Chicago Outfit Boss: Johnny Torrio 

  >> Johnny Torrio was born Donato Torrio on January 16th, 1882 in Basilicata, Southern Italy to parents Tommaso Torrio and Maria Carluccio. In 1884, his father died in a workplace accident resulting in his mother taking him to the United States. When Donato and his mother arrived in New York, his mother gave his name as John Donato Torrio, which was most likely in order to give him an Americanized name.

 Donato and his mother would ultimately settle on James Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In 1888, Torrio’s mother would remarry to a Calabrian man named Salvatore Caputo. Salvatore Caputo owned his own grocery store in the area. However, his grocery store doubled as a front for an illegal saloon, which was significantly more profitable than the grocery store.

 While he was still young, Torrio would become acquainted with another young man from James Street, Robert Vannella. Vannella was a few years older than Torrio with his family also hailing from Basilicata. Eventually, possibly in the late 1890s, the two would join forces to form the James Street gang, a gang mainly involved in small-time criminal activity.

 As well as this, Torrio likely worked part-time at his stepfather’s saloon. Over the next few years, Torrio would expand his businesses in Manhattan opening a billiard hall and brothel there. As well as this, Torrio would expand his businesses into Brooklyn with him operating on Navy Street. During this time, Navy Street was deep in Camorra territory making it likely that Torrio had struck some kind of deal with the organization.

 In addition to this, Torrio’s rapid expansion and good business sense would catch the attention of the Five Points gang, a significantly larger organization based in Manhattan’s Lower East Side comprised mainly of young Italian-American gangsters. Eventually, Torrio and Vannella would merge their organization with the Five Points gang, which at the time was led by Paolo Paul Kelly Vaccarelli.

 Torrio would further expand his illegal businesses by setting up a numbers racket, which would have been an incredibly lucrative operation. By this point, Torrio had several illegal businesses all running simultaneously. However, he still needed a legitimate front. In the early 1900s, Torrio would begin working as an amateur boxing promoter.

 As well as this, he began managing a young Italian-American boxer, Peter “Kid Murphy” Frashella. As a result of his work as a boxing manager and promoter, Torrio would find himself traveling all over the country, with him first arriving in Chicago, Illinois in 1905. In 1907, Torrio would once again find himself in Chicago, with this likely being when he became acquainted with powerful Italian gangster and vice lord, Vincenzo “Big Jim” Colosimo.

Contrary to what is often stated, Torrio was of absolutely no relation to Colosimo or his wife. Torrio’s connection to Colosimo may have been established through his connections to the Camorra. After his 1907 visit to Chicago, Torrio would return to New York. However, he was now without his friend and business partner, Robert Vanella.

 Vanella had recently relocated to Montana, where he fell in with the Italian criminal element there. However, Vanella would soon find himself in a serious predicament. In late 1907, Vanella would be arrested and charged with murder in connection to the shooting death of another Italian man named Raffaele D’Orascio. In 1908, Vanella would be convicted solely on the testimony of a witness, Louis Fava, who claimed to have witnessed Vanella fleeing the scene of the crime.

 On January 25th, 1908, Vanella would receive a sentence of 50 years in prison. Meanwhile, Torrio would continue running his businesses in New York. Likely during this time, Torrio would become acquainted with and begin mentoring young Calabrian gangster, Francesco Yale, who would go on to be known as Frankie Yale.

 Yale was from Brooklyn and was likely a low-ranking member of the Five Points gang. Yale also greatly respected and admired Torrio. In 1909, Torrio would be invited by Colosimo to join him in Chicago, with Colosimo offering him a position in his organization. Torrio would accept and that year he would leave for Chicago. >>    >> When Torrio arrived in Chicago in 1909, he was initially employed as Jim Colosimo’s bodyguard.

 However, he would only hold this position for a short time. Soon after his arrival, Torrio would be given a management position at one of Colosimo’s brothels, the Saratoga. In late 1909, Colosimo’s main business partner, Maurice Van Bever, would be convicted on white slavery charges with him going on to receive a year in prison.

