The Lunchtime Theater - The Chicago Gangsters Subterranean Secrets, Mysteries and Subterranean Worlds.

THE DIGITAL RESEARCH LIBRARY OF ILLINOIS HISTORY JOURNAL™ PRESENTS

THE LUNCHTIME THEATER.

The Chicago Gangsters Subterranean Secrets, Mysteries, and Subterranean Worlds

RUNTIME [1:10:00]

The Chicago Outfit (or simply the Outfit), also known as the Chicago Mafia, Chicago Mob, or Chicago Syndicate, is an Italian American crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois. Dating back to the 1910s, it is part of the American Mafia. Originating in South Side Chicago, the Outfit rose to power in the 1920s under the control of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone. The period was marked by bloody gang wars for the distribution of illegal alcohol during Prohibition. Since then, the Outfit has been involved in a wide range of criminal activities including, loansharking, gambling, murder, prostitution, extortion, political corruption, and murder amongst others. Although the Outfit had no true monopoly on organized crime in Chicago they were by far the biggest criminal organization in the Midwestern United States. The Outfit's control at its peak reached throughout the western and eastern United States to places as far away as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and parts of Florida.

Higher law enforcement investigations and general attrition led to the Outfits gradual decline since the late 20th century. As of 2007, the Outfit's size is estimated to be 28 official members (composing its core group) and over 100 associates. The Old Neighborhood Italian American Club is considered to be the hangout of Old Timers, as they live out their golden years. The Club's founder was Angelo J. LaPietra "The Hook", who at the time of his death in 1999 was the main Council. The Chicago Outfit is currently believed to be led by John DiFronzo.

Severely injured in an assassination attempt by the North Side Mob in January 1925, the shaken Torrio returned to Italy and handed over control of the business to Capone. Capone was notorious during Prohibition for his control of the Chicago underworld and his bitter rivalries with gangsters such as George "Bugs" Moran and Earl "Hymie" Weiss. Raking in vast amounts of money (some estimates were that between 1925 and 1930 Capone was making $100 million a year), the Chicago kingpin was largely immune to prosecution because of witness intimidation and the bribing of city officials. The Chicago Outfit under Al Capone's leadership was certainly one of the most dangerous gangs in the world. In the 1930s, Al Capone and his successor, Frank Nitti, developed the Outfit rapidly in all the surrounding areas.

One of the prime areas of interest was in Canada, the main source of alcohol which the Outfit was smuggling into the States. This illicit alcohol was then distributed to all the "titty bars" (brothels) of Chicago. During prohibition, this was one of the greatest sources of income for the Outfit. The Outfit, as established by Capone, functioned on relationships with a high degree of trust between the gangsters and the "boss of bosses".

The Boss controlled the heads of various divisions of the outfit through a system of informants placed throughout the various levels of the organization. Anyone who betrayed the honor of the organization was executed. Among the most active representatives of the Al Capone Outfit was "Happy Memories" DeLuca (assets in Illinois and Wisconsin), Bob Calandra (Ontario), Vince DeLuca, Tom Ciampelletti (Montreal) and Frank Nitti, who acted as the intermediary between Al Capone, the Boss, and the other gangsters. Frankie La Porte and Ross Prio out of Chicago Heights carried some heavyweight with Capone organizing his gang into an empire. Frankie La Porte, being Sicilian and having the ability to work in confidence with New York gangsters Joe Bonanno and Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who was also Sicilian, is believed to have been Capone's connection to the Commission.

While Al Capone was in charge of the Chicago Outfit it has been reported that some members of the organization would take the train from Chicago to Wabash County, Illinois and stay at a remote hotel called the Grand Rapids Hotel on the Wabash River next to the Grand Rapids Dam. The hotel was only in existence for nine years but many residents of the area remember seeing men who claimed to be from the Chicago Outfit at the Grand Rapids Hotel. Suspiciously, the Grand Rapids Hotel was burned down by a man with one leg who dropped a blowtorch. 

Al Capone and his Brother Ralph are responsible for milk expiration dating.

It was reported in the early 1930s that one of Alphonse (Al) Gabriel "Scarface" Capone's Chicago family members became sick from drinking milk that wasn't fresh... but had not soured yet. At that time, there were no controls on milk production or distribution.
That’s probably the reason he wanted to buy a dairy processing and bottling business. Al had been trying to diversify his investments in legitimate businesses for some time, even while consolidating his brewing, distilling, and distribution concerns. 

As Al put it himself; "You gotta have a product that everybody needs every day. We don't have it in booze. Except for the lushes, most people only buy a couple of fifths of gin or scotch when they're having a party. The working man laps up half a dozen bottles of beer on Saturday night, and that's it for the week. 

But with milk! Every family, every day, wants it on the table. The people on Lake Shore Drive want thick cream in their coffee. The big families out back of the yards have to buy a couple of gallons of fresh milk every day for the kids. Do you guys know there's a bigger markup in fresh milk than there is in alcohol? Honest to God, we've been in the wrong racket right along."

