In 1930 he bought the Turf Lounge, which would become his headquarters for several decades. During the 1920s, Aiuppa rose through the ranks of the Outfit, operating several gambling establishments in Cicero, Illinois. He was first linked with John Dillinger and the Alvin Karpis gang (it was rumored that Aiuppa supplied guns to Dillinger's gang and even helped bury sl ain bank robber John 'Red' Hamilton) before hooking up with the Italian mob, Al Capone's gang in which he started off as a driver and enforcer before being given the Outfit's Cicero territory to run.
After he worked several years as a laborer and in 1925 he became a truck driver for Midwest Cartage Company. In 1918 an eleven year old Aiuppa dropped out of school and started working as a gardener. His parents were immigrants from Lascari, Province of Palermo, Sicily. He was notorious for being one of the ringleaders of the Mafia’s Las Vegas casino skimming operation.Īiuppa was born in Melrose Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Aiuppa got his “Doves” nickname after being arrested for unlawfully transporting mourning doves across state lines. Joseph John Aiuppa, also known as “Joey Doves”, “mourning Doves”, and Joey O’brien”, was a powerful Chicago mobster who became boss of the Chicago Outifit.
