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Jake "Greasy Thumb"Guzik (March 20, 1886 – February 21, 1956) was the financial and legal advisor, and later political "greaser," for theChicago Outfit.
Guzik was born nearKraków,Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,Austria-Hungary on March 20, 1886, to parents who wereGerman Jews fromKatowitz, inPrussian Silesia. Guzik emigrated to theUnited States in the early 20th century and later became involved inprostitution, andallegedlysexual slavery, in the South Side of Chicago'sLeveered light district with his brother Harry, eventually drivingNorth Side Gang-linked rivalJack Zuta out of business. He later became a powerfulpolitical boss and "fixer", who operated out of St. Hubert's Old English Grill and Chop House. There, Guzik received "bagmen," who delivered scheduledpayoffs to variouspolice precincts andcityofficials.
In the early 1920s, Guzik, supposedly overhearing a plan to murderAl Capone, informed him and later allied with theChicago Outfit. Starting under Capone, Guzik was the trusted treasurer and financial wizard of the Outfit. Guzik worked for Capone, and laterPaul "the Waiter" Ricca andTony Accardo. Because Guzik was incapable of using a gun or killing anyone, Capone protected him and once killed a man for him. In May 1924, Guzik got into an argument with a freelance hijacker named Joe Howard, who slapped and kicked him around. Incapable of physical resistance, Guzik related to Capone what had happened. Capone charged out in search of Howard and ran him down in Heinie Jacob's saloon on South Wabash Avenue, where Howard was bragging about the way he had "made the little Jew whine." When Howard saw Capone, he held out his hand and said, "Hello, Al." Capone instead grabbed Howard's shoulders and shook him violently, demanding to know why Howard had mistreated his friend. "Go back to your girls, you dago pimp," Howard replied. Capone then wordlessly drew a revolver, jammed it into his face, and, after several seconds, emptied it into him.
Capone quickly came to trust Guzik's advice in the various gang wars that developed as he tried to organize Chicago. Guzik also served as the mob's principal bagman inpayoffs to police and politicians, hence the origin of the nickname Greasy Thumb. Years later, as Capone was in failing health, it was Guzik who saw to it that Capone and his family never wanted for anything.
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During the 1940s and 1950s, when the national syndicate was dominated by the Big Six, Guzik and Accardo flew east weekly to meet with the other heads of the organization:Joe Adonis,Frank Costello,Meyer Lansky andLongy Zwillman. The only serious legal problems that Guzik ever faced were with the IRS, and he eventually spent a few years in prison. At theKefauver Committee hearings, he pleaded the Fifth Amendment on the grounds that any response to the questions might "discriminate against me."
Guzik died of amyocardial infarction on February 21, 1956, while in bed at a South Side Chicago apartment he rented under the name Jack Arnold. He was 69.[1] At his funeral services, more Italians were in attendance at thesynagogue than ever before in its history.[citation needed]
Jake Guzik is a major figure in the 1959 television showThe Untouchables, wherein he is portrayed byNehemiah Persoff. Guzik was introduced in the two-hour pilot, in which he was portrayed byBern Hoffman, and returned in the first episode as the brains behind theChicago Outfit afterAl Capone's conviction. He ultimately appeared in three episodes, portrayed by Persoff in all three.
Jake Guzik appears in theHBO showBoardwalk Empire, wherein he is portrayed byJoe Caniano. His incident with Joe Howard was dramatized in an episode.
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