Organized Crime in Chicago by Robert M. Lombardo

Author:Robert M. Lombardo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Illinois Press

One of his [Roe's] favorite stories was about the elderly woman who bet $2 against another wheel and won but was not paid. She came to him and complained and he sought out the owner to lay down the law. There was a scene complete with name calling, but the woman got her money. This was Roe's sense of fair play. It was the kind of fair play learned when family men had to provide today's meal and next month's rent without a job or the opportunity to get one.

The first time Roe met Sam Giancana, a fight broke out between the two men. The next time the two met, Roe and his men killed gangster “Fat” Lenny Caifano and badly wounded Vince Ioli, another Giancana gangster, in a gun battle in Chicago's South Side. The Outfit retaliated a few months later, killing Roe on August 4, 1952. Chicago's black community was filled with indignation at Roe's murder. Third Ward alderman Archibald Carey blamed city hall for the death of Roe and for their failure to stop the Outfit's assault on policy gambling. Chicago police eventually ordered the arrest of Lenny Patrick, David Yaras, and William Block, three West Side gangsters, in connection with the Roe murder. It was clear that the days of the black policy barons in Chicago were over.21

Less than two weeks after the killing of Roe, mobsters Tony Accardo, Jake Guzik, and Pat Manno were indicted by the U.S. attorney for failure to pay income taxes on the proceeds of policy gambling. The indictments revived speculation that Roe had been executed for showing the federal government how to catch policy operators who were faking their income tax returns. In fact, Roe did testify at the Kefauver hearings about policy operations in the South Side of Chicago and named prominent wheel operators, including Chicago mobsters Pat Manno and Pete Tremont.22

Policy gambling was important to politicians and the Outfit alike because of the large amount of money it produced. The extraordinary profitability of policy was demonstrated in 1964 by an incident that occurred in the South Side of Chicago. While on a routine inhalator call, an ambulance squad noticed a large stack of coin wrappers and a bag of money on a table in the home of Lawrence Wakefield and notified the police.23 The next day, detectives secured a warrant and searched the Wakefield home. They recovered $809,058, two policy wheels, eleven policy presses, and seven firearms. When asked why the Outfit had not muscled in on the Wakefield operation, Captain Edward Egan of the Kensington Police District reported that he had heard the crime syndicate had thought about taking over the Wakefield wheel but decided not to bother, because it was thought to be too small to be concerned about.

The Outfit's takeover of policy did not sit well with the black community. In fact, the Crusader newspaper became the African American community's voice against the Outfit's attempt to control the racket. The Crusader argued that mob-controlled policy

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