Side and held more than 150 joints.The Outfit needed to use force because every time when they wanted to place their coin machines,all of the merchants refused.Jake Guzik,the Outfits gambling big shot,tried to change Kolb’s mind from time to time but that didn’t worked ether.Years passed and on October 25 1931,the Outfit’s boss Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to ten years in prison and that same day Matt Kolb was killed at his speakeasy gambling club, the Club Morton on the corner of Dempster and Ferris Road.The shooting suspect were Red Barker and Paul Ricca. Kolb's death was a major push for Vogel and his gambling empire in Chicago.

In Chicago the Italians and the Jewish community were united in crime since the early days so young Hyman made connections with many criminal hoods from different nationalities like older criminals from the 42 gang or jewish gangs headed by the Guzik brothers.

On April 12,1932 it was one of the most violent election days in the history of Chicago. 40,000 cops were watching to prevent fraud and organised terrorism during the election.There was few shootings,few kidnappings, and numerous fights that resulted with more than 100 hoodlums being arrested.Young Hyman “Red” Larner together with other hoodlums were recruited and armed with macnineguns and baseball bats to “keep the peace” at ballot boxes during the elections.They were hired by the Outfit and Larner together with his cronies started to colaborate with the Capone gang and also joined in this movement.This was the time when Hyman Larner was introduced to his mentor and also his future boss Eddie Vogel.Vogel was similar to New York’s Arnold Rothstein in finding fresh meat,or in other words finding young hoodlums with brains.Vogel saw something else in Larner besides muscle,he saw that the young hood also had brains for business.

During that period the Chicago Outfit has made its mark mostly on industries like bootlegging booze and prostitution.The new slot machine and gambling industry also embodies the fundamental nature of mafia racketeering.Slot machines built during this period usually had a payback of about 50% when they weren’t bugged.When half the money you feed in its retained, it doesn’t take long before the machine had it all. And when the bug was used, you lost even faster. It was this type of machine that was called the “one-armed bandit”.

Not coincidentally, the Outfit and the mob in general,also became involved in the production of slot machines in the 1920’s and 30’s, as exemplified by the business activities of Eddie Vogel.Vogel by now was a big time dealer of coin machines like the slot machines and other machines of various entertainment. By this time there were numerous gambling joints in Chicago ranging from handbooks for racetrack betting,many of which also contained slot machines.For example there was Cicero’s Rock Garden Club.Rocco Fischetti, sometimes known as Ralph Fisher has been in charge and control of this large gambling establishment.AlsoVogel knew Frankie Foster, a Chicago gangster who operated illegal gambling for many years.Foster was considered as one of Chicago's toughest mobsters in the gang era of the 1930's.So young Larner besides doing political violence he was now involved in many illegal gambling operations by placing slot machines.Under his bosses rule,Larner with the help of his new contacts, forced many local owners to pay tribute to the Outfit and place Vogel’s gambling machines.He used many violent tactics such as breaking slot machines or breaking bones of the owners who refused to pay up.Young Hyman also knew how to deal with independant slot operators who tried to muscle in on the Outfit’s territory.The slot machines represented only a portion of the businesses that Ed Vogel controlled,and were the foundation of other future criminal activities.


The one-armed bandit(courtesy of myalcaponemuseum.com)

During the 30’s,when the Outfit also placed its foothold in Miami,Florida,a lot of gangsters opened their own joints,private houses and criminal operations(mostly gambling)in that area.A Miami grand jury reported that "in much of the city, residents and tourists alike could find numerous street machines and other gambling devices."Mobsters like Vogel,Ralph Capone and Jake Guzik sent their own men wich placed and oversaw the gambling operations in Miami.Some reports say that duiring this period Vogel,together with Guzik,made a connection with New York’s big shot Frank Costello and expanded the coin machine business around the country big time.Vogel agreed to send Larner to expand the gambling and coin machine rackets as one of the Outfit’s representatives in Florida.

By now the New York mob has established their own gambling operations in Florida and their main representative was Meyer Lansky,the infamous jewish mobster.Many mob historians say that Lansky was the financial brain behind this operations but I look at him more as a frontman for the mob.Yes he knew how to gamble but his main success was his mafia connections.The mob gave him physical security for their establishments and also gave him their financial back up.The Chicago Outfit and Lansky's organization started a good working relationship and by this time the young up and coming mobster Hy Larner was ordered to work closely with Meyer.Meyer became also one of his mentors but Larner’s primary loyalty was to the Outfit and Eddie Vogel.Lansky taught his fellow jewish “student” how to operate and how to gamble,so he became one of his favorite underlings.

By 1940 Larner had no criminal record at all which amazed his mob bosses and fellow associates.Also on May 31,1940 Ralph Capone,one of the Outfit’s big shots was arrested by the police on gambling charges and during his interrogation he claimed that does not know anything about the slot machines,Hy Larner or Edward Vogel.On August 28,1940 there was a takeover in Chicago’s Melrose Park for the jukebox territory.Vogel have sent Larner and other hoodlums to crush,burn and smah their rivals jukeboxes.Also two truckers of the Universal Automatic music corporation were kidnapped and also several murders occurred during the conflict.When the smoke cleared,Vogel has claimed Melrose Park as his own gambling territory.Vogel and Larner also expanded their coin machine business in Skokie and Des Moines.In 1941, it was estimated that the gambling operations of the Chicago Outfit made an amount of $3,875,000 and at the age of 26,Hy Larner made his first real big fortune.While smuggling coin machines through out the country,in 1941 Larner was arrested for the first time in Little Rock, Ark., for possessing a gaming device and was fined $316.90 and was also sentenced to serve 30 days in jail.This was his first and last conviction.At the beginning of the 1940’s Larner faithfully served his bosses and eventually drifted into the orbit of the non-italian faction of the Chicago Outfit which was headed by Jake Guzik,Murray”The Camel”Humphries and Eddie Vogel.

Back in the 1930’s,the mob had already established gambling operations in Cuba also.All of the national crime families had their own shares in the hotels and casinos.The Chicago Outfit had its shares in the Sevilla Biltmore and the Sans Souci hotels and casinos.The Outfit had its own top representatives in Havana so other low level Chicago mobsters also started to operate their own operations as well.Big shot Ed Vogel,now connected with the NY mob,was placing coin machines not just in the Outfit’s casinos but also in other joints as well that were owned by different factions of the national syndicate.In the early 40’s Vogel already made connections with some Cuban officals like Cuban president General Fulgencio Batista and many underworld figures and with the help of these connections Hy Larner started to smuggle coin machines in and out of the country big time.Larner also got involved and invested in other criminal enterprises such as smuggling tobacco and white slavery or prostitution.By now Larner established good connections in Cuba and made his own smuggling routes which was his way for making the big buck.Hundreds of prostitutes were smuggled from Cuba into the U.S. or the other way around.Larner now was connected to another up and coming mobster and also one of Vogel’s best underlings,Gus Alex,a greek mobster who,together with Larner,ran a multi-million dollar prostitution ring out of elite hotels and casinos in and out of the U.S.

