Sam Cardinelli
Encyclopedia
Samuele Cardinelli [Salvatore Cardinella] (September 3, 1869 - Apr 15, 1921) was a Chicago mobster, extortionist, and leader of Cardinelli Gang during the 1920s.
With lieutenants Nicholas "The Choir Boy" Viana, only age 18, and Frank Campione, Cardinelli led one of the most dominant Black Hand
gangs in Chicago prior to Prohibition
. Robbing hundreds of hotels, speakeasies, and illegal gambling parlors throughout the decade, the Cardinelli's terrorized Chicago's Little Italy
through a six-year bombing campaign between 1915 to 1918. This murderous campaign resulted in 20 deaths and hundreds wounded (Viana was suspected in at least 15 murders alone). Cardinelli's organization would remain the leading Italian-American criminal organization in the city, including the Johnny Torrio
-Al Capone
gang, during the early years of Prohibition.
Cardinelli, also known as "Il Diavolo" (The Devil), was arrested by the Chicago police Homicide Squad for the 1919 murder of saloon owner Andrew P. Bowman and sentenced to hang on October 11, 1920. Following a decision by the US Supreme Court on March 4, 1921 supporting the ruling, Cardinelli was executed on Apr 15, 1921.
On the day of his execution, Cardinelli refused to walk to the gallows. He was strapped to a chair, carried to the gallows, and was hung, chair and all. After the execution, the jail attendants took his body to an ambulance, which had been hired by his family. Inside, a jail attendant noticed a nurse, a doctor, and another man, as well as hot water bottles. The attendant contacted a deputy warden, who delayed the body for an hour. When it was finally released, a guard saw the nurse rub Cardinelli's cheeks and wrists, and the doctor prepare an injection. A police car stopped the ambulance, and the apparent attempt to revive the dead mobster. (The ambulance was found to have a specially heated bed, an oxygen tank, an electric battery, and various syringes.)
One newspaper story says that a similar ambulance had waited for Viana, who was executed on December 10, 1920. Viana was taken to a room about two blocks from the jail with where he was successfully revived to test the system before Cardinella's execution. Viana was then killed because he had snitched against the Cardinella gang.
With lieutenants Nicholas "The Choir Boy" Viana, only age 18, and Frank Campione, Cardinelli led one of the most dominant Black Hand
Black Hand (blackmail)
Black Hand was a type of extortion racket. It was a method of extortion, not a criminal organization as such, though gangsters of Camorra and the Mafia practiced it.-Origins:...
gangs in Chicago prior to Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
. Robbing hundreds of hotels, speakeasies, and illegal gambling parlors throughout the decade, the Cardinelli's terrorized Chicago's Little Italy
Little Italy, Chicago
Little Italy is a neighborhood on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The current boundaries of Little Italy are Ashland Avenue on the west and Morgan Street on the east — bracketed by Harrison Street on the north and Roosevelt Road; i.e., 12th Street, on the south...
through a six-year bombing campaign between 1915 to 1918. This murderous campaign resulted in 20 deaths and hundreds wounded (Viana was suspected in at least 15 murders alone). Cardinelli's organization would remain the leading Italian-American criminal organization in the city, including the Johnny Torrio
Johnny Torrio
John "Papa Johnny" Torrio , also known as "The Fox", was an Italian-American mobster who helped build the criminal empire known as the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s that was later inherited by his protege, Al Capone...
-Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
gang, during the early years of Prohibition.
Cardinelli, also known as "Il Diavolo" (The Devil), was arrested by the Chicago police Homicide Squad for the 1919 murder of saloon owner Andrew P. Bowman and sentenced to hang on October 11, 1920. Following a decision by the US Supreme Court on March 4, 1921 supporting the ruling, Cardinelli was executed on Apr 15, 1921.
On the day of his execution, Cardinelli refused to walk to the gallows. He was strapped to a chair, carried to the gallows, and was hung, chair and all. After the execution, the jail attendants took his body to an ambulance, which had been hired by his family. Inside, a jail attendant noticed a nurse, a doctor, and another man, as well as hot water bottles. The attendant contacted a deputy warden, who delayed the body for an hour. When it was finally released, a guard saw the nurse rub Cardinelli's cheeks and wrists, and the doctor prepare an injection. A police car stopped the ambulance, and the apparent attempt to revive the dead mobster. (The ambulance was found to have a specially heated bed, an oxygen tank, an electric battery, and various syringes.)
One newspaper story says that a similar ambulance had waited for Viana, who was executed on December 10, 1920. Viana was taken to a room about two blocks from the jail with where he was successfully revived to test the system before Cardinella's execution. Viana was then killed because he had snitched against the Cardinella gang.
In popular culture
- The Cardinelli Gang was the subject of author W. R. Burnett's 1929 novel Little Caesar, which was adapted into the famous 1930 film Little CaesarLittle Caesar (film)Little Caesar is a 1931 Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film. It tells the story of a hoodlum who ascends the ranks of organized crime until he reaches its upper echelons. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, the film stars Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. The story was adapted by Francis Edward...
, starring Edward G. RobinsonEdward G. RobinsonEdward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
. - Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
wrote a brief vignette about Cardinelli's execution (spelling the name "Sam Cardinella"), headed "Chapter XV" in the 1925 book of short stories In Our Time. The account acts an interlude between parts I and II of the story "Big Two-Hearted River."
Further reading
- Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of Chicago: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1940. ISBN 1-56025-454-8
- Flowers, R. Barrie and H. Loraine Flowers. Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers and Victims of the Twentieth Century. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2001. ISBN 0-7864-2075-8