Johnny Torrio had a lot going for him when he came to Chicago in 1910 — not the least of which was his keen business sense. Many people who met or knew Torrio said that he could have been successful in any field of business.
As soon as “Big” Jim Colosimo showed his nephew the ropes of the Chicago underworld, Torrio took charge and helped establish his uncle as Chicago’s premier gangster. Torrio wiped out most of the threats to Colosimo’s business, and even began to stretch vice and gambling operations out into the suburbs, something that Colosimo had never attempted.
In one of his 1929 Prohibition-gang expose articles in the Tribune, James O’Donnell Bennett said “organization and complete shamelessness were John Torrio’s strong points.”
It was true that Torrio was basically a calm and rational person — sort of the thinking man’s gangster. He had a deep-seeded love for opera and didn’t like to involve himself in the physical violence necessary to run a major gang. But Torrio also had a predisposition to making money at all costs: he loved his mother, was dedicated to his wife and yet had no problem exploiting the thousands of women working in his brothels. He also never smoked, cussed or drank, even though he was to make a fortune by providing others with illegal alcohol.
Torrio discovered the immense value of providing beer during Prohibition by pure accident. Shortly after Prohibition started, Torrio bought a former brewery with the intention of turning it into a brothel, but then decided he could do much better if he just started manufacturing beer. His decision paid off. He formed a partnership with a Gold Coast distiller and bought into four more shut-down breweries. The public practically went on a drinking frenzy when Torrio’s brew hit the streets.
It wasn’t long before other gangs began manufacturing their own brew. And while men like Dion O’Banion, Spike O’Donnell, Joe Saltis, the Genna Brothers and Klondike O’Donnell made a lot of money selling illegal liquor during Prohibition in Chicago, Torrio, and later Al Capone, reigned supreme in gross revenues. It has been estimated that in the first four years of Prohibition, Torrio compiled profits of nearly $50 million.
But while Torrio was carving out his uncle’s niche for him, all wasn’t well in paradise. Colosimo had long been wed to Victoria Moresco, a former madame at a Loop brothel. But in 1920, Colosimo divorced Moresco, fell in love with and married Dale Winter, a singer at his club. The marriage probably represented the final straw for Torrio. For years Colosimo had reaped all the benefits while Torrio took care of the business for him. And now, Colosimo didn’t seem to care as much about his empire as he did his new bride.
And so with the zest that he did everything else, Torrio laid plans to take command of the nearly-leaderless operation he had been steering for years. On May 11, 1920, Torrio instructed his uncle to be at his restaurant at 4 p.m. to discuss a beer shipment with Jim O’Leary, booze boss of the stockyard district. Colosimo showed up, but no one else did, only the manager and a chef were there. As Colosimo started to leave the restaurant, someone jumped out of the cloak room and gunned him down.
To this day no one knows who killed Colosimo. Many suspect that Torrio paid Frankie Yale, the Unione Siciliano’s national president, to do the job. Others maintain that Torrio had Al Capone do the killing to make sure it was done right. Nevertheless, Colosimo’s death was the first major gangland killing Chicago had seen. Colosimo’s was also the first extravagant gangster funeral held in Chicago. What shocked the world more than anything was the number of prominent citizens and public figures who came out to mourn the passing of Colosimo. Judges, politicians, madames and even the police were well represented in the massive crowd of the once-great gangster’s funeral.
With Colosimo out of the way, Torrio essentially had the city’s most powerful underworld gang handed to him on a platter. His invasion of the suburbs continued at full force. Towns like Burnham, Stickney, Forest View, Chicago Heights, Burr Oaks and Steger didn’t have the manpower to fend off the attackers, which basically meant the gangsters could do whatever they pleased. But of all of Torrio conquests, none was as memorable or as chronicled as his invasion of Cicero, which was spearheaded by his good friend Al Capone.