Samuele Cardinelli (born Salvatore Cardinella; September 3, 1869 - Apr 15, 1921) was an American

mobster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...

, extortionist, and leader of Cardinelli Gang of

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 ...

during the 1920s. With lieutenants Nicholas "The Choir Boy" Viana, only age 18, and Frank Campione, Cardinelli led one of the most dominant

Black Hand Black Hand or The Black Hand may refer to: Extortionists and underground groups * Black Hand (), 1919–1924 Mexican-American raiders of the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant * Black Hand (anarchism) (), a presumed secret, anarchist organization based ...

gangs in Chicago 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 ...

. Robbing hundreds of hotels,

speakeasies A speakeasy, also called a beer flat or blind pig or blind tiger, was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. The term may also refer to a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. In the United State ...

, and illegal gambling parlors throughout the decade, the Cardinelli gang terrorized Chicago's

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through a six-year bombing campaign between 1915 and 1918. This murderous campaign resulted in 20 deaths and hundreds wounded (Viana was suspected in at least 15 murders alone). Cardinelli's organization would remain the leading Italian-American criminal organization in the city, including the

Johnny 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 ...

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-foun ...

gang, during the early years of Prohibition. Cardinelli, also known as "Il Diavolo" (The Devil), was arrested by the Chicago police Homicide Squad for the 1919 murder of saloon owner Andrew P. Bowman and sentenced to hang on October 11, 1920. Following a decision by the

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on March 4, 1921, supporting the ruling, Cardinelli was executed on Apr 15, 1921. On the day of his execution, Cardinelli refused to walk to the gallows. He was strapped to a chair, carried to the gallows, and was hanged, chair and all. After the execution, the jail attendants took his body to an ambulance, which had been hired by his family. Inside, a jail attendant noticed a nurse, a doctor, and another man, as well as hot water bottles. The attendant contacted a deputy warden, who delayed the body for an hour. When it was finally released, a guard saw the nurse rub Cardinelli's cheeks and wrists, and the doctor prepare an injection. A police car stopped the ambulance, and the apparent attempt to revive the dead mobster. (The ambulance was found to have a specially heated bed, an oxygen tank, an electric battery and various syringes.) One newspaper story says that a similar ambulance had waited for Viana, who was executed on December 10, 1920. Viana was taken to a room about two blocks from the jail with where he was successfully revived to test the system before Cardinelli's execution. Viana was then killed because he had snitched against the Cardinella gang.

In popular culture

*The Cardinelli Gang was the subject of author W.R. Burnett's 1929 novel ''Little Caesar'', which was adapted into the famous 1930 film '' Little Caesar'', starring Edward G. Robinson. *

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

wrote a brief vignette about Cardinelli's execution (spelling the name "Sam Cardinella"), headed "Chapter XV" in the 1924 book of short stories ''In Our Time.'' The account acts an interlude between parts I and II of the story "Big Two-Hearted River."

General references

*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. *Sifakis, Carl. ''The Encyclopedia of American Crime''. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. *Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of Chicago: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld.'' New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1986. McNamara, Drama in the Death House, Cardinella's Weird Plot to Rise from the Dead How 'Devil's' Dupe Served as 'Guinea Pig' in Test, Chicago Daily Tribune, 11/29/36

External links

Homicide in Chicago 1870-1930: Interactive Database - Sam Cardinelli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardinelli, Sam 1868 births 1921 deaths American male criminals 20th-century executions of American people 20th-century executions by Illinois American crime bosses American people executed for murder Executed American gangsters American gangsters of Italian descent People convicted of murder by Illinois People executed by Illinois by hanging American gangsters of the interwar period Gangsters from Chicago

In popular culture

Further reading

General references

External links