Chicago Italians

Alderman: Elected official representating (male or female) one of the many wards in Chicago in the City Council. (Thanks Paul A.!)

The Alley: A popular store located on Clark, near Belmont Ave., where disgruntled youths can buy funky shoes, used military clothes, used Chicago Police jackets (tourists: awesome souvenir!), and other cool stuff.

Allstate Arena: New name of the former Rosemont Horizon.

Animal Stories: A regular segment on the radio show of Uncle Lar (Larry Lujack) and his sidekick Little Tommy. (Thanks Tom C.!)

Aragon Brawlroom: Nickname for the Aragon Ballroom because of its reputation for frequent mosh pits during concerts. Once was an elegant ballroom decades ago.

Argyle: Name of a east-west street on the northside, typically referring to the small Asian community in Uptown.

Bachelor's Grove: A haunted abandoned graveyard deep in a forest preserve on the south side.

Beef: Short for Italian beef sandwiches. "Gimme a beef!"

Berwyn: Western suburban town immortalized by the Son of Svengoolie. "BERrrwynNN!" (Thanks Myra!)

Blue Demons: DePaul's team.

Big Herm's: Nickname for Herm's Palace, a fast food and hot dog joint in Skokie on Dempster.

The Big Hurt: Chicago White Sox star Frank Thomas. (Although Bridget wrote that the slumping Thomas was more appropriately called "The Big Skirt." Yikes! Pretty harsh there! I don't think I'd say that to his face.)

Big Ten: Midwestern college sports conference, which includes the University of Illinois and Northwestern University.

Bleacher Bums: Regulars in Wrigley Field's bleacher section.

The Blues Brothers: Required viewing for any Chicago resident or anyone coming to Chicago. Great movie.

Blues Fest: 1) A free concert extravaganza at Grant Park where blues artists perform for several days. 2) A free concert for DePaul students in May, although blues music has become more of a rarity over the years.

The Boot: Short for the Denver Boot (yes, not a purely Chicago item), a nasty yellow metal device that locks a car wheel. Imposed by the city for repeated, unpaid parking ticket violations. Used in Chicago and other major metropolitan cities.

(Get) Booted: To receive a boot.

Boul Mich: Nickname for Michigan Ave. See Magnificent Mile.

Boys Town: A section on Halsted Ave., between Belmont and Addison, which is lined with gay bars on the west and east sides of the street.

Bozo's Circus: Children's TV show featuring Bozo the Clown, broadcasted by WGN-TV. Two or three generations have grown up with Bozo, dreaming of playing the one and only GRAND . . . PRIZE . . . GAME!!! (Thanks Paul A.!)

Brat: Short for Bratwurst. Pronounced "braht."

Brewski: Beer.

Bucktown: A developing neighborhood next to Wicker Park.

Buddy Guy's: Blues legend Buddy Guy's nightclub, "Buddy Guy's Legends."

Brandmeier: Jonathan Brandmeier, popular local Chicago D.J. who got dropped by the Loop 97.9 FM and is now on WCKG 105.9FM.

Cabrini Green: An enormous public housing complex on Chicago's near north side. Also referred to just as Cabrini.

Cal City: Calumet City.

Cal Sag Channel: Calumet Saginaw Channel, located on Chicago's south side.

Cashbox: Traffic reporter slang for tollbooths.

Cash Station: The major ATM network in Chicago

CBOE: Abbreviation for the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Pronounced "see-bow."

CBOT: Abbreviation for the Chicago Board of Trade. Also known as "The Board." (Thanks Tom C.!)

Char-dogs: Charcoal-grilled hot dogs, as opposed to your regular boiled hot dog. (Thanks Pat S.!)

Cheese and Sausage: For some odd reason, Chicagoans have to make sure their pizza order has cheese, even though I've never heard of pizza without cheese. (Thanks Koichi I.!)

"Cheezborger, Cheezborger": A phrase immortalized in a John Belushi sketch on Saturday Night Live. The phrase actually came from Billy Goat's Tavern, with its original location downtown.

Cheesehead: Anyone from Wisconsin.

Chgo: Abbreviation for Chicago

Chicagoans: Residents of Chicago. Not Evanston, not Tinley Park, not Elmhurst - CHICAGO.

Chicago Fest: The predecessor to Taste of Chicago, which took place at Navy Pier. (Thanks Michael B.!)

Chicagoland: The area which includes Chicago and its suburbs. "Greater Chicagoland Area" is redundant.

Chicago-Style Bungalow: Common design of single-family residences in Chicago's older neighborhoods.

Chicago-Style Pizza: Deep-dish pizza, originated by Pizzeria Uno in Chicago.

Chicago-Style Hot Dog: A hot dog coated in everything known to man. Some Chicagoans believe "everything" includes sauerkraut, while many agree that it does not include ketchup.

Chicago Transit Authority: 1) The public transportation system of Chicago. 2) The original name of the rock band "Chicago."

The Chicago Way: A quote from the movie "The Untouchables." "If he pulls out a knife, you pull out a gun. If he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue - that's the Chicago Way."

Chi-Town: Nickname for Chicago.

Circle Campus: Old name for UIC.

City of Big Shoulders: Old nickname for Chicago.

City Council: The local city government, represented by the City's alderman and presided over by the Mayor.

Clincher: Name of the Chicago style 16" softball.

C.O.D.: College of DuPage.

Collar Counties: Counties surrounding Cook County.

Congress Expressway: Original name of the Eisenhower Expressway.

Continental: Bank of America, which acquired Continental Bank several years ago.

"Cooler by the Lake": Frequently said by TV and radio meteorologists, as the temperature usually is cooler by the Lake. It's also a catchy little phrase.

Cottage: Short for Cottage Grove, a north-south street on Chicago's south side.

Council Wars: A period during which the Chicago City Council frequently debated with Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.

Cow Tipping: The act of pushing over cows while they sleep. Do not attempt this. It is very dangerous for you and the cow.

Crain's: Crain's Chicago Business, a weekly business newspaper.

Cross-town Classic: The annual baseball game of the Chicago Cubs versus the Chicago White Sox. Once just for fun, these games now count in the regular season.

The CSO: Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

C.T.A.: Abbreviation for the Chicago Transit Authority.

Cubbies: Chicago Cubs.

Cut Rate Toys: Now further west from its original location, Cut Rate is a toy store located on Devon Avenue, best known for its tradition of great sales with full newspaper page coupons. As a former West Rogers Park kid, I more vividly remember the P.A. saying, "keep your children's hands off the toys or get them out of the store right now!" I think they've loosened up now.

Da Bears: Said only by suburban people who want to feel like Chicagoans, referring to the Chicago Bears. Originates from a Saturday Night Live sketch.

Da Bulls: Said only by suburban people who want to feel like Chicagoans, referring to the world champion Chicago Bulls. Originates from another Saturday Night Live sketch.

Da Coach: Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka. Originates from a Saturday Night Live sketch.

Da Mare: Slang for The Mayor.

Dan Ryan: The section of the I-90/94 that runs on the south side of the city.

Dawg: Hot dog, the spelling sometimes used by hot dog vendors

Deep Tunnel: A system of tunnels underneath the city to reduce the impact of flooding in Chicago.

The Dells: 1) Wisconsin Dells, a tourist trap yet popular summer destination for families, complete with water parks, Tommy Bartlett's water show, and the Ducks. 2) Famous 50's doo-wop group from Chicago. (Thanks David W. for remembering the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame legends!)

Demon Dogs: A hot dog stand underneath the Fullerton El stop, adorned with memorabilia of the pop group Chicago.

DePaul: 1) DePaul University. 2) The section of Lincoln Park near DePaul University.

Detroit S*cks: A popular refrain at Hawks games against the Red Wings.
"Dipped?": Question from an Italian beef vendor, asking if you want the sandwich dipped in the sauce.

Disco Demolition: 1979 publicity stunt at Comiskey Park, where disk jockey Steve Dahl was supposed to blow up disco records. Instead, people stormed the field and destroyed the records (and parts of the field) themselves.

Dog Beach: A small sandy area near the Lake on the north side, where dog owners will let their pets free to play.

Doing Donuts: Spinning around in circles while driving, caused by snow.

Double Nickel: Trucker slang for I-55, more commonly known as the Stevenson. (Thanks Lisa!)

Downstate: To Chicagoans, any city, town, or area in Illinois, but outside of the Chicagoland area.

Downtown: 1) To Chicago residents, the Loop area and Michigan Ave. May also include adjacent areas such as iver North, West Loop, and South Loop. 2) To suburbanites, may be area within the Chicago city limits.

"Do you want to come with": Means "Do you want to come with (me/him/her/us.)" There is no need to properly identify with whom, as the phrase simply ends with "with."

The Drive: Lake Shore Drive.

Eagleman/Eaglewoman: The mascot found in Eagle Auto Insurance commercials, best known for their bad acting.

East Side: While east would mean somewhere in the middle of Lake Michigan for most of Chicago, there actually is an east side, specifically towards the south side of the city. The East Side is actually the name of Chicago's most eastern neighborhood, bordering the Indiana State Line.

Eddie and JoBo: Morning DJs on B96, once fired by the same station for their on-air shennanigans.

The Edens: I-94 on the north side of the city, after it breaks from the Kennedy.

Ed's: Short for Ed Debevic's, a popular 50's-style restaurant in the downtown area.

The Eisenhower Expressway (a.k.a. The Ike): I-290 expressway.

EIU: Short for Eastern Illinois University. (Thanks Stephen R.!)

The El: The Chicago elevated train system. See "The L."

Empire Carpet: A carpet dealer, known throughout Chicago for its catchy jingle ("5-8-8-2-3-hundred, Em-pire!") and frequent TV commercials with the Empire Carpet guy.

Emerald City: Nickname for the Lower Wacker Drive tunnel, when its lights were shaded green. (Thanks Cat!)

F.I.B. (F***ing Illinois B*st*rd): The name people from Wisconsin will call you if you call them a Cheesehead. Plural form: FIBs (pronounced "fibz").

Field's: Marshall Field, a prominent Chicago department store.

The Fire: 1) The Great Chicago Fire which decimated Chicago. 2) The major league soccer team (Thanks Erin!)

Flames: UIC's team name.

Flat: Units in a residential building, usually used for buildings with 2 to 6 units. For example, instead of saying that a house is a duplex, Chicagoans say it's a 2-Flat. Other examples: 3-Flat, 4-Flat.

Frangos: Frango Mint candies, a trademark confection from the department store Marshall Field.

The Fridge: Nickname for Chicago Bear William Perry.

The Friendly Confines: Wrigley Field. A sign inside the park says, "Welcome to the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field."

