I had this convo with some guy on another forum so I thought about posting this interesting timeline regarding the Outfit's most "mysterious" member Gus Alex...

1.During the 1900's, 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 eight 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 some of Alex’s personal claims in front of the feds, he was born in 1914)

2. During Prohibition, one high level member of the so-called South Side "Mafia", Bruno Roti opened up his headquarters which was a tavern known as Phil’s Liquors which was located at 26th Street and Wentworth Avenue. By this time the father of the family 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, since Nick was allegedly 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 at the time

3. 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. Don't ever forget that the Cicero area was the second stronghold for the so-called Capone mob since the first one was the Loop and South Side. Sam Alex was one of revolutionary Capone members who began infiltrating the union rackets and he was also allegedly one of Capone's main executioners at the time which obviously explains his nickname "RIP".

4. 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

5. Gus Alex was first time arrested in on September 24, 1933, at the age of 19, together with Frank Ferraro, Nick Biondi and Louis Paletto regarding a bar brawl which ended up with one guy dead on the floor. 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 information for the cops about Alex being a part of Chicago’s underworld

6. In 1936, 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 one other individual. In fact, the Chicago Crime Commission revealed information about Sam being very “nutty and unmanageable” and so he was exiled from Chicago and the reports stated his younger brothers George and Gus became his eyes and ears in Chicago’s underworld

7. On October 22, 1937, Gus Alex and Frank Ferraro were arrested regarding the murder of Frank Locascio and the numerous robberies. First the 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

8. During the late 1930's, 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 Frank 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.

9. On February 22, 1940, Gus Alex and Joseph Vinci, who was a mobster and also worked as a Democratic captain of the 52nd precinct in the 11th Ward, were 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. On April 17, 1940, both men were freed of the charges by the Coroner’s jury

10. In 1942, Gus Alex opened up his own gambling establishment at 2136 South Michigan Avenue, but 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 and so the case was dismissed and all of the illegal gambling equipment which was confiscated by the cops was ordered to be returned to Alex

11. In 1943, Gus Alex and two of Jake 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

12. On October 31, 1943, Robert Bock was heavily wounded by a shotgun blast as he stepped into his car near his home. Almost a year later the cops received information that Gus Alex was involved in the shooting and 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

13. On August 2, 1947, Vincent Bozic sat on the front steps of his house at 3348 South Union Avenue while chatting with his brother-in-law Tony Kalbic, when 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 and soon Alex was brought to the police station and was later released, again

14. In 1947, Gus 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. In a police record dated October, 1947, Alex was also described as one of the underworld figures directly involved in the Chicago Teamsters Union Local 705 and also directly involved in the Tile Setters Union in Chicago

15. On March 18, 1948, Nick Alex passed away and it was a huge and lavish funeral with mountains of lavish floral pieces crammed Coletta’s Undertaking Parlors at 2600 Wentworth Avenue. 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

16. By the end of 1948, Alex got a job as a general manager at infamous joint known as the Turf Nighclub

17. On November 24, 1953, Gus Alex, Jake Guzik and Murray Humphreys were arrested at the Celano Tailoring Shop at 620 North Michigan Avenue and later they were questioned about the whereabouts of their other associates that attended the meeting and as usual they were released

18. During the mid 1950’s Sam Alex visited an old mob legend known as Owen “Owney” Madden, a former New York mobster who was retired in Hot Springs and formed an “unholy alliance”, which made the area one of the wealthiest, politically corrupt illegal gambling towns in the U.S. long before Las Vegas really started up

19. On July 31, 1958, at 10:30 a.m. Gus 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 decade long expensive chase for the elusive gangster, in the end Alex refused to answer almost all questions by taking the 5th Amendment

20. In July, 1959, the Outfit’s oldest leader Paul Ricca was on trial regarding charges of income tax evasion and before the trial, Murray Humphreys and Gus Alex apparently had a detective agency, which placed surveillance on practically all the jurors in the case in order to develop information

21. In its issue of June 10, 1959, the “Chicago Daily News” quoted Robert Kennedy as follows: “Gus Alex and Frank Ferraro are two of the most ruthless and vicious hoodlums with complete control over Chicago’s First Ward.”

