Born: May 24, 1908
Died: June 19, 1975

Sam Giancana is believed to have been responsible for hundreds of mob-related murders. He entered the Mafia as a Youngblood—a new breed ofyoung criminals who started out in Chicago’s notorious 42 Gang—and worked his way up to head the mob’s Chicago Outfit.

A tough young thug

Gilormo Giancana was born on the West side of Chicago in 1908. Baptized Momo Salvatore Giancana, he was known as “Sam.” He lived with his parents—Antonino Giancana, a Sicilian immigrant grocer, and Antonia DiSimone—in a tenement (a housing structure for the poor) on South Aberdeen Street in a neighborhood referred to as “The Patch.” A grade-school dropout, Giancana became involved in a violent gang of youths called “the 42s.” One of the worst juvenile gangs in Chicago in the 1920s...