Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo was the boss of the Chicago Outfit. He got his start in the Outfit working under Al Capone as his driver and body guard in the 1920’s. He worked his way up to Outfit Boss, running the Outfit until his death in 1992. Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, an Outfit boss once said that Tony Accardo had more brains for breakfast than Al Capone had in a lifetime.

In 1906 Tony Accardo was born on the West Side of Chicago in part known as Little Italy. Tony only went to school until he was 14. He went to work with only a sixth grade education and became a delivery boy in the neighborhood. The same year that he dropped out of school, 1920, prohibition began. Tony’s neighborhood became a hotbed of bootleggers. Accardo started delivery the illegal alcohol around Chicago for all the people in his neighborhood. In 1922 Tony Accardo joined a gang known as the Circus Café Gang after a neighborhood hangout.

Another member in this gang was a man named Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn. He thought that Tony had talent. Accardo started with pick pocketing, than working his way up to muggings, break-ins, and armed robbery. He found his talent, Accardo learned how to gamble. That became his specialty.  McGurn started to use the young hoodlum as his personal driver and bodyguard in 1926. Jack McGurn was also becoming a criminal rising star himself. Known as tough and vicious killer, he was recruited by a gangster named Al Capone to be a hit man.

At this time the Chicago Outfit was raking in millions of dollars a year. The Circus Café Gang not only serves as a farm team for the Chicago Outfit but they would hold weapons for them and distribute the weapons when the Outfit needed them. At this time Capone had not yet locked up the city of Chicago as his. He had competition from the North Siders, Dean O‘Banion’s gang. Al Capone asked Machine Gun Jack McGurn is he knew of any good men to help him take on O’Banion and his crew. The first words out of Jack’s mouth were “Tony Accardo.”

Just like anyone else entering in as an Outfit Associate, Accardo had to prove himself. He had small jobs like being a lookout and working up to being a body guard for Capone. Capone badly needed this protection because the Outfit and the North Siders were killing each other in the street. In the first four months of 1926 there were 29 gangland style murders in Chicago. Things really heated up on September 20^th of that year. Al Capone was eating lunch at the Hawthorne Hotel’s restaurant. In front of the hotel a cavalcade of cars were driving by spraying the hotel with hundreds of shots of gunfire, injuring a few. Chicago folklore has it,

that Al Capone was thrown down to the ground and shielded by Tony Accardo himself.

In 1928 Al Capone has an important task. He wanted to take out an old friend named Frankie Yale. It is believed that when Al Capone wanted to take out the very first Outfit Boss, Big Jim Colosimo, and Yale was used as the hit man. However, in 1927 Capone was suspecting that Yale was hijacking some of his booze off his trucks. These are the same trucks that Yale was supposed to be protecting. Capone sent James “Filesy” DeAmato to confirm or deny that Yale was taking the booze. DeAmato confirmed with Capone that he indeed was taking the booze. DeAmato’s cover was blown by Yale and Frankie had him killed. Capone wanted get Frankie back. Yale was driving his new coffee colored Lincoln

when some men in another car pulled up alongside Yale and sprayed his card with bullets. Frankie Yale’s Lincoln drove off the road crashing into a house, Frankie Yale was dead. One of the hit man in that operation was Tony Accardo. He had already proven that he would take a bullet for his boss. Now he had proven that he can give a bullet on orders from his boss too.

Another folklore legend is that Tony Accardo was one of the hit man in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, where seven of “Bugs” Moran’s men were killed. The true killers in that crime have never been found out and will always be the subject of folklore. However, Al Capone was out of town, so he would have an alibi for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Albert Anselmi and John Scalice were hit men for Al Capone. While he was gone these two men were going to try and take over the Chicago Outfit from Capone. Capone had found out about the

double cross of Anselmi and Scalice. Al Capone threw a party at a club called the Plantation in Hammond, Indiana. He invited everyone including Albert Anselmi and John Scalice and told everybody this is his way of thanking them for all of their hard work. During the dinner the two men were seized and taken outside. Tony Accardo was waiting for them with a baseball bat, and literally bashed their heads in. Capone was said to remark “That kid is a real Joe Batters.” This nickname stuck with Tony Accardo for the rest of his life, Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo. During the 1930’s there has been numerous mob hits with links to Accardo, but for the most part, the specifics of his criminal activities are really not known.