22. On November 5 and 6, 1960, Moe Dalitz had a meeting in Chicago with Sam Giancana, Gus Alex and Les Kruse allegedly regarding the Las Vegas interests

23. In December, 1962, Gus Alex began travelling extensively around Europe regarding the Outfit's international interests and money laundering operations. 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 and also the cost of furs and gems were estimated at another $20,000

24. During the mid 1960's Gus 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, which explains his close connection with Jewish Mob boss Eddie Vogel at the time

25. In 1965, Gus Alex was banned by Swiss government since 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 in behalf of Alex in regard to his efforts to get the ban lifted but it never really occurred

26. In 1966, Sam "RIP" Alex 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 and the 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

27. By 1971, Gus Alex's main guys were Les Kruse and Ralph Pierce, and they had “message drops” or local places which were used for leaving messages or payoffs to the bosses such as 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. During this time Gus 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

28. According to numerous FBI files, From 1971 until 1975, Gus Alx was the member of a top ruling panel which controlled the whole Outfit and included also Joey Auippa and Tony Accardo

29. In November, 1972, Gus Alex, Dave Yaras, Lenny Patrick, Les Kruse and Gus Zapas appeared in front of a special federal grand jury regarding the racketeer’s involvement with politicians and the police

30. 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 during this brief period Gus 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

31. By the late 1970’s, Tony Accardo and Gus 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. 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

32. By the mid 1980's, Gus Alex took a cut from the illegal profits o he so-called Lenny Patrick’s crew which allegedly extorted nearly half a million dollars year from legitimate businessmen and bookies and another half a million from loan sharking. He allegedly took 20% from the gambling proceeds and 25% from the loan sharking activities

33. In 1987, Alex’s older brother Sam was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx and so on February 11, 78 year Sam Alex was found by his younger brother dead in the bedroom were a .38-caliber revolver laid nearby and a note that said simply, "I am Sam Alex." since he had his name changed for quite a long time period. 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

34. In 1992, thanks to Lenny Patrick's testimony, Gus Alex, Nick Gio and Mario 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

35. 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

Looks like Alex's criminal career went from a simple robber and killer and then to gambler, corruption, financial deals, and then to a boss level, and in the end to long time street boos who took his "street tax" from one single crew

Thanks for the information! But is his real last name really "Alex" or is it an "anglicized" form of Alexopoulos or something like that? Just wondering, because "Alex" doesn't sound like a Greek word...But being born on April Fool's joke day suits him well, since somebody might in fact take it as a joke that a non-Italian was allowed to a high-ranking position in the Mafia But it would be a "dark humor" joke, considering all the murders he was involved in.

Gus Alex > German/Aleman

You're welcome and I also agree with you that his real name was probably anglicized from Alexandropoulous or maybe even Alexandros. When i began writing my Alex article, i searched for everything to uncover their true surname but I couldnt find any kind of info and so I stayed with the name Alex

Billy B

Hey toodoped, I'm finding a whole new respect for Gus, I always thought he was the nerdy type along the lines of guik...but after reading the links you sent me I stand corrected.all hail shotgun gus!!!

Speaking of Guzik, while it's true he wasn't really a "physical power" himself (like when Joe Howard beat him up and he had to call Al Capone for help), but did he ever order any hits? Or was he only responsible for the financial operations? Like for example, Jerry Angiulo comes to mind: he never pulled the trigger on anyone and was made as a good earner only, but later ordered at least several hits (Rocco DiSeglio, Angelo Patrizzi and also helped with planning the Joe Barboza one).

He was a top guy for decades and had crews on the northside, and in the end he was on the outside of everything running desperate extortions on legitimate business owners and that wound up netting these guys serious time in their respective old ages

Toodoped can correct me with the specific's, but I remember reading that he might have ordered a few hits on Jewish guy's...I don't think he had that type of power over made men

This is how Guzik and Alex rose to power...

Max Guzik, the head of the family or Jake's father, was a big time player even before Torrio, Esposito and Capone, since he was big in the prostitution racket around the Levee and was in close partnership with Jim Colosimo from that same area and also Mike Heitler, the pimpin boss from the West Side. In fact, these were some of the main fellas who were responsible for creating the Capone gang before becoming a Cosa Nostra family. In addition, the Guzik family started on the West Side, or around the Jewish Lawndale area where Jake was born and later transferred to the Near South Side.

When Capone went to jail in 1932, that same close friendship which Al and Jake Guzik had, was copied between Guzik and Phil D'Andrea. You see, when the Capone mob was recognized as CN group, D'Andrea became the boss of the Levee or in other words, the Near South Side and Loop and also whole South Side, which in fact was Capone's old stronghold, before Cicero. So the one who controlled this territory, he also had jurisdiction over the First Ward and its been like that until the mid 1960's, or when the Loop became an open area for business. So this was the main reason for Guzik's power within the Outfit during the 1930's. This group was looked upon as the main corruption squad since they had control over the First Ward, their main vice was gambling and yes, they transferred or gave away murder contracts.

