Michele "Mike the Devil" Genna (; January 18, 1895 – June 13, 1925) was an Italian-born mobster in

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

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) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. 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 The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

."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 ...

, 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 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

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The Dean O'Banion Project
at

{{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