Raffaele (Ralph "Bottles") James Capone, Al Capone’s older brother, with the help of Murray "The Hump" Humphreys, Frankie Diamond, and Diamond's brother, Johnny Maritote, who was married to Al’s sister, Mafalda bought Meadowmoor Dairies at 1334 South Peoria Street in Chicago on May 4, 1932. Ralph Capone got the nickname "Bottles" not from the Capone bootlegging empire but from his bottling milk at Meadowmoor and lobbying the dairy industry to date milk. Al Capone and Ralph are responsible for milk expiration dating in Chicago in 1933. Ralph took the reigns on milk dating once Al was incarcerated in Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary in May 1932. Then he was sent to  Alcatraz in late August of 1934.

“My grandfather [Ralph Capone] went to Springfield, Illinois, totally on his own, and he lobbied the milk industry to start putting the date that they bottled the milk right on the bottle,”  said Deirdre Marie Capone. “Then people would make up their own mind if it was too old.”

Ralph was most famous for being named "Public Enemy Number Three" when his younger brother Al was "Public Enemy Number One."

Ralph planned to undercut local fixed dairy pricing by the Pure Dairy Association Union. Ralph had milk shipped in from Wisconsin dairies and bottled by Meadowmoor. Chicago dairy retailers refused to sell Meadowmoor milk. In those days, milk was sold by the dairy companies to vendors. The vendors operated their own trucks, and they resold the milk to retailers. The retailer then sold to the general public. The vendors also refused to deliver Meadowmoor milk to retailers. 

Chicago gangsters were accused of responding by bombing Pure Dairy Association plants resulting in a literal Milk War in 1932-33.

Four years later, in November of 1936, Cook County State’s Attorney Investigator, Tubbo Gilbert, was indicted for helping the Teamsters fix retail milk prices in Chicago. By that time, the Chicago teamsters were little more than an extension of the Chicago mob. The scandal involved Dr. Herman Bundesen of the Chicago board of health and officials of local 753 of the Milk Drivers Union. The indictment read that they had conspired to fix the amount of milk delivered in the city to squeeze the smaller distributors out of business, leaving only Meadowmoor Dairies.

Despite a mountain of evidence, the case went nowhere. States Attorney Courtney refused to bring it to court and refused to allow Tubbo Gilbert to resign. 

It's also interesting to note that a few years after the price-fixing scandal died away, Murray Humphreys managed to drive most of his competitors in the dairy business out of the market by following through with Al's idea of eating fresh dairy products. 

Ralph insisted, and you've read how persuasive the Capones' could be, that a law is passed that Grade “A” milk could not be sold as fresh milk more than 72 hours after it left the cow. He convinced the Chicago City Council to pass a law in 1933 that clearly stamped the date on milk bottles where the consumer could read and understand it. The practice is now required of all meat, fish, and dairy distributors across the country. 

Meadowmoor became the Richard Martin Milk Company in 1961, although the Meadowmoor name still appeared on their milk containers for some time after '61.

It was likely that the Capones’ had already cornered the market on equipment to stamp expiration dates on bottles, and the passage of the legislation would help him take over the Chicago milk market.

The United States Supreme Court Case No. 56:
MILK WAGON DRIVERS UNION OF CHICAGO, LOCAL 753 v. MEADOWMOOR, (1941)
Decided: February 10, 1941

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 
Contributor, Deirdre Marie Capone, Al's grandniece.

A Brief History of Alphonse Francis “Sonny” Capone Jr.

Alphonse Francis “Sonny” Capone Jr. was born December 4, 1918, in Chicago, Illinois, to parents Al Capone and Mary "Mae" Josephine Coughlin with congenital syphilis, a serious mastoid infection, passed on from Al. He survived the required brain surgery for the disease but was left partially deaf.

Sonny Jr. did not share his father's first name. His full name was Albert Francis Capone.

Al Capone had money, power, and prestige in Chicago, New York, and Miami. He sent his son to the best schools available, among them Saint Patrick’s High School in Miami. 

Sonny in 1934

There, Sonny befriended a young Cuban expatriate by the name of Desiderio Alberto Arnaz and graduated in 1937. Arnaz was the bandleader and I Love Lucy star and creator who later gained lasting fame as Desi Arnaz. 

Sonny attended the University of Notre Dame but eventually completed his studies and obtained his degree at the University of Miami. Sonny maintained a simple life after completing his schooling.

After attending the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, Sonny Capone transferred to the University of Miami, earning his bachelor's degree from the institution in 1941. In one of his first big career choices, he found he couldn't escape the criminal element entirely. While working as a used car salesman in Florida, he found out his boss was changing the numbers on vehicles' odometers, a seedy and illegal practice. So, Sonny quit and switched gears to printing, where he served as an apprentice before deciding on a couple more profession changes. In addition to trying tire distribution, the younger Capone ran a restaurant in Miami with his mother. According to Capone: The Man and His Era, Sonny attempted to use his underworld connections to secure a loan, asking the Chicago "Outfit" for $24,000 to expand the business. It refused.

