Jan. 17 - With
National Prohibition having gone into effect at midnight, an army of around 25,000 federal
Prohibition agents prepares to enforce the new law and arrest
bootleggers and the sellers of now outlawed alcoholic beverages.[1]
February 3 – Chicago labor
racketeerMaurice "Mossy" Enright is killed with a
shotgun blast from a drive-by shooter as he parks his car on the curb by his home.[2] Rival labor racketeer
Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy is suspected in his
slaying, but is released for lack of
evidence. Although
suspected by authorities to have involved the
Torrio-
Capone organization, Chicago labor union racketeer James Vinci is eventually convicted of his murder.
May 16 -
Albert Anastasia and Giuseppe Florino fatally shoot longshoreman George Terrillo (Turino in some sources) in front of his home in
Brooklyn. Terrillo dies the following day in the hospital.[8][9]
June 17 - Patrick "Paddy the Bear" Ryan, leader of the
Valley Gang, is killed by Walter "The Runt" Quinlan.[10]
August 20 – In a daring daylight robbery,
Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy and his gang rob a mail train of $100,000.[12] Murphy is indicted in February 1921,[13] and convicted in November,[14] receiving a six-year prison sentence and a $30,000 fine.[15]
August 23 - In an apparent business deal gone wrong, Jewish
bootleggersHirschie Miller and
Samuel "Nails" Morton shoot and kill
Chicago police detectives James Mulcahy and William Hennessey following a brief struggle inside the Beaux Arts Club in
Chicago's South Side.[16] Miller claims to have not known the men were cops, but the following day, a
grand jury indicts Miller and Morton for the murders.[17] However, both suspects are eventually released.
September 28 -
Detroit Mafia boss
Giovanni "John" Vitale is shot and killed on Fourteenth Avenue early in the morning, the victim of a drive-by shooting. Gunmen in two vehicles hit Vitale a total of eighteen times.[18]
December 31 - In a tense daylight robbery, six members and associates of
Cleveland'sMayfield Road Mob shoot and kill Wilfred Sly and George Fanner, the president and vice-president of the W. W. Sly Manufacturing Company, and make off with the $4,200 payroll they had been transporting back to the plant.[21][22] Over the following months and years, all the suspected robbers would be arrested, with only two being released. The others were tried, three of them being executed and two receiving lengthy prison sentences.[23]
Sangerman's Bombers rise to prominence soon after the 1921 arrest[26] and imprisonment[27] of James Sweeney, leader of Sweeney's Bombers, a
Chicagogang leader and professional
bomber.
March 8 - In separate incidents Paul Labriola and Harry Raimondi, aids of Alderman
John Powers of
Chicago's Nineteenth Ward, are shot and killed. The five assassins are said to include four gunmen imported from
New York City.[28]
March 17 - Chong Yee Luck, a suspected member of
San Francisco's Jun Ying Tong, is shot and killed in
Locke, a community about thirty miles to the south of
Sacramento. After the shooting, police arrest Joe Chew and Fong Gung, members of the Suey Dong Tong, in San Franciso.[29] The following night, the Jun Ying Tong retaliates with the killing of Suey Dong member Tom Jew Yee in San Francisco.[30]
March 20 - Peter "Sugarhouse Pete" DiGiovanni, brother of
Kansas City Mafia boss Joseph "Joe Church" DiGiovanni, is arrested after policemen raid his grocery store and find two gallons of prohibited corn whiskey.[31]
March 23 - During an attempt to arrest
Thomas "Terrible Tommy" O'Connor, a member of a notorious Irish criminal
gang in
Chicago as well as a fugitive wanted for the murder of fellow
gang member James "Jimmy" Cherin, O'Connor shoots and kills
Chicago Police Detective Sgt. Patrick "Paddy" O'Neill. O'Connor then successfully escapes from his remaining pursuers by
hijacking a vehicle and forcing its owner to drive him away from the area at gunpoint.[32]
May 11 –
Chicagomobster and president of the
Unione SicilianeAnthony D'Andrea is shot down just outside his home around 2:00 a.m., only hours following a
card game the previous night.[34] Taken to the hospital, D'Andrea dies of his wounds on the afternoon of the 12th.[35] He is succeeded by
Mike Merlo.
July 18 – The body of West Side
bootlegger "Big Steve" Wisniewski, who is not immediately identified, is discovered dead by the side of the road near the
Chicago suburb of
Libertyville. Wisniewski, whose corpse was first sighted by the road on the morning of Sunday the 17th (and assumed to be a sleeping drunk), is found with four gunshot wounds and a crushed skull.[40] His body is finally identified on July 20th.[41] Wisniewski had recently hijacked a
North Side Gang beer shipment, and was last seen with
Hymie Weiss. Upon Weiss's return he reportedly explained, "I took Stevie for a one way ride." This is the first time a
gangland killing is used as the phrase "
one way ride," a term still commonly used today to refer to this method.
