Paul Ricca

Infobox Person
name=Felice DeLucia


image size=150px
caption= Mugshot of Paul Ricca
birth_date=1897
birth_place=Naples, Italy
death_date=death date|1972|10|11|mf=y (age 69)
death_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Paul "The Waiter" Ricca (1897-October 11, 1972) was an Italian American Mafia figure and the boss of the Chicago Outfit, either in name or in fact, from 1932 to his death.

Early life

He was born Felice DeLucia in Naples, Italy. In 1915 DeLucia got his first real taste of lawlessness when he killed Emilio Parrillo, receiving two years in prison for that crime. He then killed the man who testified against him at his trial, Vincenzo Capasso. He was also suspected of scores of other murders.

After killing Capasso, he changed his name to Paolo Maglio and fled to Apricena, 90 miles north of Naples. From there, he made it to France and boarded a boat bound for New York City. On August 10, 1920 he arrived in New York, and shortly thereafter Anglicized his name to Paul Ricca.

Joining the mob

He eventually made it to Chicago, where he got a job as a theater usher. Later, he worked as a waiter in a local restaurant owned by mobster Joseph "Diamond Joe" Esposito, thus the nickname. Attempting to adopt a completely different style from his former violent behaviour, Ricca had the reputation of an easy-going and sweet-talking businessman. Ricca was soon on a first name basis with many of the mobsters who came in the door, including Alphonse "Al," "Scarface" Capone. Ricca and Capone had several mutual friends among Neapolitan gangsters who had returned to the old country, and Ricca soon became a full-time gangster. He rose very quickly in the ranks of the mob; for instance, Capone was the best man at his wedding in 1927. He also served as Capone's emissary on the East Coast.

Boss of the Capones

When Capone was sent to prison in 1932, Ricca nominally became underboss to Francesco "Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti" Nitto. However, by nearly all accounts, Ricca was the boss in all but name. Nitti was not regarded very highly in national mob circles; the top leaders of the emerging National Crime Syndicate (such as Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky) dealt with Ricca, not Nitti, as the boss of the Capones. He frequently overruled Nitti's orders by saying, "We'll do it this way. Now let's hear no more about it!" Such a move would normally be unthinkable in any crime family, but Nitti didn't object.

By this time, Filippo "John 'Handsome Johnny' Roselli" Sacco, the Outfit mobster who was sent to Hollywood to extort the major movie studios like RKO, Paramount, MGM and 20th Century Fox made major inroads in accomplishing that. On March 18, 1943, the top capos of the Chicago mob met at Nitti's Chicago home. At this meeting, Ricca ordered Nitti to take the fall for them all. This suggestion didn't go over well with Nitti (who suffered from severe claustrophobia and feared the confinement of prison). The next day, Nitti shot himself to death in a local railroad yard. Ricca now took over as head of the Chicago mob in name as well as in fact, appointing enforcement chief Tony Accardo as underboss--the beginning of a partnership that would last almost 30 years.

On December 30, 1943 a federal jury returned a guilty verdict to Ricca and his associates, Ricca receiving 10 years in prison. Thanks to the efforts of Murray "The Camel" Humphreys the Chicago mob's political "fixer," namely a phone call to Attorney General Tom C. Clark, Ricca and Rosselli were out in three. However, as a condition of his parole, Ricca could no longer be present in the company of mobsters. Ricca then went into semi-retirement, serving as a senior consultant to the Outfit's leadership. However, no decision was made without his knowledge. Accardo later joined him as a senior consultant, and it was generally acknowledged that the two were the real powers in the Chicago Outfit. No important moves, and certainly no hits, occurred without his permission.

Ricca was known for being soft-spoken, but also could be very ruthless. Whenever he wanted someone hit, he famously ordered, "Make'a him go away." He supported taking several members of the Forty-Two Gang into the mob, including Sam Giancana.

Ricca died of heart attack on October 11 1972.