My tendency to either skim books or proofread them (from early magazine days) has finally encountered one from former Cook County police chief Art Bilek that I can't put down: The First Vice Lord (Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee), by Arthur J. Bilek (Cumberland House).

This is a masterpiece of writing and excruciatingly accurate research that describes how Big Jim Colosimo rose from a lowly street-sweeper to the most prominent operator of whorehouses, gambling joints, and low-life restaurants in the days leading up to Prohibition, with the collusion of the police and politicians and the managerial skills of John Torrio and Al Capone. When his increasingly notorious Colosimo's Café combined with his growing desire for respectability, love for a young songbird, and failure to exploit the opportunities afforded by Prohibition, Torrio (we must presume) had him murdered in the vestibule of his elegant restaurant in 1920--and the band marched on.
Nowhere has Chicago's graft and corruption been so carefully and entertainingly documented, with special attention to the backgrounds of Torrio and Capone, who worked hard to weld the new and competing bootlegging gangs into the greatest illicit booze empire the country has ever known--one that did not factionalize into Chicago's bloody Beer Wars that began with the killing of North Side mob-leader Dean O'Banion four years later. My own work has concentrated on the years following Prohibition, so I'm especially happy to report that Bilek's book explains what made the Roaring Twenties possible.

I've been looking forward to this book since the day I learned that Art Bilek intended to do a biography of Big Jim Colosimo. Colosimo was Chicago's first Italian crime lord, a distinction that the less informed have bestowed upon Al Capone. Those with only a passing knowledge of Chicago's organized crime history are not aware that years before Capone's machine gunners decimated his challengers, Big Jim Colosimo headed a vice trust with nationwide connections, enjoyed political alliances that rendered him immune to anything but cursory arrests, and hobnobbed with socialites and entertainers at his famous cafe.

Bilek has done a marvelous job of reconstructing Colosimo's life story, beginning with his humble birth in Colosimi, Italy, progressing through his days as a padrone, precinct captain for First Ward Aldermen Mike Kenna and John Coughlin, brothel operator and vice trust magnate, and ending with his assassination in the vestibule of his celebrated nightclub, Colosimo's Cafe. His profitable marriage to madam Victoria Moresco, his fatal alliance with lily-white singer Dale Winter, and his relationship with his protege from New York, Johnny Torrio, inject tones of betrayal and tragedy that make the book read in parts like a gripping novel.

Bilek also traces the rise and fall of the Levee, Chicago's primary red light district, which brought wealth to Colosimo and the crooked cops and politicians who protected him in exchange for a piece of the pie. It was also an international embarrassment for the city, and routinely targeted by evangelists, reformers, and civic betterment committees. When a second deputy police superintendent was appointed to head a 'Morals Squad', a battle of wills began between the morals men and the establishment that favored segregated vice. There were shootouts in the streets, informers were murdered, and Chicago's reputation as a modern-day Gomorrah worsened. When the Levee was finally 'closed' in 1912, Colosimo and his advisor, Torrio, began opening roadhouse brothels outside the city, to cater to pleasure-loving motorists. They corrupted village governments in the process, and spread what had formerly been a contained evil.

"The First Vice Lord" does not disappoint. Bilek successfully demonstrates that were it not for Big Jim, there would probably never have been a Big Al. Well done.

I've been gathering research on early 20th century organized crime in Chicago myself, and can say without fear of contradiction that this is the definitive work on James Colosimo. Art Bilek, with the assistance of researchers like Michael E. Schiltz and Prof. John Binder, has compiled everything there is to know about Big Jim in a factual way, clearing up some of the myths that have been spread about him. There are a few typos and some minor problems that could have been cleared up with better editing, but nothing that would prevent me from giving this book five stars.

Arthur Bilek has truly pulled out all the stops in his coverage of Big Jim Colosimo and his reign as "the first vice lord" of the Chicago Levee. Author Bilek has used a very comprehensive bibliography of books and other types of periodicals to put this book together. Mr. Bilek states on page 65 that Marshall Field Jr. did, indeed, commit suicide in his home, and was not shot in a bordello and moved home as stated in Sex in the Second City by Karen Abbott. Some individuals incorrectly assumed that Colosimo was the head of the mafia in Chicago, but since Big Jim was not Sicilian he was, therefore, excluded. The book provides a vivid description of the goings on inside Colosimo's Cafe at the height of its popularity. Big Jim making the rounds of the tables and mingling with the customers and everything coming to a halt when Dale Winter would step beside the grand piano and begin to sing. Al Jolson, George M. Cohan, and other celebrities could often be found amongst the crowd. A stage occupied the front of the first floor with a dance floor which could be hydraulically raised or lowered. Colosimo brought about his own demise by divorcing his wife to marry Dale Winter. Jim remained oblivious to Torrio's warnings due to his head-over-heels affair with his new love. The book covers such characters as the Mutt and Jeff aldermen "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna, the Everleigh sisters, Ada and Minna, and crooked mayor Big Bill Thompson. The book goes into great detail regarding the First Ward where the notorious Levee with its brothels was located. Women led the movement against the sale of alcohol due to its negative influence on families. In addition religious leaders conducted prayer services on the streets of the levee. The advent of the automobile brought prostitution to the outskirts of the city in what became known as roadhouses. Author Bilek notes that in 1962 sheriff Richard Oglivie appointed an incorruptible chief of police named Arthur Bilek (yes, the author) who shut down Cook County. I did find one minor error in the book. Mr. Bilek states that Dean O'Banion's flower shop was located on Clark Street across from Holy Name Cathedral (page 270). The correct street, of course, is State Street. I like the "Glossary of Period Terms" in the Appendix which provide definitions of words appropriate to the time period. Also, the Epilogue gives the reader a "what happened" to the people and places in the book after Big Jim's demise. Special photos that were interesting to me were a map of the First Ward and the South Side Levee in addition to photos of the outside and inside of Colosimo's Cafe. Author Arthur Bilek has provided the reader with a first rate biography of Big Jim Colosimo, and if you enjoy reading about American social history, albeit infamous, this book should be in your library.