Joe Aiello - Made President of Unione Siciliana

Made President of Unione Siciliana

Aiello then turned to Capone killers Albert Anselmi and John Scalise, as well as the new head of the Unione, Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta, trying to convince them that they would all be winners were Capone wiped out, with Aiello himself taking over the North Side of Chicago following the departure of Bugs Moran. But in April 1929, getting wind of the plot, Capone beat them to the punch and had the three men killed (the scene famed by a number of movies in which Capone murders associates with a baseball bat at a banquet is based on the killings of Anselmi and Scalise).

Remarkably, Aiello then finally got his chance to head up the Unione Siciliana himself. A conference in Atlantic City of numerous mob bosses saw Aiello's promotion as the only way to restore order in Chicago, and Capone apparently accepted this, at least temporarily.

Aiello's time in charge coincided with Capone serving a year in prison for carrying a concealed weapon - apparently at the behest of other mob leaders who felt his profile had got too high and he needed to be away for a short time while things blew over. Aiello, ever a man to bring misery onto himself, duly saw this as an opportunity to scheme yet again for Capone's permanent retirement.

When Frank J. Loesch, chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission compiled his "Public Enemies" list of the top 28 people he saw as corrupting Chicago in April 1930, Capone headed the list, while Aiello was ranked in seventh place. The list was widely published gaining Aiello a measure of nationwide notoriety.