[3] Although praised by newspapers for reducing the level of overt violence and graft which plagued the union under his predecessor, William Quesse,[2] Horan nonetheless still engaged in bribery, extortion, physical intimidation, and other crimes, and permitted George Scalise (his successor) to enter and rise within the organization.
[3] Horan established the kickback scheme whereby Scalise would eventually loot the union treasury of millions of dollars in member dues.
[5][6] Horan led a gang of bombers, gunmen and "sluggers" (men who would beat others to intimidate them) which was in the employ of various organized crime outfits and labor unions.
Horan was accidentally released, and went into hiding—although the press reported that he had turned state's evidence and been freed for rendering assistance.
Although Horan was later identified by eyewitness testimony as a co-conspirator with Murphy, Shea and Mader in planning bombings, murders, and beatings,[10] the state withdrew these charges as well.
[11] Oscar Nelson, who had succeeded Quesse as president of BSEIU in February 1927, resigned his union office for health reasons on September 3, 1927.
"Wild Bill" Rooney—an alleged murderer and noted crime figure in the city—engineered Horan's accession to the union presidency.
He took over the Cook County Wage Earner's League, a quasi-political action committee established by William Quesse in 1924 to promote pro-labor candidates for office.
[18] However, Horan used the Wage Earners' League to not only promote candidates for office (allegedly through intimidation and vote-rigging) but also to run an illegal gambling operation near Chicago City Hall.
Although Horan won praise from Chicago newspapers for eliminating the worst and most obvious forms of violence, intimidation, and graft in the union,[2] his ties to organized crime actually deepened.
[3][22] In desperation, Horan moved to Chicago's northwest suburbs in the late 1920s in an attempt to escape Capone's influence.
[3][24][25][26][27][28][29] But after Wild Bill Rooney's murder in March 1931, a frightened Horan (who was terrified even of his own bodyguards) made peace with Capone.
[3][16][25][27] In April 1933, Horan met with North Side Gang member Ted Newberry and turned over control of BSEIU over to Capone—taking his day-to-day orders from Murray "The Camel" Humphreys, Capone's liaison to unions.
[4] 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.
[3] A protégé of Anthony "Little Augie Pisano" Carfano,[31][32][33] a former Capone associate who had moved to New York City and joined what was then known as the Luciano crime family,[34] Scalise had used his mob connections to establish several small union locals with the Teamsters.
In December 1935, AFL President William Green was the keynote speaker at a testimonial dinner in Horan's honor.
In one notorious case, Horan raided a Chicago local of the International Union of Elevator Constructors led by Matthew Taylor.
[41] In early 1937, Horan and mobster Louis Campagna met Taylor at the Bismarck Hotel (171 West Randolph Street in Chicago) and offered him $50,000 in cash to voluntarily affiliate his union with BSEIU.
Convinced that Horan had managed to intimidate even the powerful AFL president, Taylor agreed to affiliate his local with BSEIU in September 1937.
[45][46] His statement was considered so preposterous, however, that a day later he withdrew his promise and said that BSEIU would merely pledge "unlimited" funds to support the strike (yet another claim few believed).
[49] Horan weakly claimed that he had purposefully flown to Boston to avoid any appearance that the strike was being run from Chicago and not New York.
[3][33] The week before Horan's death, a group of gangsters—which included Mike Carozza, Frank Diamond, Charles Fischetti, and labor racketeer Thomas J. Burke—met with George Scalise at the Café Capri restaurant at 123 North Clark Street in Chicago (a favorite hangout of Chicago Outfit leader Frank Nitti).
Scalise's ties to the Chicago Outfit were not well known to the members of the Board or the public, and this became the reason why he was chosen as the compromise candidate.