40 Facts About Sam DeStefano

Samuel "Mad Sam" DeStefano was an American mobster who was associated with the Chicago Outfit.

Sam DeStefano was one of the organization's most notorious loan sharks and sociopathic killers.

At least one Outfit insider, Charles Crimaldi, claimed Sam DeStefano was a devil worshipper.

One of the earliest reports on Sam DeStefano is from September 12,1926, when he was arrested in Chicago and turned over to the Niles Police Department as a fugitive for breaking out of jail.

On July 1,1927, several hundred Westside gang members showed up threatening violence against a police sergeant for arresting Sam DeStefano and shooting Sam DeStefano's associate Harry Casgrovi.

In 1930, DeStefano joined the Forty-Two Gang, an infamous Chicago street gang led by future Outfit boss, Salvatore "Sam" Giancana.

In 1933, Sam DeStefano was convicted of a bank robbery in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Sam DeStefano's sentence was commuted by Governor Julius Heil in December 1942 and he was released in December 1944.

Sam DeStefano returned to prison in June 1947 for possessing counterfeit sugar ration stamps.

Later in 1947, Sam DeStefano was released and obtained a civil service job in Chicago as a garbage dump foreman.

In 1952, city officials discovered Sam DeStefano had omitted his criminal record from his Civil Service application; however, they chose not to prosecute him.

Sam DeStefano bought a 24-suite apartment building and used the rent money as legitimate income to bribe local aldermen and other politicians.

Sam DeStefano's fees ranged from $800 for fixing a robbery case to $1,500 for an assault case.

Sam DeStefano's arrangements became so routine, corrupt police officers would escort suspects to Sam DeStefano's house.

Sam DeStefano would accept very high-risk debtors, such as drug addicts or business men who had already defaulted on previous debts.

The reason was simple: Sam DeStefano enjoyed when debtors did not pay on time, since he could then bring them to the sound-proof torture chamber he had built in his basement.

From time to time, Sam DeStefano would kill debtors who owed him small sums just to scare other debtors into paying their bigger debts.

Sam DeStefano would give his loan shark victims presents, such as a gold watch with his name engraved on the back, so that if he had to kill his victim and the police accused him he could use the watch as proof of how close he was to the victim and why he could never have killed him.

Sam DeStefano wore thick black rimmed glasses, making people believe he could not see without them, when in truth he could see everything that was going on and would take mental notes on how people operated.

Sam DeStefano was such a successful earner, Giancana and Tony Accardo invested some of their own money in Sam DeStefano's loansharking operations.

In November 1963, Sam DeStefano had a violent argument with Leo Foreman, a real estate agent and one of Sam DeStefano's "juice-loan" collectors, in Foreman's office.

Sam DeStefano was physically ejected by Foreman from his office, and then he went into hiding.

Sam DeStefano's men located Cappelletti in Wisconsin and brought him back to Chicago.

Sam DeStefano chained Cappelletti to a radiator and tortured him for three days.

In 1962, Sam DeStefano was arrested after he tried to represent Vito Zaccagonini in a forgery trial in Rockford, Illinois.

Sam DeStefano later demanded the names of all employees in the state's attorney's and sheriff's offices so that they could be called as witnesses at his subsequent trial.

FBI Agent William F Roemer wrote of going to DeStefano's house to question him about mob business, saying that several times, DeStefano would walk down the stairs in his pajamas, exposing himself.

Months later Roemer found out Sam DeStefano had been urinating in the coffee before serving it to the agents.

Once, while riding in his car, Sam DeStefano saw a man walking down a Chicago street.

One informant who was close to Sam DeStefano described him as a highly emotional, temperamental individual, extremely egotistical and concerned with his personal appearance.

The walls of his home were lined with mirrors and as Sam DeStefano talked to people, he constantly watched his reflection in the mirrors as he walked across the room.

Sam DeStefano was described as being of such a temperament that he could be crying at one moment and laughing the very next.

In 1965, Sam DeStefano was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to three to five years in prison.

On February 22,1972, Sam DeStefano was sentenced to three and one-half years in prison for threatening the life of a witness, mobster turned informant Charles Crimaldi, an accomplice in the Foreman murder.

Sam DeStefano had encountered Crimaldi in the elevator of the Chicago Dirksen Federal Building and threatened him.

Later in 1972, Sam DeStefano was indicted on federal charges for illegal possession of firearms by a felon.

Sam DeStefano made demands to represent himself, dressed in pajamas, shouted through bullhorns, and rambled incoherently.

Sam DeStefano then started displaying similar behavior in the Foreman trial.

The Outfit bosses began to worry Sam DeStefano was not only jeopardizing his own defense, but the defenses of his other crew members.

Sam DeStefano was buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.