I've spent a lot of time researching the deal with Accardo stepping aside and Giancana taking over. I've talked with Outfit authors and historians and they said Accardo turned over the criminal activities to Giancana because of his impending IRS problems. You may recall the issue with the little red Mercedes being listed as a tax write off by Accardo. During this time, and the appeal, Accardo stepped down to avoid more attention from the news media. I feel sure Paul Ricca played a role in the decision-making process when Accardo stepped aside and became a consigliere with Ricca. Ricca had the final say in Outfit business but pushed Accardo to assume more responsibility.
As far as shots being fired into Accardo's home, the answer I got was that it did not happen. I'm simply telling you what was told to me by outfit authors and historians. Even one of our forum members (Chicago), who knows a lot about The Outfit regardless of who he is, said this did not happen.
There were reports that some shots were fired in Accardo's direction as he walked near his home. The conventional wisdom is that a couple of guys involved in the Hollywood Extortion case may have been responsible. Both men were later found murdered. I can't recall their names but I believe one was named Gioe. Not for sure about this.
The transfer of power was a good move for Accardo and a bad move for Giancana because the FBI was coming to town. Roemer and company were on their way, and I'm sure you know the rest of the story.
As far as Giancana FORCING Accardo to "give up the throne", this has been a subject of debate for awhile now!! It seems that you have two sides to every story, ESPECIALLY THIS ONE. Giancana loyalists say one thing while Accardo's say the other. From what I've been able to gather, through books, magazine articles and newspaper stories, is that Sam was released from prison, where he was informed about how much money the South Side Blacks were making from, "the policy/numbers" racket, which the past bosses never really considered. Well, upon his release, Sam meets with the upper heirarchy of the Outfit at the time, explains what he's got planned with regards to taking over the South-Side policy racket and what he estimates "the take", to be. Some say for this he was rewarded and named "street boss", while in all reality, Accardo, who demoted himself to consigliere, always maintained a tight grip on whoever he put into the boss's chair.
Let's remember, publicity was shunned, low key, under the radar is what helped make Accardo the man he was in the Chicago Outfit.
He was a top dog for over 50 years, never spent a night in prison
and managed to avoid the spotlight while raking in millions from the Vegas Skim to Joker Poker Video Machines.
