John Scalise (born Giovanni Scalise, 1900,

Castelvetrano Castelvetrano ( scn, Castiḍḍuvitranu) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy. The archeological site of Selinunte is located within the municipal territory. The municipality borders with Campobello di ...

Sicily Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. I ...

– May 7, 1929,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) was an American organized crime figure of the early 20th century and, with partner Albert Anselmi, was one of the

Chicago Outfit 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 or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, t ...

's most successful hitmen in Prohibition-era Chicago.

Prohibition and the Bootleg Wars

Shortly after he began working for the Gennas, Scalise met Albert Anselmi, who became his mentor and best friend. Both men remain, to this day, the prime suspects in the November 1924 murder of

Dean O'Banion Charles Dean O'Banion (July 8, 1892 – November 10, 1924) was an American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day made him better known ...

, boss of Chicago's

North Side Gang The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was an Irish-Polish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s. It was the principal rival of the South Side Gang, also ...

. Soon after O'Banion's murder, Scalise and Anselmi secretly defected from the Gennas to

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

. On June 13, 1925, Anselmi and Scalise, along with Mike Genna, ambushed North Siders George "Bugs" Moran and Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci in The Patch, shooting up their car with shotguns and wounding Drucci. About an hour later, as the shooters raced south on Western Avenue, they were sighted and pursued by a detective squad. After a high-speed chase, the gangsters were overtaken at the corner of Western and 60th Street. Immediately after the cars screeched to a stop, the gangsters jumped out and opened fire with their shotguns. During the ensuing gun battle, Chicago Police officer
Harold Olsen
an
Charles Walsh
were killed and Michael Conway severely wounded. The fourth officer, William Sweeney, pursued the fleeing Anselmi, Scalise, and Genna towards the next block of houses. Genna was fatally shot by Sweeney while the other two were captured after boarding a nearby streetcar. It was later said that when they were initially spotted by the detectives, Scalise and Anselmi were speeding south towards Chicago city limits in order to discreetly murder Mike Genna, who had allegedly been marked for death by the pair's secret employer, Al Capone. Anselmi and Scalise were bound over for trial. Prosecutor Bob Crowe vowed to send both men to the

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

. The two killers’ lawyers managed to convince the jury that they had reacted against "unwarranted police aggression." Anselmi and Scalise were found guilty of the

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...

of Officer Walsh and were sentenced to 14 years in prison. In the time between their trials, the two men and their cohorts sent "collectors" around The Patch to raise money for their defense fund. Men like Henry Spignola and Antonio Morici were murdered. The main "collector", a fearsome mobster named Orazio "The Scourge" Tropea, was discovered to be keeping most of the collections for himself. Tropea was shotgunned to death on Halsted Street on February 15, 1926. Other deaths followed before Scalise and Anselmi were both acquitted of the murder of Patrolman Harold Olsen. Back in

Joliet Prison Joliet or Jolliet may refer to: People * Louis Jolliet (1645–1700), French-Canadian explorer of North America * Oscar Joliet (1878–1969), Belgian scholar-priest and Catholic Auxiliary bishop of Ghent Places in the United States * Joliet, Illi ...

, both Scalise and Anselmi had difficulty adjusting to prison life. Both men were frequently beaten and Scalise was nearly poisoned on one occasion. Nevertheless, the two still played a part in Chicago gangland affairs. The war between Capone and the North Side Gang, now under Earl "Hymie" Weiss, reached a peak in the fall of 1926. During a peace conference, Weiss offered peace to Capone if the O'Banion killers, Scalise and Anselmi, were killed. Capone refused and had Weiss murdered less than two weeks later. In December 1926, both Scalise and Anselmi were granted a retrial in the Walsh killing and in January were released from prison. In June 1927, the two men were acquitted. Capone threw them a grand party, climaxed by a shoot-out with champagne-bottle corks.

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

Both John Scalise and Albert Anselmi were arrested and charged in the

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang that occurred on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago garage on the morning of February 14 ...

case. At the pair's arraignment on March 8, 1929, their attorney Thomas Nash asked the arresting officer, Sergeant Fred Valenta, if he had "just and reasonable grounds" for believing Scalise and Anselmi committed the massacre. Sergeant Valenta replied, "No."Bilek, Arthur, and Helmer, William J. ''The St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story Of The Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone''. Cumberland House Publishing, pg. 150 The two gangsters were then released due to a lack of evidence. Around this time, Scalise had been elevated to vice-president of the

Unione Siciliana The Italian-American National Union (formerly known as Unione Siciliana) was a Sicilian-American organization, which controlled much of the Italian vote within the United States during the early twentieth century. It was based in Chicago, Illinois ...

by new president Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta, who had taken over following the murder of its former president,

Pasqualino Lolordo Pasquale Lolordo (1887 – January 8, 1929), also known as Pasqualino or "Patsy", was an Italian-born American Mafia boss from Ribera, Sicily, and head of the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siciliana, a "front" organization for the Mafia. Lolord ...

Final days

In the early morning hours of May 8, 1929, the bodies of Scalise, Anselmi and Giunta were discovered on a lonely road near

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern L ...

. All three had been severely beaten and shot to death. One of Scalise’s gunshot wounds had torn off the pinky finger of his left hand. The coroner said that he had never seen such disfigured bodies. It was initially suspected that the North Side Gang had killed the trio in retaliation for the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. However, this theory was discounted a few days later when informants stated that the three men were lured to a banquet with their Sicilian friends and, while trying to break up a quarrel that was being staged for their benefit, were themselves attacked and killed. Scalise’s body was shipped back to Castelvetrano, Sicily, for burial. Years later, a more popular story emerged that Al Capone had discovered that Scalise, Anselmi, and Giunta were conspiring with rival mobster

Joe Aiello Giuseppe "Joe" Aiello (; September 27, 1890 – October 23, 1930) was a Sicilian bootlegger and organized crime leader in Chicago during the Prohibition era. He was best known for his long and bloody feud with Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone. Ai ...

to betray him. Capone bodyguard Frankie Rio was credited with uncovering the plan, which his boss initially refused to believe. During a charade concocted for their benefit, Capone staged an argument with Rio in front of Scalise and Anselmi and then slapped his bodyguard, who ran from the room. Both killers tracked Frankie Rio down and offered to bring him in on their plans with Giunta and Aiello. After confirmation of the treachery, an elaborate ruse was developed to get rid of the plotters. At the climax of a dinner thrown in their honor, Capone produced a baseball bat and beat the three men nearly to death, before two or three gunmen stepped in to finish the job.

Descendants

John Scalise was said to be the uncle of

mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

Joseph Jerome "Jerry" Scalise, who served under Albert Tocco.

References

External links