The Most Vicious Gangster- Sam DeStefano #truecrime

Sam DeStefano was born on September 13 1909 in Streator Illinois. His parents were Italian immigrants who had come to the US 6 years before. His father, Samuel DeStefano senior started working in the US as a laborer and coal miner, but worked his way up to eventually selling real estate.

One of the reasons that Sam senior left the life of a coal miner was an event referred to as the Herrin massacre. Soon after Sam was born the family moved to the town of Herrin where the father worked in a mine. There was a labor dispute between the owner of a mine and the United Mineworkers of America in 1922. The conflict culminated in a shootout between the striking union members and the mines guards. 23 people would end up losing their lives in the conflict.

The DeStefanos would end up leaving Herrin after the confrontation, moving to Chicagos little Italy. In Chicago, the young Sam would start getting into trouble associating with a gang of youths on the west side. In 1927, DeStefano and another boy named Ralph Orlando were arrested for assaulting a teenage girl and they were found guilty of committing one of the most vile crimes against her and Sam was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Considering the crime- it seems like an extremely light sentence. A teenage girl had been kidnapped and assaulted by a group of 7 gang members.

After getting out of prison in 1930, he would join the 42 gang which was led by Salvatore Giancanna who would later become a leader of the infamous Chicago outfit. The organization was involved in illegal alcohol sales and gambling in addition to other illegal operations. Many of the members of the 42 would go on to have careers in the Chicago mafia, but Destefano would never be able to cross over to made man. Sam would be on the receiving end of some of the violence, such as being injured by a cop during a grocery store robbery in 1932 and showing up at a hospital a few months later with gunshot wounds.

This crime spree culminated with an arrest for bank robbery in 1933 in Wisconsin. DeStefano would he sentenced to 40 years but had the sentence commuted by the Governor and was released in 1944. In 1942 while he was locked up, Sam senior passed away at 77 years old. 3 years later in 1947, he would be back behind bars after he was caught with counterfeit ration coupons.

He would be sent to Leavenworth prison where he rubbed shoulders with established mobsters from the Chicago outfit such as Paul Ricca and Louis Campagna. These connections would come in handy when he was released and got a job back in Chicago working in the city dump. He would also soon begin his loansharking operation.

DeStefano would fund his loansharking business with money he had from his days before prison. Hr would also use his illegal proceeds to buy real estate and manipulate local politics, eventually having influence over aldermen, judges, and policemen. But, it was in the process of collecting debts that Sam’s true evil showed itself.

While the point of lending money is to make money from the interest incurred, he had a different goal. DeStefano is said to have lent money to gamblers and did not shy away doing business with people he knew would not be able to repay the loans. Whether he wanted to make an example of delinquent borrowers or he just liked to torture people, Sam went as far as to install a sound proof torture chamber in his house where he lived with his wife and kids.

But one of the first to go was his own brother. The monster had brought his brothers, Mario and Michael, into organized crime. While Mario was a good fit for the lifestyle, Michael had issues adapting. This led to addiction issues, as he struggled to cope with the pressure and violence. But, the mob cannot have loose ends or weakness in their criminal pursuits.

The outfit passed down the order that Michael had to go. Eager to live up to the expectation of his bosses, Sam carried out the hit. On September 17, 1955 police got a report of a body in a trunk in Chicago. When they arrived they found Michael Destefano, who had been shot, but not in the head and there had been efforts to clean him up. It is suspected that Mario helped Sam carry out this crime.

For victims who were not family members, Sam preferred using an ice pick over firearms. When someone was unable to repay their loans, he would get them into his basement torture chamber then use the ice pick to coerce them to find a way to get the money they owed. Sometimes he would go to far and simply ended their lives whether intentionally or accidentally.

One of his targets was a man named Arthur Adler. Adler was a night club owner and one of his businesses was the Trade Winds Cafe and lounge. In early 1960 he had run up quite a debt with Mad Sam and ended up in the creatures basement. Though once the process of encouraging him to find a way to pay Sam back, Artie’s heart gave out ending the monsters fun prematurely.