When Al Capone was sentenced for tax evasion, Frank Nitti, his second in command took over the Chicago Outfit. When he did he met with some of his top guys including Accardo. He made Accardo a Capo in the Chicago Outfit. He was now a boss of his own crew. He was put in charge in what he knew best, and that was the gambling operations. This was at the time that the Outfit was leaning more on gambling, because prohibition was over and the Outfit had lost the cash revenue from bootlegging. What he also did was make sure that any other gambling games that were not kicking up to the Outfit, started to kick up to the Outfit. If they didn’t Accardo’ enforcers would make introductions. Tony’s mob life was on an upswing and so was his personal life. He met a woman named Clarice Porter. She worked a vaudeville circuit in Chicago. The 28 year old Accardo married the 22 year old Porter. Within two years they adopted a boy that they named Anthony. Everything was booming for Accardo.

Tony Accardo was evolving. He has learned a lot of what not to do through the example set by Capone. Capone was of Neapolitan heritage. Neapolitan gangsters tend to me flashier. Accardo thought that this was a bad thing. He felt that if Al Capone would have lain low, he would have never caught the eye of the IRS which prosecuted him for tax evasion. He was becoming a very astute business man. He was savvy and sophisticated and that had set him apart from the other gangsters in the Chicago Outfit. Moving into the 1940’s Accardo’s gambling operations could boast over 7,500 locations throughout the city of Chicago. The gambling operations included everything from dice, slot machines, roulette, poker, the numbers game, and bookmaking. In the downtown loop area of Chicago, there was a bookie on every block. A bookie is someone that you would place a bet with, which mostly was sporting events or horse racing.

Frank Nitti wanted to advance the Outfit’s operations. He called on “Joe Batters” to help with this new endeavor. Nitti wanted to have a bigger stake in the unions, and he had his eyes set on the Union of Motion Picture Projectionist. Tommy Maloy was the President of Chicago Projectionists Local 110. Maloy had a racket of his own going on. He was demanding a cut from the profits from all of the local theaters in Chicago.  If the theaters owners did not pay this tribute to Maloy, his men would not show up to work at the theaters and this would force them to shut down. Frank Nitti liked what he saw in the Irishman’s racket and he wanted in, but Maloy refused. Tommy Maloy was a tough guy and he was not going to give in to Nitti. Frank Nitti was not going to reason with Maloy, instead he called his top guy in to take care of the job, and he called Accardo. In February of 1935 “Joe Batters” and another gunman tailed Maloy to a south side motel. They were able to flank him in their vehicle both firing at him and hitting him. “Joe Batter” just pulled off a daytime drive by and got Maloy out of the way for Nitti to put a man of his choosing in Maloy’s place. Not only did Nitti was going to take from the Chicago Theaters, he had his eyes set on also taking from the studios in Hollywood.

Accardo was head of all of the gambling operations for the Outfit. He was expanding in outlining areas of Chicago as well. Just like he would in Chicago, Accardo and his men would bust in on Outlaw Gambling games. These were games that were not yet sanctioned by the Outfit. They had three choices. They would kick up to the Outfit, cease the game, or cease to walk the earth. “Joe Batters” was a hard man to bargain with, so the games became sanctioned by the Outfit increasing the cash coffers for Nitti and crew.

Frank Nitti spent no time at all picking up where Maloy abruptly left off. Nitti was requiring all the theaters to resume their payments they made to Maloy to him or be forced to shut down. He also was using the union to get involved with Hollywood. He was going to infiltrate the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees or the IATSE. They not only controlled the Projectionist Union but all other unions that had a hand in making movies. Then the Outfit could demand that the studio heads of Paramount Pictures, 20^th Century Fox, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and others would pay the Outfit or face a shutdown of their movie productions. It worked, and in a couple of years the Outfit had made a couple of million off this racket. Things did not stay that easy though.

