William Jackson a.k.a. "Action Jackson" (December 1, 1901 Chicago, Illinois – August 11, 1961 Streeterville) was an enforcer and loan collector for the Chicago Outfit. He was tortured to death by his fellow gangsters on suspicion he had become an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
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William Jackson was a big man, weighing over 300 pounds (140 kg). In 1960, an FBI agent, Bill Roemer asked Jackson to become an informant for the FBI. He wanted to know everything that was going on with the Chicago Outfit. Being a loyal member to the Outfit, Jackson declined becoming an informant. In 1961, Jackson was accused of being an informant for the FBI. According to many sources he was kidnapped and taken to a meat-rendering plant on Chicago's south side, where he was tortured by gangster Sam DeStefano.[1] DeStefano and his crew took Jackson at gun point and led him to the plant. He was then hung on a meat hook, his kneecaps were smashed, and he was tortured with a cattle prod in an attempt to force him to confess. Jackson died after three days in unconsciousness, from being shocked with a wet cattle prod.[2] On August 11, 1961, his naked body was found stuffed in the trunk of his Cadillac on lower Wacker Drive at Wells Street.
According to Gus Russo, author of The Outfit, there were Mob insiders who believed Jackson was killed for raping an imprisoned Mob-connected burglar's wife. Russo also states that Mrs. Humphreys, wife of Outfit fixer Murray "The Camel" Humphreys, asserted the conversation where the government learned about Jackson's fate was staged by mobsters who were aware the government had planted a microphone. These possibilities have not been verified.[3][4][5][6]
Jackson's death is named and shown near the beginning of the semi-biographical movie Ruby, directed by John Mackenzie and starring Danny Aiello as the title character of Lee Harvey Oswald's assassin, Jack Ruby.[7]
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