He had four daughters with Diane Ruth Casey, whom he married in 1941. Veronica, Teresa, Barbara, and Patricia Capone-Brown. Diane and Sonny divorced in July 1964, and Sonny remarried twice. Albert was married to a woman named America "Amie" Francis. It is not sure if it was his second or third wife, but she was listed in his daughters' obituary as step mother. We assume she was his third wife.

Mae Coughlin and her son, Albert Francis Capone, purchased Ted's Grotto in Miami in 1956.

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Ted's Grotto started in the 1940s as a small, unassuming diner on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami by its namesake, Ted Bowers. Ted's Grotto became a regular hang-out for Entertainers like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Judy Garland. They'd swing by after their gigs at the Fontainebleau or the Eden Roc hotels, drawn by the intimate atmosphere and enjoying a good time. The Grotto wasn't just for entertainers, though. Politicians, athletes, and yes, even mobsters rubbed shoulders at its red booths, creating a unique Miami cocktail of glitz and grit. Ted's Grotto's reign as Miami's hottest spot didn't last forever. By the late 1960s, the city's nightlife scene had shifted, and the Grotto began to lose its luster. The restaurant closed its doors in the early 1970s, leaving a legacy of good food, music, and even better memories.

Mae Coughlin and Sonny injected Ted's Grotto with a much-needed dose of glamour. The restaurant expanded, the soup and sandwich menu got much fancier (Oysters Rockefeller, Lobster Thermidor, Tournedos Rossini, Steak Diane, Baked Alaska, and Crêpes Suzette), and the clientele shifted towards celebrities and socialites. 

On August 7, 1965, Albert Francis Capone was nabbed by the police for a petty crime. A store clerk from the Kwik Chek market in North Miami Beach caught him pocketing two bottles of aspirin and some batteries worth $3.50 ($30.60 today). from the Kwik Chek market in North Miami Beach. "Everybody has a little larceny in them," Sonny quipped upon his arrest. He pleaded no contest to the charge of shoplifting and was sentenced to two years' probation. 

When he went before a judge, he got two years of probation but shrugged off his crime by saying to the judge that “everybody has a little larceny in them.”

Following his arrest, he changed his name to Albert Francis Brown in 1966. According to his lawyer, Sonny Capone did so because he was “just sick and tired of fighting the name.”

On July 8, 2004, Albert Francis Capone died in the tiny California town of Auburn Lake Trails. His wife, America “Amie” Francis, told a reporter that Albert Francis Capone was much more than his family name.

“Al Capone has been dead a long time,” she said. “His son had nothing to do with him. Let him rest in peace, for crying out loud. He suffered enough in his life for being who he was.”

After changing his name, Albert Francis Capone, aka Sonny Capone, aka Albert Francis Brown, lived a quiet, law-abiding life. He married three times and is survived by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of Thornton Illinois' Breweries and the Bielfeldt Brewing Company.

The brewing of beer started early in Thornton’s history. Don Carlos Berry brewed beer and owned a saloon in 1836. Berry brewed the beer in a log cabin on the west side of Thorn Creek at Margaret St.  At that time, Thorn Creek was approximately forty feet wide and six feet deep. He later sold the cabin to Gurdon Hubbard, a large property owner in Thornton Township. There is no written record that Hubbard ever brewed beer.

John Simon Bielfeldt, born in 1834, emigrated from Hemme, Holstein, Germany with his parents in 1851. At seventeen years of age he went to work for the Illinois Central Railroad in Homewood. Not happy with this work, he went to Blue Island to learn the science of brewing. Upon completing thorough and valuable training, his ambition was to become the best brewer in the United States.

John S. Bielfeldt (1877)

Bielfeldt purchased the cabin from Hubbard in 1857 and began brewing beer with a 10-barrel kettle using water from an artesian well on the property. The brewery was the first in the state. John married Crescentia Ledoux in the early 1860’s. It wasn’t long before the John S. Bielfeldt Brewing Co. added a frame building on the property. The business flourished and in 1876 a brick brewery was built.

To accommodate his family of eight children, an eight room residence was built on the second and third floors (above the artesian well). The residence was stately and featured a large roofed porch that overlooked Thorn Creek. A tunnel to lager beer was also constructed at that time. Brewing capacity increased to a 20-barrel kettle. The beer was sold under the label of “Bielfeldt’s Old Fashion.” William E. Trautmann was the brew master in 1893. Trautmann later became a key figure In the United Brewery Workers’ Union. Mr. Bielfeldt increased to a 50-barrel kettle in 1895 and in 1896 put up an ice plant.  Beer was being delivered by horse and wagon to the towns of Beecher, Blue Island, Eagle Lake, Lansing, Hegewisch and Thornton, Illinois and to Crown Point, Dyer, and Hessville, Indiana.

The name of the brewery was changed to Bielfeldt Brewing Company in 1897. Bielfeldt’s sons, Frederick J, William S, and John B. had become officers and trustees in the business. In 1899, his son John B. became president. John S. Bielfeldt had become prominent in both social and political circles. He had served on the school board, held positions in Thornton Township and served one term in the Illinois State House in 1877. He passed away on December 31, 1899.