August 10 - Lim Look, thought to be a member of the
Hop Sing Tong, shoots and kills Loung Bow, who is a member of both the
Suey Sing and
Bing Kong tongs, as the latter is working on his automobile in
Stockton, California, near
Sacramento. Lim is quickly arrested on the scene.[45] This killing is one of the last known murders of the so-called
Tong Wars.
August 14 – Joseph Sinacola is gunned down in front of his two children during the long running
feud between Alderman
John Powers and the late
Anthony D'Andrea.[46] Sinacola had been released from hospital just two weeks earlier, following a July 6 attempt on his life.[47]
October 13 - New York
MafiosoGiuseppe "Diamond Joe Peppe" Viserta is shot and killed in a cafe in Manhattan's
Little Italy. While attempting to return fire, Viserta fatally shoots another patron by mistake, while Viserta's killer escapes.[51]
December 11 - A mere four days before he is to be
hanged,
gangster and convicted cop killer
Thomas "Terrible Tommy" O'Connor, along with four other inmates, overpower the guards and escape from the
Cook County Jail. O'Connor then makes his escape from the area using a stolen gun to
hijack a series of automobiles, similar to the method he had used to evade arrest immediately after killing Detective Sgt. O'Neill back in March.[52] (After his escape, O'Connor disappears and is never recaptured.)
Louis Romano, an associate of
Francesco "Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti" Nitto, is indicted for murder, however is later found acquitted. On Nitti's behalf, Romano would later assume control of the Chicago Bartender and Beverage Dispenser's Union, Local 278.
April 9 - Chicago
bootleggerMax Miller (brother of
Hirschie Miller), along with
William "Red" Cohen and James Adelman, are arrested following a saloon shooting in which one man was killed and four others were wounded. The shooting was reported to have been caused by one of the victims having insulted the sister of lightweight
boxerSailor Friedman.[53]
May 8 – In a drive-by shooting in the morning,
Vincenzo Terranova is hit with a
shotgun blast outside his home on 116th St. in New York, and killed, most likely by order of Rocco Valenti.[54] Later that evening, in a similar incident, Valenti's gang attempts to kill
Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria on Grand St., but Masseria and his men return fire. Five people are wounded in the shootout, including some innocent bystanders. The police manage to capture Masseria as he flees from the scene on foot. When they search him, they find a gun permit allegedly issued to him by one of the justices of the
New York Supreme Court.[55]
May 11 –
Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy,
Cornelius "Con" Shea, and
Fred "Frenchy" Mader, along with five other men are indicted for murdering a Chicago policeman early the previous morning.[56] The state withdraws the indictment against Shea and Murphy in August for lack of evidence,[57][58] while Mader's trial ends in a hung jury.[59] Upon retrial in November, Mader is acquitted, while only one of the other men originally charged is given fourteen years.[60]
July 8 – Joseph Peter DiCarlo, co-founder and then-
boss of the present day
Buffalo crime family, dies of natural causes[61] and is succeeded by longtime (1922–1974) boss
Stefano Magaddino.
August 8 –
Umberto Valenti, a leading member of the
Morello crime family, attempts to assassinate
Joe Masseria after shooting his two
bodyguards, and corners Masseria in a
Second Avenuemillinery shop. Masseria, however, manages to escape with two bullet holes in his straw hat.[62] On August 11, during peace negotiations with Morrello and Masseria, Valenti is killed by
Charles Luciano outside a
Twelfth Street restaurant while trying to escape an apparent attempt on his life. During the shootout an eleven-year-old girl and a street cleaner are wounded.[63]
August 16 - Three gunmen shoot and kill Carmelo Ferraro, a
Brooklyn grocery store owner and witness in a
Black Hand murder case in
Boston. He is killed in a garden at the back of his store, where he is hosting a party.[64][65] Early the following day,
Albert Anastasia and Giuseppe Florino, who were released from
death row at
Sing Sing in April for the 1920 murder of a
longshoreman, are arrested for Ferraro's murder.[66]
January 3 –
William J. "Wild Bill" Lovett, leader of the New York City
White Hand Gang, is shot twice in the chest by in a Brooklyn shanty. Although he eventually recovers from his wounds, he refuses to identify his attackers.
August 28 – "Kid Dropper" Kaplan is killed by Little Augies' gunman
Louis Cohen while being transported from Essex Market Court.
September 7 – In a continuing bootlegger war in
South Side, Chicago, between the Southside O'Donnell Brothers and an alliance of the
Saltis-McErlane Gang and the
Chicago Outfit, Saltis-McErlane leader
Frank McErlane kills Jerry O'Connor, a member of the Southside O'Donnell Brothers, in a driveby shooting. McErlane is the first to use a
Thompson submachine gun, which becomes popularly known as a "Tommy Gun".
September 17 – "Tommy Gun" innovator Frank McErlane kills again, gunning down George Meegan and George Bucher of the Southside O'Donnell Brothers.
November 1 – Having survived the January 3 assassination attempt, White Hand Gang leader "Wild Bill" Lovett is killed by three
Black Hand assassins led by
Dui Cuteddi.
