George Scalise

[1] The BSEIU (known as the Service Employees International Union since 1968) was founded in 1921 in Chicago to represent janitors, elevator operators, and window washers.

Scalise, who rose to head the union due to his connections with organized crime, was indicted by New York District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey, charged with extorting $100,000 from employers over three years.

Capone sought control BSEIU in order to embezzle funds from the national union's treasury.

Scalise, a 38-year-old from New York City, had been involved in interstate prostitution, labor racketeering and other organized crime activities since the early 1920s.

A protégé of Anthony "Little Augie Pisano" Carfano,[7][8][9] a former Capone associate who had moved to New York City and joined what was then known as the Luciano crime family,[10] Scalise had used his mob connections to establish several small union locals with the Teamsters.