Frank Nitti

Frank Ralph Nitto (born Francesco Raffaele Nitto, ; January 27, 1886 – March 19, 1943), known as Frank Nitti, was an Italian-American organized crime figure based in Chicago.

The first cousin and bodyguard of Al Capone, Nitti was in charge of all money flowing through the operation.

Nitti later succeeded Capone as acting boss of the Chicago Outfit.

Nitti was born Francesco Raffaele Nitto on January 27, 1886, in the town of Angri, province of Salerno, Campania, Italy.

He was the second child of Luigi and Rosina (Fezza) Nitto and a first cousin of Al Capone.

His father died in 1888, when Frank was two years old.

Within a year, his mother married Francesco Dolendo.

Although two children were born to the couple, neither survived—leaving Francesco and his older sister, Giovannina, the only children.

Francesco Dolendo emigrated to the United States in July 1890, and the rest of the family followed in June 1893 when Nitti was seven.

The family settled at 113 Navy Street, Brooklyn, New York City.

Little Francesco attended public school and worked odd jobs after school to support the family.

His 15-year-old sister married a 24-year-old man.

His mother gave birth to his half-brother Raphael in 1894 and another child, Gennaro, in 1896.

After the seventh grade, he quit school and worked as a pinsetter, factory worker, and barber.

Al Capone's family lived nearby, and Nitti was friends with Capone's older brothers and their criminal gang (the Navy Street Boys).

A worsening relationship with Dolendo urged him to leave home when Nitti was 14, in 1900, to work in various local factories.

Around 1910, at the age of 24, he left Brooklyn.

The next several years of his life are poorly documented, and little can be ascertained.

He may have worked in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn around 1911.

He probably moved to Chicago around 1913, working as a barber and making the acquaintance of gangsters Alex Louis Greenberg and Dion O'Banion.

He married Chicagoan Rosa (Rose) Levitt in Dallas, Texas, on October 18, 1917.

The couple's movements after their marriage remain uncertain.

By 1918, Nitti had settled there at 914 South Halsted Street.

Nitti quickly renewed his contacts with Greenberg and O'Banion, becoming a jewel thief, liquor smuggler, and fence.

Through his liquor smuggling activities, Nitti came to the attention of Chicago crime boss John "Papa Johnny" Torrio and Torrio's newly arrived soldier, Al Capone.

Nitti, being a newcomer, and familiar with the Texas area, became a partner in the Galveston crime syndicate run by Johnny Jack Nounes.

He is reported to have stolen a large sum of money from Nounes and fellow mobster Dutch Voight in 1924, after which Nitti fled back to Chicago.

Years later, he was spotted at a Houston bar, which was brought to the attention of Nounes and Voight.

The two Galveston mobsters found Nitti, drove him back to Galveston, and made him return the money he had stolen.

Under Torrio's successor, Al Capone, Nitti's reputation soared.

Nitti ran Capone's liquor smuggling and distribution operation, importing whisky from Canada and selling it through a network of speakeasies around Chicago.

Nitti was one of Capone's top lieutenants, trusted for his leadership skills and business acumen.

Because Nitti's ancestry was from the same town as Capone's, he could help Capone penetrate the Sicilian and Camorra underworld in a way Capone alone never could.

Frank and Rose divorced in 1928, and shortly thereafter, he married Anna Ronga, daughter of a mob doctor and former neighbor of the Nittis in the 1920s.

The couple adopted a son, Joseph, through the Tennessee Children's Home Society.

Capone thought so highly of Nitti that when he went to prison in 1929, he named Nitti as a member of a triumvirate that ran the mob in his place.

Nitti was head of operations, with Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik as head of administration and Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo as head of enforcement.

Despite his nickname, "The Enforcer", Nitti used Mafia soldiers and others to commit violence rather than do it himself.

In earlier days, Nitti had been one of Capone's trusted personal bodyguards.

Still, as he rose in the organization, Nitti's business instinct dictated that he must personally avoid the "dirty work" for which hitmen were paid.