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Genna Crime Family
The Genna crime family (), was a crime family that operated in Prohibition-era Chicago. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the six Genna brothers, known as the ''Terrible Gennas''.Capeci, Jerry. ''The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia'pg.82-84/ref> The brothers were Sicilians from the town of Marsala and operated from Chicago's Little Italy and maintained control over the Unione Siciliana. They were allies with fellow Italian gang the Chicago Outfit. After a bloody war led to their demise in the 1920s, the gang was eventually absorbed by the Chicago Outfit. The Genna brothers The Genna brothers consisted of six Sicilian brothers. Vincenzo "James" Genna was the leader of the gang. Angelo "Bloody Angelo" Genna, the youngest of the six, was the family's primary enforcer, and participated heavily in the 19th ward political wars of the late 1920s. Mike "The Devil" was generally kept busy with low-level violent tasks. Antonio "The Gentleman" Genna remained aloof fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of United States cities by population, third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the county seat, seat of Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a Chicago Portage, portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Genna
Antonio "the Gentleman" Genna (; July 12, 1890 – July 8, 1925) was an Italian-born mobster in Chicago. He headed the Genna crime family with his brothers. Genna was ambushed by a Genna family turncoat on orders of North Side Gang leaders Vince Drucci and Bugs Moran. Early life Antonio Genna was born on July 12, 1890, to Sicilian parents, Antonio Genna Sr. and Maria Concetta Utica in Marsala, Sicily. He had six brothers: Michele, Vincenzo, Pietro, Salvatore, Angelo, and Nicola Genna; and two sisters: Rosa Laudicina and Caterina Mariana. He and his brothers entered the U.S. through New York around 1910. Legitimate business Before becoming a gangster, Genna was an excellent building contractor and architect. If he stuck to this profession, he could have amounted to something honorable, but the lure of fast cash and cars and power quickly won over his mind as a way of life. Prohibition and O'Banion Genna reportedly had some rudimentary skill as a surgeon, and was known to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by Direct election, popular vote, or a council member elected by voters. Etymology The title is derived from the Old English title of ''ealdorman'', which literally means "elder person", and which was used by the chief nobles presiding over shires. Similar titles exist in other Germanic languages, such as ' in Swedish language, Swedish, ' in Norwegian language, Norwegian, ' in Danish language, Danish and Low German, ' in West Frisian language, West Frisian, ' in Dutch language, Dutch, and ' in German language, German. Finnish language, Finnish also has ', which was borrowed from Swedish. All of these words mean "eld ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sicilian Mafia
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of local protection and control over land and agriculture, the Mafia gradually evolved into a powerful criminal network. By the mid-20th century, it had infiltrated politics, construction, and finance, later expanding into drug trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes. At its core, the Mafia engages in protection racketeering, arbitrating disputes between criminals, and organizing and overseeing illegal agreements and transactions. The basic group is known as a "Crime family, family", "clan", or ''cosca''. Each family claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a town, village or neighborhood (''borgata'') of a larger city, in which it operates its Racketeering, rackets. Its members call themselves "Made man, men of honour", although ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony D'Andrea
Anthony D'Andrea (born Antonio D'Andrea; ; June 7, 1872 – May 12, 1921) was an Italian-born Mafia boss of Chicago in the late 1910s to early 1920s. He was also a Democrat and a political leader who was a president of the Unione Siciliana and was involved in a heated battle for alderman. D'Andrea was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1921. Early life D'Andrea was born in Valledolmo, Sicily, in 1872 to a large family, he studied law at the University of Palermo in Palermo, Sicily. In 1897, D'Andrea immigrated to the United States, briefly settling in Buffalo, New York. He later attended seminary at St. Mary's Academy in Baltimore and St. Bonaventura's Academy in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. In June, 1899, D'Andrea moved to Chicago, where he was ordained a priest and appointed pastor of St. Anthony's Italian (Independent) Catholic Church under Bishop . Kozlowski was an adherent of the Old Catholic Church. His brother Orazio (Horace) also became a priest. In Chicago, D'Andrea met a y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1925 to 1931. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he was imprisoned at the age of 33. Capone was born in New York City in 1899 to Italian Americans, Italian immigrants. He joined the Five Points Gang as a teenager and became a bouncer in organized crime premises such as brothels. In his early twenties, Capone moved to Chicago and became a bodyguard of Johnny Torrio, head of a criminal syndicate that rum-running, illegally supplied alcohol—the forerunner of the Outfit—and was politically protected through the Unione Siciliana. A conflict with the North Side Gang was instrumental in Capone's rise and fall. Torrio went into retirement after North Side gunmen almost killed him, handing c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hymie Weiss
