By now Big Al Capone had a lot of legal problems and the law was slowly closing in on him and he didn’t need any additional problems such as the case with the robbery of the Mayor’s wife. Capone enjoyed the close relationship with the Mayor of Chicago and he also needed a political protection for the upcoming trials and didn’t want any interruptions. Because of the Battaglia case, Mayor Thompson started receiving “hits” from his opponents. "The mayor, two months ago, should have supported my resolution for an investigation of the police department with the same vigor with which he fought King George," said one rival. So now Capone had no choice but to show his loyalty towards Mayor Thompson by doing few clean ups here and there. During this period Sam Battaglia wasn’t riding low because of the constant heat made by the press and the police but instead he continued with his crime spree. On November 29, 1930, Battaglia was riding in a car together with few of his fellow criminals like Joe Catrina, Phillip Epstein, Daniel Clementi and Joseph Pupeel. This wasn’t an ordinary ride along the streets of Chicago because the boys had a plan to make a robbery on a restaurant at W. Randolph St. In fact the boys knew that at the back of the restaurant there was a high stakes card game of commission men. According to reports, “stool pigeons” previously overheard their plans about robbing the restaurant and relayed them to the police. So before they arrived the cops were already in the joint and waited for the robbers to appear. When the gangsters arrived in front of the restaurant Battaglia remained at the wheel and all of his four associates got out and went in the place with their guns on point. Suddenly all hell broke loose with the sounds of a wild revolver battle with the police. When the smoke cleared one innocent pedestrian was killed. His name was 55 year old Leonard Sanor, a wholesale egg dealer of Los Angeles, who happened to be at the wrong place in the wrong time. Battaglia rode off in a panic, crashed the car through a display window and ran on foot. All four of his associates were arrested and taken into custody. On December 1, 1930, Battaglia was also taken to custody of the police and was questioned about the shooting because the cops again received info that Sam was the fifth member of the crew. Sam was in custody for over a month on suspicion that he was involved in the murder.


As much as the situation sounded bad for Sam, the time period when he was in custody actually saved his life because on January 4, 1931 the cleanup began with Sam’s older cousin Augie Battaglia. Augie was walking down the corner of Roosevelt Rd. and Halsted St. when two assassins walked right up to him and shot him several times in the head and back. Brothers Frank and Sam Battaglia were both in custody at the time but were allowed to attend Augie's funeral, handcuffed to police detectives. After that Sam was released from custody on the lack of evidences and there are also reports for possible police corruption.


Two days later after the murder of Augie Battaglia, on January 6, 1931 Patsy Tardi was walking down on North Polk St. together with another 42 gang member Ralph Costanzo. Suddenly two assassins crossed from the other side of the street and got in front of them. The two men fired several times with automatic pistols hitting Tardi twice in the head and wounding Costanzo in the abdomen. Story goes that back in November 1930, Tardi got information about one of Al Capone’s collectors Herman White who held a big amount of cash for the gang. So on December 9, Herman’s wife reported that her husband was missing. She also told to the police that her husband held $20,000 that he collected for the Capone gang. Obviously someone wanted the top layer of the 42 gang to be eliminated. Nobody knew the real reason for the killings. Some said that it was an internal war within the gang and that Paul Battaglia was responsible for the murder of Tardi. Others said that Capone was behind the hits because of the robbery on the Mayor’s wife and some said that the boys were killed because of their involvement in the Jake Lingle murder. Either way the murders remained unsolved as many other murders from that era.


Now Paul Battaglia and his cousins Sam and Joseph went into hiding because they started getting hits from all sides. Frank Battaglia was safe because he was previously sent to a year in jail on charges for concealed weapon. But the pressure didn’t last long because in 1931 Al Capone was on trial for income tax evasion and he wasn’t getting out easily on that one and also the same year his ally Mayor Thompson was defeated by Democrat Anton Cermak. So Sam immediately went on his usual criminal spree. On New Year’s Eve Sam, George Busk and one other individual wanted to rob the C&O café, a North Clark St. cabaret. The C&O was owned by John Connors who was the brother of a big political boss William Connors of the Near North Side. The gangsters walked in with their pistols and ordered everybody to get down on the floor. The problem was that two of the guests were police detective Martin Joyce and patrolman John Maier who were enjoying the evening with more than few drinks. When the cops saw the robbers, detective Joyce pulled out his gun and told them to surrender. It was a wrong move because Sam fired a few shots, wounding Joyce in the belly and also wounding Maier in the leg. The club's merrymaking turned into a bedlam, as screaming patrons sought refuge behind chairs and booths. Maier managed to pull his gun and took a shot at the gangsters. The bullet shattered the teeth of George Busk while one guest who wanted to be hero floored Busk with a diving tackle but got shot in the abdomen. It was a bloody massacre. Right after the shooting Battaglia and the rest of his cohorts fled the scene but later he and Busk were arrested and Busk was reported dying from bullet wound which he received it during the shooting.



