Career
Born Giuseppe Esposito in Acerra, Italy (although other accounts claimed he was Sicilian), he joined one of the street gangs terrorizing Chicago"s Little Italy during the early 1900s. When the Volstead Acting (National Prohibition Acting of 1919) was enacted, Esposito"s organization, the 42 Gang, which included Sam "Momo" Giancana and Paul "The Waiter" Ricca, quickly entered into bootlegging. By the early 1920s, Esposito had become a Republican ward boss of the 19th Ward in Chicago, one of the earliest Italian-Americans to be elected to this job.
Esposito provided political protection to the bootlegging gangs of Little Italy, including the South Side gang of mob boss Johnny Torrio and the Gennas.
In May 1921, Esposito joined city officials and organized crime figures at the funerals of his political protegee Antonio Doctorate"Andrea, shot to death shortly after leaving his Neapolitan Restaurant.
