| rdfs:comment
| - Born in Marsala, Sicily in 1884, Albert Anselmi became involved with the Mafia early in his life. Escaping the relatives of one of his murder victims, he fled to America around 1912 and entered the country illegally through the Gulf Coast, eventually settling on "The Hill", the Italian community of St. Louis. By the beginning of Prohibition, Anselmi had moved on to Chicago, working for the six Genna brothers in Little Italy. Contrary to common belief, it was here that he first met the youthful John Scalise, who would become his crime partner and best friend. Although older, Anselmi was not as quick thinking as his young apprentice, and soon enough the student was leading the teacher.
|
| abstract
| - Born in Marsala, Sicily in 1884, Albert Anselmi became involved with the Mafia early in his life. Escaping the relatives of one of his murder victims, he fled to America around 1912 and entered the country illegally through the Gulf Coast, eventually settling on "The Hill", the Italian community of St. Louis. By the beginning of Prohibition, Anselmi had moved on to Chicago, working for the six Genna brothers in Little Italy. Contrary to common belief, it was here that he first met the youthful John Scalise, who would become his crime partner and best friend. Although older, Anselmi was not as quick thinking as his young apprentice, and soon enough the student was leading the teacher. The pair became noted as the Gennas' deadliest killers, as they were suspected, along with New York gangster Frankie Yale, of murdering North Side gang leader Dion O'Bannion on November 10, 1924. Shortly thereafter, on June 13, 1925, Anselmi and Scalise, along with Mike Genna, ambushed North Siders Bugs Moran and Vincent Drucci in Little Italy, shooting up their car with shotguns and wounding Drucci. About an hour later, as the shooters raced south on Western Avenue, they were pursued by a detective squad and overtaken at the corner of Western and 60th. During the ensuing gun battle, Chicago Police officers Charles Walsh and Harold Olsen were killed and Michael Conway severely wounded. The fourth officer, William Sweeney, pursued the fleeing Anselmi, Scalise, and Genna towards the next block of houses. Genna was fatally shot by Sweeney while the other two fell into police hands. Anselmi and Scalise were bound over for trial. Prosecutor Bob Crowe vowed to send both men to the gallows. During some of the most bizarre legalistics in American history, the two killers' lawyers managed to convince the jury that they had reacted against "unwarranted police aggression." Anselmi and Scalise were found guilty of the manslaughter of Officer Walsh, drawing a sentence of 14 years in prison. Four months later, after taking many weeks in order to secure enough people who were willing to serve on the jury, they were acquitted of the murder of Officer Olsen due largely to the same arguments as the first trial. Nine months later, in December 1926, Anselmi and Scalise were granted a retrial by the Illinois Supreme Court and released from prison. In June 1927, they were tried once again and acquitted of the murder of Walsh. By then, the two, through the events and trials of the past two years, had forged a close bond, and they went to work for Capone with a venganance.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)