Upon his death, the business was turned over to his sons. Fred Zimmerman was the brewer. The brewery was damaged by a flood in 1902 and a tornado in 1904. A delivery truck was purchased in 1910.

Carl Ebner, Sr. became president and manager in 1918. The plant was modernized and a bottling department was added. A fire caused a loss of approximately $10,000 in 1919. Two men, Ebner and Mandelkow, were badly burned.

At the onset of Prohibition, the Bielfeldt family sold the brewery. It is believed that they sold to Carl Ebner, Senior. Ebner is listed in the 1920 Illinois Census as a manufacturer of soda pop. Despite prohibition, some beer making continued. It is believed that the brewery supplied beer to the disreputable roadhouses that had sprouted up east of Thornton (Dutch’s Place, Blue Lantern, Rose Bowl, Red Lantern and Viking Gardens). Due to suspicions of violating the 18th Amendment, the brewery and roadhouses were raided by Federal Agents; residents tell tales of the beer being dumped into the creek. Brewing operations ceased. The brewery was partially destroyed by fire in 1922.

Joe Saltis (1920)

It was around this time that “Polock Joe” Saltis (Soltis) came on the scene. Saltis was a Slovakian (Hungarian) immigrant who became owner of a saloon in Joliet. Saltis was an independent bootlegger who controlled many of the bootlegging operations on the southwest side of Chicago as well as the south suburbs. In the early years of Prohibition, Saltis managed to piecemeal together a network of small breweries ranging from the south suburbs of Chicago to Wisconsin. The former Bielfeldt Brewery in the quiet town of Thornton proved to be a valuable asset to Saltis. Stories told by residents say that trucks would pull up to the brewery’s docks during the night to load beer for delivery to Saltis’ speakeasy accounts.

Saltis began supplying illegal alcohol to speakeasies in Chicago with the assistance of John “Dingbat” O’Berta and by 1925 Saltis controlled the southwest side.

Saltis remained on good terms with his south side neighbor Al Capone whose Chicago Outift began dominating Chicago’s bootlegging soon after his arrival in the early 1920’s. By the mid 1920’s, only the Saltis-McErlane organization remained independent from the eight satellite gangs under Capone’s control. “Polock Joe” soon became entrenched in territory disputes with many of Capone’s satellite gangs. He began talks for a secret alliance with Capone rival Earl “Hymie” Weiss’s north side gang. Al Capone began to move into Saltis’ territories. In 1927, O’Berta, along with Saltis, arranged a conference including Al Capone, George “Bugs” Moran, Vincent “The Schemer” Drucci, Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik, Ralph Sheldon, William Skidmore, Maxie Eisen, Jack Zuta, and Christian Betsche and managed to agree on a ceasefire of the various gang wars. The ceasefire lasted a little over two months before war broke out again. After several of his associates had disappeared or been shot and his organization mostly destroyed, Saltis retired to his home on Barker Lake in Winter, Wisconsin. Despite his retirement, Saltis gained nationwide notoriety when he was ranked as Public Enemy No. 9.  (Al Capone was No. 1 – Ralph Capone was No. 3) by the Chicago Crime Commission. (The lengthy information on Saltis is included in this history of the brewery because of the many prohibition stories that have existed regarding mob activity at the Thornton brewery. Perhaps this will clarify some of the rumors.)

With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the Thornton Brewing Company was soon up and running again. By October 1936, bankruptcy papers were filed listing debts of $20,000. Jacob Silver and Dominic Frederick were the two leading bidders at the auction of the property. Joe Saltis warned Frederick that if he persisted in bidding there wouldn’t be any brewery left. Frederick withdrew his bid.  After the auction, bankruptcy Court Referee, Wallace Streeter, had Saltis cited for contempt and the brewery property went to Frederick.

Frederick operated the brewery as Illinois Brewing Company from 1937-1940.

The brewery was renamed Frederick’s Brewing Company in 1940. They did business under this name until 1948. Water from the artesian well continued to be used until 1945 when a new well was dug. Over $400,000 was spent to modernize the brewery. Sixty-five men were employed at the brewery at that time. During World War II, Frederick’s Four Crown Special beer was shipped by railroad throughout the United States. Boys from Thornton were quite surprised to receive beer from home. In mid-1940, the brewery contracted with Crown Cork and Seal to produce J spout cans of Pilsner and Frederick’s beer which are now highly prized by collectors.

James, Frank, Joseph, and Dominic Frederick formed a partnership in 1948 and bought the McAvoy Brewery name.  McAvoy was originally located in Chicago but it did not survive the Prohibition.  McAvoy had a 100,000 barrel capacity.

The Frederick boys were very poor business men. They filed for bankruptcy in 1943 but continued to operate until 1949 when they really went bankrupt due to race track gambling debts.

