We’ll examine how ethnic neighborhoods, Chicago city politics, and the Kennedy administration all played into the tremendous influence of organized crime in Chicago.

Al Capone was one of the most famous gangsters in American History.  Unlike many organized crime leaders, he did little to hide his identity. He was seen at Wrigley Field chatting with star catcher Gabby Hartnett.

Gabby Hartnett Chats With Al Capone

The true story of Al Capone’s rise and fall is complex and unexpected. Capone began as a cheap hoodlum in Brooklyn, working for Frankie Yale, the first man to begin organizing the mob in New York.

Later, Capone moved to Chicago to assist his pal Frankie Torrio, second in command of the Chicago mob.  With ferocity and force, Capone would come to head the Chicago outfit – before his pal, a mild-mannered bookkeeper, and the federal income tax laws brought him down!

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The post Al Capone – Master Of The Mob appeared first on Speaking For A Change.

Capone ran the Chicago Outfit brutally and very publicly for just a couple of years before being sent to prison on income tax charges. Tony Accordo and Paul Rccca ran the Outfit until 1957 when they turned over day to day control to Sam “Momo” Giancana.

Much More Powerful Than Capone!

Sam Giancana would rise to a position much, much more powerful than the thuggish Al Capone ever dreamt of achieving!

Giancana feuded with Robert Kennedy as he became the CIA liaison with the Mob. Unlike Capone,Sam Giancana vastly expanded the operations of the Chicago Outfit into Las Vegas, into California and became the most powerful Mafia leader in the country. He was connected to JFK through Peter Lawford and Frank Sinatra. According to a number of histories, he and John F. Kennedy actually shared a mistress in common! Some believe Sam Giancana was behind the murder of JFK. And just before he was set to testify under oath before the Senate, Sam Giancana was murdered in his home. A home that was under FBI surveillance and “guarded by the police!

Cuba

When the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) planned to assassinate Fidel Castro, the Agency called on mobster Sam Giancana to oversee the unlawful murder of the Cuban dictator. While the complicated and illegal plot ultimately failed, the implications were clear.  The CIA was working closely with Sam Giancana – the most important and influential Mafia leader in the USA. J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI only learned of the plot because they were tapping Giancana’s phone and watching him 24/7!

Women

After he was widowed, Sam Giancana carried on a very public romance with super popular, squeaky clean, all-American girl Phyllis McGuire. As one of the wholesome McGuire Sisters, Phyllis projected a sprightly, virginal image. In reality, her torrid affair with the leader of the Chicago Syndicate was being listened to and tape-recorded in real time by the FBI!  Before his intense relationship with McGuire, he consorted with Marilyn Monroe (some say he caused her death) and other famous women.  One of the most fascinating stories involves his relationship with Judith Campbell – who was also a mistress of John F. Kennedy!  She claimed that she arranged meetings and carried messages between the two! The stories are perplexing and fascinating. You will not want to miss this one-of-a-kind multimedia presentation.

The post Sam Giancana – Master Of The Mob, Murderer Of JFK? appeared first on Speaking For A Change.

Frank Sinatra was one of the most charismatic and controversial American entertainers of all time.

He was one of a kind! 

Click here to read about his impressive record on Civil Rights.

In this brand-new multimedia presentation, I will trace the biography of Sinatra’s improbable life. We will look at his odd childhood as a skinny Italian street kid in working-class Hoboken, New Jersey. His father was a prizefighter turned saloon keeper; his mother was a hard-drinking suffragette and political power in Hoboken who also made a living by performing abortions. We will look at Sinatra’s bumpy road to stardom. His career had so many ups and downs! Frank Sinatra seemed unstoppable from singing with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey big bands to being the idol of the Bobby Sox brigades in the early 1940s. But when he avoided serving in World War II and musical tastes began to shift, his career went into a steep decline that was only rescued by the help of the Mafia and his fantastic performance in the movie “From Here To Eternity.”

The rest of the Frank Sinatra story is equally fascinating. Swingin’ Sinatra, the Rat Pack, JFK, Marilyn Monroe,  and an abiding dedication to Israel and civil rights are part of the story. So are Lucky Luciano, Sam Giancana, Skinny D’Amato, Jilly Rizzo and the Mafia. (Click here to read about how Peter Lawford connected Sinatra to JFK!)In this one-of-a-kind presentation filled with video clips, amazing anecdotes, and insightful analysis, we will look at all sides of the one and only Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra.

The post The Swinging, Controversial Life Of Frank Sinatra – Part One appeared first on Speaking For A Change.

Frank Sinatra was one of the most charismatic and controversial American entertainers of all time.

He was one of a kind! 

Click here to read about his impressive record on Civil Rights.

In this brand-new multimedia presentation, I will trace the biography of Sinatra’s improbable life. We will look at his odd childhood as a skinny Italian street kid in working-class Hoboken, New Jersey. His father was a prizefighter turned saloon keeper; his mother was a hard-drinking suffragette and political power in Hoboken who also made a living by performing abortions. We will look at Sinatra’s bumpy road to stardom. His career had so many ups and downs! Frank Sinatra seemed unstoppable from singing with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey big bands to being the idol of the Bobby Sox brigades in the early 1940s. But when he avoided serving in World War II and musical tastes began to shift, his career went into a steep decline that was only rescued by the help of the Mafia and his fantastic performance in the movie “From Here To Eternity.”

The rest of the Frank Sinatra story is equally fascinating. Swingin’ Sinatra, the Rat Pack, JFK, Marilyn Monroe,  and an abiding dedication to Israel and civil rights are part of the story. So are Lucky Luciano, Sam Giancana, Skinny D’Amato, Jilly Rizzo and the Mafia. (Click here to read about how Peter Lawford connected Sinatra to JFK!)In this one-of-a-kind presentation filled with video clips, amazing anecdotes, and insightful analysis, we will look at all sides of the one and only Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra.

The post The Swinging, Controversial Life Of Frank Sinatra – Part One appeared first on Speaking For A Change.

Frank Sinatra was one of the most charismatic and controversial American entertainers of all time.

He was one of a kind! 

Click here to read about his impressive record on Civil Rights.

In this brand-new multimedia presentation, I will trace the biography of Sinatra’s improbable life. We will look at his odd childhood as a skinny Italian street kid in working-class Hoboken, New Jersey. His father was a prizefighter turned saloon keeper; his mother was a hard-drinking suffragette and political power in Hoboken who also made a living by performing abortions. We will look at Sinatra’s bumpy road to stardom. His career had so many ups and downs! Frank Sinatra seemed unstoppable from singing with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey big bands to being the idol of the Bobby Sox brigades in the early 1940s. But when he avoided serving in World War II and musical tastes began to shift, his career went into a steep decline that was only rescued by the help of the Mafia and his fantastic performance in the movie “From Here To Eternity.”

The rest of the Frank Sinatra story is equally fascinating. Swingin’ Sinatra, the Rat Pack, JFK, Marilyn Monroe,  and an abiding dedication to Israel and civil rights are part of the story. So are Lucky Luciano, Sam Giancana, Skinny D’Amato, Jilly Rizzo and the Mafia. (Click here to read about how Peter Lawford connected Sinatra to JFK!)In this one-of-a-kind presentation filled with video clips, amazing anecdotes, and insightful analysis, we will look at all sides of the one and only Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra.

The post The Swinging, Controversial Life Of Frank Sinatra – Part One appeared first on Speaking For A Change.