The Chicago Way w/John Kass: Business as usual means someone else’s hand in you pocket
Chicago Way w/John Kass (06/23/25): On this episode, revered Chicago restaurateur Jimmy Banakis joins John Kass & Jeff Carlin with a look at the history of the ‘Chicago Way’ -alderman, committee men, cops, etc. shaking down small biz- and how it personally has impacted his family through the generations. Plus, Kasso wonders if business as usual will ever change?
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I remember my late aunt who was one of those brassy blond clerks at the old traffic court on La Salle Street in the old days married to my late uncle Phil a low-level book from the “Old neighborhood” around Chinatown having a bottle of wine sent to their table from the late Harry Aleman. She said that Aleman was “charming.”
When I was young, my uncle Ted owned the Paddlewheel restaurant in River Forest, at North and Thatcher. I worked there on weekends when I was 14 years old. The inspectors would always leave with a pie or two. Every Sunday Tony Accardo would come in, sometimes with Harry Aleman. Yep- they were charming guys. I believe we always comped them!
You better comp Harry the “Hook.” “Look….why take a chance?” to quote the Godfather movie.
John, the story of your uncle being on the receiving end of the Chicago Way resonates to this day. Back in the late seventies and early eighties the food trucks, affectionately referred to ” Roach Coaches” serviced factories and construction sites. Items were already prepared and marked up quite a bit. You paid for convenience, not quality. Every once in a while some enterprising soul would buy a truck and go into business at the locations being served. Bad idea. The Roach Coaches were owned and operated by the Mob. All territories were covered by the Outfit. A few individuals who failed to take the warning were found stuffed in car trunks with a fatal dose of lead poisoning. To the head, usually, multiple times. These victims were conveniently left in places where they could be found as a message to any other poachers. And if I’m correct, there were a few deaths over private trash collection routes also…