Take your time fellas, mix yourself a drink, grab a snack or light a cigarette, kick back and enjoy the story…

Cosa Nostra, also known as the Italian Mafia around the world, is made mostly of Sicilian criminals, or at least members of Italian descent, who make their vows to the crime syndicate in a secret initiation ceremonies. Cosa Nostra imbues its members with a collective mentality and requires unquestioned commitment and dedication, a value underscored by calling each clan a “Family.” Most people think that the word Mafia in general is a Sicilian body of organized crime that arrived in different parts of the world during the great wave of southern Italian immigration at the beginning of the 20th century. Well things were different, both in Italy and the United States for example. There are also other crime groups, such as the Camorra in the region of Campania and this criminal group is also very old as the Sicilian Mafia and in the old days many members of its ranks also migrated around the world and formed their own criminal enterprises. For example in the U.S. these two crime groups sometimes fought each other for profits and territories and sometimes they made alliances and became the most profitable and fearful crime syndicates. During the early 1930’s in New York the Italian mob was dominated by five crime families who formed a national crime commission of all the Italian crime bosses around the country and operated under a single rule which was the making of the all mighty dollar. The members of these so-called newly formed secret societies were mostly from Sicilian descent but they also had members from the Southern region in Italy such as Calabria and Campania.


But not all crime syndicates from around the country operated in the same form. For example, the mob in Chicago during the same era operated under one organization or crime family with only one boss. If you look at it like this, the Chicago mob was very similar to the New York crime families because they also had different crime chieftains from different territories such as the West Side, the Loop and South Side, Chicago Heights and the North Side, but all of these crime bosses answered to only one boss, who was considered as the city’s “boss of bosses.” The boss of Chicago also sat on the national crime commission table and had his own vote. Often the Italian crime families made business with crime lords from other ethnicities, such as Irish, Greek and Jewish. These crime lords never sat on the national Mafia commission and were never considered as members but they only made business together with the Italians or in other words, they were considered as associates of the crime families. But the difference in Chicago was that these non-Italian crime lords operated on high positions within the organization since the beginning and they also had their votes and the power to issue “contracts” on another man’s life. The big shots of this so-called non-Italian faction of the Chicago mob mostly stayed in the background, meaning that their criminal activities were less visible to the public and government. Some of them started their criminal careers as hitmen or did the “dirty work” but later their main role was financial backing, making connections in labor managements and politics, and also maintaining contacts with members of the judiciary and local law enforcement officials. Among the members of the Chicago mob, these men were known as the “connection guys” or “fixers”. The corrupt people within the government became merely tools of these mysterious and shadowy puppet masters who came from the corridors of Chicago’s underworld. Most of these guys were smooth talkers and mild mannered, polite and innocent looking, but as Shakespeare once said ‘The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman.” They disguised themselves as gentlemen and managed to infiltrate and corrupt the highest places of society which was their main goal. “The perfect gentleman is going to whoo you and seduce you into the mindset that he is the perfect gentleman.”- Unknown person.


This is a story about a mobster from Greek descent who went by the name of Gus Alex. Alex was the protégé of few of the most infamous Chicago mob bosses and was very intelligent person who worked as a liaison between the crime bosses and respectable individuals from the political and business world. Because of these connections he became a very valuable Outfit member and also a real “Teflon” gangster for his ability to elude the law for many years. He even shared the top position within the Italian Chicago mob and made his mark as one of the most shrewd and profitable members of that organization. In fact, he was to all that was dark and his legend beguiled the legendary. He was the mystery man who to some was evil incarnate, and to others, the nicest guy in the world. But in the end, like any other mob boss, he was undone by his own underlings.


The first connection between the Greek and Italian people began almost 3000 years ago, or 800 BC, when the Greeks began the first mass colonization of Sicily and southern peninsular Italy. The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of the boot of Italy, Magna Graecia (Latin, "Greater Greece"), since it was so densely inhabited by Greeks. Through the centuries, most of the Greek inhabitants of Southern Italy became entirely Italianized during the Roman Empire and later during the Middle Ages. This is due to the fact that the "traffic" between southern Italy and the Greek mainland never entirely stopped. The Greek immigration continued in the 1890s and early 20th century, due largely to economic opportunity in the U.S. This time the immigration was caused by the hardships of Ottoman rule and the Balkan Wars. Most of these immigrants that came from southern Greece, especially from the Peloponnesian provinces of Laconia and Arcadia, settled in New Jersey, New York, Florida, Louisiana and Illinois.


In this case in Chicago, by the late 1900’s many Greek immigrants settled on the city’s Near West Side, South Side, South Shore and the Loop which was on the Near South Side. Despite coming from predominantly agrarian backgrounds, Greek immigrants moved quickly into mercantile activities. During this period the Greeks were among the foremost restaurant owners, ice cream manufacturers, florists, and fruit/vegetable merchants in Chicago and operated more than 10,000 stores, 500 of them in the Loop, with aggregate sales of $2 million per day. One-third of the wholesale business in Chicago markets in South Water and Randolph Streets was conducted with Greek merchants. Also some of the shops and stores appeared in the Woodlawn district, mainly along 63rd Street between Wentworth and Cottage Grove.


Cottage Groove near 63rd Street at the beginning of the 20th century


Nikolaos “Nick” Alex (born 1874?) and his wife Christina Cipra Alex (born 1877) arrived from the Island of Crete and settled on 2050 Cottage Grove Avenue on Chicago’s Near South Side. They had seven children, including four girls and four sons, all born in the U.S. The oldest one of the four sons was James, then Sam born 1907, the third George born in 1908, and Gust “Gus” Alex born on April Fools or April 1, 1916 (according to Alex’s personal claims, he was born in 1914). Their father Nick worked as a cook in a local restaurant and their mother stayed at home and took care of her children. The Alex family we're not kings or princes. Nick and Christina came with few dollars in their pockets so they saved their hard earned money so they can educate their children. They realized that the streets of Chicago were not paved with gold and saw the every day crime that was committed by the younger hoodlums, so they decided that their children should at least receive a proper education. Their youngest son Gus attended the Ward Public School from 1920 to 1923 and then he left to a Greek School and later again returned to Ward which he attended until 1928. Gus was a quiet kid and excellent learner who managed to stay away from trouble for at least some time, but his older brother Sam was a different story.


By the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, during Prohibition and the era of Al Capone, story goes that Sam “RIP” Alex obtained his start in Chicago’s underworld under Willie Heeney, who was a chief of staff for Capone’s security and also one of his main guys in the Cicero area. It wasn’t an easy job to work for a guy like Heeney, because besides gambling, this guy was also involved in narcotics and many murders. But Heeney was also a guy who was well known through out Chicago’s underworld, which means that he had a lot of connections. So besides bootlegging, Heeney and the boys also controlled many gambling dens and were also involved in the labor rackets. In fact the term “racketeering” was invented by these hoodlums, who eventually began to assert a role in these kinds of collusive business environments. So the honest union officials began receiving threats of violence and demands for cash. These victims had no protection because they knew that the cops regularly colluded with the criminal gangs and so in such settings some union officials began making arrangements with the racketeers. One of the most often arrangement was the appointing gang members or high level mob associates on high level union jobs.


Alex’s territory, which was Chicago’s South Side and the Loop, was mostly dominated by various non-Italian crime lords who were in alliance with the Italian mob. In general these gangs were known as the Capone mob. Criminal barons such as Jake Guzik, Sam Hunt and Bruno Roti Sr. were the bosses of those areas who controlled all vice rackets. Roti was the boss of the Near South Side, Hunt was the boss of the South Side and Guzik oversaw the Loop. Some sources say that during that period the main mob boss of the whole area was Phil D’Andrea, a powerful Capone mobster. So in 1932, the South Side faction of the Capone mob was attempting to dominate the unions. The main lieutenants that were involved in the labor rackets were Murray Humphreys and Sam Alex from the South Side, William White and William O’Donnell from the West Side, Willie Heeney and Claude Maddox from Cicero, and other union racketeers such as William Maloney, Marcus Looney and Charles Fischetti. The crew had an idea of organizing an “outlaw” union known as the Trucking and Transportation exchange or commonly called TNT. Their purpose was to force the truck owners to pay tribute and obtain membership and then through the control of union members as well as truck owners set out to dominate the coal industry and other industries. They controlled the racket by placing their own people within the union. For example, William Maloney worked as the union’s secretary and Sam Alex and Marcus Looney worked as business agents. Alex and Looney were involved in another labor racket with the help of Michael J. Galvin, a long time leader of “outlaw” labor unions with strong political connections. Galvin controlled three unions, including the ice wagon drivers, the bag and baggage drivers, and the truck drivers. Together the three unions had over 2,000 members who paid from $3 to $5 a month dues. But the thing was that only a small part of this huge monthly income went to Galvin. Most of the cash went into the hands of Alex and Looney who were receiving regular monthly remittances. Sam Alex also became the general business manager of the Excavator Drivers Union, Local 731. Alex and the rest of the crew took over $200.000 (or 3 million dollars in today’s money) yearly tribute from the honest union men. By just controlling one third of the truck drivers around Chicago, the crew managed to control one third of the whole industry in the city which meant more and more money for the gangsters.


In November 1932, Alex, Looney, Humphreys, White, Fischetti and three other racketeers were arrested in a Loop office building before the elections that year. Unfortunately in those days, in some U.S. cities such as Chicago voter fraud has been so common and so pervasive for so long that it was more likely to be a punch line than a felony. It's safe to say that when it came to elections, Chicago had a reputation, a history, or, if we're honest about it – a problem. The gangsters had been charged with conspiracy to collect campaign funds to influence an election unlawfully. Also during the arrest, the cops found two guns in the possession of White and Fischetti. Then the wheels of mob justice began turning when on December 19, all of the defendants were freed of conspiracy charges in Felony court when Assistant State's Attorney Russell W. Root said proof of the charges was lacking. But the charges of carrying concealed weapons, however, remained against White and Fischetti and they were ordered to trial on January 3, 1933, and as usual later they were also released on the “lack of evidences.”


As Sam Alex was rising up in the underworld, his younger brothers George and Gus started to follow their older brother’s footsteps. By now George Alex worked as a city employee in the hoisting engineers union which was secretly controlled by his brother Sam. George worked with two other hoodlums known as James Cuba and James Clark. Cuba, who had a very long police record, worked as a president of the hoisting engineers, and Clark was the vice president. In May, 1933, 300 hundred truckers and members of the outlaw Trucking and Transportation union decided to join the legitimate International Brotherhood of Teamsters. So the leaders of the outlaw union Marcus Looney and Sam Alex, in order to prevent the rebels, ordered George Alex, James Cuba and James Clark to make more than few telephone calls as an attempt to intimidate the rebels into staying with the outlaw unit. So they were calling the men and demanded that they should report at the union’s headquarters at 637 South Ashland Avenue “if they wanted to stay alive." This information came to the chief of the states attorney’s police force Captain Daniel Gilbert so he decided to inform the Chief of Detectives William Schoemaker. Together they issued an arrest warrant for 10 individuals who were involved in the shakedown, including the Alex brothers, Looney, William White, William O’Donnell and also John Sheridan and Milton Booth Jr. who were the front men for the hoodlums in the outlaw teamster organization. The first men that got arrested were George Alex, James Cuba and James Clark and together they were locked up at Pekin Inn station. They were held until their attorney Joseph Harrington went before the Acting Chief Justice and asked for their release on writs of habeas corpus. The application for the writs was dismissed and the police released the prisoners after questioning.


Back in 1930, the youngest brother Gus dropped out of high school after finishing two years and with the help of his family’s reputation he had no problem getting himself involved with street gangs. But unlike his older brothers, Gus was mostly involved with younger criminals from Italian descent since the Near South Side was controlled by the Italians. One of Bruno Roti’s headquarters was a tavern known as Phil’s Liquors which was located at 26th Street and Wentworth Avenue. Also by this time Gus’ father Nick Alex became a close friend of Roti and together they opened a restaurant at 2604 South Wentworth. The place quickly transformed into a mob hangout. Nick was a great cook so a lot of gangsters like Jake Guzik and Sam Hunt visited the place so they can taste Nick’s specialities. Nick became so close with these individuals and he even received a mob nickname “Little Nick” and that’s why he was considered by government agents as mob associate. So now, young Gus entered the world of crime which was headed by the finest criminals in Chicago. One of Roti’s best “soldiers” was James Catuara, who made terror on Chicago’s Near South Side. Catuara was a specialist in making bombs, same as his mentor Bruno, who was known as the “Bomber”. At the time Catuara lived in the same neighbourhood as the Alex brothers and belonged to a gang which was formed mostly by young Italian hoodlums such as Frank Passaro, Joe Controtno, Frank Caruso, Louis Paletto, Nick Biondi, Frank Locascio, Rocco DeStefano, Frank Sortino a.k.a. Frank Ferraro and his older brother John, so Gus joined this criminal group and became its youngest member. By this time the gang was mostly involved in numerous robberies and they were also used as “muscle for hire” in numerous labor disputes. One of Alex’s closest friends was Frank Ferraro who worked as a truck driver for a florist shop which was owned by the Alex family.


Chicago’s South Side during the 1920’s


Besides his education, which was a rare thing in those days, and his gracefully thin body form, Gus Alex was known as a very aggressive individual. On September 24, 1933, 19 year old Alex together with Ferraro, Biondi and Paletto were having a party in a saloon at 132 West 31st street, when suddenly one of the hoodlums got into an argument with another guest in the saloon who went by the name of Matthew Gorman. Gorman also had a few guys around him so the argument quickly turned into a brawl in which more than a score of men participated. When the “smoke cleared” Alex and the rest of the gang left the place but returned several hours later armed with three shotguns and one revolver. But again Gorman and the rest of his crew returned with the same force by pulling out their guns. It was a very tough situation for the innocent people who stood around while shaking in their boots. Suddenly a police squad emerged in the place while dozen men and women started out of three exits of the tavern with their hands raised. Police Sergeant Chris Callahan ran to a side entrance and announced himself as a policeman. When Gorman saw the cop, he raised his gun and started shooting at him. So the policeman quickly returned fire and managed to kill Gorman instantly. After the shooting the police then arrested twenty men and women who had been in the place and took them to the Cottage Grove station for questioning. The police seized Alex and his crew as they entered their car which was parked in front of the saloon. In the car they found three sawed off shotguns. This is the first arrest of Gus Alex and the first information for the cops about Alex being a part of Chicago’s underworld. Eventually they were released because during this period, the mob had infiltrated the police force and judicial system to its highest levels and Gus was the baby boy brother of Capone member Sam Alex.


While Gus was slowly entering the world of organized crime, his older brother Sam continued hitting the newspaper headlines. In 1934 the government and the State's Attorney Thomas J. Courtney declared war against the crooked labor leaders, racketeers and extortionists in Chicago, so 17 defendants were named in the indictment which grew out of the investigation of the activities of the Trucking and Transportation exchange, including Sam Alex, William White, Murray Humphreys, Marcus Looney and Charles Fischetti. The trial lasted for more then two months and in the end, as expected, all 17 men won an acquittal. The prosecution knew that it was very hard for these men to be sent to prison but it was determined to keep up the warfare on these so-called menaces to honest labor unions and managed to bring them before the eyes of the public.


From left to right: Murray “Curley” Humphries, William “Jack Three-fingered” White, Sam “Rip” Alex, Charles Ficchetti, William O'Donnell, Joseph Marino, Marcus Looney and Tom Cullen.


But the problem was that the government pressure didn’t bother the racketeers so they continued with their violent tactics over the truckers that refused to join their outlaw unions. On February 27, 1935, two men were wounded during the disputes. One was George Segall who was fired upon as he was driving his truck at 18th street and Western Avenue. He was struck in the left thigh. The second victim was Fred Hoffenkamp who was shot in front of 1325 West 47th street. In each instance the assailants, with fast automobiles, drove away after the shooting. The attackers were professionals because they have always successfully aimed at the legs of the drivers and none of whom has been struck in the body or the head. At least six men were shot during the disputes on the orders of racketeers such as Sam Alex and so the government managed to gather all the forces of the detective bureau and the states attorney’s police force against the reign of terrorism. Following the prosecutor’s command, the police raided two headquarters of the outlaw union and seized 20 men, all of whom were taken to the detective bureau and questioned by Assistant State's Attorney Charles S. Dougherty and Chief of Detectives John L. Sullivan. Among those arrested were Looney’s and Alex’ front men Milton Booth Jr., the president of the union, John Evans, secretary-treasurer, and Edward McDermott, business agent. As usual, they all declared firmly that they knew nothing about the shootings. Booth even said that the organization was poorly off and that there was no money available even to pay his own salary. He also added that his sole reward for heading the union was $10 a week paid him by the mob’s associate Michael Galvin, who by now was the chief of all the teamsters and unions in Chicago, outside the American Federation of Labor fold. The prosecutors knew that Galvin’s headquarters was at West Madison Street and that he shared his office together with Sam Alex and Marcus Looney, so they raided the place and managed to arrest 8 men but Galvin, Alex and Looney were nowhere to be found. Records of the Galvin group were seized, but these were found to be of a routine nature. So this meant that the gangsters managed to cover their tracks pretty well and the cops left empty handed. The cops gave another shot by raiding one more headquarters of the Chicago Truck Drivers union at 034 West Madison Street. The police had received information that an automobile from which coal drivers were fired on had been seen to stop there earlier in the day but as usual they found nothing. Even though the gangsters managed to escape the prosecutions, the simple pressure from the government had proved to be a big problem for the Galvin-Looney-Alex line up and that many of their once faithful members had been alienated by its seeming lack of success. The group once controlled eighteen prosperous unions and by now it had only four, none of which functioned smoothly.


Now the government’s main target became Michael Galvin and slowly became "too big a load to carry." Galvin’s biggest problem was the State's Attorney Thomas Courtney who felt huge personal hate towards Galvin because he believed that Galvin may have inspired the attack on his life on March 24, 1935, when eight gunmen fired at Courtney as he rode in an automobile, but miraculously he escaped unharmed. As additional info, according to some reports that in fact Galvin together with Sam Alex was behind the attempt and also young Gus Alex was one of the shooters. A few hours later, Courtney attended services at the Holy Name cathedral and noticed Galvin sitting in a pew near him. As the two men left the church, Courtney seized Galvin and said: "If you want to fight, I'll give you a fight.” Also in April 1935, Galvin was elected as Republican committeeman of the 27th ward, a river ward, and became a factional rival of State Representative James J. Adduci, who was a member of the newly formed Paul Ricca–Frank Nitti crime syndicate, also known as the Chicago Outfit. To make things worse, in 1936 Galvin reportedly stopped sending cash to his close associates and bosses Sam Alex and Marcus Looney. So now Alex and Looney realized that they had to get rid of their front man in order to take the heat of their backs and also to make an example. Previously Alex and Looney left Chicago but managed to send word to their underlings that Galvin had to go. On November 23, 1936, 54 years old Michael Galvin was assassinated by four men in an auto mobile, two of whom fired shotgun blasts at him as he was walking in front of 552 West Madison Street. In a “fast, nice, neat and clean procedure” the problem was solved. With this example we can see that during this period Sam Alex was one of the big shots in the newly formed Chicago crime organization, who had the power to issue a “contract” on another man’s life and at the same time, remained immune to the pressure from the law. But even with that Sam Alex decided to leave Chicago and bought himself a big farm in Cassopolis, Michigan. There also some reports saying that Sam Alex in fact was ordered by the mob bosses to get out of Chicago and stay out of the limelight which was formed by the press and the government, regarding the shooting of the states attorney and the killing of Galvin. In fact, the Chicago Crime Commission revealed information about Sam being very “nutty and unmanageable” and so he was exiled from Chicago. Anyways, his younger brothers George and Gus became his eyes and ears in Chicago’s underworld. This was the first big push for 22 year old Gus Alex because he inherited all of his brother’s contacts and shady business deals.

By now Gus Alex became more involved with his older brother’s associates such as James Cuba. On March 30, 1935, Gus was arrested in the company of Cuba, Frank Passaro and Joe Contorno. They were arrested at Gus’ home at 2604 South Wentworth for disorderly conduct. During the arrest the cops searched the house and found three revolvers that probably belonged to the gangsters. A month later the group was taken to trial and they were represented by a famous mob lawyer known as Thomas O’Grady. At the end of the trial the three gangsters were released for the “lack of evidences”. Even though James Cuba was known for his involvement in the union rackets together with the Alex brothers Sam and George, he also controlled a gang of robbers and Gus was one of its members. The gang worked like this…one of its members Frank Locascio frequented all the banks on Chicago’s South Side, Calumet City and even Hammond, Indiana and his job was to spot prospective victims, who were leaving the banks with large sums of money. After leaving the bank, the victims were fingered by Locascio and short time afterward they were robbed by Gus Alex, Frank Ferraro or other members of the gang. For example Barth Crowley, a retired policeman, was withdrawing money from the Pullman Bank when he was spotted by Locascio and later Crowley was robbed by an unknown criminal. Also Mrs. Mary Berilla, a widow, was leaving the Whiting bank with 51,000 when suddenly one gang member approached and at gun point took her money. Thomas McGrath, a messenger for the Merchants National Bank was robbed for $30,000 by two men. When the cops questioned McGrath about the identity of the robbers, he mentioned the name Gus Alex. Alex was arrested and was brought for identification but McGrath said that Alex bore a general resemblance to one of the robbers but could not be definite and so Alex was released. In just six weeks the gang managed more than 50 robberies in and out of Chicago and netted over $200,000 (or 3 million dollars in today’s money).


There are no official records about the other brothers, especially for Gus, being directly involved in any gangland slayings but we all know that one of the main rules in the mob in those days was that you have to kill a person so you can show your loyalty towards the organization. By “organization” I don’t mean only towards the big ones such as the Capone mob, but the same rule also applied to the smaller gangs. So with this next example, Gus Alex was about to wash his hands in blood or as the street term goes, to “make his bones.”


On September 30, 1937, Alex’s associate Frank Locascio was arrested on robbery charges. The cops found out that he was the finger man in numerous robberies of persons after they had withdrawn money from banks and that a gang of four men was also believed responsible. During the arrest Locascio tried to bribe the policemen with $140 but failed. Later he was taken from police custody and placed in the County jail. Now Locascio was very scared for his life because he knew that his associates suspected that he might talk to the cops and would want him dead. Before being booked for robbery and released in bond, Locascio confessed to more than 100 robberies made by the gang for which he acted as "spotter." With his help, the cops found an automobile, which was often used by the bandits, that contained masks and guns used in the hold-ups. The detective also uncovered a secret compartment in the machine that was operated by a concealed button. In it was secreted loot and firearms. In the end Locascio also told the cops that "If I am killed, James Cuba, Frank Ferraro and Gus Alex are the men to get." The easiest way to get killed by the mob is by spreading theories which usually include that the victim had become a government informant or was pocketing mob profits. In the mob world, the gangsters put a low value on human life so usually seven out of ten victims are killed under wrongful reasons and the other three guys are killed for “rightful” reasons according to mob standards. But this time the gangsters made the right decision because Locascio was really singing like a bird. So on October 19, 1937, Frank Locascio was assassinated by two men, who held handkerchiefs to their faces, in a delicatessen at 3020 South Wells street Chicago. Allegedly the two hitmen were Ferraro and Alex. Three days later, on October 22, 1937, Cuba, Alex and Ferraro were arrested regarding the murder of Locascio and the numerous robberies. First the three gangsters were brought in front of the victims of the robberies but out of fear, they failed to identify them. Later they were questioned regarding the murder but as usual they all kept their mouths shut and later were released, again, for the lack of evidences. After this, Alex had established a reputation as a well-respected, fearless individual with the guts to take another man’s life in order to protect the gangster code.


In the old days most of the gangsters had legitimate jobs and went to work almost every day and so Gus Alex started working as a truck driver for Antonio Munizzo, who was a powerful businessman with mob connections. Munizzo also had a son named Thomas “Tommy” Munizzo who since young age was involved in Chicago’s politics. Alex and Munizzo formed a close relationship which years later would become very profitable for both individuals. Alex became so close to the family that Munizzio’s mother Rose very often posted bonds for Alex and his associates such as Ferraro, whenever they got arrested during the 1930’s. After working for more than six months as a truck driver, Alex required a new job at the Urba Auto Sales and Service Company at 5100 West 25th Street in Cicero.


In 1939 began the election of an independent and capable judiciary in Chicago. But the word “independent” was placed just for show and to fool the ordinary people. During the election, Joseph Vinci, who was a close friend of Gus Alex and worked as a Democratic captain of the 52nd precinct in the 11th Ward, played a major role with the help of another Democratic captain Sam Orlando in submitting multiple ballots during the voting in which only one ballot per person was permitted. This illegal operation is also known as “ballot box stuffing”. Vinci came from a very well known and old South Side Mafia clan which was in close relationship with the Alex family for a very long time. On February 22, 1940, the pair was driving recklessly along Archer and Kostner avenues when suddenly a 65 year old man Adam Zabielski, who was crossing the street, was struck by the duo. None of the offenders came out of the car to see if the old man was still alive, but instead they sped off. Two days later, both men were arrested while standing near the automobile which was believed to have struck and fatally injured Zablelski. The duo was brought in on charges for man-slaughter, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, having no city vehicle license, using a fictitious license plate and driving without safety lane sticker. Alex was bailed out as usual by Rose Munizzo for the amount of $3,000. Vinci was also charged for vote frauds because of previous testimonies by few of his underlings. In March, 1940, the pair was brought to court. Alex’s lawyer argued that the car he was using had been borrowed from an auto dealer while he awaited delivery of a new model. By the end of the trial, on April 17, 1940, both men were freed of the charges by the Coroner’s jury. Four minor traffic charges against Alex were continued for two days to allow the police to verify his story. In the end Alex was found guilty only for driving an automobile bearing dealer’s license plates and half a dozen other charges against him were dismissed. As he left the court room, Alex announced that he would appeal the verdict even though it only cost him several hundred dollars. Later Vinci was also acquitted on the charges for vote fraud.