Mugshot of Sam Battaglia during his arrest


First the robbing of the Mayor’s wife and than the robbing of the C&O demonstrated utter disregard for the political structure in Chicago. Also the fact that the gunmen were reputed gangsters coupled with certain other suspects of the spectacular battle, caused Police Commissioner John Alcock to open a personal investigation. It was hinted that the raid was staged for some reason other than robbery although a third gangster escaped with some amount of cash. Rumours spread around that the North Side Italian gang known as the Aiello crime family, paid the 42 gang to shoot up the C&O café, after the death of the gang’s leader Joe Aiello, because the owners of the joint had dropped the Aiello’s and switched their liquor purchases to the Capone gang. This information was developed by the Secret Six organization which was formed by six influential businessmen in Chicago who organized the business community against Al Capone.


Later Sam Battaglia was released on bond and was set to appear in court. In court Battaglia was represented by Sidney Korshak, the mob's lead attorney who later would become trusted advisor and fixer for the criminal hierarchy, and another attorney Edward “Ed” King. The lawyers stepped to the bench and told Judge Thomas Green that Battaglia’s case was on call the previous Saturday and he was there but this time Battaglia wasn’t sure if Judge Green was going to be present therefore he didn’t show up. Judge Green became very furious and told the lawyers “You attorneys are in contempt of court and now the bailiffs will take you into custody”. One lawyer was held in an anteroom and other in the jury box. Then Judge Green turned to the court reporter Miss Jeanette Roth and dictated to her for record “Policemen, lawyers and some judges seem to be under gangster influences”. Later he ordered $10,000 bond for Battaglia forfeited and set new bonds at $20,000 and than he told the bailiffs to release the two attorneys. The judge reduced the charge of assault with intent to kill to assault with a deadly weapon and Battaglia was sentenced to a year in the Bridewell Prison. While in prison, Battaglia was in the company of Marshall Caifano, also member of the 42’s and brother of Leonard “Fat Lenny” Caifano, another member of the 42’s. Battaglia and Caifano became very close and shared the same thirst for blood and easy money, which later will make them two of the most ruthless killers within the organization.



Mugshot Sam Battaglia

While Sam was cooling his head off in prison, in 1932 Frank Nitti (real name Nitto) who was Al Capone’s underboss, was released from prison and took over the reigns as boss of the old Capone mob. In fact Nitti wasn’t the real power behind the Chicago mob but instead he was just a puppet for the new organization called the Chicago Outfit which was led by none other than Paul “The Waiter” Ricca and his companion Louis “Little New York” Campagna. The difference between the Capone gang and the Chicago Outfit was in the memberships. You see, during Capone’s reign most of the members were not Italian, but most of the members of the Outfit were. That decision was made by Paul Ricca himself so only Italians can be placed on the top positions but other mobsters from different ethnicities can also be regarded as members but they can never reach the top position of the organization. That’s why the Chicago mob was never considered the same as the other usual Cosa Nostra families around the U.S.


The Outfit’s alleged leading figure Frank Nitti was in fact a union racketeer and still had the power to order a murder. First Nitti cleaned up all of Capone’s old powerful nemesis so they can rule all of Chicago by their own will. The same month when Nitti came out of prison Sam’s older brother 26 year old Frank Battaglia was taken for a ride, got shot four times in the head and was thrown in a ditch, 100 yards from Harlem Avenue. No one knew the real reason why was Frank killed in such a brutal way. Some say that Frank was becoming too much of an obstacle because he was in constant shootouts with the police and was on lam for more than six months before he was killed. He was the second Battaglia that went down by the hands of Chicago’s criminal organizations.