December 1 – Frank McErlane strikes again, killing Thomas Keane, a beer-runner for the Southside O'Donnell Brothers.
Thomas Joseph McGinty, a
Cleveland bootlegger and fight promoter, is indicted with two other family members by a federal grand jury and charged with operating "a gigantic wholesale and retail conspiracy" through his saloon. After serving eighteen months at
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, he resumes his bootlegging activities.
Walter Stevens, a long-time Chicago gangster and labor slugger credited with the deaths of over 60 men, retires as a gunman for the
Torrio-
Capone organization where he lives peacefully until his death in
1939.
A
tong war breaks out between the
On Leong and
Hip Sing tongs after several members of the On Leongs defect to the Hip Sings with a large amount of money.
Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini's campaign against the Sicilian Mafia causes many Sicilian mafiosi, organized by Don
Vito Cascio Ferro, to flee
Italy. Ferro would later prepare to move his criminal operations to the
United States before his arrest the following year.
Joseph Sangerman, leader of
Sangerman's Bombers, is arrested and later imprisoned. His death the following year while still awaiting trial would lead to that organization's eventual breakup.
January 24 – Weiss, Moran, Drucci, and
Frank GusenbergambushChicago Outfit leader
Johnny Torrio as he returns from shopping with his wife, shooting him and his chauffeur, Robert Barton, several times. As Moran is about to kill Torrio, the gun misfires. The gunmen are forced to flee as the
police arrive. Soon after this attack, Torrio would retire to
Italy, giving leadership of The Outfit to his lieutenant, Capone.
February 9 –
Johnny Torrio is sentenced by
JudgeAdam Cliffe to nine months in the
Lake CountyJail, in
Waukegan, Illinois, a short distance north of Chicago. Torrio's lawyers ostensibly choose this facility because Torrio can receive proper medical treatment there; however, the real reason is for Torrio's protection as the
Sheriff Edwin Ahlstrom is on Torrio's
payroll. After his release, Torrio would be escorted by Capone out of Lake County.
August – Leo Lanzetti is killed by
Salvatore Sabella in a drive by shooting.
November 13 –
Samuzzo Amatuna, an associate of the Genna crime family, is gunned down outside a West Side Chicago barber shop by members of the
North Side Gang.
November 18 – Amatuna associate and bodyguard Edward Zion is killed shortly after returning from Amatuna's funeral.
November 20 – Amatuna associate and bodyguard Abraham Goldstein is shot and killed by unidentified gunmen while in a drug store.
December –
Saltis-
McErlane Gang member Joseph "Dynamite" Brooks is supposedly killed by fellow member Pete Kunski out of professional jealousy.
October 11 – While meeting with Chicago lawyer William W. O'Brian,
North Side Gang leader
Hymie Weiss is killed in an ambush outside
Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago, with bodyguard Patrick Murray. North Side Gang members Benny Jacobs and Sam Pellar are severely wounded. With Weiss's death, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci assumes gang leadership.
October 20 – John "Dingbat" O'Berta and
Joseph "Polack Joe" Saltis call a peace conference in an attempt to broker a ceasefire among Chicago's major bootleggers. With the establishment of
Madison Street as dividing the
Chicago Outfit and the
North Side Gang territories, the two sides agree to peace.
December 30 – The Chicago gang ceasefire is broken when
Sheldon Gang member Hillary Clements is killed by the
Saltis-
McErlane Gang.
South Carolina
bootlegger Manley Sullivan becomes the first gangster to be convicted for federal
tax evasion. The case would establish the precedent of illegal income being taxable, an effective weapon against organized crime figures throughout the decade.
The Southside O'Donnell's gang kidnaps John "Jackie" Adler, a liaison for
Al Capone to the Chicago police. Adler is later released unharmed.
Angelo Lo Mantio, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin gunman, is hired by Chicago
bootlegger and organized crime leader
Joe Aiello to murder competitor Al Capone.
Joe Aiello continues hiring gunmen to kill rival Al Capone, but hitmen Sam Valante and New York gangster Antonio Torchio, in separate incidents, are both killed by members of Capone's
Chicago Outfit as they each disembark their trains in Chicago.
January – Chicago saloon owner John Costanaro, a distributor for the
Sheldon Gang, is killed by a rival bootlegging gang.
January 6 – Theodore Anton, a restaurant manager above Al Capone's Hawthorne Inn, is kidnapped and later killed by the rival
North Side Gang.
March 11 –
Saltis-
McErlane gunmen Charles "Big Hayes" Hubacek and Frank "Lefty" Koncil are killed, possibly by Chicago Outfit gunmen in retaliation for Koncil's recent acquittal for the 1926 murder of Sheldon Gang member John "Mitters" Foley.
March 28 – Joseph Amato,
boss of the
Milwaukee crime family, dies of natural causes and is succeeded by Joseph Vallone.