Gus “Slim” Alex


During the early 1940’s the two main illegal incomes for the Chicago mob were the labor rackets and the vast gambling operations. The “Big Four”, as they were called, which included Murray Humphreys and Danny Stanton on the South Side, Claude Maddox in Cicero and the mob’s alleged front boss Frank Nitti, controlled the labor rackets, and the gambling operations belonged to Sam Hunt and Jake Guzik on the South Side, Lawrence Mangano and Tony Accardo on the West Side and Ralph Capone and Louis Campagna in Cicero. Gus Alex was connected to most of these big time gangsters and so he easily ventured in both directions such as the labor and gambling operations. In 1942, Alex opened up his own gambling establishment at 2136 South Michigan Avenue. The place conducted many dice games, roulette wheels, and other gambling operations and became a big success. On April 12, 1943, the place was raided by the cops and arrested Alex. At the time of the raid, the cops found three roulette wheels, a crap table, and other valuable gambling equipment. On May 6, 1943, Alex was brought to court and was represented by two syndicate lawyers Sy Herr and George Bieber. These two guys fixed a lot cases, and I mean a lot. So the case was dismissed and all of the gambling equipment that was confiscated by the cops was ordered to be returned to Alex. Now that was power.


Also in 1943 Alex and two of Guzik’s lieutenants Hyman Levin and Gus Liebe, and two other gamblers and collectors Phillip Katz and Jim Mullen owned one of the most notorious gambling establishments called the Dome at 7466 West Irving Park Road. As for Alex by now he claimed employment at the 122 Club on 122 East Cermak Road and in just three years, Alex took a $40,000 salary. By now one of the biggest handbook operations in the Loop was handled by Malcolm Clarke. Clarke used to work for Guzik since the Capone days, and now he was one of Alex’s mentors. During this time the gambling operations were unquestionably closely associated with the top-ranking members of the syndicate. With this statement I want to say that during this period Alex was considered as one of the prime operators for the widely known Chicago Outfit. Another proof for that is during that period, the chief of the Cook County Highway Police who had Alex under surveillance at which time he visited the home of Tony Accardo, who by now was the next in line to take day to day operations for the jailed and real Outfit boss Paul Ricca.


But besides the gambling profits, Alex’s visits at the home of Accardo may’ve had another purpose. Danny Stanton, the union racketeer who enjoyed many years of wealth from his connections to the Outfit, got in an argument with Claude Maddox over the labor rackets. He also started to muscle in on another prominent racket and that’s was the numbers scheme which by now was controlled by Sam Hunt and Ralph Pierce. So one thing led to another and on May 5th 1943, just before midnight, Stanton and one of his closest associate Louis Dorman were assassinated by Outfit hitmen. But the troubles were not over because the brother-in-law of Stanton, Robert Bock was very much alive and continued to make problems. On October 31, 1943, Bock was heavily wounded by a shotgun blast as he stepped into his car near his home. While in hospital, Bock insisted he did not recognize his assailants and had no idea why he was shot. At first the cops arrested all of the late Danny Stanton’s enemies such as William Niemoth and James Fawcett, but almost a year later the cops received another information that Gus Alex might’ve been also involved in the shooting. So on November 2, 1944, Alex was arrested and was brought in for questioning. As usual, 31 year old Alex kept his mouth shut and the cops didn’t have any real evidences to lock him up so he was subsequently released.


On September 9, 1946, Gus Alex was taken for questioning regarding the shooting and later poisoning of the late James Ragen, the guy who owned the number one racing service out west known as the Continental Press, which serviced thousands of bookies between Chicago and Los Angeles. The only thing which is why the cops called Alex in, it’s because the truck which was used in the shooting of Ragen was reported stolen in Berrien Springs, Michigan which was also the place where the Alex brothers owned a farm. Alex arrived at the police station accompanied by mob lawyer Mike Brodkin, and they were “welcomed” by Police Chief Walter Storms. First Chief Storms called upon the FBI and asked them if they wanted to take Alex for questioning. But the feds refused so Storms, who obviously hated to do it by himself, walked in front of and looked him straight in the eyes. Alex, without introducing, said the Chief “I read in the newspapers that I’m wanted for questioning.” “That’s right!” agreed Chief Storms. “Well, here I am. I’m ready to stand a show up.” Storms then added “Ill take you up to the crime detection laboratory and have them give you a lie detector test.” Now this the point where many of the old time gangsters were very much afraid of the so-called “crime detectors” such as the lie detectors, truth serums and listening devices, because this was the era when all of these “spy equipments” were getting used by the secret services and army forces. So there was always some fictional talk circling around about the government putting something in the water and then you tell the whole story. For example the story when Alex’s mentor Jake Guzik was also called in for questioning regarding the problems with Ragen. When the cops asked Guzik to take the lie detector, he immediately replied “Captain, what’s the use of kidding ourselves?! If I took a lie test, 30 of the biggest men in Chicago would be diving out of high story windows and I’d have to hit myself in the head”. Minutes later he faked a heart attack and one of the cops handed him a glass of water and cracked a joke about putting some truth serum in it. Guzik recovered quickly and refused the glass of water, however few hours later he was released. These guys were afraid from these things like vampires from garlic and crosses. So when Storms told Alex to take the lie tests, he protested “Ill do anything but that! You can call witnesses to identify me.” Storms laughed and said “I can just see anybody identifying you. Ill let your lawyer be with you during the test. And for the record, what are you doing now?” Alex replied “Selling beer.” Storms then attacked with his next question on “I hear you’re pretty close to Guzik and also to Murray Humphreys, I hear.” “I don’t want any part of those fellows!” Alex again protested. “Where’s your brother Sam?” Storms asked. “He’s working behind a plow on a farm in Michigan, I forget his address.” Alex came to reply. Storms then added that “This was very important because the truck that was used in the shooting of Ragen was called stolen in that same area.” Alex kept quiet regarding the last statement and Storms ordered “Take him to the lockup!” So this was the time when Alex’s lawyer Mike Brodkin acted and all parties went before Chief Justice Harold Ward in the Criminal Court. Just ten minutes later, Alex was again a free man because the cops had no process on which to hold him.


In the following years Alex was a suspect in numerous mob hits and kidnappings but the idea came mostly because of his close association with Accardo and Guzik. The main hitmen during this period were Lenny Patrick, Dave Yaras and William Block from the Lawndale area and who were also 100% involved in the Ragen shooting, the three Doms (Dominic Nuccio, Brancato and DiBella) from the North Side, and Charles Nicoletti and Phil Alderisio, the Caifano brothers, Leonard and Marshall, and Sam Battaglia from the West Side. Of course there were other hitmen too but these four or five hit teams were involved in most of the high profile gangland slayings during this period. Most of these guys were overseen by Sam Giancana, a known West Side hoodlum and Battaglia, a close associate of Giancana. We really don’t have any real evidence or conviction of Alex ever being a killer but my personal opinion is that he might’ve been directly involved in one or two killings. In general he wasn’t a serial killer like his “friends” from the west and north sides of the city and he was certainly involved in making of the logistics in few mob hits.


By now Alex’s dirty business was under the rule of Jake Guzik and because of his father’s close and long time association to Guzik, Alex was given the chance to receive ”money making street knowledge” from one of the shrewdest criminals in Chicago. Guzik often stayed at the Continental Hotel (later known as the Sheraton Hotel) and Alex stayed in the next room, close to his associate. Since Guzik made it clear to the rest of the organization that any time Alex requested anything or left a message, it was to be treated as though Guzik himself had spoken. In other words, Alex became Guzik’s voice, eyes and ears. My opinion is that this was another huge push for Alex’s criminal career because Guzik was a boss who was mostly interested in making very important connections in the upper world and also making money through illegal operations, such as gambling and prostitution. He was one of the rare criminals who made it to the top without the help of a gun. He wasn’t very much interested in narcotics and loan sharking, which according to him were dirty rackets where mostly violence was used. He also hated murder but when it came to his money, sometimes he broke his own rules.


For example in 1947, Vincent Bozic was a South Side businessman who was involved in the candy and sugar business. Bozic was making a lot of money but he had a big gambling problem which brought him to his demise. Because of his role as degenerate gambler, he was in constant debt to the Guzik-Alex group and wasn’t returning a dime. So Guzik had to make an example by giving the “contract” to Alex. On August 2, 1947, Bozic sat on the front steps of his house at 3348 South Union Avenue while chatting with his brother-in-law Tony Kalbic. Suddenly two men got out of a car and walked near the steps and fired two times from their shotguns, fatally injuring Bozic. Kalbic remained uninjured while the assassins sped off with their car. Bozic was taken to he St. Bernard’s Hospital and on his death bed he told Kalbic that Gus Alex was responsible for the shooting. But Bozic also advised his brother-in-law that he shouldn’t mention Alex’s name to the cops because if he did so, he would be killed also. However, after the death of Bozic, Kalbic told the investigators about who was responsible for the murder. Soon Alex was brought to the police station and later was taken to State’s Attorney office at 26th Street and California Avenue in Chicago, for further questioning, however a writ of habeas corpus was filed for Alex in less then an hour and the judge gave the order that Alex was to be returned to 19th Police District in order for Kalbic to identify Alex as the killer of Bozic. After viewing of Alex, Kalbic stated that he was unable to identify him as having been responsible for the murder. Maybe Kalbic really thought about it and finally realized that he should stop talking and denied to testify against the Chicago Outfit because he would’ve jeopardized himself and all of his family members, including relatives and even their pets. So Alex was thereafter released, again.


Even if Alex was ever found guilty, he still had big chances in getting easily out of jail because his mentor had all the needed connections for doing such “miracles”. Guzik was a powerful guy who spread a lot of his influence around Chicago. He was a “criminal innovator”. Decade later, his prime associate would be recorded by a government listening device saying that after Prohibition, Guzik was the one who served as a lead man into the union racketeering and gambling businesses. Also the main power that he had was the control over the First Ward in Chicago. He had all of the politicians in his back pocket, a big share of gambling interests in and out of Chicago and also few prostitution rings here and there just to maintain his old family business. Guzik even influenced the Police commissioners who in turn ordered the removal of many police records which belonged to many high profile Outfit members including Joey Glimco, Gus Alex, Sam Hunt, Ross Prio, Joe Fusco and Jack Cerone. Such removals were granted in cases where there was no evidence in the records that the hoodlums had ever been convicted.


But Guzik was a very short guy with high pitched voice, very mild mannered with the brains for illegal business. So the problem was that Guzik was a man who could not physically defeat even an old lady so he knew who can be threatened and who cannot. But some times, blinded by power, people like Guzik forget who’s standing behind their threats and make them really scary. Guzik overlooked the fact that his true power came from the violent people within the organization that he belonged to. “Crime families” like the Chicago Outfit are based on violence. Whenever the guys with the “brains” needed to remove an obstacle on their path, they called upon their much violent associates. Usually these violent associates were the younger persons within the organization with skills and fantasies for cold blooded murders. But now times were different than the old Capone days when respect among members from a same crime organization was the main rule. Now the younger generation profited from their lack of respect. And the biggest mistake that the old guys like Guzik did was the highly criticising of the younger generations for their much violent tactics.


Jewish mob boss Jake “Shorty” Guzik


Proof for that is when back in April, 1943, Guzik got allegedly kidnapped by these “young turks” and was held for ransom. He was also allegedly told to relinquish some of his business operations. If this really happened then I truly believe that this maneuver was backed by some of the more violent Outfit’s bosses. So since that incident Guzik realized that his times as the old powerful boss were gone for good. Even though he still held power in the upper world, Guzik knew that he always will be somebody’s bi…uhhh…puppet. Don’t get me wrong, not all of the Outfit’s masterminds like Guzik were less violent. Guzik’s close associate Murray Humphreys was also mild mannered but in the old days he always used to carry a gun and also had a very violent history filled with numerous kidnappings and orchestrating murders. So the younger generation looked upon Humphreys as one of their “idols”. My point is that every mobster who can’t kill eventually is going to be limited in his progression inside the mob. It is a real mark of distinction in the mob to be exceptionally good in doing the “heavy work.” So when Guzik chose Gus Alex as his trusted lieutenant, he chose good because Alex grew up with these violent up and coming criminals such as Sam Giancana, Sam Battaglia or James Catuara. These guys were at least 6 or 7 years older than him but everyone knew about his family’s history and associations and also about his personal skills. So these guys regarded “Shotgun Gussie” or “Slim”, as he was called, as their younger and powerful associate. So from the moment when Guzik elevated Alex to a higher position, he bought himself protection from the up and coming gangsters but he also had to share everything that he had and earned with Alex. Some of that money was spread around Alex’s associates and Outfit bosses, and the rest was divided between Alex and his alleged boss. Some old reports say that Alex was chauffer and bodyguard for Guzik, which is wrong. The relation between Guzik and Alex was cold and strictly business. They rarely spent good times together and proof for that is the interview with Charles Guzik, Jake’s son. He said that during that period he almost saw every famous mobster from Chicago in his family’s house but never Gus Alex. Alex never came to Guzik’s parties or as a guest to his house. Maybe the cold relationship was based over the fact that Guzik was slowly been pushed out of the game but who knows?! The duo usually met at restaurants to talk business or they made business trips around the country. They usually met at Gino’s Italian Restaurant, because Alex loved Italian food, and talked strictly business. Alex was heavily regarded by the Italian community on Chicago’s South Side and he even knew few Italian words. But above all Guzik was a gangster who came from another era and so he had a huge respect towards his protégé. Since Guzik was fond for a fine art, he often gave Alex gifts in the form of expensive paintings from various famous artists.

I don’t think that Alex ever planned the takeover of Guzik’s empire, but he only took advantage from the situation that Guzik was in and reacted in the right time. This was the start of one of the key criminal careers in the Chicago Mob. Alex received connections to many union, gambling and prostitution operations and above all connections to the First Ward Democratic organization, which was “Outfit infested”. Previous Alex’s connection with the First Ward was a childhood friend from the Near South Side named Joseph Bagnola Logan. Bagnola added his third name “Logan” because that’s how identified himself in his early boxing days. After that he became a huge handbook operator and close associate of Alex in his gambling operations. But Bagnola for long time also had a huge protection from the law which was provided by the ancient corrupt Alderman Michael Kenna, who was the infamous and legendary committeeman of the First Ward in Chicago until his death in1946.


Infamous Alderman Michael Kenna


Although Bagnola was cool with Alex, he was opposed by Guzik and his lieutenant Hyman Levine. The problem was that few years back, Levine wanted to spread his gambling operations in Bagnola’s territory, who in turn asked for help from Alderman Kenna to block Levine from entering his operations. Bagnola was always known as independent operator and was never extorted by anyone. As for Levin, he was one of the syndicate men who successfully muscled the ancient gambling magnates Mont Tennes and Moe Annenberg out of their businesses, so Bagnola was a small fish for Levine. But when Kenna died, the only one who protected Bagnola from being murdered by the Guzik faction was Gus Alex, who in turn was the only one that took percentage from Bagnola’s operation from that point on. Later on Bagnola, Guzik and Alex all had interest in the Harvey Wrecking Company.


I believe that with associations like these, Alex had the ticket to easily walk free out of the police stations and courts. Alex even helped his brother George in beating the draft evasion case. The jury was easily fixed and George Alex was again a free man. At the end of the trial Judge John Barnes added “I have sat here for 15 years. This is the second worst miscarriage of justice I have seen” then he angrily pointed towards the jury and said “You and each of you is discharged from any further jury duty in this building.” George didn’t have the connections to bribe the jury, but his younger brother did. Alex also took care of Guzik’s cash, eventually for the other bosses also, as “financial courier”. Alex began travelling around the states, handling the cash by investing in legitimate businesses and hiding it in different banks and accounts. During that period former Capone associate and First Ward Committeeman Daniel Serritella allegedly once said that Gus Alex was one of the top flight Capone mob members.


In 1947, Alex was already employed at the Atlas Brewing Company which was divided between ex-bootlegger Joe Fusco and Alex’s mentor Jake Guzik. The company was controlled by the Chicago mob since the bootlegging days of John Torrio and Al Capone. Because of his reputation, Alex was selling more beer and other alcoholic beverages more than any other salesman in the Chicago area. At first he was paid flat salary of $400 a month by his own terms. He never asked for change of contract or increase of salary. In fact, he wanted to create an image of a modest businessman. But in just three years his monthly payment was raised up to $7,500. While he made deals with the restaurant owners, he also reminded them, the bartenders and the other personnel that they better vote a certain way in the coming Bartenders Union election or “the joint would be closed.” Alex even used the same beer in his own joint known as the Bluebird Tavern on 22nd Street between Wabash and Michigan. Also his name wasn’t registered in the company’s records and Alex received his salary with the help of the general manager of the company Stanley Stupner, old mob associate, and his personal expense account and therefore he was able to conceal the fact that Alex was employed by the company. In a police record dated October, 1947, Alex is described as one of the underworld figures directly involved in the Chicago Teamsters Union Local 705, an independent union with more than 6000 members. So if you consider the fact if Alex and his associates for example took $10 a month from each member of the union, they collected $60,000 each month or almost 700,000 dollars in today’s money. Alex was also directly involved in the Tile Setters Union in Chicago with over 1000 members.


In 1948, one of Guzik’s lieutenant and main handbook operator Hyman Levine suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed for the rest of his life. Also Malcolm Clarke retired to Caifornia, so now Alex took over Levin’s and Clark’s operations and tripled his income. But on March 18, 1948, Gus Alex was devastated of the bad news that his father Nick Alex passed away. It was a huge and lavish funeral. Mountains of lavish floral pieces crammed Coletta’s Undertaking Parlors at 2600 Wentworth Avenue. At Mae Key’s Restaurant next door at 2604 Wentworth Avenue, everything was on the house. Many women wore mink and camel-hair coats, and light grey hats seemed almost like a uniform among the male mourners. Later it became a typical gangland affair with fifteen carloads of flowers. Just few of the biggest mob names that attended the funeral were Nick’s son Sam Alex, Jake Guzik, Sam Hunt, Bruno Roti, Ralph Pierce, Murray Humphreys, Claude Maddox and Eddie Vogel. This was a sign of big respect towards the Alex family, especially Gus Alex, who was rewarded with the presence of a big part of the Outfit’s “Royalty.” Alex always had high regards for his old man and later on each memorial day, the Alex family visited the grave of Nick Alex and together with a Greek priest, conducted a lengthy ceremony in honour of their husband, father and grandpa. Gus Alex never failed to pay homage to his father for the rest of his life.


By the end of 1948, Alex started spreading some of his gambling operations from South Side and the Loop, to the Cicero area. He got a job as a general manager at a famous club known as the Turf Nighclub. It was a place with all kinds of gamblers and also was filled with prostitutes. The club was secretly owned by Outfit bosses Louis Campagna, Claude Maddox and Maddox’s second in command Joseph Aiuppa. On December 12, 1948, one of Alex’s low level associates and ex-convict Tony Harris from the Cicero area was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, leaving the scene of an accident and being a hit and run driver. Driving east on Ohio Street, Wilfred Smith paused with his car at the intersection preparatory to making a right turn. Suddenly Harris bumped Smith's car from the rear. Smith completed his turn and parked at the west curb. Harris also made a right turn and rammed the left rear fender of Smith's car, after which he continued south in State St. Smith got out and examined the fender of his car. As he was standing in the street, Harris, who had circled the block, ran his car into Smith. In a matter of seconds Smith leaped to safety. Harris again rammed Smith's car, after which he backed into a taxicab and again drove away. Smith got up managed to obtain the license number of Harris' car, and while preparing to make the telephone call to the police, a man from the gathered crowd yelled “If I was you I wouldn't make that call. Eddie Sturch wouldn't like it." Eddie Sturch was a political lieutenant of Senator William J. Connors and also a known Chicago Outfit associate. At the East Chicago Av. police station, after Smith filed a complaint against Harris, the latter told him, "You'll hear from Cicero about this, Gus Alex will take care of you." I bet Smith felt disappointed for filling the complaint against Harris after hearing that last statement.


By 1950, Gus Alex shared his possessions and riches with a very beautiful blue-eyed bombshell named Marianne Ryan. They married few years earlier in a secret ceremony and some say they went to Santa Barbara, California and others to Las Vegas, Nevada. Marianne came from Schuyler, Nebraska somewhere around the mid 1940’s at the age of 19 and was employed as a Chicago’s professional fashion model. At first she worked as a top model at the Carson Pirie Scott and Company and later she transferred to the College Inn of the Sherman Hotel in Chicago where she also worked as a “model” but only during the evening hours. That’s where she met the love of her life, which was Gus. Alex had another nickname which was “handsome”, obviously because of his fine looks, expensive clothes and jewelry, such as the diamond ring on his small finger. It was a large diamond that appeared to be at least 3/8” in diameter. On March 29, 1950, Alex took his lovely wife together with his 84 year old mother, his two brothers Sam and George and their families, and all of his four sisters and their families, on a two month vacation in Yeraki, Greece. On their way back the huge family also visited Italy and France. Alex’s sister Dorothy also married Frank Climco, who was the brother of Joseph Glimco, a known Outfit union racketeer. It was a flawless connection between the two families. Joey Glimco was the President of Local 777 of the Taxicab Drivers Union, Local of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Joey started his criminal career as enforcer for Frank Nitti and later for Louis Campagna. During prohibition he worked as a gunman for protecting the beer trucks and later was given authority to control the poultry handlers union. This was all before he became a president of the taxicab union in the 1950’s. His brother Frank Glimco worked as a route supervisor for the Chicago Tribune. When the guys who owned the newspaper realized that Frank was related to Joey Glimco and Gus Alex, they immediately eliminated his employment. Alex had a very strict rule about not having any of his relatives engaged in criminal activities and so he pulled some strings and Frank was again employed as assistant in the Office of the City of Chicago.


In 1952, the Outfit bosses decided that they should place their own people, meaning members of the organization, on high positions within the political world. So they decided to make one of their experienced associate John D’Arco Sr. as Chicago Alderman and Chair of the First Ward Democratic Committee. The First Ward is the largest geographical ward in Chicago which includes not only the entire Loop, but also the downtown area of Chicago and the Near South Side as far as south as 31st Street and also the Near West Side. D’Arco was also the owner of the Anco Insurance Company and managed to receive all of the insurance business from all of the big buildings in the Chicago Loop area. But the real power behind D’Arco was Pasqualino Marchone a.k.a. Pat Marcy, member of the Chicago Outfit, who was the executive secretary of the First Ward, and his assistant Benjamin Jacobson. Jacobson publicly bragged “I am the fixer in the First Ward and I’ve been the fixer in the First Ward for 34 years.” Marcy took orders from the Ricca-Accardo-Guzik syndicate and Murray Humphreys, Frank Ferraro, Gus Alex or Ralph Pierce were the people who carried the bosses messages to Marcy. With the help of D’Arco and Marcy, the rest of the “band” like Guzik, Humphreys and Alex gained access to all of the corrupt government officials and made sure that things ran smoothly. But most importantly, both D’Arco and Marcy took care of the judicial elections and so the big shots in the Chicago Outfit were mostly out of the courts than inside. Both Marcy and D’Arco enjoyed their lavish and powerful lifestyle. They rubbed shoulders with famous politicians and state senators and at the same time conspired with underworld figures who took Marcy’s advices quite seriously. Through Alex, his buddy from the old days Frank Ferraro, and Ralph Pierce, the connection guys like Guzik, Humphreys, D’Arco and Marcy controlled all of the gambling, prostitution and extortion enterprises in the city’s First Ward and spread the cash all around the Outfit’s hierarchy. Marcy usually collected envelopes of cash previously collected by the Outfit’s enforcers and collectors, which represented payoffs to Alex and the bosses. After collecting the envelopes, Marcy counted the cash and turned it over to Ferraro.


John D’Arco Sr.


On November 24, 1953, Alex, Guzik and Humphreys had a meeting at their usual place which was the Celano Tailoring Shop at 620 North Michigan Avenue. Suddenly the cops invaded the place and started arresting people. Humphreys ran out of the back door but Guzik and Alex didn’t have the time to run towards the door so they hid and locked themselves in the fitting booths. They were found and arrested by the cops. Later they were questioned about the whereabouts of their other associates that attended the meeting. Both men answered that there was no one else and that they just tried some new suits in the fitting booths. As usual they were released. Both men had high connections in Chicago’s judicial system so it was no problem for them to walk away whenever they wanted to. To make things even better, the Democratic Ward Committeeman of the 11th Ward Richard J. Daley was elected as Mayor of Chicago in 1955. Daley was born in 1902 and grew up in heavily Irish American Bridgeport neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, where he continued to live his entire life and the best thing was that D’Arco was a very close friend of Daley. But besides D’Arco, both Alex and Frank Ferraro had another connection to Daley. Remember Tony Munizzo, who’s father was Alex’s employer as a truck driver?! Well now Munizzo was a personal aide to Mayor Daley and became known as the guy who ran the Mayor’s office. Munizzo obtained favours and even influenced the Mayor’s decisions regarding the Outfit’s gambling operations in Chicago. Alex and Munizzo secretly owned the 31 Excavation Company and obtained city contracts very easily and all the proceeds were directly pocketed by both associates with no actual work being done. Munizzo even contracted several other contractors to take some of his work on sub-contract basis. Even though Munizzo’s operation was a complete extortion, any sub-contractor who entered into business with him, received very little in the way of profit and the sub-contractor’s end of the business deal beard most of the risk if any investigation occurred.