Ildefonsas Sadauskas, a Lithuanian immigrant, bought the brewery in 1951. The buildings were in shambles. The first stock certificate for 200 shares was issued November 8, 1951. A brewer from Lithuania, Sadauskas brewed a dark, Baltic-style lager call White Bear.  The beer didn’t catch on in this area.  He advertised in Lithuanian newspapers; White Bear was sold throughout America. He made his own barrels and had a 100,000 barrel capacity. In 1955, Sadauskas claimed he was run out of business by the crime syndicate because he refused to pay “protection.” The truth is that he didn’t pay his federal taxes.

Sadauskas and his partner then brought in small industrial companies to fill the space. It was called the Thornton Industrial Complex.

The drilled well was sold to the Village in 1957.

A variety of businesses have been in various parts of the complex through the years. At one time, there was a Canfield’s bottling plant and a cabinet maker and most recently an auto repair and a body shop.

In 1985, Ken and Dick’s, a pizzeria from Roseland, opened a restaurant in the residence portion of the building.  Since then, a variety of restaurants and taverns have had businesses there but were not successful. Customers complained about climbing stairs to get to the entrance and, once inside, had to climb another flight of stairs to the restaurant.

Business partners Chad Spicer (left to right), Steve Soltis, Andy Howell and Micah Kibodeaux are opening "Soltis Family Spirits," a distillery, in the Thornton building where Soltis' great-grandfather ran a beer bootlegging operation during Prohibition.

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NOTE: I received this email from Deirdre Capone on November 6, 2017, 6 days after posting this historical account. Deirdre Capone is Al Capone's grandneice. Deirdre's grandfather is Ralph Capone, brother to the Chicago Crime Commission’s Public Enemy #1: Al Capone.

Neil, I loved reading this. You are a good historian. Reading this brought me back in time. You are correct in the information concerning my uncle Al. It is funny but I met Joe Saltis and I worked with his grandson at Carson Pirie Scott downtown Chicago. The two of us, over lunch, would compare stories. 

Deirdre Marie Capone

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BREWERY OPERATION HISTORY


John S. Bielfeldt Brewing Co. (1857-1896)
Proprietor:  John S. Bielfeldt
Label:          Bielfeldt’s Old Fashion

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Bielfeldt Brewing Company (1897-1920)
Officers:
1897:   President - J. S. Bielfeldt
             Secretary – Frederick J. Bielfeldt
             Trustees – William S., Frederick J & John B. Bielfeldt
1899:   President – John B. Bielfeldt
1900:   Brewer – Fred Zimmerman
1918:   President/Manager – Carl Ebner, Sr.
             Vice President – John B. Bielfeldt
             V.P./Asst. Treasurer – Paul Mueller, Jr.
             Secretary – Carl Ebner, Jr.

Labels:
J. S. Bielfeldt Lager Beer
Bielfeldt’s Old Fashion Beer
Famous Thornton Lager Beer
Quality Beer

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Prohibition – 1920-1933

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Thornton Brewing Company (1933–1936)
Officers:
President and Treasurer – John M. Kubina
Vice President – Edward B. Kenny
Secretary – R. W. Bielfeldt
Brew Master – Andrew Marra
Chief Engineer – G. Swanson

Labels:
Famous Thornton Lager Beer
Good Old Fashion
Van Nestor

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Illinois Brewing Company (1937-1940)
Officers:
R. W. Bielfeldt
Dominic, James, Frank and Joseph Federico
J. Capodice
Frank E. Weber

Labels:
Export Pale Lager
Malt Sinew Tonic
Muencheners Bohemian Beer
Pennant Lager Beer
Pilsner Type Light Lager
Queensville

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Frederick’s Brewing Co. (1941-1948)
Officers:
President – Joseph Frederick
Vice President – Joseph Capodice
Secretary – Dominic Frederick
Treasurer/Manager – Frank Frederick
Master Brewer – Otto Schaffhauser
Later – Henry Scholl
Assistant Brewer – Ernest Buehler
Chief Engineer – Henry Scholl
Later – Gus Swanson
Bottling Superintendent – John Menzor
Later – Andrew Marra
Sales – Otto Schaffhauser

Labels:
American Club
Birkenhead
Bohemia Style Beer
Extra Pale Beer
Four Crown Special
Frederick’s Export Beer
Frederick’s Extra Pale Beer
Gold Bear
Marvel
Muenchener Style Bohemian Beer
Old Fashion
Pilsner Type Lager
Queensville Premium
Thornton Beer
Van Nestor Beer
Van Wyck Brand Beer

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McAvoy Brewing Company (1948-1950)
Partners:
James Frederick
Frank Frederick
Joseph Frederick
Dominic Frederick

Labels:
American Club Pilsner
McAvoy Malt Marrow
McAvoy Premium
Van Nestor

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White Bear Brewing Company (1951-1955)
Officers:
1951:  President – Ildefonsas Sadauskas
            Vice President – Stanley Simkunas
            Chairman – Antanas Stakenas
            Master Brewer – Henry Scholl
1955:  President – Albert Brazis
            Vice President – Dan Kuraitis
            Treasurer/Manager – Ildefonsas Sadauskas
            Assistant Brewer – Tom V. Sadauskas

Labels:
Amberlite Pilsner
Embassy Club
White Bear Beer
White Bear Light Pilsner

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Sources:

1) History of Thornton authored by seventh grade students 1947.

