Paul Ricca
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| Felice DeLucia | |
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| Born | 1897 Naples, Italy |
| Died | October 11, 1972 Chicago, Illinois, USA |
Paul "The Waiter" Ricca (1897-October 11, 1972) was an American Mafia figure based in Chicago. He was born Felice DeLucia in Naples, Italy. In 1915 DeLucia got his first real taste of lawlessness when he killed a man, receiving two years in prison for that crime. On August 10, 1920 DeLucia boarded a ship bound for New York City after having killed the man who testified against him at his trial. While in New York, a city he did not stay long in, he changed his name to Paul Ricca, from New York City it was on to Chicago by way of a train ride.
In Chicago, Ricca got a job as a waiter in a local restaurant owned by mobster Joseph "Diamond Joe" Esposito, thus the nickname. Ricca was soon on a first name basis with many of the mobsters who came in the door and shortly quit being a waiter to be a full-fledged gangster. Soon enough, Paul was second in command next to Frank Nitti as boss, and the mob in Chicago (due to the great influence of Los Angeles mobster Johnny Rosselli) was making inroads into Hollywood, major movie studios like RKO, Paramount Pictures, MGM and 20th Century Fox were being extorted. On March 18, 1943 a meeting took place at Nitti's Chicago home, at which Ricca was certainly present. It was decided Nitti was to take the fall for them all. This didn't go over at all well with Nitti (who suffered from severe claustrophobia and feared the confinement of prison) who kicked out all present. The next day, Nitti shot himself to death. Ricca took over as Chicago mob boss.
On December 30, 1943 a federal grand jury returned a guilty verdict to Ricca and his associates, Ricca receiving 10 years in prison. Thanks to the efforts of Murray "The Camel" Humphreys the Chicago mob's political "fixer," namely a phone call to Tom C. Clark Attorney General for Harry Truman, Ricca and Rosselli were out in three. The only caveat being that Ricca could no longer be present in the company of mobsters. With that, Tony Accardo became head of the Chicago mob, Ricca remained an advisor to "The Outfit" until his death in 1972.
| Preceded by Frank Nitti |
Chicago Outfit Boss 1943-1950 |
Succeeded by Anthony Accardo |