While in Chicago, Alex always visited his mother Christine who lived in a lavish house at 9353 South Spaulding, Evergreen Park, for more than 20 years. By now Christine Alex was an old woman, or in other words, she was 78 years old, blind on one eye and saw very poorly and so that’s why she lived with two more elderly women from Greek descent. Christine barely spoke or wrote in English but her home was without a doubt the most expensive in the immediate area and was equipped with the most modern conveniences, including an electrical eye door. She was often visited by her three sons, including her oldest one James Alex. James was generally a nice guy who operated the Paris-Munger Landry on South Indiana Avenue, and gave a share from the proceedings to his baby brother. Their other brother George lived just two doors down from their mother’s apartment with his second wife and child. George and his son from the first marriage were on the payroll of the Chicago Sanitary District. George worked as $700 a month engineer at a juvenile home in Chicago so one day he was accused by a 16-year old call girl named Judy Kramer that he has beaten and threatened her while she was an inmate of the home. She told the authorities that the beating and threats were made on behalf of her exposure of secrets regarding a vice ring. George slapped her and warned her not to testify against Jimmy Allegretti or others. In reality, George Alex possibly was involved in a prostitution ring which was made of under aged girls and controlled by North Side mobster James Allegretti and probably by one of Alex’s underlings Louis Arger. Allegretti was known for making deals in buying and later selling under aged girls. Miss Kramer was removed from the Juvenile home and placed under a heavy police guard, while George Alex was arrested and questioned. George said that while he worked that same day, he didn't start until 4 p. m. and other employees said they didn't see Alex at the home at the time of the, alleged attack on the Kramer girl. George even took a lie test, which also showed that he was not involved. As for Allegretti, because of the girl’s testimony, he was arrested on a morals charge.


James “Jimmy the Monk” Allegretti


But Alex was a type of person who couldn’t stay in one place for a longer period because he was a travelling guy. He liked to travel probably because he wanted to escape from the terrible things that he witnessed on daily basis. So by the end of every month Alex would visit his older brother Sam at his huge farm in Cassopolis, Michigan and also delivered a fat envelope of cash as a sign of respect for the old timer. Sam Alex expanded his farm land with the help of his younger brother by investing huge sums of money in land and also investing in considerable amount of cattle. The farm was taken care of by two couples, one Greek and one German who also lived on the huge property. The farm even had its own private lake. Sam lived under different name known as Sam Taylor or Herbert Taylor. Sam’s neighbours did not know who he really was because he never directly engaged in any type of criminal activity and has never been arrested over there. He was highly regarded in the community and had a very good reputation. Sam lived quietly with his wife and they had no children but there was no reason for them not to love the other children from around the neighbourhood. With the huge desire for one day to have their own, Sam and his wife have done wonderful things for the kids in the neighbourhood. For example at Christmas time the couple had a practice of leaving huge boxes of toys at the doorsteps, “anonymously”, and when there was snow, Sam had the practise of hitching a sled to his tractor and taking children for rides around the school field. Since there’s not even one report for Sam’s involvement in any illegal operations during this period, I believe that Sam lived with the money that he took from the unions for over ten years ago but by now he was mostly financed by his younger brother Gus. But Sam wasn’t totally out of the game because he often gave business advices to his brother and in the end he usually took a cut from that same enterprise. When in Chicago, and besides visiting his relatives, Sam usually met with the Outfit’s leaders. There are many reports showing that Sam was seen at many mob owned casinos or other establishments around the country.


For example, during the mid 1950’s Sam visited an old mob legend known as Owen “Owney” Madden, a former New York mobster who was retired in Hot Springs. Madden owned a big gambling joint with 30 slot machines, three big crap tables and one roulette. It was a very fancy place, or as Sam put it “It was no bus stop…” and had no cash limits. The crap tables were so crowded and busy that it was very hard to get near them. Reason for this huge business was that at the time only two casinos were functioning in Hot Springs. Madden’s casino and another one which was named “The Southern Club”. After that Sam went to Chicago and told his brother about the beautiful place and also about the new bright idea. Hot Springs was a “clean” place which was considered as a “retirement home” for mobsters, so every illegal operation was done “under the radar”. Sam advised Gus that he and “old man” Guzik should pay a visit to Madden and talk business about spreading some of the Outfit’s gambling operations. So a Chicago mob delegation was formed by Gus Alex, Jake Guzik, Eddie Vogel and Murray Humphreys, and went for a meeting with Madden. These four guys had the power to take over a whole city with the skills for corruption, union racketeering, prostitution and vending machines. During this period the Chicago Outfit was one of the most powerful crime families in the country and so I don’t think that Madden refused the partnership. Plus Madden was backed by Frank Costello, the number one gambling boss from New York, who also had good business relationship with the boys from Chicago. In just few years the Chicago boys opened more than few gambling joints and also owned the Oaklawn Race Track. So the Alex brothers, Humphreys and other Outfit big shots such as James Allegretti had their own shares in the race track. In fact during this “unholy alliance”, Hot Springs has become one of the wealthiest, politically corrupt illegal gambling towns in the U.S. long before Las Vegas really started up.


Back in 1952 the Outfit executed policy king Teddy Roe in a gangland fashion, and completely took over the racket in the Chicago area. Now according to numerous reports, Roe was executed partly for refusing to share his policy racket, and partly because of retaliation for the Leonard Caifano murder. So Roe’s killing was probably orchestrated by the West Side Bloc, meaning Leonard’s younger brother Marshall Caifano, Sam Battaglia and Sam Giancana. In fact, Leonard’s murder became too personal for the ruthless ex-42 gang and so that’s why I believe that they had personal connection in the Roe murder. In other words, they were too violent and egotistical to just leave the job for someone else. But according to one FBI report, taken from the testimony of a confidential informant, Sam Alex was the one who was mainly involved in the logistics of the murder, by importing two killers from different cities, including New Orleans and St. Louis. To tell you the truth, the story holds water because there might’ve been big chances that the Outfit was afraid to send their own hitmen again after Roe, since he already killed one of theirs during the first attempt on his life. So if they sent people from the Chicago area again, chances were big that Roe could’ve recognized them for the second time and someone was going to get hurt for sure. For me personally, I think that there are big chances that the killers might’ve been from other cities but I don’t believe that Sam Alex was the main link…but since he was most of the time out of town and hang around with prominent hoodlums so who knows, right?!


Anyways, Guzik and Alex continued to spread the Outfit’s gambling web around the country by looking at Reno, Nevada. The main guy over there was Bill Graham, a casino owner and main gambling czar. The Outfit already had its influence in Reno since the 1930’s, but now Alex wanted to double the profits by opening new gambling operations. The Golden Bank Club was Reno's largest casino in the 1930's and 1940's which was owned by George Wingfield, William Harrah and Bill Graham. During the 1950’s Graham was often called to Chicago for meetings with Guzik and Alex. In fact Graham had a new partner in the casino which was John Drew, who was the Outfit’s guy in Nevada. After that Drew was the one who visited Chicago to get his instructions from Alex or Guzik.


In my previous article on Sam Battaglia, I talked about a situation where bosses like Bruno Roti placed themselves in a very dangerous situation with the younger up and coming generation. As a reminder, in 1953, Sam Hunt, Bruno Roti and Ross Prio wanted to take over the thriving Chicago Restaurant Association and its president the infamous Capone lawyer Abraham Teitelbaum and their enforcers for the scheme were Paul Labriola and Jimmy Weinberg. Then they sent Labriola to all of the area bosses around Chicago to inform them, and at the same time include them, in the scheme. But there was another scheme in which the West Side faction of the Outfit received a much lesser share than the rest of the factions. The three bosses advised Labriola that their names should be kept out of any conversation and if they wanted to send a message they should contact a courier of Sam Hunt. According to some sources, even Accardo secretly took a cut from the scheme. The only problem that the bosses had was by keeping the “double cross” cash only for themselves. Guzik and Humphreys were not informed about the operation or any other member of their crew. But the first guy who received the information about the double scheme was Alex because Labriola and Weinberg were not the kind of people who kept their mouths shut and revealed the information to one of their crew members Nick Kokenes. Kokenes was with the Labriola gang since the early 1940’s which was involved in many burglaries at the time. Back in 1944, one year after the kidnapping if Guzik, Kokenes was charged with the murder of Jens Larkin, who was one of Guzik’s collectors. In other words, Kokenes had quite a resume, and in this case the most important thing was that Alex was very close to Kokenes. Alex was the godfather of one of Kokene’s children. Out of jealousy Kokenes probably told Alex about the scheme. So Alex now had an ace up in his sleeve by holding such a valuable information. He knew that the West Side bloc and the South Side mob relied on each other and the Outfit did not need an internal conflict. The two groups were connected since the days of Joe Esposito and Jim Colosimo. So “somebody” sent a message to the “West Side Mafia Secretary” Sam Battaglia about the scheme. Battaglia called Labriola and Weinberg for a sit down just to see if the information was true. Then the duo made a huge mistake by threatening Battaglia with the information that behind their operation stood Roti and the organization. They thought that since Battaglia was from Sicilian origins, when hearing Roti’s name, he would back off. But they were wrong and this became a huge problem for the organization because if the West Side crew decided to go to war, all of the Outfit’s operations would be jeopardized. Men like Roti, Hunt and Prio were just too important for the organization and it would’ve been a shame if something happened to them. That’s when Alex received the role as a mediator between the factions. According to one statement, Weinberg personally asked Alex if he could smooth things over with the West Side crew. But he was swindled because the bosses made a final decision that Labriola and Weinberg were the only ones involved in the double cross and acted on their own. So my opinion is that Alex was the one who lured Labriola and Weinberg to their demise by organizing a non-existing sit down between the opposite factions. On March 15, 1954 the police found the two “sacrificial lambs” Paul Labriola and James Weinberg garrotted and stuffed together in a car trunk.

On May 30, 1955, the Chicago Outfit was dressed in black because one of the top members and truly respected boss Louis Campagna died suddenly of a heart attack. His funeral on South Harlem Avenue was a true Chicago mob gathering which was constantly covered by the media. Both Alex and Guzik attended the wake and confirmed to the public and government that they also belonged to this criminal brotherhood. No matter how smart were these old timers, just by showing their faces on these so-called mob funerals, they automatically confirmed that they belonged to this illegal secret society. Later the bosses realized that the funerals were no good and they started avoiding them. Almost two months later on July 7, 1955, another very influential mob boss who was known as Tony Capezio, the former boss of the Grand Avenue crew, also suddenly died from heart attack. Less than three hundred people attended his funeral, which was a very small number for a boss of his stature, and many of the big shots shun the funeral. The only big shot, who visited Capezio’s funeral, was Sam Giancana. But it will be too late because the old guys had too much “respect” for each other and so with one single mob funeral, they fast-forwarded their own demise. The deaths of Campagna and Capezio marked the beginning of the end of the so-called old guard.


The year of 1956 would also be a “black year” for the old guard because on February 21, Alex’s alleged mentor and financier Jake Guzik died of a sudden heart attack. Guzik was a legend in Chicago’s underworld who gave finesse to the Outfit’s operations. The funeral was attended by numerous politicians, lawyers, and gangsters from all around the country. Guzik was one of guys who witnessed the birth and formation of this infamous criminal organization and even though the guys knew that there was going to be a lot of media and government coverage on the funeral, they decided to pay their last respects to their mentor. Few of the most notables were Tony Accardo, the current boss, the Capone brothers Matt and Ralph, Murray Humphreys and Eddie Vogel, John D’Arco and Pat Marcy, Gus Alex and Frank Ferraro, Ralph Pierce and Lester Kruse, and also the infamous mob lawyers Michael Brodkin and George Beiber. Even though Alex always spoke well of Guzik, according to one confidential informant, after the death of Guzik, Alex in fact extorted Guzik’s family members. I can’t find any other source for this situation so by now ill take it as a speculation. After the death of Guzik, Humphreys became the boss of the “connection crew.” As a matter of fact, I believe that since the kidnapping of Guzik, Humphreys was the real boss. After his mentor passed away, Alex always bragged that if “Shorty” (nickname for Guzik) was still alive, he would’ve been always the first guest on his various festivities.


Anyways on August 19, 1956, Sam Hunt who was one of the last old time bosses from Chicago’s South Side, also died from a heart disease. In fact, the old guys were dropping like flies from heart failures mostly caused by the constant pressure from the criminal lives that they led. A year later Bruno Roti Sr. died and over 3,000 people attended his wake, including Gus and Sam Alex, Frank Ferraro, Frank Caruso and James Catuara. Roti Sr. was remembered as a legend around mob circles. When Phil D’Andrea went to jail for extortion back in 1943, Roti was the one who stepped as the Italian boss of the South Side. He was a very elusive criminal and was rarely seen in public. After the deaths of Roti and Hunt, Roti’s son-in-law Frank Caruso and Hunt’s protege Ralph Pierce were the ones who inherited their positions. Caruso wasn’t even a little bit powerful as his late father-in-law Roti Sr. was, but he grew up with Ferraro and Alex at the old neighbourhood and so he had the support and was easily elevated to a higher position. Now Caruso reported to Ferraro and also shared some of his operations with Chicago Heights mobster James Catuara. As for Ralph Pierce, he became one of the most powerful individuals in the Outfit and was close in stature to Gus Alex.


With Guzik’s death, Alex inherited another very important connection that will bring his operations on another level. This “connection” was named Sidney Korshak. Korshak grew up on Chicago South Side and later became a lawyer and 90 % of his clients were gangsters and racketeers. Back in the early 1940’s Korshak formed a partnership with a former Cook County inheritance-tax attorney and a former assistant attorney general of Illinois Harry Ash. Their offices were located at 100 North LaSalle, which was also the address of the First Ward Democratic headquarters. Korshak started his criminal career when he started working for Alex Louis Greenberg, the long time mob financier. Because of his mob connections, besides being lawyer, Korshak became the number one messenger for the Outfit’s hierarchy. When Korshak told somebody something, the individual opposite of Korshak knew that he was talking for the whole Chicago Outfit, and that was quite terrifying. But this situation was only for the people that were involved in the organization, as for the legitimate world and political elite Korshak resembled as a very powerful, influential and legit individual. Most of the people from the upper world didn’t know who Korshak really was. One day Korshak introduced Alex to a personal friend of his who went by the name of James Hoffa. Hoffa was a labor leader and the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which became the mob’s main financial supply. Alex became close friend of Hoffa and together they often visited the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. John O’Brien, who was a very influential member of the Teamsters Union, was also a long time friend of Alex. Together they grew up in the same neighbourhood on Chicago’s Near South Side. The Outfit’s main connection to Hoffa was labor racketeer Paul Dorfman who in fact was directly connected to Korshak, Humphreys and Alex. Paul and his son Allen owned an insurance firm in Chicago which dealt extensively with funds from the Teamster Union Locals welfare funds. Both Dorfman and Korshak were also used by Humphreys and Alex as negotiators in obtaining financial interests in numerous hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada.


Sidney Korshak


By the mid 1950’s both Korshak and Alex had another advantage which was Korshak’s brother Marshall who was an Illinois State Senator. From that point on Alex had claimed employment at the senator’s office for salary of $15,000 per year and senator Korshak always recommended Alex as a man of excellent financial responsibility. And the truth was that the Korshaks and Alex were very close. Usually at night the two couples visited the Whitehall Club or the Pump Room at the Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago. Alex and Korshak owned Fritzels, the bandbox on Randolph and Clark Street, the Prevue Club, and all the arcades on South State Street. In 1958, Alex received word that the McClellan Committee was preparing a subpoena for a public hearing on organized crime and so in the old fashioned way, Alex took his wife and went on the lam. While being pursued both by the committee and the FBI, Alex went on a luxury tour around the country. He took his wife’s maiden name and travelled as Mike Ryan. For ten whole months, Alex stayed in many luxurious places such as the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Mexico City, The Flamingo, Sands and Desert Inn hotels in Las Vegas, the baths at Desert Hot Springs, California or stayed on a huge yacht named “Miss Mary II” which moored in Jackson Park Harbor on Lake Michigan in Chicago. During his stay on the yacht, his daily meals were brought from the mob owned Fritzel’s Restaurant. In fact, the guy who took care of Alex was Sidney Korshak. Korshak also leased a beautiful villa to Alex in Palm Springs’ Ocotillo Lodge and also gave him a white Lincoln Continental Mark III convertible with license plates in Korshak’s name.


So the FBI got wind of the situation and questioned the Korshak brothers regarding their associations with Alex and his whereabouts. Both brothers gave the same answer by denying any direct associations with the suspect and that both brothers knew Alex from their wives associations with the suspect’s wife. Sidney’s wife Bernice Korshak also worked as a model and was close friend with Marianne Alex.


Marianne Alex and Bee Korshak


But the Korshak brothers blew their cover when during the interrogation they both referred to Alex as “Gussie”. The thing was that Alex was called “Gussie” or “Slim” only by his close associates. During the interview of Sidney Korshak, he allegedly told the feds that he would attempt to get word to Alex and that he should accept the subpoena. And that’s what Korshak really has done. He went to Alex and advised to take the subpoena because all of this pressure was becoming a real problem. A week later, Alex came back to Chicago where on July 22, 1958, at 6:50 p.m. he was observed by FBI agents. Alex was driving his black Mercedes- Benz at the intersection of Montrose Avenue and Marine Drive, approximately half a block from the Murray Hill Apartments. Alex was extremely cautious as to the possibility of surveillance, and carefully observed his surroundings. While looking in all directions, Alex drove towards the Murray Hill Apartments and as he arrived at the parking lot, a government car blocked his way. One agent approached Alex and asked him whether he was “Gus Alex.” Alex denied his identity, but the agent knew that he was lying and so he threw the subpoena in Alex’s lap. On July 31, at 10:30 a.m. Alex appeared before Senator John McClellan and Robert Kennedy in Washington. Alex dyed his hair gray at the temples to look older and wore custom-made oversized dark glasses. After almost a year long expensive chase for the elusive gangster, in the end Alex refused to answer almost all questions by taking the 5th Amendment. One of the senators, who clearly had a huge revolt towards the underworld scum, snarled at Alex and shouted “Turn around and face me, look straight ahead!” Alex sat like a grounded kid who was about to get the belt from the rubber hose. But the problem was that now Alex belonged to the famous group of gangsters, known nationwide. The McClellan Committee didn’t receive any information or at least any straight answer from these hoodlums, but it showed to the public that the underworld was quite real and nicely organized. And Kennedy knew that the mob was a parasite that operated mostly from the shadows and hated exposure.


Gus Alex in front of the Senate Committee


Alex


During this period the main power base for the Outfit was on the city’s West Side. The West Side Bloc, as they were called, ruled with the same power as the Ferraro and Alex faction. They controlled a vast gambling empire and had huge political protection, which was also called the West Side Bloc. But the thing was that the West Side faction of the Chicago mob was little more violent than the rest of the other factions. This faction has spread a lot of fear across the underworld. This is an organization based on violence and death so it meant nothing back then if you had all the political connections and huge money making operations but no kind of sense for violence. So the main rule was that usually the most shrewd person, but at the same time very violent, was on top of the organization. Proof for that were the recently new big names that appeared on the FBI charts. Prominent Chicago racketeers and murderers such as Fiore Buccieri, Sam Battaglia, Marshall Caifano, Sam DeStefano, Willie Daddano and Phil Alderisio, who showed such an aggressive force that made them unforgettably scary. In a situation where brutal force is the main rule, there’s less chances for fairness and honour. And so just to make things even better Sam Giancana replaced Accardo and became the new boss of the Chicago underworld which was a very good thing for Alex because they had much respect for each other. Giancana’s main connection guys from the non-Italian faction were Alex and Larner, while Humphreys oversaw Alex and also acted as the Outfit’s elder statesman and Larner’s boss Eddie Vogel oversaw all of the coin machine operations in and out of Chicago. Still when it came to voting on certain matters, Humphreys was the one who made the final decisions, not Alex or Larner. But by the end of the day, Humphreys was mostly impressed by Alex’s skills and devotion to the business. Here’s a small part of a wiretapped conversation between Humphreys and the Outfit’s boss Giancana, where they clearly expressed their satisfaction with Alex’s effectiveness:

HUMPHREYS: Is Gussie in town? That guy is like a gipsy, he goes all over. He goes from one spot to the other.

GIANCANA: And he always comes in unexpected. Ain’t nobody gonna set him up.

Through the years, Alex also developed this huge ego that made him felt as one of the most important people in the world. But Humphreys was still the boss and there were examples were he placed Alex back in order, like in this next wiretapped conversation which occurred between Humphreys, Alex and Godfrey:

ALEX: Does he know? Where did you see him, over at the Crossroads?

GODFREY: No.

ALEX: Forget it, I got work to do.

HUMPHREYS: Why don’t you cut it so you can relax a little bit and get this bullshit off your mind? Moe (Giancana) in town?

ALEX: Won’t be until tomorrow.

HUMPHREYS: Now listen here, you and I are gonna have to work in teamwork. Gonna have to work a little bit better. Now I’ll tell you. Don’t go around saying you’re smarter then I am cause we’re not supposed to be smarter than each other. We’re supposed to work like a team.

ALEX: I never told anybody. I never told anybody I’m smarter than you. Whoever told you that is a liar.

HUMPHREYS: You tell everybody Greeks are smarter than the Welsh.

ALEX: Smarter than you?

HUMPHREYS: No, now listen. I want to talk to you. We have to work in teamwork.


From the above conversation we can see that Humphreys was sometimes left out by Alex in the making of final decisions and moves on certain matters. Alex had to join in with Humphreys because he was one of the last witnesses of the old era who also witnessed the changing of the guard many times, so he knew that he should play along with the younger and up and coming members. Plus he was very smart and very generous person and so most of his operations relayed on the help from his underlings such as Alex. In fact, Humphreys had a point because besides them being the “connection guys”, they also acted as mediators between warring factions of the Chicago mob. And on top of that, they controlled their own legal and illegal operations. So they had to work like a team in order to achieve their main goals. This next conversation is between Humphreys and Ferraro but this time it’s regarding the conflicts within the organization and also their dissatisfaction of the Outfit’s top guy.

FERRARO: Yeah. Listen Teet’s (Sam Battaglia) outfit is really in an uproar. Moe (Sam Giancana) was telling me. I said, couldn’t you get them together? He said, no.

HUMPHREYS: They fighting each other?

FERRARO: Well there was…Marshall (Caifano) and Phil Alderisio…I told Moe…

HUMPHREYS: We’ll have to call them in…

FERRARO: …I said to Moe, I said, this happened last week. You should’ve taken care of that the same day.

HUMPHREYS: …they have to put the law down there. You can’t fuck up your own guys. You have to get it right there. Say, what is this? Get together. We don’t allow anything like that.

FERRARO: That’s right.

HUMPHREYS: …we’ll decide the policy, not you guys.

FERRARO: That’s right.

HUMPHREYS: If there’s any dispute, you come to us. That’s what we’re here for.

FERRARO: They almost came to blows.

HUMPHREYS: There’s only one boss and that’s you guys, and you’ve got to say, listen, this is it. I don’t want to hear… you guys shake hands and go out of here as friends.

FERRARO: Find out who the wrong guy is, tell him you’re wrong, and that’s it. Now shake hands.

HUMPHREYS: That’s right. We don’t want to hear anymore of this, and don’t want to hear about you being sore at each other. You just say, this is it and they can tell by looking in your eyes, no more monkey business, you don’t have to be rough. Give them the rules, and that’s the way we want it. That was bound to happen, because you see, you get these guys a free hand, they’re rooting, then they get out, and they get more, and they think they’re big shots. I remember how it used to be in the old days, with us, when Al (Capone) used to run us guys all over. We trusted each other, see?

FERRARO: Yeah.

HUMPHREYS: With three or four guys together, you maybe don’t respect the clique, so they say, so what, and they go ahead and do it anyhow.

FERRARO: This is all one clique.

HUMPHREYS: I know it is.

FERRARO: I said, geez Moe, what the hell did you wait for so long?

HUMPHREYS: That’s the worst thing he can do. He must demand discipline. You have to tell them, they aren’t the musclemen, and if it needs muscle, we’ll do it, and if we want it done, we’ll tell the…not you guys.

FERRARO: I’m gonna find out if he cleared it with Teets. We’ve got no whole story.

HUMPHREYS: Teets turned it in, it got out of control on him.

FERRARO: Must have, sure.

HUMPHREYS: That’s happened a lot of times. This is where you show your…

FERRARO: Authority?

HUMPHREYS: Discipline.

FERRARO: Yeah, discipline.


From the above conversation we can clearly see that both Ferraro and Humphreys show their dissatisfaction of how terrible Giancana ruled over his men and how Battaglia have lost his control over his own crew. There was a certain problem between members of that crew such as Alderisio, Caifano and Albert Frabotta, over some contractor. So Giancana was blamed for the Outfit’s lack of discipline, and also his lack of interest in the Outfit’s internal affairs. So in the end Humphreys, Ferraro and Alex had to straight things up.


