Date of Birth: 
About Sam Cardinelli
- Samuele Cardinelli (born Salvatore Cardinella; September 3, 1869 - Apr 15, 1921) was a Chicago mobster, extortionist, and leader of Cardinelli Gang during the 1920s.
- With lieutenants Nicholas "The Choir Boy" Viana, only age 18, and Frank Campione, Cardinelli led one of the most dominant Black Hand gangs in Chicago prior to Prohibition.
- Robbing hundreds of hotels, speakeasies, and illegal gambling parlors throughout the decade, the Cardinelli gang terrorized Chicago's Little Italy through a six-year bombing campaign between 1915 and 1918.
- This murderous campaign resulted in 20 deaths and hundreds wounded (Viana was suspected in at least 15 murders alone).
- Cardinelli's organization would remain the leading Italian-American criminal organization in the city, including the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone gang, during the early years of Prohibition.
- Cardinelli, also known as "Il Diavolo" (The Devil), was arrested by the Chicago police Homicide Squad for the 1919 murder of saloon owner Andrew P.
- Bowman and sentenced to hang on October 11, 1920.
- Following a decision by the US Supreme Court on March 4, 1921 supporting the ruling, Cardinelli was executed on Apr 15, 1921.
- On the day of his execution, Cardinelli refused to walk to the gallows.
- He was strapped to a chair, carried to the gallows, and was hanged, chair and all.
- After the execution, the jail attendants took his body to an ambulance, which had been hired by his family.
- Inside, a jail attendant noticed a nurse, a doctor, and another man, as well as hot water bottles.
- The attendant contacted a deputy warden, who delayed the body for an hour.
- When it was finally released, a guard saw the nurse rub Cardinelli's cheeks and wrists, and the doctor prepare an injection.
- A police car stopped the ambulance, and the apparent attempt to revive the dead mobster.
- (The ambulance was found to have a specially heated bed, an oxygen tank, an electric battery and various syringes.) One newspaper story says that a similar ambulance had waited for Viana, who was executed on December 10, 1920.
- Viana was taken to a room about two blocks from the jail with where he was successfully revived to test the system before Cardinelli's execution.
- Viana was then killed because he had snitched against the Cardinella gang.
Read more at Wikipedia