Free Mafia: The History of the Mob by Nigel Cawthorne Page B

flowers for Merlo’s funeral. On the following day he returned with Alberto Anselmi and Giovanni Scalise, who shot O’Banion dead on the spot. Chicago’s gangsters then spent another $10,000 on flowers, including a basket from Al Capone.
    ‘Hymie’ Weiss was seen to cry like a baby at O’Banion’s funeral. He then took charge of O’Banion’s North Side gang and swore to revenge his dead boss. Figuring that Capone was behind the hit, Weiss, George ‘Bugs’ Moran and Vincent ‘The Schemer’ Drucci ambushed Capone’s car outside a South Side restaurant, injuring his chauffeur. They were using the Thompson machine guns (‘Tommy guns’) that had recently been introduced to the Chicago underworld. Capone was unscathed but shaken, so he put in an order for a bulletproof car. A 1928 Cadillac, it would have 3,000 pounds of armour plating under the standard body, inch-thick bulletproof windows, a siren and a flashing red light. Painted the same colour as Chicago police vehicles, it is also thought to have been the first private car with a police-band radio receiver. After the attack on Pearl Harbor it was used by President Roosevelt, who feared assassination by enemy agents.
    Weiss and his gunmen then went after Torrio. As he was returning from a shopping trip with his wife, gunfire from a .45 automatic and a .12-gauge shotgun hit him in the chest, arm, groin, legs and jaw. Torrio was lying injured on the pavement when Moran tried to finish him off by putting a .45 to his temple and pulling the trigger, but the gun misfired. At that point the police arrived and the would-be killers fled. From his hospital bed, Torrio handed over his entire operation to Capone. Throughout the police investigation, Torrio observed the omertà . He served time in jail for Volstead violations and then retired to Italy.
    Weiss and the North Side gang were also pursuing the Gennas for their part in O’Banion’s murder. On 26 May 1925, Angelo Genna was out driving when a large open car pulled up alongside his vehicle. In it were Weiss, Moran and Drucci, who immediately opened fire. Genna’s car careered into a lamppost and a dozen more shots were fired into his defenceless body.
    Nevertheless, the dying Genna was still conscious when he reached hospital. A policeman asked him who had attacked him but he said nothing.
    Two and a half weeks later, Moran and Drucci were injured in a shootout with Alberto Anselmi, Giovanni Scalise and Mike ‘The Devil’ Genna. They were making off in a car driven, it is thought, by Samuzzo ‘Samoots’ Amatuna, when they were spotted by the police. In the ensuing car chase, the driver of Genna’s car swerved to avoid a truck and the vehicle smashed into a lamppost.
    When the police caught up with them, two patrolmen were cut down by gunfire. The gangsters then ran off, but Mike Genna was cornered. He turned his shotgun on another officer, but the gun failed to fire. Hit in the leg, he still managed to jump through the basement window of a nearby house.
    As the police entered he fired a random shot from his .38, but it was all over – he was already dying from loss of blood on the way to hospital.
    Even so, he had enough strength to kick the ambulance driver in the face. ‘Take that, you son of a bitch,’ he snarled.
    After two more officers had died of their wounds, Anselmi and Scalise were arrested. Speaking through a translator they claimed they had acted in self-defence. They blamed the firefight on Genna, who was not there to defend himself. Nevertheless, Anselmi and Scalise were convicted of the manslaughter of Olsen and were sentenced to 14 years in prison. While they were inside they were beaten up and an attempt was made to poison Scalise with cyanide. A defence fund was set up by fellow Sicilians and Angelo Genna’s brother-in-law Henry Spingola was killed when he refused to contribute. At subsequent trials the verdict was overturned and they were acquitted. They went to work for Al Capone as