Front Room: The living/family room, so named because it is in the front section of the house. (Thanks Lisa!)

Gangway: The walkway between two buildings, typically residential buildings.

Gapers: People staring at an accident in traffic with their mouths "gaping" open.

Gapers' Delay: A delay in traffic caused by gapers, which are drivers stopping to stare at an accident.

Garden Apartment: Basement apartment.

Gisbon Sl*ts: Slang for women who hang out around Gibson's Steakhouse in search of wealthy men. Ouch. (Thanks Tom C.!)

Goes: Past or present tense of the verb "say." For example, "He goes, 'you cheesehead!'"

Goethe: A difficult street name to pronounce in the Gold Coast area, named after the German writer. Correctly pronounced "Gerta."

Gold Coast: A glitzy, expensive area near downtown, now more commonly referred to by their individual neighborhoods, such as River North and Streeterville.

Goofy: Adjective used to describe anything bad or silly, which Chicagoans are apparently more likely to use than others.

Gool: A safe place where you cannot be tagged out while engaged in the playground games of johnny, johnny tag, bismarck, and the like. Otherwise called "base" or "safe" in other areas. (I've lost the email for the guy who sent this in, but thanks! One of my favorite obscure ones.)

Goose Island: 1) Name of the only island in the Chicago city limits. 2) A popular microbrewery in Chicago.

Great America: A large Six Flags (formerly owned by Marriot) amusement park located in Gurnee, IL.

Great Lakes: 1) The five lakes consisting of Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior (my teacher always said to use the acronym "HOMES" to remember that.) 2) Great Lakes Dragway in Wisconsin (Thanks Ralph G.!) 3) Great Lakes Naval Training base in the northern 'burbs.

Green Limousine: Old slang for CTA buses, when they used to be green. They're now mostly white and blue.

Guys: Used when addressing two or more people, regardless of each individual's gender.
The Hancock: The John Hancock Building, one of the city's tallest buildings, located on Michigan Ave.

Harold's: Harold's Chicken Shack, which has a number of locations primarily on the south side. Great chicken.

Hawk: 1) A cold blast of wind. (Thanks Bos!) 2) Nickname for Cubs legend, Andre Dawson.

Hawks: Short for Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago's NHL professional hockey team

"Hey Hey": A trademark phrase from the late great Cubs announcer Jack Brickhouse when the Cubs hit a home run. Also was a Sox announcer.

Hillside Strangler: The traffic congested area of the western suburb, which includes the Eisenhower Expressway, East-West Tollway, Tri-State Tollway, and Roosevelt Road.

The HIP: Short for Harlem-Irving Plaza, a local mall on Chicago's northwest side.

Hizzoner: Slang for the mayor, as in "His Honor." Used on occasion in print editorials.

"Holy Cow": A trademark phrase from the late great Cubs (and former Sox) announcer Harry Caray.

The Horizon: The Rosemont Horizon, now known as the Allstate Arena, located in the suburb Rosemont.

Hot or Mild?: Question at Harold's Chicken Shack, asking which sauce do you want? !)

Hyde Park: A popular, crowded neighborhood on Chicago's south side, whose inhabitants include U of C people.

Hubbard's Cave (a.k.a. The Cave): A tunnel on the Kennedy just to the north of downtown, near Hubbard Street.

IDOT: Abbreviation for Illinois Department of Transportation. Pronounced "eye-dot."

IIT: Short for Illinois Institute of Technology.

ILL: Old three-letter abbreviation for Illinois (as opposed to the now more common IL), like abbreviating Florida as FLA (FL).

Inbound on the . . . (name of highway): Headed into the city.

Indian Boundary: A large park in the West Rogers Park area, which also has (had?) a very, very small zoo.

Inner Drive: The inner stretch of Lake Shore Drive.

IPASS: A electronic system placed in your car through which you can drive through tollbooths without tossing change. Pronounced "eye-pass."

Iron Mike: Mike Ditka.

ISU: Abbreviation for Illinois State University.

Italian beef: An underappreciated delicacy in Chicago of sliced beef in fresh bread, drenched in au jus. See beef.

Italian beef and sausage combo: A sandwich featuring the two meat combination of Italian beef and Italian sausage.

"It might be, it could be, IT IS!": A trademark phrase from the late great announcer Harry Caray, said when the Cubs would hit a home run.

Jay's: A brand of potato chips made by the Chicago company, Jay's.

Jeweler's Row: A concentration of small jewelry stores along South Wabash Ave. in the Loop.

The Joan: Nickname for U.S. Celluar Field (the former Comiskey Park), used because of U.S. Cellular's use of Joan Cusack in ads. (Thanks to the person who sent this in!)

Joe: A person, equivalent to "man" or "dude" in other areas. (Thanks to BeatmasterCHI and everyone who has sent this in!)

The Junction: The point on the north side of the city at which the Kennedy and the Edens meet.

The Kennedy: The section of the I-90/94 on the north side of the city.

Kitty-Corner: Located diagonally across the street. The equivalent of the expression "catty-corner" in other parts of the country.

K-Town: 1) A section of Chicago's southwest side where there a lot of north-south streets that begin with the letter "K." The streets are also on the northside, but I believe it refers to the Lawndale neighborhood. ( 2) A predominantly Korean-American area on Chicago's north side.

The "L": Nickname for the CTA's elevated train system. While most of this system is above ground, the term applies even when the train goes underground. The "L" represents its origins as the train system that "looped" around downtown. See Loop.

The Lake: Lake Michigan.

Lake Effect Snow: Snow caused by the Lake. Water retains heat better than land. In winter, when a cold, dry wind from land blows across a large body of water, the wind picks up the warmer, wetter air rising above the lake. When the wind reaches the land on the other side of the lake, it cools back down. Since cooler air can hold less humidity than drier air, the resulting precipitation is usually heavy snow falling on the land adjacent to the lake. Some places near the water may receive many inches, while a town just a few miles inland will receive only flurries. (Whew! Thanks Scott!)

Lakeview: A very crowded neighborhood on Chicago's northside, home to clubs, bars, and theaters.

The Land of Lincoln: Motto for Illinois.

The Lighthouse: A lighthouse along Evanston's beach.

Lincoln Park: A crowded northside neighborhood home to yuppies, Lincoln Park Zoo, Tower Records, and DePaul.

The Lincoln Park Pirates: Nickname for Lincoln Towing, who lovingly tow your car and charge you well over $100 to get it back. The term was originally coined in a song by Steve Goodman.

The Loop: 1) Downtown Chicago, named as such because the El "loops" around the area. The actual street boundaries of the Loop are: Lake St. to the north, Wabash to the east, Van Buren to the south, and Wells to the west, but it's usually defined as a little larger, specifically the Chicago River to the north and west, either Congress or Roosevelt (thanks Carl F.) to the south, and Michigan Ave. on the east. 2) Name of radio station WLUP 97.9 FM.

Lotto: The local lottery. Spend a buck for a chance to become a millionaire.

Lower Wacker Drive: A stretch of road underneath Wacker Drive in the downtown area, used by local buildings to load and unload goods.

Loyola: 1) Loyola University. 2) The section of the Rogers Park neighborhood near Loyola University. 3) Loyola Academy, the high school where Chris O'Donnell went.

LSD: Abbreviation for Lake Shore Drive, which runs along Lake Michigan.

The Magnificent Mile (a.k.a. Mag Mile): Michigan Avenue, specifically located south of Lake Shore Drive and north of the Chicago River. Known for the glitzy stores that line both sides of the street.

Mancow: Chicago-based, nationally-syndicated morning radio disk jockey.

Maxwell Street: A Chicago street, best known for its street vendors and flea market atmosphere. Now a fraction of what it once was thanks to UIC and eminent domain. (Thanks Kron and others!)

The Mart: Merchandise Mart, one of the world's largest office buildings, located to the north of the Chicago River.

Medusa's: Legendary under-21 nightclub, which used to be located at School & Sheffield. Now long since gone. (Thanks Jane O.!)

The Merc: The Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

The Met: WMET 95.5FM, an album oriented rock station in the 70's and early 80's. The frequency is now known as WNUA, a smooth jazz/new age station.

Metra: A railroad service that helps surburbanites get into and out of the city.

Midway: Chicago's second largest airport.

MJ: Michael Jordan.

Monkey Wards: Slang for department store Montgomery Wards.

Monsters of the Midway: Nickname for the Chicago Bears. Originated from when they played near the Midway Plaisance by the University of Chicago. The term "midway" which is the part of a fair where sideshows and amusement shows are located also came from the same area.

Montrose Beach: A beach near Montrose Ave., best known for its great view of the Chicago skyline as seen in many movies. Also known as a prime make-out place at night.

Mr. Cub: Cubs legend Ernie Banks.

Mrs. O'Leary's Cow: The legendary bovine which kicked a lantern, causing the Great Chicago Fire. Mrs. O'Leary and aforementioned cow were recently exonerated by the City Council from any wrong-doing.

"My Kind of Town": Frank Sinatra's classic song about the great city of Chicago.

New Town: Old nickname for the Lakeview neighborhood.

Night Game Parking: Certain streets where parking is not permitted, due to a Cubs night game, unless you have a permit.

NIU: Short for Northern Illinois University.

North Shore: Affluent suburbs north of Chicago, such as Winnetka and Lake Forest.

Northside: Anywhere north of Madison Ave. Stereotyped by southsiders as where the yuppies live. (As Dan G. reminds, it's often pronounced "nortside.")

Northsiders: Residents of the Northside.

Oak Street Beach: Chicago's most popular beach, located near Oak Street and the Lake.

O'Hare: Chicago's main international airport and one of the busiest in the country.

O'Hare Field: Old name for O'Hare Airport.

Old Chicago: Name of an indoor amusement park that has now been closed for many years.

Old Comiskey: The original Comiskey Park, where the White Sox played until the new stadium opened in 1991. The Old Comiskey, across the street from the current Comiskey, was torn down and turned into a parking lot, though a small marker identifies where home plate used to be. (Thanks Doug!)

Orchard Place: Original name of the airport before renamed O'Hare. This is the reason why O'Hare's code is still ORD. (Thanks Rob P.!)

Outbound on the . . . (name of highway): Headed outside of the city.

Outer Drive: The outer stretch of Lake Shore Drive.

Pershing Road: A Chicago street, but closely associated with the Chicago Board of Education, once headquartered on this street.

The Picasso: An unnamed piece of art by Picasso that stands in Daley Plaza in the Loop.

Pip: Former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen.

A Polish: A Polish sausage.

Pop: A soft drink. Don't say "soda" in this town.

