I was doing some research on one subject but i stumbled upon another interesting case and since this is some type of Chicago general thread, i thought about throwing it in here....
I think few of you never heard of the so-called Gudio gang that operated during the 50s and 60s, since none of the guys were made members of the Outfit but instead they were looked upon as close associates of several crews such as the Buccieri, Mad Sam and Battaglia groups. The gang was involved in narcotics, bank robberies, home invasions and stickups, but above all they loved to torture and kill people.
The leader of the pack was Nick Guido, born in 1921 and grew up on Taylor St. In 1924, when he was just three years old, his father Nick Sr., while committing a home invasion, strangled to death a wealthy house owner and was sentenced to life in prison.
When he was only 14 years old, in 1935 Nick Jr was sentenced to the Illinois Training School for Boys in Kane County for two years after his arrest on a robbery charge. In 1938, he was sent to Pontiac reformatory for five years, and in 1944 to Joliet penitentiary for 10 years, both terms also for robbery. During those years, every time when Guido entered into a court building, he would act insane and tear apart all of his clothes, including his socks, and would scream like there was no tomorrow. There were also many cases were he sat in the courtroom all naked.
In 1955, Guido and two associates managed to rob the Maywood-Proviso State Bank in Maywood, Illinois; but later they were quickly arrested and when the cops searched Guido's apartment, they managed to find a 25 round magazine for a machine gun, two magazines, one of them loaded, for a 9 mm. automatic pistol, an empty magazine for a .45 caliber pistol, a belt of .38 caliber cartridges , and an assortment of loose .32, .38, and .45 caliber cartridges. That same year Guido was sentenced to 6 years in the can.
When Guido got out of jail in 1961, he quickly gathered his gang which now included his two younger brothers, Louis and Don, who in turn were allegedly his main so-called “logisticians” in plotting all kinds of jobs, including murder. Other prominent associates at the time were Frank Yonder, Al Sacko, James McGarry, Louis Vasselli, Joseph Gaynor, Stanley Miller, John Pellegrini and Alex Micele. Many of these fellas were previously arrested or convicted on narcotics charges, and some on murder charges.
According to some police reports, Guido reportedly instructed some of his associates to torture the victims in some robberies, but not to molest them in others, hoping that the police would be deceived and will not suspect that one gang was responsible for all of the home invasions.
For example, in 1962, Yonder and Vasselli, under Guido's supervision, managed to steal a getaway car from a used car lot, and decided to break into the home of the Botthof family. They were also joined by Duane Pinkowski and Guido’s wife Patricia. So with the help of previously made copy keys, the gang entered the Botthof residence without any trouble and all hell broke loose.
First, Vasselli and Pinkowski tied up Mr. Botthof, his eleven year old son and their three maids. Then, Yonder grabbed Mrs. Botthof by her neck and started burning her face, breasts and whole body with cigarettes, while her husband and son were watching. While torturing her, Yonder asked Mrs. Botthof about their hidden safe and the alleged $100,000 stash of family jewellery, but the poor woman told him that most of their cash was spent on the expensive education of their five children.
This made Yonder even more mad, and so he pulled her by her hair, stomped on her neck several times, and later on he forced her to watch as Vasselli and Pinkowski beat her husband without any mercy. Vasselli poked his thumb as hard as he could into Mr. Botthof's eye and pounded his chest with his fists, kicked him several times in the ribs, thus breaking two of them, and in the end, he slammed the heel of his shoe into Botthof's face.
Next on Yonder’s “menu” were the maids. He struck matches and lighted the pubic hairs of the women, while all three of them were being stripped off their clothes and laid naked on the floor. Later Vasselli proposed that they rape his wife in front of their son if he doesn’t give up his family’s treasure. As a result of the violent beating, Mr. Botthof lost site on one of his eyes. In the end, Vasselli took the situation in his own hands by threatening the bloodstained couple that if they don’t give up something, they would watch as their child suffers.