In the early 40’s some of the old bosses started to get nervous because the ambitious young turks were makin more and more money and with money,comes power and that left a sour taste in the mouths of some of the old bosses.So on April 1943 one of Larner’s mentors,Jake Guzik was kidnapped allegedly by the hot headed Taylor street crew.In a condemned building in Cicero with a gun to his head,story goes that the boys gave Guzik $200.000 and offer to support the new generation or else.Guzik agreed and was released in just two days.Thats when Larner met his new partner in crime Sam”Mooney”Giancana the future boss of the Outfit who had full support from the younger generations and also from one of the “fathers” of the Chicago Outfit,Paul”The Waiter”Ricca.

During the mid 40’s Vogel had an idea for placing cigarette machines in mob controlled restaurants and bars in Chicago and with Larners new tobacco smuggling connections,there was no problem.Larner started to import Cuban tobacco and cigarettes into the U.S. and with the help of his mob associates,every tavern,bar,restaurant,hotel,club or casino had Vogel’s cigarette machines.Also Larner was involved in highjackin trucks filled with cigarettes along the nations highways.Placed in Vogel’s vending machines,each pack of stolen cigs offered a 100% profit.This operations brought a lot of cash for the Outfit and a new big fortune for Hy Larner.Larner was partner with Sam Giancana in the cigarette business and theres a rumour that current Outfit front boss Tony”Joe Batters”Accardo was involved in this business also.Theres another story that by this time the national mob sometimes used Larners smuggling routes for importing narcotic’s in the U.S. and two of his partners were an up and coming bosses Santo Trafficante Jr. from Tampa and Carlos Marcello from Dallas.

With all of these operations Larner stashed so much dirty cash that he had to find a way to hide it because after Al Capone's conviction for tax evasion back in the 30’s ,Larner saw that he was also too vulnerable to a similar prosecution.To protect himself,Larner transferred the illegal earnings from his growing smuggling and coin machine empire to a Swiss bank accounts,where anonymity was assured by the Swiss Banking Act.Larner also started to launder his dirty cash by investing in numerous steel companies and also in oil wells.By the late 40’s Larner owned few restaurants and a mortgage company in Chicago and also had a interest in four oil wells and other investments like real estate.He made over $150.000 a year and had a big apartment in Chicago 3430 at Lake Shore Drive,also one in Skokie and a big house in Miami,Florida.

In April 1947,bossman Eddie Vogel was arrested on gambling charges.He and his brother William Vogel, Tony Fragassi(Vogels bodyguard),Skokie's village president and his trustees were indicted for operating slot machines in Skokie.On May 13,1947, the Outfit’s Judge John A. Sbarbaro,also known as the Outfit’s undertaker because he arranged all of the funerals for the Outfit’s big shots, frees Edward Vogel , his brother William and all indicted in the conspiracy.Also Cicero’s former assistant state's attorney Frank Christensen was involved in a gambling racket with the village president John C. Stoffel.Both were on Eddie Vogels payroll.Both man tried to muscle Vogel and also tried to black mail him.So in April 1949 Chistensen was shot to death outside of his home and few days later a car filled with Outfit hitmen blocked Stoffel's car and started taking shots at him, but he managed to get away.

Now a lot of Outfit big shots started to have legal problems and the young guns ,including Larner,saw the big picture and pushed forward to take over the underworlds kingdom.Larner slowly buy surely was becoming one the Outfit’s international gangsters.Now he had to protect himself with the help of his old associates and alliances so he inlisted some low level criminals and formed his own gang and street muscle,but he still answered and paid tribute to his boss,Edward Vogel and the other Outfit higher ups.

By the late 1940’s Larner recruited other small time ex-convicts,burglars and extortionists to do his “dirty work”.Larner’s oldest associate was Pete Altieri,a big time slot machine operator and also a “army recruiter” for Ed Vogel.One of Vogels underlings and a close associate of Larner,was also Jim”The Green Hornet”Rini,a ruthless Chicago criminal who did a lot of burglaries,extortions,car thefts and hits for the mob.Theres a story that he did more than 20 crimes in one night and he also had his own small band of low level criminals.Also two other associates were Frank”Tommy Leggs”Mustari,Outfit hit man involved in many hijacks and in the slot machine business and Alex Ross,a huge ruthless enforcer and a hitman for the mob.Frank Mustari was the cousin of Sam Rinella,a known Al Capone’s capo back in the 1920’s.Tony Fragassi was Eddie Vogels bodyguard and also a tax collector for Vogels coin machines and a close associate of Hy Larner.Lou Lederer was also a close associate of Larner and a partner in Hy’s smuggling business.Lederer was a sort of a scout in other countries for Larner and the Outfit and also a frontman at The Tropicana hotel/casino in Las Vegas. All of these men,including Larner and Gus Alex,answered to their bosses Vogel,Guzik and above all,Humphries.Also all of these guys had an extensive reputation in Chicago as being what was known as outstanding ruthless con men.Jim Rini,Frank Mustari and two of their associates Robert Furey and Angelo Divito,once were arrested with a list of 100 prostitutes, suspected of organizing a racket to smuggle the prostitutes out of the country. Undoubtedly, this was a syndicate operation operated by Hy Larner and Gus Alex.

This crew of extortionists and muscle men also worked for the Chicago Heights crew and protected their slot and vending machines under the rule of Francis Curry. He was a close associate of Hy Larner and also a very close friend of Outfit boss Paul Ricca. Curry and Larner were given permission to operate their machines in Will County and payed tribute to the Chicago Heights crew boss Frank LaPorte. Dennis Kelly was a union delegate with underworld connections. One day he decided to move on some of Curry’s and Larner’s gambling operations so in April 1947 he was shot by a few gun blasts but managed to survive.

William “Bill” McCabe who was an ex-County State’s Attorney and was also a part owner of a newspaper called The Spectator which started publishing in 1929. The Spectator was a weekly newspaper which actively crusaded against gambling operations and the mob. So McCabe decided to run for committeeman in the Forty-Sixth Precinct in April 1948. He was known among the Outfit members as an outspoken critic of vice and gambling. So on April 8,1948 McCabe was kidnapped, stabbed, beaten and shot but miraculously managed to survive. Later McCabe claimed that he was attacked by Outfit henchmen for refusing to withdraw from the elections. He eventually recovered and remained as the main shareholder of the weekly Spectator but ceded daily control of the newspaper to his partner, Molly Zelko. Zelko continued strongly the crusade against the Outfit’s gambling operations.