Poplar Creek: Former outdoor music venue, now housing. (Thanks John "Skachman"!) The Plaza: Evergreen Plaza, a popular shopping mall on Chicago's south side. (Thanks Bob!)

The Point: Area along the Lake near 55th St., marked by a small house. An outstanding view of the Chicago skyline and Navy Pier.

Prairie: An empty neighborhood lot. (

Pudge: Nickname for Chicago White Sox great Carlton Fisk.

(Casmir) Pulaski Day: A local holiday in early March (and a day off for school kids and city offices) in celebration of Casmir Pulaski, a general and war hero from the Revolutionary War. Chicago has a large population of persons of Polish ancestry.

Pullman: Southside neighborhood named for railroad tycoon George Pullman, who created the first industrial town there in the late 19th century.
Punkin' Donuts: The Dunkin' Donuts at Belmont & Clark (near The Alley), which used to be frequented by many punk-ish, leather-clad, black-hair-coiffed individuals in the 80's/early 90's.

Ramblers: Loyola University's team name.

Ravinia: A summer outdoor venue in the northern suburbs for watching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, opera, jazz, and other arts. Great time. (

The Reader: A free newspaper that comes out every Thursday listing the coming weekend and following week's music, theater, and other events, as well as articles and classifieds. Available at most record stores and nightspots.

Resurrection Mary: A legendary ghost that has been known to hitch rides with men, get out of the car, and run into the cemetary.

Reversibles: Express lanes on the Kennedy, which reverse direction depending upon the time of day.

Richie: Mayor Richard M. Daley. Comes from when he was called "Richie" or "Little Richie" during the time his father, Richard J. Daley, was mayor. (Thanks Kim!)

The Riv: The Riviera Theater, located near the Aragon in the Uptown neighborhood.

The River: Chicago River.

Riverboat Gambling: Casinos on a riverboat. There is no gambling in the city (unless you count Lotto), but casino-style stuff can be found in the riverboats of outlying cities like Elgin.

River North: A neighborhood to the north of the Chicago River and home to Planet Hollywood, Ed Debevic's, and other popular restaurants and nightspots.

Riverview: A long gone amusement park that used to be located at Belmont & Western. Now home to a shopping center and police station.

Rock 'N Roll McDonald's: Located in the River North neighborhood, this McDonald's with a rock 'n roll theme is one of the world's busiest.

The Rocks: Area along the Lake near Belmont, so named because of the rocks along the shore. (Thanks to the many of you who submitted this one!)

Roof: Pronounced "rough" in true Chicago pronunciation.

The Rush: Chicago Rush, the local arena football team.

Rush Street: Usually only means the section of Division, east of LaSalle St. and west of Rush St., near downtown, aligned with singles bars on the north and south side of the street.

Ryno: Chicago Cubs great Ryne Sandberg.

's: Use of "'s" is commonly added to most store names. For example, Jewel, a major grocery store chain in the area, is often referred to as "Jewel's," Carson Pirie Scott, a major department store chain, is called "Carson's," etc.

Sammitch: Pronunciation in deep Chicago slang for "sandwich."

Samurai Mike: Chicago Bears legend and newly-inducted Hall of Famer Mike Singletary.

S-Curve: The dangerous curve along Lake Shore Drive that weaved between Monroe and Ontario, which was later straightened a bit.

Second City: 1) Old nickname for Chicago, when it was the nation's second largest city. Others have argued that the Second City title is actually because the city was rebuilt after its destruction by the Great Chicago Fire. 2) Legendary comedy club on the northside, where many Saturday Night Live legends, like John Belushi and Bill Murray, got their start.

SIU: Short for Southern Illinois University.

Six Corners: Nickname for the Chicago intersection of Milwaukee, Cicero, and Irving Park.

Skitching: The dangerous act of hitching a ride on the rear bumper of a car when there's ice or slick snow. Do not attempt to do this potentially fatal act. Southsiders may pronouce the word as "skeetching." (
Sliders: Nickname for hamburgers from White Castle, a popular Midwestern burger chain.

Smelt: A fish commonly caught by fishermen along Lake Michigan. (
Softball: Similar to baseball and the "softball" played in the rest of country, but Chicago-style softball is played with a 16" ball, instead of a 12" ball, and none of the fielders wear mitts.

Son of Svengoolie: Host of a weekly local TV show showing old horror movies. (I used to have nightmares about some movie with mushroom people.)

South Shore: 1. Developing southside neighborhood at the southern end of Lake Shore Drive. 2. Commuter railroad line between Chicago and Indiana.

Southside: Specifically anywhere south of Madison Ave. Stereotyped by northsiders as being dangerous. (As Dan G. reminds, it's often pronounced "soutside.")

Southside Irish: Persons of Irish ancestry on the southside.
Southsiders: Residents of the Southside.

Southtown: A newspaper targeting southwest Chicago and its suburbs whose slogan is "People Up North Just Don't Get It"

Sox Park: Comiskey Park, where the Chicago White Sox play.

The Stadium: Chicago Stadium, now gone, the former home of Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks. Feel the roar! (Thanks John "Skachman" and Murph!)

Stateville: Illinois prison located in Joliet, IL.

The Steel Bridge: A highway bridge on the south side; a common landmark used by traffic reporters. (Thanks Bob B.!)

Steve and Garry: A popular DJ team on the Loop at one time, but now feuding. (Thanks Lauren!)

The Stevenson: I-55 expressway. Stony: Short for Stony Island, a north-south street on Chicago's south side.

Stoop: Stairs in front of a house.

Streeterville: A neighborhood located to the north of Chicago River, east of Michigan Ave.

Streets & San: Nickname for the Department of Streets and Sanitation. (Thanks Kristen and Daniel!)

Streetwise: A newspaper sold by members of Chicago's homeless population.

"Sweet Home Chicago": a) Song composed by blues legend Robert Johnson. A favorite for any blues set in Chicago. (Thanks Paul C.!) b) Name of the 2001 attraction where furniture was painted by local artists and placed outdoors on city streets.

"Sweet or hot?": Another question from an Italian beef vendor, asking if you want sweet or hot peppers on your Italian beef.

Subway Series: A fantasy that has gone on for decades that the World Series may someday be the Chicago Cubs versus the Chicago White Sox (thus, being able to commute via the subway from the Cubs games to the Sox games).

Sunshine Delay: Slower traffic caused by bright sunlight. As rush hour morning traffic typically means travelling east towards the rising sun and evening traffic means travelling west towards the setting sun, delays can occur because of blinded drivers. (Thanks Richard R.!)

Sweetness: Chicago Bears legend Walter Payton. Rest in peace, #34.

The Swift: Short for the Skokie Swift, a train system that links Skokie residents to Chicago's El system. (Thanks Murray!)

The Taste: The annual Taste of Chicago Festival, a huge extravaganza in Grant Park featuring samples of Chicagoland's fine cuisine. Takes place around and before the Fourth of July holiday.

"Through and Through": Police slang for a shooting in which the bullet comes out the other side. Pronounced "True 'N True."
Times: Short for the Chicago Sun-Times, one of Chicago's major newspapers.

Top of the Cock: Top of the John Hancock Building.

The Trib: Short for the Chicago Tribune, one of Chicago's major newspapers.

The Two Jerrys: Nickname for Chicago Bulls manager Jerry Krause and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, blamed by many for ending the world champion team's dynasty.

The UC: The United Center, which is the stadium where the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls play.

U of C: Short for University of Chicago, one of the city's best and most expensive universities.

UIC: Abbreviation for University of Illinois in Chicago.

Uncle Bobby: The late Bob Collins, who was a radio personality on WGN AM radio. (Thanks Deanna D.!)

Valpo: Valparaiso University

Viagra Triangle: New nickname for the Clark/Division/Rush area, home to many bars and restaurants. (Thanks to Stephen J. and others!)

Victory Autowreckers: Long-time auto junkyard (in "Bensenville, near O'Hare") that has run the same commercial on TV for years. "That old car is worth money" is their opening phrase. (Thanks Midwesty -- didn't have your real name!)

"Vote early and vote often": A quote from Al Capone regarding Chicago's electoral system.

Water Tower: 1) A Chicago landmark, specifically the only structure to survive the Great Chicago Fire. 2) Water Tower Place, a mall located on the Magnificent Mile near Water Tower - the landmark.

Wet or Dry?: Question from an Italian beef vendor about whether you would like it dipped in the juice or not. (Thanks C. Anania!)

Wiener Circle: Name of hot dog stand at Clark and Wrightwood. Has been referred to on TV show "ER."

"Where you always save more money": The long-time sales slogan of Celozzi-Ettelson, a car dealership with frequent TV commercials.

WIU: Short for Western Illinois University.

Wicker Park: One of the largest artist communities in the country, located on the northwest side of the city.

Windchill Factor: The temperature that the weather actually feels like. Because of the wind, the temperature may feel colder. As a result, it's possible to have a temperature of 32F, but strong winds make it feel close to 0F.

The Windy City: Nickname for Chicago. While the winds are quite harsh in the city, the nickname is over a century old, originating from when Chicago and New York were competing for the World's Fair. A New York journalist mentioned Chicago's blowhards and windbag politicians. (Thanks Amy!)

Winter and Construction: Punchline to the joke, "what are the two seasons in Chicago?"

Wolfpack: A patrol of several city tow trucks that tour neighborhoods and haul a bunch of cars in one swoop.

Woodfield: Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. An enormous indoor shopping mall with more retail space than Mall of America.

The World: The Tweeter Center in Tinley Park, formerly known as the New World Music Theater. Best known for its crap sound system which has even been specifically named by musicians (e.g., Grateful Dead) as being truly awful.

The Worm: Former Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman.

The Wolves: The Chicago Wolves, a professional hockey team that plays at the Rosemont Horizon

Wrigleyville: The neighborhood that surrounds Wrigley Field, where the Chicago Cubs play.

XRT: WXRT, 93.1 FM, known for its history of playing "alternative" music for years.

Z95: Popular pop music radio station in 1980's. Has since undergone format changes and is now a mostly classic rock station known as CD 94.7.

Hey Chicagoans and former Chicagoans! Got any more phrases? Write to mistamoose@aol.com with more additions to this page!

Vocabulary from:

http://members.aol.com/mistamoose/vocab.html

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Although more than fifty years have passed since the rattle of machine guns has died on the streets of Chicago, the city’s image as the personification of organized crime lives on in the minds of many people around the world. I remember honeymooning in Greece when my wife and I shared a restaurant table with an English family. When we told them where we lived, the young son held his fingers in the shape of a gun and sai: "Rat-a-tat-tat, Al Capone." Although Al Capone was born in New York, and only lived in Chicago for twelve years, he has probably become the City’s most famous citizen.