June 10 – While checking up on
Frankie Yale's bootlegging operations in New York, Capone gunman James DeAmato is killed in Manhattan.
July 24 –
Charles Birger is sentenced to death for the murder of
West City Mayor Joseph Adams. Ray Hyland, a gunman for Birger, and Birger associate Arthur Newman are sentenced to life imprisonment.
August 7 – After being stopped by a
US Coast Guard cutter off the eastern coast of
Florida, "King of the Rum Runners"
James Alderman kills a
US Secret Service agent and two members of the Coast Guard while being arrested. Alderman is later convicted of murder and hanged in
1929.
October 13 –
Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo, founder and
boss of the
Cleveland crime family, is killed in a local barber shop, along with his brother John. Family
underbossSalvatore Todaro, who planned the killings with the large Porrello brothers faction (owners of the barber shop), becomes the new boss.
November 4 – Mob financier
Arnold Rothstein is shot by an unidentified gunman while at
Manhattan's
Park-Central Hotel and dies of his wounds at the Polyclinic Hospital the following day. Rothstein's murder would be attributed to his refusal to pay a $320,000 gambling debt from a three-day poker. Rothstein had refused to pay because he said the game was dishonest.
George "Hump" McManus, a participant in the game, would be arrested for Rothstein's murder, but later acquitted due to lack of evidence.
March 19 –
William J. Vercoe, a colorful Chicago criminal noted for reciting poetry, is shot and killed by Westside O'Donnell gang member William Clifford while at the Pony Inn in
Cicero, Illinois.
May 7 –
Chicago Outfit hitmen
Albert Anselmi and
John Scalise, two of the men suspected in the murder of
North Side Gang leader
Dean O'Banion and fellow mob boss Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta, the current
Unione Siculiana President are all killed during a lavish party held at Al Capone's residence. The party was a ruse by mob boss
Al Capone to lure the three men to their deaths after their plan to gain leadership of the
Chicago Outfit by eliminating Capone is uncovered. The men where beaten to death by Capone, who used a baseball bat to commit the murders.
May 9 – Prominent New York mob associate
Meyer Lansky marries Anna Citron.
June 11 –
Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro, a
Cleveland, Ohio mafia leader, the #2 man or
underboss in the Porrello crime family is shot and killed while approaching a parked car. Todaro's murder was a revenge killing for plotting with the Porrello family to betray and kill his former boss
Joe Lonardo and take over the crime family in late 1927.
June 24 – Broadway based mobster
Gandolfo Curto, better known as "Frankie Marlow" was found murdered in Queens after a night of dining in
Manhattan. Frankie Marlow was a former associate of Brooklyn mob boss
Frankie Yale. Among other things, Marlow ran a bookmaking operation under Yale's protection and was also a bootlegger, nightclub owner and boxing manager.
July 2 –
Benjamin Evangelista, a religious leader and real estate tycoon, is killed with his wife and four children. It is believed that the killings are related to possible dealings with organized crime.
^"25,000 Hunt Bootleggers," The Washington Times, January 17, 1920.
^"'Moss' Enright Slain in Labor War," Chicago Tribune, February 4, 1920.
^"Let Prisoners See Hangings, Grand Jury Says," Chicago Tribune, February 21, 1920.
^"Gunman Murdered Asleep with Wife," The New York Times, April 1, 1920.
^"Gang Leader Shot to Death While He Slept Beside Wife," The [Daily] News, April 1, 1920.
^"Bandits Kill Guard, Shoot Paymaster, Steal $16,000," The Boston Globe, April 16, 1920.
^"Colosimo Slain; Seek Ex-Wife, Just Returned," Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1920.
^"Found Shot Near Home, Man Dies in Hospital," The Standard Union, May 17, 1920.
^"Two Found Guilty of Terrillo Murder," The Standard Union, May 11, 1921.
^"Ryan Killed by Orders of His Own Gang," Chicago Tribune, June 18, 1920.
^"'Big Tim' and Aids Rejoice as Foes Plot," Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1920.
^"Hunt Five for $100,000 Mail Bag Robbery," Chicago Tribune, August 21, 1920.
^"'Mail Thief? Not Me!' Big Tim Jeers," Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1921.
^"'Big Tim' Found Guilty, Pleased by 'Good Break'," Chicago Tribune, November 10, 1921.
^"'Big Tim' Gets Six Year Jolt; Fined $30,000," Chicago Tribune, November 15, 1921.
^"Link Politics and Whiskey to Cafe Slayings," Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1920.
^"Gunman Slain; Burglar's Shot Kills Tailor," Chicago Tribune, September 1, 1920.
^"Feudist Chief Falls to Foes; Another Slain," The Detroit Free Press, September 29, 1920.
^"'Monk' Eastman, Gangster, Murdered; Found in Union Square, Shot Five Times; His Partner in Bootlegging Suspected," The New York Times, December 27, 1920.
^"Seek Dry Agent as Missing Link in Eastman Case," New York Tribune, January 1, 1921.
