In 1920 James Colosimo was the reputed "kingpin" of the Chicago underworld. After arriving in Chicago from Italy in 1895, "Big Jim" had started a-lucrative loan'-shark^operation on the South Side. By the late 1910s Colosimo also dominated prostitution and gambling in the Windy City from his headquarters at Colosimo's Cafe on South Wabash Avenue, one of the most popular nightspots in Chicago. There gangsters freely mingled with figures from high society. In 1915 Colosimo brought in his brother-in-law, Johnny Torrio,' from New York City to help manage his burgeoning operations. Five years later Torrio arranged for another New Yorker, Al "Scarface" Capone, to join the organization. With the advent of Prohibition in January 1920, Colosimo began, a sizable bootlegging enterprise. Later that spring Frank Yale, a former "associate, decided to, "muscle in" on Colosimo's rackets, fatally shooting "Big Jim" in the "spacious lobby...