Frank Battaglia


By the early 1930’s the era of prohibition has ended and the Chicago Outfit was generally entering new lucrative rackets such as gambling, union racketeering and narcotics. Some of these businesses were already taken by other gangsters that didn’t want to share their profits so in the eyes of the Outfit’s leaders they had to go. Ricca and his companions realized that they needed some new and more ambitious blood in the organization. So the Outfit “opened its books” and brought many younger hoodlums into the organization, mostly from their gangster farm teams such as the 42 gang. Ricca came from the West Side so all of these small time criminals such as Sam Battaglia knew him and at the same time admired him. Ricca was their idol. In their criminal minds and eyes Ricca was bigger than Al Capone which he really was. According to new revelations, Ricca’s ally Louis Campagna had a “bright” idea on how to use these young turks for his own purposes. Ricca’s idea first came from one of his associates Luigi Fratto aka Louis “"Cock-eyed"” Fratto. Same as the Battaglia’s Fratto also grew up on the Near West side. He was one year older than Sam Battaglia and they were involved in few burglaries here and there. Fratto was also very well connected street thug who knew a lot of ruthless 42’s such as the Caifano brothers. Now the Battaglia bros had a new sponsor but this time it wasn’t Paul the main connection but it was his younger cousin Sam.



Louis Fratto

When Sam got out in 1933, he together with Louis Fratto, Ted Virgillio, John Wolek, Tony Pinna and Vito Messino went to Kenosha, Wisconsin with the plan to kidnap a wealthy car dealer by the name of Louis Kaplan. One day Messino and Fratto were riding in their automobile and at the same time they were following Kaplan and waited for the right time. Suddenly they got out of the car and ran towards Kaplan and dragged him in the automobile and in an attempt to save his own skin Kaplan pulled out $500 from his pockets and gave it to the kidnappers. Than Messino took the cash, punched Kaplan in the face and told him to shut up. Kaplan was taken to house were the rest of the gang was waiting. The problem was that the boys wanted more but he told them that he could pay no more and held him for six days. Than one of the gang members told Kaplan to come up with $10,000 so he can go free. Kaplan promised the kidnappers that he would get the money later and he was released. But that wasn’t the end of this “adventure” which will continue two years later.


The same year in July, Sam together with Virgillio, Wolek and two other Chicago hoodlums Sam Cooperman and Frank Lauer, went to Huston, Texas again on a mission to kidnap some very wealthy oil man. While the kidnapping team waited for their target, a police patrol spotted their car. The gangsters just didn’t fit in so the cops decided to investigate and arrested them. Later the police and federal authorities over there realised that all of these men had very long police records back in Chicago. They were questioned about their intentions in Huston and were later released on the lack of evidences and were sent back to Chicago. On August 2, 1934, Battaglia, Fratto and Wolek again were arrested and questioned about a recent murder. They were taken in front of a witness but no positive identifications were made so they were released.


Besides his constant and aggressive criminal activities, Sam managed to win the heart of a beautiful Italian girl named Angela Rose Siciliano. They dated for some short time period so Sam decided to get his personal life in order. On October 29, 1934 Sam and Angela were married and two years later they brought a baby daughter to this world which was named Joanna Battaglia. Angela loved Sam because of his looks and charms but as any real and strong Sicilian woman, she never questioned him about his job. Together they lived in a house on 567 Cabrini Street.


During the mid 1930’s crime was flourishing in Chicago and around the country. All of the big crime organizations like in New York, Chicago and Detroit already formed a national commission which decided the faith of the American illegal business world. By this time the Outfit already opened its doors to many young hoodlums and started giving them chances to become worst than they have ever been. Many mob historians say that two of the first hoodlums of the 42 gang that were recognized as members of the Chicago Outfit were Sam “Mooney” Giancana and Louis Fratto. Well I personally will disagree with that statement because I think that Sam Battaglia was one the first members that joined the organization. Giancana previously worked as a chauffer for some the big shots because he had very good skills for fast driving. He still wasn’t really an earner but he accomplished a lot of hits on behalf of the Outfit. According to informants Giancana was “made” just prior to going to prison in 1939. As for Battaglia by that time, thanks to his family, he was way too much involved in such crimes that shook even the worst realms of the underworld. Battaglia’s stature in those days can be proved with a wiretapped conversation that occurred more than two decades later, which was between him and the Outfit’s union racketeer and advisor known as Murray Humphreys. During the conversation Humphreys said to Battaglia “…and than of course Mooney (Sam Giancana), of course you cant blame it on them, because they weren’t around like you and I were in the old days. They don’t know the inner workings, you know.” So I see this statement which was made by Humphreys that Battaglia was in the inner workings of the Chicago Outfit before Giancana. Either way, the young hoodlums such as Battaglia, Giancana and Fratto opened the doors for many up and coming criminals who always dreamed of becoming real gangsters.


