Mafia-Camorra conflict in 1901 Chicago?

Post Reply
User avatar
THunt
Site Admin
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue, Oct 9, 2018, 5:02 am
Location: Whiting, Vermont
Contact:

Mafia-Camorra conflict in 1901 Chicago?

Post by THunt » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 5:42 am

What may have been an early Mafia-Camorra conflict in Chicago resulted in the February 21, 1901, murder of Salvatore DiGiovanni. According to the press, DiGiovanni was a native of Naples, had been a resident of Chicago for a decade and was regarded as a leader in local politics. He was reportedly lured from his West Polk Street home to an alley near Grand and Milwaukee Avenues in Little Sicily, and then shot through the chest during a gunfight.

Image

Police determined that DiGiovanni was killed during an exchange of lead with Joseph Morici, later found recovering from his own serious gunshot wound and arrested. Morici was said to be a native of the Castelbuono-Termini area of Sicily. Police heard that he was president of an organization known as "the Sicilian Society." He eventually admitted firing the shot that took DiGiovanni's life but claimed he did so in self-defense. A grand jury refused to indict him for murder.

See:
"Chicago gangland hit (long before Capone)" on Writers of Wrongs:
https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/02 ... apone.html
- Tom Hunt
Moderator
Post Reply