Forty-Two Gang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Forty-Two Gang was a Chicago teenage street gang which, like Brooklyn's Italian and Jewish street gangs of Brownsville and Ocean Hill, served as a "farm team" during Prohibition for future members of the Chicago Outfit whose members included future high ranking syndicate members such as Sam Battaglia, Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio, Sam DeStefano, Charles Nicoletti, Fiore "Fifi" Buccieri, Albert Frabotta, William Aloisio, Frank Caruso, William Daddano, Sr., Joe Ceasar DiVarco, Rocco Potenza, Leonard Gianola, Vincent Inserro and brothers Leonard and John Marshall Caifano.

The gang's history has been well documented and researched and, as early as 1931, an in-depth analysis by sociologists of the University of Chicago found that out of the original forty two gang members, over thirty had been killed, seriously wounded or imprisoned on a variety of charges including murder, armed robbery and sexual assault among other criminal activities.

1 Early history
2 Rebelling against authorities
3 The 42 Gang & the Chicago syndicate
4 References

[edit] Early history

Although consisting of only twenty four members upon its formation in 1925 (with some as young a nine years old), gang members supposedly named their gang after Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves claiming they were one better then their fictional namesakes. Based in Chicago's Little Italy, in a neighborhood known as "the Patch" on the city's westside, the gang originally started out become notorious for vandalism and petty theft stripping cars, stealing carts or horses from the stables of local fruit peddlers (sometimes reportedly killing stolen horses to supply horse meat), burglarizing cigar stores and staging armed holdups of prominent nightclubs.

The gang emerged as one of the most violent gangs in the city although they suffered heavy losses as a result gang wars with rival gangs as well a high rate of arrests regarding their frequent murders a number of robbery victims, suspected informants and police officers.

[edit] Rebelling against authorities

In 1928, Major William J. Butler of the boys' reformatory of St. Charles (where a number of gang members were detained) received a threat from a gang member who demanded "Unless you let our pals go, we'll come down there and kill everybody we see. We've got plenty of men and some machine guns." Although largely disregarding the call, he was advised by Chicago police officials to take the warning seriously and, after arming himself, called up the state militia to defend the reformatory against an attempted jail break.

After several days, three gang members led by Crazy Patsy Steffanelli were caught outside the reformatory walls and, after being taken into custody, bragged that they were a scouting party sent to have machine gunners infiltrate the facility.

The incident was widely covered by the press with many critics calling for a tougher stance against juvenile offenders as the Chicago Tribune declared the only decision facing authorities were sentencing gang members to Joliet Penitentiary or sending them to the electric chair.

[edit] The 42 Gang & the Chicago syndicate

The press coverage and media attention on the 42ers caught the notice of the city's bootlegging gangs, specifically the Chicago Outfit. Members frequently committed robberies for the sole purpose of spending considerable amounts of money in the speakeasies and underworld hangouts run by Al Capone and some were occasionally hired as beer runners or truck drivers, however most bootleggers considered the gang to risky to have around.

However, a gang member with a reputation as a skilled wheelman who was calm under pressure, future syndicate leader Sam "Mooney" Giancana was the first gang member to be brought into the syndicate becoming a driver and later protégé of Tony Accardo and Paul "The Waiter" Ricca. With his induction into the organization, he eventually brought a number of his fellow 42ers into the syndicate who were to become high ranking members themselves.

A number of gang members however, were eliminated by the syndicate due to their interference in syndicate operations such as Paul Battaglia, an early gang leader and older brother of Sam Battaglia, who was involved in the robberies of illegal horse betting rooms and handbooks during the mid-1930s.