Joseph "Diamond Joe" Esposito (d. March 21, 1928) was a Chicago politician who, during Prohibition, was involved in bootlegging, extortion, prostitution and labor racketeering with the Genna Brothers. March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area    - City 606. ... Prohibition is any of several periods during which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. ...

Born Giuseppe Esposito in Naples (although other accounts claim Sicily), he became involved in extortion as a member of the Black Hand gangs terrorizing Chicago's Little Italy during the early 1900s. Upon the Volstead Act coming into effect, Esposito's organization, whose members included Sam "Momo" Giancana and Paul "The Waiter" Ricca, quickly entered into bootlegging as an associate of Joseph Kennedy. His early success with the Genna's may have been a factor in the 1920 murder of rival Jim Colosimo, a long time racketeer who had been hesitant to begin his own bootlegging operations. Members of the Black Hand Black Hand (Serbian: Црна рука / Crna Ruka), officially Unification or Death (Serbian: Уједињење или смрт / Ujedinjenje ili smrt) was a secret society founded in Serbia in May 1911[1][2] as part of the Pan-Slavism nationalist movement, with the intention of uniting all of the territories containing Serb populations... A picture of Sam Giancana Salvatore Sam Mo Momo Mooney Sam the Cigar Giancana (June 15, 1908 — June 19, 1975) was a famous and powerful mafioso and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957-66. ... Paul The Waiter Ricca (1897-October 11, 1972) was an American Mafia figure based within Chicago. ... Joseph Joe Patrick Kennedy, Sr. ... James Big Jim Colosimo (1877 – May 11, 1920) (born Giacomo Colosimo), immigrated to Chicago, Illinois from Cosenza, Calabria, Italy in 1895. ...

Newspaper headline for Esposito's death

By the early 1920s, Esposito had become a Republican ward boss of the 19th Ward (one of the earliest Italian-Americans to be elected in favor of the older Irish ward bosses), offering political protection to the bootlegging gangs of Little Italy including Johnny Torrio and the Genna Brothers. He would later be in attendance alongside city officials and organized crime figures alike serving as one of the pallbearers at the funerals of his political protege Antonio D'Andrea, shot to death shortly after leaving his Neapolitan Restaurant in May 1921, and "Bloody" Angelo Genna who had been murdered on May 25, 1925 [1]. His cousin, Frank DeLaurentis, was also killed during the bootleg wars when he and John Tuccello were caught by members of the Saltis-McEarlane organization attempting to supply bootleg liquor to a 51st Street saloon on behalf of the Sheldon Gang on April 15, 1926 . Johnny The Fox Torrio (February 1882 - April 16, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster famous for building a criminal empire in Chicago during the 1920s that would later be inherited by his protege, Al Capone. ... May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

A later political rival of Al Capone, he was eventually set up by Ricca to be murdered when he was shot and killed in front of his wife and daughter during the Republican "Pineapple Primary" on March 21, 1928. Capone redirects here. ... Pineapple Primary was the name given to a Republican primary election held in Chicago on April 10, 1928 in which more than 60 bombs were thrown and politicians were killed. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Further reading

• Allswang, John Myers. The Political Behavior of Chicago's Ethnic Groups, 1918-1932. Ayer Publishing, 1980. ISBN 0-405-13400-2
• Chiocca, Olindo Romeo. Mobsters and Thugs: Quotes from the Underworld. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2000. ISBN 1-55071-104-0
• Lashly, Arthur V. Illinois Crime Survey. Chicago: Illinois Association for Criminal Justice and the Chicago Crime Commission, 1929. [2]
• Johnson, Curt and R. Craig Sautter. The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone. New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. ISBN 0-306-80821-8
• Merrinier, James L. Grafters and Goo Goos: Corruption and Reform in Chicago, 1833-2003. Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8093-2571-3
• Reppetto, Thomas A. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7798-7

References

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