During the late 40’s the government banned all gambling devices around the country.Legend goes that the Luciano family big shot Frank Costello,known as the “King of Slots” made(or stole) some creative alterations to evade the authorities and legal problems in New York City and the national mob followed his “new invention”.The trick was when the player dropped a nickel and pulled the handle, a candy or a bubblegum dropped out,turning the slot machine into a vending machine. If three identical objects showed on the machine,also fake coins known as slugs would be ejected.These could then be exchanged for cash.In the early 1950’s Vogel,Larner and the Outfit were involved in all kinds of vending machines,from candy and soda to coffee and condom machines.In March of 1950,the feds discovered that Vogel’s gang was now dealing contraceptives and has these machines dispensing condoms in various taverns,dancehalls and clubs.Vogel was jokingly referred to as “Birth Control Eddie” by the feds and the press.

But gambling was legal in some jurisdictions like Vegas,Nevada and since it was legitimate to place a gambling device,the national mob started to invest in building their own casino’s.So Larner saw another opportunity to expand his slot machine business big time.He traveled to Vegas back and forth and smuggled many of his slot’s and took over many independent operators with his “muscle” crew.The real source of income for the Outfit’s owned casino was table games,while Larners slot machines were placed in the casino’s to amuse the wives and girlfriends of the table players.It was not long before the slot machines became a significant source of income for the casino.Soon the problem was reversed by instead of having to report excess income from vending machines to cover illegally earned income, the trick now became skimming, or showing less income from gambling operations that were actually received, in order to avoid paying taxes on that income and to pay off investors who were not on the corporate rolls.This operation made a lot of cash for Hy Larner,Vogel and the Outfit in general.

When the Kefauver committee came to Chicago in 1952,it placed the spotlight on many high profile gangsters,including the Outfit’s ultimate boss Paul Ricca.The purpose of the questioning in Chicago by the Senate's Kefauver Committee was to establish the links between the Outfit and Florida gamblers and politicians stemming from many criminal operations.By the mid 50’s there was a “changing of the guard” among Outfit members.A lot of gangsters died from natural or unatural causes. On February 21, 1956 one of Larners mentors and also one of the bosses of the non-italian faction,Jake Guzik died from a fatal heart attack.Murray Humphries became the boss of the non-italian faction and Larner’s boss Ed Vogel was second in command.But now Ed was 60 years old and was slowly fading away from the business but because of his connections,he still maintained control from the shadows.

By this time there has frequently been an unsubstantiated link between some of the manufacturers of coin-operated vending and game machines and the Chicago Outfit. It was thought that juke boxes, pinball games and vending machines were the domain of the mob,by placing those machines in protected businesses, the Outfit shared the take with the manufacturer.Allegedly after Costello’s idea,the same vending and pinball companies soon started making coin-operated slot machines, some of which vended gum and candy and also ventured into the gambling realm.Both Vogel and Larner had an idea to open their own mob controlled association and to gather all of the coin machine operators, manufacturers and distributors under their rule.

So in December,1955 they created the Chicago Independent Amusement Association or the CIAA.They saw success because in 1956 the association has grown steadily and their membership numbered almost 100 operators and distributors.This was over one third of the total industry in Chicago.The association also made arrangements to work together with the Recorded Music Service Association and the jukebox operators and distributors.The Outfit placed Sam Greenberg as president of the association and Hyman Larner as its executive secretary and general manager.Larner played it smart by changing his name into Thomas “Red”Waterfall and hide his real identity.The association also had dealings with the Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,a racket union,which was headed by Tom”Juke Box Smitty”Smith,a long time Outfit associate in the juke box business.It was Larner who decided that Local 134 should be brought in to make the operators to join in and pay tribute.The association also handed out union labels to be placed on every machine but in reality there wasn’t any union contract.Plus the new operators could not get in the union unless they had label on their machines from the Electrical Workers Union. Of course, if someone managed to survive without a union label box,the locals glass windows would pop suddenly, or it would suffer electrical problems from “unknown” origins.

The dues in the association were upped almost 600 per cent and no money from the dues ever found its way to the union members.The Local 134 was like a sponsorship for the association and it was a private deal between Vogel,Larner and Tom Smith.Old man Vogel became head of the Apex Amusement Company and pulled the strings from the shadows.Through violence and intimidation they forced many operators to join their union and association.Every operator payed from 1 to 10 dollars per machine,weekly and if someone didn’t pay up,he or she was visited by guys like Jim Rini or Alex Ross.Rini and Ross were hired by the Local 134 as “union inspectors” and were paid $150 a week.Larners associates would usually enter a joint ,saying they cannot have machines from different companies in the same joint.They gave the owners a card from the CIAA,with Thomas Waterfall's(Hy Larner) name and number on it.These guys made so much terror around Chicago and also spreaded a lot of fear among coin machine operators.Once Jim Rini poured down so much acid over some slot machines that the acid dripped down on the electric wiring and short circuited the power and blew the electric door of the joint.

The Lormar Distributing company were making juke box records and was owned by the Outfit.Frontman in this company was Chuck English and Larner had its own shares.English and Larner were forcing juke box operators to buy records from their company.They were also selling counterfeit disks and had a monopoly in Chicago,Wisconsin.Minnesota and around the country. Herman Klebba a juke box and gaming operator was told by Juke Box Smitty to join his Local 134 and pay his “street tax”.Klebba refused and few days later someone visited his joint and 8 of his machines were destroyed.Klebba decided to visit Red Waterfall(Hy Larner) and told him about his problem and Larners answer to Kelbba was that “everybody has enemies”.

The L&S Amusement Company in Chicago operated a route of over 40 games.The CIAA told him that if he wanted to operate the juke box machines he had to pay $2.000,plus the cost of the machines.At first the owners of the company refused but later they payed and also joined Larner’s association.Later three of the company’s machines were destroyed.The damage was done at the time when the company paid its dues to the association.

Later Ross, Rini, Mustari, and Frank Eldorado were arrested by Maywood police in a truck containing 3 pinball machines hijacked from Des Plaines businesses. At the station, Ross asked the cops to call the Crossroads Tavern at 159th & Cicero, Oak Forest, to notify "Red"(Hy Larner) of their arrest.Larner gave the bond money to 'Willie Potatoes' Daddano to bail them out.In 1957,Willard O. Bates, 56,was the owner of the Rio Vista tavern who refused to pay tribute to the association.He was visited by Ross and told him to “fuck off”.So one morning Bates woke up and prepared for work.As he neared his car,which was parked infront of his home in Brookfield,his dog named “Princess” started barking.The dogs warning caused Bates to draw his gun.When Bates opened the door of the car,the dog jumped and caused the man who was hiding in the back seat of the car to shoot at the dog.That gave a chance to Bates to shoot the man right between the eyes.Than two other guys rushed from their nearby parked car with their guns blazing at Bates,but his dog rushed them,again giving Bates the opportunity to fire back so the two man retreated and fled with their car.The two men were Jim Rini and Alex Ross.The dead gunman was identified as Frank”Tommy Leggs”Mustari. Bates shot it out with three guys and was also wounded in the gun battle but nothing serious.Four mounths later Will Bates was gunned down by several shotgun blasts infront of his house.As additional info,Frank Mustari's widow, Ruth, later maried with the infamous Outfit hitman Harry Aleman.Larner was never involved directly in any of the murders.

