Black Hand (Chicago)

Last updated
Black hand symbol Black Hand.svg
Black hand symbol

Black Hand extortion was a criminal tactic used by gangsters based in major cities in the United States. In Chicago, Black Hand extortion began around 1900 and had all but faded away by 1970, replaced by the Mafia. The Mafia was initially organized by Johnny Torrio and further organized by Al Capone into the extant Chicago Outfit sometime later. [1] Black Handers in Chicago were mostly Italian men from Calabria and Sicily who would send anonymous extortion notes to their victims emblazoned with a feared old country symbol: the "Black Hand". The Black Hand was a precursor of organized crime, although it is still a tactic practiced by the Mafia and used in organized crime to this day. The Black Hand gangsters of this time period differed from the Mafia by lacking formally structured hierarchies and codes of conduct, and many were essentially one-man operations. Black Hand blackmail was also common in New York, Boston, and New Orleans. [2] Victims would be threatened with being beaten, shot, or have their place of business bombed if they did not pay. Starting around 1909, Black Hand activity was causing difficulties for mob boss Big Jim Colosimo, a former Black Hand gangster and owner of brothels throughout Chicago. Colosimo's life was being threatened with demands for cash to ensure his physical safety. In an effort to fix the problem, he recruited Johnny Torrio, who was a member of New York's Five Points Gang at the time, to come to Chicago. Torrio would later become the famous successor to Big Jim Colosimo and mentor Al Capone as the organized crime ruler of Chicago.

Contents

Johnny Torrio/Filippo Catalano

The notorious Johnny Torrio (January 20, 1882 – April 16, 1957), also known as "The Fox", was born Giovanni Torrio in Montepeloso, a village in Basilicata region, Southern Italy. He was alleged to have killed ten Black Hand gangsters in his first two months in Chicago. Of the ten men he was alleged to have killed, Filippo Catalano was one of them. [3]

Filippo Catalano was an alleged Black Hand gangster in Chicago in the early 1900s. He was born in 1874 in Gioia Tauro, a coastal village in Southern Italy located in the region of Calabria. Catalano came to the United States and eventually owned and operated a saloon in Chicago. He was connected to the Chicago criminal night life. It was said of Catalano that he was "hated and feared by his countrymen" in the Italian colony, according to the central investigator of his murder- Capt. Cudmore of the 3rd Precinct Chicago Police. [4] On the evening of June 5, 1910, Filippo Catalano was shot five times and died one hour later in the People's Hospital. Before he died, he observed the gangland principle of omertà (total silence), and never mentioned the name of his assailant. It was common for Italian/ Sicilian men not to identify their assailant to the police. [4] Although an investigation turned up the name Eugeno Monaco as the murderer, Filippo Catalano was allegedly killed by Johnny Torrio. Monaco may have been the triggerman working for Torrio.

Black Hand Assassination

On March 27, Filippo Catalano (from above) was alleged to have shot John Jocko in front of 1821 South State Street. Witnesses identified Catalano as the shooter, but the victim, who survived the shooting, would not prosecute. Catalano was eventually released. Later that year, Catalano was murdered (as described above). He was in the Vesuvius restaurant, a place frequented by Chicago's night life. On June 5, 1910, Catalano walked out of the restaurant at approximately 3 a.m. with Edgar K Accetta, a New York lawyer in town on business, and a third man, Eugeno Monaco. The three men were walking toward an approaching car when Monaco allegedly drew a revolver and shot Catalano five times. Catalano's killer fled the scene on foot. He escaped, and his traces ended at the Rock Island Pacific Railroad tracks where he disappeared. [4] Filippo Catalano's death occurred within the 1909–1911 time period that Johnny Torrio was assigned to assassinate Chicago Black Hand gangsters who were extorting his uncle. It is believed he was behind Catalano's murder. By 1920, Black Hand activity had all but faded. Johnny Torrio went on to run and organize the Chicago Outfit.

Giordiani case

Another death was that of Maria Giordiani in 1911. She was a 4-year-old Italian immigrant child whose body was found with a gunshot wound on her bedroom floor. Her parents were Ricardo Giordiani, an Italian immigrant, and Eleanor Giodiani, an immigrant of a different European country. They went missing and were never found. It is alleged that the Giordiani family had been targeted by Black Hand members. This case is a mystery. Not much is understood about the death of the family, although insight was gained through the remains of Maria. It is believed that Maria was killed in a Black Hand attack that was targeting Ricardo. The attack probably occurred due to debt owed by Ricardo, which had been exacerbated by the closing of his corporation. As a child, Ricardo also had involvement with the Mafia through his father. Maria is believed to have been targeted to terrorize parents of other families in the area. All that was found left in the apartment was a small doll, a book titled "Roman de la Rose", and a shawl that belonged to Eleanor.

