17. Charles “Cherry Nose” Gioe Stuck His Nose Where It Didn’t Belong
Charles “Cherry Nose” Gioe was a high ranking mobster in the Chicago Outfit. A specialist in extortion and blackmail, he was sent to Des Moines in 1936, to expand the mafia’s activities there. From his base in Iowa, Gioe bankrolled a Hollywood extortion scheme, which shook down studio executives, by threatening them with costly labor strikes and disruptions by a mob controlled union. The racket was eventually busted, and Gioe was convicted of extortion and locked up for four years, before getting paroled in 1947.
In 1954, a fellow Chicago mobster, Joseph “Joey” Glimco, dynamited a Chicago Howard Johnson restaurant then under construction, in a bid to extort the building contractor. When Gioe was asked to intercede on the contractor’s behalf, he foolishly agreed, and totally misreading the situation and the dynamics involved, asked Glimco to “lay off”. On the evening of August 18th, 1954, Gioe left a business meeting and got into his car, but no sooner had he sat down, than another vehicle pulled up, and its occupants opened fire. Gioe was killed instantly, but a bullet to the temple.