◆ SpookStack

‘Ki’ CAPONE’ =underworld we DEBUT “... ello. Iss dis the Beeg Jim Colosimo who is spik? +..T am ver’ glad. Dis iss lettle Jimmy. I am jus callin’ ‘ou to tell you that I am goin’ to keel you someday... don’t know just when it will bee, but it will come. Goobye.” The telephone clicked and “charming” Vincenzo Cos- mano, perhaps the most perfect type of killer ever pro- duced fy Gangland before prohibition and the machine- m era, had cordially announced to “Big” Jim Colosimo, cago’ first great underworld king, that the “finger was on him.” In the picturesque argot of the half-world to put the finger on a man is to mark him for death. “Big” Jim Colosimo had had many fingers put on him, but never before had the knowledge affec: him like this. It had come at a time when everything seemed going wrong, and he trembled and began to perspire. Verging on emotional stampede “Big” Jim got in touch with his lieutenant, Johnny Torrio, who, for three years had been handling these matters in a relentiess and high- handed manner. When Colosimo had brought Johnny out from New York to be his body guard, he had been able to enjoy a measure of peace and security. The black-handers bad been beaten back; now again their sinister corre- spondence appeared in his mail. “Big” Jim didn’t admit it to himself, but he was afraid. Johnny Torrico knew that “Big” Jim was afraid when, on that morning, he called and said to him, “Johnny, perhaps you would like to have another good man to Herp you?” ‘And Johnny under- stood and said, “yes.” And so “Big” Jim left Chicago a few days later for New York. Shortly after he returned bringing with him two burly Italians, both of them young men and graduates of the celebrated Five Points Gang of New York, an organi- zation of which Little Johnny Torrio was an alumnus. One of these men was a quiet, furtive cl who called himself Alphonse Capone, and the other was Frankie Yale. Alphonse had come to stay; Frankie would leave just as soon as he had finished a special assignment. Well, the special assignment had to do * with Signor Cosmano, the boy who always called his shots. A few days later a big sutomo- bile whirled round a corner at high speed. On the corner Jimmy, fool- ishly enough stood taking the air. ere was a terrific roar, and Little Jimmy fell to the cement, his body full of lead. Writhing in pein he was taken to the hospital the police, who camped outside his door, intending to grab him if desth didn't, and desth didn’t. But, neither did the cops. Little Jimmy was a Sicilian and he had many Sicilian friends who thought well of his talents and were distressed that the law might store him away. In desperation they took the matter up with one “Big Tim” Murphy, a powerful union official and underworld char- acter from the “back-o-the-yards” district. on located just 2 sim r from Golosimo's cafe, Ike wae an old is days just sitting in his huge friend of “Big” Jim Colosimo. ornate (4) “What can do for Little Jimmy?” implored the agitated Italiane. Mr. Murphy was silent for several minutes thinking. Then he said curtly and without s smile: “Go up and take him.” And they did. And there you have the debut in Chicago of Alphonse Capone who was to rise to a towering position as the “Big Fellow” of the underworld in less than a decade. A great many of the local citizenry will tell you today that the debut of Capone together with the advent of prohibi- Hon was the worst “break” sustained by Chicago since it ¥ is first job then was that of # body guard for Colosimo. In order to better understand him it is necessary to examine the new background in which the vice lord had established him. “Big” Jim laid the foundations upon which Capone was later to build his mighty underworld empire. At the time - of young Capone’s arrival Colosimo was the master of the notorious old levee district. His principal interests were syndicated vice, syndicated prostitution and syn- dicated gambling, a fact unknown ty many who believe organized crime to be a recent phenomenon in Chicago. Colosimo's first appearance in the old levee district had been twenty years Before when he was only seventeen years old, His first feb was as a street-sweeper. It was the cleanest he ever held, More cunning than intelligent, something of a fist fighter and, above all, peculiarly talented in the art of making friends, young Colosimo s00n became immensely popular with his countrymen who represented a majority of the population. The politicians in the old levee soon found Colosimo and marked him for their own. Smart “wops" like him were much in demand to keep political machines running smoothly. From then on young Colosimo’s rise in the underworld was rapid. The step from street-sweeper to bawdy house proprietor had been easy and within a few years he had gathered in a half-dozen such places together with a few gambling dives and two cafes. The secret of it all was that he could sway the voting Population at will. Politicians curried his favor, the big shots among them soon heard Colosimo telling them, instead of asking them. No one dared molest the brothels, the gambling hells and opium joints owned or controlled by him, and as early as 1916, the year he summoned Johnny Torrio from New York, he had become a law unto himself, a maker and breaker of f political aspira- tions, a man of countless friendships and, alas, of countless enemies. As he acquired wealth the black-handers began to tor- ture him with their demands and threats. Torrio, as we have said, was effective in dealing with these sinister groups, and he not only brought a measure of content and security to “Big” Jim, but his presence in the underworld seemed to cause another wave of prosperity to sweep over the underworld domain. “Big” Jim’s evil business interesta began to expand. Vice and crime crept slowly into new territory, incipally the great steel and in- lustrial centers of the South Side. ‘With the adept Johnny at his side plus the heaviness of advanc- ing age, Colosimo began to mani- fest symptoms of indolence. Feel- ing safe once more from stray bul- Jets and powder bombs, he took things easy. Important matters were left entirely to capable John- ny. Colosimo did not stir himself even in the great reform period when the battering ram of public sentiment began tearing wide holes in the old levee district. But Johnny took care of matters pretty well, and continued to operate by the simple expedient of retiring into the buffet flat and the call house. Colosimo was plainly in decline, and his inactivity was rej led with a cold eye by his companions and the politicians. Lassitude took er hold on him as the days assed, and Colosimo spent most of ‘e dreaming contentediy.