Customer Reviews

The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Outfit" is a well written, thoroughly comprehensive look at the post-Capone history of organized crime in the city of Chicago. Gus Russo does an excellent job of leaving no stone unturned as he chronicles the Outfit's activity from the jailing of Capone to its decline in the 90s. Along the way we meet the gangsters who made the Chicago mob rich and famous: Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo, Paul "the Waiter" Ricca, "Curly" Humphries, Johnny Roselli,Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, and Sam "Mooney" Giancana. Russo discusses the role of each in making the Chicago Syndicate the power it was in the world of organized crime.

Russo's breezy style makes "The Outfit" an absolute joy to read, deftly mixing facts and ancedotes like a master chef. Read about the takeover of IATSE, the Hollywood union, and the infiltration of the mob into the world of the Hollywood studios; the Mob's entry and takeover of Las Vegas; the infiltration into the Teamsters and the scheming of the Outfit to fix the 1960 presidential election and what happened when they were doublecrossed. It was by no means a smooth ride - along the way Russo details the eforts of law enforcement to balance the books, so to speak, with the result that the Outfit always had to keep scheming, keep looking, for new rackets and businesses to infiltrate. Russo keeps the pages turning with a compelling style that makes the book's 550 pages seem like 100 when you hit the end.

Few books even attempt to cover the history of the Chicago Mob after Al Capone left the scene. Fewer still are this enjoyuable. A must for crime historians and those just interested in a good book.

I've read a lot of books on organized crime, and while I don't pretend to be an expert, I have become a little skeptical when reading certain accounts. Mr. Russo outdoes himself in reinforcing my skepticism! To say the least. While I consider myself a good liberal Democrat, my view of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. is not exactly favorable. He made a lot of money through illegal and unethical dealings, there's no question about that, and I won't challenge Mr. Russo's contention that Joe was a hijacker etc. I've also read about how some people accuse Old Joe of giving a Miss Eunice Pringle $10,000 to accuse one of Joe's business rivals of rape.Mr. Russo states this transaction as fact! And who is Mr. Russo's source? Why it was young Miss Pringle herself. On page 53, Russo states that four years after the fact the young lady, on her deathbed after allegedly being poisoned at Kennedy's behest spilled the sordid details of her lie. The only problem is, Eunice Pringle didn't die UNTIL 1996!!!! Whoops.
Speaking of dying, On page 115 Mr. Russo really piqued my curiousity when he wrote that the (absolutely corrupt)Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly "sponsored a state bill to legalize racing handbooks..." As a former state legislator myself, I assumed that Russo meant that Kelly had a mob-controled Chicago legislator introduce a bill, since only members of the legislature can sponsor bills. If that were my complaint, you could dismiss this review as an overreaction. But it gets better.According to Russo "two representatives strongly opposed to the bill were shot to death." I can find no record of these murders taking place! I would like to know Mr. Russo's source for this information! I have to doubt whether such a bill was even introduced in 1935 or 36.According to Mr. Russo Ill. Governor vetoed the bill, but I have to say that if the Outfit was willing to kill two to pass it, they could have killed a couple more to get the veto overridden.
In my opinion, Mr. Russo overstates the role of New Jersey mobster, Abner "Longy" Zwillman's influence on Outfit business. I could be wrong and if so I apologize. But can Mr. Russo explain to me how Longy Zwillman attended a conclave in Palm Springs in 1965 (which according to Russo became to be known as the Palm Springs Apalachin - which I've never heard of before)when poor Longy was found hanging in the basement of his Jersey home the victim of suicide or homicide (this could be something that Mr. Russo could use his investigative skills to find out the truth)IN 1959!!!! There is so much more I could say about this book but their isn't enough time and space for me to do it. This book is an insult to everybody who paid good money to purchace it and wasted time reading it. The only saving grace is that I don't have to bother considering reading anything else by Mr. Russo!

Most non-fiction books on organized crime tilt toward fiction either because writers enjoy claiming to be "in the know" about the mob or because they're subjects' activities are so murky that nobody will be able to prove or disprove what's written. Gus Russo's book will go down as one of the few scholarly works on the mob and it's well worth its length to read the whole thing.