Jan. 17 - With
National Prohibition having gone into effect at midnight, an army of around 25,000 federal
Prohibition agents prepares to enforce the new law and arrest
bootleggers and the sellers of now outlawed alcoholic beverages.[1]
February 3 – Chicago labor
racketeerMaurice "Mossy" Enright is killed with a
shotgun blast from a drive-by shooter as he parks his car on the curb by his home.[2] Rival labor racketeer
Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy is suspected in his
slaying, but is released for lack of
evidence. Although
suspected by authorities to have involved the
Torrio-
Capone organization, Chicago labor union racketeer James Vinci is eventually convicted of his murder.
May 16 -
Albert Anastasia and Giuseppe Florino fatally shoot longshoreman George Terrillo (Turino in some sources) in front of his home in
Brooklyn. Terrillo dies the following day in the hospital.[8][9]
June 17 - Patrick "Paddy the Bear" Ryan, leader of the
Valley Gang, is killed by Walter "The Runt" Quinlan.[10]
August 20 – In a daring daylight robbery,
Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy and his gang rob a mail train of $100,000.[12] Murphy is indicted in February 1921,[13] and convicted in November,[14] receiving a six-year prison sentence and a $30,000 fine.[15]
August 23 - In an apparent business deal gone wrong, Jewish
bootleggersHirschie Miller and
Samuel "Nails" Morton shoot and kill
Chicago police detectives James Mulcahy and William Hennessey following a brief struggle inside the Beaux Arts Club in
Chicago's South Side.[16] Miller claims to have not known the men were cops, but the following day, a
grand jury indicts Miller and Morton for the murders.[17] However, both suspects are eventually released.
September 28 -
Detroit Mafia boss
Giovanni "John" Vitale is shot and killed on Fourteenth Avenue early in the morning, the victim of a drive-by shooting. Gunmen in two vehicles hit Vitale a total of eighteen times.[18]
December 31 - In a tense daylight robbery, six members and associates of
Cleveland'sMayfield Road Mob shoot and kill Wilfred Sly and George Fanner, the president and vice-president of the W. W. Sly Manufacturing Company, and make off with the $4,200 payroll they had been transporting back to the plant.[21][22] Over the following months and years, all the suspected robbers would be arrested, with only two being released. The others were tried, three of them being executed and two receiving lengthy prison sentences.[23]
Sangerman's Bombers rise to prominence soon after the 1921 arrest[26] and imprisonment[27] of James Sweeney, leader of Sweeney's Bombers, a
Chicagogang leader and professional
bomber.
March 8 - In separate incidents Paul Labriola and Harry Raimondi, aids of Alderman
John Powers of
Chicago's Nineteenth Ward, are shot and killed. The five assassins are said to include four gunmen imported from
New York City.[28]
March 17 - Chong Yee Luck, a suspected member of
San Francisco's Jun Ying Tong, is shot and killed in
Locke, a community about thirty miles to the south of
Sacramento. After the shooting, police arrest Joe Chew and Fong Gung, members of the Suey Dong Tong, in San Franciso.[29] The following night, the Jun Ying Tong retaliates with the killing of Suey Dong member Tom Jew Yee in San Francisco.[30]
March 20 - Peter "Sugarhouse Pete" DiGiovanni, brother of
Kansas City Mafia boss Joseph "Joe Church" DiGiovanni, is arrested after policemen raid his grocery store and find two gallons of prohibited corn whiskey.[31]
March 23 - During an attempt to arrest
Thomas "Terrible Tommy" O'Connor, a member of a notorious Irish criminal
gang in
Chicago as well as a fugitive wanted for the murder of fellow
gang member James "Jimmy" Cherin, O'Connor shoots and kills
Chicago Police Detective Sgt. Patrick "Paddy" O'Neill. O'Connor then successfully escapes from his remaining pursuers by
hijacking a vehicle and forcing its owner to drive him away from the area at gunpoint.[32]
May 11 –
Chicagomobster and president of the
Unione SicilianeAnthony D'Andrea is shot down just outside his home around 2:00 a.m., only hours following a
card game the previous night.[34] Taken to the hospital, D'Andrea dies of his wounds on the afternoon of the 12th.[35] He is succeeded by
Mike Merlo.
July 18 – The body of West Side
bootlegger "Big Steve" Wisniewski, who is not immediately identified, is discovered dead by the side of the road near the
Chicago suburb of
Libertyville. Wisniewski, whose corpse was first sighted by the road on the morning of Sunday the 17th (and assumed to be a sleeping drunk), is found with four gunshot wounds and a crushed skull.[40] His body is finally identified on July 20th.[41] Wisniewski had recently hijacked a
North Side Gang beer shipment, and was last seen with
Hymie Weiss. Upon Weiss's return he reportedly explained, "I took Stevie for a one way ride." This is the first time a
gangland killing is used as the phrase "
one way ride," a term still commonly used today to refer to this method.