The Outfit’s “consigliere” Murray “Curley” Humphreys


Alex made business, played golf, went on family dinners and above all, obeyed Giancana but in reality, he had a lot of problems with his boss. Besides Giancana’s love affairs with famous girls, he also had a bad habit by also having love affairs with the wives or girlfriends of other made members of the Chicago Outfit. We all know that one of the main rules in La Cosa Nostra is, or was, that one made member is forbidden, with the penalty of death, to have a love affair with a woman that belongs to another made member of that same organization. It was among the Italians. But Giancana was the boss and he had the power to have “private moments” with anyone’s wife that he desired to and Alex’s job was to clean his boss’ “dirty laundry.” In fact, because of Giancana’s sex addiction, the problem went so big that even Tony Accardo had to take the role as arbiter. Story goes that Caifano had a beautiful blond bombshell for a wife named Darlene Caifano, and Giancana had public love affairs with his lieutenant’s wife. Giancana was such a crazy guy that he even gave $10,000 to Darlene to invest in Las Vegas casino. Even though everyone in the mob knew what was going on, still most of the time Caifano kept his mouth shut, but according to some reports, after a while, Caifano had lost his nerves. That’s when Alex, Ferraro and Accardo came on the scene and patched things up. Apparently Giancana stopped his affair with Darlene and Caifano swallowed all of his hatred for his boss and continued to operate like nothing ever happened. That’s why my opinion is that Giancana fully backed Alderisio and Frabotta in pushing away Caifano from the operation in the previous example and deliberately avoided the problem.


The most important things for the Chicago mob were its discipline and loyalty and without it, there was no organized crime. The most important thing for the bosses was to keep things quiet or under the radar. So if there wasn’t any crew such as the “connection guys”, the Outfit would’ve been broken into separate crime groups or “crime families”, same as the old days. But because of that “unholy alliance” between all of the crime bosses in Chicago, during this time the Outfit was considered the most powerful illegal organization in the country. Alex, Ferraro, Marcy and Humphreys were the individuals who formed the “heart” of the organization because they were the ones who put the grease on the turning wheels of the Chicago Outfit machine. If anyone of the top three bosses was sent to trail, they were the ones who constantly ran around finding and corrupting officials, implicated in the trials. And because of that, the Chicago mob was under constant government attack. But the government, as any other government in the world, mostly targeted the bosses of the syndicate which were Ricca, Accardo and Giancana. In the old days, and even today, everyone played the card “by cutting the head, the body dies,” well maybe that works in the legitimate world, but not in the Mafia. The boss is a guy who keeps the order among the members of the organization, takes a cut from every possible illegal and legal business that is made out there, and also makes the most important decisions that are previously consulted with his “administration.” Well that particular “administration” is the real power behind the boss because they control everything. So during this time, the boss was an individual who took the heat from the government for the rest of the organization. In the past all of the bosses, except for Accardo who almost went to jail in 1960’s, received long term convictions, including Capone, Nitti, Ricca and Campagna but the guys who had the organization in their own hands remained untouched. During the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, that specific group of the Outfit was immune and by the early 1960’s things haven’t quite changed in Chicago.


For example, in July, 1959, the Outfit’s oldest leader Paul Ricca was sent to three years in jail in Terre Haute, Indiana on charges of income tax evasion. Now check this out, before the trial, Humphreys and Alex apparently had a detective agency, which placed surveillance on practically all the jurors in the case in order to develop information. Even after the conviction, the “connections guys” were the ones who pulled the strings so Ricca can get an appeal. After two years Ricca won a fair trial, which was constantly visited by Alex himself. On October 22, 1961, Ricca won an appeal and was released on $5,000 bond. Also Tony Accardo was convicted of income tax evasion on November 11, 1960. He was sentenced to six years in prison and was fined $15,000. Later the conviction was overturned by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the trial was affected by derogatory stories in the press about Accardo's role in the crime syndicate. Again the “connection guys” played their role in obtaining Accardo’s freedom. There are many FBI reports with wiretapped conversations between individuals such as Alex, Pierce and Humphreys about their involvement in the trials.

So now the government heat caused numerous cases of nervous breakdowns and total paranoia within the Chicago Outfit. One of the problems for the mob was that some of the top Outfit guys lived quite lavishly, because what’s the point of being a gangster if you don’t spend the money that you have made, right?! But with that comes a lot of heat from the government and to make things even “better”, Outfit boss Giancana was having his best “second time teenage years” in his life, by humping every possible famous broad that crossed his path. He was having quite flashy type of lifestyle in the wrong time when things were getting quite bad for the Outfit. Alex respected Giancana but he was very concerned due to the fact that Giancana was spending too much time outside the Chicago area and therefore was in no position to attend to his affairs as leader of the Outfit. In fact, Alex was very dissatisfied because he also wanted to spend as little time as possible in Chicago but the problem was that Giancana’s absence made it necessary for Alex to remain in Chicago more often than he desired. In reality, Alex tried to avoid the heat because by now he also had a lot of personal problems, such as his health and marriage, which also disrupted his business operations. This information comes from classified informant and the interesting thing is that it shows that Alex, as a member of the mob, had a very complicated “job” which was slowly destroying his life.


In 1960, Marianne Alex informed her husband that she wants a divorce. During the 15 years of their relationship, Marianne always kept a blind eye on Alex’s activities outside their home. But during the last few years, Marianne was slowly loosing her patience and was in constant quarrels with her husband. She wanted for Alex to get out of the rackets but she was constantly denied. Alex always denied to his wife that there’s no such thing as organized crime. She even received few beatings after accusing her husband for cheating. Once, Alex almost killed his wife after the attempt to leave him forever. Alex was a known “lover boy” around town and was always accompanied by beautiful female models. He was a good looking guy who dressed well and was a considered a real first-class gentleman.


By now 46 year old Alex was having few slight heart conditions and also suffered from insomnia, but the divorce caused further deterioration of his health. He also started having blood pressure problems, nervous breakdowns and all kinds of paranoia and so he received psychiatric treatment in a sanitarium in Connecticut. Because of his run-down feelings, Alex was advised by his doctor to “take it easy” and prescribed him pills known as “Thorazine” which was a tranquilizer with an effect for more than 12 hours. Alex was forced to re-arrange his daily routines and gave orders to his underlings, not to make any phone calls to his residence prior 9 a.m. According to one conversation between Alex and Ferraro, Alex advised that “I took thirteen vitamins. I don’t go nowhere, just to cross the street to eat, and lay on the couch. I bought two dollars worth of quarter cowboy books. I just laid around like a big dirty “n*gger.” I ate, slept and just rolled over.” In reality, Alex was a worrier who was easily upset when he received unwanted publicity. He loved to be well regarded by the individuals that he came in contact with but the bad publicity has affected his contacts in an unfavourable manner.


There are some reports saying that Alex faked his mental problems and in fact he bribed the doctors to make his medical report. Back in 1944, when Alex was drafted to join his fellow Americans in World War II, he pulled out a medical record which said that he suffered from psycho-neurosis and was mentally unstable to serve the army. Back then many gangsters avoided the army because the money schemes were at their home country, not in Europe. For a guy who operated on such a high level within the crime syndicate, psycho-neurosis, high blood pressure, insomnia and on top of that strong pills, were big problems that certainly would’ve destroyed his criminal career. But instead Alex maintained as a star among his fellow mobsters. Also in the end, beside the pills, the doctors usually advised Alex to travel more often and to getaway from the everyday headaches, which came very “handy” in this next example.


Since the mob was getting under attack on national level, the bosses needed to find a way to settle the Outfit’s illegal finances. In hard times, a gangster should always take care first of his huge dirty income. Now with all of these illegal operations the Chicago Outfit began stashing so much dirty cash that they had to find a way to hide it. After the numerous convictions for tax evasion and the gangsters realized that they were too vulnerable to a similar prosecution. To protect themselves, the Outfit transferred the illegal earnings to Swiss bank accounts, where anonymity was assured by the Swiss Banking Act in Switzerland. Reports say that by now most of the cash went first to the Federal Reserve of Chicago and from there was wired to banks in Switzerland, England, Italy, Panama and the Grand Caymans. On April 16, 1960, there was a meeting between Humphreys and Ferraro regarding the “ski trips.” Here’s the conversation:


HUMPHREYS: They’d say where did you get all the money to buy this? Well, I made it over there, right?

FERRARO: Well, you have to prove it, though.

HUMPHREYS: No, you don’t have to prove it. Why do you have to prove anything in Europe? It’s none of their business in Europe, as long as you made it in Europe, and you are a resident of Europe.

FERRARO: So, go over there and…

HUMPHREYS: Get a residence, get a house. You establish yourself as a resident, for over a year.

FERRARO: Then come back here say, with a hundred thousand dollars, and…

HUMPHREYS: Yeah, but you leave the money over there, you write a check here for the Swiss bank. After you’ve been there for a year. They ask you, where did you get this money, you never had it, you say, well, I made it over there. Who did you bank it with, that’s none of your business. I’m a resident over there. So they’re dead.

FERRARO: So, come over here with half a million show money, huh?

HUMPHREYS: Sure can, after a while. You don’t even have to have half a million, you don’t have to have the money over here, you have it there all the time. You write a check out there. That’s what the movie stars tell me. We’ll have to get the Greek (Gus Alex), and tell him to rent a house.

FERRARO: You gotta buy one, don’t you?

HUMPHREYS: No, rent it. What’s the difference? He can buy it, let’s say he buys it, and he stays there for over a year, then he comes back in. He can come back anytime. The same day. You go back and forth. He’s been away all this time, he might just as well have been in Switzerland, establish himself, isn’t that right?

FERRARO: Sure.


So when the bosses invested their dirty cash in Swiss banks, Alex’s job was to take up residence in that country and go back and forth to the U.S. and when home he would begin writing checks on the amount of money deposited in the Swiss bank. And if anyone asked about why Alex was travelling so often, he simply replied that his doctor told him to and if anyone also asked for a medical record, he also had that. It was a beautiful scheme. If Alex really lied to the government about his medical condition then he also swindled his superiors because they all really believed him. Here’s what Humphreys and one unknown individual had to say regarding Alex’s health:

HUMPHREYS: Listen, did Gussie (Alex) go away?

UNKNOWN: Yeah.

HUMPHREYS: He bothers me, you know? There’s something real wrong with that kid.

UNKNOWN: He’ll be all right.

HUMPHREYS: I was just talking to him and he gets hot right away, you know? The kid is worst off then we think he is. He is trying to put up a front.

UNKNOWN: Well, uh, you be patient, and have little more confidence, because, uh… you see we talked to doctors. It takes anywhere from six to nine months for that shit to get out of your system. Take that time in California. He says… the main thing he’s got to do is relax.

HUMPHREYS: Yeah, but we had those things before, you know? The only thing you can’t throw anything at them.

UNKOWN: …so I told him, go away for a while, and relax. So he comes back, and takes whatever they throw at him. Mooney (Giancana), see?

HUMPHREYS: Well, he fights everybody. See, everybody has the same thing, only we have it all day long, all the time. He can’t take it. It’s rough for those younger guys. I tell them for fucks sake, you guys don’t even know what it is.


By now two Outfit members were responsible for the illegal cash, one being Alex, and the other one was Hyman Larner. Larner was responsible for moving the Outfit’s money through South Florida to Panama, and Alex was responsible for the money route to Switzerland and also England and Italy. Alex used to call these travels “Ski trips”. But before going to Europe, Alex had one more thing to do. In March, 1961, his close friend Judge Daniel Covelli, who was a Criminal Court Judge in Chicago, needed to be elevated to the position of Federal Judge of Northern District, Illinois. So Alex called upon D’Arco and Marcy to send a message to Jake Arvey, who was the National Democratic Committeeman, to go and pressure Mayor Richard Daley to make the appointment for Covelli. One day the Mayor was visited by Arvey, D’Arco and Frank Chesrow, Chairman of the Board of Chicago Sanitary Commission. Chesrow filled one of the most important political positions and was also the head of the Sicilian Fraternal Society and godfather of one of Tony Accardo’s children and there were also rumours that he was somehow related to Frank Ferraro. In fact, Ferraro was the one who controlled Chesrow. Alex and Ferraro played a major role in the appointment of Covelli as Federal Judge who took only important cases and only for important members or associates of the Chicago Outfit. So Alex even more distanced himself from Covelli by placing the Outfit’s attorney group as overseers of Covelli. Attorneys George Bieber and Michael Brodkin accompanied Covelli on daily basis. Both Bieber and Brodkin took their orders from Alex and his old pal Sidney Korshak. This is the right example and definition of organized crime and its infiltration in the upper world. Chicago’s criminals controlled the judiciary and political systems in the city for almost a century and now Alex was the one who continued the “tradition.”


On one of the first travels to Zurich, Switzerland, Alex was accompanied by Outfit boss Tony Accardo and one corrupt police lieutenant known as Tony DeGrazio. In fact, the two Tonys were making a European tour of their own. So the trio decided to meet at the Baur Au Lach Hotel in Zurich. The local police in Zurich reported that Accardo and Alex had very mysterious huddle during their stay in the city. The Swiss authorities already had Alex on surveillance because they suspected him of being linked to a $100,000 jewelry robbery in St. Moritz, Switzerland. According to mob author Gus Russo in his book “The Outfit”, he talks about the same situation of Alex’s travels to Switzerland, but he also included that in fact Virginia Hill, the infamous mob moll and alleged spy for the Chicago mob who by now lived in Zurich, was the contact person over there and received the Outfit’s pension money and that Alex was the one who contacted her.


Zurich, Switzerland with the snowy mountains in the background


By now Alex was single, and hated to travel alone. So during their visits of the Playboy Club, Alex and his old friend and business associate Eddie Vogel met their new ladies. Arnold Morton, who was the general manager of the Playboy Club, was a very close friend of Alex so he always provided the gangsters with his best “products.” Alex’s new girlfriend was a hot blond German known as Suzanne Fueger, who was one of Playboy’s bunnies and Vogel also had a girlfriend from the same place, known as Peggy Strak. In fact, Vogel often gave Peggy to Alex for his own entertainment. As for Suzanne Fueger, she came from Munich, Germany, and was married with one Helmut Fueger. But the thing was that Helmut was just a regular guy, and Alex was something else. Alex was something which many young, wild and foolish beautiful girls always dreamed of. He bought Suzanne many expensive gifts, such as new model cars, jewelry and fur coats and also introduced her to Chicago’s crime elite. Suzanne was not like his ex-wife, because she loved the excitement and the adrenalin and also enjoyed in the spoils. She was extremely good looking and Alex was very proud of that.


So in December, 1962, Alex, together with his new paramour, began travelling extensively to Europe. The lovely pair usually first took an airplane to Zurich, Switzerland, and rented an apartment and from there they went skiing in St. Moritz for three weeks. After that, the pair rented a car and rode off to Italy. There they visited Rome, Milan and Naples and stayed for another three weeks. From Italy they took a boat and went to Greece and stayed in Athens for two weeks. On their way back, they took a flight from Athens to Genoa, Italy, where they rented another car and drove to Munich, Germany, where Suzanne visited her mother Elrose Fueger. After a week in Munich, they retuned to the U.S. Alex continued doing these travels for the next several years, and sometimes changed his routes to England or France. The FBI immediately informed the Interpol about Alex’s reputation and his constant travels and because of that Alex was on constant surveillance by the international police group. Also on some of the U.S. airports on few occasions Alex was strip searched by the custom agents because of the suspicion that he was serving as a mob courier. One time, under Alex’s shirt, the customs officers found a money belt containing $10,000 in cash. So the next few trips, Alex switched ports of entry in an effort to avoid the embarrassment of strip searches.


But after finishing one of his travels, Alex developed a problem. During their travel, the 47 year old gangster and the 25 year old blond always toted their own 16-millimeter movie camera across the continent, taking colour films all the way. In this case, Alex had assembled eight 50-foot rolls of film. When the pair took a flight back from Paris and landed in Boston, the U.S. customs officers promptly seized their movies. Alex howled protests and so did his lawyers after Alex’s arrival in Chicago, thus leaving his movies in the hands of the customs officers. So now the films were viewed by agents of several agencies, such as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Justice Department. The first shot that appeared in the movies was Alex in front of the Schloss Hotel, near St. Moritz in Switzerland. Also, in sleighs and on the ski slopes, Suzanne posed for the gangster cameraman. She was clad in one fur after another. The films showed Alex, a novice on skis, wobbling down gentle slopes in a red parka with a canary-yellow waistband. Later he appeared in baby blue ski togs to pet a St. Bernard dog. On another much funnier occasion, posing beside a horse-drawn sleigh, both Alex and the horse wore red. Alex topped his costume with a scarlet hat and a crimson pom-pom was fixed to the horse’s bridle. Another role of movies showed the pair in Rome, Italy. According to the IRS and Interpol, some mysterious strangers came to Rome’s Hotel Hassler to confer with Alex. Neither of the agencies was able to identify the men. After that the movies showed Alex and Suzanne on a steamer boat across the Adriatic and also showed their adventures in Greece.


So now rumours spread around that because of the movies, the government planned on preparing an income tax case against the pair. According to some reports from Interpol, for only two weeks, Alex shelled out more then $25,000 (or $200,000 in today’s money) during this specific European tour. Also the cost of furs and gems which were displayed on Suzanne, were estimated at another $20,000. Italian authorities also disclosed that for just few days, Alex went through $2,500.That’s why the federal investigators asked the question on where did Alex and Suzanne get the money from. The feds knew that Suzanne was unemployed and Alex had a year salary of $25,000 which still wasn’t enough for this kind of expenses. Alex’s lavish travels are at the best explained by Jimmy Celano, who one time accompanied him. Celano said that the trip from Chicago to Paris lasted for four and a half days that cost $3,100 for just one person and also added that Alex got him a suite with a sitting room and a bathroom as big as his office at the tailoring shop, all in marble. He then made the comment “Gus (Alex) had to buy me three cashmere sweaters going over.” After their tour in Paris, Celano said that they went to Rome, Italy, and visited a casino known as Rappola’s and spent a lot of cash. By now the “secret” was out, and Alex was revealed and humiliated within the Chicago Outfit as a gangster in danger of being snared on a tax rap with his own movie film. But luckily for Alex, on May 1, 1963, the government disclosed that he was not the subject of any tax evasion case and that there was no contemplated indictment. Also after three weeks, the government returned the movies to its rightful owner.


Even his older brother Sam had his own clashes with the government. Sam got himself in trouble with the postal authorities in Cassopolis, Michigan. Sam was threatening the postmaster and the security guards, because he suspected them for secretly checking his mail and he was probably right. But the problem was that he reacted too much violently so he got himself arrested by the police.


When in Chicago, Alex continued to show his skills in granting favours to key individuals. For example, Judge Joseph Wosik was backed and placed in judgeship through the efforts and financials of Alex himself. In fact, Wosik became judge in the traffic court after contributing the necessary funds to the Democratic Organization in Chicago. So now Alex had a connection to fix any traffic case that involved a member or associate of the Outfit. The same period Alex also attended a high profile mob meeting with the Outfit’s boss Sam Giancana at the Town Hotel in Cicero in room 207. Giancana told Alex to get in touch with John D’Arco and to order him in getting support for Sam Workman to win the alderman seat of the 43rd Ward on the Republican ticket. Alex and Giancana preferred to have one Republican and one Democrat in the ward to work together, thereby insuring both sides of the fence in case Alex’s candidate did not win. Besides granting favours in the upper world, Alex also pleased his fellow gangsters at any given time. Joe Fusco was an old Capone mobster who made a fortune during Prohibition and by now he still held a very lucrative liquor, wine and beer distribution network in Chicago. In the old days Fusco was one of the main money makers for the Capone mob, and because of that he still commanded huge respect among the younger generations such as Alex. But now Fusco had a problem with the Gallo Wine Company, which had threatened to take away Fusco’s account away and give it to the Moran Brothers distributorship. The Moran Brothers Company was headed by Mike Romano, a close associate to Paul Ricca and Tony Accardo. In reality, Romano was backed by the two bosses in the takeover of Fusco’s distributorship in Chicago. With nowhere else to go, Fusco reached to Alex through Jimmy Celano, and asked for help. After hearing the problem, Alex instructed Celano to contact Romano and to advise him to back off and under no circumstances Romano was to entertain any thoughts of taking the Gallo Wine account. As expected, Fusco continued with his distributorship in Chicago for the Gallo Company.


If we look at Humphrey’s organization as a separate “crime family” we will have him as boss of the family and Vogel, Alex, Pierce, Larner, Joseph Corngold, Francis Curry, Leonard Patrick and Lester Kruse as the capos. Alex, Pierce and Kruse controlled many of the handbook operations from Chicago’s South Side to Indiana, as far as Indianapolis. Kruse ate, breathed, and slept gambling. He and his father Arnold used to work for the gambling magnate Moe Annenberg. By now Kruse controlled everything illegal in Lake County and was also highly regarded by Chicago’s underworld because he also had a job for controlling some of the Las Vegas casino interests through one of his associates known as John Drew. Giancana, Battaglia, Ferraro, Humphreys, Alex and Kruse were the ones who carried on the negotiations with Cleveland mobster Moe Dalitz, regarding the Outfit’s interests or takeover on the Las Vegas casinos. Also on November 5 and 6, 1960, Dalitz had a meeting in Chicago with Giancana, Alex and Kruse regarding the Vegas interests. In the following years, Kruse even spread his gambling operations in the Dominican Republic by making frequent travels through Florida every two weeks. Over there Kruse established huge slot machine operation at the Hispaniola Hotel in Santo Domingo with the help Hy Larner and two of his associates Carmine Bastone and Albert Meo. Their main connection over there was Porfirio Rubirosa, the former Dominican Ambassador in the U.S. It was a perfectly legal operation, which draw the attention of mobsters from around the country including mob legends like New York’s Meyer Lansky, Tampa’s Santo Trafficante and Detroit’s Pete Licavoli. For example, Kruse together with one of Lansky’s close associates Walter Lenroot, held gambling interests in Jamaica also.


Leslie “Killer Kane” Kruse with his wife back in the 1940’s


Kruse also owned the Vernon Country Club in Deerfield, Illinois, which was a front for a huge gambling operation. He was also closely associated with Rocco Fischetti, Gus Liebe and William McGuire. McGuire and Liebe were chief lieutenants for Kruse in gambling and extortion and Fischetti was the boss of Chicago’s Southwest Side territory but he was slowly giving it away to Kruse. In fact, Fischetti was Kruse’s boss. Alex and Kruse knew each other since the 1940’s when they both gained notoriety as a result for the killing of a former police captain William Drury. Shortly before his death, Drury advised that he had seen Alex, “Kid Kane” (Les Kruse), Ralph Pierce and another hoodlum enter the office building before the shooting occurred. The duo also often travelled to business meetings in Miami, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada and they even played the stock market through a well known brokerage firm named Thompson and McKinnon.


Eddie Vogel controlled the coin machine business mainly in the Cicero and Melrose Park areas. In the old days he had the whole city for him and also had operations outside of his home town. According to police reports, back in the 1940’s Vogel’s coin machine business raked in a gross amount of $4,000,000 a year. So Vogel was like Humphreys and my opinion is that he also held high position within the non-Italian faction or the Outfit in general because he had his own crew, huge list of associates and generated a lot of cash. Plus he was one of the old timers who witnessed and even took part in the birth of the Capone mob. Vogel had a ruthless Sicilian collector under his rule who went by the name of Anselmo Pacini. In the old days even Alex himself temporary worked for Vogel as collector for slot machines around Fox Lake and Lake Zurich. By now Vogel was high up in the game and secretly controlled the Apex Cigarette Service Inc., Ajax Phonograph Company and also the Deluxe Cigarette Service Inc. So Alex was employed at the Ajax Phonograph Company and at the same time at the Deluxe Inc, for a double salary of $26,000 a year and plus he also received limitless cash flow from Vogel’s coin operations. Alex placed Vogel’s jukeboxes and cigarette vending machines, all around the First Ward and South Side in general. These machines were located primarily in mob-controlled restaurants, bars and shops. Alex, Vogel and Larner controlled numerous other cigarette vending companies such as the General Smokers Cigarette Service Inc., Preferred Cigarette Service and the Zenith Vending Company. The gangsters never performed any identifiable services for these companies but instead they drew heavy salaries, expenses and dividends.


The Jewish boss of the coin machine racket in Chicago, Edward “Eddie the Dutch” Vogel


Alex and Vogel became so close that they both lived in the same apartment building at 4300 North Marine Drive and also had beautiful female models under their arms. The two gangsters frequented the Postl’s Health Club at 188 West Randolph Street, on daily basis and the place became their main meeting spot with other gangsters such Phil Alderisio. Alex, Vogel and Alderisio shared few operations in the Cicero area. Both Alex and Vogel were very influential and often spent time at the First Commercial Bank on Chicago’s North Side. These guys acted like bankers and moved around as if they owned the place. They sat in the office of the bank’s president and most of the employees appeared to be frightened by these individuals. When Sam Alex came back to Chicago, he, his brother Gus and Vogel often had dinners at the Armoury Lounge, the infamous headquarters of Outfit boss Sam Giancana.