2) History of Thornton authored by several Village of Thornton Historical Society Members.

3) Chicago Heights (including Homewood, Glenwood, Thornton, South Holland) 1910.

4) “A History of Beer & Brewing in Thornton, Illinois” by Debbie Lamoureux, 2007.

5) Saltis (Soltis) information from internet biography.        

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

"My Uncle Al Capone played Santa Claus." A True Story.

1930 was a terrible year for most of us. The Depression had set in deep. My old man and many other heads of families were laid off without an hour's notice. Small businesses closed down, hundreds of them. Families doubled up to save rent. 

Al Capone as Santa Claus.
Sent to me by Deirdre Marie Capone, Al Capone's Grandneice.

In Burnham (a village in Cook County), there were exactly three people outside of city hall with steady jobs - the mailman, the milkman, and a schoolteacher, and the schoolteacher only got paid every three or four months. Mom got work as a scrub-woman at the school. And now, when Al and the boys came around for volleyball, he'd slip her $10 and apologize for dirtying up the floor she'd just been washing. I hung on to my shoeshine stand for dear life.

The breadlines. The soup kitchens. Al ran his own soup kitchen in Chicago. Beggars coming around to your back door for a crust of bread. Food was cheap enough, but nobody had money to buy it. The corner drugstores sold cigarettes two for a penny. Who could afford a full pack at 15¢ for 20 cigarettes? There was always a long line in front of the roll-your-own cigarette machine. If you rolled them thin enough, you could get 50 cigarettes out of a 10¢ package of loose tobacco. We practically lived on the three-day-old bread Dad brought home from a bakery. A full gunnysack (burlap sack) cost 25¢, and we kids would rummage through it, hoping to find a sweet roll or two.

Christmas 1930. I'll remember it as long as I live. None of the kids expected any presents. But maybe a chicken dinner. We still had a few hens scratching around the backyard. Then, the miracle happened. We were gathered around the Christmas tree - such as it was, just bare branches - when a loud knocking on the front door came. Dad opens up, and it's Santa Claus, whiskers, a red suit, and a big bag on his back. I yelled, "Al!" and threw myself at him. He clapped his hands, and six of his boys came in, each lugging a box of groceries that could have fed the whole neighborhood. They helped Mom stack them neatly on the pantry shelves. There were expensive gifts for everybody - a watch set in diamonds for Babe and slip-over sweaters for my brothers Edward, Sam, Don, and me. Don got a wind-up train and a whole set of tracks. My sister Kathy got the most beautiful doll I have ever seen, with an entire wardrobe. And a large turkey with all the fixings. I never tasted anything so good in my life.

Deirdre Marie Capone, Al Capone's Grandneice.
Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Bishops' Mausoleum in Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois.

The structure informally known as the Bishops' Mausoleum, designed by architect William J. Brinkmann, is located at Mount Carmel Cemetery and is the final resting place of the Bishops and Archbishops of Chicago; Its formal name is the Mausoleum and Chapel of the Archbishops of Chicago, and it is the focal point of the entire cemetery, standing on high ground. The mausoleum was commissioned by Archbishop James Quigley and was constructed between 1905 and 1912.

Funeral proceedings for Archbishop James Quigley at Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

The roughly rectangular-shaped mausoleum has a stepped pyramidal roof surmounted by a statue of the Archangel Gabriel sounding his trumpet at the moment of the final resurrection.

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The remains of Bishop James Duggan were interred in the mausoleum in 2001 from his former resting place in Evanston's Calvary Cemetery. While Bishop Duggan died in 1899, his interment in the Bishop's Mausoleum is the most recent.

The mausoleum is designed as a Romanesque building outside with a domed Romanesque Classical chapel inside, complete with an altar, religious murals, clerestory windows providing light, and crypts flanking the altar on either side. 

The Altar.

Domed Romanesque Classical Tiled Ceiling.

In architecture, an apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome.

The Papal and U.S. flags also flank the altar. However, Brinkmann did not design the lavish interior, although he was more than capable, as evidenced by his interior for Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica. Instead, Archbishop Quigley engaged one of the foremost religious architects of the day, Aristide Leonori, noted for his 1899 design of the Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery in Washington, D.C., as well as the interiors of early 20th-century Mediterranean churches. 

For the mausoleum chapel interior, Leonori relied heavily on using marble and mosaics to give the chapel a Roman look while still referencing Celtic, Nordic and Slavic saints in the design, thus reflecting the archdiocese's many ethnic groups and national churches.

A craftsman replacing missing mosaic tiles in the interior.

The most recent interment was the body of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin after he died in 1996 from liver and pancreatic cancer. Cardinal Bernardin had visited the chapel a few months before his death to select the site of his own crypt, choosing a spot to one side of the late Cardinal John Cody. Bernardin was said to have remarked, "I've always been a little left of Cody."

