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29-581: Big Tuna may refer to: People [ edit ] Tony Accardo , organized crime leader Jim Halpert , a fictional character on the American television series The Office Trevor Hirschfield , Canadian Wheelchair Rugby player Bill Parcells , National Football League coach Jake Virtanen , former National Hockey League forward for the Vancouver Canucks A fictional character played by Vincent Barbi in

58-501: A Mafia -inspired tag team called "The Sicilians", came to Chicago in 1961, Accardo persuaded the men to drop the gimmick to avoid any mob-related publicity. By using tactics such as these, Accardo and Ricca were able to run the Outfit much longer than Capone. Ricca once said, "Accardo had more brains for breakfast than Capone had in a lifetime". After 1957, Accardo turned over the official position as boss to Giancana because of " heat " from

87-411: A fishing expedition to Wedgeport, Nova Scotia , Canada where Accardo caught a giant 400 pound tuna and was famously photographed with his catch. In later years, Accardo boasted over federal wiretaps that he participated in the infamous 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre in which, allegedly, Capone gunmen murdered seven members of rival Bugs Moran 's North Side Gang . Accardo also claimed that he

116-515: A lack of tuna, but the tournament was revived in 2004. The 13th annual Wedgeport Tuna Tournament & Festival took place in August 2016. Wedgeport hosts the annual Festival Acadien de Wedgeport each summer. The Festival celebrates Acadian heritage and includes concerts, variety shows, a parade, an Acadian pageant, traditional costumes, dances and a softball tournament. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Wedgeport had

145-932: A nurse, and Leon Kolanko, Rose's brother, were rumored to be Accardo's personal physicians, who may have helped assist in medical care "off the books." Accardo's official job was as a beer salesman for a Chicago brewery. In the late 1970s, Accardo bought a home in Palm Springs, California , flying to Chicago to preside over Outfit "sit-downs" and mediate disputes. By this time, his personal holdings included legal investments in commercial office buildings, retail centers, lumber farms, paper factories, hotels, car dealerships, trucking companies, newspaper companies, restaurants and travel agencies. Accardo spent his last years in Barrington Hills, Illinois living with his daughter and son-in-law. On May 22, 1992, Anthony Accardo died of respiratory and heart conditions at age 86. Accardo

174-460: A population of 1,071 living in 478 of its 534 total private dwellings, a change of 0.9% from its 2016 population of 1,061. With a land area of 9.64 km (3.72 sq mi), it had a population density of 111.1/km (287.7/sq mi) in 2021. In 1910, the community of Wedgeport was incorporated with Upper Wedgeport and Lower Wedgeport and became a town separate from the Municipality of

203-487: A species of true tuna Tuna (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Big Tuna . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Big_Tuna&oldid=1223968684 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

232-478: A street tax (or paid less than half of the amount owed), they would be killed. Accardo's crew included future Outfit heavyweights Gus "Gussie" Alex and Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa . In the 1940s, Accardo continued to gain power in the Outfit. As the decade progressed, senior members of the Outfit were investigated and charged with using the threat of strike action by the labor unions they controlled to extort millions of dollars from Hollywood studios. Nitti, who

261-644: Is buried in a crypt in the mausoleum at Queen of Heaven Cemetery , in Hillside, Illinois . Despite an arrest record dating back to 1922, Accardo spent at most only one night in jail. Wedgeport, Nova Scotia Wedgeport is an unincorporated place in the Municipality of the District of Argyle in Southern Nova Scotia , Canada. Wedgeport was settled in 1767 by returning Acadians who had been deported to

290-553: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Tony Accardo Accardo was born on April 28, 1906, in Chicago 's Near West Side , the second of six children of shoemaker Francesco Accardo and Maria Tilotta Accardo. One year before his birth, the Accardos had emigrated from Castelvetrano , in the Province of Trapani , Sicily, Italy to

