| Show ik it THE SALT LAKE TTJBUNE SUNDAY ilORNING auhaar-i- t AUGUST 19J0 C With Capone on prolonged vacation and Moran strangely missing Joe Aiello millionaire head oL the Unione Siciliana and boss of all north side racketeering ranks as the king of gangland back a Jong way anti reach into some queer places Some of the most interesting if not the most figures in the important story are men little known ROCHC outside of Chicago Among them there are the notorious Aiello brothers There are half a dozen or more of them but the one I want to talk about now is Joe Aiello Joe is in with the North Side mob and while it’s the South Side crowd — Capone’s outfit — that is the more powerful in Chicago Joe Aiello has been at the bottom of enough trouble to satisfy anyone No one knows just how many of the disturbances that have rocked Chisago in the last couple of years trace back to Aiello The finger of suspicion points towards him in aome of the most sensational killings Chicago has had Hut s is the case so often in Chicago the finger points but it doesn't go any farther The hardest job in the world is definitely pinning the guilt on a man m a gangland murder Joe Aiello unlike most of the rest of Chicago's hoodlums began his career honestly The majority of them jobs in commercialized vice or graduate from small-tim- e from ordinary criminal careers but Joe up to a comparatively few vears ago was an honest man fie used to be a wholesale grocer He was born in Palermo in Italy something like 40 years ago and he bas been in this country for about 22 years His early career was much like that of any energetic Italian immigrant who su'""d in business UT Joe didn't stay honest He got mixed up in gang affairs perhaps a decade or more ago Tony Lombardo was his partner and Tony for a long time was one of A1 Capone’s most trusted men Tony and Joe got to racketeering Using the ordinary terroristic methods they were forcing dozens of the small Italian grocers to buy from them Several years ago Aiello’s attorney trying to explain the huge amount of money that Aiello was making asserted that his grocery business was netting him $100000 a year But it wasn't long before Aiello got into gang affairs much more deeply He first began coming to the notice of police as a gang figure when Lombardo became bead of the powerful Unione Siciliana has 15000 This organization members and its leader has a lot of influence Its leadership was a choice plum for Lombardo and Aiello Ibrough it they could get a much g wider market for such necessities as sugar grapes stills etc Aiello had gone into the business cl supplying sugar to the distillers on a big scale and the leadership of the Unione Sicilians was just what he and Lombardo needed The organization had been directed by one Mike Merlo Met la was not much in favor of gang dealings and lie did his best to keep the Unione peaceful But when he died there was sn open fight for his place Angelo Genna and “Samoots” Amatuma also wanted the job Lombardo however had Capone’s backing and one night Genna and Amatuma were shot to death and Lombardo got the job immediately thereafter without opposition It was just about at this time that the North and South Side gangs made one of their famous peace treaties! Under this treaty Chicago was divided in half Ierntory south of Madison Street was to be Capone's territory to the north was to be the land of a syndicate formed by Billy Skidmore a politician a gangster named Barney BetHche and “Bugs” Moran For a little while follow mg this division Chicago had peace It didn’t last long however First of all come trouble between Aiello and Lombardo After Lombardo became president of the Unione Sicilian he took to shoving Aiello down into a minor position Joe didd't like it and he swung over to the North Side crowd and became a leader B came trouble — big truuble Several attempts were made on Al Capone’s life A big banquet was arranged at a downtown hotel where leaders of the rival factions were to put their feet under tlie same set of tables and celebrate the peace treaty but the North Siders bribed the chef to drop some poison in Capone's food the chef got cold feet and told Capone and the era of peace blew up with a loud bang The Cajione crowd blamed Aiello and war was declared all over again Four of Aiello’s men were machine-gunne- d The North Siders retaliated by offering $50000 for the deaths of Capone and Lombardo Two St Louis gangsters came up to get the money Capone found out they were in town and they were shot to death before they had a chance to execute their assignment Aiello promptly sought to retaliate in true gang style by renting rooms in a downtown hotel overlooking a cigar shop that was run by a local politician — a place Capone often visited In that room were established a couple of men with a machine gun As luck would have it however the police caught on and raided the place before it could be put to the bloody purpose Shortly thereafter a similar plot was laid against Lombardo a room being rented opposite his house and an arsenal planted there T his plan like the other failed the place being discovered by the police and in a few days immediately following four more of Aiello’s flats were found in different parts of the city eacfl filled with weapons By this time the South Siders were looking for Aiello So Aiello ducked out of the city in a hurry and stayed in hiding which was just as well for him Here's a little illustration to show you just how eager the Capone men were m for AielloOne day a report looking came into Capone’s headquarters that Aiello candidates violent death made him president of the Sicilian orand violent death ended ganization his reign