Chicago’s South Side Mob – Continued #2

CHICAGO HEIGHTS AND JIMMY EMERY

This is part two of a series about the South Side Chicago mob. I hope it will provide you a moment of respite from the troubles of this trying year.

Since my teen years I had many friends who were Italian, and later I became Italian by marriage, so my sons are partly of Italian heritage. When I decided to write a historical mystery novel based on a friend whose family had loose ties to organized crime in the late 1950s, I did a fair amount of research.

The Mystery at Mount Forest is now available, and I’d like to share with you some of what I found most interesting with a particular focus on the South Suburbs where I grew up and my story takes place. I thought that the things that caught my interest might also interest my readers. I’m not trying to compete with the experts on all things Chicago Mob, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I will be including some references with the last installment of this series of posts.

What were mobsters like, and what was their life like? What about the lives of their families and others connected to organized crime?

The private lives of mobsters generally was separate from and often bore little resemblance to life within the mob. Most had strong family ties and adhered to strong family principles. Sunday dinners, picnics and other family gatherings, especially those that centered on food, were an important part of their lives. However, also typical is the presence of heavy drapes on the windows of mobster homes, closed when certain visitors arrived and under other circumstances.

Typically, mobsters were generous and charitable in their communities, supporting widows and others in need. Image was important, and characteristic dress was a suit, button-down shirt, tie, hat and coat. Casual clothing was unusual.

Loyalty was all-important. “Omerta,” the code of silence, ensured that members would not betray each other. To join the Outfit was to join for life, and formal initiation ceremonies included burning images of saints in the hand and pricking of fingers, which ensured that mob expectations would be remembered.

A general characteristic of a member is a willingness to commit violence. Violence is the Mob’s method of punishing members who break the law, its internal answer to maintaining control of its membership. Traditionally little violence occurs outside of mob business, at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work. Of course, sometimes there were bystanders. Although sources differ, some say that in order to become a “made man,” a contract killing must first be carried out. During the Prohibition Era (1919-1933) 729 people were killed gangland-style in Cook County.

People outside the mob were sometimes used for tasks such as helping to make illegal goods or guns “disappear,” often in the middle of the night. The term that referred to these people was “connected,” and loyalty ensured that favors would be granted in return. Sometimes these activities had a charitable component, as for instance a widow may allow bootlegging in the basement of her home in return for support for her seven children.
 

How did the South Side Mob come into existence?

Even before Prohibition, as early as the 1870s and 1880s, the labor movement was at its peak and cheap land was not available in Chicago. This drove manufacturers and residents to small towns forty to fifty miles away, towns like Chicago Heights. Italian immigrants followed the movement for jobs as unskilled laborers, in construction, and as factory workers. By 1910 Chicago Heights had the largest percentage of Italian Americans of any town in America. To underscore the fact, by 1920 only 4.8% of Chicagoland was Italian, but Chicago Heights population was 25% Italian. Through the 1940s Italian Americans continued to outnumber all other ethnic groups in Chicago Heights.

Since the earliest arrivals were mostly men, from the beginning saloons, gambling, and girls were highly popular and these ventures were firmly established in the Chicago Heights branch of the Outfit. With gambling, vice, and prostitution in full swing pre-Prohibition, they  had a huge advantage.

In addition, Chicago Heights location was ideal. A large population of Italian recruits were available, land and buildings were plentiful and cheap, it was away from the spotlight of competing downtown, west side, and north side mob operations, and convenient for distribution since it was a railroad hub and located on Lincoln Highway (Route 30), a major thoroughfare at that time. The Chicago Heights area was also near waterways and forests that provided dumping grounds for illegal materials (or bodies!) when needed as well as for temporary stashes.
 

What happened in Chicago Heights that made that branch of the Outfit so successful?

Eliot Ness once said that Chicago Heights was “the pickup depot for most of the illicit alcohol trade in the entire Midwest.”

As the clandestine center for production and distribution of illegal alcohol for the whole Midwest, it helps to understand what was involved. Beer was manufactured locally and was ready for sale within a few days. Alcohol, however, needed to be aged. Therefore, in addition to beer, two types of alcohol were distributed by the Outfit. What was produced locally was not aged and was exported throughout the Midwest. Quality, aged alcohol was preferred by those willing to pay for it and was imported from Canada through Detroit.

First locations were set up for the product to be made. Often this was in the basements of homes and restaurants. Sometimes the basements were extended out to enlarge the space. Then funds were obtained, raw materials purchased and imported, and workers recruited. Once manufactured, the product was ready to be distributed and transported.

Throughout the process, “protection” from law enforcement and hijackers was crucial. Chicago Heights was particularly successful. It was rumored that up to fifty percent of Chicago Heights police accepted bribes, and even helped to convoy whiskey to Chicago during Prohibition. The “protection” accomplished by the Chicago Heights group extended to other Chicagoland networks.

Unlike the wars that were taking place between Capone and the North Side gangs, the Chicago Heights operation was smooth with relatively little infighting. Under Capone’s leadership, ties to Chicago Heights remained close, but after Capone Chicago Heights was less intimate with other Chicagoland groups.

It is rumored that Al Capone was just about everywhere in the Chicago area, but it is known that he did in fact spend a lot of time in Chicago Heights. He was close friends with Jimmy Emery, who ran the Chicago Heights operation from 1928 until the early 1940s, and remained active in Outfit activities until his death in 1957. Capone often spent time in Emery’s home, and was the godfather of Emery’s daughter, Vera.

There is some argument to support the theory that the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was planned at Emery’s home, and that the killers spent time at the home while passing from Indiana to and from the scene of the crime.

After Prohibition, Emery led the Chicago Heights operation to return to and enhance previous endeavors in gambling, strip joints, and prostitution. He extended the territory to include Blue Island, Hammond, and Calumet City, creating centers of vice known throughout the Midwest. Eventually the South Side branch of the Outfit under Emery extended to include all of Cook County from 95^th Street to Kankakee, from Joliet to Northern Indiana, and included Oak Lawn and Willow Springs.

Emery drove a 1930 V-12 Cadillac and was a significant figure in thoroughbred horse racing until he was banned from the sport due to illegal track activities. One of his horses, Dolly Val, had a habit of finishing last when favored and winning when she was a long shot. Emery kept a string of horses in Miami, where he spent a great deal of time, and operated a horse-breeding farm reportedly in Tinley Park. He appears in my book, The Mystery at Mount Forest Island, in a fictional representation.

Despite the importance of the Chicago Heights network to the Outfit, little is written specific to this branch of the Chicago Mob. Its activities and decline follow a similar pattern to the remainder of the Outfit’s branches up to the present day.