Of particular interest is Russo's portrayal of the vast shade of gray that exists between the darkness of the mob and the alleged purity of legitimate business. Russo documents how hard it is to draw the line between where the mob ends and legit business begins. Furthermore, Russo examines the least flashy bust most powerful organized crime figures such as Murray Humphreys and Tony Accardo, two names largely unknown to the public, but of enormous American significance. This confirms what the FBI has always known -- that it's the guys who stay out of the newspapers who really run the show.

Finally, if anyone remains in America naive enough to believe that Camelot ever existed, The Outfit will dispel the Kennedy legend quickly and reveal the family for what they are: Well-polished children of a stone racketeer who had the savvy to invest his fortune in spin.

For mob watchers and American history buffs, The Outfit is a necessary, if disturbing read. It'll be hard for future mob writers to knock Russo's work off the shelf.

This is the first book that I have recommended for the Pulitzer, and this book richly deserves the honor and many more to be heaped upon it.
This book is a fascinating and well researched book, but it is much more than that. It is funny, smartly written and so entertaining that the book is actually a real page turner. The book is a real eye opener to the inner workings of the Chicago mafia and their dealings with the upperworld and political figures spanning 50 years. This book is shocking! The Outfit describes in great detail the association between the mafia and Truman, Lyndon Johnson, The Kennedy's, and numerous state and federal officials.
The book also details the life of Curly Humphreys, the most important mob figure, Tony Accardo, Paul Ricca, Johnny Rosselli, Sam "Momo" Giancana, and Al Capone. The book is rich in details of their lives, it tells of all their exploits and describes their murders, rackets, and other operations. The book breaks down myths and realities regarding certain aspects of their businesses. They talk about the control of unions, the fixing of the Kennedy election, Las Vegas, and various other well known mob exploits that are often surrounded in modern day folklore.
This book is absolutely excellent and it will give you straight facts, which is the most amazing aspect. While entertaining, it is extensively researched which is the best part of the book.

I highly recommend this book, you will not be disappointed.

Detailed account of Chicago crime family's growth from pre-Capone days to death of mastermind Murray Humphreys in 1972, after which the chronicle trails off rapidly. Familiar highlights are there, showing how Chicago's corruptive tentacles reach into worlds of legalized gambling, labor unions, show business, and politics, with many household names surfacing, e.g. Kennedys, Sinatra, Monroe, Nixon, Hoffa, Truman, et. al. Anecdotes are numerous and fascinating, demonstrating once again how thoroughly the underworld intertwines with what author Russo terms the "upperworld". (For a provocative theory of how and why these two worlds interlock symbiotically, check out Peter Dale Scott's Deep Politics and the Death of JFK.) Though much of the material is familiar to students of the Chicago mob, Russo's treatment remains on the whole a worthwhile addition.

Two points for consideration. It's evident from the text that Russo relies greatly on Jeanne Humphreys, Murray's second wife, for fresh material. As a result, the cool and calculating master fixer is treated in near glowing terms that place him at the center of mob activities in a way that unfortunately obscures the role of other central figues such as Tony Accardo, Paul Ricca, and others. Moreover, such key underbosses as Jackie Cerone and Willie Daddano, heavyweights in their own right, get only passing mention at best. In fact, the text appears skewed both qualitatively and quantitatively in behalf of Humphreys such that it's difficult to survey how the vectors of power within the Chicago mob really played out. And though the work is aptly subtitled, "The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America", there's little sense conveyed of how the Outfit works internally.

The second point concerns the Afterword, a provocative perspective on upperworld and underworld crime and criminals. Many readers may find a comparison between the two unwelcome and reject it out of hand. Nonetheless, Russo presents his argument in a way that demands thoughtful consideration, drawing intelligently upon the class bias of our criminal justice system and its tendency to focus on street crime to the exclusion of the subtler, white-collar varieties. Still and all, there's another side to crime that Russo doesn't touch on, namely the international arena. To quote from Marine Corps General Smedley Butler's candid writings in "War is a Racket" (available on Amazon), "I spent 33 years in the Marines, most of my time being a high-class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism." -- Provocative words from a man who should know. Moreover, to give the same point a more topical thrust : Aside from the politics, just what is the moral difference between plundering the Teamster's pension fund, on one hand, and grabbing off the oil fields of Iraq, on the other. Raising a question of this sort is not meant to imply there are no important distinctions; it is meant to imply that where big government, big business, and big underworld are concerned the distinctions really do blur.

