Forty-Two Gang

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The Forty-Two Gang ( 42-Gang , The 42's ) was a youthful street gang in Chicago that had formed during the US alcohol prohibition from 1925 and existed until about 1934.

history

Early years

The group had formed in 1925 on the west side of Chicago in Little Italy , in an area also known as "The Patch". The headquarters were "Mary's Restaurant" on the corner of Taylor and Bishop Street .

Comparable youth gangs had existed very early in the United States, especially around 1826 the Irish gang Forty Thieves around Edward Coleman in the Five Points of New York City .

The name is derived from Alli Baba and the forty robbers ; the larger number 42 should now signal the superiority of the 42-speed over the fictional model. The gang itself did not initially have that many members; a group of perhaps 20 people initially, some of whom were not older than nine years.

The special thing about this youth gang are on the one hand the prominent members - because some high-ranking mobsters of the Chicago outfit - and on the other hand the very well documented sociological study of the University of Chicago from 1931.

The gang was quickly noticed by activities such as vandalism , theft, etc. They stole u. a. The fruit traders' horses killed them and sold them to slaughterhouses .

But armed robberies (especially on nightclubs ) and sexual crimes were also part of it and the group developed into one of the most violent gangs in town. Their struggle with rival gangs took a heavy toll; over thirty of its members were either killed or wounded. Many members had to comply with prison sentences corresponding to the offenses and were temporarily imprisoned or - due to their young age - in reformatory institutions .

St. Charles Reformatory

In 1928, a number of band members was in the penitentiary of St. Charles . The establishment was militarily led by Major William Butler. One day he received a message from the gang that if he did not let the members go, the gang would come over and kill everyone there, as there were enough men and machine guns available .

Butler did not take the threat seriously, but the police asked him to comply. Butler then armed himself and activated the Illinois State Militia to defend the facility.

A few days later, three gang members, led by Patsy “Crazy” Steffanelli , were spotted outside the institution. One of them was arrested and it was found that the three were an advance team to spy on the possibility of armed forces entering the building.

These incidents received widespread and heated coverage in the local Chicago press, which generally called for tougher crackdown on juvenile offenders. The Chicago Tribune demanded z. B. the transfer of gang members to Joliet Prison or the execution with the electric chair .

The Battaglia brothers

The four Battaglia brothers showed what the gang members were made of: Augie, Paul and the two younger brothers Sam and Frank.

Paul - founding member of the gang and temporary leader, had already had close contacts with the Genna family ; Augie was considered a shrewd thief , was also the leader of the Forty Two Gang and was downright adored by younger gang members such as Sam Giancana and John D'Arco in particular .

Frank Battaglia was known for his robberies; with whom he knew no scruples; so he attacked the pregnant Maria Pelletier ; the mother of four apparently resisted, which is why Frank shot her in the head and escaped in a car with other gang members, Sam Giancana, Marshall Caifano and John D'Arco.

Sam was also a member of the Forty-Two gang ; he was very tall, made a name for himself as a muscle man and liked to use this physicality for blackmail. In 1924 he came under the wing of the Chicago Outfit, like many other Forty-Two Gang ; he was 16 years old at the time.

Chicago outfit

Due to the strong press coverage, the Chicago alcohol smugglers also took notice of the violent youth gang. In particular, Al Capone as the leader of the Chicago Outfit was interested in recruiting gang members and wanted to use the aggressiveness of this gang in the interests of the mobsters .

Sam Giancana in particular soon earned a reputation as a driver who kept his nerve even under pressure. He became the first member of the gang to be accepted as a full member in the Chicago outfit . Other 42 gang members followed this path. Sam Giancana later became the boss of the Chicago outfit (1957-1966) and other gang members should follow him to this post: Sam Battaglia (1966), Felix Anthony Alderisio (1967-1971).

Other members of the gang were considered so uncontrollable that they - although of Italian descent - later did not become full members of the Mafia ("Soldato") . Sam "Mad Sam" DeStefano was considered so insane - he is believed to have even killed his own younger brother - that he was not admitted despite serving a sentence in Leavenworth Prison with Outfit members Paul Ricca and Louis Campagna . DeStefano had set up a soundproof torture chamber in the basement of his house, which was probably also used for murder assignments by the outfit.

With gang members who were not only not included in the outfit and even added to it, however, a short process was now made. When Paul Battaglia also robbed betting shops of the Outfit in the mid-1930s , he was kidnapped on the street on August 27, 1938 and later found shot.

Members

Surname birth death † Root cause Nickname annotation
Alderisio, Felix Anthony 1912 1971 natural death Milwaukee Phil
Aloisio, William 1906 unknown Smokes
Battaglia, Augie 1934 shot Gang boss
Battaglia, Frank
Battaglia, Paul 1938 shot Gang boss, imprisoned in 1934
Battaglia, Salvatore "Sam" Joseph 1908 1973 natural death Teets 1966 boss of the outfit ; 1967–1973 imprisoned
Bioff, William Morris 1900 1955 Car bomb Willie Kosher Nostra
Buccieri, Fiore 1907 1973 cancer Fifi Bodyguard from Sam Giancana
Caifano, Leonard 1951
Caifano, Marcello Giovanni 1911 2003 natural death John Marshall "Enforcer" in Las Vegas , imprisoned 1980–1990
Caruso, Frank T. 1911 1983 natural death Skids
Daddano, William 1912 1975 natural death Willie Potatoes, William Russo
DeStefano, Samuel "Sam" 1909 1973 shot Mad Sam murdered by Anthony Spilotro
DiVarco, Joe Caesar 1910 1986 natural death Little Caesar in custody from 1985
Frabotta, Albert
Fratto, Louis 1908 1967 Cockeyed Louie aka "Lew Farrell"
Giancana, Salvatore "Sam" 1911 1975 The cigar, Momo 1957–1966 boss of the outfit
Gianola, Leonard
Insro, Vincent Friend of Anthony Spilotro
Nicoletti, Charles 1916 1977 shot Chuckie, The Typewriter
Potenta, Rocco
Steffanelli, Patsy Crazy

literature

Web links