Remember Molly Zelko and her newspaper with anti-gambling stance against the Outfit? Well in the late 1950’s she started supporting the election of candidates to the city counsel who voted to outlaw vending machines. Also Molly started sending reporters and photographers to investigate all gambling houses in down town Joliet and around the Chicago area. Molly was also obsessed with finding who was responsible for the attack of her business partner William McCabe in 1948. She was hiring private investigators who were driving past the local mob bosses homes on a regular basis and taking down licence plate numbers of their cars which were parked in front of their homes. Story goes that Molly was getting close to finding out who had orchestrated the attack. Molly's family and friends had often warned her about the enemies she made by writing about mobsters and crooked politicians. She also received many threatening letters but she continued with her work. The main mistake was when she started to wrote stories and also made too much noise about the main Chicago guy who was running the slots/juke action and went by the name of Red Waterfall aka Hyman Larner. So the evening on Aug 5th 1957 Molly Zelko was attacked and kidnapped while she was entering her car in front of her home. Her shoes were found kicked off on the sidewalk and her car keys were in their usual place underneath the drivers seat, which tells us that she was attacked as soon as she entered the car. A woman who lived nearby to Zelko’s house said that she looked out the window after 12pm the night Zelko disappeared as she was waiting for her husband and saw four men with a black car removing a bundle from the back of the car, she then saw an arm fall out and realised it was a body. Story goes that the hit was orchestrated by Willie “Potatoes” Daddano on the orders of Hyman Larner. Zelko’s body was never found and remains as a mystery even today. Later her business partner William McCabe died of natural causes in August 1958.

The main suspect in Molly’s disappearance was James Rini because he allegedly confessed to the FBI that he was one of the kidnappers. Rini had Robert Kennedy’s team digging up holes in a Joliet farm field, looking for Molly's grave but found nothing. Story goes that Rini later recanted that he made up the story so the authorities would stop questioning him about the case and to reduce his previous sentence for providing vital informations. Also story goes that Rini laughed about that for decades, probably all the harder because he was actually involved in her kidnapping and murder.


James Rini on the left

Business was booming for Hyman Larner. By now he also opened his own oil firm called the Salinas Basin Develpoment company with its headquarters in a building at 165 E.Ontario and he also he had another office for the amusement association.Larner operated the oil firm under the name Edward Jarvis.He used his real name only when he made other oil investments,for example in Texas.He had two partners in this investments,business man Rue Manken,who was laso involved in the amusement association and also Outfit big shot Ross Prio. Larner had a another partner in his real estate and oil empire and that was Isadore “Kid Cann” Blumenfeld,a jewish gangster and racketeer from Minnesota who was a real genius in organized crime in Miami Beach and Havana, Cuba.

Besides his apartments in Chicago and a $50,000 home in Florida,Larner also owned six cars(two Cadillacs and three Mercury’s and another car which I don’t know what model it was,he rented it for $1.000 per day) and two big yahts.He was living like a king and in fact there was only two guys in the Outfit that lived like this,Paul Ricca and Tony Accardo,the Outfit’s top bosses.


Larner's Florida Home


The younger generation was coming up in the mob world big time so now Larner had to “switch sides” and keep his business in order.In 1957 the Outfit’s top guy Paul Ricca called his underlings at the Tam O'Shanter restaurant and placed Sam”Mooney”Giancana as front boss on the streets of Chicago.Now Giancana installed Fiore “Fifi” Buccieri,Sam Battaglia,Marshal Caifano,Felix Alderisio,Chuckie Nicoletti,Butch Blasi,the English bros and Willie Daddano as overseers of his criminal empire and all of them cooperated with Larner.All of these men were members of the Taylor Street crew or as I call them,Chicago’s West Side Crime Family.Also another member of the Taylor Street crew Rocco Pranno reached his prime time when he met Hyman Lamer.Rocco was one of the best shake down artist's and expanded the jukebox and vending machine operations as far west as Elgin.Larner also met a guy from the old guard and also a long time Capone advisor and financier,Abe Pritzker.

By now Hy Larner was one of the biggest money makers for the Outfit and Giancana knew that.Plus the two knew each other since the old days and were also involved in similar businesses.Giancana was mostly involved in the policy racket,unions and other forms of gambling and was also connected with the dark belly of politics and the government.With the help of Paul Ricca,Giancana had so many government officals in his pocket,that made his predecessor Al Capone look like a joke.By now Larner rose in the mob world and also got involved in the making of the Outfit’s golden era.With Giancana’s blessing,Larner connected with Willie “Potatoes” Daddano,Chuck & Butch English,Joe Gagliano,Dave Yaras,Ralph Pierce and Lenny Patrick who were territorial overseers for the coin machines and gambling rackets.

Back in 1948 when Israel was fighting for independence against the arabs, Meyer Lansky, together with other jewish hoodlums around the U.S.,including Hy Larner, held a fundraiser. Through the New Yorks docks and also through Miami,Florida they smuggled weapons into Israel to help their jewish friends.In reality they sold most of the weapons and made a lot of money.So years now the new order of the Outfit used the same tactics and also expanded their smuggling operations in a new way.

In the mid 50’s Giancana made Hyman Larner his main scout in other countries and also one of his financial advisors and together with two other shrewd Outfit hoodlums,Johnny Roselli and Richard Cain,they wanted to take over the world,litteraly.During this period the Cuban government started having problems with the communist rebels and their leader Fidel Castro.Both sides needed financial back up and also weapons.The mob backed General Batista financially with the profit from the casinos and also backed the rebels with arms supply.The mob made money both ways.Castro already formed a group called "The Movement" which operated along a clandestine cell system, publishing underground newspaper El Acusador (The Accuser), while arming and training anti-Batista recruits.Larner had a few corrupted army officals in his pocket so he started stealing weapons from army bases and than smuggled the weapons in Cuba and sold it to the Cuban government and also the Cuban rebels.The U.S. government saw that there was a rising communist force on the horisont and they didn’t need a communist country near the U.S. borders.So they thought if they helped in the Cuban conflict,the winning group will be on their side.So the Central Intelegence Association also moved weapon and food supplies on both sides and also joined forces with the national mob.So now guys like Larner made money from the Cuban government,the rebels and the CIA also…and on of top that they still made cash from their illegal operations.There was more than enough money for everyone.

One of Larner’s partners,the notorious Chicago mob figure, a veteran who served in the US Army stationed in both Japan and the Virgin Islands,named Richard Cain was a Spanish speaking associate of Batista and Castro.The Chicago Tribune reported that the CIA had engaged Cain,Giancana,Roselli and Larner because of their Havana mob contacts, and also for their smuggling operations in Cuba.Larner and Cain,on the orders of Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana started working with the Cubans and the CIA. Cain became a recruiter for Spanish speaking volunteers sent to South Florida and Central American CIA training camps specializing in guerrilla warfare/commando tactics and Larner handeled the financials and smuggling operations.Cain was a big help for this new organization because he was also a electronic surveillance expert who specialized in telephone tapping and many other things. Cain had tapped the telephones of Cuban revolutionary and government leaders on behalf of the Outfit and the CIA.

