Sam (Dyno) DeStefano
Posted on 29. Aug, 2011 by Joseph Fosco in History, Organized Crime
Not quite one full decade into the twentieth century – September 13, 1909 – something occurred that would change the Midwest region of the United States of America for the next 63-years, seven months and one day. Sam “Mad Sam” DeStefano (known as Dyno to his Outfit cronies) was born. His legendary, blood-curdling reputation, replete with homicidal rampages and a sadistic obsession with torture, has led several prominent authors and law enforcement officials to conclude that Sam DeStefano was one of the most vicious and sadistic murderers in U.S. history.
From the time Dyno was a teenager until he moved out on his own as young man he lived in an apartment building off Polk Street in the heart of what is known today as Chicago’s Little Italy. His home was one or two buildings down from the boyhood home of the now late Outfit henchman Willie Messino.
Willie Messino often had problems with Dyno. Little Italy was a rough inner-city neighborhood, the sort of place where physical violence was commonplace. DeStefano, nearly eight years older than Messino, found delight in brutally assaulting the younger, smaller Willie. However, Willie never backed down from Dyno. He took his occasional beatings like a man, fighting back, punching and kicking every time. Whenever Dyno was challenged to a street-fight as a young man, he would always say in a voice similar to the one Ben Gazzara used in the 1975 film Capone, “Okay, how do you want to fight? Do you want to fight on one leg? Do you want to fight with one arm tied behind your back? Do you want to fight with both arms tied behind your back? Do you want to fight with a knife? Do you want to fight with a baseball bat?”
Dyno made a name for himself in Chicago as a rough guy. He was convicted of rape at 18 and served three-year in jail before joining Salvatore Giancana’s infamous Forty-Two Gang. Here he continued to establish a reputation for brutality that would ultimately bring him into the service of The Chicago Outfit, which relied on him to do a great deal of heavy work doling out beatings, torture sessions and, in some cases, gruesome murders. Dyno was fast to establish a reputation that accurately depicted him as the single toughest guy on the streets of Chicago. If anyone disagrees, they are either ignorant or a liar.
In the early 1930s, bank robbery charges sent Dyno away for over a decade. He served his time in the Wisconsin State Penitentiary Waupun.
He quickly discovered that inmates were not allowed visitation with family or friends, had no lighting in their cells, were allowed no access to radio-news and were served food unfit for rodents. Prisoners were forced by a strict policy to remain silent at all times (called the silent system), unless addressed by prison staff.
The headstrong DeStefano could not and would not live under such conditions. After a number of years of suffering in the Wisconsin Prison System, Dyno organized a prison standoff that lasted for days. This was done in protest of the strict rules that restricted the inmates of some of their very basic rights. In response to the protest, the warden attempted to negotiate with Dyno, as it was known that he orchestrated the fallout. Dyno refused to talk to anyone, including the warden. Instead, he demanded to speak to the governor. His demand was not immediately met, however, in short time, the Governor of the State of Wisconsin caved in by personally engaging Dyno. All of Dyno’s demands were granted, in due time, the Wisconsin Prison System addressed every single issue, including the abolishment of their age-old silent system.
After his release from the Wisconsin Prison System, Dyno returned to Chicago, where he immediately picked up where he left off. He became one of The Outfit’s premiere loan sharks. His collection methods were so gruesome that few ever dared to be late with Dyno’s money.
Sometime in the early 1960s, a young man contacted my father for help. The youngster told my father that if he did not pay someone $200.00 later that same day, his parents would be murdered. My father, who took pleasure in helping the underdog and disliked bullies, took this plea for help seriously. He asked the young man who he owed the money to. When the young man told him it was Sam DeStefano, my father quickly reached in his pocket and gave the kid the $200.00, and sternly admonished the young man to never borrow from Sam again. My father knew Dyno and did not think it was worth it (or maybe even possible) to negotiate with the sociopath over a couple of hundred bucks.
My late dear friend, George Colucci, told me the most interesting story that I have ever heard about Dyno. It took place in Chicago’s Galewood neighborhood sometime in the 1960s. It was around 5:30 in the morning and George was on his way to his Elmwood Park home after being out from the night before. He was heading down Oak Park Avenue when he saw Dyno’s Rolls Royce curbed with the engine running. No one was in the car.
George, who was on friendly terms with Dyno, immediately pulled over to see if everything was okay. George exited his car and began walking around to see if he could locate Dyno nearby. Sure enough, George found Dyno, dressed in pajamas, holding a handgun aimed at a boy of about 15. When Dyno saw George, he handed George the gun and told him to hold the gun on the kid while he handcuffed him and put him in the backseat of his car. George obliged and the trio got into the Rolls Royce and sped away.
George asked where they were heading. Dyno responded succinctly: “to my house, in the basement.”
This was particularly bad news, as it was common knowledge that Dyno had a professional torture chamber under his house. This was when George interrupted the story to explain to me that he was worried about the kid and the only reason he went along with Dyno was to make some time to talk him out of whatever he was planning.
