Gangland Chronicles: The Chicago Outfit: The Capone Years (History, Monday, September 9, 2024)

Gangland Chronicles explores the history of The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Mafia or the South Side Gang, which rose to power in the 1920s under Johnny Torrio and Al Capone. The episode explores the Outfit’s rise, involvement in Prohibition-era gang warfare, and Capone’s eventual downfall.

Born in New York City in 1899, Capone joined the Five Points Gang as a teenager and later moved to Chicago, where he became a bodyguard for Torrio. With political protection from the Unione Siciliana, Torrio’s criminal syndicate dominated the illegal alcohol trade. Capone’s reign ended, however, when he was sent to prison at age 33 and control of the Outfit passed to Frank Nitti in 1931.

The episode also explores the Outfit’s criminal activities, including loan sharking, illegal gambling, prostitution, extortion, political corruption and murder, which continued even after Capone’s downfall.

Gangland Chronicles: The Chicago Outfit: The Capone Years airs Monday, September 9, 2024 at 10:03 p.m. on History.