For mobsters like Al Capone, who ran the same Chicago streets that visitors will take to the 2017 Chicago Auto Show, car choice had less to do with horsepower and showy design than features like superior braking and running boards. Enter Capone’s 1928 Cadillac sedan.
Low-key or flashy, custom or stock, cars have always been an important part of gangster life, particularly during the Mafia’s heyday from the 1920s to the early 1980s. After all, heists required getaways, and corpses needed, well, trunks. Just as in the movies, vehicles often served as mobile whacking sites. Running boards were especially handy during shootouts.
Although the kind of vehicles gangs preferred ran the gamut, a few were particularly popular. One mobster favorite was the Ford Model V8. Introduced in 1932, it was touted as an affordable big-engine car and swiftly became associated with 1930s gangland. Favored by Chicago gangster John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde and Baby Face Nelson for its iconic design and robust power, the innovative car became known as the height of mobster mobility. Dillinger also is said to have owned a Model A, and Clyde Barrow wrote a letter to founder Henry Ford thanking him for the car’s dependability and speed.
Another top marque of La Cosa Nostra was the Lincoln Continental, especially Mark III to Mark VIII. Often spotted on New York streets from the late 1960s through the 1990s, the whip had a bold, slightly threatening presence and was driven by, among others, Carlos Gambino, Paul Castellano and Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski. “The Godfather” film featured the 1941 Continental.
Not the most pedestrian of vehicles, the stately Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was particularly popular with mobsters during the Roaring ’20s. Wiseguys like Johnny Torrio and Arnold Rothstein each had one, according to www.nationalcrimesyndicate.com.
Other notable underworld wheels include the 1975 Chevy Malibu. Whitey Bulger customized one with a device that could emit smoke or drop oil from the rear. Bootleggers in general liked the inconspicuousness of Chevrolets and Fords, hooking them up with secret compartments, brawny suspensions and a way to dump contraband if they were on the losing end of a cop chase. Ubiquitous Ford Model T’s during Prohibition often would be outfitted with fake undercarriages to hold liquor.
While living in exile in Italy in the 1950s, Charles “Lucky” Luciano was known for tooling around in late-model Oldsmobiles with New Jersey or New York license plates, said organized crime historian Christian Cipollini. Meanwhile, Jake “The Barber” Factor, Owney “The Killer” Madden and Dutch Schultz were fans of luxury maker Duesenberg.
“In the ’60s, Dodge Darts were big. Some of the older bosses didn’t flash — they were more circ*mspect,” said noted mob author Scott M. Deitche. “Wiseguys liked Caddies and Town Cars, but some of the younger ones got a little flashy.”
Customizers did brisk business. Capone’s Caddy, for example, was painted green and white to match cop cars, and was also outfitted with bespoke features like police band radio, inch-thick glass, and side windows with holes for Tommy guns. The rear window also could be lowered to allow fellow mobsters to blaze pursuers. Doors were lined with more than 3,000 pounds of armor.
Just as nearly all Mafia families had repair garages that serviced only them, most members, for obvious reasons, didn’t shop at stores for cars. Capone and his henchmen reportedly bought their rides from a dealer who had married into Capone’s family, and from a man who also handled customization. Some mobsters owned dealerships, Deitche said, while others favored stolen cars — usually in a dark color — for use during hits.
“The really bad guys would walk around Brooklyn, and when they needed a car they had people to steal it,” Cipollini said. “When they were done with it they’d take it to their favorite junk yard and have mechanics tear it apart and remove any pieces, because they generally had killed someone in the vehicle or around it.”
In recent years, organized crime bosses have traded their high-end sedans for luxury SUVs, said mob expert Scott Burnstein. Anthony “Little Tony” Zizzo, a high-ranking mobster and a reputed member of the notorious Chicago Outfit, had been driving a Jeep Cherokee when he disappeared in 2006.
In the end, you never know: Those new cars on the auto show floor just may be prized for something more than fuel economy and aerodynamics.
Mary Chapman is a freelance writer.