The enduring popularity of Al Capone and the "roaring `20s." has led to the recent opening of "Capone’s Chicago," a museum dedicated to the Prohibition era. Though popular with the tourist trade, this museum has met some resistance from Chicago citizens and in particular the Italian community. Mary Laney, President of the Chicago Tourism Council told the Chicago Sun Times (Rotenberk, 1991:30) that she was baffled "why anyone would open a museum that includes Chicago’s past criminal activity!" But the story of Al Capone and the Prohibition era is not only one of crime, it is also the story of a valiant struggle, led by the people of Chicago, against a powerful criminal underworld, an underworld that was not the result of an alien conspiracy in the form of a transplanted Sicilian Mafia as is popularly believed, but as this study will show, was the result of the history of Chicago itself.

The Gem of the Prairie
In 1670, French trader Pierre Moreau built a cabin on the site where the Chicago River empties into Lake Michigan (Schroeder, 1992:37). The area was called "Chickagou," (bad smell) by the Potawatomi Indians because of the skunk cabbage that choked the bogs draining into the river. It wasn’t until one hundred years later that Chicago’s first permanent settler arrived. In 1779, Jean Baptist Point du Sable established residency at the intersection of the north and south branches of the Chicago River. The area, however, continued to be controlled by local Indians until 1794 when General "Mad Anthony" Wayne won a six square mile tract of land in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was established on the site, and a settlement grew up around the fort.

By 1837, the Fort Dearborn settlement had grown to 4,000 people. It was incorporated as the City of Chicago on March 4th of that year. Chicago’s real growth as a city began in 1848 with the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. This canal, connecting the Illinois River and the south branch of the Chicago River, provided Midwest farmers with access to Great Lakes shipping and Eastern markets. The Illinois River also provided a direct route to the Mississippi River and the cities of St. Louis and New Orleans. Chicago’s first railroad, the Galena and Chicago Union, also began operating in 1848. Within ten years, Chicago was the rail crossroads of the nation. Its population had grown to 109,000, people making it the largest city in Illinois.

Chicago’s central location made it an important transportation and shipping center in the country’s westward expansion. During the 1860s more than thirteen thousand ships a year docked at the Chicago harbor (Dedmond, 1953:32). In addition, more than two million bushels of grain passed through Chicago annually. Packet boats traveling the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes unloaded settlers at the Chicago port (McPhaul, 1970:57). For $1.25 an acre, pioneers could buy land in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, and the Dakotas. Not all those who came to Chicago left. Industrialization, the grain trade, and the growth of the Union Stock Yards created jobs. Soon European immigrants began to arrive to fill the demand for labor. By 1870, almost 300,000 people lived in the city of Chicago.



Chicago’s ecological position as the gateway to the unsettled lands of the West is also said to have contributed to its involvement in crime (McPhaul, 1970:56-57). Many young bachelors spent their last nights in Chicago before heading out to make their fortunes in the vast western wilderness. Chicago was often their final chance for obtaining foodstuffs and other needed items. Saloons, gambling parlors, and brothels quickly sprang up around the city to make the pioneers’ last night in "civilization" memorable. Commenting on the times, Dwight Moody, founder of Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute, once remarked that, "If the Angel Gabriel came to Chicago, he would surely lose his character within a week" (McPhaul, 1970:64).

Recounting its early history of vice and crime, Asbury (1986) referred to Chicago as the "Gem of the Prairie." One of the facets of this precious stone was an area known as the "Sands." Located just north of the Chicago River and extending to Lake Michigan, the Sands was filled with gambling dens, brothels, and rooming houses (Peterson, 1952:23). On April 20, 1857 newly elected Chicago Mayor "Long John" Wentworth led a column of police and firefighters in a raid on the Sands. (Mayor Wentworth was referred to as "Long John" because of his six foot, six inch height.) This early crackdown on crime resulted in the eviction of numerous gamblers and prostitutes and the demolition and burning of fifteen buildings.

Another of Chicago’s early vice districts was named the "Willows." It was the headquarters of one of Chicago’s first crime czars, Roger Plant (Nash, 1981:57-59). Plant ran a saloon at Monroe and Wells known as the Barracks. The Barracks was an around-the-clock gambling den and bordello. The Barracks, like most of downtown Chicago, was built upon the wetlands that surrounded the Chicago River’s entrance into Lake Michigan. As a result, the streets surrounding the Barracks, and much of the rest of Chicago, were notorious for their muddy conditions. In an effort to eliminate this quagmire, the City decided to raise the level of many Chicago streets making it necessary to raise the foundations of the buildings along the newly upgraded roadways. In some cases, whole blocks were raised as much as ten feet. The end result was the creation of underground passages, streets, and earthen rooms. This subterranean area was controlled by Plant and became home to the many thieves, pickpockets, and muggers who frequented his saloon. Some say that the many underground rooms that existed beneath the Barracks gave rise to the term "underworld" as a description for that segment of society that engaged in organized criminal activity.



In spite of its underworld, Chicago was still a greenhorn town when compared to places like New York and New Orleans. It took the Civil War to bring the professional gambler to Chicago. Because of the outbreak of the War, the economy of the South could no longer support the gentleman gambler (Dedmond, 1953:74). As a result, the smart gambler moved north to Chicago where fortunes were being made during the war years. As the supply center for the Union Army of the West, men and money had poured into Chicago to furnish the needs of the armed forces (Peterson, 1952:35).

These professional gamblers, or so-called "southern gentlemen," could be seen strolling on Randolph Street and were the object of much esteem. So extensive was gambling in Chicago’s center that the two block stretch on Randolph between Clark and State Streets was known as "Hair Trigger Block," named so because of the large number of shootings that occurred there stemming from disagreements in the gambling houses (Lyle, 1960: 25). The area of Clark Street from Randolph to Monroe was dubbed "Gamblers Row."

By the 1870s, there were so many vice districts in Chicago that a directory was published to enable visitors to find their way to such places as Little Cheyenne, Satan’s Mile, Whiskey Row, and the Levee. One of the more notable saloon proprietors of the day was Mickey Finn (Dedmond, 1953:137). Finn operated two saloons, the Lone Star and the Palm Garden, at the southern end of Whiskey Row. Finn was famous for one of the drinks that he offered in his saloon, the "Mickey Finn Special." This drink was allegedly made from a secret powder that Finn had obtained from a "voodo witch doctor." A Mickey Finn Special would render the drinker unconscious thus giving Finn the opportunity to rifle the unsuspecting patron’s pockets. As a result of his activities, Mickey Finn’s name can today be found in most dictionaries denoting "any of several powerful drugs, especially chloral hydrate, that are secretly put into alcoholic drinks to produce unconsciousness" (New Scholastic Dictionary, 1981:492).

On October 8, 1871, a small fire broke out in the barn of Patrick O’Leary at 137 DeKoven Street. Because of an unseasonably dry summer and the wooden construction of most Chicago buildings, the fire soon spread throughout the City. It was twenty-five hours before the "Great Chicago Fire" was extinguished. The fire killed over 300 people, destroyed 17,450 homes and left 90,000 people homeless (Dedmond 1953:107). The destruction was comparable only to the great fires of London and Moscow. Less than a month after the disaster, Chicago elected Joseph Medill as mayor. Medill was elected on the "Union Fire-Proof" ticket, promising to prevent the misappropriation of fire relief funds (Dedmond 1953:137).



Chicago was so demoralized after the great fire that public drunkenness became a major social problem (Peterson, 1952:40). Conditions were so bad that a group of leading citizens and clergymen formed the Committee of Seventy to battle crime and the liquor industry. Another group, the Committee of Twenty-five, was formed to improve the moral fabric of the City.

Their efforts were entirely supported by reform Mayor Joseph Medill who welcomed Sunday tavern closing laws and worked to close the gambling houses. It was this effort at reform that set the stage for the eventual development of organized crime in Chicago.

Organized crime in Chicago had its beginning in the 1870s with the activities of Michael Cassius McDonald (Nelli, 1970:148). McDonald owned a tavern at Clark and Monroe known as the Store which reportedly was the largest liquor and gambling house in downtown Chicago. It is said that it was McDonald (not P.T. Barnum) who coined the phrase, "There is a sucker born every minute" (Smith, 1954:28). McDonald reportedly made this statement when one of his employees expressed his fear that the Store was too big and that there would not be enough customers to make it profitable. McDonald was also interested in boxing. It was McDonald who gave John L. Sullivan the backing that enabled him to make his bid for the world’s heavyweight boxing championship in 1892.

McDonald was also active in politics. In an effort to overcome the reform activities of Mayor Medill, McDonald organized Chicago’s saloon and gambling interests. "Mike McDonald’s Democrats," as they were called, elected their own candidate, Harvey Colvin, as Mayor of Chicago in 1873. With Colvin in office, McDonald organized the first criminal syndicate in Chicago composed of both gamblers and compliant politicians. After suffering a temporary setback at the polls in 1876, when Chicago elected reform Mayor Monroe Heath, Mike McDonald’s Democrats elected Carter Harrison as Mayor in 1879. The alliance between the gambling interests and politicians in Chicago proved to be very powerful. Harrison served four consecutive terms as Mayor from 1879 to 1887.



McDonald remained in politics until his death in 1907. After McDonald’s death, control of gambling in Chicago passed on to a number of different people, the most prominent of whom were Big Jim O’Leary, Mont Tennes, and First Ward Aldermen Michael Kenna and John Coughlin (each Chicago Ward had two Aldermen at that time). Both Coughlin and Kenna were part of McDonald’s organization. Coughlin was reportedly recruited by gambler "Prince" Hal Varnell, a confidant of Mike McDonald, and in turn recruited Kenna to fill the second aldermanic seat (Smith, 1954:30). Coughlin and Kenna retained control of gambling in downtown Chicago, while the gambling activity that existed on the Southwest Side, around the Union Stockyards, was picked up by Big Jim O’Leary, son of Mrs. O’Leary whose cow had reportedly started the great Chicago fire.

Mont Tennes inherited McDonald’s activities on the North Side of Chicago (Smith, 1954:31). Tennes was one of the first persons to recognize the important changes that were taking place in the gambling area. The traditional games of the riverboat gambler - poker, faro, and craps - had been replaced in popularity by horse racing. The astonishing popularity of horse racing, at the turn of century, was due to two important factors (Lindberg, 1991:99). Betting at the horse tracks was legal, and race handicapping offered a better chance of winning. In addition, new advances in communications, such as the telegraph, allowed bettors to place bets from local bars and pool rooms.