But things went wrong when Castro's guerrillas increased their attacks on military outposts, forcing the government to withdraw and by spring 1958, the rebels controlled some hospitals, schools, a printing press, slaughterhouse, land-mine factory and a cigar-making factory.By 1958, Batista was under increasing pressure and as a result of his military failures the CIA and the mob ceased supplying him with weaponry because they saw whos goin to win the war.The CIA instructed General Eulogio Cantillo to oust Batista so Cantillo secretly agreed to a ceasefire with Castro, promising that Batista would be tried as a war criminal,however Batista was warned, and fled into exile with over US$ 300,000,000 on 31 December 1958.Castro ended the ceasefire,took over the country and ordered Cantillo's arrest.Fidel Castro has won the war.Now the mob and CIA thought that they had Castro in their own pocket but they thought wrong.Castro turned his back at them and closed every casino in Cuba thus closed all of their operations,legal or illegal.All of the mobsters fled Cuba and some were imprisoned by the new Castro government.All of the mobsters like Meyer Lansky that invested a big part of their money in Cuba were all broke.

Now the CIA wanted Castro dead but not the mob.The CIA wanted the mob to play as their assassins in the killing of Fidel Castro but the thing was that nobody did nothing.Guys like Giancana,Roselli and Larner recived money from the CIA but every time they tried to kill Castro,they “allegedly” failed.In other words they swindled the CIA and extort money from it.The infamous CIA-Mafia plots to kill Castro, which were headed by Giancana,Roselli,Larner, along with their partners, Lansky and Trafficante were pure failure.The mob knew if they killed Castro,they still wont get their casinos back because all of the people in Cuba now supported him.They still were goin to have terrorist attacks and that was bad for business.Maybe the mafia still had faith in Castro but that faith slowly faded away and life went on because the mob still had their other operations around the world and the CIA still needed their help.The CIA is a similar organization as the mafia because they rarely place people behind bars,they usually black mail them or kill them.As Sam Giancana once said “the CIA and the mob are two different sides of the same coin”,so the CIA still needed the mob…for now.

Things went really smooth for Hyman Larner.He made so much money and started passing it to many top guys around the world.He passed a portion of his dirty cash on to government officals in Mexico and also to guys like Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines, Manuel Noriega and General Omar Torrijos from Panama,and even the Shah of Iran. For example,Larner was also picked up on a wiretap ordering seven Corvettes shipped to Panama for Christmas presents for officials there.With all of these financial backings and corruption,the Outfit expanded its operations around the world, including Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador,Jamaica,Western Europe(England,France,Spain,Italy)the Middle East(Israel,Iraq),China and even Japan.

The FBI also learned from their wiretaps that Sam Giancana was planning to operate in the Dominican Republic.Giancana was actively trying to corner the gambling market in Jamaica and Larner already had tied up controlling interest in two racing tracks, the national lottery and two casino's.Larner also expanded a car theft ring from the U.S. to Jamaica. In the meantime Giancana also expanded the Outfits gambling holdings in the Bahama's.They also organized another car theft ring to the Middle East and because of the constant war conflicts over there,with the help of Meyer Lanskys old contacts,they expanded their weapons smuggling operations and also narcotics.They also had gambling operations in Iran and Beirut.The National Crime Syndicate smuggled narcotics(with the help of the mobs mastermind Charles”Lucky”Luciano) from the Middle East to Europe.From Italy,France and England,the drugs were smuggled in the United States.But Larner found another way by smuggling raw opium,like from the Philippines.He also expanded his tobacco smuggling and prostitution operations from there.They were also involved,together with Meyer Lansky,in a few gambling operations in Engalnd and Germany.Giancana and Larner also smuggled weapons in South Korea since the early 50’s and they continued doin it with the help of the Chinese Triads member,Chiang Kai-shek.In Japan they started a prostitution and gambling rings with the help of the Yakuza’s.This statements can be proved with many records of airplane reservations made by Giancana,Larner and many other Outfit members or associates.But later Larner got smart and started to invest in airplane companies so he wont leave any traces of his travels behind him.

The Central Intelegence Agency knew about these criminal activities and wanted to join in.The CIA used these operations to get info’s from all of these countries and to make their own influence around the world.These gangsters later acted like spy’s for the CIA and were feeding the government officals around the world with money and power thus making them their own allies.Taking over the world,no?!Now do I have to explain more why the government needed the help of these so called “Mob stars”?!I think not. These are the reasons why I always say that this period was THE “golden era” for the Chicago Outfit and the National mob in general.By this time the Chicago Outfit was the most powerful crime family in the U.S. and if not,the whole world.Nobody can denide that.

By now all of Larners dirty cash came mostly from the coin machines all over Chicago and around the country, but that wasn’t the only source.He smuggled tobacco,narcotics,prostitutes and weapons around the world.Reports say that by now most of his cash went to the Federal Reserve of Chicago and from there was wired to banks in Switzerland,Panama and the Grand Caymans.Big part of his cash went to Outfit guys like Paul Ricca,Tony Accardo,Sam Giancana and ofcourse Ed Vogel and some of it went to many government officals,like politicians,police enforcement,military and also to some government intelligence guys.Since he was an international gangster now he established strong contacts with the government intelligence organization because they needed international hoodlums like him and he needed them.

Back in Chicago, the FBI started to notice all of the illegal operations around the coin machine business.Government investigator Arthur Kaplan handled the juke box and coin machine investigation in Chicago.He found out that some underworld figures had established an association in order to keep a monopoly of the coin machine operations in the city.Kaplan also found out that the Outfit had put in a man by the name of Red Waterfall to run the association.Kaplan was very confused because nobody seemed to know who Red Waterfall really was.Waterfall did not live at the address he gave in his application for office and the banks he gave as a credit reference did not exist. He seemed never to have had a picture taken, and only the most meagre description of his physical appearance could be obtained from the operators themselves, who were obviously too afraid to point a finger at the man who was extorting thousands of dollars from them.So Kaplan started to follow trail’s like reservations and money trails from Chicago to Miami Beach to Texas to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Little Rock, Arkansas, to Hollywood, California and to many other places around the country. By tracing insurance applications for a Chris-Craft cruiser and hotel reservations in a Texas hotels, he finally was able to prove that Hyman Larner was also Red Waterfall.This was bad for Larner ,the Outfit and soon for the CIA also.

