THE BLACK HAND FORUM

by **Villain** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:24 am

While I was doing some research on the darkest time period of the Chicago Outfit, or should I say during the 1940's, I came across few documents which possibly explains the syndicate's hirearchy during that same period. Most of us know that in 1943, because of the Hollywood scheme, the top administration Ricca, Campagna and D'Andrea, was sent to prison. So according to more than few relaible infos, Accardo did not succeed the top position until 1946/47. So the question is on who led the Outfit between 1943 and 46? I believe that it was possibly controlled by a ruling panel, including Accardo and his mentor Tony Capezio, who in turn succeeded the imprisoned Frank Maritote, with Charles Fischetti as the individual who groomed Accardo for boss, since he, meaning Fischetti, was the most powerful and influential "leftover" at the time. And if you look at situation clearly, most of the captains were gone or were in trouble, including Mangano who was killed in 1944, DeGeorge had problems with his own faction, DeGrazia was directly involved in the dope business and was a user, and Jim Emery's faction was still one of the newest factions which joined the Outfit. So all of these examples can back the fact that Fischetti was the possible chairman or at least a member of the ruling panel until 1947. Of course this statement is backed with few documents...

Heres one according to the Outfit's one time First Ward commiteeman and ex-Capone member Dan Serritella, who stated that the top members of the organization at the time were Accardo, Capezio and the Fischettis, followed by Humphreys and Guzik....

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... ohn_capone

Another one which comes from the organized crime investigator Peterson who also gave info that Accardo and Fischetti were in charge of the syndicate during one period...

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... ohn_capone

Heres one which says that Accardo succeeded Fischetti...

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... _siciliano

And in the end another file, which is a liitle bit confusing and states that Accardo succeeded Campagna but stiil it also says that Accardo was extremly close to Fischetti during that period, which might explain the ruling panel theory...

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 20campagna

by **Villain** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:52 am

In fact Bolton's testimony was quite good but in the eyes of some of the investigators, he possibly fucked up by mentioning the names of high level gangsters who all had strong alibis. As I previously said that Maddox had a judge for an alibi although few investigators said that the judge was corrupt and it was possible for Maddox to move freely. Also Jack McGurn was allegedly with his girlfriend in some hotel, constantly ordering food and drinks, which was a quite good idea if the cops ever think of checking their orders and the time period, and after that they really did check those. But even that can be quite suspicious since McGurn could've paid off the hotel workers and obviously his other and blond alibi wasnt a problem. My personal belief is that Bolton's credibility went down the toilet in the eyes of the cops when he mentioned the name Murray Humphreys who during the investigations or the testimonywas in jail for income tax evasion. So I really dont know why he mentioned his name but I personally believe in most of his testimony and I say "most" since he was only a small time associate who possibly mixed up few things...after all years before his testimony the cops found his prescription bottle in the lookout apartment.

My main point in the previous timeline was that one faction from Chicago's PD also had some involvment in the massacre. The cops never had proffessional street killers of their own, they obviously had war heroes but that wasnt the deal. So the answer was the Mob and story goes that they both had the same enemy...

by **Villain** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 1:15 am

I believe that info came from Boltons testimony

by **cavita** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 8:30 pm

Pogo The Clown wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:55 am
Villain wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:13 am Dwalin2014 to tell you the truth I dont know much regarding the Moran gang but as Antiliar pointed out maybe you should check out that Binder book. Also my personal belief is that at the time Capone's main problem wasnt the Moran gang, but instead i believe it was the Mafia. The massacre was just one big, violent, stupid and completely unnecesary move made by the Capones which i personally believe that it might've been backed by many forces, including political, police and underworld. But on the other hand, it made the Capone mob quite scary in the eyes of their cohorts and enemies. On top of that, there were also other and similar massacres which occurred before or after the St.V. attack in different cities and so I highly doubt that someone from the criminal higher ups ever felt really depressed because of the situation. It was a "normal" thing during the bootlegging and machinegun days

Remember though that plan was for Moran himself to be in the group that was killed. He lucked out by being late and the gunmen mistaking one of his guys for him. If Moran would have been killed in the massacre in that would have pretty much been the end of the Northside gang.

