Torrio was a mafia king from New York who is known in the history of criminals with several names including Johnny "The Fox" Torrio, Johnny "Papa" and "The Immune". He was involved in the business of prostitution to illegal liquor trade from which he made maximum profit. He was a family man and his wife had no clue about his illegal business. He is highly known for his shrewdness, leadership skills and his talent in entrepreneurship.
Background
was born on 16th of January 1882 in Irsina region of Italy. There is very limited information about its family. Though it is stated that at the age of two, after the death of his father, Torrio’s widowed mother brought him to America and added John to his name to make him more American. Torrio was brought up in a slum in New York.
His mother gets married to a grocery shop owner where Torrio starts working as a porter. In his childhood, he was surrounded by small and large criminals and drinkers. When he becomes a teenager, he becomes friends with petty thieves and gets involved in illegal activities.
Education
There is no information on the formal education received by Torrio and he is engaged in illegal activities very early in his age surrounded by illicit people.
Career
Torrio joins a gang of petty thieves named James street gang and gets the attention of Paul Kelly when along with his gang; he becomes successful in stealing money for a pool hall. This hall becomes the hotspot of gambling and other unlawful activities. Paul Kelly makes Torrio the Vice President of his criminal gang named ‘Five Points Gang’. With this, Torrio starts to gain admiration from other mobs and criminals about his honest character and shrewdness. Torrio becomes a partner with Frankie Yale and works for the favor of other gang members. These favors include mobbing, protecting from cops and finding jobs.
It is stated that Torrio convinced Al Capone who becomes one of the most popular criminal from New York to work with Frankie Yale at their jointly owned Harvard Inn located at Coney Island.
Torrio had a cousin Victoria Moresco who was married to James Colosimo in Chicago. James had made wealth and fortune in prostitution and politics. As he grew wealthy, he was threatened by Black handler for money. Victoria, who is also part of the prostitution business with James, calls upon Torrio to get rid of Black handler. James, though he doesn’t trust that Torrio can handle the situation agrees to this and Torrio is brought to New York. He hires people to kill the Black handlers by called them to come to the money drop point. James Colosimo who is also called as the Diamond or Big Jim gets impressed by the work of Torrio and asks him to become a manager to his various brothels. Torrio joins James in his business and replaces smelly small insect infested prostitute homes by giving them a classy look and making them a hotspot for gambling, sex, and drinking. The new decoration attracts many and becomes a competitor to many other such places.
With the work that made the place so successful, James invites Torrio to handle Big Jim’s restaurant by making him the Lieutenant and his cabaret place called Colosimo’s. While at this place, Torrio does get married to Anna Theodosia Jacob Torrio and lives a decent life with his wife who has no clue about his business. He makes himself known in the society as Mr. Langley. On the other hand, James falls in love with the cabaret singer named Dale Winter. Going further he asks for divorce from Victoria and Torrio is made to handle the entire prostitution business on his own. One of the particular whore houses was the Four Deuces where Torrio had his office.
With too many works to handle, in late 1910 or in early 1920, Torrio is sent a young criminal by his former partner Frankie Yale. This new guy is Al Capone who was looking for a place to hide from the charges of murder he was convicted too. Some also state that it was Al Capone responsible for the murder of Colosimo though there is no proper evidence to it.
On the 21st birthday of Al Capone, he is hired as a bouncer at the Four Deuces. He is also made responsible for bringing in more customers to the place. Torrio who is involved with illegal alcohol trade makes a lot of profit in the business. He contacts Colosimo to take advantage of the profit but he refuses. He is still head over heels with his girlfriend Winter Dale and mentions to be happy with his state and being a drunkard. Even when James’ divorce petition was running on the court, he marries Dale Winter on 17th of April, 1920 in Indiana. At this time, Torrio puts on a contract and hires Frankie Yale to kill Colosimo. On 11th of May, 1920, Colosimo was killed in his restaurant by a .38 which was placed behind his ears and fired.
Even though Frankie Yale and Al Capone were questioned for murder along with Victoria, the incident of the murder never got resolved.
Torrio expands his business and becomes a good bootlegger. Al Capone becomes his second in command. In the year 1924, Torrio is arrested by the cops for the second time when O’ Banion cheats Torrio in a brewery deal. Torrio decides to kill O’ Banion.
After killing O’ Banion, Torrio attends his funeral where he is looked upon with cold eyes by O’ Banion’s gang members. It was clear that they knew the man behind the killing of their boss. Torrio is threatened and is stalked by O’ Banion’s gang members. It was on a day in the year 1925 when on a return from a shopping trip with his wife, Torrio hears multiple shots towards him. One bullet strikes the glass of the auto, other hits Torrio’s chauffer’s leg while one reaches for his arm and he stumbles with the shopping packages in his arms. Torrio’s wife Anna is completely horrified of the incident while the neighbors are surprised about why would anyone want to kill Mr. Langley. The next round of shots hit Torrio’s jaw and the next ones hit his abdomen and lung. The final .45 hit Torrio’s temple and he is all bloody. It is during this time that the shooters get into their cars and vanish.
Torrio’s wife calls up her mother and the ambulance is called. While Torrio is recovering, Al Capone gives complete protection to Torrio. After complete recovery, after a trip with his wife and Al Capone and his wife from Florida, Torrio decides to retire by handing over his complete responsibilities to Al Capone.
After retiring, Torrio travels with his wife and mother to France, Italy, Florida, England and Hawaii. He loved Hawaii so much that he lives there from 1926 to 1928 in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Torrio comes in and out of retirement when he is questioned for evading $86,000 in income taxes. He lives his final years in New York and succumbs to death on 16th of April, 1957 due to a heart attack. He was 75 years of age at the time of his death. He is remembered as the founder of organized crime in America. He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York City.
Religion
There is no information on Torrio’s inclination and ideas on religion.
Politics
Torrio was criminal and there is no information about him being involved in politics.
Torrio is also made the Vice President of Paul Kelly’s criminal gang named ‘Five Points Gang’
Views
Surrounded by unlawful people right from an early age, Torrio was highly influenced by his environment. He started making friends with petty thieves and found his talent in leading them. He was highly known for his criminal honestly against his crew members. It is clear that Torrio was aware that his activities were not on the good path. This could be a reason why he did not disclose his true identity to his wife even though he loved her the most. After making enough money in his illegal business, Torrio decides to retire from his work and spends his later life with his wife and mother.
Quotations:
“Use Bribe Instead of Bullets. We are Business men, not the US Marines.”
“Most of the fellas in this business get their retirement papers from the Grim Reaper.”
Membership
Torrio joins a gang of petty thieves named James street gang.
Personality
Torrio is one of the most prominent characters of criminal history from New York. Surrounded by unlawful people from an early age, he found himself getting interested in petty thieving and got involved with criminal activities. Known by his honest character towards his crew members, Torrio was admired by several and looked upon as fatherly figure for guidance by many other great criminals. Torrio loved his wife which showcases his passion towards the family. He hides his true identity from his wife throughout life. His aptitude and shrewdness make him take over several other great criminals.
Connections
Torrio also had most of his family in Chicago which included his cousin Victoria. It was through Victoria that Torrio started expanding his name and business in the criminal world by engaging in the works allotted by her husband including managing prostitution homes and restaurants. He also got involved with bootlegging later in his life.
Torrio is married to Anna Theodosia Jacob and lives a decent life with his wife who has no clue about his business. He makes himself known in the society as Mr. Langley. After retirement, he spends most of his time traveling with his wife and mother and later settled in New York where he succumbs to death.