Salvatore "Sam" Mesi (June 28, 1900 - March, 1971) was a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

mobster with the Chicago Outfit criminal organization who was a bookmaker,

hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

and Chicago city employee. Suspected in at least four gangland slayings, Mesi operated three off track betting parlors on Chicago's Westside and was associated with Outfit boss Tony Accardo. Mesi was the brother of Philip Mesi, Sr., and uncle of Philip Mesi, Jr.. Sponsored by Twenty-Sixth Ward committeeman Matthew Biesczat, Mesi was hired as a foreman in the city's sanitation department as a reward for his work in the 1959 city elections for the ward alderman and mayor,

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Chicago from 1955 and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee from 1953 until his death. He has been cal ...

. Mesi was one of many organized crime figures found to be Chicago city employees by the

Chicago Crime Commission The Chicago Crime Commission is an independent, non-partisan civic watchdog organization of business leaders dedicated to educating the public about the dangers of organized criminal activity, especially organized crime, street gangs and the tools o ...

. When questioned by authorities, Biesczat claimed he just wanted to give Mesi, a convicted criminal, a legitimate job. Although city officials denied knowledge of his prior arrests, Mesi stated, ''"A record like mine, you can't hide. The city knew about it when they hired me."'' Mesi was taken into custody where he was fingerprinted and his arrest record forwarded to the City Commissioner of Streets and Sanitation; however. the commissioner apparently never received it. In 1971, Sam Mesi died of emphysema.

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