Free Chicago to Springfield:: Crime and Politics in the 1920s (Images of America (Arcadia Publishing)) by Jim Ridings Page A

not just in the hideouts of the hoodlums, but also in the offices of the elected representatives in city hall and in the capitol, from Chicago to Springfield, in between and beyond.

J. P. Alley’s cartoon in the Memphis Commercial Appeal , nearly one hundred years ago, is just as timely today as it was then—no matter what party is doing the singing. (JR.)

One
ORGANIZED CRIME ORGANIZES
    GAMBLING AND GIRLS
    While it was Prohibition in the 1920s that really allowed small-time gangs to become major crime families, gangs in Chicago already were very well organized and professional before that era. Criminals started organizing almost from the time Chicago was founded. Gambling and prostitution flourished from the start, and they were the first industries to rebuild after the great fire of 1871. Michael McDonald became the king of the gambling rackets in the 1880s, and the Levee District in the First Ward became a cesspool of prostitution, gambling, and other vices by the 1890s. Mont Tennes followed McDonald as the head of the gambling rackets, while “Big Jim” Colosimo took organized crime to a higher level.
    Chicago’s First Ward aldermen “Bathhouse John” Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Kenna solidified the partnership between crime bosses and politicians in the 1890s. Their criminal-political machine was based on graft and protection money from the saloons, brothels, and gambling halls of the Levee. To hold onto their power, Kenna introduced “chain voting,” where premarked ballots were taken to polls by election workers who continued until enough ballots were cast to make their candidate a winner.
    Coughlin and Kenna were succeeded by a long list of Mob-connected politicians, continuing to the present era. A recent graduate was First Ward alderman Fred Roti. His father, Bruno “the Bomber” Roti, worked for Al Capone. The FBI called Fred Roti a made member of the Mob who ran the rackets, bribed judges, and eventually went to prison. Roti died in 1999 and is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery, not far from Al Capone’s grave.
    Bathhouse John (above, left) and Hinky Dink Kenna (above, right) helped Big Jim Colosimo get his start. Colosimo owned a famous nightclub where celebrities, politicians, and others from Chicago’s elite gathered. Colosimo and his wife, Victoria (whom he dumped for showgirl Dana Wynter, at left), also owned as many as 200 brothels, many of them in the Levee District. He collected from the brothels to pay off the politicians and police. Colosimo’s pimps and prostitutes worked the polls on election days. The brutal Colosimo also practiced white slavery, luring innocent women into forced prostitution. (All KCC.)

    Johnny Torrio came to Chicago from New York when Colosimo called him. Torrio became the brains of the criminal organization. Big Jim was content with his prostitution and gambling and did not want to expand into the new bootlegging racket provided by Prohibition in 1920. Torrio had Colosimo killed; Al Capone was likely the gunman. (KCC.)
    Torrio brought in his own protégé from New York—Al Capone. With Torrio’s brain and Capone’s muscle, they became the dominant gangsters in Roaring Twenties Chicago. Capone got his nickname “Scarface” after being slashed in a barroom brawl in New York but preferred friends call him “Snorky,” meaning sharp or elegant. (KCC.)
    After Torrio was seriously wounded in 1925 by gangsters Bugs Moran and three others, he semi-retired and turned over the command of the organization to Al Capone. Capone found a friend and ally in Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson. (KCC.)
    When scandals forced Mayor Thompson to withdraw from the race in 1923, William Dever (pictured) was elected mayor. Dever’s crackdown on gangs had a minor impact on crime in Chicago, but it did cause Capone to look for another sanctuary. Capone went to suburban Cicero and Forest View and took over those towns. Any opposition in there was met with beatings and intimidation. Capone