Jim Colosimo

"Big Jim" Colosimo

Giacomo Colosimo , also James or Big Jim , (born February 16, 1878 in Colosimi , Cosenza Province , Calabria , Italy , † May 11, 1920 in Chicago , USA ) was one of the predecessors of Al Capone as head of La Cosa Nostra in Chicago also known as the Chicago outfit .

Early life

In May 1891 he emigrated from Calabria to Chicago, where he arrived in June of the same year with his brother Antonio - who, however, returned to his Italian homeland. He began to Americanize his real name at an early age and initially worked as a newspaper boy, shoe shine and messenger for smaller gangsters. His first full-time job was as a water boy for the workers who laid the railroads. He also began pickpocketing and small blackmail from local traders at an early age . At 15 he switched to railroad construction himself. He worked in the route laying and other, comparable work. On April 4, 1896, he officially became a citizen of the United States of America.

On September 10, 1897, Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison, Jr. (son of Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr., who was murdered in 1893 ) presented a major program to clean the streets of Chicago from dirt (especially horses). The workers employed there were called white wings by the citizens of the city because of their white clothing . Jim Colosimo managed to get one of these jobs and started working in the First District of Chicago ( First Ward ). Colosimo quickly gained a leadership position among these workers and organized a social and athletic club. He was able to influence the members of this club in such a way that they voted in the elections for the candidate that Colosimo favored and pretended. Through this incipient position of power he gained the attention of First Ward Councilman John "Bathhouse John" Coughlin, who promoted him to the political office of assistant constituency leader. In April 1901 he was also the inspector for road affairs, who should supervise the control of the cleaned roads. In addition, he began to expand his own property, was an official restaurant owner by 1900 and bought a billiards shop in 1902 .

Colosimo's power over Chicago

Colosimo began its first illegal activities as early as the 1890s and joined a group of "blackhanders" who terrorized Italian business people. But soon he moved to another area and became a pimp of some prostitutes on the street. A dispute with the police should also divert him from this path and bring him into the commercial area of ​​this trade. The acquaintance with Victoria Moresco was useful .

On July 22, 1902 Colosimo married Victoria Moresco , owner of a brothel , and later got into the trafficking of prostitutes one (often called "ring of white slaves" called); from her he learned the business side of this trade. Shortly afterwards he took over his wife's brothel himself and opened a second one from the profits, which he named Victoria in honor of his wife . In the period that followed, the couple expanded their activities and Colosimo also succeeded in persuading its "employees" to support his choice. Colosimo added another large clientele (in addition to many residents of the First Ward of Italian origin ) and enjoyed increasing authority. Coughlin also became more aware of this potential for power, who then appointed Colosimo as the new constituency leader. With the steady development of his "empire" and the increasing demand for new prostitutes, Colosimo began to deal with white slavery . This was the name given to the kidnapping or enslavement of women across state borders into the cities, who were lured under false pretenses and then sometimes forced into prostitution. One trick was to drive them into debt and then through that work to demand repayment of their debts.

A well-known human trafficker with whom Colosimo made a business deal was Maurice Van Bever , who kept supplying Colosimo with new women in the 1900s. Colosimo Harry Guzik and his wife Alma, who regularly searched smaller towns in the surrounding states, and Emma “French Em” Guvin were also helpful .

Because of the high profits from these activities, he was probably blackmailed by "Blackhanders" around 1909 . Since his wife Victoria was the aunt of the gangster Johnny Torrio , she asked him for support. Other theories have suggested that Torrio was either Victoria Moresco's cousin or Colosimo's nephew himself (a weak indication that Colosimo's sister and Torrio's mother were both named Maria, but historian Rose Keefe contends that this could be sheer coincidence as this name is often used by women of Italian descent). However, other sources claim that regardless of extortion, Colosimo brought Torrio to Chicago in 1909 and made him the manager of his Saratoga brothel. Colosimo and Torrio had met on one of his previous visits to Chicago. Torrio, a member of the Five Points Gang in New York City , arranged to meet the blackmailers, whom he then fatally gunned down with the help of two other men. According to police reports, however, this failed blackmail attempt did not take place until November 1911.

1912 turned out to be the year that Colosimo saw the first serious problems in his craft. For a number of years there have been various reform movements aimed at closing the Chicago vice districts in the city and eliminating the influence of this negative image on Chicago. In addition, it was intended to attack one of the largest of these neighborhoods, the so-called "The Levee " in the First Ward . This quarter, in which Colosimo mainly operated, represented the second nuisance of the reformers, which should be combated. Previous attempts to denounce these demarcated areas have consistently been undermined or ignored by the ruling powers, including the Chicago Vice Commission report . The Committee of Fifteen (in German: Committee of Fifteen), which was founded in 1908, was supposed to establish itself as the successor institution against Colosimo's interests . In August, under pressure from the committee and the population, Mayor Harrison began the first attacks against establishments and ordered raids .

Another person who was instrumental in the fight against Colosimo and its partners in the vicious trade became the state attorney for the state of Illinois, John E. Wayman . This was increasingly put under pressure by the Law and Order League under Arthur Burrage Farwell , which managed to close a brothel through a civil law process and now Wayman threatened to revoke his lawyer license if he did not take serious action against the shameful districts . Additional motivation for Wayman resulted from his planning to run for governor of Illinois in 1913 . So he began to orientate himself on the mood of the population and approached the "Committee of Fifteen". At the end of September 1912 he announced in a statement that he would proceed against the demarcated Schandviertel. Mayor Harrison followed suit in early October, seeing the advantages of the political opponent. However, his promises should be limited to words; in reality, he was only practicing delaying tactics that were openly transparent.

In October 1912, Wayman began to openly raid various establishments and arrest suspects. This also included localities owned by James Colosimo. The leaders of the Levee met frequently in Colosimo's Cafe and after the first raids decided to set up a kind of Levee Committee of Fifteen . In addition, they launched a counter-attack in which all prostitutes who were employed by the leaders slowly poured out into the streets and thus threatened the image of the city more. In addition, it was planned to achieve the protection of their districts through a bill for the state, but both measures failed. However, while police attacks continued, another problem emerged in late October. Activist Kate J. Adams testified at a city ​​council hearing , detailing the activities and makeup of the vices organization that Colosimo presided over. In addition, she was able to name other members of Colosimo's group as well as other involved sizes. As a result, Mayor Harrison's resistance broke and he withdrew political support from the affected counties in late October and announced that he would take public action against it. The consequence of Wayman's and Harrison's efforts was that the various brothels, saloons and gambling halls had to continue operating on a more discreet level.

"Big Jim's" death

Colosimo was formally ruling Chicago's underworld when Al Capone , another Five Pointer , arrived there in 1919. But "Big Jim" had given more and more responsibility to Torrio. While Colosimo was apparently satisfied with the status quo of the business and did not want to take any further risks, Torrio developed ambition. Torrio realized at the time that as a result of alcohol prohibition , large-scale illegal trafficking would generate large profits.

On March 20, 1920, Colosimo divorced Victoria to marry Dale Winter. Torrio now took this circumstance as an opportunity to formally assist his aunt in informally removing the obstacle Colosimo as head of the party. Torrio took advantage of the honeymoon to organize the murder with Capone. Both brought Frankie Yale , also a Five Pointer , from New York City, as his face was not known in Chicago. Colosimo then shot dead on May 11, 1920.

Web links

• Giacomo Colosimo at www.findagrave.com (English)
• Giacomo Colosimo: CV on www.gambino.com (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
-, -	Head of the “ Chicago Outfit ” of La Cosa Nostra 1910–1920	Johnny Torrio