Nitti[nb 1] was born Francesco Raffaele Nitto on January 27, 1886, in the town of Angri, province of Salerno, Campania, Italy.

He probably moved to Chicago around 1913, working as a barber and making the acquaintance of gangsters Alex Louis Greenberg and Dion O'Banion.

[1] Nitti, being a newcomer, and familiar with the Texas area, became a partner in the Galveston crime syndicate run by Johnny Jack Nounes.

[4] He is reported to have stolen a large sum of money from Nounes and fellow mobster Dutch Voight in 1924, after which Nitti fled back to Chicago.

Nitti ran Capone's liquor smuggling and distribution operation, importing whisky from Canada and selling it through a network of speakeasies around Chicago.

Still, as he rose in the organization, Nitti's business instinct dictated that he must personally avoid the "dirty work" for which hitmen were paid.

[citation needed] Frank and Rose divorced in 1928, and shortly thereafter, he married Anna Ronga, daughter of a mob doctor and former neighbor of the Nittis in the 1920s.

In actuality, Ricca was merely the acting boss of the Chicago Outfit for six months between Capone's October 1931 imprisonment and Nitti's March 1932 release.

With the recently released Nitti paranoid about violating his federal parole, Ricca was acting in the capacity of emissary that same month when he was arrested with Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and other mobsters by Chicago police and prominently photographed.

[1] With Nitti calling the shots, the Chicago Outfit branched out from prostitution and gambling into other areas, including control of labor unions (which led to the extortion of many businesses).

[12] The theory is enhanced by numerous researchers, citing their analysis of court testimony, asserting that Cermak had directed an assassination attempt on Nitti fewer than three months earlier.

Among those prosecuted were Nitti, Phil D'Andrea, Louis "Little New York" Campagna, Nick Circella, Charles "Cherry Nose" Gioe, Ralph Pierce, Ricca, and John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli.

[15] The day before his scheduled grand jury appearance, Nitti had breakfast with his wife in their home at 712 Selborne Road in Riverside, Illinois.

Barnett and E.H. Moran were riding in the caboose, backing their train slowly southward over an ungated Cermak Road in North Riverside.

Police Chief Allen Rose of North Riverside, rushing to the scene with a sergeant and several beat patrolmen, recognized Nitti immediately.

A coroner's jury ruled the following day that Nitti "committed suicide while temporarily insane and in a despondent frame of mind".

Straight up from the gate are the graves of Dean O'Banion and Hymie Weiss, both North Side Gang members who the Chicago Outfit killed under Capone.

[citation needed] Ice hockey goaltender Antero Niittymäki has used an image of Nitti on his helmet due to the similarity of their names.