When Phil D'Andrea went to jail in 1943, he was replaced by Bruno Roti Sr. as acting captain of that huge territory but in terms of power or in reality Guzik was more powerful or skillful than Roti. So I believe that the 1940's was decade when the Outfit created one unofficial position within their top hierarchy which was taken by a non-Italian boss or Jake Guzik. This was the same decade when a lot of Jewish mob bosses were getting killed around the Lawndale area and was brought under the Outfit's auspices, thanks to Guzik and the Lenny Patrick crew which in fact was the hit team for the jobs and later overseers of that same territory. After that Ragen got the best of it and according to his testimony, Guzik, Accardo and Humphreys were the main logisticians for his assassination which was executed by Patrick, Yaras and Willie Block. When the cops questioned Guzik, he allegedly acted as he had a heart attack and fell on the ground, and then one of the investigators made a joke to give Jake a glass of water filled with "truth serum". In a matter of 1 second, Guzik quickly stood up and said that he was OK LOL

Gus Alex's first big push came during the early 1950's, or after the death of D'Andrea in 1952. According to some of my research, after his death, D'Andrea's huge territory was divided on two groups and areas between the Italian factions, including the Near South Side and Loop under Frank Ferraro, and Chinatown and the South Side under Bruno Roti. And from this point on, the non-Italian faction had their own operations over Chinatown and the South Side with the help of Ralph Pierce and they also became the bosses of the First Ward and Loop. In other words, the non-Italians kept their control over D'Andrea's old territory. Now, according to numerous reports, both Ferraro and Alex were close friends since young age and remained like that until death. So during this period Alex really became a huge player and some reports say that he slowly began to take over from Guzik by being his constant companion.

Alex's second big push came in 1956, when Guzik died and Murray Humphreys took his position as the top non-Italian boss of the First Ward and Alex again, was the second in command. But in 1957, Roti Sr also died and at the same time Frank Ferraro became the under boss for Sam Giancana, and so my personal belief is that Alex took Ferraro's position as "captain" for the Italian or Ferraro's crew, under the jurisdiction of the under boss or under Ferraro. So if you really think about it, this the main period when Humphreys and Alex, since both were non-Italians and controlled the same territory, received higher jurisdiction over some of the Italian crews and later also formed an adviser role. I also believe that this type of hierarchy with the under boss having jurisdiction over the First Ward started with D'Andrea or maybe even with Frank Nitto and alter continued until the mid and late 1960's with Ferraro, Sam Battaglia and later with Phil Alderisio.

During the early 1960's, Alex and Ferraro were right beneath Giancana and they ruled supreme. As AllDay27 said, Alex had operations on the North Side, but also around Cicero, Melrose Park, Chicago Heights and all around Chicago. This is one of the main reason for which the feds at the time believed that Ferraro's real boss was in fact Alex, which was obviously false. Alex had day-to-day contacts with many of the members and he even settled disputes. Once he ruled in favor for Louie Arger over Jimmy Allegretti.

Alex really became the top guy during the mid and late 1960's or when the Outfit was crumbling down, or in other words, the top position was always hunted down by the feds, and on top of that both Ferraro and Murray Humphreys died of natural causes by that time. So during that period, the Near South Side and Loop crew was disbanded and the Loop area became an open territory. So there were only few guys such as Alex, Pat Marcy and Roti Jr. who ruled supreme only over the First Ward and became mostly involved in corruption. Although Alex still took his cut from big shots such as Les Kruse, Ralph Pierce, Dave Yaras, Lenny Patrick, and Hyman Larner, until the early 1970's when Alex became one of the three top bosses.

Nice work Toodoped like Always . I am sure you was in the OUTFIT in a past life there is FBI FILE with Gus Alex Tony Accardo Paul ricca together Talking and Gus Alex is telling both tony and paul that the hits have been done 1962 time line . i am sure you seen it Toodoped. its also in the book by tony dark about tony accardo and paul ricca

here the book get it Toodoped [img]http://[/img]

Thanks ricky and as I said previously both Guzik and Alex had the roles of taking the proposals from the captains and giving it to the bosses, and the other way around. I believe that the talk went something like Alex should wait Accardo after his return from vacation or some trip in another country, so they can give away the contracts. And sometime later in another report, it was something like Alex reported to Accardo that the contracts had been executed.