So one thing led to another and Larner was called to testify before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management in 1958.When Bob Kennedy's boys tried to find him and the records which would tell them more of the union business association and its ties to the national juke box ring,Larner disappeared.He was hiding in Florida but was later found and was subpoenaed.On February 26th 1959,44 year old Hyman Larner took the stand in front of the Senate Labor- Management Committee which was headed by senator McClellan and Robert Kennedy. The Committee asked him how he maintained a fleet of six cars, home in Florida, two 27-foot cabin cruisers and two Chicago apartments on the $8,700 a year income that he reported for tax purposes.He also asked whether he hired hoodlums to throw sulphuric acid on machines of non-members of his Chicago Independent Amusement Association and break up machines to force operators to join up and pay the fee for each machine.Also the next question that the board had for Larner was very sensitive and that was wheter his house in Florida was used for shipping out arms to the Cuban revolution.This ment that the FBI knew about his secret operations and has putted him in a very uncomfortable situation.Lamer refused to answer their questions on the grounds of possible self incrimination and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than fifty times.It was suggested by Senator Karl Mundt that Larner’s testimony should be considered for possible contempt action because of his “capricious” use of the Fifth Amendment.Senator McClellan agreed but said he thought little would come of it in view of the recent court decisions.The other witnesses were Larner’s wife Myrtle Larner,Sam Greenberg, Fred Tom Smith, Jim Rini, Alex Ross, Chuck English, Rocco Pranno, Joseph Gagliano and Larner’s boss Edward Vogel.Rini and Ross were handcuffed together when they appeared infront of the committee.All of them took the fifth.

The only witnesses that dared to testify were the coin operators that were terrorized by the Chicago Amusement Association and the union.Two of them were Herman Klebba and Mr.Romaszaievicz from the L&S amusement company.Two Chicago gangsters were also wanted for questioning about coin machine rackets but were mysteriously missed.The two gangsters were Sam Giancana and Ralph Capone.Later both were found and refused to testify, invoking the 5th Amendment.After this the same year the Chicago Independent Amusement Association broke up.


The Devil Himself-Hyman"Hy"Larner infront of the McClellan Committee in 1959

Now Larner was getting too much of a public attention and also saw that things were getting too hot,not just from the government but also within the Outfit.In the early 60’s when the FBI already knew that the mob was making deals with the U.S. government behind closed doors, they placed so much heat over the Chicago Outfit which became a big obstacle for their business enterprises.Also in 1962 after the assassination of JFK there were rumours that the mob had a part in it so guys like Giancana,Roselli,Cain and Larner,who had so many “dark secrets”, were under constant surveliance. The FBI even invented the famous “Lock-step” program.

But Larner was a greedy person and also loved the excitement and there was still a lot of business to run so he kept going.There was still gambling,prostitution and also narcotics and Sam was still the boss.Also Larner still had his own shares in the juke box business and vending machines and his underlings still collected street tax from the machine operators around the country.Since they lost Cuba,Larner increased his shares in Vegas,Nevada by placing more vending machines.Also in 1964, it was reported to the FBI that Leonard Patrick and Larner were partners in the Venocoa Music Company and it was reported that the same due had their shares in the City Music Co. also.In the 60’s the music business was booming so Larner and the Outfit took their share.Larner and Patrick got involved in bootlegging music records which brought a lot of money.

Also by the mid 60’s Edward Vogel was connected to Apex Cigaret Service inc. company and also the Deluxe Cigarette Service Inc. and since Larner had too much heat over his head,Vogel made his business partner Joe Mahoney general president of the companies.Both companies were loccated at 4246'Lincoln Ave., Chicago, where they shared a common telephone number. The Chicago Crime Commission also has identified Edward Vogel as having control of both firms.Vogel was now believed to be living in California.

The Chicago Outfit in general loved Giancana’s crew and associates because of the cash they made for them and also the power that they owned,but these guys problem was that they got too much involved with the government and also attracted too much heat.Also Giancana had another big problem by which Larner started to think twice before goin into business with Sam.The truth was that Sam Giancana was a flashy mob boss that made a big ammount of money and had a “Godlike” feeling.You see,the heat from the government because of the CIA connections wasn’t that much of a problem,the real problem was that Giancana started running around with famous beautiful girls and pop stars publicly infront of the press and that was very bad for business.It attracted too much of a public attention.

So in the mid 1960’s,on the orders of Sam’s boss Paul Ricca there was a meeting to dismiss Giancana and place a new boss.To cool things down,Giancana had an idea to fled the country and go to Mexico where he had many illegal operations and was close to home.The Outfit and the national mob they all agreed.Also in 1965 Murray”Curley”Humphries,the overlord of the non-italian faction died of an alleged heart attack.Also by this time Larner’s mentor Eddie Vogel retired from the business and rumours are that he had over $12.000.000 stashed.Now two guys were nominated for the top spot,Gus Alex and Hyman Larner.Gus was the obvious choice because he had the “muscle” and also the most political connections in Chicago.But that wasn’t the real reason,Larner also had political connections but the thing was he had too much pressure from the FBI because of the coin rackets and CIA connections and wasn’t much around because of his constant travels.The thing that protected Larner was the handling of the Outfit’s money.Larner was absolutely brilliant when it came to handling the dirty cash, probably the best the mob had ever seen.He was responsible for moving the Outfits money through South Florida to Panama and investing it around the world.Paul Ricca,Sam Giancana,Tony Accardo,Murray Humphries(while he was still alive)Eddie Vogel and even other mafiosos from other cities trusted their funds to Larner. Also two FBI agents,who diecied not to be identified(one of them was probably retired agent Francis Marrocco),said that Larner was absolutely the guy who was responsible for moving the Outfit’s money through South Florida and Panama.

So Gus Alex became the boss of their faction.Gus took over the coin machine racket and all of Vogels and Larners contacts in Chicago.Maybe Larner was very pleased with that because now the coin machine racket was under the governments investigation and all of the government heat fell on Gus.Proof for that was when in the mid 60’s Gus was banned from Switzerland for 10 years after Congress complained his repeated trips were to stash money in Swiss bank accounts so he was resitricted to go out of the country for some time.Also future Outfit boss Joey Aiuppa controlled his own coin machine rackets.Proof for that is when Aiuppa was a partner in Taylor & Co., back in the late 50’s. That was a furniture company that served as a front for the production and distribution of slot machines. Aiuppa was convicted back in 1960 for “failing to register as a dealer in gambling devices.”So by now I belive he still had his own shares from the coin rackets.In other words the new guard of the Outfit took over some of Giancans and Larners operations.But you see they made a mistake,gambling was already under big pressure from the government and that was one of the biggest money sources for the Outfit in general. Larner didn’t want any public attention,in fact he hated it a lot.He started to feel like a vampire that was placed right under the sun light.So he decided to take matter in his own hands and followed his bosses foot steps.He fled the country immidietly and vanished from the eyes of the FBI.He took his wife and settled in Panama.He bought a big house on a top of a hill outside of Panama City and he also took all of his cash and stashed it into Manuel Noriega’s national bank and also took care of Noriega’s drug shipments into the U.S. and weapon shipments that went back to Panama.

