Hollywood Extortion Case
In the early 1940s, Nitti convinced Ricca and the rest of the Outfit leadership to participate in a labor racketeering and extortion scheme aimed at the movie studios in Los Angeles, California. Chicago mobster Johnny Roselli ("Handsome Johnny") gained control of the Projectors Union and threatened the studios with strikes and other labor problems. To avoid labor unrest, RKO, Paramount, MGM and 20th Century Fox paid several hundred thousand dollars to the Outfit. However, two Outfit men were arrested for extortion and agreed to testify against the Outfit leadership. In March 1943, Ricca, Nitti, and other mob leaders were indicted for extortion.
On March 18, 1943, Ricca and the Outfit leadership met with Nitti. Since the movie studio racket was Nitti's idea, Ricca and the Outfit leaders demanded that Nitti plead guilty to extortion charges to save them from prison. Terrified at the prospect of prison due to his severe claustrophobia, Nitti shot himself to death the next day. Ricca now became the official boss of the Outfit with enforcement chief Tony Accardo as underboss. Ricca and Accardo would run the Outfit for the next 30 years.
Ricca was fairly soft-spoken, but was as ruthless as any crime boss. Whenever he wanted someone rubbed out, he said, "Make-a him go away." Crime historian Joe Sifakis described him as one of the most stereotypical gangsters ever produced by the Chicago Outfit.
Read more about this topic: Paul Ricca
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