August 10 - Lim Look, thought to be a member of the
Hop Sing Tong, shoots and kills Loung Bow, who is a member of both the
Suey Sing and
Bing Kong tongs, as the latter is working on his automobile in
Stockton, California, near
Sacramento. Lim is quickly arrested on the scene.[45] This killing is one of the last known murders of the so-called
Tong Wars.
August 14 – Joseph Sinacola is gunned down in front of his two children during the long running
feud between Alderman
John Powers and the late
Anthony D'Andrea.[46] Sinacola had been released from hospital just two weeks earlier, following a July 6 attempt on his life.[47]
October 13 - New York
MafiosoGiuseppe "Diamond Joe Peppe" Viserta is shot and killed in a cafe in Manhattan's
Little Italy. While attempting to return fire, Viserta fatally shoots another patron by mistake, while Viserta's killer escapes.[51]
December 11 - A mere four days before he is to be
hanged,
gangster and convicted cop killer
Thomas "Terrible Tommy" O'Connor, along with four other inmates, overpower the guards and escape from the
Cook County Jail. O'Connor then makes his escape from the area using a stolen gun to
hijack a series of automobiles, similar to the method he had used to evade arrest immediately after killing Detective Sgt. O'Neill back in March.[52] (After his escape, O'Connor disappears and is never recaptured.)
Louis Romano, an associate of
Francesco "Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti" Nitto, is indicted for murder, however is later found acquitted. On Nitti's behalf, Romano would later assume control of the Chicago Bartender and Beverage Dispenser's Union, Local 278.
April 9 - Chicago
bootleggerMax Miller (brother of
Hirschie Miller), along with
William "Red" Cohen and James Adelman, are arrested following a saloon shooting in which one man was killed and four others were wounded. The shooting was reported to have been caused by one of the victims having insulted the sister of lightweight
boxerSailor Friedman.[53]
May 8 – In a drive-by shooting in the morning,
Vincenzo Terranova is hit with a
shotgun blast outside his home on 116th St. in New York, and killed, most likely by order of Rocco Valenti.[54] Later that evening, in a similar incident, Valenti's gang attempts to kill
Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria on Grand St., but Masseria and his men return fire. Five people are wounded in the shootout, including some innocent bystanders. The police manage to capture Masseria as he flees from the scene on foot. When they search him, they find a gun permit allegedly issued to him by one of the justices of the
New York Supreme Court.[55]
May 11 –
Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy,
Cornelius "Con" Shea, and
Fred "Frenchy" Mader, along with five other men are indicted for murdering a Chicago policeman early the previous morning.[56] The state withdraws the indictment against Shea and Murphy in August for lack of evidence,[57][58] while Mader's trial ends in a hung jury.[59] Upon retrial in November, Mader is acquitted, while only one of the other men originally charged is given fourteen years.[60]
July 8 – Joseph Peter DiCarlo, co-founder and then-
boss of the present day
Buffalo crime family, dies of natural causes[61] and is succeeded by longtime (1922–1974) boss
Stefano Magaddino.
August 8 –
Umberto Valenti, a leading member of the
Morello crime family, attempts to assassinate
Joe Masseria after shooting his two
bodyguards, and corners Masseria in a
Second Avenuemillinery shop. Masseria, however, manages to escape with two bullet holes in his straw hat.[62] On August 11, during peace negotiations with Morrello and Masseria, Valenti is killed by
Charles Luciano outside a
Twelfth Street restaurant while trying to escape an apparent attempt on his life. During the shootout an eleven-year-old girl and a street cleaner are wounded.[63]
August 16 - Three gunmen shoot and kill Carmelo Ferraro, a
Brooklyn grocery store owner and witness in a
Black Hand murder case in
Boston. He is killed in a garden at the back of his store, where he is hosting a party.[64][65] Early the following day,
Albert Anastasia and Giuseppe Florino, who were released from
death row at
Sing Sing in April for the 1920 murder of a
longshoreman, are arrested for Ferraro's murder.[66]
January 3 –
William J. "Wild Bill" Lovett, leader of the New York City
White Hand Gang, is shot twice in the chest by in a Brooklyn shanty. Although he eventually recovers from his wounds, he refuses to identify his attackers.
August 28 – "Kid Dropper" Kaplan is killed by Little Augies' gunman
Louis Cohen while being transported from Essex Market Court.
September 7 – In a continuing bootlegger war in
South Side, Chicago, between the Southside O'Donnell Brothers and an alliance of the
Saltis-McErlane Gang and the
Chicago Outfit, Saltis-McErlane leader
Frank McErlane kills Jerry O'Connor, a member of the Southside O'Donnell Brothers, in a driveby shooting. McErlane is the first to use a
Thompson submachine gun, which becomes popularly known as a "Tommy Gun".
September 17 – "Tommy Gun" innovator Frank McErlane kills again, gunning down George Meegan and George Bucher of the Southside O'Donnell Brothers.
November 1 – Having survived the January 3 assassination attempt, White Hand Gang leader "Wild Bill" Lovett is killed by three
Black Hand assassins led by
Dui Cuteddi.
