I've been reading a lot into the Nick DeJohn murder, largely on threads from this forum. Curious if anyone knows more about Nick's son John DeJohn who was murdered in 1981 in Chicago, which was attributed to the north side crew and Leanard Yaras from what I've gathered. I've been reading that DeJohn spoke with John 'Bulldog' Drummond the famous Chicago reporter at length from prison and was killed shortly after his release - potentially for that reason.
Curious if anyone knows more about this family, which has a quite brutal history with the Chicago mob. It's rare to see a father and son killed by the same mafia family nearly 50 years apart - from what I was told by a good friend in Chicago, the family has continued to get caught in a variety of scams in recent years.
DeJohn Family (Chicago)
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NorthBuffalo
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PolackTony
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Re: DeJohn Family (Chicago)
Johnny DeJohn was found dumped in an alley in the Austin neighborhood on the Westside in April of 1981. He had been shot ten times in the head and back by two assailants. At the time, the papers reported that his extensive criminal history included arrests in 7 states, an IL conviction for transporting stolen goods, and a Federal conviction for forged securities.PolackTony wrote: ↑Wed Jul 06, 2022 2:41 pm Mario and Nick D'Andrea weren't the only Outfit-associated cocaine dealers to die in 1981. FBI agents in 1985 testified that Joey DiVarco had ordered the 1981 murder of cocaine dealer Johnny DeJohn, eldest son of the infamous Nick DeJohn. The FBI testified that -- based on statements from their witness, Timothy Joyce (aka Tim O'Malley), an associate of the Northside crew -- DeJohn was shot in Joyce's car by Vic Arrigo, with the assistance of Ronnie Ignoffo, and that DiVarco had ordered the murder as he was concerned that DeJohn "had become emotionally unstable and was no longer to be trusted". Joyce told the Feds that Arrigo had borrowed his car for ~6 months, and when Arrigo returned it, he told Joyce about the murder and that "Caesar" had ordered it.
Here's a (poor quality) photo of Johnny DeJohn:
"Hey, hey, hey — this is America, baby! Survival of the fittest.”
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NorthBuffalo
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Re: DeJohn Family (Chicago)
Thanks for that. I actually learned about the Bulldog Drummond connection from the Gary Jenkins podcast - Drummond felt responsible for the murder as if he was the reason it happened. That is quite interesting - he talks about Arrigo as well - I was not aware of this background being out there.
Here is the transcript from the podcast- relevant portion:
https://ganglandwire.com/john-drummond-aka-bulldog/
He was blinded by cases I know of organized crime, where the reporters have been the victims. I did a story with a man by the name of John D. John, that name it does means nothing. We’re going to fight grouping circuits by that name but this fella Johnny D. John, his father was a gangster called Nick DeJohn was murdered out in San Francisco in the 40s. John D. John was a minor hoodlum good Charles and burglary and some check catechizing a few things like that. And he wrote me a letter that he was getting out of jail in Leavenworth and he wanted to tell stories about the mob out of school apparently got disillusioned, so I want him. We did this interview did a piece and he was still at the MCC at that time. He hadn’t been reached the MCC Metropolitan Correctional Center. He done his time in the Leavenworth prison who was doing about 90 days in the MCC going to be released. So I interviewed him there. And then the story where he was he named names and obviously I told Morton before I said, you know, doing this could jeopardize your health and so on. And he said, No, no, I’m gonna have to undergo he was bullheaded to do this. He wanted to insisted on doing this, I’ll go somewhere else. And what happened was he was released. And he called me after he got out of jail. He was living in a hotel, just got out of jail hotel and rushed in the restaurant area there. And he said, I can’t talk and I just gotta we gotta meet. But I gotta be very careful, because I’ve alienated a lot of people. Two days later than that he was killed in an alley, pumped with eight bullets in the northwest side. And I felt there’s no question about it, that I felt guilty in a way on this one, but I still feel sad about it. I think there’s no question that his relationship with me probably caused his demise. In fact, one of the area five detectives said he was too friendly when he got word got out. You spilling the beans talking too much. And they didn’t like that. And then of course, after the incident where he was slain, and that case, I couldn’t know. There has never been that case never got off the ground. In other words, he was just, he was not a big shot. And I don’t think the area fire was, I don’t think there was a great deal of effort to finally clear who it was because he was a hoodlum in those days at one less thing to worry about. In fact, I did interview not on camera, a guy by the name of Popeye was his name. And he was named his name at surface that he was one of the ones that killed this John D. John, but he denied it to me, Kevin, what’s your favorite music? Music? No talk to you. Oh, no. He said I had nothing to do with the John. Absolutely not. So that’s the end of that story. But to this day, until our knowledge Well, I was 1981 who is killed. So that case has gone on. It’s a tragic story. very tragic story with Mr. Johnny and Johnny was not was a tough story he shouldn’t have done I mean, he insisted on doing it. So we went ahead with it. And he paid I’m afraid I have to admit that he paid with his life. And I think that one of the reasons but I can say I’m sure another television station or something else would have done the same. So that’s water over the dam now, I guess but you can’t he also was was singing away to the FBI. So I met there may be a lot of better. I think that was an issue too. Although I think frankly, the real problem was he talked to the media by way I think he almost had that Death Wish he was rigorous but when he was spelling his beans, he knew enough that that type of thing was was could be tantamount to his own murder and it was they would that’s one thing they would definitely reciprocate with violence there’s no denying that Chicago Ma was probably the most feared group and remember it was a very monolithic now there’s no crypto is five crews but they all are under one leadership.