Pogo

One thing that always confused me was how did the authorities know that the gunmen mistook one of Moran's guys for Moran? Who would have told the authorities this when there was no concrete evidence who the gunmen were? It seems that the authorities in their investigation just came up with this after they realized that Moran was still alive.

by **Villain** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 12:03 pm

Pogo The Clown wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:55 am
Villain wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:13 am Dwalin2014 to tell you the truth I dont know much regarding the Moran gang but as Antiliar pointed out maybe you should check out that Binder book. Also my personal belief is that at the time Capone's main problem wasnt the Moran gang, but instead i believe it was the Mafia. The massacre was just one big, violent, stupid and completely unnecesary move made by the Capones which i personally believe that it might've been backed by many forces, including political, police and underworld. But on the other hand, it made the Capone mob quite scary in the eyes of their cohorts and enemies. On top of that, there were also other and similar massacres which occurred before or after the St.V. attack in different cities and so I highly doubt that someone from the criminal higher ups ever felt really depressed because of the situation. It was a "normal" thing during the bootlegging and machinegun days

Remember though that plan was for Moran himself to be in the group that was killed. He lucked out by being late and the gunmen mistaking one of his guys for him. If Moran would have been killed in the massacre in that would have pretty much been the end of the Northside gang.

Pogo

According to some records of an Evanston hospital showed that Moran had been In that institution from February 14( the day of the massacre) to February 18, although according to many eyewitnesses he was seen outside the hospital on February 15, which means that the hospital thing was just a weak alibi. Not like Claude Maddox's alibi who in turn had a judge vouching for him that he was in court during the killings.

Most of the info on the massacre comes from Byron Bolton, couple of big time bootleggers at the time such as Alvin Karpis and also many other eyewitnesses. Sometime ago I made my own timeline regarding the situation...

Frank Capone - killed in 1924 by the cops

Dean O'Banion – killed in 1924, five months after Frank Capone

When Al Capone took over in 1926/27, suddenly the so-called “wheel” began turning

Vincent Drucci – killed in 1927 by the cops while being taken for a ride

In 1928, Joe Aiello, while being one of the main racketeers on the North Side, he also had his own territory on the West Side after the extermination of the Gennas two years earlier. So I believe that was too much for Al, especially his own West Side faction, which was established after the murder of Joe Esposito that same year. So I personally believe that it was a battle for the West Side and Capone’s stronghold against the Northsiders was the so-called Circus Café which was located on the Northwest Side.

In 1929 St. Valentines Day Massacre occurred, allegedly executed by two cops and two men in civil clothes who came out from two cars, one being a police car. Not even one Italian Mafia member was killed in the event, but still every Capone enemy went hiding.

Investigators later learned that Circus Café associates William Louis (Chicago), Harry Burton (Philadelphia), Frank Carlson (Detroit) and James O’Brien (Detroit), who were previously arrested in a house near Crystal Lake for the kidnapping of wealthy automobile dealer Thomas Gaynor, were also suspects in a similar massacre which previously occurred in Ohio, when three hit men dressed as policemen entered a garage and killed five members of a beer gang. But no one really turned their attention to the situation.

Eight days later after the massacre, one of the getaway cars was found dynamited in west suburban Maywood, the area where Capone member Claude Maddox and his family lived at the time. Also they found the other car at the garage at 1723 North Wood St., possible failed operation executed by another Capone member Tony Capezio.

The police checked out the so-called lookout apartments and found a letter and a prescription bottle with the name of Circus Café associate Byron Bolton but “somehow” they didn’t thought about the significance of this clue until years later. I guess they played stupid?!

Few days later, during another raid on a roadhouse in Forest Park, which was owned by the Capone gang, the cops also found a police star with no. 65. The strangest thing was that one policeman had lost his star the day before the massacre and recovered it the day after.

