Joe Aiello
Giuseppe Aiello | |
---|---|
U.S. | |
Cause of death | Multiple gun shots |
Resting place | Riverside Cemetery, Rochester, New York, U.S. |
Giuseppe "Joe" Aiello (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe aˈjɛllo]; September 27, 1890 – October 23, 1930) was a Sicilian bootlegger and organized crime leader in Chicago during the Prohibition era. He was best known for his long and bloody feud with Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone.
Aiello masterminded several unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Capone, and fought against his former business partner
Despite being forced to flee Chicago multiple times throughout the gang war, Aiello eventually took control of the Unione Siciliana in 1929, and ranked seventh among the
Early life
Aiello was born on September 27, 1890, in Bagheria, Sicily, to father Carlo Sr., Aiello was part of a large and impoverished family of at least nine other brothers and many cousins. His mother died when he was a child.[2] In July 1907, at the age of 17,[3] Aiello immigrated to the United States to join family members already residing there. After arriving in New York City by boat, he worked a series of menial jobs in Buffalo and Utica, New York, before connecting with his father, brothers and cousins in Chicago. The family set up several businesses in both New York and Chicago, including the financially successful Aiello Brothers Bakery, and they become importers of such groceries as olive oil, cheeses and sugar.[2]
Aiello was the co-owner of a cheese importing business with a fellow Sicilian, Antonio "Tony the Scourge" Lombardo, an ally of organized crime figure Al Capone.[4] Aiello was president of the company, which was called Antonio Lombardo & Co., and Capone was said to have lent both men $100,000 to start the enterprise.[1] With the enactment of Prohibition and the start of bootlegging, the sugar import business brought Aiello into contact with organized crime, along with his brothers Dominick, Antonio, Andrew[4] and Carlo.[5] In Chicago they made a small fortune selling sugar and other home-cooked alcohol components to the Genna crime family,[2] and Aiello earned enough money to buy a three-story mansion in Rogers Park. However, he craved recognition and prestige in addition to money,[2] something he was gaining as he was becoming known as the top organized crime boss of Chicago.[4][6] When the Genna family lost power in Chicago following gang wars, the Aiellos believed themselves the successors of their territory.[5][7]
Feud begins with Al Capone
In November 1925 Lombardo was named head of the
Aiello plotted to eliminate both Lombardo and Capone, and starting in the spring of 1927 made several attempts to assassinate Capone.
Gang war with Capone escalates
In November 1927 Aiello organized machine-gun ambushes across from Lombardo's home and a cigar store frequented by Capone, but those plans were foiled after an anonymous tip led police to raid several addresses and arrest Milwaukee gunman Angelo La Mantio and four other Aiello gunmen. After the police discovered receipts for the apartments in La Mantio's pockets, he confessed that Aiello had hired him to kill Capone and Lombardo, leading the police to arrest Aiello himself and bring him to the South Clark Street police station.[11][16] Upon learning of the arrest, Capone dispatched nearly two dozen gunmen to stand guard outside the station and await Aiello's release.[11][17] The men made no attempt to conceal their purpose there, and reporters and photographers rushed to the scene to observe Aiello's expected murder.[15] Capone gunmen Frank Perry, Sam Marcus and Louis "Little New York" Campagna were arrested as they tried to enter the front of the station and placed in the cell next to Aiello, who Campagna told, "You're dead, friend, dead. You won't get up to the end of the street still walking".[16][17] Aiello pleaded for mercy and promised to sell his possessions and leave Chicago with his family if they let him go, but Campagna refused the request.[11][17] When released, Aiello was given a police escort out of the station to safety. He later failed to make a court appearance after his attorney claimed he suffered a nervous breakdown.[11] Aiello disappeared with some family members to Trenton, NJ, from whence he continued his campaign against Capone and Lombardo.[16]
Aiello's brother Dominick returned to Chicago in January 1928 to attend to family matters while his brother remained in New Jersey. One day he received a telephone call warning him to leave town,[16] after which the Aiello Brothers Bakery was shot up by gunmen.[12][16] Aiello briefly allied himself with former Capone employer and friend Frankie Yale, meeting with him regularly in New York City and plotting Capone's overthrow, until Yale himself was murdered.[18] Aiello was said to have fled to Wisconsin under the protection of the Milwaukee crime family,[19] and also briefly took refuge in Buffalo with his ally there, crime family boss Stefano Magaddino.[20] With Aiello still in hiding, Capone started targeting Aiello's men and killed several over the next few years,[21][22] including his brother Dominick.[21] Aiello returned to Chicago in the summer of 1928 and once again approached Moran, whose relationship with Capone had degenerated even further, making him much more receptive to an active alliance with Aiello.[23] They conspired to eliminate Lombardo, a task they assigned to hitmen Frank "Tight Lips" and Peter Gusenberg. Lombardo was shot to death on a busy Chicago street on September 7, 1928, and although never arrested, at least one of the Gusenberg brothers is believed to have been among the shooters.[24] After Lombardo's death, Aiello attempted to elevate his ally Peter Rizzito to the Unione Siciliana position, but Rizzito was killed by shotgun blasts outside his home.[25]
Rise to Unione Siciliana leader
Aiello was also believed to have masterminded the murder of
The violent retaliation against Aiello indirectly led him to finally become head of the Unione.
