“Chronicles the heyday of the Chicago Heights subsidiary of Al Capone’s infamous Prohibition-breaking criminal organization” (Time Out Chicago). Chicago Heights was long the seat of one of the major street crews of the Chicago Outfit, but its importance has often been overlooked and misunderstood. The crew’s origins predate Prohibition, when Chicago Heights was a developing manufacturing center with a large Italian immigrant population. Its earliest bosses struggled for control until a violent gang war left the crew solidified under the auspices of Al Capone. For the remainder of the twentieth century, the boys from Chicago Heights generated large streams of revenue for the Outfit through its vast gambling enterprises, union infiltration, and stolen auto rackets. For the first time, the history of the Chicago Heights street crew is traced from its inception through its last known boss. Includes photos! “I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the Chicago Heights Street Crew. It not only provides a well researched history of the crew, but also explains how the boys from Chicago Heights became an important, yet little known, part of the Chicago Outfit.” —Springer Science + Business Media

The history of Chicago Heights mirrors the growth and struggles of the entire nation. From determined settlers to visionary industrialists, from the power of rail to the vast intercontinental highway system, this Illinois city of hard workers and dynamic ethnic groups persevered through overwhelming obstacles to claim its place at the center of the Industrial Revolution.

In this riveting true story of coming of age in the Chicago Mob, Charles “Charley” Hager is plucked from his rural West Virginia home by an uncle in the 1960s and thrown into an underworld of money, cars, crime, and murder on the streets of Chicago Heights. Street-smart and good with his hands, Hager is accepted into the working life of a chauffeur and “street tax” collector, earning the moniker “Little Joe College” by notorious mob boss Albert Tocco. But when his childhood friend is gunned down by a hit man, Hager finds himself a bit player in the events surrounding the mysterious, and yet unsolved, murder of mafia chief Sam Giancana. Chicago Heights is part rags-to-riches story, part murder mystery, and part redemption tale. Hager, with author David T. Miller, juxtaposes his early years in West Virginia with his life in crime, intricately weaving his own experiences into the fabric of mob life, its many characters, and the murder of Giancana. Fueled by vivid recollections of turf wars and chop shops, of fix-ridden harness racing and the turbulent politics of the 1960s, Chicago Heights reveals similarities between high-level organized crime in the city and the corrupt lawlessness of Appalachia. Hager candidly reveals how he got caught up in a criminal life, what it cost him, and how he rebuilt his life back in West Virginia with a prison record. Based on interviews with Hager and supplemented by additional interviews and extensive research by Miller, the book also adds Hager’s unique voice to the volumes of speculation about Giancana’s murder, offering a plausible theory of what happened on that June night in 1975.

From the slot machine trust of the early 1900s to the prolific Prohibition era bootleggers allied with Al Capone, and for decades beyond, organized crime in Chicago Heights, Illinois, represented a vital component of the Chicago Outfit. Louis Corsino taps interviews, archives, government documents, and his own family's history to tell the story of the Chicago Heights "boys" and their place in the city's Italian American community in the twentieth century. Debunking the popular idea of organized crime as a uniquely Italian enterprise, Corsino delves into the social and cultural forces that contributed to illicit activities. As he shows, discrimination blocked opportunities for Italians' social mobility and the close-knit Italian communities that arose in response to such limits produced a rich supply of social capital Italians used to pursue alternative routes to success that ranged from Italian grocery stores to union organizing to, on occasion, crime.

This is the long-awaited second volume on Chicago Heights in the Images of America series. Chicago Heights Revisited expands on the popular first volume, as the authors cover the period from 1930-1970 in greater detail. What emerges from this wonderful collection of images is a multi-layered portrait of a lively city striving as one to assist in a World War II Allied victory, even while supporting a large spectrum of differing religious, social, and ethnic institutions. When residents remember Chicago Heights, they remember downtown. Images of the Liberty Restaurant, Nick Guzzino's Barbershop, and Rau's Toyland will evoke fond memories for past and present Chicago Heights residents. The various industries of the city are captured in historic photographs, reminding us all of the hard working residents that created the thriving community of Chicago Heights. Images of the World War II era capture the contributions that the people of Chicago Heights made for their nation and community.

Chicago Boy is my memoir and a first hand account of what it was like for a boy to grow up in Chicago's North Side neighborhoods in the 1960s. This was a time when children played outside from an early age. Chicago Boy is filled with accounts of colorful characters and adventurous narratives. The exclusive neighborhoods of Lincoln Park, Roscoe Village and Wrigleyville were simple blue-collar neighborhoods in the 1960s. They were filled with vibrant, old school peoples and every day seemed to be an adventure. Young people hung out in front of their houses, in the parks, in schoolyards, and of course, in the streets. People were friendly in an open and commonplace manner. For the most part they were on good terms with their surrounding neighbors. In Chicago Boy are tales of adventure and romance as well as dangerous situations with neighborhood tuffs. Our household consisted of me and my single parent mother with visits from my Swedish father who had gone to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Much of the book is about simple and easy times with family and friends. Most of the book is exactly as I remember it. However, I've taken poet license with some situations. Chicago Boy is not an overly lengthy book. The episodes favor concise good storytelling over elaborate detail. I've written the book in a fashion or "voice" that is as close to my natural speaking voice as possible. Its language is that of the time or "period language" if you will. Historical events of the time are mentioned. The hippy days, the Vietnam War and the first trip to the moon were all occurrences of the 1960s. Perhaps most of all I describe the people and atmosphere that I was surrounded by in Chicago's North Side neighborhoods. Culturally this was a much different time then today. There were many difficulties of the period and still I remember a friendly and inviting world that surrounded me. It is my sincere hope you will enjoy reading Chicago Boy.

Presents a history of the Chicago Outfit, detailing its role in the development of the city's organized crime scene as well as the political and corporate protection it secured in order to become one of the most successful crime families.