Angelo "Bloody Angelo" Genna (; February 3, 1898 – May 26, 1925) was an Italian-born Chicago bootlegger and

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 ...

leader during the

Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic be ...

. The leader of his own Sicilian

crime family A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly in Italian organized crime and especially in the Sicilian Mafia and Italian American Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory or a specific set of activ ...

, he was best known for his war 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, als ...

leader, Charles Dean O'Banion. Genna masterminded the assassination of O'Banion in November 1924. Genna and his brothers then fought the North Side's new leader, George "Bugs" Moran. But, almost seven months later, in May 1925, Moran chased Angelo in a high-speed car chase and shot him to death. In June and July, two of Angelo's brothers were killed, while the other three brothers fled.

Early life

Angelo Genna was born on February 3, 1898, 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", Mike "the Devil", 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. Angelo arrived in New York harbor on August 5, 1914, via the S.S. ''Venezia''. He was on his way to meet his brother Pietro, who lived at 870 Blue Island Avenue in Chicago.

Aldermen's Wars

The

Aldermen's Wars The Alderman's wars was a series of murders and violent rioting between warring Alderman Johnny "de Pow" Powers and Anthony D'Andrea from 1916 until 1921. Over a period of five years, over 30 deaths were reported during the struggle for control ov ...

were at their height at the time of the 19th Ward's 1921 elections.

Anthony D'Andrea Anthony D'Andrea (born Antonio D'Andrea; ; June 7, 1872 – May 12, 1921) was an Italian-born Mafia boss of Chicago in the late 1910s to early 1920s. He was also a Democrat and a political leader who was a president of the Unione Siciliana and was ...

hired Genna to kill supporters of

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members ...

John Powers. Genna was suspected of killing Harry Raimondi and Paul Labriola, two Powers supporters that won the elections. Genna was arrested and tried for the murder of Labriola. His defense attorney was a friend of D'Andrea. In 1922, Genna was prosecuted for the murder of Paul Notti, who had identified Genna on his deathbed. Genna was not convicted on either charge. In November 1922, Genna was sentenced to a year in prison after being convicted for the prostitution of a 15-year-old girl."La Cosa Nostra database: Genna Brothers
Brothers
/ref> On December 18, 1922, Genna was arrested by detectives after being named as a stolen goods fence for a gang accused of killing Joe Lanus. He is then released on $15,000 bonds.

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 ...

. They started selling their extra alcohol at cut-rate prices outside of their territory. This caused a problem with the North Side Gang 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 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, Illinoi ...

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 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—

John Scalise John Scalise (born Giovanni Scalise, 1900, Castelvetrano, Sicily – May 7, 1929, Chicago) was an American organized crime figure of the early 20th century and, with partner Albert Anselmi, was one of the Chicago Outfit's most successful hitme ...

and Alberto Anselmi—entered O'Banion's flower shop, Schofield, and when Yale and O'Banion shook hands, Scalise and Anselmi shot two bullets into O'Banion's chest and two in his throat, and one of them shot a final bullet into the back of his skull as he was lying on the floor, face-down.

Personal life

On December 13, 1922, Angelo and Lucille Spingola applied for a marriage license and on January 10, 1923, Angelo and Lucille got married. Spingola was the sister of Genna ally Peter Spingola. The wedding was lavish, with 3,000 guests and a 2,000 pound cake.

Gang war and death

After the O'Banion hit, Chicago erupted into a five-year full-scale war. The North Siders—now led by Adelard Cunin—attempted to assassinate Torrio outside his home, causing Torrio to flee to Italy, leaving his second-in-command— Alphonse "Scarface" Capone—as head 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, ...

. The North Siders took aim at the Genna brothers. On May 26, 1925, Moran, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci, and

Hymie Weiss Earl J. "Hymie" Weiss (born Henryk Wojciechowski; January 25, 1898 – October 11, 1926), was a Polish-American mob boss who became a leader of the Prohibition-era North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone. He was known as "the only ma ...

shot and wounded Genna numerous times during a high-speed car chase, causing Genna to crash his car into a lamp post at Hudson and Ogden Avenues. Angelo was rushed to the Evangelical Deaconess Hospital. When police asked Genna who shot him, he merely shrugged. He died shortly afterwards while his brother Sam, wife, and brother-in-law were at his bedside. He was buried on May 29, 1925, at the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Chicago.

Funeral

Several hundred people attended Genna's funeral on May 29, 1925. His funeral was supposed to belittle O'Banion's previous $100,000 funeral. Genna was laid out in a $3,000 bronze coffin that weighed about 1,200 pounds and was surrounded by $75,000 worth of flowers, mostly bought from O'Banion's flower shop Schofield. Capone had sent lilies, Joseph "Diamond Joe" Esposito sent peonies, Torrio sent a huge vase of pink and white carnations. There was also a floral tribute sent from Samuel Sammuzzo Amatuna. The funeral home in which his funeral took place—Michael Larussi's Undertaking Establishment—was filled with pallbearers and members of Unione Siciliana. Included in mass of people were 50 policemen, politicians, lawyers, doctors, and labor union officials.

Aftermath

On June 13, 1925, Mike Genna was shot by police after a shootout with North Siders. On July 8, 1925, Antonio Genna was ambushed and shot to death. The remaining three brothers Jim, Sam, and Peter fled Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Genna, Angelo Bootleggers 1898 births 1925 deaths Italian emigrants to the United States