Here's one of those docs..

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html..._alex%20accardo

In addition, Gus Alex's real mentor wasn't Jake Guzik nor Hymie Levine, but instead it was one less know gangster from the 1930's and early 40's era who went by the name of Malcolm Clarke. This guy handled all handbook and every kind of form on gambling operations around the Loop area for Guzik since the Capone days, and according to several reports,Clarke was the one who during the late 1930's taught Alex regarding the gambling racket.

Many Mob historians believe that Levine was in fact Alex's real mentor but that's not true since during the early 1940's Alex already established him self as a gambling operator by owning his personal gambling establishment and also had interests in several other. I haven't recently checked Levine's prison record by I believe that he had many legal problems during the late 1930's. I believe that the confusion comes when in 1948, Levine suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed for the rest of his life and at the same time, Malcolm Clarke retired to California, which left Alex as Guzik's number two guy or right-hand man

Lots of great info here. Thanks Toodoped.

You're welcome MightyDR

Yeah that the one toodoped

Roemer spoke very highly of Alex...Ever notice the one's that Roemer spoke highly of he never arrested, the one's he didn't like were all harassed and arrested !!

Roemer also said Tony Accardo and Gus Alex Done a Hit together around 1936 timeline Tony shooting the guy in the head with a shotgun blast and Alex blasting the guy with two shots with a handgun. Roemer must of heard this on wiretaps .TOODOPED try find this please on them FBI FILES i read this in roemer book on Tony Accardo

That was Vincent Gibalbi also know as Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn. A mentor to Tony Accardo. Sam Alex was the third member in the trio of the hit.

The hit i am tailking about was on a union guy . he run the projectionist union he was driving when they blasted him

Ricky is right, since McGurn was dead in 1936 and was allegedly ousted from the Outfit a couple of years before that. On top of that, Alex was too young that same year to be riding with Accardo and the rest of the boys, so in plane words that's nonsense and it possibly occurred during the late 1930's or early 1940's.

No it is not nonsense. George, Gus, and Sam Alex brother-in-law Joseph Glimco was in the same crew as Tony Accardo and Vincent Gibalbi that was headed by Frank Rao. Rao handed the contract to Tony Accardo to kill Tommy Maloy who is who rickydelta is thinking of. Accardo and Glimco machine gunned Maloy in his car when they pulled up to him. Gus may have been young at the time, but he was already hanging out with mobsters and they knew the Alexs. The Maloy hit is the first time that can be documented of Vincent Gibalbi having some sort of problem in the underworld as he would have been given the contract instead of Tony Accardo. The Alexs were known to be solid and stand up guys in Chicago even at young ages, as their father Nick was well respected amongst the mobsters.

No disrespect but RIO was dead in 1935 and retreated from the Mob a year earlier when he began having health problems since his heart was slowly gaving up and he wasnt around the Chicago area. Maloy was killed two weeks earlier before his death and yeah Rio "probably stood up from his bed since he was the top boss of the US Mafia since there was no one else and ordered the hit" On top of that Rio was the boss of a different crew and McGurn was completely out of the Outfit but was closely overseen by the Cicero crew. Maddox and West Side member Three Finger Jack killed McGurn in 1936. Rio was replaced by Rocco DeGrazia and he had no kind of involvment in that operation. Accardo and Capezio belonged to the Elmwood Park group which was headed either by Frank Diamond Maritote or Lawrence Mangano, the only guy who many of the newspapermen forgot to mention regarding the infamous extortion case and got away untouched. There might've been some involvment by Sam Alex but he and Marcus Looney were out from Chicago at the time. For example, on November 23, 1936, 54 years old Michael Galvin was assassinated by four men in an auto mobile allegedly on the orders of Sam Alex and Looney who were out of town. There were also a dozen more guys killed that same year anbd it looks like Sam ordered them instead of executing. We can only guess according to some wiretapped convos on who were the real killers on Galvin but I highly doubt that there was any kind of involvment by Jack McGurn in the Maloy or Galvin or any of the murders...in addition George Alex was reaally a nobody since he was mainly involved in one of his brother's prostitution racket by beating under-aged girls

Yeah Tommy Maloy hit . Roemer said in his book the Real Godfather Tony Accardo. Tony Accardo And Gus Alex Shot Tommy Maloy when he was driving his car Tony Accardo shot him with a Shotgun Blast in the head and Gus shot him two times with a handgun the year was 1936 . Roemer must of heard this on a FBI Bug

Frank Nitti ordered the hit on Tommy Maloy on New Years eve 1934 as Larry Mangano said there was a lot of money to be had in that union, plus he supposedly own Maloy money. Frank Rao said he will handle it, just give him a month or two. Of course the cocktail waitress was a drug user, so her account may be full of shift.

