Genna crime family
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The Genna crime family was one of the major players in the Chicago gangland wars of the 1920s. It consisted of six Sicilian brothers: "Bloody Angelo", Antonio, Mike ("The Devil"), Peter, Sam, and Vincenzo ("Jim"). The violent and hot-tempered Genna brothers soon became known as the Terrible Gennas.
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[edit] Prohibition
When Prohibition became federal law in 1919, the Gennas quickly realized that bootlegging could be a very profitable racket. They obtained a federal license to legally manufacture industrial alcohol, which they would later re-distill and sell as illegal drinking alcohol. The Gennas soon controlled the Little Italy area of Chicago (situated immediately west of The Loop). A three-story warehouse on Taylor Street served as their headquarters. The Gennas' power in Little Italy grew; they eventually backed the area's Republican Party boss, Joseph Esposito (mobster).
Soon the demand for the Gennas' cheap rotgut liquor outgrew their supply. Henry Spignola, a lawyer whose sister later married Angelo Genna, devised a plan to place small alcohol stills in households throughout Little Italy. The Gennas would pay each household $15 a day to be a "still watcher". The household distilling scheme was a success, producing a new surplus of alcohol. The trouble started when the Gennas started marketing this product outside their territory.
[edit] The Chicago Combine
To prevent bloody turf wars between rival bootleggers, South Side boss John "The Fox" Torrio had negotiated a bootleggers combine that divided the city into territories for each bootlegger. With extra alcohol to sell, the Gennas started selling it at cut-rate prices outside their territory. This produced a clash with the North Side Gang under Dean O'Banion. O'Banion complained about the Gennas to Torrio. Torrio and local Unione Siciliana boss Mike Merlo managed to get the Gennas to back off a bit. However, since Torrio was allied with the Gennas, he refused to take any significant action against them. In addition, Torrio was unhappy with O'Banion's own cheating with his liquor sellers in the suburb of Cicero, Illinois.
O'Banion increased the conflict by hijacking a shipment of Genna whiskey and double-crossing Torrio on the sale of brewery. After this last provocation, Torrio acquiesed to the Gennas and decided to kill O'Banion. On November 10, 1924. Unione Siciliana national director Frankie Yale, a New York mob leader and assassins John Scalise and Albert Anselmi shot and killed O'Banion in his floral shop. Mike Genna drove the getaway car for the three gunmen.
[edit] Gang War
With O'Banion's murder, Chicago erupted into gang war. North Siders George "Bugs" Moran, Earl "Hymie" Weiss, and Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci shot and wounded Torrio outside his home. After recovering from the hit, Torrio, now terrified, turned his operations over to his lieutenant Al Capone and fled to Italy. The North Siders also went after Capone, killing friends and gang members of his and also ambushing him frequently.
The North Side Gang took particular aim at the Genna brothers however. In May 1925, Moran chased down Angelo Genna in a high speed car chase and then shot him to death. Next, Mike "the devil" was gunned down by police when he turned his gun on them after a fierce shootout with the North Siders. Then, on November 1925, Drucci shot and killed Genna backer Samuzzo "Samoots" Amatuna in a barber shop. Soon after that, Tony Genna was shot to death in an ambush. It is has been said Al Capone ordered his death to finally put the Gennas out of the way. With the North Siders, as well as Capone, coming at them, the surviving Gennas left Chicago. Capone and Moran took the Genna spoils and continued to fight bloody turf wars throughout the decade that would not stop until Capone was sent away to prison.
All six Genna brothers are buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Hillside, Illinois with both O'Banion and Capone.