 It’s possible that during this time Torrio was elevated to a higher position within Colosimo’s organization. During this time, Colosimo wasn’t the only Italian mafia boss active in Chicago. The Sicilian mafia had a representative organization in the city that was initially led by Mariano Zagone.

 However, in 1909, Zagone would be shot to death outside of a saloon on the city’s West Side. After the murder of Zagone, the Sicilian organization would be taken over by Rosario Dispensa who was a contact of Sicilian boss of bosses, Giuseppe Morello. Colosimo likely had ties to the Sicilian organization through his association with Unione Siciliana member Michele Mike Merlo.

 In 1912, Torrio would marry his wife Anna Jacobs. Over the next few years, things within the Colosimo organization run smoothly. At the end of 1913, Robert Vanalla’s 50-year prison sentence would be commuted by the governor of Montana. With that, Vanalla was released from prison and moved to Chicago to reunite with his old friend Johnny Torrio.

 By 1914, Torrio had introduced Vanella into the Colosimo organization. As well as this, Torrio was likely elevated to the position of underboss in the Colosimo organization during this time. However, also in 1914, Colosimo would be faced with a major challenge. Assistant State’s Attorney for Illinois, Clifford G.

 Roe, launched a campaign against the white slave trade in the state with his focus primarily on Chicago. Naturally, this resulted in a law enforcement crackdown that significantly affected Colosimo’s businesses. Over the next few months, raids would be carried out on several of Colosimo’s brothels. On July 16th, 1914, Detective Stanley Burns led a team of officers conducting a raid at a pool room on Chicago’s West Side owned by Colosimo.

 Burns and the other officers were working in plain clothes so as not to draw suspicion. However, the pool room would also be raided by a group of special police who were also working in plain clothes. When Burns and his squad saw the special police officers, they pointed their guns at them assuming they were criminals. When the special police officers saw this, they opened fire assuming Burns and his men were criminals guarding the place.

Burns and his officers returned fire and a full-blown shootout would ensue. Soon after the gunfire erupted, special police officer Fred Amato was able to get a clean shot on Burns. Due to this, Amato fired at Burns mortally wounding him. After a while, local uniform police officers intervened and both sides dropped their weapons.

 When it was all over, Detective Stanley Burns was pronounced dead on the scene and two special police officers, including Amato, were arrested. However, the two officers were cleared on all charges when it became clear that they acted lawfully under the circumstances. Although Colosimo had no direct involvement in the death of Stanley Burns, it would nevertheless result in further crackdowns that resulted in arrest warrants being issued for Colosimo, Johnny Torrio, and Robert Vanella.

 On July 20th, Colosimo was arrested. However, he would be released the next day after posting bail. Torrio and Vanella were never arrested. Soon after the death of Stanley Burns, Robert Vanella would move back to New York, where he opened several businesses, became involved in politics, and began affiliating with a member of the Five Points Gang, Frankie Yale.

 Meanwhile, Torrio and Colosimo would continue building their businesses and making connections in Chicago. In 1915, Republican politician William Hale Thompson would be elected to the position of mayor of Chicago. Luckily for Colosimo, Thompson was completely willing to accept bribes from him. Likely due to the bribes he received from Colosimo and other crime bosses, Thompson’s administration allowed Colosimo and Torrio’s businesses to run mostly unimpeded.

 Over the next few years, Torrio would likely take over management of more of Colosimo’s brothels, allowing him to focus more on his restaurants and other legitimate businesses. Meanwhile, back in New York, Frankie Yale, who was mentored by Torrio, had likely split off from the Five Points Gang and established his own organization based in Brooklyn.

 Yale would also begin mentoring a young member of the Five Points Gang, Alphonse Gabriel Capone. By 1918, Capone had been working as a bouncer at one of Yale’s saloons, The Harvard Inn on Coney Island. On the evening of December the 8th, 1918, Capone would get into an altercation with a customer while he was working the door of The Harvard Inn.

 The altercation would become heated, and the customer, Frank Galluccio, slashed Capone’s face with a knife, leaving a noticeable scar on his right cheek. Due to this, Capone would be given the nickname Scarface, a name that would follow him for the rest of his life. Soon after this, Yale used his connections to get Capone a job in Chicago acting as Torrio’s personal driver and bodyguard.