By now the main guys who literally controlled the multi-million dollar coin machine racket in Illinois, were Sam Giancana, Joe Mendino, Eddie Vogel, Gus Alex, Hyman Larner, Lester Kruse, Frank LaPorte, Francis Curry, Joey Aiuppa and the English brothers, Sam and Charles. By controlling the jukebox racket, the organization also got involved in bootlegging music records, which also happened to be a very lucrative business. They even created the Chicago Independent Amusement Association or the CIAA. They saw success because the association has grown steadily and their membership numbered almost 100 operators and distributors, which was over one third of the total industry in Chicago. Larner was placed as executive secretary and general manager of the association and he played it smart by changing his name into Thomas Waterfall. Every operator paid 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. So back in 1959, during the McClellan Committee, Larner was uncovered for what he really was and the same year the Chicago Independent Amusement Association broke up. But this was just a small sacrifice for the Outfit because the rest of the vast coin machine operations remained untouched. After that Larner became the main “muscle man” for Vogel and Alex. For example, Bill Vasios who was a coin machine operator started making trouble for the Outfit by taking over their spots. Larner called Vasios for a meeting and calmly told him to stop stealing cigarette machine locations from the General Smokers Cigarette Service Inc. or else. Larner wasn’t some big, strong and ruthless guy but instead he was a very gentile and polite individual, which made him more mysterious and scarier.


Hyman “Red” Larner

Also after the death of Claude Maddox, one of his underlings Joe Corngold became the top non-Italian member in the Cicero area. He and one of his top guys John Carr operated a large horse book operation. Corngold was also closely associates with the Italian faction of the Cicero area such as Joey Aiuppa, the boss of that area, and Robert Ansani. Corngold respected Alex very much because he was his protector in certain situations. Whenever Corngold had problems with some of Alex’s associates such as Louis Briatta or Frank Caruso, he always asked for Alex’s back up and he gladly received it…of course for the right share. But there was another big shot non-Italian member from the Cicero area known as John Varlas. Alex and Varlas knew each other for more than 20 years, since Varlas’ mother was from Greek descent and knew the Alex family. Some sources say that Varlas was the head of all Greek gambling operators from the Cicero area but by the end of the day, he reported to Alex. Varlas mainly operated a Greek dice and card game known as “Barbout”, in which people from Greek extraction used to bet heavily. As additional info, although he answered to Alex, but Varlas was also direct to Giancana because they were also very close friends.


Francis Curry was the Outfit’s boss in the Joliet area. He was a close friend of Paul Ricca and was involved with Alex in numerous gambling joints and coin machine operations. Back in the 1950’s Curry was a quite powerful individual but now he shared his interests with Alex, Kruse and Frank LaPorte.


Lenny Patrick was also a gambling operator, prominent extortionist and murderer from the Lawndale area and later spread his operations in Rogers Park. In Fact, Patrick together with Ross Prio and Les Kruse shared the profits from that area. Patrick and his partner Dave Yaras controlled a vast gambling and loan sharking operations in and out of Chicago. Yaras for example controlled few schemes in Miami and Dallas. But the thing was that these two guys also answered to both Alex and Battaglia because they belonged to the West Side Bloc. Yaras and Patrick controlled one of the most important factions of the Outfit and that was the Jewish faction which included men like Max Nettler, Ben Gagerman, Itzer Levinson, Benny Goldberg and William Block. Once when one of Alex’s guys started muscling in on Patrick’s territory and the two almost went to war. In the end they figured it out that in fact the guy who worked for Alex took his blessing straight from Giancana and Ross Prio, who in turn failed to notify both Alex and Patrick. In the end, Patrick backed off and the guy continued with his operations. Alex, Patrick and Larner were all partners in the Vencoa Music Company which was a branch of the Apex Amusement Corporation secretly owned by Vogel and Alex.


Another high profile figure was Hyman Godfrey who acted as a chauffer for the boss of this non-Italian faction and was also the group’s messenger and advisor. For example, Alex was such a paranoid individual who once observed a Ford automobile parked in close proximity to his headquarters at 620 South Michigan, and immediately took actions by writing down the license plate number and instructed Godfrey to go down to the police station and to obtain information on the owner of the car. Godfrey, upon returning to the headquarters, said that the registration was checked out to one E. P. Walters who resided at 936 South 11th Street in Maywood, Chicago. After that Alex again ordered Godfrey to make a contact with someone and to determine whether Walters owned such a car and what was he doing on Michigan Avenue. Godfrey later reported “He’s from Economical Tabulation. He works on the outside. Takes cabs and stuff like that. He might be waiting for his boss to come down. That figures.” To me this sounds quite funny but then again, this was one of Godfrey’s jobs.


Godfrey previously worked under Sam Hunt and by now was closely connected to Ralph Pierce in the policy racket on Chicago’s South Side. Pierce had an army of African-American lieutenants who ran the policy racket. They were absolutely necessary because they were the ones who gambled and they were the ones who collected the bets. What Pierce and the Outfit did was share in the profits. The policy racket on the South Side was very much different that the one on the West Side, where the African-American operators were often killed over the racket. It was a multi-million dollar racket, and that’s why Pierce was always considered as a very powerful individual within the Outfit. Florine Stevens and James Irving were the main African-American couple that controlled the policy racket for Pierce on Chicago’s South Side. Back in 1952, Guzik and Alex decided Irving was their man to operate the policy racket, and from then on Irving's stock climbed. Another major African-American duo in the policy racket was Andrew Hodo and Thomas Anderson. Later Hodo was pushed out from the policy racket by Anderson who in turn became the Outfit’s main associate on the South Side. Daniel Gaines was also a wealthy operator of the policy wheels and juke boxes and was also the owner of finance companies and other legitimate businesses. Sidney Korshak’s cousin Pepe Posner also controlled the policy racket for Pierce from 22nd Street to south which covered the Hyde Park section but one of Pierce’ prime lieutenants was Charles DiCaro. DiCaro’s brother Joseph was also a criminal who was involved in the narcotics racket with Jimmy Cordovano, Sam Garafolo and Jimmy Rancatore. Now Alex was one of the few rare people in the Outfit who really opposed drugs so if anything happened to DiCaro, Pierce was going to be held responsible. And something did happen because Joseph was arrested on narcotics charges and was facing jail term. So I don’t have any information on what really happened with the case, but all I know is that Joseph DiCaro was released from all charges and was exiled to Arizona. Pierce also had few more other guys that dealt with narcotics, such as Mario Garelli, and I personally believe that he was very much aware of that. Two members from Pierce’s crew mostly involved in the bookmaking operations were Ernest Sansone and Pasquale Amore, both old timers and long time associates.


Ralph Pierce


So the powerbase of the non-Italian faction of the Chicago Outfit was centered on the South Side. These non-Italian members always played a major role in making the Outfit one of the most powerful organized crime groups in the world. The Chicago Outfit did not call itself La Cosa Nostra. It does not strictly adhere to Italian tradition, as followed on the East Coast. It is not governed by 'Families', as they are so known in New York. In the old days there were no godfathers, no arcane rituals, and no oaths. What kept this group together were greed, power and money. The Chicago Outfit was an organized criminal enterprise that always had more vision than their New York counterparts, and has come to operate at all points west of Chicago in the United States. It followed basic management principles, with a hierarchical structure, top-down management and formalized rules and regulations for business transactions and conduct. The Outfit strived for a monopoly over legitimate and illegitimate industries through extortion, intimidation, bribery and violence at the highest levels of government and business. More so than any other criminal organization, the Chicago Outfit relied, and still relies, on protection from an 'unholy alliance' between the mob, corrupt police officers and corrupt public officials to survive and perpetuate itself. Without this cooperation, the Chicago Outfit would’ve cease to exist long time ago. And back in those days, the group that provided this so-called “protection” were Humphrey’s crew and the First Ward “administration.”


During the 1950’s and early 60’s, millions of dollars in “fix money” were given to numerous policemen of the Chicago Police Department for numerous favours received. The “fix money” was left in an envelope for the police officials, who in turn picked it up from a certain location and that each envelope was numbered which indicated the specific policeman to receive the envelope. Alex had his own courier and trusted individual known as Julius Epstein and his job was to drop the envelopes filled with cash at certain restaurants. In the early 1960’s, a confidential source for the FBI named several policemen that received these envelopes from Epstein during the past 8 years, including Deputy Commissioner of the Chicago Police Department Kyran Phalen, Police Captain James Hackett, Sergeant Pete Harlib, Sergeant John O’Shea, Sergeant Edward Kirby, Police Captain Rosey McLaughlin, Police Captain Harold Enright, Lieutenant Nick McLean and Captain Frank O’Sullivan. While looking at this list, I’m thinking that Alex and the Outfit had the whole police force in their back pocket. Also one of the main reasons for which the Outfit operated freely in the Loop area, was Police Captain Frank Pape. However, Pape would never pick up his envelopes in person and always sent some individual to make the collection for him. One of Pape’s main bagmen was Detective Brian Connelly who mostly handled the payoffs in the First District Police Department. Story goes that the reason for Pape’s continued popularity and influence in the police department was his willingness to split fix money with all of the other supervising captains, as well as some of his patrolmen. Later Pape became the chief of security at the race tracks. Also Colonel John Gottlieb, who was a close associate of Alex and Sidney Korshak, was instrumental in obtaining promotions on the Chicago Police Force for Howard and Charles Pierson, who were brothers on the Outfit’s payroll.


The Italian faction of Chicago’s Near South Side and the Loop, which was headed by Frank Ferraro, did all of the heavy work on the streets. In fact, Ferraro and Alex shared equal power and shrewdness when operating their illegal rackets. Everything that Ferraro controlled, Alex also controlled it in the same manner. The individuals that worked under Ferraro were the same individuals that worked under Alex also. According to a wiretapped conversation between Hyman Godfrey, Ross Prio, Charles English and Albert Frabotta, Godfrey stated that “I’ll tell you one thing, they’re two real guys to work that Frank (Ferraro) and Gus (Alex), as far as I’m concerned.” Also in its issue of June 10, 1959, the “Chicago Daily News” quoted Robert Kennedy as follows: “Alex and Ferraro are two of the most ruthless and vicious hoodlums with complete control over Chicago’s First Ward.” The South Side was the territory where the Outfit was born and so it was considered a very honourable thing to run things over there. But the only difference between the two was their stature within the Outfit because this was mostly Italian organization and the top spots were mostly reserved for the Italians. So this made Ferraro one scale over Alex in the Outfit’s hierarchy by being the Outfit’s Italian representative in the First Ward. But according to a wiretapped conversation between Lester Kruse and another individual, Ferraro was regarded as a very weak individual and that’s why his close associates Murray Humphreys and Gus Alex were the ones who held the real power in the First Ward. Ferraro was a modern mobster who avoided violence but worked only with the threat of it. If somebody crossed him, that individual usually surrendered his operations or worked for free. For example in this next recorded conversation we can see Ferraro’s style of taking action:

PHIL SCHER (former gambling operator for Ferraro in the Loop and current front man): … and on top of that Frank I’ve protected you, I’ve kept your name clean. I don’t think I deserve to get hit over the head for this.

FERRARO: I’m not going to hit you over the head Phil, I’m going to drive you right down the street.

SCHER: Go ahead, kill me if you want to.

FERRARO: I don’t go around killing people. I’ve got other ways of taking care of people.


Outfit boss of the First Ward Frank “Strongy” Ferraro


By now the three biggest and most influential crews of the Outfit were the North Side gang led by Ross Prio, the Melrose Park crew which was headed by Battaglia and Ferraro’s First Ward crew. Because of his authority over Alex and the First Ward politicians Marcy and D’Arco, Ferraro was regarded by the FBI as the number two guy in the Outfit. According to some new so-called informations, the FBI was wrong about Ferraro’s rank within the mob but one thing is for sure that the most important choices in the sphere of crime were made with the help of that crew. It wasn’t an easy job for the boss who at the same time controlled the political machine and the illegal operations in his own district. This was a separate crew or faction of the Chicago Outfit so as any other area bosses, Ferraro and Alex also had a small list of crew members under their rule, including Pat Marcy, or the “three Louie’s” Louis Tornabene, Louis Briatta and Louis Arger or another guy known as Charles Bertucci. Tornabene had two brothers involved in the rackets, Tony and Frank, and Briatta also had two brothers involved, Tom and Mike. They had other “made guys” from the South Side involved in their every day rackets, including Frank Caruso, James Catuara and Rocco Fischetti. This crew had a huge list of associates, mostly formed by front men, gambling operators, police captains, judges, aldermen, mayors and lawyers.


During the late 1950’s, two Chicago gangsters Louis Tornabene and Louis Arger, were the major players in maintaining Alex’s and Ferraro’s illegal operations on the streets of Chicago. Alex’s favourite cousin, Louis Arger was known as “Louie the Greek” and also “the Mayor of State Street” because he was considered a multi- millionaire by law enforcement for of his control over numerous strip joints in the vicinity of Van Buren and State Street. By now Arger and Alex were doing business together for more than 10 years. Back in the days, Arger was a small time store operator for his uncle and businessman James Savolos but later “graduated” in club operator on State Street and he had an Italian partner known as Joe Bovido and because of that partnership, the Italian faction of the Chicago Outfit started muscling in on Arger’s operation. Because of his uncle’s relations to the Alex family, Arger immediately went to see his cousin and complained about the situation. Alex managed to protect Arger but told him that he can operate freely in return for a fee of 20% from the strip joint, and so the relationship began to make profits.


By now there was more profit in these strip joints than there was in the old days of running houses of prostitution. It is a type of operation where exotic dancers are continuously performing strip tease dances and the customers who enter are being solicited for expensive drinks and to buy the company of girl entertainers through the purchase of these drinks. The girls are trained to sexually stimulate the customers to the point where they become drunk and not responsible for their acts. At this time they are generally stripped of their money and in many instances induced to write personal checks in large amounts. Every stripper and b-girl was forbidden to mention Arger’s name in any situation. The person who generally fronted the ownership of the strip joints was Leo Lenit or the Spudeas brothers and one of his prime operators in the Loop area was Bill Fishman. Arger’s headquarters was the Crossroads Restaurant which was located on Van Buren and State Street. Part owner of the restaurant was also George Hobson who was a former dice expert and professional cheat in crap games for Gus Alex. Few of the most prominent and lucrative joints were Eddie Foy’s Club at 754 South Wabash, Cabana Club at 514 South Wabash, Holiday Lounge, The Rouge, The Brass Rail at 52 West Randolph St., the Chez Parisian, the Paradise Arcade and the Kitten Lounge. Arger was making so much cash that he became Alex’s number one guy, and also constant companion on many travels. For example in 1960, Alex and Arger spent the Christmas holidays at the King Cole Hotel in Miami, Florida and together for $16,000 they purchased a 27-foot yacht.


Arger was also connected with the Rush Street crew or the Northsiders through a major pimp and extortionist known as Jimmy Allegretti who was second in command under Ross Prio. One day the pair accused each other of cheating. The issue involved payoffs to the cabdrivers who delivered loads of conventioneers with fat wallets to the strip-tease dens. Since the prostitution business in the Loop was mostly overseen by Alex, he acted as a mediator in the conflict. He called for a meeting between Allegretti and Arger at Valentino’s Restaurant on 15th East Ohio. Arger complained that Allegretti was giving $10 to the cabbies for each cargo of suckers, which was positively underhanded. Worse, it was inflation. Arger also added that it was twice as much as he was paying the taxi drivers on State Street. For the added $5, cabdrivers were hauling the marks out of the Loop to Allegretti’s joints on the North Side. With that extra fin, Allegretti was stealing Arger’s business. So Alex, who sat in front of them like a judge, ended the quarrel by fixing prices and penalties. He ruled that for one sucker, cabdrivers were to get $2. For each additional chump, the cabbies should receive an extra dollar up to a maximum of $5. Under no circumstances should the taxi payoff exceed $5. For the operators who violated Alex’s order were penalized by the Outfit. For the first offence, the fine was $1,000 and the second offenders were stripped of their holdings in the clip joints. Both Alex and Arger lived high on the extra cut of the so-called strip-tease profits, which was estimated at $1,800,000 per year.


But even though Alex defended Arger in certain situations, he still held a lot pressure over his cousin. Arger was endlessly advised and threatened by his boss, to keep his personnel in line and to keep less publicity over the strip joints. Because of that pressure, Arger threatened every stripper in his joints with lie tests, if he ever received message, or even rumour, about somebody getting information outside the strip club regarding the “indoor activities.” And if someone got caught, he or she would’ve been killed, pure and simple. Arger also told his “ladies” not to get emotional with the other employees or customers at the strip joints because these were places of business, not dating camps. As additional info, these white slavery institutions on Chicago’s South Side were in fact the legacy of the Guzik family, which lasted for over 50 years and was transferred from one mob generation to another.


Louis Tornabene operated a huge handbook operation on Polk and State Street and also a huge prostitution ring at the Santa Fe Hotel at 732 South State Street. He also controlled another huge handbook operation on the first floor of a hotel known as The Continental at1525 East 67th Street and in the late hours they were operating crap games. One of Tornabene’s main operators for floating crap games was a guy known as Edward Joyce. Tornabene also operated the Brass Rail Tavern at 52 West Randolph Street which was a front for gambling and prostitution. His front man was George Ossey and his younger son. Tornabene had three brothers, Alex, Tony and Frank. Alex was legit, Tony worked as a front man for Louis’ joints and Frank was heavily involved in the prostitution business. Tornabene also owned the Dauphin Hotel in Glenview, Cook County, Illinois, which was fronted by his old pal Ben Newman. Tornabene received racing information from the Racing Form Telegraph Room. He received calls regarding the races and usually had the results of the races before he accepted the bets from the “sucker bettors.” Tornabene also had a cousin who was a big shot in the New Orleans crime family, and had something to do with the “New Orleans wire” in connection with the race horse betting. So occasionally his cousin would’ve called from New Orleans in connection with large bets that have been placed over there and then Tornabene shared the cash with his cousin and the Outfit. In fact, this was a Chicago/New Orleans mob connection.


Even though they were his biggest money makers, both Tornabene and Arger were forbidden to mention Alex’s name in any conversation. He warned them that if they continued to blow their mouths off on the telephones, he was going to kill them. In fact, Alex wasn’t recognized by the government as a high ranking hoodlum until he became associated with those two guys. Alex was so into his rules, so if anyone broke them, it was the end for him. During this period Alex avoided any violence, so his usual punishment was by stripping his “soldiers” from their operations. For example, in 1960 rumours spread around that Tornabene was holding cash from Alex and the Outfit. Alex told Pat Marcy to go and see Tornabene at the Santa Fe Hotel and to determine whether the rumours were true. So Marcy uncovered the scheme and received information that Tornabene withheld approximately $75,000 from Alex by not posting all of the bets on his book. To make things worst, Tornabene also became involved in a gambling dispute in which he refused to pay to gambling profits to an unknown individual, who was very well connected to Sam Battaglia and also to the Genovese crime family in New York. When Tornabene heard about the connections, he had sent two of his enforcers with the intent to threaten the individual to take no further action regarding the gambling debt and crashed the individual’s office. So that’s when the “victim” decided to take the issue straight to Battaglia and his contacts in the “Big Apple.” So somebody from New York called Frank Ferraro and informed him about the situation, who in turn immediately called Alex. Ferraro allegedly told to one of his underlings “Warn him that we’re gonna to take action if we catch him holding out anymore.”


So Tornabene was called to an urgent meeting at the Normandy Bar and Cocktail Lounge where he was aggressively and minutely questioned by Ferraro and Alex. With the image of a naughty child who just crashed an expensive vase, Tornabene wasn’t able to give straight answers, did not have the facts and figures in his mind and was obviously lying, whereupon Alex became furious and called Tornabene a “degenerate gambler.” Alex hated people who drank booze, used drugs or gambled so he also advised Tornabene that “It’s a sucker’s game. You can’t win out there, you understand. We got the percentages rigged all in our favor. The longer you stay, the more you play, the more chances you got of losing. I don’t let nobody around me who gambles. A couple thousand, okay, but no gambling!”


Previously, Charles Bertucci chauffeured Tornabene to the meeting place and during the meeting he waited outside. Bertucci was a gambling operator who came through the ranks of the late mob boss Bruno Roti. In fact, Bertucci was related to Roti’s wife. By now Bertucci was also a business partner with Alex and Tornabene in numerous clubs and building projects. Now back to the story…so Ferraro walked out of the joint and interviewed Bertucci regarding the situation and again, he received no straight answer. On his way out, Alex told Tornabene that he’s going to fix the problem and added “Now you’re responsible for the guy, you understand?! I know that you hired people to shake him down, and now you should hire someone to protect him because if anything happens to him, it’s gonna be your end!” After that Alex arranged a meeting but none of the bosses showed up, but instead they sent their underlings. Battaglia’s and New York’s interests were represented by a guy named Pope, and Alex’s interests were represented by Charles Bertucci. Bertucci told Pope that any physical damage will be cashed to the victim, all of the material damage that had been done at the victim’s office will also be cashed and also the gambling debt will be taken care of. Bertucci also added that in fact Bennie Bernard, who was one of Tornabene’s enforcers, was the one who made the attack on his own. Bertucci also said that Alex sends his regards and that he personally will take care of Bernard. By solving the dispute, Alex became highly recommended by the New York mob, especially Richie Boiardo’s crew, a Genovese crime family faction from the Newark area.


Now Tornabene felt very nervous and started having cold sweats because he knew that Alex was going to strip him from every operation that he previously controlled. In fact Tornabene was a very lucky person by just staying alive after the dispute. If he had made the same mistakes under Fiore Buccieri, he would’ve been dead for sure. So now he had to come up with $85,000 and pay his debts. He owed $75,000 for the scheme and another $10,000 for the gambling dispute or in other words he owed to Alex $60,000, another $15,000 to Joey DiVarco, a known North Side Outfit big shot, and another $10,000 to a businessman known as Robert Stein. As additional info, Tornabene and DiVarco were first cousins since their mothers were sisters. So in the next few years Tornabene sold or burned, just to take the insurance money, almost every joint that he previously operated. So as it was expected, the remaining of Tornabene’s operations and his stature within the Outfit were taken over by his brother Tony and also Bertucci. Later Tornabene was convicted to a year in jail for a Federal Housing Administration matter, and after that he received 5 years probation. Also when he got out of jail, he also got out of the Outfit or any illegal operations.

Another major and also key player who worked under Alex and Ferraro was Louis Briatta, the guy who extorted every single business in the Loop, and also oversaw every gambling operation in that territory. He kept the wire rooms operation “locked down” to the point where every gambling bet was reported to him. Briatta and the Outfit used methods of securing a number of legally obtained telephones for the operations. One method was to go to a slum area and contact the owner and number of tenants in an apartment building and arrange to pay for the telephone bills of the persons contacted. Then they ran extensions off these phones to one room in the building which was the headquarters for the handbook operation. The persons in whose names the phones were listed were not allowed to use their phones between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., the time period when the tracks were running. In order to facilitate quick results of the races for the bookmakers, Briatta had his own men over the racetracks with two-way radios, who in turn relayed information to another person outside of the track next to a telephone who then called in the results immediately to the bookmaker’s headquarters for dissemination to other bookmakers around the state.


Briatta was in fact brother-in-law of Alderman John D’Arco and was also related to Mayor Daley. In fact, Daley’s son was the husband of Briatta’s daughter Mary. Briatta was the main “messenger” between Ferraro and D’Arco. For example, once Briatta handed to Ferraro $24,000 and of this amount, $13,000 was returned to Briatta and was instructed by Ferraro to take the money to D’Arco or Marcy. Briatta’s headquarters was a barber shop located at 1074 West Polk Street and his apartment was located just above the barber shop. He was often visited by his own three brothers and criminals associates Joe, Mike and Tom Briatta. Tom and Mike operated a tavern in the vicinity of Taylor and Halsted Street and also liquor store known as the Rush Liquors on Rush Street and Joe was very close to Pat Marcy. Because of their connections to Alderman D’Arco, all of the brothers were on the city’s payroll in high paying jobs but never showed up. For example, Louie received $684 for 22 days of work, Mike received $705, Tom received $646 and for Joe $500. Briatta’s job was to watch for the bookmakers who tried to cheat the Outfit by reporting only the loosing bets, thus the Outfit was in the position of sharing only their losses, not winnings. For example, one bookmaker known as John McDonald, a veteran betting commissioner, decided to stop sending the “cream” of his bets to the Outfit. So one day he was visited by Briatta and one of his henchmen and was viciously beaten and was stripped of from his operations and was exiled from Briatta’s territory.


Two of Briatta’s main bookies were Leo Bloom and Johnny McDonald, who ran a master bookmaking operation from the Sherman Hotel, which was located in Chicago’s Loop. Both Bloom and McDonald were known veteran bookmakers for the mob in Chicago, who served only big bettors such as federal judges or various aldermen. But sometimes Bloom and McDonald had a very dangerous habit by not reporting good bets to Briatta. The kind of bets that the bettors will surely loose, so they kept that action for themselves. But the bookies forget that these types of schemes can be easily spotted by people such as Briatta, Ferraro or Alex, because they started receiving smaller and thinner envelopes. There were no police raids, the customers flow remained the same, or in other words, everything was in its place. So it became obvious that somebody was stealing. Briatta personally visited the pair and started beating them so hard that he almost killed them. Bloom did not take the beating so kindly, because he considered himself a veteran with many influential customers and friends. Therefore he went to P. J. Cullerton, Cook County Assessor and oldest of several brother who were highly placed in Chicago’s politics at the time. Cullerton in turn went to John D’Arco and told him “If there’s anymore of such treatment of Bloom, I personally will visit Mayor Daley about it.” Cullerton and Bloom played a dangerous game because they hardly knew about Daley’s mob ties but in the end Briatta stopped the violence over the bookies in return for their complete honesty and loyalty.


