Departures of note

Joe Aiello plotted to eliminate both Lombardo and Capone and, starting in spring 1927, made several attempts to assassinate Capone. He offered the chef of Joseph “Diamond Joe” Esposito’s Bella Napoli Café money, reported as between $10,000 and $35,000, to put prussic acid in Capone’s and Lombardo’s soup; the chef exposed the plot, and Capone responded by dispatching men who fired more than 200 bullets into the Aiello Brothers Bakery on May 28, 1927, wounding Aiello’s brother Antonio.

During the summer and autumn of 1927, a number of hitmen hired by Aiello to kill Capone were slain, including Anthony Russo and Vincent Spicuzza, each of whom had been offered $25,000 by Aiello. Aiello later offered a $50,000 reward to anyone who eliminated Capone; at least ten gunmen who tried to collect the bounty were killed. Ralph Sheldon attempted to kill Capone and Lombardo for the reward, but Frank Nitti’s intelligence network learned of the plan and had Sheldon shot in front of a West Side hotel.