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.