Briatta’s main collector and muscleman was Sid Frasin, who was the one that kept all of the bookies in line. However, one day Frasin, same as Tornabene, was caught stealing some of the cash and was exiled, or disappeared from the streets of Chicago. There’s also another story that one day he had to collect a huge sum of cash and decided to steal it and fled Chicago forever. After the situation with Frasin, the next two of Briatta’s main henchmen were Nick Garambone and Phil Katz. These two guys controlled the bookmaking and wire operations like no other. For example, Garambone was in charge of the persons who answered the telephones and it was his responsibility to lay off bets when Briatta became overbalanced on one horse or one team in the sporting field. Garambone was also closely connected to Ralph Pierce. As for Katz, he exercised control over all of the individual bookmakers from whom he made the collections and also controlled other individuals who took measures to insure that each bet was called into the Briatta organization. His headquarters was in a realty office in the Oriental Theater building at State and Randolph Street. These two fellas didn’t worked only for Briatta, but they also directly answered to Ferraro, Alex and Humphreys. Both Katz and Garambone made regular payments to Police Lieutenant Daniel McCain who was in charge of the Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department. Briatta, same as many of his associates, was also closely connected to the North Side mob with the help of Aaron Oberlander. In fact, Briatta and Oberlander, together with two of Alex’s relatives, operated a large handbook operation near the corner of Oak and Rush Street.


Same as Tornabene, Briatta was also a “made guy” and was considered a very powerful individual. He and First Ward Alderman John D'Arco made a handsome profit on the sale of lands and real estate. He belonged to a special group of criminals with powerful connections and huge illegal enterprises. He was one of the few made members that used to hang around at the Celano Tailoring Shop with the top bosses like Ricca and Accardo. But the problem was that Briatta started having serious health issues, which caused him to take a step back from the rackets. After Tornabene, Briatta was the second guy who got out of the Chicago Outfit alive and…almost well. Briatta continued to work every day at his Rush Street Liquors store with the image of an old “mob veteran.” So now somebody had to replace Briatta and take over the rackets. Ferraro and Alex needed someone with reputation and lots of experience in making collections and so Alex turned to the boss of the Taylor Street crew, Fiore Buccieri, for help. Buccieri was the loan shark’s loan shark so he had a tough and big crew of collectors and also had the number of people to lend one to the First Ward crew. In 1963, Alex and Buccieri met in a hotel in New Mexico. Buccieri agreed to help but only if he take a “small” percentage from the collections. Buccieri was a very greedy individual, but also very aggressive and murderous so Alex did not stood a chance because he knew and witnessed Buccieri’s short temper, and agreed on the proposal. So now the new collector for the First Ward was Sam Gearis and his son Arnold. The father and son were known for making $6,000 per week from their collections. Arnold was the one who usually made the collections by starting his daily rounds in the morning from Edith Restaurant which was located near the corner of Halsted and Jackson Street and from there he travelled across the Loop on foot. With the help of the duo, Alex even muscled into to the Greek restaurant business in the vicinity of Halsted and Harrison Street, like the Kepisha Restaurant and Tavern at 524 South Halsted or the New Athens Restaurant. The so-called owner of the New Athens Restaurant was Spiros Cerr who has reportedly received $250,000 from Alex for remodelling of the joint.


Some of Ferraro’s and Alex’s partners or associates in the gambling operations were their friends from the old days Frank Caruso, Jimmy Catuara, Sam Cesario, Gus Zapas, the Bravos brothers, Rocco DeStefano, Mickey Farr, Nick Kokenes and Gus Liebe. By now Catuara was a high profile member of the Chicago Heights crew but was also closely allied with Caruso and Ferraro. The Chicago Heights crew was headed by an old time mob boss Frank LaPorte who in turn was also a close friend of Alex. LaPorte, Alex, Kruse, Giancana, Curry and Rocco Fischetti, controlled a huge crap game operation at the J&J Picnic Grove club, in Will County, Illinois. Catuara had operations on the Near South Side and the Loop, and also in Chicago Heights and Calumet City. Catuara and Alex controlled a huge crap game operation in a garage building at 31st and Parnell Street and another one at 232 West 31st Street and also they had interests in one gambling joint known as the Red Fence Lounge in Dixmoor, Illinois. Catuara had a henchman of his own who operated as enforcer and collector known as Pete Gushi. In reality Gushi’s main job was professional burglar but he also had the skills to intimidate people. For example, one day Catuara and Gushi visited the owner of the Box X Tavern in Calumet City and gave him one of the most brutal beatings. Catuara allegedly stood over the victim with a shotgun while Gushi administered the beating with fists and a baseball bat. Two other prominent Catuara’s associates and henchmen were Angelo LaPietra and Tony Maenza. These men were notorious and hardened criminals who had been arrested for all kinds of criminal activities, including murder.


Frank Caruso also used Gushi’s “services” by orchestrating a robbery of $180,000 worth of cigarettes. In fact, Caruso was mostly involved in the crap game operations and high profile burglaries. For example, when the feds raided one of Caruso’s most profitable crap game operations on 238 West Cermak Road, besides the $5,000 and three large poker tables, the cops also found numerous burglary tools, including masks, dynamite blasting caps and wires. Few of Caruso’s most profitable bookmakers were his brother Morris Caruso, Al Carfagno and Dominick Scalfaro. Also Caruso and his associate Gus Liebe, controlled the Tomahawk Athletic Club at 2418 South Wentworth Avenue. In fact, the club was their main crap game operation which generated over $50,000 per day. But on May 18, 1963, the cops raided the place and arrested Caruso and Liebe and their operators Abe Glickman, James Cordovano and James Kapande. Alex and Ferraro both had interests in the joint. Caruso controlled all gambling, vending machines and loan sharking activities from 22nd Street (Cermak Road) on the north to possibly as far South as 63rd Street and also controlled the policy racket in the First Ward. His headquarters was a tavern known as “The Bowery.” In one year, Caruso made over $300,000 only from the loan sharking business. As additional info, by now Gus Liebe was a lieutenant for Les Kruse in the gambling operations and also worked as his front man.


Gus Liebe hiding his face from the newsmen


Gus Zapas was one of Humphrey’s guys, known as a labor terrorist and also a professional bomber. Back in the 1950’s he was involved in numerous kidnappings and was also involved in the policy racket. He was the guy who connected James Gottlier, landlord of the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, with 1.5 million dollars loan from the laundry workers and another 5 million dollar loan from the Teamsters Union. In fact, Zapas was also a business agent of the Laundry Cleaners and Dye House Workers Union, Local 46. Before his election as business manager of the union, there was a meeting between Humphreys and Alex. Even though they were close friends, at the meeting Alex opposed Zapas to take the position, however he was overruled by Humphreys, who had the last word regarding the union activities. Besides that, Zapas and Alex were involved in a scheme whereby all buildings under construction in the Loop area and perhaps the Near North Side area, were forced to have a toilet on every floor of the construction. They had arranged to obtain this concession and it was believed that the other contractors had been muscled out. In fact, Alex and Zapas couldn’t have done this with out the help of Chicago Building Commissioner Sidney Smith. Alex and Zapas were so close that they even shared same girlfriend. Zapas dated a well-built and gorgeous blonde, who from time to time passed her to Alex for his own entertainment. The girl’s name was Sherry Gordon who worked in a dress shop and was also a bookkeeper for Zapas and Alex.


Alex and Zapas had a mutual friend known as George Dicks. Dicks was also a labor terrorist, who allegedly was one of the seven men who obtained $2,000,000 from the Master Barber Association of Lake County for protection. Also unidentified union officials at the highest levels of Local 705, which represented the Freight, Cartage, Warehousing, Public Works, movers and many thousands of other members in and around the Chicago area, were getting $2,000 a month in kickbacks from a major trucking firm for exceptions to their contract for hauling special commodities into Chicago. The conduit was a sham company run by Dicks, Zapas and Alex. They even maintained control over the Local 136, Machinery Movers, Riggers and Machinery Erectors Union.


George and Nick Bravos were cousins of Alex and operated one of the largest bookmaking and loan sharking operations in Chicago. The Bravos brothers dealt only with extremely large bettors such as J. J. Armer, a wildcat oilman, or Howard Sober, a guy who handled the largest shipments of automobiles for General Motors. As for the loan sharking business, the Bravos brothers loaned money generally for 20% for ten months and when they had a large loan outstanding, they would generally attempt to have the debtor take out life insurance for the amount of the loan plus interest. The Omaha Mutual Company of Nebraska was one of the firms which the Bravos bros used to have the debtors insured.


As for Sam Cesario, he was the reputed head of all betting in the Maxwell Street police district and was Phil Alderisio’s guy on the South Side but also gave a cut from his operations to Alex and Ferraro and any problem that he had, he took it to them. Approximately, Cesario operated over 70 books in that area and he was one of the youngest such liaison men and was jealously described by some of the fringe syndicate operators as an overrated punk. One day the cops arrested him and he allegedly yelled “You cannot arrest me, I’m Sambo Cesario!”


Alex and his old pal Nick Kokenes invested in the MGM Lounge in Cicero, in which Kokenes was the general manager. Kokenes had his own gambling operations around Cicero which were run by another Greek mobster, John Photakis. Alex made a lot of money with Kokenes and according to some sources, Alex allegedly once said to Kokenes “If you stop playing the horses, you would be the richest Greek in Cicero.” Another associate of Alex was Joseph Spadavecchio a.k.a. Joe Spa, who ran the loan sharking business in the area of 5th and California in Chicago.


Tony Alfervic was another old friend of Alex and also one of his main loan sharks in the Cicero area. Alfervic and Alex grew up together and Alex trusted him very much but the problem was that Alfervic was a degenerate gambler and he also spent the cash, which was the Outfit’s cut. So same as the previous example with Louis Tornabene, Alfervic was stripped from his operations by Alex and was “fired” from the Outfit. In 1962, Alfervic died from natural causes and during his funeral, Alex passed his hat and collected $6,500 for Alfervic’s family because he knew that Alfervic died broke and left his family without a penny.


Alex also had a personal driver, appointment secretary and bodyguard known as Nathan Ladon, who was also his messenger and voice on certain matters. Ladon owned the Fort Tavern, a gambling house near the Glenview Naval Air Station together with Alex and Eddie Vogel. In fact, Ladon at the same time worked as Vogel’s driver and collector and acted as a messenger between the two bosses. Ladon was paid $50 a week by Vogel for his services and $25 by Alex. Plus he had a percentage of the collections from the coin machines that were operated by Vogel and Alex. Two of Ladon’s guys in the operation were Frank Garnett who was a son-in-law of the late Jake Guzik and Sam Shanker, who was in charge for the pinball and cigarette vending machines in Skokie, Illinois. According to some wiretapped conversations between Ladon, Alex and Vogel, it appears that Ladon wasn’t very intelligent individual because he was often fooled around by the two bosses.


Mickey Farr was another bookmaker for Alex in the First Ward and also a long time friend. But in reality, Farr’s real job was a fight fixer for the mob. He was a very well connected guy and close friend with another infamous fight fixer and member of the mob from New York known as Frankie Carbo and as well as with boxing champion Rocky Marciano and fighting promoter Al Weill. Alex also knew these guys and in their company, he attended few boxing matches in Los Angeles.


Frank Fratto, the brother of Des Moines boss Louie Fratto, was involved with Alex in numerous gambling operations in Du Page County. According to some informant, Fratto had bigger share in these illegal operations, because he was from Italian descent and Alex was not. So Alex played it smart by inviting Willie Daddano to the territory and there was no way for less violent guy like Fratto to say “no” to a much violent guy like Daddano. In fact, Daddano and Alex knew each other since kids and still maintained good relationship so I believe that now Alex received a fair share from the proceedings. Daddano’s guys in Du Page County were Joe Amato and Pasquale Clementi.


Thomas Kennefick has been Alex’s main handbook operator for years in the Bridgeport area of Chicago. Also Leo Schafer was another of Alex’s bookies but in Terre Haute, Indiana. During the early 1960’s Shafer was arrested and convicted for running a multi-million dollar sports service for the Outfit.


With all of these connections and by taking a cut from all of these illegal operations, Alex was regarded as one of the most important members of the Chicago Outfit. He was in the top ten list of the Chicago mob. Alex had connections from New York with the crime families and all the way to Los Angeles with Allen Smiley, a known former associate of the infamous New York mobster Benjamin Siegel and to Miami with Tony Ricci, a very mysterious New York mobster based in Florida who possibly started his criminal career in Chicago. So Alex made a lot of money and since he had no kids of his own, he spent his cash lavishly.


By the end of the year of 1963, Alex began investing his illegal cash more and more into legitimate enterprises. For example, Alex and Les Kruse purchased an apartment building at 4300 Marine Drive and rented the apartments. Also the Crossroads Restaurants was demolished and on that same place Alex invested in a 12 story elevator parking lot garage. His front man was Sam Kaplan who was also involved in few other parking lots and garages around the Loop. Alex and Kaplan were also associated with the Town Parking Station Inc. and D-Lel Garage Inc. Kaplan also fronted few building projects for Alex and was also well respected among the Jewish community and was very close friend to the Korshak brothers. Alex, Ferraro and Korshak controlled the Duncan Parking Meter Company which manufactured and maintained the parking meters around Chicago and on nation-wide basis. The front man for the operations was former gambling operator for Alex known as Jerry Robinson. Also Alex started receiving tips on the grain trading business so he placed his order at the Gerstenberg and Company and started making transactions. He even invested in oil wells in Texas with the help of Louie Lederer, former Outfit representative in Las Vegas. Lederer was the main connection to a Texas oil tycoon H. L. Hunt. By now the Harvey Wrecking Company was owned by Fred and Harvey Goldberg, who were Outfit associates since the old days and so their interest in the company was a split between Alex and Humphreys. Also Alex and Giancana were hidden owners of the Speedway Wrecking Company.


Alex was the owner of the Town and County Restaurant which was fronted by Tony and Ted Smith and also owned the City-Wide Produce Company which was fronted by George and Nick Maentanis. Alex even had interest in the National Maintenance Corporation which was located at 542 West Madison Street. Joey Glimco, Ben Stein and Louie Arger were Alex’s guys in the company. Stein acted as the owner, Arger as officer and another individual known as Dominic Senese was also a officer of the company. In fact, Sense was a cousin of Tony Accardo. Lou Arger and Alex invested $10,000 in the Cosmopolitan Insurance Company which was located on North Sheridan Road. The head of the company and also Alex’s friend was Irving Silverman, a powerful and rich individual with many connections in Hollywood. Accardo, Alex and Ferraro heavily invested in the Hilton chain hotels with the help of Sidney Korshak because this was the period when the Hilton Corporation required numerous hotels, which some of them were owned by the Outfit. Alex and Ferraro invested heavy cash in the amount of $500,000 in the St. Clair and Eastgate Hotels. Both gangsters were associated in the ownership of the hotels with unknown Jewish businessmen. Alex and Ferraro also owned a drugstore which was located in the lobby of the Croydon Hotel at Rush and Ontario Street. The duo even invested in the Functional Music Company at Wacker and Michigan Avenues and they also owned the Sparten Room which was located in Residence Hall at 1117 North Dearborn. Other of Alex’s legit operations were the Club Rouge at 56 West Randolph Street, which was fronted by “Big Joe” Smith, also the One Step Beyond restaurant on 6800 Grand Avenue, which was fronted by Mike Castalado, and the Living Room club on 867 North Rush Street, which was fronted by Steve DeKosta. So the real owners of the club were Gus and his brother Sam Alex, who helped with the managing of the club. In fact, DeKosta was a cousin with the Alex brothers. Alex and Charles Nicoletti owned the Victory Produce and Victory Spud Service, which dealt with ready cut French fries. They used pressure tactics over many restaurants around the Chicago area to take their French fried products. Also as one of the main bosses in Chicago, Alex also purchased three points in the Dunes Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Alex was involved in tons of other legal operations, which reminds me of the many people who usually ask the question on why individuals like Alex are involved in crime when they have the brains for the legitimate stuff? On first sight, Alex was really involved in numerous legitimate enterprises but in reality he never knew how to run a restaurant or run a big company or big legit business. The only way that he ran or took over these operations, was with the help of fear. Everyone in Chicago knew who Alex was and to whom or what he pledged his allegiance to, so it was very easy for him to put his finger in one quarter of all the restaurants, bars and companies in the city where the Outfit ruled with an iron fist.


But as some people say, life is good until someone dies. In January, 1964, Frank Ferraro was diagnosed with cancer and the doctors told him that he had less than a year to live. This was devastating news for the organization since Ferraro was considered a member of the Outfit’s commission. Like always, at the beginning everybody had hopes but when Ferraro’s health deteriorated, the Outfit’s leadership called upon an urgent meeting in the Cart Restaurant at 601 S. Wabash Av. Those who attended the meeting were Paul Ricca and Tony Accardo, Murray Humphreys and Jack Cerone, Lester Kruse, Hy Godfrey and Ralph Pierce with Ferraro who sat at the head of the table. Giancana and Alex did not attend the meeting, probably because of their constant travels. In general this was a farewell meeting but there were also few things to discuss. One thing was who was going to replace Ferraro as the boss of the First Ward and also who was going to take his place as the number two guy. In the end the bosses decided that Pat Marcy was going to take Ferraro’s place as the main Italian “connection guy” and leader in the First Ward and Humphreys and Alex would continue to be the bosses of the South Side along with Frank Caruso. Now Marcy became direct with Giancana, who was the boss of the organization. As for the number two position, it was decided to remain vacant although everybody in the underworld knew that Sam Battaglia was in fact the “unofficial boss” or the next in line. In the end, everyone at the table rose their glasses filled with red wine, and made one last toast with Ferraro. As additional info, the restaurant where the meeting occurred was owned by Humphreys and Alex.


On August 23, 1964, Frank Ferraro died in the Wesley Memorial Hospital at the age of 52. Few days later, extra precautions were taken by Ferraro’s relatives and friends to ensure privacy at the funeral services. Two huge guys were stationed at the doors of the funeral home, and permitted only relatives and close friends inside for brief services. Few reporters followed the procession of about 30 black limousines that left the funeral home. An old woman dressed in black who was riding in one of the black limousines, leaned out of the car window and spat in direction of a group of newsmen. About 150 persons lined up on the sidewalk outside the mausoleum at Queen of Heaven cemetery, as the bronze casket was carried into the marble crypt. Sam Giancana, dressed in dark sport jacket and grey sport shirt, appeared together with Gus Alex and Sam Battaglia. A Chicago Tribune reporter tried to follow the crowd when suddenly one bodyguard stopped him and said that they didn’t want any reporters around the funeral. Giancana walked by the guy and told him to stop it with the hostility.


So now the Outfit’s top boss Paul Ricca was very much concerned about Alex’s knowledge regarding the hierarchy and cash flow within the Italian element of the Chicago Outfit, obviously because he wasn’t one of them. After the imprisonment of Al Capone, Ricca was the one who made the Outfit more of an Italian type of organization but deep inside Ricca knew that Alex was very much loyal and extremely capable individual, if compared to some of the Italian top guys. Ricca also noticed that at the same time the old and younger criminal generations were showing more respect to him than usual so in other words, Ricca and Accardo had no other choice but to accept the reality of Alex knowing almost every dirty little secret of the Italian crime faction, which made him almost equal as any other member of that same faction. In fact, Alex was involved in the illegal affairs of the Italian community in Chicago since the late 1930’s.


According to one FBI report, after the death of Ferraro, his close friend and associate Alex was allegedly asked if he had a chance to take Ferraro’s place in the Outfit and he said “No, I can’t go any higher. I’m not one of them, I’m king of the Greeks.” With this statement we can see that Alex was very much aware of the “made” status within the Outfit, meaning that he wasn’t Italian which prevented him of becoming boss of that same organization. Alex thought that this was the level as high as he could go but he wasn’t aware of the very much different future that was coming down his way. As additional info, on some wiretapped conversation Alex refers to the Italian faction or mob as “they” or “them”.


By the mid 1960’s things were changing drastically for the Outfit. The government was hunting down the mob on national level and so many top mobsters went to jail or their operations were simply crushed. So now a lot of these guys started feeling nervous and started looking at each other. For example when I previously stated that Kruse considered the late Frank Ferraro as a “weak individual”, well by that he suspected that Ferraro was an informant for the government. Kruse was from the “old school” so like the rest of the old timers, he never before experienced such a pressure from the government so he was also “infected” by this menacing paranoia that floated around Chicago’s underworld during that period. He always stated to his close friends that someone from the top must’ve been giving information to the feds. But now since Ferraro was dead, Kruse also suspected Louis Briatta probably because of his retirement from the mob but also because of his knowledge about the Outfit’s inner workings since Briatta was a member of the Chicago mob. Kruse was obviously wrong and luckily no one was ever accused in front of the Outfit’s administration. Kruse once openly stated that “This is the beginning of the end for the rackets. Everybody is a stool pigeon, even our own guys are leaking the information, and the feds are over zealous. Everything is locked up.” Now most of these high profile mobsters always suspected members from the First Ward to be the informers because, as I previously stated, they were the “top” of the organization because they knew about everything that went on in both the upper and under worlds. So during this period a lot of mobsters that previously had some health issues, true or fake, started getting treatments more often outside of Chicago, obviously with the intention to elude the law in their home area. For example, Kruse had allegedly had some kidney or bladder problems so he went to New York and stayed there for more than a month.


Besides everyone being the suspect, other mobsters also clashed with the fact that they would never bring their operations in Chicago in full effect ever again. For example, Louie Arger was very much concerned because of the constant police raids that were made over his strip joints and if the problems continued he was planning to go legit. He even complained that Alex wasn’t devoting much of his time on the Outfit’s operations. Arger also realised that now there was no more danger for him of getting killed by his peers if he decided to leave because he didn’t generate any more large income for the organization, and the best thing was that it wasn’t his fault. Plus Alex wasn’t very much satisfied with Arger and the whole attention, so he also advised Arger that maybe its time to close down all of his operations for a while, before the government could obtain any evidence to link the top criminal administration with illegal activities. Also Frank Caruso’s lucrative crap games were extremely on the downfall so by now he mostly made his income from the few remaining handbook and loan sharking operations on Maxwell Street. By now Alex’s collector in the Loop, Sam Gearis established a vast handbook operation which didn’t last long. His main clearinghouse was raided by the feds and arrested two of his prime operators Sam Rugerio and Ralph Navarro, in connection for possession of gambling records. During the search, the cops also found clothing with the name of Sam Gearis, which instantly connected him with the illegal operation. When Alex heard about the bad news, he went ballistics. He mostly blamed Gearis’ son Arnold for not paying attention and so, in his own style, Alex ordered Gearis to temporary close down his operations in the Loop. Also by 1965, all of the Outfit gambling operations in the Dominican Republic were closed down due to the revolution that occurred over there. So Alex’s main guy Les Kruse packed his bags and also took all of his gambling equipment and sent it to Las Vegas.


All of that pressure continued to cause a lot of health problems mainly for the older generation of mobsters such as Murray Humphreys. On November 23, 1965, “Curley” as he was known, died of a heart attack. With his death, the South Side crew had lost another important and influential member. To make things worse, Giancana got himself locked up in jail for contempt of court. So out of the shadows came Ricca and Accardo to restore the order, which they have maintained it for more than 30 years. As expected, Battaglia became the “acting boss” for the Chicago Outfit and Gus Alex became the boss of the non-Italian faction of that same organization. Now Alex had supreme control over the First Ward and whole South Side but he also had control over Rogers Park and parts of the Cicero area. Now Alex’s prime lieutenants of his faction were Ralph Pierce and Les Kruse. On the same level were also Hyman Larner and Eddie Vogel and right beneath them were Lenny Patrick and his outside connection Dave Yaras. Besides Nathan Ladon being Alex’s chauffer, now Hyman Godfrey also took that position for time to time but he also acted as his advisor. This was the highest honour for one non-Italian member of the Chicago mob such as Gus Alex and now he was the one to set the rules for his organization.


By now 51-year old Gus Alex still looked handsome because he was always careful about his body weight and his lovely girlfriend Suzanne always took care of his meals and diet. He was the Outfit’s jet setter. Alex always wore expensive clothes such as the $1,200 mink lined Vicuna coat which he mostly used it for his trips to Europe and he was driving a blue 1965 Thunderbird with Suzanne right by his side. Besides their travels to Europe, during the winter period the pair also visited the Doral Beach Hotel in Miami Beach and stayed in a $100 a day suite. In the evening hours he visited the clubs, sometimes with his lady but sometimes with numerous other ladies, probably when Suzanne was out of town. According to some FBI surveillance reports, Alex always had those beautiful high class models for his own entertainment, and if he made a mistake like to impregnate some of the girls, he always relied on the services from his old friend Dr. William Nestos, a known abortionist among mob circles. Alex and Suzanne lived in huge apartment or as the Chicago Tribune put it “Looking down from his elite 10th floor suite in the sweeping curve of 1150 Lake Shore dr., playboy Gus Alex, sports car buff, and horse bet czar, finds the work-a-day world beneath his notice.” When he was not doing tours around Europe, in Chicago Alex regularly met with his tax lawyer Eugene Bernstein and lawyer Mike Brodkin at the Randolph Town Barber Shop. He also regularly held court with Kruse and Pierce in some of the city’s restaurants such as the Stouffer’s Restaurant on Wabash and Randolph St. or the Trader Vic’s Restaurant in the Palmer House Hotel, but one of the most visited joints by Alex was the Pete Fish’s Restaurant at St, Clair and Ontario St.


