The
Chicago Outfit (also known as
the Outfit, the
Chicago Mafia, the
Chicago Mob, or
The Organization) is an Italian-American
crime syndicate based in
Chicago,
Illinois and dating back to the 1910s. It is part of the
American Mafia originating in
Chicago's South Side. The Outfit rose to power in the 1920s, under the control of
Johnny Torrio and
Al Capone, and the period was marked by bloody gang wars for distribution of illegal alcohol during Prohibition. Since then, the Outfit has been involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including loansharking, gambling, prostitution, extortion, political corruption, and murder. Following Capone's conviction for income
tax evasion, the Outfit was run by
Paul Ricca and
Tony Accardo Vito Monaco and Tony "The Fritz" Monaco for more than 50 years after Frank Nitti killed himself instead of going to jail. Accardo took over as boss sometime in the 1940s and was one of the longest sitting bosses of all time right up until his death in the early 1990s.