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Paul Ricca of the Chicago Outfit

Gangland Wire
Gangland Wire
Episode • Oct 5, 2022
Retired KCPD Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins looks at the life of the Chicago Outfit’s Paul Ricca. We learn he probably was responsible for the suicide of Frank Nitti, that he was a “behind the scenes” boss and made decisions with Anthony Accardo for many years.
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but hey are you wirecappers out there I have a story today it’s kind of a rehash I’ve been one of my old audio stories I did the uh just last week I think or a couple weeks ago now I posted a story on YouTube that was primarily uh audio and it was the story of it was an interview of a guy named Carlo Morelliwho was a guy that took Tony accardo’s daughter to the uh to her senior prom a couple other Accardo stories and it’s pretty interesting it’s kind of a one that once in a lifetime gig to get an inside information like that and Carlos deceased since I uh recorded that interview but somebody made a comment in the YouTube or the YouTube posting about and did you ever talk about Paul Rica or Paul the waiter who was a a Chicago boss out of the 40s and early 50s on up into the 60s who stayed way in the background a lot of people don’t know the name of
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Paul Rican he was a really important guy
1:07
in in the Chicago outfit back in those
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days so I dug out my old interview I did
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an interview of him I never put it up on
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YouTube so I dug up some pictures in
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order for you to have some something to
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look at while I tell the story of Paul
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the waiter Rika uh interesting guy you
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know he he stayed in the background just
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like Tony Accardo did he and the cardo
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really would sit together at Norwood’s
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male restaurant that’s Meo restaurant
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and I think the building still exists in
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in Norwood I think is the name of the
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suburb in Chicago anyhow they would sit
1:45
up there and people would come up and
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and bring in envelopes and and they’d
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make decisions and he always stayed in
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the background with ocardo and and they
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let guys like Sam giancana be out front
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and you know he was a like a lightning
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rod for uh for the FBI and and they sat
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back there and never went to jail again
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although the government never really
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quit trying to deport Paul Rica which I
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you know listen to the store and you’ll
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learn a lot more about Paul Rica you
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know one interesting little tidbit about
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him he was once accused of doing a hit
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in Kansas City of a guy who was running
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a bunch of slot machines out in the
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county and not kicking up to the Mob and
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he was warm several times now I don’t
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they showed his picture now why they
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show this picture I don’t know uh but he
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was uh during the 50s he well let’s
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listen to the stories he’s a really
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interesting guy well Paul Rica or Paul
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the waiter Rika was born July 10 1898 he
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died October the 11th 1972. he rose from
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being a small time member of the Kimura
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Mafia in Naples Italy to the boss of the
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Chicago outfit by the time he died in
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1898 Paul the waiter Rica was born
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Felice de Lucia in Naples Italy by 1915
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a 17 year old Felice de Lucia was an
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associate of the Neapolitan Kimura Mafia
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he got his first real taste of mob life
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when he was ordered to murder a man
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named Emilio perilio Elise de Lucia was
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arrested and at trial a sicilian named
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vicenzo capasso testified that he saw
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