Also the cops raided another Capone liquor depot on the North Side and on the wall of the garage the cops noticed a paper with the names, home addresses, telephone numbers of two police officers and also information where they might be reached in any hour of the day. But again, out of “unknown” reasons the police decided to ignore these cases.

That same year, the so-called “bad blood” John Scalise and Albert Anselmi, and also Aiello associate Joseph Giunta were killed by the Capone Mob. So my personal belief is that by now Capone might’ve been the scariest gangster in the country. Proof for that is…

In 1930, Capone was brought into Cosa Nostra by one of the New York Mafia clans as captain or city boss for that same crime family.

Fred Burke (possible logistician or even executioner) (when he entered prison in 1931, he was visited by Capone member Phil D’Andrea at Marquette prison in Michigan. According to the prison’s Warden James Corgan, D’Andrea exchanged just few words with Burke and than left)

Ray Nugent (possible logistician or even executioner) (disappeared in 1931 and presumed dead)

Bob Carey (possible logistician or even executioner) (suspicious suicide in 1932, together with his wife)

Rocco Belcastro (alleged driver of one of the getaway cars but killed in 1932)

Al Capone (sent to prison in 1932)

Fred Goetz (possible logistician or even executioner) (killed in 1933)

Gus Winkler (possible logistician or even executioner) (killed in 1933)

Byron Bolton (possible main connection between the Circus Café gang and various gangsters from around the country) (arrested in 1935 and gave his own alleged testimony regarding the massacre by naming Burke, Goetz, Winkler, and Nugent as the main people involved, but he also added up names such as Claude Maddox. When the cops raided Bolton’s home they found numerous pictures of him together with Al Capone and other gangsters such as Fred Burke and Fred Goetz. Later the director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover immediately dismissed Bolton’s testimony by saying “There’s not a word of truth in it” but the agent in charge of Chicago’s Division of Investigation D. M. Ladd said that “The Federal Agents haven’t even questioned Bolton regarding the massacre”)

Jack McGurn (alleged logistician who in 1936 was killed on the evening before Saint Valentine’s Day)

by **Pogo The Clown** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:55 am

Villain wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:13 am Dwalin2014 to tell you the truth I dont know much regarding the Moran gang but as Antiliar pointed out maybe you should check out that Binder book. Also my personal belief is that at the time Capone's main problem wasnt the Moran gang, but instead i believe it was the Mafia. The massacre was just one big, violent, stupid and completely unnecesary move made by the Capones which i personally believe that it might've been backed by many forces, including political, police and underworld. But on the other hand, it made the Capone mob quite scary in the eyes of their cohorts and enemies. On top of that, there were also other and similar massacres which occurred before or after the St.V. attack in different cities and so I highly doubt that someone from the criminal higher ups ever felt really depressed because of the situation. It was a "normal" thing during the bootlegging and machinegun days

Remember though that plan was for Moran himself to be in the group that was killed. He lucked out by being late and the gunmen mistaking one of his guys for him. If Moran would have been killed in the massacre in that would have pretty much been the end of the Northside gang.

Pogo

by **Dwalin2014** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 7:57 am

Antiliar, Villain, thanks for the suggestion, I have got this book on Kindle from Amazon, haven't yet read it, but will do now, I see many people in fact say it's a good one. I checked through the book earlier, interesting that it has less known information, for example the description of the De Coursey gang, which I knew only the name of (from the cover of the 1961 book "The dry and lawless years" by John Lyle), but that other book itself contained no information about this gang apart from the name of the turf map on the cover. Interesting, though...."De Coursey", looks similar to a French aristocracy last name, really out of place in Chicago prohibition gangland imo

by **Villain** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:13 am

Dwalin2014 to tell you the truth I dont know much regarding the Moran gang but as Antiliar pointed out maybe you should check out that Binder book. Also my personal belief is that at the time Capone's main problem wasnt the Moran gang, but instead i believe it was the Mafia. The massacre was just one big, violent, stupid and completely unnecesary move made by the Capones which i personally believe that it might've been backed by many forces, including political, police and underworld. But on the other hand, it made the Capone mob quite scary in the eyes of their cohorts and enemies. On top of that, there were also other and similar massacres which occurred before or after the St.V. attack in different cities and so I highly doubt that someone from the criminal higher ups ever felt really depressed because of the situation. It was a "normal" thing during the bootlegging and machinegun days

by **Antiliar** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 2:50 pm

Dwalin, I think John Binder's book will answer your questions about the Moran gang.

