Posted on 05/22/2008 8:28:41 AM PDT by Daniel T. Zanoza
The city of Chicago is one of the few major metropolitan areas which runs away from its past at every opportunity. Yet, indeed, the very construction of the city led to the term "underworld." And with rampant corruption controlled by infamous individuals like "Big Jim" Colosimo, Al Capone, Paul "The Waiter" Ricca, Murray "The Camel" Humphrey and Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo, Chicago can hardly bury its past--no pun intended.
Since the turn of the 20th century, what Carl Sandburg referred to as the "City of Big Shoulders" was perhaps the center of organized crime in the United States. Though New York had its Syndicate and Detroit had the Purple Gang, many believe true power in America's underworld was concentrated in something called the Outfit.
After Capone left power ...
(Excerpt) Read more at rffm.typepad.com ...
Click, click, that’s “Daley”, thanks.
LOL!! Chicago with a casino is like giving an addict a kilo of cocaine and a spoon.
I don’t think I’m buying into this. I have not heard local commentators like the late Mike Royko link either Daley I or Daley II to the mob. The fact that Daley I got a huge vote in the mobbed-up 1st Ward is no big deal; he got numbers like that in most wards.
Daley didn’t bust the mob, but he wasn’t part of it.
For those of you who think papa Daley, John F. Kennedy or Harry Truman didn’t have mob connections, please read an outstanding book titled, “The Outfit: The Role of Chicago’s Underworld” by Gus Russo. Anyone who does not believe the mob was entangled with Chicago politics is either naive, dumb or totally unaware of what the city is all about. Perhaps Mike Royko didn’t write about it because he wanted to stay alive and it’s better to have friends in the mob than enemies.
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