By now the Outfit was heavily involved in gambling and sports betting. Sam’s older cousin Paul Battaglia established many Outfit connections thanks to his work as a bondsman in the Desplaines street police court. So now he worked as a tout in few gambling parlors along West Madison Street which belonged to the Outfit. But still, Paul’s main business was robbing and it looked like stealing was engraved in the genetic code of the Battaglia Dynasty. Paul was connected to another low level criminal group which was called the Bolton gang. Joseph “Red” Bolton was a prominent robber and was also the leader of the gang, who was connected to other criminal groups which were rivals of the old Capone gang or the Chicago Outfit. Bolton was a “stone in the shoe” for Paul Ricca and the organization because he often robbed them for their gambling profits. Bolton was also a handbook operator but mostly hated the Outfit because previously they killed his brother John who was a state representative. On November 24, 1938 Red Bolton was gunned down by Outfit hitmen. But in 1939, many of the handbook joints that were controlled by Paul Battaglia were still getting robbed and large sums of cash were taken. So on June 29, one of Bolton’s associates Harry Minor was killed on 3110 North Ashland Avenue and another associate John O'Brien was killed on July 17 at Wellington avenue and Halsted street. So somebody tipped off the Outfit that the “mastermind” behind these operations was in fact Paul Battaglia. In fact Paul was the “finger man” for the handbook robbers and was also taking money from both sides. Robbing a handbook joint was a dangerous business because it directly challenged adult organized crime. That kind of greed resulted with fatal consequences. On August 24, 1939, 43 year old Paul Battaglia was taken for a ride and was shot two times in the head and was dumped in an alley behind 5115 Monroe Street. Few hours later three youths stumbled across Paul's body as it lay sprawled in a weed patch beside the alley. The police believed that Battaglia had been shot elsewhere and his body dumped from a moving automobile. Tire tracks led in from Leamington Avenue and turned out again at Laramie Avenue. It was a pure professional hit. Right after Paul’s death the hijackings of handbooks on the West Side suddenly stopped. The Outfit again proved that no one can swindle the organization and getaway with it, especially not a minor hoodlum such as Paul Battaglia.



Mrs. Marie Battaglia, widow of slain gangster Paul Battaglia, at inquest in county morgue


Now 31 year old Sam Battaglia had to choose between revenge, which obviously was going to result with the price of his head, and cooperation, which was going have more profitable results. The cunning and greedy Sam played it smart. He remained as a trusted member in the organization and also became very loyal to his superiors. He and his brother Joseph were the “last Mohicans” of the bloody faction of the Battaglia clan. By this time Lou Fratto introduced Battaglia and Caifano to one of his cousins Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio and so all of them worked under the auspices of Sam Giancana, which now was one of the leading young criminals within the Outfit. Giancana brought the sin upon them which will blood stain their souls and at the same time would make them filthy rich.


By the end of the 1930’s Sam Battaglia inherited the handbook operations from his cousin Paul along Madison St. and also brought Marshall Caifano along the way. Together they also operated a big gambling spot on 4500 West Filmore and during the Selective Service in the early 1940’s, Battaglia was registered at the same address as the place of employment. Besides their gambling operations, Battaglia and Caifano were involved in many ruthless hits that gave example to other members of the organization that if they went out of line, very bad things would’ve happened to them. Battaglia usually organized the hits, and Caifano did the dirty work. Battaglia was known for being very quick on decisions. There were no sit downs or anything. If the bosses couldn’t make up their minds about somebody’s faith, Battaglia would push them to organize the killing and Caifano was always glad to do it. Caifano was a merciless killer who was known for taking the lives of many men and even women, for example in this next case…