It was around 1907 that John Payne of Cincinnati established a telegraph service that provided results from race tracks around the country (Lindberg, 1953:100). Payne granted Tennes the exclusive right to this service in the Chicagoland area. The Tennes syndicate then sold race results to Chicago gamblers for 50% of their daily take, for which they were also provided protection from the police. Tennes’ monopoly over the wire service gave him absolute control over all Chicago bookmakers and handbooks (traveling bookmakers). Tennes’ wire service, the General News Bureau, soon began expanding into areas outside of Chicago which resulted in a legal, as well as shooting, war with the Payne News Agency. Tennes eventually drove the Payne Agency out of business, which made him the undisputed boss of race track gambling in the United States.



The Levee
"Hinky Dink" Kenna and "Bathhouse" John Coughlin, as they were called, controlled politics and vice in Chicago’s downtown area and Near South Side, which was commonly referred to as the Levee. Kenna was reportedly nicknamed after the waterhole he swam in as a youngster. He began his working career as a newsboy and eventually became a successful saloon keeper and politician. Kenna’s saloon at 120 East Van Buren was called the "Workingman’s Exchange" (Lindberg, 1985:122). Its second floor was home to unemployed vagrants, panhandlers, tramps, card-sharps, and down-on-their-luck gamblers who formed a well disciplined army of voters on election day. Kenna reportedly spent campaign money feeding his hungry army and satisfying their thirst. When asked why by a French writer, Hinky Dink replied that politics is business and that is how he made votes.

Bathhouse John Coughlin began his adult life as a rubber in the Palmer House Baths and eventually opened his own bathhouse, which is how he received his nickname. Kenna and Couglin formed an organization in 1893 selling protection to gambling house and brothel operators working in the First Ward and, in particular, the Levee district (Peterson, 1963:60). A defense fund was established, and two lawyers were placed on retainer to immediately appear in court anytime one of their clients were arrested.

Prior to 1890, the Levee occupied the blocks between Harrison and Polk, from Dearborn to Clark (Stead, 1894:i). This area was also referred to as the "Customs House Levee." The name Levee resulted from the influx of Southern gamblers to the area (Dedmond, 1953:251). The name Levee reportedly designated the raunchiest part of most southern river towns (Schoenberg, 1992:42). The growth of the Levee, and in particular its "red light district" prostitution trade, can be attributed to the fact that four of Chicago’s six railroad depots were centered in the area (Pacyga, 1986:214). The area was called a "red light" district because of the characteristic red lantern that was customarily hung in front of each bordello.

After 1890, because of the growth of Chicago’s downtown business district and pressure from Mayor Carter Harrison, the Levee was eventually relocated to the area between 19th and 22nd Streets, from State to Clark (Kelly, 1926:7). The fashionable Prairie Avenue district bound by 16th Street, Calumet, Indiana, and Michigan Avenues, immediately adjacent to the Levee, was permanently disrupted by the coming of the vice district (Lindberg, 1985:125). After years of resistance, most Prairie Avenue residents eventually abandoned their community for the more tranquil north side Streeterville area and suburban settings.

The Levee was now in the Second Ward. This troubled Hinky Dink and Bath House John. In order to regain control of the Levee, Kenna and Coughlin and their supporters proposed a redistricting ordinance that would return the Levee to the First Ward (Wendt and Kogan, 1953:43). The ordinance was passed, ironically, with the support of Second Ward Alderman William Hale Thompson. What was troubling about Thompson’s support of the ordinance was that the area ceded to the First Ward also contained the Second Ward’s most important business district. The return of the Levee to the First Ward was the beginning of a long association between Kenna, Coughlin, and Thompson that eventually culminated in Thompson’s election as Mayor of Chicago. The "New Levee," as it was called, became home to many of Chicago’s taverns and gambling houses. Within its borders were located more than two hundred houses of prostitution. The House of All Nations, The Little Green House, Bed Bug Row, the Bucket of Blood, Ed Weiss’ Capitol, Freidberg’s Dance Hall, and the Everleigh Club were among its principal attractions (Lindberg, 1985:134). The social center of the New Levee was Frieberg’s Dance Hall. Located on Twenty-Second Street between State and Wabash, Frieberg’s provided dancing and a number of backrooms for other activities with the "ladies" who were employed there. Frieberg’s was also the command post of the Levee. Aldermen Bathhouse John Couglin and Hinky Dink Kenna made their headquarters at Frieberg’s while conducting important Levee business.

The pride of the Levee was the famous Everleigh Club, at 2131 S. Dearborn which was reportedly frequented by Chicago’s elite. The club was operated by two young women, Ada and Minna Everleigh who had earlier run a bordello in Omaha, Nebraska. Patrons of the Everleigh Club were entertained genteelly in one of a number of elegantly decorated parlors. The sisters became so famous that in 1902, while touring the U.S., Prince Henry of Prussia asked to visit the Everleigh Club (Nash, 1981:72). Legend has it that Prince Henry drank champagne from the shoe of one of the girls who had lost it while dancing on his table, thus creating a new tradition. While attending a St. Louis Convention, Mayor Carter Harrison II was handed a brochure, prepared by the Everleigh sisters, describing the pleasures to be found at their club. The pamphlet caused such an outcry from Chicago’s growing reform element that the Everleigh Club was closed for good by the police on October 24, 1911 (Lindberg, 1985:146).



It was the year 1893 that actually marked the beginning of the end for the Levee and the prostitution trade in Chicago. The World’s Columbian Exposition had brought William T. Stead, noted English reformer and editor of the Review of Reviews magazine, to the City (Dedmond, 1953:256). Stead was appalled by conditions in the Levee and the politics of Chicago. One year after his arrival, Stead (1894) published a startling expose’ of vice conditions entitled If Christ Came to Chicago. Stead concluded that the religion of the church in Chicago had been replaced by that of the Democratic Party. The furor created by the publication of Stead’s book was nationwide, and his revelations lead to the formation of the Civic Federation, Chicago’s first important reform movement (Wendt and Kogan, 1974:94).

Another English reformer, Rodney "Gypsy" Smith arrived in Chicago in October of 1909 (Lindberg, 1985:143). Backed by sixty Chicago churches, Gypsy Smith planned to march on the Leee on the night of October eighteenth. Leading a crowd of nearly 15,000 people, Smith marched through the streets of the Levee, preaching the gospel and singing religious songs. Though Gypsy Smith did not remain in Chicago long, the conscience of the City had been aroused. On January 31, 1910, the Church Federation of Chicago, composed of more than 600 religious congregations, passed a resolution urging the Mayor of Chicago to appoint a commission to investigate vice conditions in the City (Reckless, 1933:3).

Dean Sumner, chairman of the newly crated Vice Commission, ultimately reported that there were 1,020 vice resorts in Chicago employing at least 4,000 prostitutes (Wendt and Kogan, 1973:294). Most of these women worked in the segregated vice district located in the First Ward. The Commission’s report went on to state that the segregated vice system annually destroyed the souls of 5,000 young women and, as a result, called for an end to vice in the First Ward and the extermination of the Levee. Many police and politicians, however, including Mayor Carter Harrison II, were in favor of maintaining the Levee as a segregated vice district (Reckless, 1969:5). Gambling and prostitution were thought to be good for the tourist trade in Chicago. More importantly, the political strength of the First Ward depended on the revenue that it obtained from the red light district and from gambling. These revenues allowed Aldermen Coughlin and Kenna to buy flophouse votes in large quantities and help ensure the election of office seekers endorsed by the First Ward organization.



The rising sentiment against the Levee was further fueled by tales of white slavery. Thousands of young girls came to Chicago and other big cities at the turn of the century looking for work. Some, not being able to find employment, turned to prostitution. Others were actually kidnapped, drugged, and forced into the trade. The federal government’s White Slave Traffic Committee reported in 1907 that 278 girls, under the age of 15, had been rescued from Levee dens during a two month period (Lindberg, 1985:133). Though most women who entered prostitution in Chicago probably did so voluntarily, even the hint of white slavery so appalled Chicago’s religious community that direct pressure was placed upon the federal government to act. As a result, Chicago Congressman James Mann sponsored new legislation making the interstate transportation of women for the purpose of prostitution a violation of federal law. With the passage of the Mann Act, the era of the segregated vice district was coming to a close, not only in Chicago but also in other big cities across America. By 1914 the last bordello shuttered its doors and the Levee was officially closed.

The election of William Hale Thompson to the Mayor’s office in 1915 brought new hope to Levee regulars. "Big Bill," as he was fondly referred to, was an advocate of the wide-open town policy and quickly moved to curtail the power of the Morals Squad that had been created within the police department to enforce vice and gambling laws (Wendt and Kogan, 1974:328). In spite of the Mayor’s personal position on vice, however, the reform movement had gained enough momentum to prevent the reopening of the Levee, as it had been known. The Committee of Fifteen, created by Mayor Bussee to combat the problem of the Levee, and other citizens groups were ever watchful. There would be vice in Chicago under Thompson, but it would be less flashy, and under the control of the Mayor not the First Ward. For example, many Levee brothels did in fact reopen, camouflaged as hotels, saloons, and cabarets (Kobler, 1971:56).

Working in the First Ward during this time was James Colosimo. Colosimo had earned a position as a precinct captain by organizing fellow street sweepers into a voting block (Pasley, 1930:11). He also controlled the vote in the Italian settlement centered around Polk and Clark Streets within the First Ward. "Big Jim," as he was referred to, was also involved in prostitution. Colosimo had married Victoria Moresco, the operator of a Levee bagnio. Soon he himself was operating three Levee houses of prostitution. Big Jim also served as the Levee bagman carrying kick-backs from red light district madams to Aldermen Coughlin and Kenna which gave Colosimo considerable control over prostitution and other vice activity in the Levee district (Asbury, 1942:314).



The change in the political/vice set-up in the First Ward enabled Colosimo to grow in stature. He no longer needed Aldermen Coughlin and Kenna to run political interference for his vice activities. He could deal with Thompson’s people himself. Colosimo prospered. He wore so many diamonds that he was sometimes referred to as "Diamond Jim." He also opened a restaurant at 2126 South Wabash called Colosimo’s Cafe. His restaurant became the center of social life in Chicago (Lindberg, 1981:77). Enrico Caruso, the famous opera star, was known to frequent Colosimo’s whenever he visited Chicago. Sophie Tucker reportedly was arrested there for performing the "Angle Worm Wiggle" (Longstreet, 1973:472). Like many other successful Italians of the time, Colosimo became the target of Black Hand extortion.