Because the FBI was all over the Outfit Larner stopped dealing directly with Outfit members but with the help of his enforcers and couriers, he stayed in contact with the top echelon.So now Hyman Larner concentrated on his smuggling operations with the help of his old contacs and continued to work for the Outfit and to make the big buck.In other words Larner became the main “go to guy” out of the country.He also travelled back and forth to Mexico to see how his old boss Sam Giancana was doing but he rarely visited the U.S.By these visits,the duo again started another lucrative gambling enterprise.Story goes that Sam Giancana had gambling joint in Cuernavaca,Mexico and they also managed to skim from the gambling rooms on cruise ships that went from Mexico to the Caribbean and they also brought many high-rollers.They also used this cruise ships to smuggle narcotics and coin machines to Central and South America.Larner and Giancana were engaged in big lucrative smuggling operations in which they also included Santo Trafficante Jr.Also their partner in Mexico was again,Richard Cain.He was the identified in official CIA files as having visited the CIA's Mexico City Station in the mid 60’s,He had an investigative agency in Mexico for the purpose of training Mexican government agents in police methods, in investigative techniques, and in the use of the lie detector.In reality he was there to corrupt the Mexican officals and to maintain smooth business operations for Giancana and Larner.They also made some connections in Colombia with the drug cartels and also started shipments into the U.S.Larner also began to supply Panama and other countries from Central and South America with his gambling machines.For the next several years they made another big amount of cash that went straight in their own pockets and also they have sent their “best regards” to Outfit back in Chicago which made the new administration very happy.

Giancana trusted Larner a lot and Hyman also respected Giancana but to a certain point. Larner never forgot the days when his operations exploded around the world,thanks to Sam,but Sam was starting to get a little bit too paranoid and unsecured and story goes that he wanted to get back to Chicago and reclaim his position as top boss,again.Someone told the bosses back in Chicago about Sam’s idea which made them angry.In 1972 Sam’s protection Paul Ricca died of natural causes and that was the beginning of the end of the infamous Taylor Street crew.Some members of the crew died of natural causes and other…well they were simply eliminated.

First to go was the lunatic Mad Sam DeStefano. DeStefano was a good earner for the bosses, especially Ricca and Accardo, but he was just too “loud”. So on April 14, 1973 with the “ok” from Tony Accardo,Mad Sam was shot to death.Giancana heard about the “clean up” and began to feel more paranoid.Story goes that Larner used this situation by skimming Sam from his money that were ment for the Outfit bosses back home.Somebody also contacted the U.S. government and told them about Sam’s activities. Also on December 20, 1973 Richard Cain was shot to death by two shotgun blasts because the new administration thought he was an informer for the FBI. In 1974 the U.S. government pressured the Mexican government officals to deport Giancana and they did.Mexican authorities entered Sam's estate San Cristobal and deported him back into the U.S. At the same time Sam was also subpoenaed to testify before a Chicago grand jury about his alleged CIA contacts.Now the boys in Chicago saw their chance to eliminate Giancana and on June 19, 1975, Sam was murdered in the basement kitchen of his Oak Park home with 6 shots from a .22 in his head allegedly on the orders of new Outfit boss Joey Aiuppa and his senior advisor Tony Accardo. On August 9, 1976,Johnny Roselli's decomposing body was found in a 55-gallon steel fuel drum floating in Dumfoundling Bay near Miami, Florida. Also on March 29, 1977,Chuckie Nicoletti, one of Giancana’s closest underlings received three .38 caliber slugs to the back of his head while waiting in his Oldsmobile in the parking lot of the Golden Horns Restaurant in suburban Northlake, Illinois. Most of these so called CIA collaborators (except Mad Sam) were murdered during the 70’s.

While the hot headed Italian faction was busy making headlines by shooting everyone in the head, Larner preferred quieter, more traditional means of exploiting and controlling corruption, thereby remaining out of the headlines and off the FBI’s radar. This not some false rumour but it's a simple historical fact. Larner took over some of Gianacans international contacts and operations and became the main associate for the Chicago mob that controlled all of their international operations. But by now some of his international contacts started to fade away because of various reasons, so Larner mostly concentrated his business in Latin America. Also his old boss Edward Vogel died on June 12,1977 at Columbus Hospital from leukemia. He was 82 years old.

By the mid 70’s there were new alternations in in the coin machine business. The machine,which was marked as The Trade Booster,already replaced the standard coin-operated slot to an electrical slot which operated via cable by the bartender.So during the late 70’s there was this lucrative form of a machine and that was the video poker machines.By the early 1980’s current overssers of these new gambling video machines were the Bastone brothers,Carmine and Sal.They worked for Outfit boss Joey Aiuppa and were close associates of Hy Larner,who by now resided in Panama.Carmine went to Spain to supervise the video poker machine factory that they owned and Larner had his own shares in it.The Bastones also acted like couriers between the Outfit’s bosses and Larner. One of their guys in Chicago involved in the video poker machines was also "Louie the Mooch"Eboli a high-level member of the Grand Avenue crew which was now the leading crew in Chicago. Eboli’s father was Thomas Eboli, alias “Tommy Ryan,”a confidant of notorious New York mob leader Vito Genovese and allegedly one of the acting bosses of the infamous Genovese Crime Family.Also one of Gus Alex associates named Nicholas Gio,who was a Greek-American hitman for the Chicago Outfit,was also involved in these operations.Larners courier was a small Italian guy only known as Alberto and he always came to Miami by plane carrying the Outfits cash from all of the video machines in Panama.Untill the mid 80’s this crew took care of the gambling machines and flooded Chicago with them.Every bar and restaurant also had to pay tribute for the machines.If the places were raided and the cops took the machines,than the machines were replaced back the same day.Theres also another interesting story when the new owner of the Leg's bar in Stone Park wanted to remove the gambling machines from the joint.Thats when Eboli paid him a visit and told him that the gambling machines would have to stay…and the machines stayed.

By this time the video poker machines became one of the biggest money sources for the Chicago Outfit.Nobody knew where all of the big cash came from but truth was that everything came from Panama and parts of South America that had the Outfit’s video pocker machines and the main guy over there was Hyman Larner,supplementing the Outfit’s income from the rackets here.

But nothing lasts forever.One of Larners oldest partners Meyer Lansky died back in 1983 and in 1986 Outfit boss Joey Aiuppa was jailed after conviction for Vegas skimming.The FBI also placed too much heat over the Bastone brothers and in 1987 Louie Eboli died of cancer and also the same year Nick Gio was arrested for murder and sent to prison.The same year Chuckie English was shot to death by Outfit assassins on a parking lot .Story goes that he never really did accept the new Accardo/Aiuppa administration so that was the end of Chuckie.In the beginging of the 1990’s Gus Alex remained as one of the last leaders from the old days and also one of the last associates of Hy Larner.

