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Charles Nicoletti

Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti, aka "The Typewriter" (December 3, 1916 - March 29, 1977) was a top Chicago Outfit hitman under Outfit boss Sam "Mooney" Giancana and before and after Giancana's rise and fall.

Early years

Growing up in a poor, dysfunctional family in Chicago, at 13-years-old Nicoletti murdered his father in what was deemed by a courtroom trial and verdict as, "justifiable homicide." Having dropped out of school in the eighth grade, Nicoletti soon joined the "Forty-Two Gang." By the 1930s, this Chicago street gang had such adept criminals that the gang became like a Chicago Outfit farm team. The gang's members included such future Oufit heavyweights as, Giancana, Sam "Teets" Battaglia, and Louis "Cockeyed Louie" Fratto AKA Lew Farrell, and "Mad" Sam DeStefano and William "Willie Potatoes" Daddano, Sr.

Outfit assassin

By the late 1950s, Nicoletti was one of the most feared triggermen in Chicago and was drawing attention from the FBI and the Chicago police. A number of times Nicoletti and Alderisio teamed up for a "hit," including the time they were found by police sitting on the floor in a car dubbed, "the hitmobile," by reporters. This car had special compartments where guns were stored and special switches to turn lights off at certain times. When questioned by police the two said they were, "....waiting for a friend."

In 1962, Nicoletti was part of an infamous torture case. Nicoletti, Alderisio, and Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro had kidnapped Billy McCarthy, a thug who had killed two Outfit associates with a buddy. The three men started torturing McCarthy to find out the name of his accomplice. Spilotro had placed the man's head in an industrial vice and started squeezing it tighter and tighter. Suddenly, McCarthy's eye popped completely out of its' socket. At that point, he revealed his accomplice's name. Then, both men were killed. Years later, Tony Spilotro told this story to his friend Frank Cullotta. Cullotta was impressed by Nicoletti's reaction to the gory scene: "Boy, this is a heartless guy. He was eating pasta when Billy's eye popped out." This torture scene was re-enacted in Martin Scorsese's 1995 film, Casino.

During his career as a hitman, it has been alleged that Nicoletti was involved in as many as 20 mob hits. It has also been alleged by a number of sources that Nicoletti was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Also in the 1960s, Nicoletti was questioned by FBI Agent William F. Roemer, to find out if Nicoletti had proof of employment - just a ruse to find out if he was a bonafide scofflaw and, thus, take him in for questioning about more serious matters. According to Roemer, Nicoletti gave him the names of several car dealerships he worked at. Apparently, all the leads checked out. Through Roemer's contact with Nicoletti, Roemer was also actively trying to "flip" Nicoletti, or have him become a secret government informant against his Outfit loyalities. Nicoletti never flipped.

Gruesome death

On March 29, 1977, Nicoletti received three .38 slugs to the back of his head and was killed while waiting in a car. The car was then set on fire. The mob reportedly "whacked" the hitman because he had complained three times about the Giancana "hit." Some said that Nicoletti was murdered in retaliation for a hit on a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, mob leader, but that is a reported cover.

Nicoletti was supposed to appear before the House Select Committee on Assassinations. Chauncey Holt, the old tramp in the infamous "Three Tramps" photo, claims that he drove Nicoletti into Dallas from Licavoli Grace Ranch on the morning of the assassination.