THE BLACK HAND FORUM

That was in one of the Capone bios, Bergreen's I think.

https://books.google.com/books?id=oX8v48_MbswC&pg=PA117&dq=capone+cocaine&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jwcCVfS1JYHUoAT_8YHoAw&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=capone%20cocaine&f=false

Just taking a quick look, it looks like Roemer is the source of Ricca having a drug addict son. Haven't been able to verify it's true.

https://books.google.com/books?ei=cQACVefGAo3SoASIjIJo&id=unoE7bgcT1sC&dq=%22paul+ricca%22+son+addict&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=addict

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The story is that Paul Ricca had a son who was a drug addict and ordered the Outfit to stay out of it. Before that few got involved for their own reasons. Al Capone allegedly did coke, but didn't sell it.

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But why were they against direct distribution even in the 20s and 30s? The penalties for drug dealing back then weren't heavy, it was rarely more than 3-4 years, or so seems from the examples I read about. Lucky Luciano was convicted for drugs too, yet didn't do much time, and Dewey didn't pursue him for drugs, even though he could get him convicted as a second offender, this means the penalty wouldn't have been heavy. So why did the Chicago Outfit avoid direct drug dealing even at times when there were no strict laws for this type of crime?

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Still no ideas about the subject? I asked on all 3 forums, but nobody seems to have an opinion about whether the Outfit sold drugs in those decades. In other cities (New York, Buffalo, Kansas City etc) there have been mafia trials for drugs, while I can't find anything about Chicago. Almost no information about drug arrests until the 50s even in the Chicago Tibune archive (which is for free now by the way).

In all books about the first 4 decades of the Chicago mob only investigations for bootlegging, tax evasion, occasional extortion and (always unsuccessful) for murder are mentioned. But what about drugs? Did the Outfit sell them in the 20s-30s? After all, the penalties for drug trafficking were minimal at the time, it was convenient.
I bought the book "The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs" by Douglas Valentine which covers the 1930-1968 period og national war on drugs, and it's interesting and rather detailed for the most part, but the only specific mention of a Chicago drug trafficking case in the early decades is this quote

[quote]Chicago had earned its dubious reputation in 1925 when Elmer Irey arrested Narcotic Division Supervisor William Beech and three agents for selling seized drugs to gangsters.[/quote]

Most of other references to early Chicago are vague.