by **Dwalin2014** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 2:13 pm

Villain wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:03 am
Dwalin2014 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:39 am
Villain wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:54 am You can see Humphreys discussing the Red Barker and Jack McGurn killings and who was involved tec.
What do they say? Was the Jack McGurn killing an "inside cleaning" job or did Bugs Moran kill him for revenge for the St.Valentine massacre? I read that historians were split 50/50 about which theory is more reliable, so what does Humphreys say?
According to Huphreys the guys who killed McGurn were Maddox and White, hosted by Willie Aloisio....heres what i wrote in my Maddox article...
"The only gangster that wasn’t mentioned in Bolton’s testimony but was believed by every cop in Chicago that he had some involvement in the massacre, was Jack McGurn. I believe that he was one of the main logisticians for the slayings but there was no proof for him being directly connected with the massacre. But the new criminal organization which was headed by Nitti and Ricca didn’t want to risk any chances since McGurn was out of favour and was also displeased by their leadership. He was all done in the rackets as far as Ricca was concerned. McGurn didn’t respected Ricca’s order and continued his drug peddling operations in Chicago. Ricca was one of the few rare bosses of the Outfit who would gave you second chance to retire and if you ignored his offer,that was one way ticket to the graveyard. So that was the case with Jack McGurn. So in 1936 the evening before Saint Valentine’s Day, or in other words the Massacre’s seventh anniversary, McGurn went bowling at the second floor of the Avenue Recreation Rooms on 805 North Milwaukee Avenue which was owned by Ricca’s henchman Willie “Smokes” Aloisio. McGurn was called by two of his former gangster friends, Frank “Three Fingered” White and Claude Maddox, to join them for few games. The three men entered the bowling alley and according to witnesses 15 minutes later three men with bandanas on their faces walked in and yelled “Stick ’em up!” One of the three men fired a warning shot in ceiling and everyone in the establishment has hit the floor. So one of McGurns bowling buddies approached him and whispered “This is for you, you son of a bitch!” and than shot McGurn behind his right ear. It was a set up. McGurn fell to the ground and the assassin fired few more shots. The three stick up men fled the scene while White and Maddox, that came with and killed McGurn ,before leaving one of them turned around and walked back to the table where McGurn had been sitting and took the tally sheet which had their names on it, shoved it in his pocket and walked away. Years later an FBI wiretap confirmed Maddox’ and White’s involvement in the hit. I believe that McGurn’s demise on the same day when the massacre occurred 7 years ago wasn’t a coincidence, but it was a message from Ricca and the boys."

Thanks for the information! But to be honest, I am a little disappointed, I hoped the Bugs Moran revenge theory was the right one....So it seems that every prominent Chicago Outfit gangster was only killed as result of "inside cleanings", rather than attacks by rivals, since the early 30s at least....But it's weird, did Moran's gang REALLY get "crippled" by the 1929 massacre? It was just several people, 5 basically, 2 others don't count as losses for him, since 1 was either a random bystander or a small-time associate (the mechanic John May) depending on the source, and the other (the optician Reinhardt Schwimmer) was just an associate who boasted being around gangsters, but wasn't exactly "firepower" or "brains" for the group....Losing JUST 5 people, how could it be enough to incapacitate Moran from any retaliation? His gang wasn't that small....Or was it?

by **Villain** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:38 am

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 5&tab=page

Johnny Moore is Maddox

by **Villain** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:03 am

Dwalin2014 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:39 am
Villain wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:54 am You can see Humphreys discussing the Red Barker and Jack McGurn killings and who was involved tec.
What do they say? Was the Jack McGurn killing an "inside cleaning" job or did Bugs Moran kill him for revenge for the St.Valentine massacre? I read that historians were split 50/50 about which theory is more reliable, so what does Humphreys say?

