8. The Failed Hit That Made Al Capone Chicago’s Boss
After seeing to the rubbing out of “Big Jim” Colosimo, Johnny Torrio took over his deceased relative’s criminal empire, and built it into what became the Chicago Outfit. Within a few years, Torrio was the city’s biggest mobster, and its most powerful criminal kingpin, with Al Capone as his chief underling. As the Outfit expanded its operations from its base in Chicago’s South Side, it came into conflict with the Irish-American North Side Gang. After initial attempts at peaceful coexistence failed, Torrio ordered the murder of North Side boss Dean O’Banion in November, 1924, sparking a bloody gang war.
North Side gangsters responded by ambushing Torrio outside his apartment with a fusillade of gunfire. He miraculously survived, despite taking bullets to the jaw, lung, abdomen, groin, and legs. Severely wounded, Torrio was spared from a finishing shot to the skull when the killer’s gun jammed. The near death experience frightened Torrio, and convinced him to get out while he still could. In 1925, he handed control of the Chicago Outfit to Al Capone, and moved to Italy.