The Black Hand (La Mano Nera) was not an organization, but a practice by which businessmen and other wealthy Italians were extorted for money. Intended victims were simply sent a letter stating that they would come to violence if they did not pay a particular sum. The term Black Hand came into use because these extortion letters usually contained a drawing of a black hand and other evil symbols such as the dagger and skull and crossbones. The Black Hand was not a secret society but there was a number of Black Hand gangs. The Black Hand was simply a crude method of extortion with a long tradition in Sicily and Southern Italy. There were twenty-five unsolved Black Hand killings in Chicago during 1910; thirty-three in 1912; and forty-two in 1914 (Longstreet, 1973:393). In addition, fifty-five bombs were set off in Chicago during the first three months of 1915 to reinforce Black Hand demands.

In order to deal with the Black Hand threat, Colosimo sent for New York relative, Johnny Torrio. Torrio had been a member of New York’s Five Points Gang and had dabbled in Black Hand extortion himself (McPhaul, 1970:51). Torrio’s usefulness soon extended beyond protecting Colosimo from extortion to overseeing his bordellos. The enterprising young Torrio realized that the glory days of the Levee had come to an end. As a result, he reached an agreement with the Mayor of Burnham, Illinois to move many of Colosimo’s illicit enterprises to that suburban town (Schoenberg, 1992:51). It was the age of the automobile. Burnham was only fifteen miles directly south of the Levee, a short distance by car. Torrio also set up shop in a number of other south suburban areas. The widespread use of the automobile had ushered in the era of the "roadhouse." Located in the nearby towns of Chicago Heights, Calumet City, South Chicago, Burnham, and others, these "roadhouses" provided all the comforts of the Levee - prostitution, gambling, and liquor.



Colosimo and his associates had built the first truly Italian crime syndicate in Chicago. Big Jim, however, lost interest. He began spending less and less time attending to business after he married a young singer, Dale Winter. In fact, Colosimo had resisted Torrio’s efforts at building a liquor syndicate after the onset of Prohibition. While sections of the City were already being divided up by other gangs into liquor distribution territories, Colosimo was content to remain with what he had (Lindberg, 1953:158). He not only controlled vice in the Levee district and Burnham, Illinois, but he also ruled Chicago’s Street Laborer’s Union and the City Street Repairs Union which were under the supervision of his protege "Dago" Mike Carrozzo (Murray, 1975:76). This was not acceptable to Torrio who recognized the potential of bootlegging. On May 11, 1920, while waiting for two truckloads of liquor from James O’Leary at Colosimo’s Cafe, Big Jim was murdered. He was found shot in the head. The suspects in the killing were Al Capone, the recently arrived Brooklyn assistant of Johnny Torrio, and Frankie Yale of New York’s Five Points Gang. At thirty-nine years of age, Johnny Torrio was now the new lord of the Levee.

The Torrio/Capone Syndicate
Torrio ran his criminal organization from the Four Deuces Cafe at 2222 South Wabash. Torrio is widely believed to have been a no nonsense businessman who truly "organized" crime. Torrio excelled as a master strategist and organizer, and quickly built an empire that far exceeded Colosimo’s (Nelli, 1970:148). When the National Prohibition Enforcement Act ended the sale of alcoholic beverages in 1920, a strong demand for illegal goods and services was created, which the Torrio vice syndicate and other similar groups from around the City of Chicago were in a position to supply. They were well organized and had the political connections to prevent interference from the police. All the concealed agreements made with local politicians over the years, as well as the experience gained by years of struggle against reform elements, were brought into service in organizing the production and distribution of beer and whiskey.

Torrio is said to have approached the leaders of Chicago’s top criminal gangs and suggested that they give up burglary, robbery, and crimes of violence in favor of bootlegging (Kobler, 1971:104). The return from these traditional practices, he contended, did not justify the risks taken when compared to the profits to be made from smuggling alcohol. As he saw it, Torrio believed that the key to success during Prohibition was territorial sovereignty. There was enough money to be made for all. Each gang would control liquor distribution in their own areas and not encroach upon the territory of others. Many gang leaders agreed to Torrio’s plan, and things functioned well - for a while.

In 1923, Chicago elected reform mayor William Dever. Dever was a firm believer in the rule of law and quickly ordered the police department to enforce Prohibition. Within weeks of taking office, Dever’s police shut down 7,000 soft-drink parlors and restaurants operating as speakeasies (Wendt and Kogan, 1953:239). Dever’s reforms caused Torrio to move his headquarters to nearby Cicero, Illinois. While Torrio was vacationing in Italy, Capone chose the Hawthorne Inn at 4823 W. Twenty-Second Street as their Cicero headquarters (Schoenberg, 1992:96). Fearing the spread of the reform wave that had taken control of Chicago, Cicero’s local Republican leaders asked Capone to assist them in the 1924 election. In return for helping the Republicans maintain control of Cicero, Torrio and Capone would be given a free hand to sell liquor in that town though they would not be allowed to open any bordellos (Kobler, 1971:114). On election day, two hundred Capone gunmen descended on Cicero to ensure that people voted in the right way. Conditions were so bad that Cook County Judge Edmund Jarecki deputized seventy Chicago police officers to go into Cicero and engage the Capone gang. Frank Capone, the brother of Al, was killed in a gun battle with police at a polling station at the intersection of Twenty-Second and Cicero. After winning the election, Cicero Republicans kept their side of the bargain. It is estimated that the number of liquor and gambling establishments in Cicero, controlled by the Torrio Syndicate, grew to 161 (Pasley, 1930:40).

Outside of Cicero and the area of the Torrio organization, a number of other gangs were also working in collusion with local politicians and police to support vice activities and violate prohibition laws. Dion O’Banion and his followers controlled Chicago’s near north side (Lyle, 1960:171). Klondike O’Donnell and his brothers controlled the near north-west side. Roger Toughy, who claimed only to be a bootlegger and not involved in vice, controlled the Far Northwest Side. The "Terrible" Genna brothers controlled the Near West Side Taylor Street area. The Far West Side was controlled by Terry Druggan and Frankie Lake and their Valley Gang. On the Southwest Side both the Irish O’Donnell brothers and the Saltis-McErland Gang were active in bootlegging.

These gangs were usually centered in immigrant areas where the gangster served as the right arm of the corrupt politician at election time. In exchange for delivering the vote, gang members were allowed to continue their criminal activities, the proceeds of which often went to support local political organizations.

Chief among the Capone organization’s rivals were Dion O’Banion and the six Genna brothers. Dion O’Banion was raised in the Irish shantytown of Kilgubbin on Chicago’s Near North Side (Kobler, 1971:84-86). O’Banion and his followers: George "Bugs" Moran, Earl "Hymie" Weiss, and Vincent "Schemer" Drucci were also known to the police as accomplished highjackers, burglars, and safecrackers. Weiss reportedly invented one of gangland’s favorite murder methods coining the phrase "taking him for a ride" - a one way ride. With the advent of Prohibition, O’Banion and his gang quickly moved to control most illegal liquor distribution on the Near North Side except in the Little Sicily area which remained outside of their control.



O’Banion’s borough was the 42nd and 43rd Wards. His ability to deliver the Irish vote made him an important political figure in Ward politics. When asked who would carry the 42nd and 43rd at election time, the response often heard was "O’Banion in his pistol pockets" (Pasley 1930:43). It is said that O’Banion would go into saloons on election day and shoot the door knobs off the entrances to the toilets in order to remind people to vote Republican (Mark, 1979:158). O’Banion was so important to ward politics that he once was given a testimonial dinner at the Webster Hotel attended by Albert Sprague, Chicago Commissioner of Public Works, Cook County Clerk Robert Schweitzer, and Chicago’s Chief of Detectives Michael Hughes (Murray, 1975:63). O’Banion began his political career under the patronage of ward boss James Aloysius Quinn an ally of gambling boss Mont Tennes. Quinn was better known to his constituents as "Hot Stove" Jimmy because he once tried to steal an iron stove still full of burning coals.

The "Terrible Gennas" - Angelo, Sam, Jim, Pete, Tony, and Mike - were in direct competition with O’Banion and his followers for control of bootlegging territories. The Gennas held a government license for processing industrial alcohol at their plant located at 1022 W. Taylor where they additionally produced illegal whiskey (Kobler, 1971:90). The Genna brothers also organized large numbers of Italian immigrants, from their Near West Side Taylor Street neighborhood, in the home production of alcohol. Many Italian and Sicilian immigrants traditionally made their own wine. With the advent of Prohibition, Italians continued making their wine at home. What they could do with grapes and sugar to make wine they could also do with corn and sugar to produce grain alcohol. So extensive was bootlegging on Chicago’s Near West Side that the intersection of Roosevelt and Halsted Streets eventually became known as Bootleggers’ Square (Pacyga and Skerrett, 1986:214). The Genna brothers were also active in the Unione Siciliana. In fact, Angelo Genna had succeeded to the presidency of the Unione in 1924 upon the death of its founder, Mike Merlo.

The Unione Siciliana began in 1895 as a lawful fraternal society designed to advance the interests of Sicilian immigrants. The Unione provided life insurance and was also active in Italian-American civic affairs. Plain and simple, the Unione was Italian politics. The president of the Unione controlled the Italian vote in Chicago and was, therefore, a powerful man. Though headquartered in New York City, the Unione had its largest membership in Chicago where more than 25,000 Sicilians lived (Smith, 1954:60). Most Chicago Sicilians resided in two neighborhoods, the colony centered around Sedgwick Street on the Near North Side, and in the Near West Side Taylor Street area. In addition to being a benevolent association, the Unione also acted as an intermediary in the settlement of personal feuds. These feuds often involved matters of kidnapping and extortion which Chicago Sicilians were naturally reluctant to bring to the attention of the police (Smith, 1954:60). As a result of such activities, the Unione was also a major supporter of the White Hand Society.



The White Hand was established by Italian Americans to fight Black Hand extortion in Chicago’s Italian community (Nelli, 1970:220). The White Hand society hired private investigators and attorneys to assist the police in arresting and prosecuting Black Hand criminals. Though the White Hand was responsible for ridding Chicago of ten of its most dangerous Black Hand extortionists, their success was short-lived (Kobler, 1971:56). Through intimidation and bribery, Black Hand criminals were often able to suborn witnesses and corrupt government officials. In addition, many of the extortionists that the White Hand Society had sent to prison were also valuable ward heelers who were soon paroled to deliver votes in upcoming elections (Longstreet, 1973:394). Unwilling to sacrifice large sums of money with little promise of success, the Italian business community soon dropped its financial support and the White Hand was disbanded.