319-618: Is known as the "Historic Sport Tuna Fishing Capital of the World". Many of these famous Americans were taken on fishing trips by Captain Evée LeBlanc . In 1937, the International Tuna Cup Match began with the participation of 28 different countries. In 1949, 72 Bluefin tuna were caught for a total weight of 30,161 pounds, the most tuna as well as the highest weight ever caught in a tournament to date. The tournament ended in 1976 due to

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348-628: The Boston area. The village of Wedgeport was formally called Tusket Wedge, and was also at one time called the "Chebec". In 1909 by an Act of Parliament , it was changed to Wedgeport. In the 20th century, many famous Americans and Canadians traveled here due to large amounts of tuna in the area, including Babe Ruth , President Franklin Roosevelt , Kate Smith , Gene Tunney , Amelia Earhart , Ernest Hemingway , Jean Béliveau , Ethel du Pont , Thomas Gifford , Michael Lerner , Zane Grey and Tony Hulman . It

377-597: The IRS . Accardo then became the Outfit's consigliere , stepping away from the day-to-day running of the organization, but he still retained considerable power and demanded ultimate respect. Giancana still had to obtain the sanction of Accardo and Ricca on major business, including murders. However, this working relationship eventually broke down. Unlike Accardo, the widowed Giancana lived an ostentatious lifestyle, frequenting posh nightclubs and dating high-profile singer Phyllis McGuire . Giancana also refused to distribute some of

406-679: The Los Angeles Chargers , and Nick for the San Francisco 49ers . For most of his married life, Accardo lived in River Forest, Illinois . The six-bedroom, six-bath home he owned on Franklin Avenue in River Forest contained two bowling lanes, an indoor swimming pool, and a pipe organ. When he started receiving attention from the IRS about his apparent high lifestyle , he bought a ranch home on

435-791: The National Football League . His daughter Marie married Palmer Pyle , who played guard for the Baltimore Colts , Minnesota Vikings , and Oakland Raiders . Their son Eric Kumerow played linebacker for the Miami Dolphins , and Eric's son Jake was most recently a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills . Eric's sister, Cheryl, married John Bosa , who played defensive end for the Dolphins. They had two sons, Joey and Nick , both of whom play defensive end as their father did, Joey for

464-534: The 1400 block of North Ashland Avenue in River Forest and installed a vault. His neighbor and friend physician Jim Carto lived across the street off Ashland Ave in the Mars Candy Mansion, and was rumored to have assisted in providing medical care. Due to their similar-sounding last names, Carto was often confused with Accardo and became respected as a member of the Accardo family. Carto and his wife Rose (née Kolanko),

493-489: The 1974 film " Black Belt Jones " Other uses [ edit ] a fictional Texas town featured in the 1990 novel Wild at Heart by Barry Gifford and its 1990 film adaptation a house band featured on the album Revolution Overdrive: Songs of Liberty a nickname for the Olympus Zuiko Digital 300mm f/2.8 Four Thirds system camera lens See also [ edit ] Bigeye tuna ( Thunnus obesus ),

522-459: The Outfit's territory. Outside of Chicago, the Outfit expanded into Las Vegas and took influence over gaming away from the Five Families of New York City . Accardo ensured all the legal Las Vegas casinos used his slot machines. In Kansas and Oklahoma, he took advantage of the official ban on alcohol sales to introduce bootlegged alcohol. The Outfit eventually dominated organized crime in most of

551-522: The United States. At age 14, Accardo left school and started loitering around neighborhood pool halls . He soon joined the Circus Cafe Gang, run by Claude Maddox and Tony Capezio, one of many street gangs in the poor neighborhoods of Chicago. These gangs served as talent pools (similar to the concept of farm teams ) for the city's adult criminal organizations. Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn , one of

580-556: The assassination of Northside gang leader Hymie Weiss near the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. In 1932, Capone was convicted of tax evasion and sent to prison for an 11-year sentence, and Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti became the new Outfit boss after serving his own 18-month sentence for tax evasion. By this time, Accardo had established a solid record of making money for the organization, so Nitti let him establish his own crew. He