George explained that they arrived at Dyno’s house and parked in the garage. George asked, “Sam, what did the kid do?”
Dyno replied, “He robbed us.”
This made no sense to George. All he saw was a young kid, not a thief. So he asked Dyno what exactly the kid had done.
Dyno shouted, “He cracked open our machine!”
George carefully inquired further. As it turned out, the unfortunate kid broke open a gumball machine that was located inside of a late night business in the area. The getaway would have been clean, but the kid had trouble carrying all of the stolen pennies. The poor fool happened to be walking in front of Dyno’s house when he decided to swipe a flowerpot (located near Dyno’s front door) to use as a bucket for his illicit gains. As the boy deposited the pennies into the pot, Dyno happened to be peeking out his front window. Enraged, Dyno immediately ran out of the house and jumped into his car, intent on chasing down the kid. Dyno had gotten a confession out of the kid seconds prior to George finding him near Oak Park Avenue.
Now the three of them finally made it to Dyno’s basement. At that point, George was extremely worried about the kid. However, George was leading Dyno to think that he was in agreement with him and that something had to be done to teach the kid a lesson. George asked Dyno, “What should we do to this punk?”
Dyno explained that he intended to contact the kid’s parents, demanding ten-thousand dollars in ranom for their son. Knowing this would only lead to trouble, George started to help Dyno think things through. He pointed out the different possibilities of something going wrong, causing a lot of trouble for them.
After a few hours of hashing it out with Dyno in his basement, George finally convinced Dyno to let the kid go. After the kid was released, the men agreed that George had better stick around for a while to serve as an alibi in case the authorities get involved. Sure enough, law enforcement arrived at Dyno’s home roughly an hour later.
All Dyno would say is that he “saw a couple of assistant states attorneys kidnap the punk and now you guys are trying to frame us.” George was also questioned quite thoroughly, during which he backed Dyno’s story in its entirety.
After a period of questioning it became clear that George and Dyno were essentially two witnesses against one witness, the boy, which caused the case to fizzle that same day. No arrests were made.
There is no doubt that George saved that boy’s life that night. Left to his own devices, the sadistic DeStefano would surely have done some permanent harm to that boy.
On April 14, 1973, Dyno was shot to death in front of his own home. It is widely believed that Tony Spilotro murdered him.
I apologize for not having more content to make this a much better article. I did the best I could do with the tools I had to work with. In addition, I held back on a couple of other stories that I am saving for my book. If I share all of my stories on ANP, there will not be a reason to write a book. I hope you understand.
If you are still reading this article, you obviously have an interest in organized crime in Chicago, which means it is likely that you already read some of the many published stories about Dyno. My goal in writing this piece is to share some never before published stories, so I intentionally refrained from sharing anything that has already been published.
If you would like to reminisce about some of the popular stories published on Dyno, or share some new stories, you are certainly welcome to share your story in the message thread for this article. Thank you.
If you have never researched Dyno, I implore you to do so. You could find a great deal about him on the internet. Look him up; he is a very interesting subject. I truly hope that a major film producer makes a movie on this man.
In closing I would like to leave you with a profound thought: Dyno living in your community would be equivalent to having a heterosexual John Wayne Gacy residing on the block, who everyone knows about, but law enforcement cannot do anything about it. These are the sort of men that criminal enterprises like The Chicago Outfit would protect, as long as it serves their interest. For anyone who ever romanticized the mafia style of life, I hope you remember that men like Dyno are the true reality of organized crime.
Postscript:
For those of you interested in my upcoming book, please know that it is based on my personal experiences (directly) with the following Outfit members and associates:
Anthony (Joe B) Accardo
Joseph Aiuppa (though my experience was extremely limited with Joe in 1996)
Joe Andriacchi
Alphonse Bartkus
Carman Bastone
Frank Buccieri
Marshall Caifano
Joseph N. Casciato, Esquire (retired Cook County Judge)
Clara Cerone (wife of Outfit boss Jack Cerone)
Jack Cerone, Esqiure
Nicholas (Buddy) Ciotti
George Colucci
William Daddono Jr.
William Daddono III
James DeLeo (former Illinois State Senator)
Joseph DeVita
John DiFronzo
Robert Dominic
Louie (The Mooch) Eboli
Armando Fosco Sr.
Paul A. Fosco
Robert McDonnell, Esquire
Rudy Fratto Jr.
Joseph L. Giacchino Jr. (delicensed doctor)
Joe Lombardo
Michael Magnafichi
Pat Marcy
Willie Messino
Romie Nappi
Charlie Nicosia
Al Pilotto
Freddy (Porky) Pordyla
Donald (Donny Swanson) Renno
Vito Scavo
Dominic Senese
James Zafiratos Sr. (retired Cook County Judge)
Aside from those named above, I have several sources who are unnamed, thank you.
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