Timeline

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Capone</span> American gangster and businessman (1899–1947)

Alphonse Gabriel Capone, sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American 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 went to prison at the age of 33.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Torrio</span> Italian-American mob boss

John Donato Torrio was an Italian-born American 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Drucci</span> American mobster

Vincent Drucci, also known as "The Schemer", was an American mobster during Chicago's Prohibition era who was a member of the North Side Gang, Al Capone's best known rivals. A friend of Dean O'Banion, Drucci succeeded him by becoming co-leader. He is the only American organized crime boss to have been killed by a policeman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Yale</span> Italian American mob boss (1893–1928)

Francesco Ioele, known as Frankie Yale or Frankie Uale, was an American gangster based in Brooklyn and the second employer of Al Capone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Jim Colosimo</span> American mobster (1878–1920)

Vincenzo Colosimo, known as James "Big Jim" Colosimo or as "Diamond Jim", was an Italian-American Mafia crime boss who emigrated from Calabria, Italy, in 1895 and built a criminal empire in Chicago based on prostitution, gambling and racketeering. He gained power through petty crime and heading a chain of brothels. From 1902 until his death in 1920, he led a gang known after his death as the Chicago Outfit. Colosimo was assassinated on May 11, 1920, and no one was ever charged with his murder. Johnny Torrio, an enforcer whom Colosimo imported in 1909 from New York, seized control of Colosimo's businesses after his death. Al Capone, a close associate of Torrio, has been accused of involvement in Colosimo's murder but was not yet in Chicago at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Outfit</span> Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Outfit is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, which originated in the city's South Side in 1910. It is part of the larger Italian-American Mafia.

Maurice "Mossy" or "Mossie" Enright was an Irish-American gangster and one of the earliest Chicago labor racketeers in the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Levee, Chicago</span> Vice district of Chicago

The Levee District was the red-light district of Chicago from the 1880s until 1912, when police raids shut it down. The district, like many frontier town red-light districts, got its name from its proximity to wharves in the city. The Levee district encompassed four blocks in Chicago's South Loop area, between 18th and 22nd streets. It was home to many brothels, saloons, dance halls, and the famed Everleigh Club. Prostitution boomed in the Levee District, and it was not until the Chicago Vice Commission submitted a report on the city's vice districts that it was shut down.

Chicago, Illinois, has a long history of organized crime and was famously home to the American mafia figure Al Capone. This article contains a list of major events related to organized crime.

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. 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.

Samuele Cardinelli was an American mobster, extortionist, and leader of Cardinelli Gang of Chicago during the 1920s.

Joseph Esposito was an American politician best known for his involvement in bootlegging, extortion, prostitution and labor racketeering in Chicago, Illinois during the Prohibition era.

Michael "The Pike" Heitler was a Prohibition gangster involved in prostitution for the Chicago Outfit. A Jewish mob boss born in what is today Ukraine, Heitler is buried at Waldheim Cemetery Co. in Forest Park, Illinois.

Shotgun Man is an alleged assassin and spree killer active in Chicago, Illinois in the 1910s, to whom murders by Black Hand extortionists were attributed. Most notably, Shotgun Man killed 15 Italian immigrants from January 1, 1910, to March 26, 1911, at "Death Corner," a notoriously violent Italian immigrant neighborhood at the intersection of Oak Street and Milton Avenue in what was then Chicago's Little Sicily. The area was notorious for violence committed by Italian immigrants and Italian-Americans, both independently and as a result of Italian gangs, the Mafia, and Black Hand feuding and vendettas. In March 1911, the so-called Shotgun Man reportedly murdered four people within 72 hours.

James Cosmano also known as "Sunny Jim" was a leader of the Black Hand street gang in pre-Prohibition Chicago who tried to extort money from the South Side gang.

Michele "Mike the Devil" Genna was an Italian-born mobster in Chicago during the 1920s. He headed the Genna crime family with his brothers. He was killed by police officers after a shootout with North Siders, being one of the only American organized crime leaders to be killed by a policeman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Vanella</span> Italian-American crime figure and businessman

Robert "Roxie" Vanella was an American crime figure of Italian descent. He was associated with Johnny Torrio, Big Jim Colosimo, Frankie Yale and Al Capone during the Prohibition era. In his later years, Vanella became a businessman and union organizer operating from the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City, where he became fondly known as the "Mayor of James Street."

This is a list of organized crime in the 1900s, arranged chronologically.

This is a list of organized crime in the 1910s, arranged chronologically.

This is a list of organized crime in the 1920s, arranged chronologically.

References

Sources

  1. History.com Black Hand
  2. "Sentenced to State Prison". The Boston Globe. Boston, MA. Boston Globe. 1 April 1908. p. 5. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  3. Chicago Tribune June 1910
  4. 1 2 3 The Chicago Daily Tribune, June 6th, 1910