Through his Mafia boss allies Magaddino and
During the early months of 1930 Aiello arranged several unsuccessful assassination attempts against Capone bodyguards, including
Death
In 1930, upon learning of Aiello's continued plotting against him, Capone resolved to finally eliminate him.[4] In the weeks before Aiello's death Capone's men tracked him to Rochester, New York, where he had connections through Magaddino, and plotted to kill him there, but Aiello returned to Chicago before the plot could be executed.[19] Aiello, angst-ridden from the constant need to hide out and the killings of several of his men,[40] set up residence in the Chicago apartment of Unione Siciliana treasurer Pasquale "Patsy Presto" Prestigiacomo at 205 N. Kolmar Ave.[4][41] He moved in on October 13, 1930,[42] and rarely left the apartment. However, his wife and child occasionally visited him, and Frank Nitti biographer Mars Eghigian Jr. theorized that Capone's forces located Aiello by tracking his family members.[40] Men who gave the names Morris Friend and Henry Jacobson rented rooms in an apartment across the street overlooking Prestigiacomo's apartment building and began observing Aiello.[1][40] On October 23, Aiello made plans to permanently leave Chicago and apparently move to Mexico,[4][40] although Prestigiacomo later told police Aiello was simply leaving the house for a barber's appointment.[42] Upon exiting Prestigiacomo's building to enter a taxicab, a gunman in a second-floor window across the street started firing at Aiello with a submachine gun.[4][41] Aiello was said to have been shot at least 13 times before he toppled off the building steps and moved around the corner,[43] attempting to move out of the line of fire. Instead, he moved directly into the range of a second submachine gun positioned on the third floor of another apartment block, and was subsequently gunned down.[4][41]
After the ambush the two apparent shooters ran from the buildings and fled in a Ford sedan; the car was later discovered to have been set on fire and destroyed. Aiello's body was loaded into the taxicab and taken to Garfield Park Hospital,[1][44] where he was pronounced dead. The coroner eventually removed 59 bullets, weighing over a pound, from the body.[4] He was shot more times than any single victim of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.[40] A third machine gun position, which was ultimately not used, was later discovered by police in another nearby building, which had been rented a week before the murder by a man who gave the name Lon Celespe.[41] Police, prosecutors and federal agents immediately and publicly speculated that Capone was behind the assassination,[1][45] noting that the precision machine-gun ambush was typical of his attacks. However, at least one press story at the time speculated Moran could have been behind the hit.[40] Prestigiacomo, fearful for his life, went into hiding for three days after Aiello's death before turning himself in to police.[42] He was charged as an accessory before the fact of Aiello's murder, a charge also filed against John Sorce, an employee of Aiello's importing company.[41] Detectives questioned whether Prestigiacomo provided Aiello's enemies with information about his whereabouts,[42][45] something he vehemently denied.[42] Police claimed Prestigiacomo was not cooperative and lied about his relationship with Aiello.[41] The charges against Prestigiacomo went to a grand jury but were ultimately dropped.[34] Frank Nitti was also wanted by police for questioning in connection with the murder.[46]
Some historians later suggested Mafia forces outside Chicago may have been behind the hit as part of the Castellammarese War, but Virgil Peterson, an expert on Chicago organized crime, believed the murder was strictly related to city gang warfare.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Joe Aiello Slain in Ambush". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. October 24, 1930. p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Keefe 2005, p. 216.
