The Neighborhood Outfit: Organized Crime in Chicago Heights
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About this book
From the slot machine trust of the early 1900s to the prolific Prohibition era bootleggers allied with Al Capone and for decades beyond organized crime in Chicago Heights Illinois represented a vital component of the Chicago Outfit. Louis Corsino taps interviews archives government documents and his own familys history to tell the story of the Chicago Heights "boys" and their place in the citys Italian American community in the twentieth century. Debunking the popular idea of organized crime as a uniquely Italian enterprise Corsino delves into the social and cultural forces that contributed to illicit activities. As he shows discrimination blocked opportunities for Italians social mobility and the close-knit Italian communities that arose in response to such limits produced a rich supply of social capital Italians used to pursue alternative routes to success that ranged from Italian grocery stores to union organizing to on occasion crime.