December 1 – Frank McErlane strikes again, killing Thomas Keane, a beer-runner for the Southside O'Donnell Brothers.
Thomas Joseph McGinty, a
Cleveland bootlegger and fight promoter, is indicted with two other family members by a federal grand jury and charged with operating "a gigantic wholesale and retail conspiracy" through his saloon. After serving eighteen months at
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, he resumes his bootlegging activities.
Walter Stevens, a long-time Chicago gangster and labor slugger credited with the deaths of over 60 men, retires as a gunman for the
Torrio-
Capone organization where he lives peacefully until his death in
1939.
A
tong war breaks out between the
On Leong and
Hip Sing tongs after several members of the On Leongs defect to the Hip Sings with a large amount of money.
Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini's campaign against the Sicilian Mafia causes many Sicilian mafiosi, organized by Don
Vito Cascio Ferro, to flee
Italy. Ferro would later prepare to move his criminal operations to the
United States before his arrest the following year.
Joseph Sangerman, leader of
Sangerman's Bombers, is arrested and later imprisoned. His death the following year while still awaiting trial would lead to that organization's eventual breakup.
January 24 – Weiss, Moran, Drucci, and
Frank GusenbergambushChicago Outfit leader
Johnny Torrio as he returns from shopping with his wife, shooting him and his chauffeur, Robert Barton, several times. As Moran is about to kill Torrio, the gun misfires. The gunmen are forced to flee as the
police arrive. Soon after this attack, Torrio would retire to
Italy, giving leadership of The Outfit to his lieutenant, Capone.
February 9 –
Johnny Torrio is sentenced by
JudgeAdam Cliffe to nine months in the
Lake CountyJail, in
Waukegan, Illinois, a short distance north of Chicago. Torrio's lawyers ostensibly choose this facility because Torrio can receive proper medical treatment there; however, the real reason is for Torrio's protection as the
Sheriff Edwin Ahlstrom is on Torrio's
payroll. After his release, Torrio would be escorted by Capone out of Lake County.
August – Leo Lanzetti is killed by
Salvatore Sabella in a drive by shooting.
November 13 –
Samuzzo Amatuna, an associate of the Genna crime family, is gunned down outside a West Side Chicago barber shop by members of the
North Side Gang.
November 18 – Amatuna associate and bodyguard Edward Zion is killed shortly after returning from Amatuna's funeral.
November 20 – Amatuna associate and bodyguard Abraham Goldstein is shot and killed by unidentified gunmen while in a drug store.
December –
Saltis-
McErlane Gang member Joseph "Dynamite" Brooks is supposedly killed by fellow member Pete Kunski out of professional jealousy.
October 11 – While meeting with Chicago lawyer William W. O'Brian,
North Side Gang leader
Hymie Weiss is killed in an ambush outside
Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago, with bodyguard Patrick Murray. North Side Gang members Benny Jacobs and Sam Pellar are severely wounded. With Weiss's death, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci assumes gang leadership.
October 20 – John "Dingbat" O'Berta and
Joseph "Polack Joe" Saltis call a peace conference in an attempt to broker a ceasefire among Chicago's major bootleggers. With the establishment of
Madison Street as dividing the
Chicago Outfit and the
North Side Gang territories, the two sides agree to peace.
December 30 – The Chicago gang ceasefire is broken when
Sheldon Gang member Hillary Clements is killed by the
Saltis-
McErlane Gang.
South Carolina
bootlegger Manley Sullivan becomes the first gangster to be convicted for federal
tax evasion. The case would establish the precedent of illegal income being taxable, an effective weapon against organized crime figures throughout the decade.
The Southside O'Donnell's gang kidnaps John "Jackie" Adler, a liaison for
Al Capone to the Chicago police. Adler is later released unharmed.
Angelo Lo Mantio, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin gunman, is hired by Chicago
bootlegger and organized crime leader
Joe Aiello to murder competitor Al Capone.
Joe Aiello continues hiring gunmen to kill rival Al Capone, but hitmen Sam Valante and New York gangster Antonio Torchio, in separate incidents, are both killed by members of Capone's
Chicago Outfit as they each disembark their trains in Chicago.
January – Chicago saloon owner John Costanaro, a distributor for the
Sheldon Gang, is killed by a rival bootlegging gang.
January 6 – Theodore Anton, a restaurant manager above Al Capone's Hawthorne Inn, is kidnapped and later killed by the rival
North Side Gang.
March 11 –
Saltis-
McErlane gunmen Charles "Big Hayes" Hubacek and Frank "Lefty" Koncil are killed, possibly by Chicago Outfit gunmen in retaliation for Koncil's recent acquittal for the 1926 murder of Sheldon Gang member John "Mitters" Foley.
March 28 – Joseph Amato,
boss of the
Milwaukee crime family, dies of natural causes and is succeeded by Joseph Vallone.
