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The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosemo and the Ladies of the Levee
THE FIRST VICE LORD is the story of the life and death of Big Jim Colosimo and Chicago's infamous segregated red-light district--the Levee. For the first time, the true story is told of the colorful characters who peopled the Levee from the time of the Columbian Exposition to the Roaring Twenties, clearly the most colorful period in Chicago's history. The product of five years of research through Chicago daily newspapers, magazines, and periodicals, and books on the city's history, it documents the story as it occurred, with all of the sights, sounds, and smells of that lusty, unruly era. THE FIRST VICE LORD is the story of an immigrant Italian lad who grew up in the tenements of Chicago, where he worked first as a lowly street sweeper, then as a brothel operator and vice lord, and finally as the owner of the most famous restaurant of his day. His story is told against the backdrop of an open red-light district so famous it was known to the crown heads of Europe.
319 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 31, 2008
Bilek delivers an authoritative look at pre-Prohibition Era Chicago. The reader watches in astonishment as a variety of well-intentioned crusades to clean up the Windy City's most notorious neighborhoods actually serve to encourage coordinated efforts among the purveyors of vice and give rise to vast criminal empires.
The author, a member of the Chicago Crime Commission's board of directors and an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Loyola University, pays special attention to the waxing and waning influence of Colosimo and his criminal and political allies. And he explains the significance of Colosimo's divorce and remarriage, events that occurred just before his May 1920 assassination.
A few problem areas exist between the book's covers. I hoped for greater detail in discussions of the local Mafia, of the Unione Siciliana and of the genesis of the Colosimo-Torrio relationship. The book also would have benefited from a closer edit. But these are relatively small matters.
In "The First Vice Lord" we are treated to a generally well written and well thought out examination of the roots of the Prohibition Era Capone Outfit.
The author, a member of the Chicago Crime Commission's board of directors and an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Loyola University, pays special attention to the waxing and waning influence of Colosimo and his criminal and political allies. And he explains the significance of Colosimo's divorce and remarriage, events that occurred just before his May 1920 assassination.
A few problem areas exist between the book's covers. I hoped for greater detail in discussions of the local Mafia, of the Unione Siciliana and of the genesis of the Colosimo-Torrio relationship. The book also would have benefited from a closer edit. But these are relatively small matters.
In "The First Vice Lord" we are treated to a generally well written and well thought out examination of the roots of the Prohibition Era Capone Outfit.
August 2, 2008
I've been looking forward to this book since the day I learned that Art Bilek intended to do a biography of Big Jim Colosimo. Colosimo was Chicago's first Italian crime lord, a distinction that the less informed have bestowed upon Al Capone. Those with only a passing knowledge of Chicago's organized crime history are not aware that years before Capone's machine gunners decimated his challengers, Big Jim Colosimo headed a vice trust with nationwide connections, enjoyed political alliances that rendered him immune to anything but cursory arrests, and hobnobbed with socialites and entertainers at his famous cafe.
Bilek has done a marvelous job of reconstructing Colosimo's life story, beginning with his humble birth in Colosimi, Italy, progressing through his days as a padrone, precinct captain for First Ward Aldermen Mike Kenna and John Coughlin, brothel operator and vice trust magnate, and ending with his assassination in the vestibule of his celebrated nightclub, Colosimo's Cafe. His profitable marriage to madam Victoria Moresco, his fatal alliance with lily-white singer Dale Winter, and his relationship with his protege from New York, Johnny Torrio, inject tones of betrayal and tragedy that make the book read in parts like a gripping novel.
Bilek also traces the rise and fall of the Levee, Chicago's primary red light district, which brought wealth to Colosimo and the crooked cops and politicians who protected him in exchange for a piece of the pie. It was also an international embarrassment for the city, and routinely targeted by evangelists, reformers, and civic betterment committees. When a second deputy police superintendent was appointed to head a 'Morals Squad', a battle of wills began between the morals men and the establishment that favored segregated vice. There were shootouts in the streets, informers were murdered, and Chicago's reputation as a modern-day Gomorrah worsened. When the Levee was finally 'closed' in 1912, Colosimo and his advisor, Torrio, began opening roadhouse brothels outside the city, to cater to pleasure-loving motorists. They corrupted village governments in the process, and spread what had formerly been a contained evil.
"The First Vice Lord" does not disappoint. Bilek successfully demonstrates that were it not for Big Jim, there would probably never have been a Big Al. Well done.
Bilek has done a marvelous job of reconstructing Colosimo's life story, beginning with his humble birth in Colosimi, Italy, progressing through his days as a padrone, precinct captain for First Ward Aldermen Mike Kenna and John Coughlin, brothel operator and vice trust magnate, and ending with his assassination in the vestibule of his celebrated nightclub, Colosimo's Cafe. His profitable marriage to madam Victoria Moresco, his fatal alliance with lily-white singer Dale Winter, and his relationship with his protege from New York, Johnny Torrio, inject tones of betrayal and tragedy that make the book read in parts like a gripping novel.
Bilek also traces the rise and fall of the Levee, Chicago's primary red light district, which brought wealth to Colosimo and the crooked cops and politicians who protected him in exchange for a piece of the pie. It was also an international embarrassment for the city, and routinely targeted by evangelists, reformers, and civic betterment committees. When a second deputy police superintendent was appointed to head a 'Morals Squad', a battle of wills began between the morals men and the establishment that favored segregated vice. There were shootouts in the streets, informers were murdered, and Chicago's reputation as a modern-day Gomorrah worsened. When the Levee was finally 'closed' in 1912, Colosimo and his advisor, Torrio, began opening roadhouse brothels outside the city, to cater to pleasure-loving motorists. They corrupted village governments in the process, and spread what had formerly been a contained evil.
"The First Vice Lord" does not disappoint. Bilek successfully demonstrates that were it not for Big Jim, there would probably never have been a Big Al. Well done.
November 30, 2022
3.5 stars. I learned a lot about the corrupt Chicago world of the time around the turn of the 19th-20 century. It is surprising how thoroughly criminal and cruel life was in the Levee District there. I had no idea that white slavery occurred in the 20th century in Chicago. It was also interesting to see the sordid origins of Burnham and Stickney.
The author tended to repeat ideas and there were multiple points where the dates and numbers were clearly incorrect. He even called a witness to Colosimo's murder a waiter in one paragraph and two paragraphs later a bookkeeper. Furthermore in the review of the destiny of the main characters at the end he was inconsistent about telling their ages at death which was annoying.
Curious he didn’t mention that Al Capone also live on S. Prairie Avenue.
The author tended to repeat ideas and there were multiple points where the dates and numbers were clearly incorrect. He even called a witness to Colosimo's murder a waiter in one paragraph and two paragraphs later a bookkeeper. Furthermore in the review of the destiny of the main characters at the end he was inconsistent about telling their ages at death which was annoying.
Curious he didn’t mention that Al Capone also live on S. Prairie Avenue.
September 25, 2008
Big Jim appears to be more complex than I had originally thought. I thought he was just a big Italian who liked to cook spaghetti, extort money and have people killed. His relationship with opera "star" Dale Winter is very intriguing, especially since he left his wife (an Italian, too!) of umpteen years for her. Great Chicago history just BAD EDITING!!! Nothing irritates me more than misspelled words and improper facts in published books. My favorite from this book: Talking how one gangster was the youngest to be in the position he was. When I read that he was born in 1909 and reached "status" by 1920, I thought, WOW! Sure, at 11, he certainly must be the youngest! Alas, in the very next sentence the author stated the aforementioned was 26 in 1920.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews