- Sam DeStefano
Infobox Person
name=Sam DeStefano
image_size=150px
caption=CPD mugshot of Mad Sam DeStefano
birth_date=birth date|1909|9|13|mf=y
birth_place=SouthernIllinois , U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1973|4|14|1909|9|13|mf=y
death_place=Chicago ,Illinois , U.S.Samuele "Mad Sam" DeStefano (
September 13 ,1909 —April 14 ,1973 ) was an Americangangster who became one of theChicago Outfit 's mostnotorious loan shark s andsociopath ic killers.Chicago -basedFBI agents such asWilliam F. Roemer, Jr. considered DeStefano to be the worsttorture -murder er in the history of theUnited States . The Outfit used themental ly unstable andsadistic DeStefano for the torture-murders ofLeo Foreman andArthur Adler , the murder of DeStefano's younger brother,Michael DeStefano and Outfitenforcer and fellow loan sharkWilliam "Action" Jackson . However, due to DeStefano's deranged mental state, The Outfit never let him become aMade man . At least one Outfit insider eyewitness claimed that DeStefano was aDevil worship per. [May, Allan, "'Mad' Sam DeStefano: The Mob's Marquis DeSade (Part 2)," pg. 2; americanmafia.com]Early years
Born in
Southern Illinois , DeStefano moved to Little Italy inChicago , with his family as a teenager. He suffered frommalignant narcissism .Fact|date=September 2008 In 1927, at age 18, DeStefano was convicted ofrape and sentenced to three yearsimprisonment . Released in 1930, DeStefano joined theForty-Two Gang , aninfamous Chicago street gang led by future Outfit boss,Salvatore Giancana . DeStefano soon became involved inbootlegging andgambling . In 1932, he was wounded during a grocery storerobbery . In 1934, Stefano was convicted of abank robbery inNew Lisbon, Wisconsin and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Released in 1944, he returned to prison in 1947 for sellingcounterfeit sugarration stamp s. While in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, DeStefano met Outfit membersPaul Ricca andLouis Campagna . Later in 1947, DeStefano was released and obtained aCivil Service job in Chicago as a garbage dump foreman. In 1952, city officials discovered that DeStefano had omitted hiscriminal record from the Civil Service application; however, they chose not toprosecute him. He also became the uncle of Outfit mobstersRocco DeStefano andSamuel DeStefano , who was named after "Mad Sam."Fact|date=July 2008Political fixer
During the early 1950s, DeStefano had become a major loan shark operator, in Chicago, with his brother
Mario Anthony DeStefano . With money gained during his days as a bank robber for the42 Gang in the early 1930s, "Mad Sam" began investing in real estate. He bought a 24-suite apartment building and used the rent money as legitimate income to pay off localaldermen and otherpoliticians . By the mid-1950s, DeStefano's influence extended to city officials, prominentjudge s, and law enforcement officers. DeStefano would brag that, "there wasn't any case he couldn't 'fix,'" and began offering his services accordingly. His fees ranged from $800 for a robbery to $1,500 for anassault . DeStefano was alsosuspect ed of "fixing" a first-degree murder case for $20,000. DeStefano's arrangements became so routine that corruptpolice officers would escortsuspect s to DeStefano's house. After DeStefano paid off the cops, the suspects would be "put on the juice" to DeStefano in exchange for his assistance.Loan shark
DeStefano's loan shark
victim s includedpolitician s andlawyer s as well as small-timecriminal s; by the end of the decade, DeStefano was charging 20% to 25% a week in interest. DeStefano would accept very high-risk debtors, such asdrug addicts or business men who had alreadydefault ed on previous debts. The reason was simple: DeStefano enjoyed it when debtors didn't pay on time. He could then bring them to the sound-prooftorture chamber he built in his basement. Other gangsters said that the sadistic DeStefano would actually foam at the mouth while torturing his victims. From time to time, DeStefano would also kill those who actually owed him very little so that those who owed him a lot would hear the word of DeStefano's sacrifice kill and pay up. One of the reasons that DeStefano probably lasted so long in Chicago, despite his behavior being too crazy even for Outfit standards, was because he made a fortune for his bosses. He made so much money that for a time Giancana and Antonino ("Tony," "Joe Batters," "The Big Tuna") Accardo gave DeStefano some of their own money to put out on the street for loansharking purposes to make money for them.Bloody trail
In 1955, Giancana ordered DeStefano and his brother Mario to murder their younger brother Michael DeStefano, a mob wannabe and drug addict. On
September 27 ,1955 , the body of Michael was found shot in a car trunk in a West Side neighborhood. When police questioned DeStefano, he allegedly began laughing uncontrollably. He was later released due to hispolitical influence and a lack ofevidence .By the early 1960s, DeStefano was a leading loan shark and
