Ken Eto and Vince Solano

An American-born man of Japanese extraction left the internment camps after World War II and landed in Chicago. Ken Eto was a professional gambler who received notice from the Outfit. By the 1970s, Vince Solano, boss of the Rush Street crew took over all Bolita action and he placed Ken Eto in charge. The FBI made a gambling case on Eto and before he appeared for sentencing, he assured Solano that he could do the time and he would not turn into a witness. Vince Solano did not want to take a chance and he dispatched two of his men named Jasper Campise and John Gattuso to murder Eto. they bungled the hit and Eto survived. A few months later Solano had his two errant hitmen murdered.

Ken Eto and Elaine Smith

FBI agent Elaine Smith had made the original case on Eto. She was part of the team who turned Eto and she became his minder turning the time when he started testifying about every Outfit secret he knew. They even flew him to Kansas City for the Las Vegas casino skim trials where he identified the Outfit hierarchy and told the jury that this was a criminal organization and was able to identify the hierarchy and tell how they worked.

 

Show notes by Gary Jenkins

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