1925 in Organized Crime - Events

Events

• 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 conviction would lead to the organization's eventual breakup.
• Carlo Matranga leaves New Orleans to establish the Los Angeles crime syndicate.
• Genna Brothers enforcer Joseph Calabriese is killed.
• Karl Bates, a Sheldon Gang hitman, is killed by the Joe Saltis-Frank McErlane Gang.
• John Barry, a member of the Sheldon Gang, is sentenced to two years for violation of the Volstead Act (Prohibition).
• Joseph Turnio, a New York longshoreman, is killed. Albert Anastasia and Jimmy Florio would be charged with his murder, but would be released after a retrial.
• January 12 - North Side Gang Hymie Weiss, Bugs Moran, and Vincent Drucci, attempt to kill Al Capone at a South Side, Chicago restaurant. They fire at Capone's car, injuring chauffeur Sylvester Barton, but Capone, although frightened, is unharmed.
• January 24 - Weiss, Moran, Drucci, and Frank Gusenberg ambush Chicago 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 Judge Adam Cliffe to nine months in the Lake County Jail, 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.
• June 13 - Shortly after claiming the presidency of the Unione Siciliane, "Bloody" Angelo Genna is killed, possibly by members of the North Side Gang.
• August - Leo Lanzetti is killed by Salvatore Sabella in a drive by shooting.
• September 14- John and Catherine Gray killed by the Green Ones gang
• November 13 - Samuzzo Amatuna, an associate of the Genna Brothers, is gunned down outside a Chicago West Side barber shop by members of the North Side Gang.
• November 18 - Edward Zion, an associate and former bodyguard of Samuzzo Amatuna, is killed shortly after returning from Amatuna's funeral.
• November 20 - Another former Amatuna 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.