The family’s agony lasted for nearly two and a half hours and in the end, the poor victims prayed for mercy down on their knees. So, the notorious robbers took whatever the Botthof family “coughed up” and left the poor people in a horrible psychological and physical trauma. When they exited the house, Yonder's suit was allegedly all splattered with blood.
Some of their other “jobs” were looting of the home of Jack Delott on June 5, 1962. More than $10,000 in furs and jewellery was taken in the robbery, in which Delott was slugged several times and his wife and children were tortured. Next, the gang also managed to steal $21,150 from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Schamberg at 6525 Kilbourn Av., in Lincolnwood, and on June 29, 1962, once again the gang managed to obtain more $10,000 in furs and jewellery in a burglary which occurred at the home of S. L. Widran, at 5060 Marine drive.
The reign of terror almost ended when two of Yonder’s associates in the key-stealing business were nabbed by the feds. The two unlucky fellas were Leo Johnson and Herbert Kwate and these two young teenagers got scared for only walking in the police station. Later their bonds were paid by Guido who in turn already gave the “contract” to his brothers Louis and Don.
The brothers called upon Gary D'Allessandro and Alex Wallace, two alleged “hitters” and so on June 1, 1962, the bullet-riddled body of Johnson popped up in a West Side alley and also more than two weeks later, on June 17, the lifeless body of Kwate was found near Carpentersville in Kane County. Right after the Kwate murder, the feds realised that another car hiker was gone and this time it was William Collins. In fact, Collins disappeared the next day, after the cops found Johnson’s body, while Collins’ body was never found.
The government quickly issued warrants for the arrest of Guido, Yonder and the rest of the gang and so on June 18, 1962, the cops visited their home in search of Guido and Yonder but the problem was that neither was present since they were already on the lam.
Guido's main problem was his wife Patricia who in turn had enough from her husband's violent tactics towards her and everyone else, She received phone calls from her fugitive husband in which he said that he was going to kidnap her and their own kids and that he was going to hurt them, if she dont keep her mouth shut.
So Patricia Guido made a decision to contact the Joliet police and, in the presence of the State's Attorney's police, sheriff's police and Joliet police, unearthed the hidden canisters which contained some of the stolen property from the Botthof job. After turning the canisters over to the police, Patricia was arrested and charged with taking part in the Botthof robbery but after that, she was subsequently released on bond and was taken to protective custody.
Next individual who “spilled the beans” was Duane Pinkowski who was also indicted for armed robbery, decided to testify against his former colleagues as a state witness. He detailed for the feds on how he was allegedly forced into going on the Botthof robbery under the threats to harm his wife and child by Guido.
Meanwhile, one of the gang’s “hitters” Alex Wallace also opened his mouth, and had signed a confession in which he said he fired the first shot into the victim's body and charged D'Allessandro, who allegedly fired four more shots. The slayings, according to Wallace, were ordered by Guido himself. In the end, even though he helped the government, Wallace was again sentenced to no less than 33 year in prison regarding the Kwate murder. After this there was a national hunt for Guido and Yonder with a “shoot on site” warrant.
In November 1962, the two fugitives were caught and arrested by the police in Michigan State and after proving their sanity, by early January, 1963, they were taken to trial. Now, the whole thing was a huge spectacle. First, the defence was destroyed by all of the witnesses that took the stand such as Patricia Guido, Mr. and Mrs. Botthof, Pinkowski, Wallace etc.
Second, when on January 16, 1963, the jury found both Guido and Yonder guilty and sentenced each from 60 to 100 years in prison, Yonder attacked and threatened to kill a police lieutenant, who stood nearby in the courtroom. Yonder lunged toward Lt. Edward King and slammed his head against the cell bars after spitting into his face. Later Yonder threw his arm around King's neck, and said "Now I'm going to kill you!" and attempted to grab King's .38 caliber pistol. In the end, Yonder was subdued by the court bailiffs, who handcuffed him to the cell bars.
Later, Patricia Guido testified in another trial against Louis and Don Guido regarding the dope peddling business, in which the two younger brothers also received prison sentences, and so this represented the end of the ruthless Guido gang.
Nick Guido
