Marcu Morello (died 20 May 1935) was an Italian-American mafioso and the boss of the Chicago Morello crime family during the Prohibition era. He was assassinated during a gang war with the rival Salieri crime family in 1935, with the Salieris shooting down his plane in a well-publicized gangland hit.
Biography[]
Marcu Morello was born in Sicily, Italy, the brother of Sergio Morello, and they later immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago, Illinois. While there, he became involved in the American Mafia as one of Don Felice Peppone's caporegimes, alongside the Neapolitan immigrant Ennio Salieri. On Peppone's murder in 1921, Salieri and Morello split Peppone's empire between them, but the two former friends clashed over rival business interests and personalities. Morello was hot-tempered, but his alliance with corrupt members of the city council and the Chicago Police Department allowed for him to do as he pleased; he once publicly murdered the boxer Joey Crackers with a tire iron as two policemen watched helplessly. During the 1930s, he and his family engaged in a cold war with the Salieri crime family, and the war escalated in 1935 with an attempted hit on Salieri at a restaurant, which sparked reprisals against the Morellos. City councilman Roberto Ghillotti was publicly assassinated by Salieri hitman Tommy Angelo, sending a message that Morello could not protect his friends. Angelo also assassinated Sergio, Marcu's right-hand man, and, as Marcu attempted to fly out of the city, Angelo shot down Morello's plane and executed the wounded Morello with a Thompson submachine gun, eliminating his family.