 In 1919, Capone would leave for Chicago. >>   >> In 1919, Al Capone arrived in Chicago to join Torrio in the Colosimo organization. Also during this time, the National Volstead Act was signed into law in order to outlaw the distribution and consumption of alcohol in the United States.

 And by 1920, the law had gone into effect prohibiting the sale of alcohol throughout the country. By this point, Torrio had likely already considered how lucrative the illegal alcohol business would be. Due to this, he would approach Jim Colosimo with the suggestion that they capitalize on it. Colosimo, however, felt that he was making enough money with his brothels and legitimate businesses.

 As well as this, Colosimo was worried that selling illegal alcohol would affect his relationships with politicians. Torrio began to realize that Colosimo couldn’t be convinced. Due to this, he had a difficult decision to make. Stand by his boss and allow the great opportunity prohibition presented to pass him by, or remove Colosimo entirely from the equation.

 Ultimately, Torrio chose the latter. In early 1920, Torrio would travel to Brooklyn to meet with Frankie Yale. It’s more than likely that this was when Torrio offered Yale the job of killing Colosimo. Torrio likely used Yale instead of Capone in an effort to distance himself from the crime. Ultimately, Yale would accept and the two made arrangements.

 In May, Yale would arrive in Chicago to carry out the murder. He had the perfect opportunity to carry it out on May 11th. On this day, Torrio contacted Colosimo and asked him to meet an associate of his at his restaurant on South Wabash Avenue. By the time Colosimo arrived, Yale was already hiding in the cloakroom of the restaurant waiting.

 When Colosimo entered and walked past the cloakroom, Yale emerged and fired one shot at his head. The bullet went right through his brain killing him instantly. Allegedly, after he committed the murder, Yale was paid $100,000 by Torrio. From this point, Torrio was at the head of one of Chicago’s most powerful criminal organizations and he would immediately get involved in selling illegal alcohol.

 As well as this, Torrio would go on to establish a syndicate of the three most powerful organizations in the city. He negotiated a truce with the North Side Gang led by Irish gangster Dean O’Banion. As well as this, Torrio allied his organization with the Sicilian organization now led by the Genna brothers.

 From this point, Torrio and the Gennas would operate on the South and West sides of Chicago and Dion O’Banion’s organization would operate on the city’s North Side. The agreement that each gang would operate in their own clearly defined territories allowed everyone to profit from the alcohol business without any wars or conflicts.

However, this would only last for a few years. By 1924, the Sicilian Genna family had been regularly encroaching on the North Side gang’s territory. When Dion O’Banion was made aware of this, he would approach Torrio and inform him of what was going on. In turn, Torrio would call the Gennas to a meeting.

 Despite the fact that the Gennas were violating the already established rules regarding territory, Torrio would side with them, most likely in order to keep them on side. When O’Banion realized that Torrio wasn’t going to handle the situation, he would take matters into his own hands. Over the next few months, members of the North Side gang would frequently hijack liquor shipments intended for the Gennas.

 As a result, the Genna family would approach Torrio and Unione Siciliana leader Mike Merlo with the idea of killing Dion O’Banion. Torrio and Merlo ultimately decided against having O’Banion killed as they both believed they could still settle the disagreement amicably. Due to this, when O’Banion offered to sell Torrio a brewery for $500,000, Torrio accepted in order to keep the peace.

 On May 19th, 1924, Torrio, O’Banion, and several members of their respective organizations met at the Sieben Brewery on Chicago’s North Side. This meeting took place just after ownership of the brewery was transferred to Torrio. Not long after Torrio arrived, several police officers, including the city’s police chief, raided the brewery arresting everyone including Torrio and O’Banion.

 Torrio would be the only one to face charges as the brewery was now in his name. Not long after the raid was carried out, Torrio began to realize that he had been set up by O’Banion. Due to this, he would give the Genna brothers his full support in their scheme to kill O’Banion. However, Torrio and the Genna family would put their plans to kill him on hold at the request of Unione Siciliana leader Mike Merlo.

