Louis Campagna

Louis Campagna
CPD mugshot of Louis Campagna
Born	1900
Died	May 30, 1955(1955-05-30) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	gangster labor racketeering extortion
Criminal status	Deceased
Spouse(s)	Charlotte Campagna

Louis "Little New York" Campagna (1900 – May 30, 1955) was a New York mobster and a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit for over three decades.

Campagna was born in Brooklyn to parents from mainland Italy. As a teenager, he joined New York's infamous Five Points Gang of Manhattan. One of Campagna's gang associates was future Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone.

In 1919, Campagna was convicted of robbing an Illinois bank and sent to the Pontiac Reformatory in Pontiac, Illinois. In April 1924, Campagna was paroled, but was returned to the reformatory six months later for a parole violation. After his final release in November 1924, Campagna returned to New York.

In 1919, New York mobster Al Capone moved to Chicago to help South Side Gang boss John Torrio deal with rival bootleggers. After Campagna's release from the reformatory, Capone summoned him to Chicago to become his bodyguard. In the long bloody war with the rival North Side Gang, Campagna proved to be a reliable gunman. During this violent period, Campagna reportedly slept on a cot outside Capone's suite at Chicago's Lexington Hotel, ready to protect his boss. Campagna also worked with fellow Sicilian Frankie LaPorte, the Chicago Heights boss, and was believed to be Capone's boss who reported back to the Commission for Chicago.

Known for his reckless and unpredictable nature, Campagna attempted to besiege a Chicago police station in November 1927. Bootlegger Joe Aiello, an ally of the North Side Gang, had unsuccessfully attempted to bribe a hotel chef to poison Capone. In retaliation, Capone placed a $50,000 bounty on Aiello. When Campagna discovered that Aiello was in jail on a murder conspiracy charge, he and 20 other Outfit gunmen went to the station to try to get him. When Campagna arrived, the police noticed that he was carrying a handgun and immediately arrested him. The police then placed Campagna in a cell next to Aiello's. An undercover police officer in a nearby cell later overheard the following exchange in Sicilian between the two mobsters: