All Blog Posts Tagged 'Capone' (41)

First Boss: James "Big Jim" Colosimo

Primary rackets: Gambling, extortion and loan sharking.

Boss: The Chicago Outfit has always been very…

Al Capone’s life story and violent exploits have filled entire libraries and spawned many movies. Yet the focus is usually on his activities in Chicago. Though his power definitely originated there, his influence reached far beyond the city limits into small towns like Stickney and Forest View. In her new book When Capone Ruled…

By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.

Much of infamous Chicago Mafia boss Al Capone’s life story has been told on Hollywood’s silver screen. However,…

By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.

On Valentine’s Day most people are thinking about their loved ones. Husbands browse the stores in search for that one gift to tell the wife how much they love her, while youngsters arrange to meet up at the park for a…

By Clarence Walker Jr. for Gangsters Inc.

As night began to fall on the Florida's Keys, Mafia gangster Johnny Roselli (photo above) and his crew mates prepared for a midnight run to Cuba. Looking out from Port Mary, the encroaching darkness was a…

By David Amoruso

Chicago has seen its fair share of violence. It was infamous during the Prohibition years for its gangland killings and notorious Mafia boss Al Capone. Starting June 14, you will be able to visit many of these historic underworld sites with the brand-new Chicago Prohibition Gangster Tour.

Based on…

By David Amoruso

Chicago Outfit mobster Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro continues to fascinate the public. Thanks in large part to Martin Scorsese’s epic movie Casino and Joe Pesci’s portrayal of him, but also due to the gangster’s violent way of doing business. For those interested, you can now live in his former home or…

By David Amoruso / originally published on May 7, 2018 - updated October 8, 2018

Don’t you just wish you could get away from all the madness and enjoy some peace and quiet? Al Capone also had that wish, so he got…

By David Amoruso

“It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.” – Anthony Soprano, HBO’s The Sopranos

Mob boss James “Little Jimmy” Marcello must know the feeling. Born on December…

By David Amoruso

You can call Charles Russell an old-time hood that just doesn’t know when to quit. As a member of the Chicago mob’s Grand Avenue Crew, which was once headed by infamous boss…

By David Amoruso

Every underworld has its first major crime boss. That man – or woman – who ascends to the top of the heap and controls organized crime in the city. For Hamilton, Ontario, that man was Rocco Perri. During the years of Prohibition, he became known as the “King of the Bootleggers.”

Born in…

By David Amoruso

Chicago mob boss Al Capone’s story never gets boring. It has been told in many ways and through the eyes of various of his associates and enemies. In Gangster Land, we get to see Capone through the eyes of his infamous…

By David Amoruso

Politics is a dirty game. Always has been, always will be. But most of the dirt is kept hidden from view. Skeletons stay in the closet. Sometimes, however, the dirt comes out because it is so mind-blowing, it cannot be kept secret. Like the time the United States government recruited the American Mafia to kill Cuban…

By David Amoruso

Michael Bell is a prime example of a man with many talents. Despite overcoming great odds as a youth, he always turned towards good, eventually becoming a national award-winning teacher of the year and sought-after artist. After painting portraits of mob boss John Gotti and several cast members of The…

By David Amoruso

The Prohibition era in Chicago has gone down in history as a time of extreme mob violence. A time when hoodlums were mowing down enemies with Thompson machine guns in a battle over the lucrative bootlegging business. When mob boss Al Capone ruled supreme while being on the cover of every newspaper. Author John J. Binder…

By David Amoruso

The Amsterdam underworld knew Dries Riphagen as the Dutch Al Capone, a violent crime boss ready and willing to end your life to make a buck. But when the second World War ravaged through Europe, Riphagen rebranded himself as one of the Netherlands’ biggest Jew hunters when he partnered with the invading Nazis. Befitting…

By David Amoruso

Chicago during Prohibition was a place of extremes. It was a city where men made more money than God as they smuggled booze, set up speakeasies, engaged in labor racketeering, ran prostitution and organized gambling. It was also where many of them died violent deaths at the hands of their rivals as various gangs fought…

By David Amoruso

The Chicago Cubs did it! They’ve become World Series champions again after a 108-year drought – the longest in baseball - defeating the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 in Cleveland. One notorious fan would’ve been extremely happy with the win, if he had been alive today that is. Who? Alphonse “Scarface” Capone.

Major…

By David Amoruso

The American Mafia, known as La Cosa Nostra, has always had a thing for using nicknames. “Joe the Boss,” “Charlie Lucky,” “Benny Squint,” “Benny Eggs,” “Tony Ducks,” “Gaspipe,” “Sonny Black,” “Sonny Red,” “Chin,” “Crazy Joe,” the list goes on and on. Why is that?

Just last week, authorities busted 46 leaders, members, and…

By David Amoruso

Al Capone. His name still stands as the most infamous among gangsters. Though he was known foremost as a Chicago mob boss, his influence and territory stretched way beyond the city limits into small town America. Crime historian Chriss Lyon now offers folks the chance to take a walking tour through one such town, dubbed “Capone’s…