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The Chicago Outfit

THE CHICAGO OUTFIT

These are mostly photos of the Chicago Outfit. A couple of the photos are of others that have helped shape the Outfit to what it is today. The Chicago Outfit got its start back in 1893. It’s beginnings were with Jim “Big Jim” Colosimo, Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna and John “Bathhouse John” Coughlin. Big Jim Colosimo was the first boss of the Chicago Outfit. Hinky Dink Kenna and Bathhouse Johnny were two alderman for Chicago’s First Ward when there were two alderman per ward instead of just one as it is today. Big Jim ran the Outfit up until his murder in 1920. That paved the way for future Outfit bosses like Johnny “The Fox” Torrio, Al Capone, Frank Nitti, Tony Accardo, and others. The first ward was ran by Hinky Dink and Bathhouse Johnny all the way up to the 1940’s being the Outfit’s first political fixers. After that the Outfit remained in control of the First Ward until the 1990’s when Mayor Richard Daley broke up the First Ward because of the Outfit’s control of the most powerful Ward in the state of Illinois. These photo’s stretch from the Outfit’s first inception in the late 1800’s to late 1980’s or early 1990’s.