Yeah Roemer invented a lot of things in his book which almost none can be found in some of the real FBI files or wiretapped convos, in other words what do you expect from a guy who also wrote a fictional book on the Outfit. He obviously had a lot of imagination like the so-called "Family Pact" or Accardo being the shooter in the St Valentines Day Massacre and bla bla bla... I remember once there was this board member who said Moe Dalitz was killed or almost killed by the Outfit, i dont really remember <---that right there is Roemer's fault by writing fictional and also allegedly non-fictional books and I'll say it again, that for an FBI agent, he sure had a lot, and I mean a lot of imagination, similar to a psychiatric patient

In addition, here are some interesting facts regarding the Alex family's private life...

From 1920 to 1923, Gus Alex attended the Ward Public School and then he left to a Greek School and later again returned to Ward which he attended until 1928. In 1930, Alex dropped out of high school after finishing two years


In 1944, Gus Alex was drafted to join his fellow Americans in World War II, but 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


After his father Nick Alex passed in 1948, later on each memorial day, Gus Alex together with his blood relatives visited the grave of his father and together with a Greek priest, conducted a lengthy ceremony in honor of their husband, father and grandpa. Gus Alex never failed to pay homage to his father for the rest of his life or until his imprisonment


In 1950, Gus Alex already shared his possessions and riches with a very beautiful blue-eyed bombshell named Marianne Ryan. They allegedly 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 also often took his wife’s maiden name and traveled as Mike Ryan. He 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. In addition, Sidney Korshak's wife Bernice Korshak also worked as a model and was close friend with Marianne Alex.


During the early 1950's, Sam Alex was still staying at his huge farm in Cassopolis, Michigan; which was expanded during the years 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 and Sam lived under different name known as Sam Taylor or Herbert Taylor. Sam’s neighbors 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 Alex 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 neighborhood. With the huge desire for one day to have their own, Sam and his wife have done wonderful things for the kids in the neighborhood. 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 practice of hitching a sled to his tractor and taking children for rides around the school field. In addition, both Sam and Gus Alex never had children of their own


During the mid 1950's, Gus Alex often 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


In 1960, Marianne Alex informed her husband that she wants a divorce. During 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 allegedly almost killed his wife after the attempt to leave him forever. By now Alex was also 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


During the early 1960's, Gus Alex was single, but during his visits at the Playboy Club, he 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 returned to the U.S. In addition, Alex and Vogel became so close that they both lived in the same apartment building at 4300 North Marine Drive together with their beautiful female models under their arms


By the mid 1960's 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. Even with that 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


In the evening hours Gus Alex was known for often visiting 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


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, old man 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


During the mid 1970's, Gus 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 and he still often had fine escorts under his arm

Nice work like Always Toodoped bro I know your not a fan of Roemer but he was there and heard many things with his own ears with bugs and his spy network . Gus Alex was a Killer from a early age like must of the Outfit guys so he could of done hits with Tony Accardo in the 1930s . Tony Accardo and Gus Alex was very close so i think they did do hits together . But we will never know unless we see them FBI FILES Jackie Cerone love to talk about Hits he did . As we know in his FBI FILES . Gus Alex and Tony Accardo how they was talking about Contracts while talking about holidays shows us they where real killers too

Nice work, Toodoped. I remember reading about Alex being very nervous. Accardo told him to go to the country and chop wood. He may have spent some time institutionalized for his nervous/emotional problems, not really sure.

Yeah, Lenny Patrick put him away and the Outfit continued it's decline. Those old timers were cut from a different cloth. Tough guys.

Thanks GaryMartin and also here's one small part from a conversation between Humphreys and some unknown individual regarding Alex's health problems. I also believe that this might be one of those kinds of convos which after being finished, and if a decision was brought, allegedly some unstable or suspicious people might get killed:

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.


And another one in which Humphreys says to Alex to chill out and to begin working as a team, which might explain Humphrey's previous "doubts" in Alex's activities:

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.


And the last short convo is between First Ward bosses Buddy Jacobson and Pat Marcy both refering to John D'Arco regarding the Outfit's violent nature, except for Alex being the most reasonable one:

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.