Jim Colosimo
Named in a 1947 FBI memorandum and in the FBI's Capone history essay as the man whose Chicago gang Torrio took over after Colosimo was killed on May 11, 1920.
- Died
- 1920-05-11
- Aliases
- Big Jim Colosimo
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state.
On the record
- Before 1920 — An FBI memorandum of April 19, 1947 in the John Torrio file, drawing on a Chicago Office crime survey of April 7, 1944, says Colosimo "imported Johnny Torrio from New York to be his bodyguard and right-hand man."
- 11 May 1920 — The same memorandum states: "Colosimo was murdered on May 11, 1920, and it is alleged by the Chicago Police that this killing was planned by Johnny Torrio."
- 1920 — The FBI history essay "Al Capone" says Torrio had been an influential lieutenant in the "Colosimo mob" and that "Torrio soon succeeded to full leadership of the gang with the violent demise of Big Jim Colosimo."
No record opened for this archive gives Colosimo’s birth date or his full first name; “Jim” and “Big Jim” are the spellings the two FBI sources use. The 1947 memorandum also says Colosimo “was reported to have ruled the Chicago Underworld for a longer period than any other man in the city’s history” (OCR, line order restored). That is a crime survey’s report as the FBI repeated it, and the OCR of that page scrambles the line order, so this page does not turn it into a rank.
The death date is the memorandum’s. It repeats a police allegation about who planned the killing; it is not a court finding.
Records
itemFBI Vault file on John TorrioThe FBI Vault's release of the Bureau file on John Torrio, one part of 236 scanned pages, including a 1946 extortion case in which he was the victim and a 1947 background memorandum.
itemAl Capone (FBI history page)The FBI's history essay on Capone. It states that he was released on November 16, 1939, and that he lived on Palm Island until his death due to a stroke and pneumonia on January 25, 1947.