Earl J. "Hymie" Weiss (born Henryk Wojciechowski; January 25, 1898 – October 11, 1926), was a Polish-American mob boss who became a leader of the Prohibition-era North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone. He was known as "the only man Al Capone feared". Early years Henryk Wojciechowski was born in present-day Sieradz, Congress Poland, to Walenty S. Wojciechowski and Maria Bruszkiewicz. His parents emigrated to the United States in 1901 when Henryk was 3 years old and, upon their arrival in the new country, took the names of William and Mary Weiss. They settled in Buffalo, New York and later moved to an Irish district in the north of Chicago. He had four siblings who survived infancy: Bernard (Bruno), Frederick, Violet and Joseph. Two others died during infancy.Hymie Weiss profile MyAlCaponeMuseum.com. Accessed January 12, 202 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie Yale
Francesco Ioele (; January 22, 1893 – July 1, 1928), known as Frankie Yale or Frankie Uale, was an American gangster based in Brooklyn and the second employer of Al Capone. Early life Yale was born in Longobucco, Italy, on January 22, 1893, to Domenico and Isabella (née DeSimone) Ioele. He had an older brother, John, and two younger siblings, Assunta and Angelo. He and his family arrived in the United States c. 1900. As a teenager, Ioele was befriended by John Torrio, who ushered him into the Five Points Gang and groomed him for a life of crime. Shortly after Torrio left for Chicago, in 1909, Ioele "Americanized" his last name to Yale. Despite his medium height and chubby build, Yale was a fearsome fistfighter and thief. In 1910, at age 17, Yale and a friend, a wrestler named Bobby Nelson, severely beat several men during a fight in the Coney Island pool hall, which involved cracking pool cues and hurling billiard balls. One of his early arrests, in October 1912, was on su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Scalise
John Scalise (born Giovanni Scalise, 1900, Castelvetrano, Sicily – May 7, 1929, Chicago) was an American organized crime figure of the early 20th century and, with partner Albert Anselmi, was one of the Chicago Outfit's most successful hitmen in Prohibition-era Chicago. Prohibition and the Bootleg Wars Shortly after he began working for the Gennas, Scalise met Albert Anselmi, who became his mentor and best friend. Both men remain, to this day, the prime suspects in the November 1924 murder of Dean O'Banion, boss of Chicago's North Side Gang. Soon after O'Banion's murder, Scalise and Anselmi secretly defected from the Gennas to Al Capone's Chicago Outfit. On June 13, 1925, Anselmi and Scalise, along with Mike Genna, ambushed North Siders George "Bugs" Moran and Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci in The Patch, shooting up their car with shotguns and wounding Drucci. About an hour later, as the shooters raced south on Western Avenue, they were sighted and pursued by a detective s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Merlo
Michele "Mike" Merlo (January 4, 1880 – November 9, 1924) was a Chicago political figure and "fixer" associated in his later years with the Torrio-Capone organization. As head of the Unione Siciliana fraternal group, Merlo wielded considerable influence both in Chicago's Democratic Party politics and also within Chicago's criminal underworld during the early years of Prohibition. Although Merlo was able to maintain peace among the city's numerous bootlegging gangs, his death marked the beginning of Chicago's bootleg wars that plagued the city for the rest of the decade. Biography Born Michele Merlo to Calogero and Maria Merlo in Sambuca Zabut, Sicily, at the age of nine Merlo immigrated with his family from Palermo to New Orleans and, then, in 1900, to Chicago. In 1902, Merlo's father died of a stroke at the age of 52, leaving the 22-year-old Merlo and his sick mother to fend for themselves. Merlo later became involved in the Chicago chapter of Unione Siciliana, a nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Torrio
John Donato Torrio (born Donato Torrio, ; January 20, 1882 – April 16, 1957) was an Italian-born mobster who helped build the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s later inherited by his protégé Al Capone. Torrio proposed a National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s and later became an adviser to Lucky Luciano and his Luciano crime family. Torrio had several nicknames, primarily "The Fox" for his cunning and finesse. The US Treasury official Elmer Irey considered him "the biggest gangster in America" and wrote, "He was the smartest and, I dare say, the best of all the hoodlums. 'Best' referring to talent, not morals." Virgil W. Peterson of the Chicago Crime Commission stated that his "talents as an organizational genius were widely respected by the major gang bosses in the New York City area". Crime journalist Herbert Asbury affirmed: "As an organizer and administrator of underworld affairs, Johnny Torrio is unsurpassed in the annals of American crime; he was probably the nearest thin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
