Saffo the Greek was an American

racketeer Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. The term "racket ...

in Chicago's red light district known as " The Levee" prior to

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. However, following the official closing of the area by John E. W. Wayman (

Cook County state's attorney The Cook County State's Attorney is the District attorney, chief prosecutor for Cook County, Illinois. The State's Attorney oversees the second-largest prosecutor's office in the United States, with over 600 attorneys and 1,200 employees. The off ...

) in 1912, he was forced to leave within two years. In July 1914, he was in attendance with other figures of the Levee including

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 ...

(representing Jim Colosimo), John Jordan, Jackie Adler and Harry Hopkins at Port Lamp Burke's roadhouse near Cedar Creek several hours after gunman Roxie Vanella, a cousin of Torrio whom he had brought in from New York, had shot and killed Chicago detective Sgt. Stanley Birns.

References

Year of birth missing Year of death missing American gangsters of Greek descent Gangsters from Chicago {{DEFAULTSORT:Greek, Saffo the