As a wave of political unrest sweeps 1923 Chicago, along comes the rise of a progressive mayoral candidate who vows to take down the bootleggers, effectively driving Al Capone’s operation to the suburb of Cicero, Illinois. In this week’s installment of “Al Capone All-American,” Dan and Alana find the Outfit’s bloody assault on democracy in Cicero is but a prelude for their return to Chicago—installing a buffoonish new mayor all-too reminiscent of a current-day executive.

Sources

Historian Mario Gomes's excellent website, My Al Capone Museum (https://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/)

Capone: The Man and the Era by Laurence Bergreen

Mr. Capone: The Real - and Complete - Story of Al Capone, by Robert J. Schoenberg

Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone by John Kobler

Al Capone: His Life, Legacy, and Legend by Deirdre Bair

The Wicked City: Chicago From Kenna to Capone by Curt Johnson with R. Craig Sautter

Al Capone’s Beer Wars: A Complete History of Organized Crime in Chicago During Prohibition by John Binder

Gangland Chicago: Criminality and Lawlessness in the Windy City by Richard C. Lindberg

Prohibition Gangsters: The Rise and Fall of a Bad Generation by Marc Mappen

The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America by Gus Russo

The Chicago Historical Homicide Project, Northwestern University.

"The Mostly True Story of America’s First Black Private Investigator," Matthew Wolfe, The Atavist Magazine.

Newspapers & magazines including: The Chicago Defender, Time Magazine, The Daily Worker, The Chicago Daily News, The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Record-Herald, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Inter Ocean.

---

The Outfit is a production of Higher Ground and Headgum.

Hosted by Dan O’Sullivan and Alana Hope Levinson

Executive Produced by Dan O’Sullivan and Alana Hope Levinson

Produced by Julia Murray

Production Assistance by Franchesca Diaz and CJ Archerd

Sound Design and Engineering by Ryan Kozlowski and Andrew Eapen

Show theme is Bittersweet Defeat by OTE

Like the show? Rate The Outfit on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review.

Follow Headgum on Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok. 

Advertise on The Outfit via Gumball.fm

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.