Nicoletti grew up in an impoverished and dysfunctional family in Chicago; his parents were both natives of Santa Caterina Villarmosa, Sicily. They lived at 737 Campbell Avenue in Near West Side, Chicago. On February 27, 1929, at the age of 12, Charles shot and killed his own father, allegedly in self-defense. The 39-year-old Philip Nicoletti was a drunkard who regularly beat his wife and two sons; on this occasion, Philip viciously attacked his younger son and pursued him with a knife. According to Chicago police records, Charles ran into a bedroom, where a gun was kept in a bureau drawer. Nicoletti was exonerated by the Cook County coroner. He dropped out of school in eighth grade and soon joined the "Forty-Two Gang." At the time, the gang's members included such future Outfit members as