Chicago Outfit  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, which dates from the 1910s. It is part of the larger Italian-American Mafia and originated in South Side, Chicago.

The Outfit rose to power in the 1920s under the control of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone and the period was marked by bloody gang wars for control of the distribution of illegal alcohol during Prohibition. Since then, the Outfit has been involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including loansharking, illegal gambling, prostitution, extortion, political corruption and murder. Capone was convicted of income tax evasion in 1931 and the Outfit was next run by Paul Ricca. He shared power with Tony Accardo from 1943 until his death in 1972; Accardo became the sole power in the Outfit upon Ricca's death and was one of the longest sitting bosses of all time upon his death in the early 1990s.

Though it has never had a complete monopoly on organized crime in Chicago, the Outfit has long been the most powerful, violent and largest criminal organization in Chicago and the Midwest in general. Its influence at its peak stretched as far as California, Florida and Nevada and it continues to operate throughout the Midwestern United States and Southern Florida, as well as Las Vegas and other parts of the Southwestern United States. Higher law enforcement attention and general attrition has led to its gradual decline since the late 20th century, though it continues to be one of the major and most active organized crime groups in the Chicago metropolitan area and Midwest.

In popular culture

The Chicago Outfit has a long history of portrayal in Hollywood as the subject of film and television.

Film

• Little Caesar (1931)
• Scarface (1932)
• Chicago Syndicate (1955)
• The Scarface Mob (television film, 1959)
• Al Capone (1959)
• The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)
• Point Blank (1967)
• Bullitt (1968)
• The Outfit (1973)
• Capone (1975)
• Thief (1981)
• Raw Deal (1986)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• Midnight Run (1988)
• Next of Kin (1989)
• The Firm (1993)
• Casino (1995)
• Payback (1999)
• Road to Perdition (2002)
• Public Enemies (2009)
• Chicago Overcoat (2009)
• Gangster Land (2017)
• Capone (2020)

Television

• The Untouchables (1959–1963)
• The F.B.I. (1965–1974)
• Crime Story (1986–1988)
• The Untouchables (1993–1994)
• Sugartime (TV film) (1995)
• The Rat Pack (1998)
• Prison Break (2005–2009)
• The Chicago Code (2011)
• The Firm (2012)
• Mob Wives: Chicago (2012)
• The Mob Doctor (2012–2013)
• Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014)
• The Making of the Mob: Chicago (2016)

See also

• Joe Aiello – rival to Al Capone during Prohibition; was also allied to Salvatore Maranzano during the Castellammarese War
• Grand Rapids Hotel
• Hired Truck Program scandal
• North Side Gang – a rival gang to Al Capone
• Timeline of organized crime in Chicago
• George "Babe" Tuffanelli
• Unione Siciliane