Like Los Angeles, New York & Washington, small town America now has blood on the streets ... Jamaican gangs, known as posses, are now dominating the American drug trade with more than ten thousand members trafficking drugs in twenty states. ibid.
Warriors, conquerors, respect. Let no man depart from the path I have prepared. ibid. Jamaican gang leader to gang
I’m going to take out the posse. ibid. Seagal
A mastermind steals millions from an impregnable vault without leaving a trace. Meet America’s most amazing bank burglar. Masterminds s1e9: The Perfect Score, truTV 2003
The First National Bank of Barrington ... Employees quickly discovered that seventy-four safe-deposit boxes had been emptied. The FBI determined $1.1 million in jewellery and cash were missing. ibid.
This criminal masterpiece was the work of local hairdresser William Smarto. ibid.
Locked in the vault Smarto waits an hour to ensure everyone has left the bank. ibid.
After watching the attendant leave he emerges disguised as a workman. ibid.
William Smarto is found guilty and sentenced to twenty years. Due to ill health his brother is never brought to trial. ibid.
Because of William Smarto the architecture of bank vaults has changed for ever. No longer are there false ceilings and all-corner dead spaces have been eliminated. ibid.
I retire in seven months. Before I do, I need to know who he is. How he does it. I mean, who survives this kind of clientele. The secrets this guy has … The Accountant 2016 starring Ben Affleck & Seth Lee & Anna Kendrick & J K Simmons & Jon Bernthal & Jack Presley & Jeffrey Tambor & Cynthia Addai-Robinson & John Lithgow & Jean Smart & Andy Umberger & Alison Wright et al, director Gavin O’Connor, chief rozzer to Treasury investigator
You’re different. Sooner or later different scares people. ibid.
In Chicago, one of America’s most violent cities, there are crime stories and there are crime legends. The life of Gakirah Barnes is one of those … ‘one of the only female gang assassins I’ve ever heard.’ Secret Life of a Gang Girl, Elizabeth Vargas reporting, CI 2019
Gakirah Barnes, a gangsta girl who wielded power with a pistol and a smartphone. ibid.
Gakirah Barnes, the girl who would later become known as K.I., was born in 1997 on the south side of Chicago. ibid.
‘Black Disciples controlled the west side; Gangster Disciples controlled the east side.’ ibid.
Gakirah was a social media star. ibid.
Chicago, Illinois: last memorial weekend 64 people were shot. At the heart of the violence: drugs. Dope s2e4: Is It Dangerous? Absolutely It’s Dangerous, Netflix 2018
1,862 people were shot on the west side in 2016. 226 died. ibid.
This picture is an indictment of gang rule in America and the callous indifference of the government to this constantly increasing menace to our safety and our liberty. Every incident in this picture is the reproduction of an actual occurrence, and the purpose of the picture is to demand of the government: What are you going to do about it? Scarface 1932 aka The Shame of the Nation starring Paul Muni & George Raft & Ann Dvorak & Karen Morley & Osgood Perkins & C Henry Gordon & Vince Barnett & Boris Karloff & Purnell Pratt & Tully Marshall et al, director Howard Hughes
[rozzer slugs gangsta] Come on, you rat. ibid.
Do it first. Do it yourself. And keep on doing it. ibid. advice in car
KEEP OUT OF THE NORTH SIDE. ibid. note with body thrown from car
I like Johnny. But I like you better. ibid. him to her
When I think what goes on in the minds of these lice I want to vomit. ibid. rozzer
Make laws and see that they’re obeyed. If we have to have Marshal Law to do it. ibid. rozzer
I never did anything to anybody. ibid. Johnny to Scarface
Go pack your stuff. ibid. him to her
The World Is Yours. Cooks Tours. ibid. neon sign on roof
Arrested more than 70 times for assault, larceny, bombing and murder, he personally tortured some of his victims, and is thought responsible for 200 killings. Reputations: Sam Giancana: The Gangster Who Dreamed, BBC 1996
Sam Giancana was boss of the Chicago Mafia. And without doubt the most powerful gangster in America. But what made Giancana different was not his violence but his dreams.
Giancana vanished into exile in Mexico, taking with him some of the deepest secrets of government. ibid.
Bootlegging had made him rich. ibid.
Sam Giancana was making a fortune in Havana. ibid.
Neither his caretaker nor police officers watching his house heard the six shots that killed Sam Giancana at midnight on June 19th 1975. ibid.
1930: Prohibition has transformed Chicago into a city at war. Rival gangs compete for control of the city’s billion-dollar empire of illegal alcohol, enforcing their will with the hand grenade and the Tommy gun. It is the time of the Ganglords. It is the time of Al Capone. The Untouchables 1987 starring Kevin Costner & Charles Martin Smith & Sean Connery & Andy Garcia & Patricia Clarkson & Richard Bradford & Jack Kehoe & Robert De Niro et al, director Brian De Palma, opening caption
The sharp-dressing guy who takes way too little credit for way too much. Cross him once wake up dead – just ask Kennedy. Momo: The Sam Giancana Story, Youtube 1.49.03, 2011
Grew up in ‘the patch’ known as the Spaghetti belt where Italian immigrant came to recreate their past in broken down buildings. ibid.
‘Sam Giancana was the meanest, the toughest and the smartest of the 42 gang.’ ibid.
Sam was like a killer’s killer. ibid.
How to Succeed as a Gangster, 1963. Gangster Files s1e1: Al Capone, Myth & Reality, Amazon 2023
Chicago alone boasts of having 20,000 speak-easys. Millions of Americans find that breaking the law can be fun. ibid.
The most powerful man in the underworld is Scarface Al Capone, now barely 30. He controls policemen, judges and mayors, and he openly runs a vast network of bootlegging, gambling, protection and vice. His annual revenue is reported at over 100 million. ibid.
By 1930 Capone was also a cocaine addict.
Al Capone Gets 11 Years in Prison: Chicago gangster chief’s reign of terror ends with his downfall in Federal Court. ibid. Hearst Metrotone News
‘This imbued the onscreen character with a sense of glamour which in real life he didn’t possess.’ ibid. comment
‘His was an amoral universe marked by incessant warfare.’ ibid.
‘Al Capone was known for his huge altruistic streak.’ ibid.