Chicago Outfit - Overview

Overview

Since its founding, the Chicago Outfit has been operating in order to keep and expand its status and profit throughout the Chicago area, among others. During the Prohibition era, its leader, Al Capone, competed with other gangsters like George "Bugs" Moran for the bootlegging business and was involved in other rivalries. Because of this, there appears to have been a business and personal rivalry between the Northside (North Side Mob) and Southside Chicago gangs. Al Capone headed the southern and George Moran, the northern.

There also appeared to have been cultural differences between the two sides, since the Northsiders were more Irish-American and the SouthSiders were more Jewish and Italian-American. This conflict led to numerous crimes, such as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and numerous drive-by shootings resulting in the death of George Moran's associates and others on both sides. The Tommy gun was a trademark weapon for drive-bys. In the early 1940s, a handful of top Outfit leaders went to prison because they were found to be extorting Hollywood by controlling the unions that compose Hollywood's movie industry, and the manipulation and misuse of the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. There were also allegations that The Outfit was involved in strong-arm tactics and voter fraud at polling places, under Salvatore Giancana in the 1960 presidential election. Along with the voting allegations, The Outfit was involved in a Central Intelligence Agency-Mafia collusion during Castro's overthrow of the Cuban government. In exchange for its help, the Outfit was to be given access to its former casinos if it helped overthrow Fidel Castro in (Operation Mongoose or Operation Family Jewels). Having failed in that endeavor, and facing increasing indictments under the administration of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), the Outfit is the subject of conspiracy theories regarding the JFK assassination and that of JFK's brother Robert Kennedy. The Outfit controlled casinos in Las Vegas and "skimmed" millions of dollars over the course of several decades. Most recently, top mob figures have been found guilty of crimes dating back to as early as the mid 1960s. It has been rumored that the $2 million skimmed from the casinos in the Court case of 1986 and portrayed in the blockbuster movie "Casino" was used to build the Old Neighborhood Italian American Club, the founder of which was Angelo J. "The Hook" LaPietra.