Richard Cain (October 4, 1931 – December 20, 1973), also known as Richard Scalzitti, was a notoriously corrupt

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 Unite ...

police officer and a close associate of

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

boss

Sam Giancana Salvatore "Mooney" Giancana ( ; born Gilormo Giangana, ; May 24, 1908 – June 19, 1975) was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966. Giancana was born in Chicago to Italian immigrant parents. He joined the 42 ...

Early life

Richard Cain was born to John and Lydia (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Scully) Cain who were

Irish-American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

and

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

, respectively in

Chicago, Illinois 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 Unite ...

. Cain was raised in Chicago and

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

after his parents divorced. He joined the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

at the age of 17 and was stationed in the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

from 1947 to 1950. While there, he became fluent in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. Before returning to Chicago in 1951, Cain worked as an investigator at the Burns Detective Agency in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Despite his grandfather having been a prominent sewer contractor who was killed by the

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or the Organization, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family based in Chicago, I ...

Little Italy Little Italy is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an Urban area, urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian cul ...

, in 1928, Cain would later become a close associate of

. While Cain worked as an officer in the

Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Chicago City Council. It is the second-largest Law enforcement in the United States#Local, ...

(CPD) during the mid-1950s, he served as a

bagman The term bagman (or bag man) has different meanings in different countries. One group of definitions centers on the idea of traveling. In British usage, "bagman" is a term for a traveling salesman, first known from 1808. In Australian usage, it ...

between corrupt police officials and the Outfit.

Double deal and disgrace

Taking a leave of absence from the CPD in 1960, Cain took a temporary assignment as part of the investigation team assembled by

Assistant U.S. Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

Richard Ogilvie Richard Buell Ogilvie (February 22, 1923 – May 10, 1988) was an American attorney and law enforcement officer who served as the 35th governor of Illinois from 1969 to 1973. A wounded combat veteran of World War II, he became known as the ma ...

to prosecute then-Outfit boss Anthony Accardo. In media interviews, Cain alluded to having been deported from Mexico in 1961 following an arrest for taking part in unauthorized CIA operations to train

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States aft ...

s for the

Bay of Pigs invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...

. After his death, "Washington sources" confirmed "off-the-record" that these claims were true. He also claimed to have worked with the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

"tracing the flow of American money into

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

hands." Cain returned to Chicago in early 1962 to support Ogilvie in his campaign for

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

. Upon his election, Sheriff Ogilvie hired Cain as chief investigator of the

Cook County Sheriff's Office The Cook County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) is the principal law enforcement agency that serves Cook County, Illinois. It is the second largest sheriff's office in the United States, with over 6,900 members when at full operational strength. It is ...

. During this time, Cain led the investigation that resulted in the notorious Fun Lounge police raid. In 1964, Cain was fired for lying to a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

regarding his involvement in a scheme to re-sell confiscated drugs back to known criminals. He was subsequently convicted of

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

and served six months in prison concurrent with a four-year sentence from 1968 for being an accessory to bank robbery. Cain was paroled in 1971.

Informant and murder victim

After parole, Cain made "frequent trips" to and from Mexico as Sam Giancana's courier and financial adviser. Cain became a key figure in Giancana's money skimming from casinos in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. During this time, conspiring to control the city's

illegal gambling Gambling law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law ...

operations, he began working as an

FBI informant The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

for Agent William F. Roemer, allegedly muscling out his rivals by revealing their operations to federal authorities. On December 20, 1973, Cain was killed by masked gunmen in Rose's Sandwich Shop in Chicago. Witnesses reported that no more than 15 minutes before the attack Cain had been talking with four other men who were not present when the gunmen arrived. Two of these four men were reported to have left using a back door. At the time of the gunmen's arrival, Cain was seen talking with an unidentified woman in black. The gunmen carried a shotgun, a pistol, and a two-way radio that they used to communicate with an outside lookout. They ordered the shop's staff and patrons (including Cain) against the wall but did not speak directly to Cain. They asked several of them if they had any money and asked, "Who's got the package?" Cain was approached, pulled slightly away from the wall, and shot in the head with the shotgun. As he fell, the second gunman also shot him in the head. Cain's assailants reportedly removed an item from one of his pockets before fleeing. The unidentified woman left at the same time as the gunmen. Cain was interred in the Scully family mauseoleum at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Possible murder motives

During the early 1970s, Cain became involved in a burglary ring masterminded by Outfit capo Marshall Caifano. It has been speculated that Caifano had learned of Cain's informant status and had received permission from Accardo to murder Cain. Caifano was reported to have been in Rose's Sandwich Shop only two hours before Cain's murder. After Cain's death, the ''Chicago Tribune'' reported that Cain had once bugged Caifano's bedroom. Cain was also reported to have been "arguing violently" with senior Outfit figure Gus Alex shortly before Cain's death over Cain's plans to organize 12-day gambling cruises for Chicago high-rollers off the Florida coast. Several ''Chicago Tribune'' articles printed in the days after Cain's death reported speculation by investigators that Cain's murder was in retaliation for the murder of

Sam DeStefano Samuel "Mad Sam" DeStefano (September 13, 1909 − April 14, 1973) was an American mobster who was associated with the Chicago Outfit. He was one of the organization's most notorious loan sharks and Psychopathy, sociopathic killers. Chicago-bas ...

the previous April.

Alleged involvement in the JFK assassination

According to a biography of Sam Giancana written by his family, Giancana told his younger brother that it was Cain and Charles Nicoletti, not

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at age 12 for truan ...

, who were in the

Texas School Book Depository The Texas School Book Depository, later known as the Dallas County Administration Building and now "The Sixth Floor Museum", is a seven-floor building facing Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The building was Lee Harvey Oswald's vantage point du ...

on November 22, 1963. According to Michael J. Cain, there was no evidence to support the rumors that his half-brother was directly involved in the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onas ...

as a gunman. Richard Cain was at the Criminal Courts Building 26th & California, Chicago, Illinois the day of the Kennedy assassination - per John J. Flood who worked with Richard Cain. According to historian Lamar Waldron in his book ''The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination'' (2013), Richard Cain did not shoot the president but acted as an informant on behalf of mobster

John Roselli John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli (sometimes spelled Rosselli; born Filippo Sacco; July 4, 1905 – August 7, 1976) was an Italian-born mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped that organization exert influence over Hollywood and the Las Vegas Str ...

for the Chicago assassination attempt planned for November 2, 1963.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Richard 1931 births 1973 deaths People murdered in 1973 American police officers convicted of perjury Burials at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Alsip, Illinois) Chicago Outfit mobsters Chicago Police Department officers Deaths by firearm in Illinois Murdered Chicago Outfit members Murdered FBI informants Murdered American gangsters of Irish descent Murdered American gangsters of Italian descent People associated with the assassination of John F. Kennedy Police misconduct in the United States People murdered by the Chicago Outfit People murdered in Chicago Prisoners and detainees of Illinois Unsolved murders in Illinois