Here is the transcript from the podcast- relevant portion:
https://ganglandwire.com/john-drummond-aka-bulldog/
He was blinded by cases I know of organized crime, where the reporters have been the victims. I did a story with a man by the name of John D. John, that name it does means nothing. We’re going to fight grouping circuits by that name but this fella Johnny D. John, his father was a gangster called Nick DeJohn was murdered out in San Francisco in the 40s. John D. John was a minor hoodlum good Charles and burglary and some check catechizing a few things like that. And he wrote me a letter that he was getting out of jail in Leavenworth and he wanted to tell stories about the mob out of school apparently got disillusioned, so I want him. We did this interview did a piece and he was still at the MCC at that time. He hadn’t been reached the MCC Metropolitan Correctional Center. He done his time in the Leavenworth prison who was doing about 90 days in the MCC going to be released. So I interviewed him there. And then the story where he was he named names and obviously I told Morton before I said, you know, doing this could jeopardize your health and so on. And he said, No, no, I’m gonna have to undergo he was bullheaded to do this. He wanted to insisted on doing this, I’ll go somewhere else. And what happened was he was released. And he called me after he got out of jail. He was living in a hotel, just got out of jail hotel and rushed in the restaurant area there. And he said, I can’t talk and I just gotta we gotta meet. But I gotta be very careful, because I’ve alienated a lot of people. Two days later than that he was killed in an alley, pumped with eight bullets in the northwest side. And I felt there’s no question about it, that I felt guilty in a way on this one, but I still feel sad about it. I think there’s no question that his relationship with me probably caused his demise. In fact, one of the area five detectives said he was too friendly when he got word got out. You spilling the beans talking too much. And they didn’t like that. And then of course, after the incident where he was slain, and that case, I couldn’t know. There has never been that case never got off the ground. In other words, he was just, he was not a big shot. And I don’t think the area fire was, I don’t think there was a great deal of effort to finally clear who it was because he was a hoodlum in those days at one less thing to worry about. In fact, I did interview not on camera, a guy by the name of Popeye was his name. And he was named his name at surface that he was one of the ones that killed this John D. John, but he denied it to me, Kevin, what’s your favorite music? Music? No talk to you. Oh, no. He said I had nothing to do with the John. Absolutely not. So that’s the end of that story. But to this day, until our knowledge Well, I was 1981 who is killed. So that case has gone on. It’s a tragic story. very tragic story with Mr. Johnny and Johnny was not was a tough story he shouldn’t have done I mean, he insisted on doing it. So we went ahead with it. And he paid I’m afraid I have to admit that he paid with his life. And I think that one of the reasons but I can say I’m sure another television station or something else would have done the same. So that’s water over the dam now, I guess but you can’t he also was was singing away to the FBI. So I met there may be a lot of better. I think that was an issue too. Although I think frankly, the real problem was he talked to the media by way I think he almost had that Death Wish he was rigorous but when he was spelling his beans, he knew enough that that type of thing was was could be tantamount to his own murder and it was they would that’s one thing they would definitely reciprocate with violence there’s no denying that Chicago Ma was probably the most feared group and remember it was a very monolithic now there’s no crypto is five crews but they all are under one leadership.