Mother of Mercy, is this the end of "The Outfit?"

Chicago's "Outfit," once the nationally most powerful (and certainly the craziest) branch of American organized crime, has fallen on hard times in recent years.

The organization once headed by Al Capone and Tony Accardo and Sam Giancana is a shadow of its former self. And now, the reputed successor of these luminaries, Joey "The Clown" Lombardo, has been indicted on murder charges along with thirteen of his collegues in a move described by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald as "putting a hit on the Mob."

The Outfit may be one of Chicago's more colorful traditions, but it is one my home town is better off without. May this be the coup de grace to a dying monster.

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