James Torello

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James Vincent "Turk" Torello (December 1930 - April 1979) was an Italian-American mobster who became a caporegime and leading enforcer for the Chicago Outfit during the mid-to-late 1970s.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Torello's first arrest was in 1945; his rap sheet would eventually include convictions for auto theft, armed robbery, burglary and hijacking. Torello would serve two years in federal prison for violating firearms laws. Torello would serve as capo of the South Side/26th Street crew.

In the late 1960's, Torello sent Robert "Bobby the Beak" Siegel to Las Vegas, Nevada to help collect $87,000 from an associate of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, the Outfit agent at the Stardust hotel and casino. This story was related by Siegel at the Family Secrets trial in Chicago in the summer of 2007.

On another occasion, an angry mob boss Sam Giancana dispatched Torello and mobster Jackie Cerone to kill Outfit member Frank Esposito in Florida. Luckily for Esposito, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) secretly recorded Giancana's conversation and warned Esposito. Esposito then settled his dispute with Giancana and the hit was canceled. According to tape recordings, Torello and his killers had planned to murder Esposito, cut him up in small pieces, and feed them to the sharks off the Florida coast.

By the early 1970s, Torello had become a high ranking member within the Outfit. In 1973, with the death of Fiore "Fifi" Buccieri, Torello became the Outfit's chief enforcer. He also became involved in loan sharking, illegal gambling, and pornography.

In April 1979, James Torello died of cancer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He was 49.

[edit] Further reading

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime in Chicago: Hearing Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1983. [1]
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Professional Motor Vehicle Theft and Chop Shops: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1980. [2]