Chicago: Hood’s Who

While racketeers have long been siphoning surplus income into legitimate business, such investments are as tricky to pin down as the boojum. Last week the Chicago Crime Commission published some results of its investigation in a directory that might be called Hood’s Who. The pamphlet not only lists the names and addresses of 13 Mafia chieftains and 214 lieutenants, but also identifies 42 firms said to be either owned by the mob or affiliated with it.

The list goes from A (Apex Amusement Inc.) to Z (Zenith Vending Corp.) and shows how widely the racketeers have diversified. The report lists food processing, restaurants, real estate, auto sales, brokerage houses, travel agencies, shopping centers, motels and radio and TV manufacturing as having been infiltrated by the syndicate. Fiore Buccieri, cited by the commission as one of the top 13, is secretary of the B & B Finance Co. His colleague Joseph DiVarco is a partner in a haberdashery.

Lest the public think that the racketeers are mellowing, the crime commission warned: “In whatever activity organized crime engages, legitimate or illicit, its method of operation is the same—the maintenance of a monopoly through extortion and violence or imposing the fear of violence.” Added Commission Vice Chairman Daniel Walker: “They only get their money by dealing with the public, and the public can shut off their source of funds.”