Tony Genna
| Tony Genna | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Antonio Genna Jr. July 12, 1890 Marsala, Sicily, Italy |
| Died | July 8, 1925 (aged 34) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Homicide |
| Resting place | Mount Carmel Cemetery |
| Other names | The Gentleman, Tony the Gentleman, Tony |
| Occupation | gangster, bootlegger, building contractor, racketeer |
| Parent(s) | Antonino Genna Sr. Maria Concetta Utica |
| Allegiance | Genna crime family, Chicago Outfit, Unione Siciliana |
Antonio "the Gentleman" Genna (July 12, 1890 – July 8, 1925) was a Sicilian mobster in Chicago. He headed the Genna crime family with his brothers. Genna was ambushed by a Genna family turncoat on orders of North Side Gang leaders Vince Drucci and Bugs Moran.
Antonio Genna was born on July 12, 1890, to Sicilian parents, Antonio Genna Sr. and Maria Concetta Utica in Marsala, Sicily. He had six brothers: Michele "the Devil", Vincenzo "Jim", Pietro "Peter", Salvatore "Sam", Angelo "Bloody Angelo", and Nicola Genna; and two sisters: Rosa Laudicina and Caterina Mariana. He and his brothers entered the U.S. through New York around 1910.
Before becoming a gangster, Genna was an excellent building contractor and architect. If he stuck to this profession, he could have amounted to something honorable, but the lure of fast cash and cars and power quickly won over his mind as a way of life.
The Genna brothers became a close-knit Marsala-based Mafia and bootlegging gang. When Prohibition became a federal law in 1919, the Gennas obtained a federal license to legally manufacture industrial alcohol, which they sold illegally. Tony and his brothers operated from Chicago's Little Italy, which was located west of the Chicago loop.
They started selling their extra alcohol at cut-rate prices outside of their territory on the North Side. This caused a problem with the North Side Gang leader Charles Dean O'Banion, who in turn, went to South Side Gang boss John "Johnny the Fox" Torrio and Unione Siciliana boss Mike Merlo to get the Gennas to back down. Torrio refused, so O'Banion started hijacking alcohol shipments belonging to the Genna brothers. Torrio ordered the brothers to kill O'Banion; the brothers carried out the hit on November 10, 1924.Francesco Ioele and two Genna hitmen—Giovanni Scalise and Alberto Anselmi—entered O'Banion's flower shop, Schofield, and when Yale shook O'Banion's hand, Scalise and Anselmi shot two bullets into his chest and two in his neck. And while O'Banion was lying face-down on the floor, one of the men shot a final bullet in the back of his head.
...
Wikipedia