Obviously it was only a matter of time before O’Banion clashed with the Genna forces. Stepped-up pressure by the Dever administration had forced liquor sales to dwindle, causing greater competition among Chicago’s bootleggers (Schmidt, 1989:132). For example, the Genna brothers had been selling liquor in O’Banion territory. There were also reports that O’Banion had been high-jacking Genna trucks (Smith, 1954:46). O’Banion is said to have made many enemies among the Italians, often calling them "greaseballs" and "spic pimps", the latter being a reference to the Torrio-Capone involvement in prostitution (Murray, 1975:65). O’Banion had also quarreled with the Gloriana Gang, as the Italian and Sicilian hoodlums in his own near north side community were called, during the 1924 elections. The Glorianas supported 42nd Ward Democratic candidates who were running against the Republicans supported by O’Banion and the Irish.

O’Banion reportedly appealed to Torrio to intercede in his quarrel with the Gennas but was not satisfied with the response. As a result, he offered to sell Torrio his share in the Sieben’s brewery located at 1464 N. Larrabee which he knew was soon to be raided. On the morning of May 19, 1924, Chicago police raided the brewery arresting thirty-one bootleggers, including Torrio, and recovered 128,500 gallons of beer (Schoenberg, 1992:112). O’Banion had set-up Torrio which was inexcusable. At noon on November 10, O’Banion was gunned down in his floral shop (whose trucks specialized in delivering alcohol along with flowers) at 738 N. State Street. The suspects were none other than the Genna brothers, working at the direction of Torrio and Capone. Despite the fact that O’Banion had been an altar boy at Holy Name Cathedral, he was denied funeral services by the Catholic Church. This was standard practice for the Church which steadfastly refused to allow gangsters to be buried in consecrated ground.



On January 24, 1925 Torrio himself was shot, presumably by members of the rival O’Banion gang. A short time later he entered the Lake County jail to serve out his nine-month sentence stemming from the Sieben’s brewery incident. Upon his release, Torrio retired to New York where he once again became involved in bootlegging and worked as a bail bondsman for organized crime figures (McPhaul, 1970:224-238). When Torrio left Chicago, he transferred everything to Capone. Al Capone was now the lord of the Levee and much of Chicago’s underworld. With the disintegration of the Torrio coalition, however, Capone faced war with many of Chicago’s criminal gangs. The intense competition that resulted led to Chicago’s famous "Beer Wars" during the late 1920s. The gangs mainly aligned themselves according to ethnic ties. The Irish, Polish, and Jewish gangsters, such as the West Side O’Donnells and the Saltis-McErlane gang, joined behind O’Banion’s successor, Hymie Weiss. The Sicilians, notably the Gennas and most other Italians, stuck with Capone. So did Druggan and Lake whose Valley Gang was headquartered in the Near West Side Maxwell Street area immediately adjacent to the Taylor Street Italian stronghold.

Among the first casualties of the war was Angelo Genna himself, who died at the hands of Weiss, Moran, and Drucci on May 26, 1925 (Smith, 1954:62). One month later, Mike Genna was killed by police after he had ambushed Moran and Drucci at the corner of Sangamon and Congress. On July 8, Anthony Genna was also killed; some suspected Vincent "Schemer" Drucci. The surviving Gennas fled Chicago. Upon the death of Angelo Genna, Sam "Samoots" Amatuna ascended to the presidency of the Unione Siciliana, but he too was soon murdered while sitting in his favorite barber shop.

Under the guidance of Angelo Genna, the Unione Siciliana had placed its mantle of authority over the home production of alcohol in the city’s Near West and Near North Side Italian communities. These activities placed the Unione in direct competition with the Capone Syndicate. As such, Capone engineered the election of one of his own followers, Antonio Lombardo, to the presidency of the Unione Siciliana. In an effort to overcome the negative publicity surrounding the Unione’s involvement in bootlegging, Lombardo changed the name of the organization to the Italian American National Union and opened up its membership to all Italians (Smith, 1954:65). Lombardo also asked Giovanni Schiavo of New York University to write about the experience of Chicago’s Italian community. His efforts resulted in the publication of the 1928 book The Italians in Chicago.

After the fall of the Gennas, their bootlegging activities were taken over by the Aiello brothers. The Aiellos were a large and extensive family of nine brothers and numerous cousins. Joey Aiello was the kingpin of the group. They were the Near North Side’s equivalent of the Terrible Gennas. The Aiellos owned a bakery at 431 W. Division in the heart of Little Sicily (Smith, 1954:66). The Aiellos, like the Gennas, were also major forces in the Unione Siciliana. Joey Aiello was unhappy about the ascension of Capone’s man Lombardo to the throne of the Unione, which he thought should be his because of his long years of service to the organization. Consequently, Aiello formed alliances with other North Side gangs, such as the O’Banion forces (who were now led by "Bugs" Moran), Billy Skidmore, and Jack Zuta, for the purpose of eliminating Lombardo and Capone (Niel, 1990:70).



The Aiello and Moran forces made a number of attempts on the lives of Lombardo and Capone. The Aiellos promised $50,000 to anyone who would kill "The Big Fellow" as Capone was referred to by his men (Kobler, 1971:205). On September 20, 1926, Moran, Weiss, and Drucci attacked Capone’s headquarters at the Hawthorne Hotel in Cicero (Pasley, 1930:19). Seven cars, no less than ten feet apart, fired over one thousand bullets into the Hawthorne restaurant where Al Capone was eating. Strangely enough, no one was killed. Joey Aiello then hired Angelo LaMantio to shoot Capone and Lombardo as they were leaving Hinky Dink Kenna’s cigar store at 311 South Clark, but the assassination attempt was interrupted by the police (Smith, 1954:66-67).

After three years in office, Antonio Lombardo was finally killed at 4:30 on the afternoon of September 6, 1928 at the corner of Dearborn and Madison Streets in the heart of downtown Chicago (Pasley, 1930:229). He was replaced by another Capone appointee, Pasquilino Lolardo, who was also murdered four months later. Lolardo was replaced by Joey Aiello, who finally attained the presidency of the Unione. The "War of "Sicilian Succession," as the struggle for the control of the Unione Siciliana had became known, had claimed two more lives. The cause of this war was the control of the home alky cooking system, originated by the Genna brothers, that now had become a $10,000,000 a year enterprise (Pasley, 1930:227-228).

Within a year a dozen more men were killed in Chicago’s Near North Side Sicilian neighborhood, and $75,000 worth of property had been demolished by bombs as the Aiello and Capone forces continued to battle for control of the Unione. Father Louis Giambastiani of St. Phillip Benizi’s, troubled by the killings, posted a sign on the front door of the local parish church which read:


Brothers! For the honor you owe to God, for the respect of your American Country and humanity; pray that this ferocious manslaughter, which disgraces the Italian name before the civilized world, may come to an end (Lyle, 1960).

The war did come to an end on February 14, 1929 in the S.M.C. Cartage garage at 2122 N. Clark, when the remaining members of the Moran/Aiello alliance were murdered by forces loyal to Capone. Seven men were machine gunned to death in what has become known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. No one has ever been convicted of the murders, though Vincenzo de Mora, alias "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn and Joseph Lolordo were arrested. Lolordo was the brother of Pasquilino Lolordo, the Unione Siciliana president whose murder Moran had engineered. Also arrested were Capone gunmen, Albert Anselmi and John Scalise. The car used in the murders was found in a garage at 1723 N. Wood, around the corner from the Circus Cafe, headquarters of the Circus Cafe Gang of which McGurn was a member.



The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre marked the end of the O’Banion gang and established the supremacy of the Capone mob as the leading force in Chicago’s underworld. One year later, on October 23, 1930 Joey Aiello was murdered. Capone had regained control of the Unione Siciliana, appointing Agostino LoVerdo as president. The final conquest of the Unione, however, became a short-lived victory. The end of Prohibition in 1933 marked the end of the importance of the Unione to organized crime in Chicago. By 1930, Al Capone, then only thirty-one years of age, had become the supreme overlord of crime in Chicago. The Chicago Daily News estimated that he controlled 6,000 speakeasies and 2,000 handbooks for betting on horse races (Pasley, 1930:289). The combined revenue from these activities plus prostitution and racketeering was estimated to be $6,260,000 a week.

Chicago was a "wide-open" town. Police and judicial corruption were so widespread that the Better Government Association petitioned the United States Congress to intervene in the internal affairs of the City, stating that its leaders were in league with gangsters and that the city was overrun with protected vice (Woody, 1974:136). The alliance between corrupt government and organized crime was made clear by Big Bill Thomspson’s return to City government. Promising that he "was as wet as the Atlantic Ocean", Thompson was returned to the Mayor’s Office in 1927 with strong support from Chicago’s criminal element (Nelli 1970:232). In fact, a number of Capone gangsters reportedly worked in Thompson’s campaign headquarters (Wendt and Kogan, 1953:269). It is also said that Capone, himself, donated $260,000 to Thompson’s reelection fund (Hoffman, 1989:2). With the advent of Thompson, Capone returned to the Levee, setting up headquarters in the Metropole Hotel at 2300 S. Michigan and in 1928 one block north at the Lexington Hotel. Speakeasies and vice again flourished in the First Ward, but they were not under the control of Hinky Dink Kenna and Bathhouse John Coughlin (Wendt and Kogan, 1974:351). Vice remained strictly in the hands of the Capone syndicate. In fact, the Aldermen were called into Capone’s office and told that their future would depend on their usefulness to the Capone organization (Nelli, 1976:191). To this Coughlin was said to have replied, "We’re lucky to get as good a break as we did."

Capone gangsters also roamed the corridors of Chicago’s City Hall seeking favors from friendly and not so friendly aldermen alike (Wendt and Kogan, 1953:280). Capone set up headquarters for his gambling empire at Clark and Madison streets, one block from the mayor’s office. In charge of gambling operations were Jake Guzik and Jimmy Mondi. Guzik and Mondi reportedly summoned the owners of all of Chicago’s gambling services to their office and instructed them that they would have to pay 40% of their profits to the Capone syndicate in order to ensure protection from City Hall. The alliance between the Thompson administration and the Capone mob was an important milestone in the development of organized crime in Chicago. The Capone syndicate was now the official mediator between the underworld and Chicago’s established political structure. Independent gamblers could no longer seek out their own deals with local politicians.