narcotics trafficker for The Outfit. In 1963, DeStefano had a violent argument with real estate agent and rival loan shark Leo Foreman. To finally get DeStefano out of his office, Foreman threw DeStefano out, and then Foreman went into hiding from DeStefano for some time. Later on, Foreman was summoned to DeStefano's home after being tricked into believing that DeStefano was letting "bygones be bygones." Upon his arrival, Foreman was taken to the basement torture chamber and brutalized for hours byCharles Crimaldi ,Anthony Spilotro , and brother Mario. When DeStefano finally arrived in the basement, he supposedly screamed at Foreman, "I told you I'd get you. Greed got you killed!," as he died on November 19, 1963.In another incident
Peter Cappelletti , a collector for DeStefano, kept $25,000 from a loan shark victim and fled Chicago. DeStefano's men located Cappelletti inWisconsin and brought him back to Chicago. DeStefano chained him to a radiator and tortured him for three days. On the last day DeStefano invited Cappelletti's family to Mario's restaurant for a banquet. While the banquet was going on, Cappelletti was secretly being tortured again in the back. Finally, the severely burned Cappelletti was dragged into the dining area. DeStefano then made the man's family urinate on him in unison. Following the dinner, the family quickly paid back the money Cappelletti stole from DeStefano.As for
William "Action" Jackson , he was 300 pounds of Outfit enforcer and loan shark that was thought to have become aninformant for the FBI. However, Jackson was not a snitch for anyone. Yet, he was taken to DeStefano's basement torture chamber where he lasted three brutal days on a hook before he died.Final justice
In 1965, DeStefano was convicted of
conspiracy and sentenced to three-to-five years in prison. OnFebruary 22 ,1972 , he was also sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for threatening the life of awitness against him. The witness was mobster turnedinformant Crimaldi, who was an accomplice in the Foreman murder. DeStefano threatened him in the elevator of the ChicagoDirksen Federal Building . DeStefano would soon be indicted in the Foreman murder, along with the rest of his crew.As in his previous trials, DeStefano had raised an undue amount of public interest with his bizarre behavior. In earlier
court appearances, he demanded to represent himself, appeared in court dressed in pajamas, shouted throughbullhorn s to address courtrooms, rambled incoherently; and, he did likewise at the Foreman trial. Now, The Outfit bosses were worried about DeStefano, that he would not onlysabotage his high-profile court case but would also jeopardize the case against his own Outfit crew. So, in a secret meeting with Outfit bosses, DeStefano's crew got the "ok" to "whack" "Mad Sam." OnApril 14 1973 , at the start of a meeting with his crew, DeStefano was shot twice with ashotgun in the garage of his Northwest Side home, allegedly by Spilotro, hitting DeStefano with one round in the heart and one round ripping off one arm at the elbow, fatally wounding him. Brother Mario was then convicted ofcomplicity in Foreman's murder and received 20-to-40 years in prison; Spilotro wasacquit ted. Although Mario and Spilotro were suspects in Sam's murder, no one was ever charged.Notes
References
*Devito, Carlo. "Encyclopedia of International Organized Crime". New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8160-4848-7
*Kelly, Robert J. "Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States". Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
*Sifakis, Carl. "The Mafia Encyclopedia". New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3Further reading
*"A Report on Chicago Crime" Chicago:
Chicago Crime Commission Reports, 1954-1968.
*Chiocca, Olindo Romeo. "Mobsters and Thugs: Quotes from the Underworld". Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2000. ISBN 1-55071-104-0External links
* [http://crimemagazine.com/destefano.htm "Mad Sam" DeStefano: The Mob's Marquis de Sade] (Part 1) by Allan May
* [http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=106 The Free Information Society - Sam DeStefano Biography] by Jonathan Dunder
* [http://www.cemeteryrecords.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6996808&pt=Sam%20'Mad%20Sam'%20DeStefano FindAGrave.com - Sam "Mad Sam" DeStefano]
* [http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_179.html Mad Sam] by John William Tuohy
* [http://gangstersinc.tripod.com/MadSam.html Gangsters Incorporated: Sam "Mad Sam" DeStefano] by David Amoruso
* [http://gamblingmagazine.com/articles/53/53-11.htm Of Pajama Dons, Bugs and Prime Ministers: Insanity in the Underworld] by John Tuohy
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.