Notable people in organized crime buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery:

• Al Capone
• Frank Capone
• Ralph Capone
• Vincent Drucci
• Sam Giancana
• Genna Brothers (6) – Sam, Vincenzo, Pete, "Bloody" Angelo, Antonio, and Mike "The Devil"
• Jake Lingle – murdered journalist and mob associate
• Antonio Lombardo – Chicago mobster and consigliere to Al Capone
• "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn (aka Vincent DeMora)
• Charles Nicoletti
• Frank Nitti
• Dean O'Banion
• Frank Rio
• Roger Touhy – NW suburban Chicago mobster and beer baron, a rival of Al Capone and wrongly convicted through Capone's influence
• Earl "Hymie" Weiss – mob boss of the North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of Mrs. Japp's Potato Chips (Jays Foods, Inc.) of Chicago.

In 1927, Leonard Japp Sr. and his friend George Gavora put $5 down on a rickety Ford delivery truck and bought $22.50 worth of pretzels, nuts, cigarettes, and what saloons needed for sandwiches.

When Japp began in 1927 (the Great Depression didn't start until August 1929), his Japp & Gavora Food Co. took off almost immediately by delivering snacks to saloons, some owned by Al Capone. Al was a hands-off owner and had managers running his businesses. All these drinking establishments needed smokes and something to nosh on. 

According to legend, When Al Capone came home after a trip to Saratoga Springs, New York—the potato chip's birthplace—and requested that Japp bring the salty potato snacks to Chicago. (Salty snacks resulted in more beer sales.) In December of 1927, Capone moved to the property he owned in Saint Petersburg, Florida, to escape the heat, no, not that heat, coming down on him in Chicago.

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The 'Urban Legend' is that Al Capone gave Leonard Japp enough money to start his potato chip business is not true.

 

I sent a text message to my friend, Deirdre Marie Capone, Al Capone's Grandniece. 

Deirdre called me:

"I heard that also," said Deirdre, "My family helped lots of people start reputable businesses, some  that are still going," but she had no knowledge or had ever heard the name or product called, "Mr. Japp."

Within two and a half years, Japp had built frying vats, assembled a fleet of 15 new trucks, and peddled a full line of snack products. But the bubble burst when the Great Depression struck in August of 1929. When they went broke, everyone went broke with them.

During the Depression, Japp, an all-state football and basketball player, sparred with Buddy Baer, the heavyweight who twice lost to Joe Louis for the championship, to pick up a little spare money. But then Japp got back into the snack business.

''I got an old vagabond truck, and I can't tell you how. Started buying chips, taffy apples, pretzels.'' Japp was buying chips from Mrs. Fletcher's Potato Chip Co. In 1934, he said, he began putting his name on Fletcher's Potato Chips.

In 1938, he partnered with George Johnson, a salesman for Kraft. Their firm, Special Foods Co., peddled potato chips, noodles, popcorn, spaghetti, jelly, salad dressing, and Rival dog food. ''The grocery stores were all Ma and Pa then and only a few A&Ps. You could park the truck and make three deliveries at once,'' Japp said.

But Japp and Johnson weren't happy with how Mrs. Fletcher ran her plant. Around the same time, the partners heard about a new automatic plant that produced a better chip in Madison, Wisconsin.

''It was nice and light, 1000% better than what we were selling. We decided to go that route, and we were doing great in no time at all,'' Japp said.

The Madison operation went out of business, and the partners began buying a similar product from Blue Star Foods Inc. in Rockford. But as the business grew, Blue Star said the partners would have to go elsewhere because they were gobbling up too much of Blue Star's chips.

''We had been adding trucks, going like crazy and concentrating on chips, getting rid of other items like dog food, jellies, and candy,'' he said.

Forced into manufacturing, the partners bought an $18,000 automatic potato chip maker and installed it at 40th Street and Princeton Avenue in Chicago.

''That's how it got started in 1940. We called it Mrs. Japp's. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, during WWII, the grocers started calling us immediately, demanding that we remove our Japp chips from their stores,'' said Leonard.

    
So they sat down and, within a week, came up with more than 30 names to submit for trademark registration. ''We wanted Jax, but it was taken by a brewing company. The name 'Jays' was available, and we renamed the company Jays Foods, Incorporated. It took a couple of weeks, but we started putting tags on plain bags with the Jays name on them,'' he said.

''We had to buy second-hand cartons during the war. Without stamps, you couldn't buy anything. My wife, Eugenia, and I would travel all over the Midwest—Nebraska, the Dakotas—to barter and exchange gas and oil for cooking. We'd buy up all the nylons and trade with those,'' he said.

Some family members changed their last names during or after WWII from Japp to Jepp.

Mrs. Japp, a vice president when she died in 1983 at age 72, was also responsible for starting a practice embraced by the food industry. She began putting recipes on the potato chip packages.

''My wife had run a chain of bakeries and was a fine cook. She kept telling us we had a fine product but had to tell people how to use it. She came up with a recipe for tuna fish casserole with potato chips,'' he said.

Japp was hard to convince, and so was Blue Star in Rockford. But, as Blue Star's biggest customer, Japp talked them into it, as he put it, ''to get my wife off my back.'' Then everyone put recipes on potato chip bags.

