Since then, the Outfit has been involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including loansharking, illegal gambling, prostitution, extortion, political corruption and murder.

Heightened law enforcement attention and general attrition have led to its gradual decline since the late 20th century, though it continues to be one of the major and most active organized crime groups in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Midwestern region.

By 1909, with the help of bringing Johnny Torrio from New York to Chicago, he was successful enough that he was encroaching on the criminal activity of the Black Hand organization.

Kenha appealed to Torrio and Capone for their support, which they responded to by terrorizing the opposition and voting public on election day.

By that afternoon, the Chicago Police Department was ordered to step in to halt the violence by Cook County Judge Edmund J. Jareki.

Frank Capone, Al's brother, was killed that evening by detective sergeant William Cusack during an altercation on 22nd Street and Cicero Avenue.

The smaller North Side Gang led by Dean O'Banion was of mixed ethnicity, and it came under pressure from the Genna brothers who were allied with Torrio.

Twelve days later, on January 24, Torrio was returning from a shopping trip with his wife Anna, when he was shot several times by North Side gunmen.

[24] During the beer wars, the Capone gang's enforcement group was led by "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, and included Tony Capezio, Claude "Screwy" Maddox, Sam "Golf Bag" Hunt, Frank Rio, and others.

Less than a month later, on October 11, North Side gang leader Hymie Weiss was gunned down with a Thompson in front of Holy Name Cathedral, allegedly by Jack McGurn.

[15] Capone was widely assumed to have been responsible for ordering the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre in an attempt to eliminate Bugs Moran, head of the North Side Gang.

On that fateful and cold February morning, four Capone henchmen (two dressed as Chicago policemen) entered the S.M.C Cartage Company garage located at 2122 N. Clark St. Chicago, Illinois, to find seven men, which included five of Moran's soldiers, an auto mechanic, and a friend of the gangsters, awaiting a shipment of hijacked booze.

[21] Moran was the last survivor of the North Side gunmen; his succession had come about because his similarly aggressive predecessors Vincent Drucci and Hymie Weiss had been killed in the violence that followed the murder of original leader Dean O'Banion.

However, Nitti had found that he was claustrophobic, years earlier while in jail for 18 months (for tax evasion), and he decided to end his life rather than face more imprisonment for extorting Hollywood.

From then on, Ricca and Accardo allowed several others to nominally serve as boss, such as Giancana, Alderisio, Joey Aiuppa, William "Willie Potatoes" Daddano, and Jackie "the Lackey" Cerone.

During the 1960 presidential election, many claimed that the Mafia, and in particular, the Chicago Outfit, boosted candidate and future president John F. Kennedy.

[40] Supposedly, the Kennedys and the Mafia agreed that if John were elected president, he would lighten the pursuit of authorities on the mob group.

Accardo used the Teamsters pension fund, with the aid of Meyer Lansky, Sidney Korshak, and Jimmy Hoffa, to engage in massive money laundering through the Outfit's casinos.

It has been rumored that the $2 million skimmed from the casinos in the Court case of 1986 was used to build the Old Neighborhood Italian American Club, the founder of which was Angelo J.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, a series of over 20 murders resulted from the Outfit's takeover of car theft rackets on the South Side of Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

[46] Cataura himself was a victim of the "chop shop wars" when he was killed in July 1978 amidst a power struggle within his own crew with underling Albert Tocco for control of the lucrative stolen car rings.

[45][46] The Outfit simultaneously waged a campaign to gain control over independent pornographic bookstores, massage parlors and strip clubs in and around Chicago, with several gangland-style murders being attributed to the "porn wars".

[47] Beginning in 1977, the Outfit engaged in a "loose alliance" with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club to control and share the profits from organized prostitution in Chicago.

[49] Operation GAMBAT (GAMBling ATtorney) proved to be a crippling blow to the Outfit's tight grip on the Chicago political machine.

Marcy and company controlled the circuit courts from the 1950s until the late 1980s with the help of Alderman Fred Roti and Democratic Committeeman John D'Arco Sr.

Cooley was also an addicted gambler and in debt, so he approached the U.S. Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force, declaring that he wanted to "destroy Marcy and the First Ward".

He wore an electronic surveillance device, recording valuable conversations at the notorious "First Ward Table", located at "Counselor's Row" across the street from Chicago City Hall.

Higher law enforcement investigations and general attrition led to the Outfit's gradual decline since the late 20th century.

Facing a life sentence, Nicholas Calabrese became the first "made" member of the Chicago Outfit to become a witness for the federal government.

Others were Murray Humphreys, who was of Welsh descent, Gus Alex, a Greek, and Ken Eto (aka Tokyo Joe), who was Japanese-American.