 

Nicky Circella, also known as Nicky Dean was a bagman for Outfit Boss Frank Nitti. Circella was working for Nitti in exploiting the Hollywood unions and extorting the studios. Nitti believed that he was cooperating with the Feds in the Hollywood Projectionist Union case against the Outfit. Frank Nitti and his Capo Tony Accardo could not get to Circella, but they could get to his girlfriend Estelle Carry. On February 2^nd, 1943 Estelle got off the phone with her cousin saying that someone was at the door of her apartment. She lived at a quiet courtyard building in Lakeview at 512 West Addison in Chicago. She let the man in and was pouring two cups of hot cocoa when the man attacked her. There was a bloody struggle involving a bread knife, a rolling pin, an iron, and 10 inch blackjack club. After she was beaten nearly to death, she was doused with a flammable liquid and she and her apartment was set a blazed while she was still alive. Tony Accardo was questioned about the murder, but he was ever charged with the murder of Estelle Carey nor was anyone else.

In March of 1943 the feds indicted Outfit Boss Frank Nitti, Underboss Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, Louis “Little New York” Campagna, John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli, and others. They were all indicted on extortion of the Hollywood Studios. Since Tony Accardo was focused on the gambling operations, he escaped being indicted. This was a good thing because he and his wife Clarice welcomed two daughters into their family that year.

This was not good for Outfit Boss Frank Nitti. The Outfit brass including Paul Ricca and Tony Accardo met at Frank Nitti’s house in Riverside. They told him that he was going to have to take the heat for this case. They told him that there was no reason for everyone to go down on this. Nitti snapped back that everyone should stick together and they will all get out of the indictment. The leadership did not let off on their demand from Nitti. Frank Nitti had been to prison before briefly for tax evasion, but this stint could be up to 15 years. Nitti was 54 years old at the time and his health was ailing. This could be a death sentence for him. Even if it wasn’t, Nitti could not stand the prospect of being put in jail again. It did not matter either way because the brass had already spoken. Either Nitti takes the rap for this or they would take care of him. Frank Nitti found another option. On March 19^th, 1943 Nitti had been drinking and walked over to the railroad tracks with a gun in hand. Placed the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. This tragic event for Nitti pushed Paul

“The Waiter” Ricca to boss of the Chicago Outfit and Accardo as the new underboss.

In October of 1943 seven men were indicted in the Hollywood extortion trial. Accardo was smart and never left a paper trail. He was exempt from the indictments and going to trial. At the trial all seven were found guilty including the newly crowned boss Paul Ricca. They all received ten years for their role. This was going to be a long time and the Outfits luck ran out for these seven men. Luck did not run out for Accardo, he has been with the Outfit for 17 years, was freed from having anything to do with the Hollywood extortion trials, and was now the Chicago Outfit’s new boss.

Next week Part II of the Outfit’s Ultimate Boss.

 

 

 

 

 

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

I have put together some of the articles that I have written that are prevalent for the upcoming election in MARCH!. This is the Republican Nominee election but probably more important than the general election. It is most likely the winner in March will win in November and become sheriff. If you review the articles in the Knowledge Center, you will read all kinds of unbelievable things as it relates to this election.

 

Freedom of Information Act Appeal to get the remainder of my father’s file. In my efforts to get to the bottom of my father’s murder and what the McHenry County Sheriff’s office has done to me and my family 33 years ago. I filed a FOIA Request (Freedom of Information Act Request) to get my father’s case file. Many documents were withheld from my request. It is my believe the documents are withheld to protect guilty individuals that are known to Sheriff Keith Nygren and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke that covered up who actually killed my father during the original investigation. Start on page 11 to read what sounds like a murder mystery thriller, but this is my true life. It is backed by FBI reports, witness statements, and newspaper articles.

Andrew Zinke for McHenry County Sheriff, Really??? This article is based on my own father’s murder investigation and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke. I talked about how he made his own milestones and failed to meet every single one. How it took me calling NBC News Chicago to get Andrew Zinke to return my phone call about my father’s murder investigation, as he was the lead investigator. I am fighting to get the remainder of my father’s case file. It is my believe that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke and the Sheriff Keith Nygren are hiding and protecting individuals that covered up the true killer of my father during the original investigation.