This is about as good as it gets in terms of criminal history. I agree with others that some of the secondary sources Russo cites are questionable (my eyes crossed when he cited the discredited "Last Testament of Lucky Luciano"), but Russo does an excellent job of placing the Outfit in historical context and telling their tale. Much previous writing on American organized crime has focused on the fractious and colorful New York families, but after you do a certain amount of reading, it begins to occur to you that the guys in Chicago seem to have a finger in every pie, but (after Capone) a knack for staying out of the papers. Russo makes the argument that the Outfit was actually much more powerful and cohesive than the New York families and had a much greater influence on American politics and culture. He convinced me.

I am also convinced by Russo's basic thesis -- that "upperworld crime" utterly dwarfs underworld crime, both in terms of dollar volume and its affect on society. For example, it would take a thousand Outfits a thousand years to steal as much money as Wall Street did during the dotcom bubble.

Thorough, well-organized, but never dry, this book will probably stand as the best work on the subject for many years to come.

This book is really about the life of Muriel Humphreys who was the brains of the Outfit since the Capone days. Much of the material is new, coming as it does from his Widow and her recounting of her knowledge of Humprheys' life in the Outfit that fills in some of the gaps of what was previously known of the shadowy history of the Chicago Mob.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the true workings of Chicago Organized Crime with the caveat to beware of some of the accounts described in the book. Be sure to read the footnotes, for some of the secondary sources the author uses are of dubious worth and validity.

"The Outfit" is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in organized crime in the United States. I would also place it high on a list of books to read to understand 20th century U.S. History. Russo traces the role of organized crime in the shaping of modern America from the time of Capone's rule in late '20's early '30's Illinois. While Russo's primary focus is on Chicago's syndicate and its bosses, he details syndicate activities from Miami, to Hollywood, from to Las Vegas to New York. This is not just the story of the Mafia, which, while an important element in organized crime, shares top billing with bosses of other ethnicities. Perhaps no one was more prominent then Welshman Curly Humphries, about whom a multi volume biography could be written.
One of Russo's greatest feats is showing how blurred the lines are between the "Underworld" of organized crime and the "Upperworld" of supposed legitmate businesses. Russo also shows us the compliant role of power hungry politicians in the success of crime syndicates, whether city alderman or US presidents.
"The Outifit" is rich with colorful stories and characters, some familiar such as Bugsy Seigel and others doubtless new to most readers.
Russo's genius is tying all the stories and characters into a larger context concluding with a powerfully stated epilogue.
My only quibble with Russo is that he obviously ignored all the information that must have stared him in the face about the role of organized crime in the Kennedy assassination. He relies heavily on "Double Cross" a book by Sam Giancana's brother and godson yet ignores their assertions (repeated by other mob bosses) that they had advanced knowledge of the murder. Russo's only reference to former Mob bagman Jack Ruby is to say that he killed Oswald to avenge Jackie Kennedy. (Yeah right!)
That aside "The Outfit" is an awesome piece of work.

Russo has finally written the book that begged to be written: detailing the close interaction sociologically, politically, etc., between the "underworld" as he so aptly calls it and the "upperworld" of nominally respectable business, politics, etc. Michel Foucault would be proud of him. As Al Capone put it: "Everyone is on the take." This book demolishes many stereotypes and cherished myths about both the "mob" and "respectable" business and politics. A sociological bombshell - not for the faint of intellect.

This is the best and most informative book I've read on the Chicago Sydicate (aka, the Outfit). Mr. Russo really did his homework on this opus on one of the most successful criminal enterprises this country has ever seen. I was particularly interested in the role of Curly Humphreys. This shadowy figure was the backbone of the Outfit and was a brilliant strategist. He is not as widely known as Meyer Lansky, but was just as savvy. There was also much information on the rest of the Chicago bosses and bigwigs (Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo, Paul "The Waiter" Ricca, Sam Giancana, and Johnny Rosselli, among others). There was also some great information on Frank Sinatra and has involvement with various mob families across the country. If you want to read a definitive work on the Chicago Mafia and its far-reaching influence, then this book is it.