Giuseppe Aiello

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Giuseppe Aiello , also Joe (y) Aiello (born September 27, 1890 in Castellammare del Golfo , Sicily , † October 23, 1930 in Chicago ), was an Italian-American mobster in Chicago and president of the Unione Siciliana .

Life

Born as one of nine brothers, Aiello emigrated to the United States in July 1907 , where numerous members of his family - in particular his brother Andrea Aiello and numerous cousins ​​- had already arrived.

Members of the family soon opened a number of stores in New York City and Chicago, primarily importing products such as olive oil , cheese, and sugar , making them a family of so-called Mustache Petes . It was probably the import of sugar that brought the family into contact with organized crime , because with the alcohol prohibition in 1920, the illegal distilleries needed sugar to be able to produce their cheap booze . The Aiello clan soon supplied the Genna family in Chicago in particular .

The money generated was then also used in legal businesses such as bakeries and clothing stores. Aiello himself had meanwhile become a partner in the cheese import business run by mafioso Antonio Lombardo . When Mike Merlo died of cancer on November 8, 1924, the position of President of the Unione Siciliana , which was particularly coveted in the circles of La Cosa Nostra , became vacant . Aiello became involved in the now erupting disputes over the leadership of the Unione.

This organization, originally founded in 1890 as a pure interest and aid association for Sicilians, has now been ruled by the mafia. People were forced to become members and the so-called membership fees were collected by force if necessary. As a result, the presidency of this organization was of strategic importance for the supremacy within the mafia-like structures of the United States at the time.

Al Capone , who had had great influence on Merlo, now lost control of this position due to his death. Since he could not belong to the Unione as a non-Sicilian , he favored Lombardo, who was also influenced by him, as his successor. However, these plans were thwarted by Angelo Genna , who became Merlo's successor, so to speak. It is therefore still speculated today whether this was the decisive motive for Genna's murder by Capone's followers on May 25, 1925 and not the existing rivalries with the North Side Gang . After Samuzzo "Samuel" Amatuna , who was part of the Genna clan and who was Genna's successor as president, was eliminated, Lombardo was finally able to become president of the Unione Siciliana . One of his achievements was opening up to non-Sicilians and thus also to Al Capone.

Beginning of the conflict with Capone

Whether Aiello had already kept an eye on the position of president at this time remains speculation; but his financial ambition had risen and he apparently sought to extend its control over the common import business Antonio Lombardo & Co on. In any case, there were a number of quarrels between him and Lombardo, which also earned him the opposition of Capone, who was behind Lombardo.

This opposition then became evident through a few murder attempts and culminated in a $ 35,000 offer by Aiello to the boss of Capone's regular pub, the Bella Napoli Café , which belonged to Joe Esposito , to poison Capone's soup. However, the project was betrayed to Capone, who feared further attempts.

During the course of 1927, Aiello began hiring a number of killers from across the United States to assassinate Capone and Lombardo. A trail of blood began to run through Chicago as many of these hired killers failed and were themselves victims of Al Capone's men:

The police did not ignore this series and they became aware of further contacts Aiello had made to professional killers, such as Angelo La Mantio from Milwaukee . To end the series, Aiello's arrest was ordered.

When Capone heard of the arrest, he tried to take advantage of the situation and posted many of his people in front of the police building, who should shoot Aiello after the expected release. This march was apparently so conspicuous that three of his people were arrested right in front of the police building. Among them was Louis Campagna , who, imprisoned in a side cell of Aiello, threatened Aiello with his coming fatal fate.

Aiello therefore left the building under police protection and he and some of his brothers first went to New Jersey to be on the safe side. In order to survive against Capone, Aiello now allied with the North Side Gang under the leadership of Bugs Moran . Its two hitmen, the brothers Frank and Peter Gusenberg , now it fell to Lombardo to kill, which they succeeded on September 7, 1927 in Chicago Street . The other side owed nothing and on November 10, 1927, Aiello's brothers Robert and Frank were murdered in Springfield, Illinois .

In view of the death of Lombardo, Aiello wanted to become president of the Unione Siciliana himself and invited to a Mafia meeting in the Statler Hotel in Cleveland to discuss his entitlement to the office. However, the police received a tip and arrested 23 members of the meeting; including Joe Profaci and Joseph Magliocco from the New York Mafia.

Murder of Lolordo

When the Gusenberg brothers killed Lombardo's brother and successor Pasqualino Lolordo on January 8, 1929 , Capone must have decided to take the drastic measures that led to the so-called Valentine's Day massacre of February 14, 1929, which marked the end of the North Side Gang initiated and in which u. a. the Gusenberg brothers perished. The weakening of the North Side Gang, however, also increased Aiello's influence, who now set out to win allies in the camp of Capone. So he apparently tried to win Albert Anselmi and John Scalise , whom Capone had poached from the Genna family . Aiello also tried to convince the new head of the Unione , Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta , of the need to eliminate Al Capone.

It is still unclear whether the three were really convinced by Aiello; in any case, Capone became aware of the contact and then apparently no longer took any risks. However, whether he actually laid hands on May 7, 1929 with the help of a baseball bat , as shown in numerous Mafia films , is more doubtful today and is considered one of numerous ineradicable legends surrounding La Cosa Nostra . In any case, the battered bodies of the three possible defectors were found on May 8, 1929.

Nevertheless, Aiello managed to be elected president of the Unione Siciliana at a meeting in Atlanta . The fact that he was able to take up and exercise his office was certainly also thanks to Al Capone's one-year prison sentence, which he had to serve for carrying a hidden weapon. The detention began on May 16, 1929 and ended prematurely on March 17, 1930 because of good conduct.

On April 24, 1930, the Chicago Crime Commission published a list of 28 "public enemies" of Chicago, headed by Al Capone and ranked 13th on Aiello.

The end

Barely in freedom, Capone organized the elimination of some Aiello people, so u. a. those of Peter "Ashcan" Insertio and Aiello's bodyguard Jack Costa . Aiello is said to have hid in the house of the Unione's treasurer , Pasquale "Presto" Prestogiacomo , at 205 Kolmar Avenue . When he left it on October 23, 1930 to flee to Mexico , he was struck down by the sheaf of a Thompson submachine gun , which was fired from a window on the second floor in the block opposite. Aiello fell down the front stairs and staggered around the corner of the house, but now came into the field of fire of another shooter who was posted on the third floor of a house and finally knocked him down.

Aiello, hit by a total of 59 projectiles, was still taken to Garfield Park Hospital , but his injuries were so severe that any help came too late. He was initially buried in the Mount Carmel cemetery next to his old business partner Lombardo, but was apparently later implemented. His grave is now in Riverside Cemetery in Rochester .

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Joseph Giunta President of the Unione Siciliana in Chicago
1929 - 1930 		Agostino Loverdo
personal data
SURNAME Aiello, Giuseppe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aiello, Joe; Aiello, Joey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-American mafioso
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Castellammare del Golfo , Sicily
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1930
Place of death Chicago , USA