Andrew Zinke plus Rita Corporation equals ON THE TAKE Brian Goode and his RITA Corporation was a person of interest and focal point for the investigation of the distribution of 30 plus tons of marijuana. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke told Brian Goode of the investigation. Two days later, according to Koziol, (Sgt. Koziol was working on the investigation and filed a complaint against Zinke) Goode gave Zinke’s election campaign a $5,000 donation. The RITA Corporation address is the same address as Andrew Zinke’s campaign headquarters.

McHenry County Deputy Zane Seipler under siege, Again!! Zane Seipler is a whistleblowing deputy that was fired by Keith Nygren after he exposed the sheriff’s office for racial profiling. Nygren was forced to hire Seipler back after he lost an arbitration ruling, a court hearing, an appellate court hearing, and a failed attempt to be heard by the Illinois State Supreme Court. After Seipler was hired back, Nygren fired him again. Zane Seipler is currently fighting to get his job back.

Another McHenry County Deputy under siege, Scott Milliman Scott Milliman was a deputy and former right hand man to Sheriff Keith Nygren. He was fired by the sheriff for whistleblowing that the sheriff allegedly transacted in ticket fixing, bribery, general corruption, fraud in a SBA Loan, and in tapping Milliman himself to kill a McHenry County Judge and a Coroner’s Candidate. Scott Milliman is currently fighting to get his job back.

How Gary Gauger got to DEATH ROW This is the real life, tragic story of Gary Gauger. He was falsely arrested and sent to Death Row by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department for the double murder of his parents. Investigators from the sheriff’s department rigged a false confession so that they could convict him.

 

McHenry County Ethics Commission, Ethical or NOT!?!? The McHenry County Ethics Commission conducted a hearing of a complaint filed by Cal Skinner that Undersheriff Andrew Zinke used a government computer for a very politically charged email. The hearing was ran over by Zinke’s attorneys Mark Gummerson and Rebecca Lee. The sign up sheet to speak at the hearing went missing but found in the possession of Rebecca Lee. The commission went into secret session, made its decision, and did so without explanation.

First Electric Newspaper v.s. Sheriff Nygren and EEO Officer Donald Leist Pete Gonigam won a Public Access Bureau (Illinois States Attorney) appeal for the release of a 100 page report conducted by the McHenry County Sheriff’s office. The report exonerated Undersheriff Andrew Zinke after he told Brian Goode that he and his RITA Corporation was a the focal point of a drug investigation by the DEA.

Zinke’s middle finger may cost Cal Skinner $5,000 After filing a valid ethics complaint against Undersheriff Andrew Zinke for using a government computer for his campaign, Cal Skinner was to face Zinke’s attorney Mark Gummerson. Gummerson was lobbying for a $5,000 fine against Skinner filing a valid complaint. An act of bulling and intimidation of a McHenry County citizen.

Will McHenry County be Ripped Off by Special Interest in Sheriff Election? I question the interest and the contribution to Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign from the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 election. I send a letter to the President-Business Manager of the union James M. Sweeney.

IUOE Local 150 and Andrew Zinke. Is this Gangster Money for a Gangster Cop? The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 contributes money to Undersheriff’s Andrew Zinke’s campaign. They have known ties to the Colombo and Gambino Crime Families.

 

Undersheriff Andrew Zinke Shuts Down Cal Skinner’s Blog Site Undersheriff Andrew Zinke’s campaign was able to get Cal Skinner’s website, mchenrycountyblog.com shut down by falsely accusing him of stalking and linking to obscene material. Read here on how Zinke’s campaign resorts to breaking the law to silence a citizen’s voice.

 

Andrew Zinke Fearful to Debate Bill Prim Lies to Get Out of It. Undersheriff Andrew Zinke is so fearful to debate Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff that he lies to get out of it. Zinke knows that he would be out matched, outwitted, and the truth of his corrupt character would be revealed to the citizens of McHenry County. Instead of enduring such damage to his campaign he lies to coward out of it.

Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke Intimidating and Tampering with Federal Witnesses? Is Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke intimidating federal witnesses? Or are the deputies fighting back? Donald Leist, the sheriff’s in house lawyer sent a letter to 30 deputies and correctional officers to be interrogated prior to their depositions in a federal case. Would that work anywhere else in the US or just McHerny County?