Capone tax evasion trial: 90 years ago, the T-Men had the goods on Mob chief

First of two parts. Spectators gathered outside each doorway to the U.S. District Court building in Chicago in the fall…


Capone, Torrio and the Sunshine City, St. Petersburg, Florida

Ninety-five years ago, during the summer of 1925, Florida was in the midst of a massive land boom. Real estate…


One hundred years ago: Murder of ‘Big Jim’ Colosimo spawned one of the most powerful crime syndicates in American history – the Chicago Outfit

Three weeks after his marriage to the beautiful singer Dale Winter, James Colosimo remained giddy, and nervous. Known as “Big…


‘Machine Gun’ Jack McGurn leads list of Top 5 most notorious Mob hitmen

Faced with more than 200 unsolved gangland murders in the Brooklyn area since the early 1930s, in 1940 the District…


The Black Sox Scandal 100 years later

It was unseasonably hot at Cincinnati’s Redland Field for the debut game of the 1919 World Series. For the first…


Al Capone and the romantic holiday that triggered his demise

Ninety years ago this week, one of the most horrifying acts of violence in organized crime history occurred inside a…


Double-crossing and death-dealing in St. Louis

Standing in front of a poolroom at 1006 North Tenth Street, Alphonse Palazzolo watched as a large Chrysler sped by….


Iconic Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone died 70 years ago today

Al “Scarface” Capone, the ruthless yet media-friendly Chicago Outfit boss during Prohibition, died of natural causes 70 years ago today,…


Fat Herbie’s rise and fall

Second of two parts. Part One looks at Herbie Blitzstein’s murder twenty years ago. Herbert “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein was born…


A late Mob hit in Las Vegas

First of two parts. Part Two looks at Blitzstein’s criminal activity in Las Vegas. By the mid-1990s, death had claimed…