Boss of the First Ward: Gus Alex


But since he became a known big shot in and out of Chicago, also came along the unwanted publicity. The same year one of the most terrible news that struck the Outfit’s hierarchy was the ban which was issued by the government of Switzerland for Gus Alex. Alex was banned from getting anywhere near Switzerland. I don’t have any information whether the Outfit and Alex lost some cash from their Swiss bank accounts or somebody simply replaced Alex, but one thing was for sure that Alex’s adventures in Switzerland were finished for good. After that it became an on-going battle between the U.S. government and Alex. The Chicago Crime commission, Better Government association, and the Chicago police have furnished Swiss authorities with reports on Alex, in an effort to preserve the ban and to curtail his annual overseas jaunts. All three agencies furnished the information to Ernst Theiler, the Swiss consul general in Chicago, pointing out that although Alex had no record of convictions, he was well known as a high ranking mobster and honoured guest at many mob festivities. The U.S. officials feared that the Swiss government might relax on the order which was issued in barring Alex from Switzerland for 10 years. On the other hand, Alex’s lawyers had furnished letters to the Swiss government from respectable individuals such as Senator Everett Dirksen and U.S. Congressman William Dawson on behalf of Alex in regard to his efforts to get the ban lifted. Other individuals that wrote the Swiss officials on behalf of Alex were many famous Chicago lawyers including Maurice Walsh. As additional info, Congressman Dawson was a very close friend of Outfit boss Paul Ricca and the late Jake Guzik.


One day Alex was visited by a group of reporters regarding the Swiss ban. Alex and his lawyer Eugene Bernstein explained to the press that the intercession of Dirksen and Dawson was a routine and that political channels were normally used in such matters. Speaking of Dawson’s intervention, Alex said “The congressman said he’s known me for 25 years. I think it would be closer to 35 years. I was raised in his district.” The reporters also asked Alex about the speculations that he wished to go back to Switzerland because he had a hidden bank account there and Alex replied “I don’t have a quarter in Switzerland.” Furthermore he also explained that a person with money in Switzerland could make arrangements to obtain it without going there personally. Alex became angry at the statement about him being a mob courier and said “How could I be a courier when I’m under surveillance night and day by the FBI in Chicago and every place else that I go, and by the police in Switzerland?!” Alex also added “And don’t forget, I’ve never been convicted of a crime. I want this ban removed whether I ever go to Switzerland or not.” He admitted to the press that he had been arrested numerous times, mostly as a kid, but stressed that he had never been accused formally of a crime or put on trial. Alex described himself as a skiing buff and said that he pursued the sport in Italy, France and Austria as well as in Switzerland. But no matter how hard Alex tried to resist the pressure, in the end the ban was never lifted. And to make things even stranger, after the ban and numerous investigations over Alex’s travels in Switzerland, out of nowhere his alleged contact over there, Virginia Hill decided to commit suicide.


In 1966, Alex’s older brother Sam came back to the Chicago area, since his little brother became top echelon member of the mob. Sam bought himself a luxurious $75,000 house at 900 North Kenilworth in Oak Park. Sam’s house was built by the Van Corbin Construction Company which was owned by Sam Panveno a.k.a. Van Corbin. On July 20, 1966, for unknown reasons, Panveno was shot and killed by two masked men. Anyway, the brothers also became partners in the Henry Susk Pontiac Company. Susk was a mob associate and front man for the Outfit, who not only provided the gangsters with all kinds of Pontiac cars, but he also obtained different cars on the Outfit’s behalf. According to one FBI report, a confidential informant reported that the Alex brothers were “nobody to fool with and you can’t reason with them because they are crazy.” If you try and research the Alex “crime family” you will find numerous statements such as the brothers being the “torpedos” or main hitmen for the Outfit, which is obviously false because they were never found guilty or at least found closely connected in any murder case. The Alex brothers were natural corruptors and if somebody stood in their way, that’s when they usually asked someone else to remove the “obstacle.” That’s how things go in the Mafia. As I previously said, “where’s smoke, there’s probably a fire”, which means that Alex was a killer but he was not a serial killer like some of his associates. Some of the more bloodthirsty members of the Outfit, each had over ten bodies “in their backyards.” Also by now Sam Alex was 100% legit because his brother Gus was buying houses or cars in Sam’s name as “Sam Taylor.”


But even with his lavish life style, Alex was still a nervous wreck and always worried about everything. Suzanne always told Alex that there was no need to be worried about anything but he always replied in the same manner that it was in his nature to be worried. One night Alex and Suzanne had a conversation regarding the government heat and what would’ve happened if Alex went to jail. Suzanne comforted her man that the government had nothing on him and that he was safe, but Alex told her that “If they really want you, they’ll set you up.” Because of his current situation, Alex went for a week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and was advised by the doctor to watch out or he might develop another nervous breakdown.


His health wasn’t the only problem, which was mostly caused by the everyday pressure, but that particular pressure was the real problem. For example, in May 1967, the current Outfit boss Sam Battaglia went on trial for extortion. As boss of the First Ward, it was Alex’s job to mastermind the strategy to get Battaglia out of jail. Through his contacts Alex managed to obtain the list of jurors and planned an approach. So someone influenced a female juror from the list, who agreed to vote for a not guilty verdict. But the problem was that at the end of the trial, the female juror became fearful and decided to vote guilty. It was a disaster for the Outfit. Alex expressed his deepest anger at the hoodlums who were assigned for the job, and also expressed his deepest apologies to Battaglia’s lieutenants Phil Alderisio and Charles Nicoletti. With this example we can see that by now the public had more fear from the government than the mob. The government really showed its ambition and continuing struggle against the Outfit, so maybe some of the people began to think twice before doing any important decision such as this one. Battaglia was the boss and he was a quite big fish in the eyes of the government so there was no chance for him to get out of this one.


After the death of Rocco Fischetti and Battaglia’s imprisonment, Alderisio, Fiore Buccieri, Les Kruse and Ralph Pierce fought for control of territories on the Southwest Side and South Side. One of Buccieri’s confidants Joe Ferriola had a close cooperation with Pierce and Kruse on the South and Southwest Side and Alderisio, who also had his own operations in the same area, was left out of this one. So that was only one part of the problem and the other was that Alderisio considered Ferriola as low-ranked hoodlum and pushed him out of the South Side rackets. Alex immediately took his role as mediator, since there was no one else left to hold control over the Outfit’s “street” bosses. According to some sources Alex, Kruse and Pierce wanted to squeeze out Alderisio from the operation but by now Alderisio was one of the most powerful mobsters within the Outfit and he wasn’t going anywhere. But according to numerous FBI surveillance reports, Alex and Alderisio were very close and met on daily basis, so probably Alderisio was backed by Alex. This comes from another report where it says that Alderisio was a very loud and violent individual, but when Alex spoke, Alderisio kept quiet. I’m pointing this out because guys like Giancana, Alderisio, Buccieri or Battaglia were very tough to handle. They were “one way street” individuals. There are numerous wiretapped conversations between members of the First Ward such as Pat Marcy, where they discussed the violent nature of these guys and that the only guy that was good in reasoning, was Alex. When Alderisio sat on the same table with Alex, he listened because deep inside he knew that the gun pointing or pistol whipping days were over and now the less violent tactics were much more preferable, for which Alderisio had no clue on how to do it. Here’s what Pat Marcy, John D’Arco and Benjamin Jacobson had to say about the Giancana administration and their control over the aldermanic elections:

JACOBSON: You can’t argue with these guys, John! I told you what he (Giancana) told Pete Fosco. Fosco wanted to quit and he (Giancana) said, why you fat f*ck! You quit and I’ll hit you in the head! These are funny guys. Same thing with Frank Annunzio. He (Giancana) said tell him to quit, if not he’ll be picked up off the pavement.

MARCY: They’re all alike. You talk to Moe (Giancana), you talk to Teets (Battaglia), you talk to Marshall (Caifano), they’re all alike. These f*cks all got a one track mind, John, you can’t reason with these guys. The only guy that you can, that is half way sharp is Gus (Alex). But he’s strictly organization, no sh*t about it.


By now the leading crews for the Chicago Outfit were the Melrose Park crew, now headed by Alderisio since Battaglia was in prison, and the Cicero crew, which was headed by Joey Aiuppa. Both crews, especially the Cicero crew, had business relations with Alex. On October 11, 1967, the boys from Cicero scheduled a huge lavish party for Alex at the MGM Lounge. At the last minute, the group changed the location of the party to Martin’s Restaurant on Roosevelt Road. Obviously the gangsters changed the place in the last minute just to avoid any government surveillance. Those who attended the party were Alex and Aiuppa, and Bucky Ortenzi, Larry Rassano, Tony DeMaio, Sam Rizzo, Phil Tolameo and Don Dimitrious. As additional info, the Cicero area was divided between Aiuppa and Buccieri.


The same year Willie Messino, who was a big time loan shark and extortionist for West Side hoodlums Jack Cerone and Joe Gagliano, was charged for extortion and was sent to a trial. When Alex heard about the news he became infuriated with Messino because according to some sources, he did not have the “ok” from Alex to act violently. According to one FBI report, Alex told Cerone that Messino cost the Outfit a great deal of money in times when the last thing that the organization needed was another destruction of a lucrative enterprise. And so Alex informed them that he had no intention on getting Messino’s case “fixed.” Alex already had the jury in his pocket because five jurors were members of unions which were under the influence of Alex but he decided not to interfere. So if Cerone or Gagliano ever had something against Alex’s decision, they kept it for themselves.


Alex also took interest in trial of Richard Cain a.k.a. Scalzetti and William Daddano, both high profile members of the Outfit. Alex made sure that the two gangsters received good lawyers, such as Harry Busch, because they had no chance of getting out. But at least Alex managed to pull few strings and the trial was postponed to September, 1968. In the end both Cain and Daddano received jail sentences. As additional info, Cain answered to both Pat Marcy and Gus Alex.


A year later, in October, 1968, Gus and Suzanne were about to be married. They previously organized everything in the Chapel of the Bells in Reno, Nevada. That faithful day, the organist played "O, Promise Me" while Alex nervously adjusted his cummerbund, squared his chubby chin, and then walked into the chapel with a measured step that reminded some observers of a mourner at a gangland funeral. He was about to take the plunge for the second time after a whirlwind, six-year courtship that spanned several continents and plunked the Loop vice and gambling boss right smack in the middle of the international jet set. In the chapel, Alex was joined by his beautiful bride Suzanne, who had a special light in her eyes as she recalled those wild nights with Alex on the Riviera in a bikini and those wild afternoons on the ski slopes of the Swiss Alps. Yes, it had been worth it all. In the end the couple exchanged vows and then embraced.

The thing was that Alex in fact never took the marriage thing very seriously and continued to have fun with numerous other lady models or high class prostitutes. For example, he, 70 year old Eddie Vogel and one Ben Stein, a labor racketeer, spent good times at the Riviera health club which was located at the Outer Drive East Apartments building. The three gangsters had lavish parties by the pool with high class female escorts in bikinis. Also most of the cabanas were furnished with only a few chairs and a table but their cabana had carpets, fancy drapes, rich wall hangings, and constantly ordered exotic drinks from the nearby bar.


By 1969 the situation within the Outfit was like this: Giancana was out of the country, allegedly spreading gambling operations in Central and South America and Alex’s associate from the Melrose Park area and allegedly one-time boss Phil Alderisio was sent to jail. The prime sources for income which was the policy racket and the Hispanic version called the “Bolita” were on the downfall, partly by the government’s hand, and partly by some of the African-American and Hispanic operators who decided to take back their previously owned rackets, again, under their rule. The Outfit’s handbook operations were also on the downfall and most of the Outfit-connected clubs around Chicago were closed down. Eddie Vogel was retired in California and now the only guys that remained big in the game and worked for Alex were old man Les Kruse and Hyman Larner, who by now was out of the country and controlled the import/export of vending machines in Chicago and the U.S. But one thing is for sure that the First Ward “administration” was still in full effect. Now the alderman of the First Ward was the late Bruno Roti’s son Fred Roti, also considered a “made guy” in the Chicago Outfit. Back in 1962, Giancana decided to dump D’Arco as alderman of the First Ward, and after that the position remained free for one year, then Alex advised Giancana that Fred Roti is the right guy for the job but Giancana ruled down the proposition because everybody knew who Roti’s father was. So there were other candidates but by now story goes that Alex again influenced over his superiors about placing his close associate Roti in the position.


On December 7, 1969, Alex attended the wedding of Louie Arger’s daughter at the Sheraton Blackstone Hotel. She was getting married with the son of Henry Susk. Among the early arrivals were Gus Zapas and Albert Frabotta, who both wore a dark business suits and cashmere coats. Zapas ignored the detectives and reporters but seemed confused by their presence but Frabotta displayed his temper inside the hotel, by walking around in the lobby and pointing out the detectives to the other arrivals. The detectives had hoped to get a glimpse of Alex, who was one of the most expected guests, but he had ducked in or quickly went in through a rear door to pay his respects. Alex was now on high position and tried to avoid any public attention.


Now the main guys were still Paul Ricca, who was slowly becoming senile, old but tough Tony Accardo, who still commanded huge respect among the Outfit members and 55-year old Gus Alex. Ricca and Accardo were obviously not foolish to take the “cursed” boss position and Alex was the perfect guy for the job but luckily for him, he was not Italian. So the bosses decided that they are going to pick one of the few last remaining “capos” from the old days, who in turn was going to share the top position with Alex and Accardo, until that same individual was groomed to continue and lead the organization on his own. In fact this is called a ruling panel and the third member was Joey Aiuppa the former boss of the Cicero and Melrose Park areas. Now because of this situation I decided to write this story on how different was the Chicago faction from the rest of the American “La Cosa Nostra” organization. Now all of the Italian street bosses answered to the ruling panel, which also included Gus Alex, a non-Italian member. The late 1960’s was a tough period for the Outfit so by 1970, Ricca and Accardo did not have a lot of options. Alex managed to breach one of the main rules that governed this unholy criminal brotherhood for more than 100 years, and that was the rule that you had to be mainly Italian to get to the top position within the organization.


By 1971, because of his health issues, Ricca was mostly out of the picture, so Accardo took the position as elder statesman of the ruling panel. So now Alex wasn’t directly involved in any illegal operations, but he regularly took his cut and issued orders or gave business advices on daily basis. Now the boss position of the non-Italian faction was shared by Kruse and Pierce, although some sources say that in fact Pierce became the top guy. Alex also reduced his public meetings with Kruse and Pierce by making “message drops” or local places which were used for leaving messages or payoffs to the bosses. Sometimes these places were visited by Pierce or Kruse, who in turn delivered Alex’s share of the schemes, who later also visited these places and took what ever it was delivered to him. Two known “message drops” were Celano’s Custom Tailors at 600 block of North Michigan Avenue and the offices of Outfit lawyer Maurice Walsh located at 39 South LaSalle in the Loop area. As usual, it was from great importance to everyone in the organization, never to mention Alex’s name in front of outsiders. Alex bought for him and his wife $50,000 (or $300,000 in today’s money) condominium in the Regency Towers South in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to spend their Christmas holidays. Alex had all the money and power that one criminal ever wished for, but he was still not satisfied because he still belonged to the criminal society and on top of that, now he was a leader. So Alex again tried to play the “health card” with Ricca and Accardo and asked for permanent retirement in Florida but he was denied because his skills were still very much required by the Outfit. Accardo also ordered that at least one of the two top bosses, Alex and Aiuppa, should be always in the Chicago area. If one ever needed to leave Chicago, he informed the other boss about the longetivity and location of the trip. Accardo even issued an order to the other area bosses that every important decision must be cleared through either Alex or Aiuppa.


Outfit boss Gus Alex


Joe Aiuppa was an old timer who started his career as a gangster since the old Capone days and always worked closely with the non-Italians. In fact he was brought into the mob by a non-Italian member, so he had no problem in sharing the top position with Alex. The thing was that Aiuppa was a very illiterate individual and Alex was the opposite, so he very often gave advices and sort of held certain control over Aiuppa. Aiuppa also very often attended meetings with members of the non-Italian faction such as Lenny Patrick and Dave Yaras but his closest associate of them all was Hyman Larner. But besides the cigarette and slot machine operations, according to some reports, Aiuppa might’ve been also involved in the narcotics racket, since Larner was heavily involved in the international gambling boats, which were a perfect front for the racket.


By 1972, the U.S. government mostly attacked the Outfit members of Italian descent but later realized that the true force behind the organization were the non-Italian members. So in November, the government had subpoenaed almost every non-Italian mobster from Chicago, including Gus Alex, Dave Yaras, Lenny Patrick, Lester Kruse and Gus Zapas, to appear in front of a special federal grand jury regarding the racketeer’s involvement with politicians and the police. Alex was subpoenaed by Miami-based agents as he lolled in the sun at his residence in Florida. In the end they all took the fifth. In fact by now Alex acted like a legitimate businessman and was very hard to get him implicated in some illegal operation. Alex mostly gave his instructions through public payphones. He was known for walking for more then six blocks and then entered into a garage where a payphone was located. Early in the mornings Alex usually would drove off with his 1971 red Pontiac GTO convertible to the Apex Amusement Company located at 7700 Milwaukee Avenue in Niles, Illinois. Over there he worked as the Public Relations Director for two hours and then returned to his residence where he spent most of his time. Story goes that by this time Eddie Vogel sold all of his interests to Alex and all of Vogel’s underlings came under his rule, including Hy Larner. The same year, in mid October, the father of the Chicago Outfit, Paul Ricca died of natural causes. Immediately after Ricca’s funeral, Alex packed his bags and went to his apartment in Florida for a long vacation.


As additional info, although Giancana was out of the country and was overthrown by most of his peers back home, according to the Mafia code mixed with that old Sicilian mentality, he still held the boss title because in reality he never stepped down. Giancana still had loyal Outfit connections such as Richard Cain, Hyman Larner, Dominick Blasi, Charles English, Charles Nicoletti and also Lester Kruse. During this period most of these guys didn’t make any profits with Giancana, except for Kruse and Larner. According to some stories, after he got out of jail, Richard Cain tried to enter the casino boats operations, but he was denied by the Giancana-Kruse-Larner faction. These excursion boats ran from New York to Florida and into the Caribbean and were operated by one of Giancana’s and Larner’s lieutenants James Tortorielo. Cain’s plan was to recruit all of the best gambling operators and biggest high rollers from the Chicago area and assured them about the arrest-free conditions on the cruse ships. After that Cain was allegedly called by Alex, which makes a lot of sense since Cain answered to him and Pat Marcy, and the two were involved in a violent argument. Alex allegedly objected Cain’s plan to drain all the gambling money from the city and Cain in a very disrespectful manner gave Alex his last answer. Later that same day, Cain was murdered. The bosses figured it out that if Cain and Giancana made their come backs, a lot of old headaches would’ve came back also.


So maybe this is a new thinking but if Giancana was still involved in the international gambling racket, which I truly believe that he was, then he also must’ve been advised about the plot. We all know that by now one of the most profitable enterprises for the Chicago mob were the casinos in Las Vegas but these so-called international “experiments” brought hope for the Outfit in gaining new highly lucrative schemes. So my opinion is that by now Giancana received money only from these new “not yet much profitable” operations and didn’t get a penny from any illegal operation from back home. So he decided not to share his proceedings with the rest of the group or he just wanted a bigger share. Either way, somebody pulled the strings in Mexico and Giancana was deported back to the U.S. where he was subpoenaed to testify before a Chicago grand jury about his alleged CIA contacts and automatically his cut from the international operations was taken over by the Aiuppa-Alex- Kruse-Larner group.


According to one FBI report, in May, 1974, Aiuppa suffered from a serious affliction that involved arthritis in his knees, and has been unable to function due to his lack of capacity to move around. At the same time period, Accardo also spent some time in Palm Springs, so my point is that during this brief period Alex was the only boss of the ruling panel that took care of day to day operations. The report also says that in fact Alex’s brother Sam was the one who delivered the messages between his brother and Aiuppa. Sam resided approximately one mile from Aiuppa’s residence in Oak Brook, Illinois. By now, except for Accardo and Aiuppa, there was almost no one else in the Outfit who rated more respect than Alex.


Anyways, after the Giancana murder in 1975, according to the Mafia code, Aiuppa became the official boss of the Chicago Outfit and the organization again evolved and took a new form. Now they were more of a low key crime group and mostly transferred their operations in different directions, such as loan sharking and extortion. Aiuppa made his organization in the form of a real “Cosa Nostra” family, with boss, advisor and underboss, capos and soldiers. There are some indications that even the “blood on a burning saint” ritual was brought in effect when certain new members were made into the organization. Now the first ward was still in control of Pat Marcy, the Near South Side or the China Town crew was still under Frank Caruso, Alex’s friend from the old days Jimmy Catuara was next in line to take over the boss position of the late Frank LaPorte but since he had too much heat over his operations, the Outfit’s ruling panel decided that one of LaPorte’s close associates Al Pilotto should be the new boss of the Chicago Heights crew. As additional info, the late LaPorte never liked Catuara and even though Alex was his friend, Catuara still didn’t get support because he was too “visible.” Also the forming of the new Grand Avenue crew, which was formed by the former Giancana administration such as Marshall Caifano and Louis Eboli, who previously worked for Battaglia in the Melrose Park area or Tony Spilotro who came under Nicoletti and the late Sam DeStefano. The boss of this group was Joey Lombardo, experienced mobster and above all Accardo loyalist. As for old man Accardo, now he was the family’s elder advisor, next to the boss, and Jack Cerone, another Accardo loyalist, took the position as number two or the family’s underboss. From this we can see that Accardo managed to form his own administration, something which his former partner the late Paul Ricca was doing it for more then 30 years. This new “face” of the Outfit returned to its roots and operated strictly from the shadows for the next 10 years.


Now the non-Italian faction of the Outfit transformed into a list of mob associates and only because of his high rank, Alex remained as elder statesman for the Outfit. In fact, Alex took Ricca’s place but still controlled the outside connections such as front men, lawyers, union leaders, police captains and of course judges and aldermen. He was like the boss of the “associate-faction.” These numerous associates were Alex’s “personal crew.” He closed all of his illegal operations in the Loop and the area became an “open territory”, meaning that if some of the Outfit members wanted to start their own operations over there, they were not going to be opposed by Alex. Also, since Hyman Larner was mostly conducting business out of the country, his crew members answered to both Alex and Aiuppa. Guys like the Bastone brothers, Tommy Russo, the guy who took Larner’s position in Chicago, Jimmy Johnson, Albert Meo, William Pappas and Allen Rothman, their main front man for the Vencoa Music Company. This crew also had shares in companies such as the Vending Corporation of America, Skill Amusement, Apollo Vending, Coney Island Amusement, Flip Amusement, B&T Vending and the Town and Country Vending. Larner never lost touch in Chicago and always maintained the cash flow to the Outfit’s hierarchy. Rothman, Larner and Alex were the guys who exported over 50 million dollars worth of food, drink and cigarette vending machines in Brazil. As additional info, Hyman Larner also had concession for slot machines in casinos located in various places such as Panama, Jamaica, Ecuador and Argentina. For example in Panama, Larner once made shipments of $500,000 in just six months.


Ever since the “big game” ended in Chicago, the Las Vegas operations were always on the up and up. Still the main guy who took care of Alex’s interests in the casinos was Les Kruse, who often travelled to Vegas and returned with the cash from the scheme which usually was carried by a third person since Kruse was very well known to the government officials. Kruse generally stayed and took money from the Stardust and the Dunes casinos. During this period Alex’s guy in “Sin City” was Phil Ponto, a boyhood friend from the area of 26th and Wentworth. Also by now Alex and Kruse heavily invested in real estate in the Florida area.


Even in his 60’s, Alex still had the swagger and lavishly enjoyed his life. On daily basis, he visited Eli’s Place for Steaks Restaurant at lunch hour or in the evenings he visited the Buttery, a plush discotheque which was located at the Ambassador Hotel. He still had fine escorts under his arm and still felt young. But in 1976, Alex lost most of his power on the streets of Chicago with the loss of two of his prime and long time lieutenants. During the past few years, Ralph Pierce was suffering from considerable dizziness and loss of balance. His private physician advised him to visit a hospital in California and get a complete check-up and possibly to submit to an operation on his neck artery for possible clogging. I don’t have information on what happened next, but on July 2, 1976, Ralph Pierce died of a heart attack and just after a month, in August, he was followed in death by his old pal Lester Kruse, who also died from natural causes at the age of 69. Back in the good old days, Alex, Pierce and Kruse represented a “Mob Triumvirate”, like the ones in ancient Rome formed by Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Marcus Crassus, but those days were now over forever. Back in 1974, Dave Yaras died of a heart attack while playing golf in Miami Beach and by 1977, Lenny Patrick was in jail. Mob boss Edward Vogel died of cancer on June 12, 1977, at Columbus Hospital of natural causes at the age of 82. Before he died, he was constantly in the company of his associate Alex, who visited the old man two times a day. Some sources say that Alex was one of the people who were present at the moment when Vogel departed from this world.