However, when Merlo passed away from cancer on November 9th, 1924, Torrio and the Genna’s would be free to take revenge on Dion O’Banion. >>  >> After Merlo’s death, several important figures in the Italian criminal underworld would arrive in Chicago to attend the funeral. Two of these men were Frankie Yale and his close associate Saverio Pollaccia.

 When Yale arrived in Chicago, Torrio would once again offer him a murder contract, this time on Dion O’Banion, and once again Yale would accept. On November 10th, 1924, Yale, accompanied by two Genna family hitmen, Giovanni John Scalise and Alberto Albert Anselmi, would walk into O’Banion’s flower shop at 738 North State Street.

 When the three men walked in, they saw O’Banion working behind the counter. Due to this, Yale approached the counter pretending to be a customer. Once the sale was made, the two men shook hands. When Yale had a tight enough grip on O’Banion’s hand, Scalise and Anselmi approached and fired several shots into him, hitting him in the chest, neck and throat.

 O’Banion fell to the ground dead and the three men left the building. After the murder of O’Banion and the funeral of Mike Merlo, which took place on November 13th, Yale and Pollaccia would remain in Chicago for a few days. On November 19th, the two would be arrested and questioned in relation to the murder of O’Banion. However, police had insufficient evidence to hold them, resulting in the release of both men the next day.

 Soon after this, Yale and Pollaccia would return to New York. Another man to be questioned by police was Al Capone, who was now likely Johnny Torrio’s second in command. Meanwhile, immediately after the murder of Dion O’Banion, the North Side Gang would be taken over by his second in command, [ __ ] Weiss.

 With that, Weiss, alongside two other members of the gang, Vincent Drucci and George Bugs Moran, would begin targeting Johnny Torrio, Al Capone, and the Genna family. On January 12th, 1925, Capone and his bodyguard Sylvester Barron were sitting in his car, which was parked on State Street, when a car slowly drove past them. Inside this car were allegedly [ __ ] Weiss and Bugs Moran.

 The two men fired several shots from shotguns into the car, wounding Barron and missing Capone entirely. The failed attempt on Capone’s life didn’t deter the North Side Gang, as just 12 days later they would target Torrio. On January 24th, Torrio, his wife Anna, and their driver arrived back at their house at 7011 South Clyde Avenue.

 Anna Torrio collected several bags of shopping and walked towards the door, leaving Torrio and the driver sitting in the car. Just as this happened, Weiss and Moran approached the car. The two men fired several shots from handguns and shotguns into the car, wounding the driver and severely wounding Torrio with him sustaining four gunshot wounds in the neck, chest, and groin.

 As Torrio stumbled out of the car and collapsed on the driveway, one of the gunmen approached, stood over him, and attempted to fire one final shot into him. However, the gun jammed and the two men were forced to flee the scene. Torrio and his driver were rushed to hospital, where they both eventually recovered. Only a week before he was shot, Torrio was sentenced to serve 9 months in prison after being convicted on his federal bootlegging charges.

 Upon his sentencing, he was told to report to the DuPage County Jail on January 28th. However, after the attempt on his life, he was given 30 days to recover before he had to report to jail. While he was recovering, Torrio would often be visited by his underboss Al Capone. One day, while the two men were alone in the hospital room, Torrio informed Capone of his intention to retire from the business.

 Torrio also informed Capone that he would succeed him as leader of the organization. In February, after he had sufficiently recovered, Torrio would report to jail. During his time in jail, Torrio would be allowed to keep a loaded pistol in his cell for his own protection. As well as this, Torrio was even allowed to leave the jail during certain evenings accompanied by the sheriff who he had on his payroll.

 In early October Torrio would be released and would decide to leave Chicago opting to return to New York. However, before he relocated he and his wife would travel to Havana, Cuba accompanied by Al Capone and his wife. When Torrio and Capone arrived back in the United States with their wives in November of 1925, Capone and his wife would return to Chicago.

 Johnny and Anna Torrio, however, would go to New York.