31 Facts About Sam Giancana

1.

Salvatore Mooney Giancana was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966.

2.

Sam Giancana joined the 42 Gang as a teenager, developing a reputation in organized crime which gained him the notice of Chicago Outfit leaders.

3.

In 1957, Sam Giancana became the boss of the Chicago Outfit.

4.

In 1965, Sam Giancana was convicted of contempt of court, serving one year in prison.

5.

Sam Giancana was murdered on June 19,1975, in Oak Park, Illinois, shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the Church Committee.

6.

Sam Giancana was born Gilormo Giangana on May 24,1908, in The Patch neighborhood of Chicago to Antonio Giangana and Antonia DeSimmona, Italian immigrants from Castelvetrano, Sicily, Italy.

7.

Sam Giancana's father immigrated in 1905, while his mother immigrated in 1906; he had seven siblings.

8.

On September 23,1933, Sam Giancana married Angeline DeTolve, the daughter of immigrants from the Italian region of Basilicata.

9.

Sam Giancana joined the 42 Gang, a juvenile street crew working for political boss Joseph Esposito.

10.

Sam Giancana soon developed a reputation as an excellent getaway driver, a high earner, and a vicious killer.

11.

Sam Giancana was first arrested in 1925, for auto theft.

12.

Sam Giancana soon graduated to "triggerman" and by the age of 20 had been the prime subject of three murder investigations, but never tried for any of them.

13.

In 1929, Sam Giancana was convicted of burglary and larceny, and sentenced to one to five years in the Joliet Correctional Center.

14.

Sam Giancana was released in 1932, after serving three years and nine months.

15.

In 1939 Sam Giancana was convicted of bootlegging, and sentenced to four years in Leavenworth Prison and Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex.

16.

Sam Giancana's crew is believed to have been responsible for convincing Eddie Jones to quit his racket and leave the country.

17.

Sam Giancana's crew was responsible for the August 4,1952 murder of African-American gambling boss Theodore Roe.

18.

Sam Giancana was required to consult Accardo and Ricca on all important Outfit affairs.

19.

Sam Giancana was present at the Mafia's 1957 Apalachin meeting at the Upstate New York estate of Joseph Barbara.

20.

Later, Buffalo crime boss Stefano Magaddino and Sam Giancana were overheard on a wiretap saying the meeting should have occurred in the Chicago area.

21.

Sam Giancana claimed that the Chicago area was "the safest place in the world" for a major underworld meeting because he had several police chiefs on his payroll.

22.

Hyman Larner was an associate of Sam Giancana's who helped expand the Outfit's gambling and smuggling operations to Panama and Iran, moving the Miami operation's headquarters to Panama where money laundering was more easily facilitated by local banks.

23.

Sam Giancana offered $150,000 to have Castro killed, but Roselli refused any pay.

24.

Sam Giancana offered $150,000 for the "removal" of Castro through this operation, though the documents suggest that neither Roselli, Giancana, nor Trafficante accepted any payment for the job.

25.

Sam Giancana suggested using poison pills to dose Castro's food and drink.

26.

When Sam Giancana was called before a grand jury on June 1,1965, he remained silent despite being granted immunity, which resulted in his jailing for contempt for more than a year, the duration of the grand jury.

27.

Meanwhile, Sam Giancana was deposed as operational boss by Ricca and Accardo, and replaced by Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa.

28.

Sam Giancana was arrested by Mexican authorities on July 19,1974, and deported to the United States.

29.

Sam Giancana arrived back in Chicago on July 21,1974.

30.

Sam Giancana was interred next to his wife, Angeline, in a family mausoleum at Mount Carmel Cemetery, in Hillside, Illinois.

31.

Let's just say that Sam Giancana should've remembered what happened to Bugsy Siegel.