The old non-Italian faction was slowly fading away. These guys rarely spent time in jail, shared a huge amount of power and influence, and made a lot of money for the organization because they had the brains for the job. But the thing was that these non-Italian bosses rarely had their own non-Italian protégés to take over things. The reason for that probably was that back in the old days, the mobsters that came under guys like Guzik or Humphreys grew up with the Italians and associated with them their whole lives. I believe that’s why they mostly had gangsters from Italian descent under their rule and so the story of the once powerful and different faction of America’s La Cosa Nostra was coming to an end.


By now most of the illegal operations in the Loop were closed down and so Alex took his cut from numerous bribes for fixing cases, judges and police captains. He still held the same position at the Apex Amusement Company and made $50,000 a year, still had his own shares in the Vegas casinos and still maintained his long time very profitable friendship with Outfit lawyer Sidney Korshak and the Teamsters Union. But by 1977, Korshak received a lot of bad publicity. For example, California state attorney general Evelle Younger included Korshak in a well-publicized list of organized-crime figures with ties to California. Also during a statewide racetrack strike, Korshak was asked to step down as a labor negotiator, only because of the press of his other business. But still, according to some FBI reports, Korshak and Alex served as managers for the money from the Las Vegas scheme, which were later spread among the Outfit bosses.


Sid Korshak


Also, since Alex was banned from Switzerland, now the bosses saw no real reason for him to spend most of his time out of Chicago. Remember when I previously stated that Alex had problems with Giancana’s constant absence?! Well now the tables have turned because the bosses didn’t care about his alleged health problems, they cared about their protection. So, two of the Outfit’s commission bosses at the time, Charles Nicoletti and Dominic DiBella, complained to Aiuppa about Alex’s lack of presence in important moments. So Aiuppa sent a message to Accardo, who also resided from time to time in Florida, to convince Alex to get back to Chicago and to start taking care of things a little bit better. So Accardo and Alex had a meeting, where Alex stated that he had no intentions of staying in Chicago nor that he had any intentions of taking greater responsibilities and in the end, he tried to sweet-talk Accardo in retiring together in Florida and into buying a apartment right next to his. Alex was no fool. He knew that Nicoletti was behind the rebellion and Aiuppa had to go along with it because he was now the boss and Nicoletti was his main tough guy. By now the Outfit was divided in two main factions, one was the “Management” led by Aiuppa and Alex, and the second faction was headed by Nicoletti, who took care of all the “dirty stuff.”


Now, the Outfit “veteran” Nicoletti was in a situation where he had to seek approval for every important decision, from both Aiuppa and Alex. For him Aiuppa wasn’t a problem because they knew and worked together for a long time period, but Alex was a different story. For example, Alex complained to Accardo that a lot of “wild guys” were running around with out control, such as Joey Lombardo, Tony Spilotro or Frank Schweihs, with the approval of Aiuppa and Nicoletti. And because of those guys, other members of the group also suffered losses. Alex also explained to Accardo that these individuals were responsible for every gangland hit or mob related missing cases that occurred in Chicago or Las Vegas for the last few years and also added that these guys lied to them about not been involved in some of the murders. But Alex forgot about one thing, and that was even if Accardo ever had any problem with this, there was no way that he alone was going to take on the younger generation. But by the end of the meeting Alex brought another very touchy subject to the table and that was narcotics. The old bosses like Accardo or Alex, made their money and wanted to live out the rest of their lives quietly. But the problem was that some of the old big shots who didn’t saved their cash or didn’t had the chance to make it, wanted to get involved in narcotics since the bookmaking and loan sharking businesses were on the downfall. So guys like Aiuppa and Nicoletti happily financed this business and also influenced the new generation, who in turn gladly got involved. Now during his younger days, Accardo maybe took few envelopes of cash from the narcotics trade but generally he was against drugs because he believed that gambling will always exist as a racket. So, Accardo “advised” Aiuppa that he should take care of his men a little bit better and to keep them “clean”, meaning no narcotics and so Alex can safely return to Chicago. As for Nicoletti, he was overruled and was stripped from his rackets. He was quite mad at Aiuppa and Alex and they knew that. So on March 28, 1977 the House Select Committee on Assassinations wanted to question Nicoletti about his alleged involvement in the JFK assassination. Nicoletti wasn’t aware of the situation but “someone” else was and I believe that “someone” was Alex. So the next day Nicoletti was shot in the back of his head while in his automobile, probably by the same “wild guys” that he previously controlled.


While in Chicago, Alex was still very nervous because by now the amount of money which he has amassed through the good years was so big that he had no need for any further illegal income, but instead he was pulled back even further within the organization. He again and for the last time, played the “retirement and health card” with Accardo and Aiuppa and also advised them that Jack Cerone, the Outfit’s underboss, was the perfect candidate to take over his contacts and operations. In the end, Alex also informed the two bosses that his wife Suzanne developed breast cancer and she needed him during the therapies. As cruel as they were, the bosses considered Alex’s proposition and in the end, without any emotions, refused the proposal. Alex’s mistake was the proposal itself or in other words, his candidate which was Cerone. Accardo and Aiuppa respected Cerone, but they never trusted him because he was a loose cannon. If Alex had any better candidate then Cerone, he might’ve had quite good chances in receiving the long wished retirement from the Outfit.


So now Alex had no other choice but to become very cautious and tried to avoid any government surveillances, the best way he could. Once Alex managed to obtain the license plate number of a federal agent’s car during the course of surveillance and had it checked out through the Motor Vehicle Department in Springfield, Illinois, through a contact of his in the Chicago Police Department, and again four days later, he had it re-checked through the Cook County’s Sheriff’s Office. According to some sources, Alex spent much time in securing his meetings, which became quite a problem for the feds. Through the years Alex allegedly obtained information that most of government agents avoided working in the late evening hours or early morning hours, right after midnight so he scheduled most of his meeting during those time periods, especially during the weekends, in far remote areas. But his paranoia became more of a waste of time, because he was less productive during the meetings. By now Alex was in his mid 60’s and wasn’t getting any younger. He attended meetings only with the top guys, meaning Accardo and Aiuppa. Alex sometimes avoided meetings with the number two guy Jack Cerone because he considered the guy, as I said before, a “loose canon”, and which Cerone really was.

Who ever the organization decided to be the boss, Alex was right next to him and he became more of an advisor then money maker because his prime illegal operations were long gone, so he slowly started taking over Accardo’s role as top elder statesman for the mob. By the late 1970’s, Accardo and Alex continued to meet and made important decisions around Chicago’s joints. For example, the duo was once seen at the La Festival Restaurant at 28 West Elm Street in the company of Chicago attorneys Carl Walsh and Arthur Masser. Alex took Accardo’s advices very seriously and also always took care of his one time boss and mentor. For example, when old man Accardo was brought to the St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago for a series of tests related to a possible stomach aliment, Alex was the one who accompanied his boss all the time. As for Aiuppa, they usually met at the Rodity’s Restaurant at 222 South Halsted. Alex avoided any contacts through telephones, because he believed that all of his telephones were tapped by the feds and was on constant surveillance. So he usually sent word to one of Aiuppa’s underlings Larry Rassano, to inform his boss about Alex’s presence at a certain establishment and at certain time period. Even Alex’s underlings had to watch out for what they were saying and at the same time, what they were asking. As a result of that nobody was asking Alex too many questions and avoided any further curiosity.


This was the last generation of mobsters that really witnessed and tasted the old golden era of the mob. This was the trio or “Tripe A-Team,” who after numerous government vital attacks, they still managed to hold the Outfit as a whole, almost for free, because they spent all of their lives as criminals so what’s the point of changing their style now, right?! Wrong! Alex and Aiuppa should’ve changed their “styles” long time ago because now they were about to enter a new era filled with new drugs, new gangs, new laws, new surveillance technology and young and very ambitious government prosecutors.


During the late 1970’s and early 80’s, one of the most profitable racket for the Chicago Outfit was the video poker machines. Overseers of this new racket were Larner’s guys the Bastone brothers, Carmine and Sal. Carmine went to Spain to supervise the video poker machine factory that they owned and Larner and Alex had their own shares in it. Alex’s guy in Chicago was Nick Gio, a Greek-American enforcer for the Chicago Outfit, who also was involved in these operations. This was a beautiful racket that flooded Chicago. Every bar and restaurant also had to pay tribute for the machines and if the places were raided and the cops took the machines, in a matter of hours, new machines were placed back. That’s how easy it was.


During the early 1980’s, the Chicago Outfit was still flourishing, still held most of the illegal enterprises on the streets of Chicago, such as gambling, loan sharking, prostitution and extortion, still had high connections in the judicial system and the police force, and still owned Las Vegas. By now some of the FBI agents thought that old guys like Alex and his last companion from the old days Lenny Patrick, were retired from the rackets long time ago but they were wrong because by now Patrick controlled a crew which was involved in loan sharking and extortion and Alex took his cut from every big operation. Lenny Patrick’s crew was composed of Lenny Yaras, the son of the late Dave Yaras, and also James LaValley, Raymond Spencer, Nick Gio and Mario Rainone.


I mostly wrote about this specific crew in one of my previous articles based on Lenny Patrick’s criminal career, named “The Jewish Arm of the Chicago Outfit”, so I’m going to explain the crew’s nature in few short sentences. Now, Lenny Yaras and Raymond Spencer were the gang’s go-between guys for mob bookies and were also the street tax collectors, and the rest of the guys like LaValley, Rainone, and Gio were loan sharks and extortionists. The crew's gambling business alone involved an extensive network of offices, one of which cost $500,000 to open, served 800 betting customers, had a weekly payroll of $20,000 to $30,000, and accepted $80,000 in wagers in a single week. And in addition to paying its employees' salaries, the crew had to shell out for rent, phone service, utilities, pagers, and sports journals printed out of state. By the mid 1980s, Patrick’s crew also extorted nearly half a million dollars year from legitimate businessmen and bookies and another half a million from loan sharking. In the end, Alex as boss of that crew, took 20% from the gambling proceeds and 25% from the loan sharking activities. Since there was talk that the Outfit’s top hierarchy was going to be indicted for skimming millions from the Las Vegas casinos, the street taxes paid by bookmakers to operate in the Chicago area were increased from 15 to 20 or 25% to make up for the loss of income to the Chicago Outfit by the Las Vegas losses. Mob's extortionists raised the "fear fees," or money paid for protection, and loan sharks were levied with a surtax of sorts by the Outfit. Not everyone was satisfied by the increase which resulted with the violent deaths of many bookmakers, including the killing of Lenny Yaras, which was also sanctioned by Patrick and Alex.


In 1984, the “shield” of the Chicago mob was destroyed by the government with the beginning of Operation: “Greylord.” The three-and-a-half-year investigation has started with the indictments against 18 men, including three sitting judges and a former judge. This was a breakout for many people and now fear spread within the judicial system and many officials stopped fixing cases for the gangsters or the Chicago mob in general. This meant that now the Outfit had hard times in getting away with crime. Also in 1986, Outfit bosses Joey Auippa, Jackie Cerone, Joey Lombardo, and Alex’s long time friend Angelo LaPietra and mobsters from Kansas City were indicted, convicted and sent to jail for skimming millions from the Las Vegas casinos and again after 40 years the top administration of the organization was removed. Again, Alex managed to avoid any possible jail term. Alex was always near the top of the organization since the mid 1950’s and always avoided any serious prosecutions. By 1987, the top guys in the organization and the ones who decided the Outfit’s faith were Sam Carlisi, Jimmy Marcello and Gus Alex. Now Lenny Patrick’s whole crew had come under Carlisi's thumb because his main activity, which was loan sharking, was financed by the Carlisi/Marcello faction. Patrick was still a money maker because he tripled their investments but from everything that he made for himself, he had to take out 25% and gave it to his boss which was Alex.


Old man Alex


The same year, Alex’s older brother Sam, who by now was living in a $100,000 house located in a mob neighbourhood in Oak Brook, was diagnosed for cancer of the larynx. This was devastating news for the Alex family and so Gus found the best surgeons in the country and submitted Sam for a surgery. They cleared Sam from every possible cancerogenous part on his larynx but it was too late because the cancer already started spreading. So on February 11, 1987, Gus phoned his older brother just to ask him if he was alright or if he needed something, but no one was answering the phone. So Gus jumped in his car and went to his brother’s apartment in Oak Brook. When he entered the apartment at 10 a.m. Gus found the lifeless body of his 78 year old brother Sam in the bedroom were a .38-caliber revolver laid nearby and a note that said simply, "I am Sam Alex." The police and the Du Page County coroner reported that the death apparently was caused by self- gunshot wound to the head. Sources close to police investigation reported that the detectives also found 600 in cash in a shopping bag.


Now if Alex still had his emotional problems, which I believe he had, then this was one of the most emotionally heaviest moments a brother can ever experience. Alex still had relatives around Chicago from his other brothers and sisters but besides being brother, Sam was also Alex’s mentor, associate and friend. Both brothers had no children so they only had themselves and because of that, this was a breaking point for Alex. Sam Alex was a “mystery man” in the eyes of the government and the people around him. He was a mob legend in his early days but retired from his criminal career also at early age and still by the end of his life, he lived lavishly which was the main reason for the mystery that surrounded him and on top of that he knew almost every big time gangster from across the country. I believe that he was always financially supported by his baby brother, and in return I also believe that Sam always guided Gus in his criminal career. As additional info, there are many documented wiretapped conversations between top echelon gangsters and individual only known as “RIP”, which of course it’s the identity of Sam Alex.


The biggest problem for Alex started on September 29, 1989, when two Grand Avenue crew members Anthony Daddino and Frank Schweihs were found guilty and convicted on many charges. One thing was that Schweihs was a killer and a stand up guy, so the Outfit wasn’t afraid of him, but Daddino was another thing and so the bosses had other plans for the guy. They paid Daddino’s bond and he was released. But there was another problem. Through his contacts, Gus Alex received information that an extortion case was under way and that Mario Rainone was the “main star”. Alex feared that Rainone knew and might talk about the fact that Alex took a cut from every extortion that Rainone previously committed, so the old man ordered the other old man Lenny Patrick to take care of the job. So Patrick took the problem to James Marcello who in turn orchestrated an old Outfit “trick” when one man was ordered to kill another and then both were slain at the same time by another hit team. But during the hit, Rainone, the second target, who came to kill Daddino, suddenly spotted the other hit team and fled the scene in panic. This was a disaster. So one thing led to another and Rainone, fearing for his life, decided to call the FBI and told them that he was ready to cooperate. Rainone had cooperated with the government briefly by joining the witness protection program because he feared a hit had been put out on him. But when the Outfit got wind of the situation, they bombed and blew to bits the front porch of his mother’s home. The bomb was placed by Nick Calabrese on the orders of Jimmy Marcello. Rainone got the message and eventually stopped cooperating and pled guilty to extortion charges and was sentenced to 17½ years in prison.


So now everything seemed to be back in normal and Alex felt safe again and in the end Daddino never spoke about anything to anyone or in other words he was a stand up guy at the time so this was a big misunderstanding. The paranoia still clouded the thoughts of old man Alex and made him do stupid actions which later will cost him highly. One day Lenny Patrick called Alex and arranged a meeting. Alex told Patrick to meet him on the upper floor in a hallway at the Northwestern Hospital on Chicago’s Near North Side. It was just like in the Sopranos series. Patrick allegedly had an issue with some union official and needed Alex’s advice on the payments and extortion methods. On top of that, they also discussed the set up in the Daddino conspiracy.


But in 1990, the feds prepared for hunting because it was “old mobster’s season.” First, the previous government Operation “Greylord” evolved into Operation “Gambat” and indicted the First Ward administration, including Alderman Fred Roti, State Senator John D'Arco Jr., son of the late D’Arco Sr., Pat Marcy, Circuit Court Judge David Shields, and Pasquale DeLeo, a lawyer with close ties to the Chicago Outfit. The government charged Roti and Marcy for taking bribes to fix murder trials in 1977, 1981 and 1989, to fix a zoning case and to arrange a judicial appointment, as for D'Arco Jr., he promised to have state legislation passed in exchange for a bribe in 1988, and Shields and DeLeo conspired to fix a civil case on behalf of one of the plaintiffs' attorneys.


Since the government completely removed the Outfit’s protection, a year later and out of nowhere, the feds also indicted Gus Alex and Lenny Patrick on extortion charges and both were held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. Due to his constant illness, Alex was granted house arrest at his apartment at Lake Shore Drive and wore an ankle bracelet or a monitoring device and was only allowed his doctor or lawyer. He also gave his passport and the deeds of his two homes and in the end he posted a $25,000 bond. It was clear that the government was thirsty to see Alex behind bars. Since Rainone wasn’t talking anymore, Alex and Patrick had good chances to beat the case, but there was a “small” problem. When Alex was chattering previously about union schemes, profits and murder plots at the hospital, Patrick managed to tape a hidden recorder on his back and secretly recorded their conversation for the FBI. Yes, Patrick was an informer for the government and Alex was f*cked. All of his life time he managed to avoid the law and always trusted his peers from the old days and couldn’t have guessed in a million years that Patrick was going to be the one to bring his demise.


FBI informer Lenny “Blinky” Patrick


As I previously stated that I already wrote in details about Patrick’s “relations” with Alex in their final years, so again ill try to explain this next situation in shorter version. From this point on everything was a disaster. First the feds realized that while Patrick was working as a “under cover agent” for the government and took $7,200 a month, he still pocketed cash from illegal activities. So the indictment was handed down in 1991, which charged Patrick, Nicholas Gio, Mario Rainone and Gus Alex with various offences. Then Patrick decided to plead guilty and agreed to testify against Alex. This was a devastating news for Alex because deep inside of him he knew that there was no escape out of this one. To make things worse, James LaValley was later also mentioned in the indictment but he also decided to cooperate with the feds and few months later another member of Patrick’s crew, Gary Edwards, also began cooperating. It was a “rat infestation” and Alex was in the middle of it. So now the feds caught a real break and they went after the big guy. Because of the many bad news, old man Alex allegedly fell from some stairs and broke a bone in his back, thus delaying his trial for four months. Also Alex’s lawyers argued that their client was mentally incompetent to stand trial and simply cannot recall pertinent events because of the memory loss and cannot help in preparing his defence.


Alex leaving the court hearings


But before Patrick and Alex went to trial, on May 19, 1992, Alex has sent his “regards” to Patrick by blowing to pieces his daughter’s 1987 BMW in the driveway of her home in Rogers Park. No one was hurt but everyone got the message. So in September, 1992, Lenny Patrick took the witness stand against his boss Gus Alex. Old man Patrick was acting like a clown during the trial and turned the whole thing into a circus. Alex couldn’t believe his eyes. While everybody was laughing in the court room, Alex sat in his chair and was deadly serious. Patrick said that Carlisi and John DiFronzo, another reputed top mob figure, muscled him out of street taxes he had collected for 15 years from one gambler, personally giving him the word at the funeral of Carlisi`s brother. So Alex’s lawyer said that it was Carlisi and DiFronzo who gave him his orders, not Alex. Patrick defended himself by saying “Come on, come on, you`re getting out of the tune there. Now you`re trying to tell me I didn`t give Alex any profits from extortions. That`s out, that`s out.”


Alex carefully listening to Patrick’s testimony


When Carlisi and DiFronzo muscled him out of the street tax operations, Patrick said he even went to Alex to complain, but Alex didn’t do anything about it. Patrick also said that Alex never once rejected a proposed extortion and always told him the same thing “Be careful.” Alex wanted the jury to infer, with the aid of the go-betweens excluded testimony, his inability to form the required intent from the evidence of early Alzheimer's that he had presented at the competency hearing. This was an exercise in futility. He was trying to make time run backwards. For senile dementia is a progressive disease. If Alex was competent to stand trial, he must have been competent to conspire with Patrick and the others earlier. The prosecutors also played a tape recording of a conversation that Alex had with Patrick during the period of the conspiracy reveals no mental incapacity. So this time the “health card” didn’t play out. Alex’s lawyers spent three days cross-examining Patrick and were at such pains to convince the jury that Patrick was a liar but they didn’t make any significant results. In the end, Alex, Gio, and Rainone received prison sentences of 188, 137, and 210 months, respectively. Alex was also fined $ 250,000, and both he and Rainone were subjected to heavy forfeitures. Alex even had to pay $1,400 a month for the cost to the taxpayers for his prison cell. And that was that. Old man Alex cried and couldn’t stand up so they took him away in a wheelchair accompanied by U.S. marshals to serve his 15 year prison term with no chance of parole.


In the end, I don’t know much what to say about Alex except that one time he was the “James Bond” of the mob, and although he wasn’t Italian, he still had Mafia blood floating through his veins. Regarding this, Carl Sifakis, the author of The Mafia Encyclopedia wrote “…there was pressure on Alex to take the reins…Had Gussie accepted, it would certainly have been rather disconcerting to those writers and professional informers who insist the Mafia is strictly Italian. Perhaps they would’ve been forced to observe that, after all, it was the Greeks who first settled in Sicily.” After all of that lavish and turbulent life style, in the end he ended up in jail during the most terrible period of his life and that was the old age. The guy was 78 years old so the prison term was like a death sentence to him. I mean really, by now he was an old guy so my opinion is that the government should’ve have given him 3 years tops and after that the guy would’ve been straight till death, which probably would’ve come in a very short time. I’m saying this because the government failed to catch this arch criminal for many decades while he was young and because of that he accomplished every evil scheme that ever fell on his mind. And now he was in world filled with African-American and Latin gangs who provided billions of dollars from the narcotics trade and he was just an old fool who was still involved in $100,000 or $200,000 extortions and foolishly ordered a murder over those amounts. I mean don’t get me wrong, those amounts aren’t small a bit but Alex used to stash even bigger cash then that on daily basis for many years in the past so I don’t believe that he needed more. He used to be the real “Golden Greek.”


To the ordinary every day men, Alex was always polite and was also a nice man. He wasn’t the gangster with tattoos and golden teeth threatening you with a gun in your face. For the people that didn’t know him at all, Alex had the image of an angel, but if someone knew him and if they crossed him, they were brought on the level of survival. Alex was like a leech, he punished his underlings by destroying their finances and in the end took over their rackets. He rarely killed, but he heavily insulted the people who made mistakes and rarely ever worked with them again. Those who opposed him, in the end learned to regret it. As evil and shrewd as he was, in the end, he was undone by more sinister soul then himself. It was a matter of survival, and Lenny Patrick won the battle. Patrick’s only explanation for his actions was “I didn`t feel good about the whole thing. I had to do it. Otherwise, what are they going to do? Give me the 20 years.” His whole life, Alex acted as a protector for his peers in the underworld, but in the end he was destroyed by those who he once protected.


Alex excelled at corrupting public officials because he wasn`t some loud and violent, guy, but instead he was smart, charismatic and articulate and with that he also impressed people outside the mob. So don’t be deceived when the “prince of darkness” comes across as a gentleman. It seems to be his best disguise. As for the prince of darkness himself, Gus Alex, his sin was like a jail cell except it was nice and comfy and there wasn’t any need to leave although the door was always wide open, until one day when it slammed shut, forever. On July 24, 1998, Gus Alex died of a heart attack at the age of 82, while confined to a federal prison medical center in Lexington, Kentucky.

This article is completed from various infos, mostly collected from FBI reports and other criminal records, crime related books and articles, and personal opinions.

I wish today wasn't daylight savings day....Not gonna be able to finish it.

Great posting as usual....Looks very informative.

Great stuff Toodoped!!!

I'm gonna finish it tonight before I hit the sack..

Just read it, truly incredible

Thanks a lot fellas and thank you for your support

Great work Toodoped now there only one guy I want you to do is Jackie Cerone

Thanks Ricky. Will do

Your welcome bro yeah every thing on him his brothers cousins as well they all was gangsters he also had a big bro like Gus Alex . he was with Tony Accardo since 1930s so he must of been in his crew what stories he called tell I read a few from his on lips on his FBI Files he love to talk about hits he did and crimes and money he earned as you know any way Toodoped

Wow - Great, Great Story

Nice Presentation and Construction

Great work, TooDoped. Excellent historical info. Thanks

Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate it

Great stuff Toodoped! You are the man. Greetings from Sweden.

Thanks man. Cheers

Fantastic, fantastic work man!!!



You really should consider compiling these together and maybe try to get published, I've seen GOOD books not half as well researched. Case in point, Gus Russos Outfit, I love that book, but NOWHERE does he mention a guy like Hy Larner, or these other guys you are knowledgable about..



Great Work again, s d THANKS FOR POSTING THESE, KEEP EM COMING LOL

Yeah Toodoped you should put all your research and posts and photos in to a book I buy it for sure

Thanks Cabrini I really appreciate your support.


Yeah I'm planning on putting all of my articles on one 300 pages pdf file and make it free for download.

Yeah All Good Make Sure You Put Jackie Cerone in it Toodoped

Thank you for a weeks worth of intermittent reading Toodoped. Though it didnt end the way I wanted it to. Fucking rats! You definitely did a great job.

You're welcome blueracing347 and also thank you.

Finally got round to finishing this! Great read Toodoped. I knew practically nothing about Gus Alex before so this was very informative. Looking forward to the next one.

Thanks a lot man and im glad that you liked my article. Also i assure you that there will be a lot more to come. cheers