Mob Expert: Chicago Outfit Still a Force

The Chicago Tribune reports:

The jury in the Family Secrets mob conspiracy case began hearing evidence today, with the government calling its first witness: James Wagner, president of the Chicago Crime Commission.

Wagner walked jurors through the history of organized crime in the city, from the time Al Capone unified the criminal underworld into a force that he controlled. Since then, the Chicago Outfit has held control of vice here, making money through prostitution, gambling, loan sharking and extortion, Wagner explained.


The mob took the money it made and used it to corrupt politicians and law enforcement, Wagner said. Eventually, the Chicago mob wormed its way into labor unions and Las Vegas casinos, he said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Mitchell Mars asked whether the organization has survived and prospered to this day. "It certainly has," Wagner said.

Imagine that.