June 10 – While checking up on
Frankie Yale's bootlegging operations in New York, Capone gunman James DeAmato is killed in Manhattan.
July 24 –
Charles Birger is sentenced to death for the murder of
West City Mayor Joseph Adams. Ray Hyland, a gunman for Birger, and Birger associate Arthur Newman are sentenced to life imprisonment.
August 7 – After being stopped by a
US Coast Guard cutter off the eastern coast of
Florida, "King of the Rum Runners"
James Alderman kills a
US Secret Service agent and two members of the Coast Guard while being arrested. Alderman is later convicted of murder and hanged in
1929.
October 13 –
Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo, founder and
boss of the
Cleveland crime family, is killed in a local barber shop, along with his brother John. Family
underbossSalvatore Todaro, who planned the killings with the large Porrello brothers faction (owners of the barber shop), becomes the new boss.
November 4 – Mob financier
Arnold Rothstein is shot by an unidentified gunman while at
Manhattan's
Park-Central Hotel and dies of his wounds at the Polyclinic Hospital the following day. Rothstein's murder would be attributed to his refusal to pay a $320,000 gambling debt from a three-day poker. Rothstein had refused to pay because he said the game was dishonest.
George "Hump" McManus, a participant in the game, would be arrested for Rothstein's murder, but later acquitted due to lack of evidence.
March 19 –
William J. Vercoe, a colorful Chicago criminal noted for reciting poetry, is shot and killed by Westside O'Donnell gang member William Clifford while at the Pony Inn in
Cicero, Illinois.
May 7 –
Chicago Outfit hitmen
Albert Anselmi and
John Scalise, two of the men suspected in the murder of
North Side Gang leader
Dean O'Banion and fellow mob boss Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta, the current
Unione Siculiana President are all killed during a lavish party held at Al Capone's residence. The party was a ruse by mob boss
Al Capone to lure the three men to their deaths after their plan to gain leadership of the
Chicago Outfit by eliminating Capone is uncovered. The men where beaten to death by Capone, who used a baseball bat to commit the murders.
May 9 – Prominent New York mob associate
Meyer Lansky marries Anna Citron.
June 11 –
Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro, a
Cleveland, Ohio mafia leader, the #2 man or
underboss in the Porrello crime family is shot and killed while approaching a parked car. Todaro's murder was a revenge killing for plotting with the Porrello family to betray and kill his former boss
Joe Lonardo and take over the crime family in late 1927.
June 24 – Broadway based mobster
Gandolfo Curto, better known as "Frankie Marlow" was found murdered in Queens after a night of dining in
Manhattan. Frankie Marlow was a former associate of Brooklyn mob boss
Frankie Yale. Among other things, Marlow ran a bookmaking operation under Yale's protection and was also a bootlegger, nightclub owner and boxing manager.
July 2 –
Benjamin Evangelista, a religious leader and real estate tycoon, is killed with his wife and four children. It is believed that the killings are related to possible dealings with organized crime.
^"25,000 Hunt Bootleggers," The Washington Times, January 17, 1920.
^"'Moss' Enright Slain in Labor War," Chicago Tribune, February 4, 1920.
^"Let Prisoners See Hangings, Grand Jury Says," Chicago Tribune, February 21, 1920.
^"Gunman Murdered Asleep with Wife," The New York Times, April 1, 1920.
^"Gang Leader Shot to Death While He Slept Beside Wife," The [Daily] News, April 1, 1920.
^"Bandits Kill Guard, Shoot Paymaster, Steal $16,000," The Boston Globe, April 16, 1920.
^"Colosimo Slain; Seek Ex-Wife, Just Returned," Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1920.
^"Found Shot Near Home, Man Dies in Hospital," The Standard Union, May 17, 1920.
^"Two Found Guilty of Terrillo Murder," The Standard Union, May 11, 1921.
^"Ryan Killed by Orders of His Own Gang," Chicago Tribune, June 18, 1920.
^"'Big Tim' and Aids Rejoice as Foes Plot," Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1920.
^"Hunt Five for $100,000 Mail Bag Robbery," Chicago Tribune, August 21, 1920.
^"'Mail Thief? Not Me!' Big Tim Jeers," Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1921.
^"'Big Tim' Found Guilty, Pleased by 'Good Break'," Chicago Tribune, November 10, 1921.
^"'Big Tim' Gets Six Year Jolt; Fined $30,000," Chicago Tribune, November 15, 1921.
^"Link Politics and Whiskey to Cafe Slayings," Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1920.
^"Gunman Slain; Burglar's Shot Kills Tailor," Chicago Tribune, September 1, 1920.
^"Feudist Chief Falls to Foes; Another Slain," The Detroit Free Press, September 29, 1920.
^"'Monk' Eastman, Gangster, Murdered; Found in Union Square, Shot Five Times; His Partner in Bootlegging Suspected," The New York Times, December 27, 1920.
^"Seek Dry Agent as Missing Link in Eastman Case," New York Tribune, January 1, 1921.