Dr. Wayne A. Johnson. : February 2014

Loyola’s Department of Criminal Justice Hosts Panel on Chicago Mob

The Mob and the City: Examining the Outfit’s Origins and Dominance in Chicago

CHICAGO, April 13, 2011 – Loyola University Chicago’s Center for the Advancement of Research Training and Education (CARTE) and Department of Criminal Justice will host a series of panel discussions led by principal authorities and experts in the field of organized crime to discuss the story of the Outfit, Chicago’s longstanding criminal organization. The event will be held April 27, 2011, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., in the Sullivan Center for Student Services on Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus.

The Outfit surfaced on the streets of Chicago in the 1890s. As a modest enterprise that consisted mainly of prostitution and gambling, the criminal organization rose to become a political and economic powerhouse that ran local, regional, and national labor unions. Today, the Outfit still remains a formidable criminal organization in the city of Chicago. Panel members will examine the longstanding history and story of the Outfit from a variety of perspectives and disciplines.

Panel members and their discussion topics include:

· “A Few Truths about Wise Guys and the Outfit” - Arthur J. Lurigio, PhD, professor, faculty scholar, associate dean of College of Arts and Science at Loyola, associate dean for faculty at Loyola, and author of A Century of Domination: The History of the Chicago Outfit

“Explaining Organized Crime: The Social Structural Paradigm” - Robert M. Lombardo, PhD, assistant professor of criminal justice at Loyola and author of The Black Hand: Terror by Letter in Chicago

· “Organized Crime as Social Practice: The ‘Boys’ of Chicago Heights” - Louis Corsino, PhD, professor of sociology and chairperson of human thought and behavior at North Central College

· “From Acorns to Oak Trees: The Chicago Mob in Infancy” - Arthur J. Bilek, MSW, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission, instructor of criminal justice at Loyola, and author of The First Vice Lord, Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levy and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

· “Gangland Killings in Chicago, 1919-1933” - John Binder, PhD, associate professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of The Outfit

· “Investigating Mob Murders in Chicago: A Local Perspective” - Wayne Johnson, EdD, associate professor, program coordinator at Harper College, and co-author of New Faces of Organized Crime

· “Bringing Down the Outfit: The FBI’s Investigation of Organized Crime Chicago”
Ross Rice, special agent and public affairs director of the Chicago FBI

“This panel represents the first time that local experts on the Outfit have been on the same rostrum for the purpose of examining organized crime from a political, historical, sociological, and law enforcement perspective,” according to panel organizer and chairperson Dr. Lurigio. “Such an interdisciplinary approach provides a broad and informed view of the origins and adverse effects of organized crime on the city, which have been extensive and profound. The discussion will confront many myths about organized crime and peel away the layers of mystery and mythology that have surrounded the mob for the past century. Hence, the discussion will be instructive and interesting to students and members of the general public alike.”

About Loyola University Chicago

Committed to preparing people to lead extraordinary lives, Loyola University Chicago, founded in 1870, is the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic university. Enrollment is more than 15,800 students, which includes more than 10,000 undergraduates hailing from all 50 states and 82 countries. The University has four campuses: three in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy. Loyola also serves as the U.S. host university to The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies in Beijing, China. Loyola’s 10 schools and colleges include arts and sciences, business administration, communication, education, graduate studies, law, medicine, nursing, continuing and professional studies, and social work. Loyola offers 71 undergraduate majors, 71 undergraduate minors, 85 master’s degrees, and 31 doctoral degrees. Loyola is consistently ranked among the “top national universities” by U.S. News & World Report, and the University was named a “best value” in its 2010 rankings. In addition, Loyola is among a select group of universities recognized for community service and engagement by prestigious national organizations, such as the Carnegie Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service. For more information about Loyola, please visit LUC.edu.

-Loyola-

Dr. Wayne A. Johnson.

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