609-551: The killings in retaliation for the burglary. In 2002, this theory was confirmed on the witness stand by Outfit turncoat Nicholas Calabrese , who had participated in all of the murders. The surviving assassins were all convicted in the Family Secrets trial, and sentenced to long prison terms. In 1934, Accardo met Clarice Pordzany, a Polish-American chorus girl. They later married and had two daughters, and adopted two sons. Several of Accardo's family members have had careers in

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638-670: The lavish profits from Outfit casinos in Iran and Central America to the rank-and-file members. Many in the Outfit also felt that Giancana was attracting too much attention from the FBI , which was forever tailing his car around the Chicago metropolitan area . Around 1966, after Giancana began a year in jail on federal contempt of court charges, Accardo and Ricca replaced him with Aiuppa. In June 1975, after spending most of his Outfit-exile years in Mexico and unceremoniously being booted from that country, Giancana

667-443: The toughest hitmen of Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone , recruited Accardo into his crew, along with long time associate Tony Mazlack of Gary, Indiana. During Prohibition , Accardo got the nickname "Joe Batters" after using a baseball bat to murder three mobsters who had betrayed the Outfit. Capone was allegedly quoted as saying, "Boy, this kid's a real Joe Batters". In 1939, Chicago newspapers dubbed Accardo "The Big Tuna", after

696-553: The western United States. Accardo phased out some traditional activities, such as labor racketeering and extortion, to reduce the Outfit's exposure to legal prosecution. He also converted the Outfit's brothel business into call girl services. These changes resulted in a golden era of profitability and influence for the Outfit. Accardo and Ricca emphasized keeping a low profile and let flashier figures, such as Sam Giancana , attract attention instead. For example, when professional wrestlers Lou Albano and Tony Altomare , wrestling as

725-525: Was claustrophobic and fearful of serving a second prison term, committed suicide in 1943. Paul "The Waiter" Ricca , who had been the de facto boss since Capone's imprisonment, took the role officially and named Accardo as underboss . Ricca and Accardo ran the Outfit for 30 years until Ricca died in 1972. When Ricca subsequently received a 10-year prison sentence for his part in the Hollywood scandal, Accardo became acting boss. Three years later, when Ricca

754-414: Was also named as the Outfit's head of enforcement. Accardo soon developed a variety of profitable rackets , including gambling , loansharking , bookmaking , extortion , and the distribution of untaxed alcohol and cigarettes. As with all caporegimes , Accardo received 5% of the crew's earnings as a so-called "street tax". Accardo, in turn, paid a tax to the Outfit's boss. If a crew member refused to pay

783-474: Was barred from contact with mobsters as a condition for his parole , Accardo became boss of the Outfit; in practice, he shared power with Ricca, who remained in the background as a senior consultant. Under Accardo's leadership in the late 1940s, the Outfit moved into slot and vending machines , counterfeiting cigarette and liquor tax stamps, and expanding narcotics smuggling . Accardo placed slot machines in gas stations, restaurants, and bars throughout

812-584: Was murdered in the basement apartment of his home, in Oak Park, Illinois , while cooking Italian sausages and escarole . Ricca died in 1972, leaving Accardo as the ultimate authority in the Outfit. In 1978, while Accardo vacationed in California, burglars entered his River Forest home. Shortly afterward, the three suspected thieves and four related persons were found strangled and with their throats cut. Law enforcement officials believed Accardo had ordered

841-517: Was one of the gunmen who murdered Brooklyn gang boss Frankie Yale , again by Capone's orders to settle a dispute. However, most experts believe Accardo had only peripheral connections, if any, with the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and none whatsoever with the Yale murder, which was most likely committed by Gus Winkler , Fred Burke , and Louis Campagna . However, on October 11, 1926, Accardo may have participated in

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