- ^ Critchley 2008, p. 204.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sifakis 2005, p. 5.
- ^ a b "Carlo Aiello is Sought in Old Police Killing". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. June 14, 1928. p. 7.
- ^ Oursler, Will; Smith, L.D. (February 22, 1953). "Mafia – a power behind underworld of 'dope'". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. p. 12.
- ^ a b Parr 2005, p. 244
- ^ a b c d e f g Eghigian 2005, p. 135.
- ^ a b c Capeci 2005, p. 83
- ^ Parr 2005, p. 169
- ^ a b c d e f Eghigian 2005, p. 136.
- ^ a b "Gang Bullets Again Riddle the Aiello Brothers Bakery". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. January 5, 1928. p. 3.
- ^ Keefe 2005, p. 381.
- ^ Keefe 2005, p. 218.
- ^ a b Lyle, John H. (November 12, 1960). "Chicago in the Capone Era: a City in Chains". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. p. 11.
- ^ a b c d e Keefe 2005, p. 217.
- ^ a b c Sifakis 2005, p. 77.
- ^ Keefe 2005, p. 227.
- ^ a b Critchley 2008, p. 295.
- ^ Bonanno 2003, pp. 119–120
- ^ a b Eghigian 2005, p. 144.
- ^ Eghigian 2005, p. 167.
- ^ Keefe 2005, p. 228.
- ^ Shmelter 2008, p. 158.
- ^ Eghigian 2005, p. 147.
- ^ a b Eghigian 2005, p. 153.
- ^ a b "Police Accuse Joe Aiello As Lolordo Slayer". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. January 1, 1929. p. 8.
- ^ Sifakis 2005, p. 20.
- ^ a b c d Eghigian 2005, p. 155.
- ^ Keefe 2005, p. 247.
- ^ Critchley 2008, p. 142.
- ^ Eghigian 2005, p. 173.
- ^ Sifakis 2005, p. 370.
- ^ a b Vozenilek, Gina P. (November 17, 2011). "Tell 'Em Nothin' – The Murder of Joseph Aiello". Wake. Grand Valley State University. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
- ^ a b c Bonanno 2003, pp. 87–88
- ^ a b c Critchley 2008, pp. 171–172
- ^ Critchley 2008, p. 179.
- ^ Parr 2005, p. 245
- ^ "U.S. Joins in Investigating Books of Gangland Leaders". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. August 31, 1930. p. 5.
- ^ a b c d e f Eghigian 2005, p. 174.
- ^ a b c d e f g "3d [sic] Machine Gun Nest is Found in Aiello Killing". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. October 29, 1930. p. 8.
- ^ a b c d e "Slain Aiello's Partner Comes Out of Hiding". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. October 28, 1930. p. 4.
- ^ Parr 2005, p. 258
- ^ "Aiello, Gang Chief, Slain in Chicago". The New York Times. New York City. October 24, 1930. p. 18.
- ^ a b "Say Aiello Killing Saved Al Capone". The New York Times. New York City. October 25, 1930. p. 36.
- ^ Eghigian 2005, p. 177.
- Buffalo News. Archived from the originalon March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
- ^ "Aiello's funeral". Chicago Tribune. 1930. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
- ^ "Gang Machine Gun Nest Found Opposite Home of Aiello Aids". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. November 15, 1930. p. 8.
- ^ "Milwaukee Assassin Kills Nephew of Slain Joe Aiello". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. May 25, 1931. p. 3.
- ^ Capeci 2005, p. 281
Bibliography
- ISBN 0312979231.
- Capeci, Jerry (January 4, 2005). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia (2 ed.). ISBN 1592573053.
- Critchley, David (September 15, 2008). The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931. ASIN B001OFIDHC.
- Eghigian, Mars Jr. (June 15, 2005). After Capone: The Life and World of Chicago Mob Boss Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti. ISBN 1581824548.
- Keefe, Rose (March 15, 2005). The Man Who Got Away: The Bugs Moran Story: A Biography. ISBN 1581824432.
- Parr, Amanda J. (October 8, 2005). The True and Complete Story of Machine Gun Jack McGurn. ISBN 1905237138.
- Shmelter, Richard J. (January 10, 2008). Chicago Assassin: The Life and Legend of "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn and the Chicago Beer Wars of the Roaring Twenties. ISBN 978-1581826180.
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