Realizing that there was a total breakdown in municipal government, Frank Loesch, Director of the Chicago Crime Commission, traveled with a group of prominent businessmen to Washington D.C. in 1929 to meet with President Herbert Hoover regarding crime conditions in Chicago (Hoffman, 1989:21). As a result of this meeting, the President ordered a full-scale attack on the Capone syndicate by the Prohibition Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service. Under the supervision of Elliot Ness, Prohibition agents battered down the doors of twenty-five Capone distilleries and breweries and seized or destroyed more than $1,000,000 worth of whiskey, beer, trucks, and other equipment (Hoffman, 1989:33). While the "Untouchables," as Ness’ men became known, were busy dismantling Capone’s bootlegging empire, agents of the Internal Revenue Service were also busy assembling tax cases against Capone and many of his leading hoodlums.

Conditions were so bad in Chicago that a group of prominent businessmen joined in the effort against Capone. Taking the law into their own hands, they established the Citizen’s Committee for the Prevention and Punishment of Crime. The Secret Six, as they came to be known, were so named by the press because their chairman, Colonel Robert Isham Randolph, refused to name his five colleagues lest he endanger their lives (Hoffman, 1989:16). Working in cooperation with the Chicago Crime Commission and the Internal Revenue Service, the Secret Six donated $1,000,000 to fight organized crime. This money was used to hire private investigators who developed informants, tapped telephones, paid witnesses, and generally collected information on mob activity that was passed on to federal authorities. It was the Secret Six who spent $10,000 sending star witness Fred Ries to South America until he was needed to testify against Capone in federal court on charges of income tax evasion (Hoffman, 1989:16).

Though Al Capone was in jail when Prohibition ended in 1933, the organization that he had helped to create continued.

With Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti at its head, the Capone mob branched out into new forms of vice activity such as "call operations", "B-Girls," narcotics, and business and labor racketeering. It was racketeering that provided the Capone syndicate with its major source of revenue following the demise of Prohibition. Racketeering also provided an alternate source of income during the economic depression that followed the crash of the stock market in 1929. Money was tight, and people could no longer afford to spend what little they had on gambling and prostitution. In Chicago, the City itself was broke. Its debts totaled $280,000,000 with 40,123 public employees going unpaid (Pasley, 1930:151).

Racketeering is defined as "a scheme for making a dishonest livelihood through illegal or criminal practices which often involve the extortion of money by threat or violence." The word "racket" can be traced to the gangs of New York (Tyler, 1962:181). During the early part of the nineteenth century, it was a common practice for political and social clubs to sponsor benefit dinners on their own behalf. These were such loud affairs that they became known as "rackets" because of all the noise that was made.

The racketeer may be the boss of a supposedly legitimate business association, or he may be a union leader. As early as the late nineteenth century, small shopkeepers and peddlers paid money to neighborhood gangs to protect themselves from violence and property damage perpetrated by the gang itself. Later, racketeers organized small businessmen into business and trade associations in order to regulate competition and guard against price undercutting in a particular market or area. Any merchant who didn’t join the association and pay his dues was bombed, assaulted, or otherwise intimidated. For example, members paid the Midwest Garage Owners Association $1.00 a month for every car that they handled. Those garages that were not members of the Association often became the target of attack. In a one-month period in Chicago, 50,000 tires were reportedly slashed on cars parked in non-association garages (Kobler, 1971: 232). In 1927, the Employers Association of Chicago issued a list of twenty-three businesses that were manipulated by racketeers (Schoenberg, 1992:199-201). These included laundries and dry cleaners, parking garages, garbage collectors, and fish and poultry stores.

Many Chicago unions were also under the control of local racketeers. By 1928, the Cook County State’s Attorneys office reported that ninety-one Chicago Unions and Trade Associations were dominated by organized crime. These included the Musicians Union, the Motion Picture Operators Union, the Barbers Union, and the Milk Drivers Union (Kobler, 1971:233). Most gangsters did not infiltrate the unions as is popularly believed but were invited in by the unions themselves. Big business was no friend of organized labor and often hired underworld figures to break strikes and crash picket lines. The under-world, however, owed no loyalty to industry and frequently switched allegiance to labor in return for the appointment of racketeers to positions of authority within the union itself.

During the years that followed Prohibition, it became increasingly clear that organized crime in Chicago was now dominated by the Italians. The other ethnic gangs had simply disappeared. What remained was called the Syndicate and eventually the Outfit. The Capone organization had emerged as the most vicious fighters in the war to control the distribution of illegal alcohol in Chicago. There is no evidence, as is commonly believed, that these Italians were members of the so-called Sicilian Mafia. The involvement of the "Unione Siciliana," and the old world cultural practices of many Italian immigrants, fixed the image of the Mafia forever in the minds of many Chicagoans. As this review has shown, organized crime was firmly in place in Chicago when the first Sicilian immigrant set foot upon the shores of Lake Michigan.



Summary and Conclusion While the era of the gangster in Chicago is often attributed to Prohibition, the genesis of the gangsters’ power can be traced back long before the enactment of the Volstead Act. From the beginning of Chicago’s history, the underworld has been inextricably interwoven in the social and political structure of the city. Beginning with gambling king Mike McDonald, Chicago’s criminal underworld had, for many years, constituted the most powerful political force in the City. The vice lords, beer barons, and gangsters who had achieved an alliance with politicians and police ultimately assumed a quasi-legitimate function. The gangs provided services that the law prohibited but which, nevertheless, human appetites craved. Organized crime existed to control and regulate conduct in areas where official and legally sanctioned control had failed or did not exist. Looking beyond the myth of the Mafia, the story of organized crime in Chicago is really the story of the failure of our public institutions to work for the good of all men. It was political corruption that allowed organized crime to grow, and it was political expediency that allowed it to continue. I can think of no better explanation for the development of organized crime than Fredrick Thrasher’s (1927) classic statement that gangs were the result of the failure of the normally directing and controlling institutions of society to function effectively.

Throughout their 150-year history in Chicago, Italian Americans have sacrificed to build churches, schools, businesses and social organizations, creating a unique culture and changing the face of the metropolitan area. In order for this rich culture and history to be preserved for posterity, Italian Americans will once again have to give of themselves.

In recent weeks, award-winning filmmaker Gia Amella and local activist Bill Dal Cerro, working in collaboration with Italic Institute of America, have negotiated with representatives from WTTW to produce the one-hour documentary. And They Came to Chicago: The Italian-American Legacy. Tentatively scheduled to air in October, during Italian Heritage Month, the film will follow in the footsteps of video presentations that have chronicled the history and hardships of practically every other major immigrant group in the city.

There have been shows on Channel 11 about the Chicago immigrant experiences of the Polish, Lithuanian, Swedish, Mexican, Greek and Jewish communities, Amella says. So the natural question is, 'Why not the Italians?'

This was the same question that Amella and Dal Cerro (who are also cousins) asked when they met with WTTW’s Dan Soles in November.

“Both of us met with Soles, asking him about a possible project,” Dal Cerro says. “His answer was basically, ‘I was wondering why there hasn’t been anything made either — I’d love to show something on Italian Americans.’”

Although WTTW officials expressed hearty support for the project, they let the film-making team know that there would be little or no financial support for the production.

“Having worked on a German-American project for PBS, I know that this will take at least $200,000,” Amella says. “So now we are reaching out to the community to help make this happen.”

So far, the team has already come up with a detailed creative and financial plan for the film.

The possibilities for this type of movie are almost infinite, but a sampling of subjects include Congressman Frank Annunzio, Nobel Prize winning physicist Enrico Fermi, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, announcer Harry Carey, author Tina De Rosa, actor Joe Mantegna and Mother Frances Cabrini, the first American to achieve sainthood.

Chicago’s Italian colonies such as Taylor Street, 24th and Oakley, Melrose Park, Chicago Heights and North Harlem Avenue will also be examined for their diverse people, cultures and businesses, which add so much charm and beauty to Chicago. Along the way, the film will chronicle the festas, parades and ceremonies, capturing images of beautiful floats and tributes to saints, as well as the stirring sights and sounds of the Sicilian Band marching through the neighborhoods.

The film will cover events such as Italo Balbo’s flight, the Our Lady of Angels Fire, Italian-American involvement in the labor movement, and incidents of prejudice and defamation that have occurred throughout the decades. These people, neighborhoods and events will be illuminated on screen by interviewees like Jerry Colangelo, Dominic Candeloro, Joe Di Leonardi, Joe Girardi, Cammi Granato, Hal Bruno, Joe Mantegna, Johnny Frigo, Fred Gardaphe, Florence Scala and many others.

The program will also look at how Italian Americans are maintaining ties to Italy, either by studying there, traveling to visit relatives or, in the case of Renato Turano, running for the Italian Senate.

“The project will start with the first wave of immigrants, who came around 1850, and end with the state of the community today,” Amella says. “It is our chance to tell a tale that has never been told. The biggest problem is not what to put in, but all of the great people, places and events that we will have to leave out.”

The story that will be told, however, is definitely in good hands. Amella has spent the last two decades dividing her time between her native Chicago; New York; and Montevarchi, Tuscany, where she and her Italian-born husband maintain a home. Some of Amella’s achievements include episodes for A&E’s “American Justice”; the documentary “German Americans for WLIW in New York; a segment of “Storm Stories” on the Weather Channel, and programs for National Geographic International, PBS, the History Channel, Fox Family Network, the Learning Channel and several local and regional stations. She was also the recipient of a 1998 Fulbright Fellowship that helped fund her research into popular traditions in Palermo, Italy.

“My father, Joseph Amella, was born in Bridgeport and grew up as part of All Saints Parish,” Amella says. “Like many Italian Americans in Chicago, his childhood home was demolished to make room for the expressway. So in making this film, I hope to preserve a culture and memories that, as my father learned, can disappear so quickly.”

Other contributors to the project include Dal Cerro, a community activist, correspondent for Fra Noi for more than 15 years and contributor to such publications as Italic Way, and Dominic Candeloro, historian and professor at Governors State University, whose books have chronicled Italian-American life in Chicago, Chicago Heights, New Orleans and other areas. The project will be edited by Emmy Award-winner Martin Nelson, who has done work for National Geographic Television, NBC, PBS, TLC, Showtime and the Smithsonian Institution.

This dedicated team will need the support of the community to make this crucial project a reality. Donations are tax deductible and funds will be administered by the Italic Institute of America. Donors will receive a host of benefits, including sponsor credit during the broadcast and on the home video or DVD, attendance at the broadcast gala premiere, and the prestige and honor that comes from supporting such an endeavor.

“We need to get the entire community involved, not only as far as funding, but input and efforts,” Amella says. “It is our chance to tell a story that has never been told, and to express our pride in our heritage and community, by chronicling important aspects of our culture, preserving it so that it can be passed down to coming generations.”

More information on how to contribute to the project can be found at www.modiomedia.com.