Pasquale Lolordo Tony Lombardo became president of the Unione Siciliana when two rival HORTLY thereafter Were con- murdered veniently but he himself shot down from behind of the They finally volvers fired fate caught up with him in the fall of 1928 Tony was sauntering along a street in the heart of the Loop in broad daylight He never noticed when a couple of men stepped out doorway of an office building and followed him drew closer' while he walked along unsuspecting as he reached the busy corner of Madison and rn streets they came close behind him drew re put the muzzles against the back of his head and Lombardo’s It happened Lombardo fell dead The killers ducked away in the crowd and escaped To this day no one knows who they were but the Capone people blamed Aiello This threw the leadership of the Unione Siciliana open again Capone still kept control however and put Pasquale Lolordo in as Lombardo’s successor Lolordo took the job but he didn't keep it long His election followed the murder of Aiello’s candidate one Peter Rizzuto and the choice was supposed to have been ratified at a meeting held in was broken up by incidentally the Cleveland police who arrested all the participants fined them and then hustled them out of town Aiello was supposed to have been the man who tipped off the Cleveland police that the group was in the city Cleveland This meeting kept hi3 job only two or three months He treacherous d of the most killings gangland has ever known Three men came to his houre to call one night They were men Lolordo knew and trusted Fie admitted them had them sit down at a table with him and opened some wine for them He filled the glasses and lifted his own to drink a toast to them He never swallowed that toast As he put his glass to his lips his visitors drew revolvers and fired Lolordo went down with nine bullets in his body — instantly killed of course His murderers got out of the house and escaped His widow was unable to tell the police who the visitors were however you might note that when they showed her a picture of Joe Aiello she screamed once involuntarily still able to conwas Capone trol the Unione Siciliana He now installed a triumvirate to rule over the organization — John 'Setlisi Albert Anselmi and Joe Guinto These men known as “the big three” took charge of firomptly LOLORDO Joe Aiello used to honest n liquor-makin- cold-bloode- The Capone gang by this time owed the North Side crowd a bit of revenge Lombardo ' and then Lolordo had been shot down and no vengeance had been taken So' the South Siders laid their plans which matured in the famous St Valentine’s Day massacre — most spectacu- lar of all of gangland’s shootings As might be expected there was a feprisal which came within a few months One morning in May 1929 the police of Hammond lnd found three bodies in a ditch by the roadside When identification was made it was found that thes were the “big three” of the Unione Siciliana — Scalisi Anselmi and Guinto I should add that Scalisi was under indictment Jor the St Valentine's Day massacre- along with Machine Gun Jatk McGurn who Was later freed for want of evidence — The South Siders of course blamed the Moran crowd for this murdrr and especially Jde Aiello At all events the Capone outfit pushed the war against Moran and his men so effectively that Moran is now out of Chicago lying low while his gang is badly disorganized Joe Aiello however is still prospering He maintains a good suite of offices and lives high — in fact he is reputed to be a millionaire Oh yes there’s one thing more Joe Aiello at last is head of the Unione Siciliana I The insolent prosperity of gangmen This Chihad Been arrested In no time their machines were gang bile holding rounded u Was cago police by group up all at wrecked or stolen Rival beer Capone gunmen began a Sicilian caucus in a respectable CL eland hotel bucks were wrecked and the drifting into the detective buJoe Aiello is believed to have tipped off Clevereau Soon there were at least drivers were slugged A brew” land police on the ‘‘big business convention a score of them unobtrusive ery was established just over hard - faced the line in Wisconsin neatly - dressed It was during this period — along in 1927-2— that young chaps lounging about all of them “just waiting” It happened that the coat of one of these men happened Aiello got the Chicago gangs some nation-wid- e publicity to flap back and a policeman saw his gun The police began Under Moran’s direction he bought a resort near the town of Antioch and set up a machine gun range where his men to frrk them then and arrested five The rest drifted out and drove away m big autos As it happened the rumor could brush up on their marLmanship They ued to turn their guns loose across an open about Aiello’s being arrested was wrong But imagine what the bullets Their marksmanship might have happened if Aiello had been brought m there plunk into a bank at the far end while those 20 Capone gangsters were waiting for him! wasn’t so good however and the neighbors were enThen Aiello helped the Moran outfit in theii effort to dangered so the thing was eventually stopped branch out to the north He went up into Lake County with his strong-arLL this time however Aiello and his associates in squad and entered a strenuous the Moran gang hadn’t forgotten their grudge against paign to control the slot machine and beer rackets up there Resort keepers wet threatened right and left I f fliey had ' Capone’s crowd and especially they hadn’t forgotten slot machines that weren't the row with Tony Lombardo And so at last Tony paying tribute to the Noith Side ck Sliguins — mated In U S A) Cc'opyrlght 1IJ0 By Every 8 field-letti- V ng - ' |