According to Huphreys the guys who killed McGurn were Maddox and White, hosted by Willie Aloisio....heres what i wrote in my Maddox article...
"The only gangster that wasn’t mentioned in Bolton’s testimony but was believed by every cop in Chicago that he had some involvement in the massacre, was Jack McGurn. I believe that he was one of the main logisticians for the slayings but there was no proof for him being directly connected with the massacre. But the new criminal organization which was headed by Nitti and Ricca didn’t want to risk any chances since McGurn was out of favour and was also displeased by their leadership. He was all done in the rackets as far as Ricca was concerned. McGurn didn’t respected Ricca’s order and continued his drug peddling operations in Chicago. Ricca was one of the few rare bosses of the Outfit who would gave you second chance to retire and if you ignored his offer,that was one way ticket to the graveyard. So that was the case with Jack McGurn. So in 1936 the evening before Saint Valentine’s Day, or in other words the Massacre’s seventh anniversary, McGurn went bowling at the second floor of the Avenue Recreation Rooms on 805 North Milwaukee Avenue which was owned by Ricca’s henchman Willie “Smokes” Aloisio. McGurn was called by two of his former gangster friends, Frank “Three Fingered” White and Claude Maddox, to join them for few games. The three men entered the bowling alley and according to witnesses 15 minutes later three men with bandanas on their faces walked in and yelled “Stick ’em up!” One of the three men fired a warning shot in ceiling and everyone in the establishment has hit the floor. So one of McGurns bowling buddies approached him and whispered “This is for you, you son of a bitch!” and than shot McGurn behind his right ear. It was a set up. McGurn fell to the ground and the assassin fired few more shots. The three stick up men fled the scene while White and Maddox, that came with and killed McGurn ,before leaving one of them turned around and walked back to the table where McGurn had been sitting and took the tally sheet which had their names on it, shoved it in his pocket and walked away. Years later an FBI wiretap confirmed Maddox’ and White’s involvement in the hit. I believe that McGurn’s demise on the same day when the massacre occurred 7 years ago wasn’t a coincidence, but it was a message from Ricca and the boys."

by **Dwalin2014** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:39 am

Villain wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:54 am You can see Humphreys discussing the Red Barker and Jack McGurn killings and who was involved tec.

What do they say? Was the Jack McGurn killing an "inside cleaning" job or did Bugs Moran kill him for revenge for the St.Valentine massacre? I read that historians were split 50/50 about which theory is more reliable, so what does Humphreys say?

by **Villain** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:54 am

Sam22 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:25 am Did you ever see any docs where they actually discuss a murder ?

You can see Humphreys discussing the Red Barker and Jack McGurn killings and who was involved tec. and you also might find one conversation between Accardo and Alex talking about giving away "contracts". I also believe you can find other murder conversations between other members...in addition, when you research the mary ferrell site you should type in alex accardo or ferraro alex or cerone yaras and then you might find many other convos

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... ras_cerone

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... ras_cerone

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... rraro_alex

by **Sam22** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:25 am

Villain wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:59 am
Sam22 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2017 6:27 am To me Hump may be the most interesting member out of all the outfit guys.
I totally agree with you. If you read all of Humphreys, Alexs, Accardos and Riccas tapped convos you'll might notice that when these guys talk, they are usually schooling other members and talk about rules and how some of the situations should be or should've been solved. Although you can also see that both Accardo or Alex sometimes entered in violent convos with other members, mostly Alex. I'll never forget the article in which Accardo gave an "honest" reply to Chicago reporter Sandy Smith by saying "Fuck you"

I am still working my way through the 156 page mf document. Did you ever see any docs where they actually discuss a murder ? Many hits took place during the time the FBI had them bugged in early 60's. I have never seen any but I doubt I have read as many of those transcripts as you,snakes or Antillar

THE BLACK HAND FORUM

Roots of the Capone Mob a.k.a. the Chicago Outfit

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