With taking over of the gambling operations of the late Paul Battaglia, Sam also inherited his connections like Nicholas Deani Circella aka Nick “Dean” Circella. Circella was a night club owner where many Outfit operations like gambling and prostitution were being operated. Cricella had close relationship to Battaglia and Caifano so whenever he had some valuable information he would give it to the duo. One night Circella was hanging out in one of his clubs, known as the 100 Club, together with his “goomar” Estelle Carey. Estelle worked as a waitress and a dice girl in Circella’s clubs and often flirted with the costumers and “manipulated” them with her beauty. During the night Estelle overheard a conversation between two of Circella’s drunken guests Willie Bioff, a known pimp, and George Browne, a known labor racketeer, about extorting $20,000 from the Balaban and Katz theater chain and a plan for extorting millions of dollars from the Hollywood Studios. Estelle immediately spilled the beans about the scheme to Circella. It was a priceless information so Circella decided to share it with his Outfit connections. Now one of Circella’s connections with the Outfit was Sam Battaglia. There was no need for Circella to introduce Sam to Bioff and Browne because they already knew his deceased cousin from back in the days. Later Bioff and Browne were introduced to the top echelon of the Outfit which was formed by Paul Ricca, Frank Nitti, Louis Campagna, Phil D’Andrea, Charlie Gioe, Frank Maritote and Johnny Roselli. Ricca and Nitti agreed to give the backup to these individuals so together, Bioff, Browne, and Circella, with the backing of the Outfit’s muscle, went on to bilk millions from the major Hollywood studios. But this adventure didn’t last long because at the beginning of 1940 a Federal Grand Jury was conducted in Los Angeles on matters pertaining to income tax evasion, labor racketeering and restraint of trade. During the hearings numerous film executives and union officials testified but their testimony was not made public. After their testimonies the Atherton Detective Agency investigated Bioff and also the allegations of labor racketeering and job buying in the film extras ranks. So this led to the indictment of Bioff, Browne and Nick Dean for extortion. Dean, plead guilty and received an eight year sentence while Bioff and Browne received 10 and 8 year sentences.



Nick Circella

Later rumours spread around that Circella was ready to talk to the government about the real people behind the operation but since he was locked up, the bosses were not sure about the situation and couldn’t touch him. Since the Chicago Outfit was an Italian type of criminal organization, legend goes that the old time gangsters usually didn’t go after the women and children of the alleged informers because it was against their rules. They usually would’ve sent threats or blow up few cars here and there just to make a point with out hurting anybody. But since the families were off limits, no one said that the mistresses can’t be touched. And in this case the bosses didn’t want to take any chances. Plus the Outfit knew that Circella had some big amount of cash stashed from the extortion scheme at the apartment of his girlfriend Estelle Carey. So things became quite scary for the young girl because she knew too much and she was also very precious to Circella. So this is when Battaglia and Caifano stepped to the game. While the bosses were prosecuted the two top guys of the Outfit were Tony Accardo from Grand Avenue and Lawrence “Dago” Mangano who was known as the “king of the West Side”. So Mangano gave the order to Battaglia and Caifano to take care of the problem. The duo has sent one of their associates from the old days Thomas Stapleton who was a close friend of Circella and Estelle. Estelle trusted Stapleton so there was no problem about meeting him. So on February 2, 1943 in the afternoon Stapleton called Estelle and told her that he’s coming over to bring her some presents and to share few drinks. Two hours later after the phone call, Estelle was talking with one of her cousins over the phone when suddenly she heard knocking on the door. She told her cousin that she is expecting someone and she’ll call her later and hung up the phone. When she opened the door, Estelle welcomed Stapleton in and made two cups of hot chocolate. That’s when Stapleton attacked her and tied her to a chair. Next, enter Sam Battaglia and Marshal Caifano. I’m quite sure that these two guys were involved in this very gruesome case because Stapleton wasn’t the kind of a criminal that was trained for torture and murder. The killers first started to stab Estelle with an ice pick several times. Than they broke her jaw, cut her with a knife and also burned her with an electric iron. The killers obviously wanted to know where was the hidden cash from the extortion scheme. Since that didn’t help, the killers poured flammable liquid on her legs and set them on fire. The poor girl was screaming so hard that her heart immediately stopped from the pain and she died. We don’t know if Estelle told them where the cash was hidden, but after her death the two killers left and they told Stapleton to take few fur coats with him and to make the scene like it was some kind of robbery.


Estelle Carey


Thomas Stapleton