Campagna, Louis (1900-1955)

b. Brooklyn, NY, June 27, 1900.
d. Miami, FL, May 30, 1955.

A close associate of Al Capone, Louis "Little New York" Campagna is believed to have briefly served as boss of the Chicago Outfit in the post-Capone era.

Like Capone, Campagna was born in Brooklyn, New York, and relocated to Chicago. He became a trusted aide and bodyguard to Capone.

Following Capone's imprisonment for tax evasion, Campagna became the top lieutenant for Frank Nitti. Nitti, Campagna and several other leaders of the Chicago Outfit were indicted in 1943 by a federal grand jury in New York for using their control of a screen and stage employees union to extort a million dollars from movie company executives. Just hours after the indictment, Nitti committed suicide. Campagna appears to have served as the Outfit's top man until the extortion case resulted in his conviction.

Anthony Accardo and Paul Ricca later emerged as the leading figures in the Outfit.

Campagna connections were credited with arranging for a more convenient prison term for Outfit leaders, having them moved from distant Atlanta Federal Prison, to more accessible Leavenworth, Kansas, and arranging for a quick parole in 1947.

Campagna maintained a home in Berwyn, Illinois, just west of Cicero, and also had a palatial estate in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

In spring of 1955, Campagna and his wife vacationed in the Bahamas. The returned to the U.S. by plane on May 16, landing in Miami. Two weeks later, Campagna went on a fishing trip in the waters off Miami. He reportedly suffered a heart attack on the fishing boat. He was pronounced dead at Miami.

Campagna's Benton Harbor estate was purchased several months later by the Seventh Day Adventist Church for use as a sanatorium.

See also:

• Chicago Crime Bosses - Mafiahistory.us

Sources:

•   Cook County Illinois Birth Certificates Index.
•   Florida Death Index.
•   New York City Birth Records
•   Passenger manifest of aircraft N1080M, Chalk's Airline, departed Bimini, Bahamas, arrived Miami, Fl., 5:25 p.m., May 16, 1955.
•   Roberts, S.A. John W. Jr., "La Cosa Nostra, Chicago Division," FBI report, file no. 92-6054-677, NARA no. 124-10287-10243, July 16, 1964, p. 5.
•   United States Census of 1930, Illinois, Cook County, City of Berwyn, Enumeration District 16-1988.
•   United States Census of 1940, Illinois, Cook County, City of Berwyn, Ward 3, Enumeration District 16-15.
•   Yost, Newton E., "La Cosa Nostra," FBI report, file no. 92-6054-683, NARA no. 124-10208-10406, July 22, 1964, p. 18.

•   "Capone 'enforcer' shot by detective," New York Times, Dec. 20, 1932, p. 8.
•   "Gang leader Nitti kills himself in Chicago after indictment here," New York Times, March 20, 1943, p. 30.
•   "Louis Campagna, notorious Capone gangster, dies," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 31, 1955, p. 2.
•   "Adventists buy estate of gangster," Dixon IL Evening Telegraph, Aug. 26, 1955, p. 6.

D'Andrea, Philip (1889-1952)

Born NY, Sept. 7, 1889

Died California, Sept. 18, 1952.

Phil D'Andrea served as a bodyguard and trusted adviser to Chicago mob boss Al Capone. During Capone's tax evasion trial in 1931, D'Andrea sat directly behind the prominent defendant by special permission of the court.

D'Andrea later was found to be attending the court proceedings while armed with a handgun. He was arrested as he left the courtroom on Oct. 10. At that time, the press referred to D'Andrea as "Capone's constant companion."

After Capone's imprisonment for tax evasion, D'Andrea became the president of the declining Unione Siciliana organization in Chicago.

D'Andrea was sought for questioning in connection with the April 1941 murder of Italian-language newspaper editor John F. Arena. D'Andrea was known to be part owner of a competing newspaper.

In 1943, D'Andrea and other Outfit leaders Paul Ricca, Louis Campagna and Charles Gioe were convicted of using extortion to build an empire in the Hollywood entertainment industry. They were sentenced to ten years in prison but served just three. They all were paroled on Aug. 14, 1947. The paroles did not escape notice. Federal legislators demanded all documentation on the early releases. The matter was again investigated in November 1952, after D'Andrea's death.

D'Andrea was one of the many underworld figures called before the Kefauver Committee in 1950.

He retired from the Chicago underworld and moved west to California.