''About 18 potato chip companies were in Chicago when the war began. The ones that didn't wheel and deal fell by the wayside,'' he said.

Just before D-Day, Johnson and Japp agreed that they would make a bid to buy the other one out.

''We wrote our bids on paper and agreed the higher one would win. I wanted to bid $120,000, but Eugenia said that if we wanted to keep the company, we should bid $150,000. When we turned over the bids, George had bid $145,000,'' Japp said.

At that time, Jays was doing about $750,000 in business a year, only in the Chicago area. They changed the name to Jays Foods and continued expanding its distribution for the next five years.

The leading chipmaker at the time was Mrs. Klein's, Japp said. ''Mrs. Klein's only worked the main streets, and we worked the side streets. One day, Mrs. Klein's walked out and found we were at her front door. By 1950, we were the top potato chip company in Chicago,'' Japp said.

At about this time, Jays came up with the slogan for which it is almost as famous as Schlitz was for ''The beer that made Milwaukee famous.''

''At food shows, people would write their comments about our potato chips. The most frequent comment was, 'Can't stop eating 'em.' So we began using that,'' he said. Arch rival Frito-Lay, now a subsidiary of giant PepsiCo. Inc. liked the sentiment so much that it started daring the public in 1963: ''Bet you can't eat just one.''

Flushed with success and demand, Jays expanded throughout the 1950s. In 1957, Japp's son, Leonard Jr., joined the firm after six years in the Marine Corps.

''I had always worked at the plant at various jobs, and I started when I was 13,'' said Leonard Jr., the firm's president. When he was in the Marines, he said he would work at the company on his leaves.

In the 1960s, Jays switched from tin cans of potato chips to less expensive boxes.

''They used to deliver those cans to the back door, and we'd fill 'em and load 'em out the front door. There's no way you can store that many cans, and they just became too expensive,'' the younger Japp said.

Over the years, Jays has added to its snack foods, but potato chips constitute 70% of its sales. Pretzels, corn chips, cheese dips, and other products are made elsewhere. Only potato chips and popcorn were made at the South Side plant, at 825 E. 99th Street, But that keeps Jays' 400 employees busy on three shifts a day. The company grew to 850 workers.

''We make potato chips and popcorn for the first two shifts. Then the whole place is scrubbed down during the last shift. We like to say that the place is clean enough to eat off the floor. One television reporter did,'' Leonard Jr. said.

Besides the Chicago plant, the firm has 14 distribution plants and 5 distributors in Illinois and parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana.

Jays constantly battled to get the right amount of shelf space at grocery stores. ''I don't want more shelf space than I can sell in a store, but I want it where I can be representative. Generally speaking, I think we could do more. If you have too much, you have too much spoilage,'' said Leonard Jr.

Competition always is lurking. Years ago, General Mills Inc. introduced Bugles and Whistles; Procter & Gamble Co. served up Pringles.

''We fought them by stressing that our potato chips are all-natural ingredients, made with no preservatives. We use pure polyunsaturated corn oil,'' said Leonard Jr.

John Cady, the Potato Chip/Snack Food Association president, an Alexandria, Va.-based trade group of snack firms, knows Jay's story.

''Jays had expanded its original markets into other states to increase its growth and set up distribution centers outside Chicago to reach out farther than if it was in the Chicago market,'' Cady said. And it's working, he said. ''Overall, consumers must think they've got a pretty good product because they have grown. There's a certain amount of brand loyalty, and people are apparently loyal to Jays, grown up with Jays, and keep buying that brand.''

COMPANY NAME AND DATE HISTORY

• Japp & Gavora Food Co. 1927-1929
• Leonard Japp's Depression 1929-1934
• Selling Rebranded Fletcher's Potato Chips 1934-1938
• Special Foods Company 1938-1940
• Mrs. Japp's Potato Chips 1940-1941
• Jays Foods, Inc. 1941-1986
• Borden, Inc - Jays Foods 1986-1994
• The Japp Family Reacquired Jays Foods 1994-2004
• Purchased by Ubiquity Brands - Jays Foods 2004-2007
• Snyder's-Lance of Hanover - Jays Foods 2007-Present

Snyder's-Lance of Hanover bought Jays in 2007 and promised not to change Jays Foods' methods for manufacturing their snacks, and so far—so good!

BIRTH-DEATH RECORDS
Leonard Japp (1904-2000) was buried at Oakridge-Glen Oak Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois.
Irene Day Japp (1905-1938), the 1st wife, died 11 years after marriage in 1927. Irene is buried at Oakridge-Glen Oak Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois.
Eugenia Peszynski Japp  2nd, wife married in 1939 - died in 1983.
Janice M Japp - 3rd wife (Dates unknown)

INDEX TO MY ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO FOOD & RESTAURANT ARTICLES.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

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[1] Deirdre Marie Capone is a writer and producer known for Al Capone, the Untold Story, Capone: The Man That Knew Too Much, and The Making of the Mob (2015) IMDb.

Deirdre Marie Capone authored; "Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story from Inside His Family."