February, 1978
In Chicago, the Outfit called the shots. And from 1947 to 1992 Anthony “Joe Batters” Accardo—aka “Big Tuna”—definitely ran the Outfit. Anybody who dared lock horns with Accardo was asking for trouble. Johnny Mendell, on the other hand, was just a burglar—a very good one, but still, no match for Accardo. Unfortunately that’s not the way Mendell saw it.
On December 21, 1977, Johnny Mendell and his collaborators robbed Harry Levinson’s jewellery store on North Clark Street. The job was beautiful and smooth; the thieves got in and out leaving no evidence behind. By the time they were finished the crew had nearly cleaned out Levinson’s shop, omitting only the famous “Idol’s Eye Diamond”, a beautiful blue pear-shaped gem. But other than missing out on that prize, Mendell and his gang were probably feeling pretty good about the burglary. Once they’d fenced the goods, they could look forward to a happy and prosperous New Year.
Unfortunately Mendell hadn’t realized that Levinson was an old pal of Tony Accardo. Concluding he wouldn’t get much help from the police, Levinson contacted his old friend. If anyone were able to recover the jewels, it would be the boss of Chicago’s underworld, the Big Tuna himself. Accardo agreed and put the word out on the street—the goods better turn up, and fast.
Apparently the thieves obliged, because the jewels were silently and quickly returned. And that should have been the end of it. After all, Mendell had been playing it fast and loose by not checking with the Outfit in the first place. If he had, he would have known that Levinson’s was off limits and saved himself a lot of grief. Apparently, though, Mendell played by his own rules and not the Outfit’s.
Mendell was not pleased with the way things turned out. He had put a lot of time and money into that job and now had nothing to show for it. Something was owing to him, and he knew just where to get it.
In early January of 1978 Accardo and his wife had left the Windy City for a vacation in California, and while they were away, Mendell took the opportunity to break into their house—the personal home of the godfather of the Chicago Mafia.
When Accardo heard the news he was apoplectic. He was a ruthless Mafia Don, not someone to mess with; his vengeance for this slight was swift and it was brutal. One by one the Mendell crew dropped. Some had been stabbed, others garrotted, all had turned up stuffed into the trunks of cars. Mendell, whose body was found on February 20, 1978, had been tortured before he’d been killed.
In the end at least nine people were murdered, allegedly on Accardo’s orders, two of them having nothing to do with the burglary at all. It was Mendell’s fatal mistake, and it was one that he would never have the opportunity to repeat.