So Sam stashed his body in a sewer where it would remain until it was discovered on March 28 1960 by some road workers. Sam was soon a suspect and was visited by an FBI agent named William Roemer. He would describe a bizarre scene- DeStefano would meet with him wearing pajamas with certain parts of his body hanging out and clearly visible. The creatures wife would serve coffee, which the agent would later find out had been urinated in by Sam.

One of the most brutal crimes that DeStefano would commit was against one of his collection men named William Action Jackson. The large man was used to intimidate borrowers into paying their bills but there was no loyalty between him and Sam. When Jackson was accused of
Working with the feds, he was immediately added to the hit list

In early August 1961, Jackson was brought to a meat packing plant. There he underwent a horrific session of torture and depravity. Bats, hammers, cattle prods, ice picks, a firearm, a blow torch, and a meat hook all played a role. But through it all, Jackson denied that he had informed on any of his fellow gangsters. Eventually he was left hanging from his sensitive area on the meat hook where he would eventually expire after multiple days. His remains were found in a trunk on August 12 in Chicago.

Leo Foreman was a real estate agent who also moonlighted as a lender for DeStefano. After he had come up short in his payments to Sam, the gangster confronted him and leo ended up throwing him out of his real estate office enraging Sam. So his brother Mario kidnapped Leo and brought him to the infamous basement.

Once again, the violence used was extreme with hammers and bats being used to break his kneecaps, sensitive area, and hands. A knife was also used to removed portions of skin from his body and an ice pick was jabbed into him repeatedly. Eventually Sam got tired of playing with Leo and used a firearm to
Finish him off and left the body in an abandoned car.

Those who owed Sam money were not the only ones to be targeted. In one case, the creature kidnapped a man at gun point then forced him to have relations with his wife as he watched after his she had made him angry.

By the mid 1960s law enforcement was hot on Sam’s trail, looking for any reason to bring him in. And in May of 1964 they got what they wanted. Sam was charged with illegally voting, because as a felon he was not eligible. But, he saw it as an opportunity to put on a show. Sam arrived to the courthouse wearing his pajamas riding in a wheelchair. After several outbursts the judge told him to be quiet at which time Sam whipped out a megaphone and began shouting earning a charge for contempt of court.

Another of Sam’s employees who earned his wrath was a man named Peter Cappeletti. Peter had tried to steal $25k of Sam’s money which was an obvious no no. But the mobsters net had a wide reach and Cappeletti was found hiding out in Milwaukee. What would happen next is one of the most cited pieces of evidence for DeStefanos viciousness.

Mario and Sam brought Peter to the restaurant Mario owned. They chained him to a radiator in the basement then began beating him in a session that would last more than 3 days. While this was going on, Sam threw a party in the restaurant with judges, policemen, mobsters, and Capellettis family in attendance.

Once everyone had finished eating, Capelletti was brought out naked, burned, and bleeding as Sam explained that Peter had stolen from him. Some sources say that the monsters urinated on him before bringing him out while others have the victims own family being the ones forced to relieve themselves on Capelletti. Either way, this sent a clear message to everyone in the community- Sam Destefano was not to be messed with.

During these trials, Sam would again act out drawing unwanted attention to his fellow gangsters. Since these trials involved codefendants, the Outfit took the flamboyant behavior more seriously than before. In early 1973, there was a secret meeting, where the boss of the Outfit, Tony Accardo ordered DeStefanos crew to take him out.

Much as with their brother Michael, Mario did not hesitate to help arrange the hit. On April 14 1973, Sam went to Mario’s home for a meeting with his brother and their associate Tony Spilotro. As Mario and Sam chatted in the garage, Spilotro approached with a shotgun and fired twice blasting off Sam’s left arm at the elbow and filling his chest with lead. It seems no one cared much about the passing of such an evil SOB as no one was ever charged with the shooting.
True crime #mafia #chicago #truecrimedocumentary #crime