Michele "Mike the Devil" Genna (; January 18, 1895 – June 13, 1925) was an Italian-born mobster in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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during the 1920s. He headed the
Genna crime family
The Genna crime family (), was a crime family that operated in Prohibition-era Chicago. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the six Genna brothers, known as the ''Terrible Gennas''.Capeci, Jerry. ''The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia' ...
with his brothers. He was killed by police officers after a shootout with
North Siders, being one of the only American
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
leaders to be killed by a policeman.
Early life
Michele Genna was born on January 18, 1895, in
Marsala
Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily.
The town is famous for the docking of Gius ...
,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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. Genna's parents, Antonino Genna Sr. and Maria Concetta Utica, had six other sons:
Antonio "the Gentleman",
Angelo "Bloody Angelo",
Vincenzo "Jim", Pietro "Peter", Salvatore "Sam", and Nicola Genna (who stayed in Sicily); and two daughters: Rosa Laudicina and Caterina Mariana.
He and his brothers entered the U.S. through New York around 1910.
Prohibition and O'Banion
The Gennas became a close knit Marsala-based Mafia and bootlegging gang. In 1919, the Gennas obtained a federal license to legally manufacture industrial alcohol, which they sold illegally. Angelo and his brothers operated from
Chicago's Little Italy, which was located west of the
Chicago Loop.
["La Cosa Nostra database: Genna Brothers]
Brothers
/ref>
They started selling their extra alcohol at cut-rate prices outside of their territory. This caused a problem with the 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 ...
leader 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 a ...
, who went to South Side Gang
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, tha ...
leader John "Johnny the Fox" Torrio and 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. ...
boss Mike Merlo
Michele "Mike" Merlo (January 4, 1880 – November 8, 1924) was a Chicago political figure and "fixer" associated in his later years with the Torrio-Capone organization. As head of the Unione Siciliana fraternal group, Merlo wielded consider ...
to get the Gennas to back down. When Torrio refused, O'Banion began hijacking shipments of alcohol belonging to the Genna brothers.
On November 3, 1924, Dean O'Banion inadvertently signed his own death warrant during an argumentative phone call to arch-rival Angelo Genna. Their disagreement originated at The Ship, the gambling casino that the North Side gang boss owned along with the Torrio Syndicate. On this day, O'Banion sat in with Al Capone, Frank Nitti
Frank Ralph Nitto (born Francesco Raffaele Nitto, ; January 27, 1886 – March 19, 1943), known as Frank Nitti, was an Italian-American organized crime figure based in Chicago. The first cousin and bodyguard of Al Capone, Nitti was in charge of ...
, Frank Rio
Franklin Rio also known as "Frank Rio" and "Frank Cline"Robert J. Schoenberg, ''Mr. Capone,'' HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. (June 30, 1895 – February 23, 1935) was a member of Al Capone's Chicago-based criminal organization known as the ...
, and others to tally the week's profits. It was mentioned that Angelo Genna had dropped a large amount of cash, plus a sizable marker. Capone recommended that they cancel the marker as a professional courtesy. O'Banion, instead, got Genna on the telephone and demanded that he pay his debt within a week. With this personal insult, Angelo Genna and his family could no longer be restrained. Until then, Merlo and the Unione had refused to sanction a hit on O'Banion. However, Merlo had terminal cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
and died on November 8, 1924. With Merlo gone, the Gennas and South Siders were free to move on O'Banion.
Torrio ordered the Gennas to murder O'Banion; the brothers carried out the hit on November 10, 1924. Francesco Ioele and two Genna hitmen— Giovanni Scalise and Alberto Anselmi—entered O'Banion's flower shop, Schofield, and when Yale and O'Banion shook hands, Scalise and Anselmi fired two bullets into O'Banion's chest and two into his throat, and one of them fired a final bullet into the back of his skull as he was lying on the floor, face-down.
Gang war and death
After O'Banion's death, the North Siders—now led by Henry Earl "Hymie" Weiss—attempted to kill Torrio outside his home on January 24, 1925, causing Torrio to flee to Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
; leaving his top bouncer— Alphonse "Scarface" Capone—in charge of the Outfit.
On May 26, 1925, Weiss, Vincent "the Schemer" Drucci, and George "Bugs" Moran shot and killed Angelo Genna in a high-speed car chase.
On June 13, 1925, Genna, Scalise, and Anselmi had a shootout with the North Siders. After the shootout, the three men were chased by Chicago Police detectives Michael Conway, rookie William Sweeny, officer Charles Walsh and another officer, Harold Olson. The three opened fire on the policemen killing Walsh and Olson and wounding a third officer.ODMP memorial Olsen and Walsh
/ref> Police shot Genna in the leg, severing an artery; Genna died in an ambulance after he kicked an officer in the face.
Funeral
Genna's family had planned for his funeral to be lavish like his late brother Angelo's funeral, but the funeral was quick and quiet due to the two policemen he killed. Police spread the word that they would arrest any gangster attending. No gangster attended, not wanting to be identified as one at his funeral and connected with the crime.
Aftermath
On July 9, 1925, Genna's brother Antonio was ambushed and killed by a Genna traitor on orders of Moran and Weiss. After Antonio's death, the three remaining Chicago brothers—Sam, Jim, and Peter—fled Chicago; leaving the Genna territory to be taken over by Joe Aiello
Giuseppe "Joe" Aiello (; September 27, 1890 – October 23, 1930) was a Sicilians, Sicilian bootlegger and organized crime leader in Chicago during the Prohibition in the United States, Prohibition era. He was best known for his long and bloody ...
and his brothers, then by the Outfit.[''The true and complete story of 'machine gun' Jack McGurn'' by Amanda Jayne Par]
pg.244
/ref>
References
External links
Mike "Mike the Devil" Genna
at Find A Grave
Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...
The Dean O'Banion Project
at 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 a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genna, Mike
1895 births
1925 deaths
People from Marsala
Italian emigrants to the United States
American gangsters of Sicilian descent
People shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States
Prohibition-era gangsters
People from Chicago
Deaths by firearm in Illinois