By now Larner didn’t owned anything to nobody and nobody ever owned anything to him and also by loosing most of his associates,Larner decided to retire from the Outfit.By now he was in his late 70’s and was too old to get involved in big actions.Also in this period there were too much informants among Outfit members so word came down to Larner that somebody talked about his acitivites and whereabouts.So in 1991 the Panamanian newspapers announced that Hyman”Red”Larner had died.Everyone was shocked,even the FBI could not belive the news.Also in 1992 Lenny Patrick decided to become a government witness following his indictment for racketeering charges.His testimony would result in the conviction of one of Larners long time associates,Gus Alex.But few years later in 1995(I think) rumours surfaced that Larner was very much alive and resided in the U.S. in Flathead County,Montana.Larner played it smart again.First he faked his death by corrupting Panamanian newspapers to publish his alleged death and also had suspicion that the U.S. government will send their agents to check out the news.So he decided to come back home quietly to his own country,where nobody will be looking for him.One of the oldest tricks in the book…

By this time Larner’s health was failing because of his old age so the time for the FBI was running out. Michael Jerome Corbitt,a corrupt cop who allegedly was a bag man for the Outfit and allegedly knew the Bastone bros and Hyman Larner, was convicted of taking part in the highly publicized 1982 murder of Dianne Masters and later became a government informer.So in 1997 the FBI wanted to make a move on Larner but just when it appeared the move against Larner was under way,the State Department had intervened and quashed the FBI’s investigation.To be honest,for me this is the most mysterious event in all of Larners life story.Who?Why?When?Nobody ever gave an answer. Rumours are that his immunity stemmed from his high level connections to the US intelligence community and their shared interest in supporting Israeli interests.But to tell you the truth theres no real evidence about this claim.

By now Corbitt was writing down his own,allegedly true memoirs and decided to publish his own book with the help of Mooney Gianacans nephiew Sam G.,the author of a previous written book about his uncle’s criminal life called “Double Cross”. Corbitt’s book had a similar name which was called “Double Deal” and it shows Larner’s involvement with the CIA and his international criminal operations.But by reading the book you can feel Corbitt’s hatred against the Outfit and Larner so that’s why the book should be taken with a “few grains of salt”. The reason that makes the Corbitt-Giancana book so doubtful is that the authors dared to say something that was obviously said to make the book more interesting and that is Hyman “Hy” Larner was the real power behind the scenes that guided the Chicago mob for over 40 years and that Sam Giancana was no more than a front man for the real Chicago crime boss Larner.If you ask me,that’s just too much….either way,when the book was ready to go to press, the Miami Herald announced that Hyman”Hy”Larner aka “Red”Larner had died of natural causes on October 12, 2002, and was going to be buried in Skokie, Ill.Funny thing was when Corbitt’s book came out The Central Intelligence Agency or the CIA immediately assaulted the book, "The allegations about the CIA are a potpourri of yarns that don't bear any resemblance to reality," said Mark Mansfield, a spokesman for the CIA.I say its funny because the organization usually ignores allegations like these but who knows?!Maybe Corbitt’s book did reveal something that made the CIA a little bit nervous?!

Hyman Larner died at the age of 87 and was buried in a crypt in Waukegan,Illionis.He was convicted only once in his whole life(which was a very small conviction) and never opened his mouth.In his prime time he made a lot of money and had many connections,both in the underworld and in the upper world also.One thing is for sure that Larner was the last one of the underworld’s big leaugues that took a lot of the Outfit’s dark secrets and its history to his grave.


This article is completed from various info's that can be found on the internet.cheers

another great summary, thanks again toodoped!

No problem mickey2.Thanks for your support

I bet that one armed bandit machine in that picture would be worth around $10,000 right now...

another great one toodoped. must say thank you again!

Great post, Toodoped. Excellent reading.

Here's a newspaper article from 1959 about some of the "young bloods" who were unhappy with Giancana. These guys were always complaining regardless of who was running the Outfit. The same thing happened to Ricca, Accardo Aiuppa, etc.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1959/...crime-syndicate

I don't get it, what motive would giacanna family have in saying giacanna tooked orders from hyman larner??? Larner probally made it up in the ranks to be an respected advisor, but I don't see more than that

Hyman was a well respected advisor and his Reuben was to die for good ol hymie ryhmie

@DiLorenzo i whould love to have that old slot machine in my living room

@Binnie_Coll thanks for your support buddy.By the way when im gonna post my book, belive me you can save your money because its goin to be free

@GaryMartin excelent article my friend.You always find some good infos.By the way i never knew that Accardo was pushed by Sam for the top position...or maybe its a reporters mistake?!What do you think?

@thebigfella as i stated before they wanted to make the book more interesting...for higher sales ofcourse.Heres few statements about the book,and if you ask me they are pure fantasy:

"Larner called on President Lyndon Johnson to maneuver Sam Giancana out of prison on a contempt of court charge."

"As Corbitt advanced in organized crime circles under the patronage of mob boss Giancana, he ultimately began to learn the secret of how and why the Chicago mob was able to operate so freely. It was the partnership with the Mossad — running guns to Israel — that gave the Chicago mob its “get out of jail free” card as far as U.S. government officials were concerned"

"But the arrangement between Giancana and Larner came to an end. Larner, it appears, was almost certainly behind Giancana’s 1975 murder."

"According to Corbitt, he is now certain that many of Larner’s activities were very much a central part of the now-infamous Iran-contra affair that rocked the Reagan- Bush administration during the 1980s."

"The heart of the book is Corbitt's description of Hy Larner, who along with Meyer Lansky controlled organized crime in the U.S.The real Chicago mob boss was Hyman ‘Hy’ Larner, a Zionist like Lansky."

Nice Work Toodoped i read corbitt book too i never even know about Hy larner until i read that book Hy larner was very powerful but was never Sam Giancana boss i agree with you. He was The Chicago outfits Top adviser And Money Maker Well one of them. When is your book coming out Can you do Info on Gus Alex and Jackie Cerone There needs to Be a Book on them two for sure . Keep up the Good Work Toodoped Top Man

another great post by Toodoped. Please expand on the Stone Park-Leg's aspect when you get a chance.

@rickydelta thanks man.

@realnoname ill see what i can do.Stone Park had some inetersting faces,for example Centracchio...

@toodoped


giancana was one of many front bosses for paul ricca

not saying that u think hy larner called the outfit

Thats true cookcounty.But there was a short time period when Ricca had too much legal problems and Giancana started calling his own shots, beside Accardo's advices

On another note...


Do you guys think Lansky was uki? Last name fits the bill and lots of Jews were born in Ukraine back then.

Nevermind... He was born in Belarus which is basically Ukraine so I answered my question myself.

the end result of that is in a picture with giancana laying on the floor

True

Here's an earlier entry from a member of the forum (StonePark). Very good post and consistent with everything I've read. Other forum members weigh in with comments.

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=741893#Post741893

Yeah I remember that thread GaryMartin.Too bad StonePark doesn't post anymore

He is a smart guy. Very informed. He's still around.....I hope.