Johnny Torrio
John Donato Torrio (born Donato Torrio, Italian: [doˈnaːto ˈtɔrrjo]; January 20, 1882 – April 16, 1957) was an Italian-born American mobster who helped build the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s later inherited by his protégé Al Capone. Torrio proposed a National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s and later became an adviser to Lucky Luciano and his Luciano crime family.
Johnny Torrio | |
|---|---|
Torrio in 1939 | |
| Born | Donato Torrio January 20, 1882 |
| Died | April 16, 1957 (aged 75) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, U.S. |
| Other names | The Fox The Brain Papa Johnny Terrible Johnny The Immune |
| Occupation | Crime boss |
| Predecessor | Big Jim Colosimo |
| Successor | Al Capone |
| Criminal status | Released |
| Spouse |
Anna Theodosia Jacobs
(m. 1912) |
| Allegiance | Chicago Outfit |
| Conviction(s) | Tax evasion (1939) |
| Criminal penalty | 2 years' imprisonment (1939) |
Torrio had several nicknames, primarily "The Fox" for his cunning and finesse. The US Treasury official Elmer Irey considered him "the biggest gangster in America" and wrote, "He was the smartest and, I dare say, the best of all the hoodlums. 'Best' referring to talent, not morals". Virgil W. Peterson of the Chicago Crime Commission stated that his "talents as an organizational genius were widely respected by the major gang bosses in the New York City area". Crime journalist Herbert Asbury affirmed: "As an organizer and administrator of underworld affairs, Johnny Torrio is unsurpassed in the annals of American crime; he was probably the nearest thing to a real mastermind that this country has yet produced".