Harry “The Hook” Aleman Part 3

Lou Almeida This is the third of a four-part series on one of the most feared enforcers in the history if the Chicago Outfit. In this episode the Gary discusses how Lou Almeida and Harry Aleman murder Billy Logan hit with Chicago Outfit – Old and Current News and Articles Facebook page administrator and Outfit expert Mike Byrne. In 1975, a state trooper arrested Lou Almeida in Ohio en route to a murder “some guy” in Pittsburgh. I could not find any more about this guy he was supposed to kill but I bet he was set up by somebody.  State police stopped his car on suspicion and found a loaded pistol with a silencer. An Ohio court sentenced Lou Almeida to ten years in prison where he attempted suicide.  He began cooperating with the government shortly afterward, cutting a deal for early release and entry into the witness protection program. Lou Almeida had quite a story to tell and it will end in Outfit history being made. His information will lead to the first time ever that a person was tried twice for the same crime by the same jurisdiction. The murder of Billy Logan was on Sept. 27, 1972, and number 2 on the Aleman hit list, the next one after he and probably Butch Petrocelli hit the guy called “Sambo” the guy who married the former girlfriend of Milwaukee Phil. Billy Logan is set-up According to Lou Almeida, Teamster’s steward Billy Logan refused to cooperate with the Outfit’s plans to steal cargo from his trucks, and Aleman was sent to kill him. Almeida said that in August of 1972, he and Aleman discussed a plan to kill Logan. He alleged Aleman gave him two license plate numbers and Logan’s home and work addresses, writing “Death to Billy” on the same piece of paper. Almeida then trailed Logan to learn his habits and schedule. As our friend Frank Calabrse Jr, said, “He layed on” (watched and followed) Billy Logan for 2 weeks.” Lou Almeida learned Billy Logan drove a taxi during the day and returned to his sister’s house for dinner and then left at 1:00 PM every evening for his teamster job as a dispatcher with Interstate trucking in Cicero. Almeida testified that eleven days before the murder, on Sept. 16, 1972, Aleman directed Almeida and another hood to burglarize a home in suburban Oak Lawn where Aleman believed $40,000 in cash was kept in the basement. But after tying up a woman in the home and terrorizing her baby, Almeida and his buddy left with only $1,800 and some jewelry. Aleman was not happy with the take but paid Almeida his customary $500.00 fee. he gave him $500.00 for each job no matter the entire take. A few nights later, on September 27, 1972, Almeida drove Aleman to Logan’s home and the two killers sat in the dark and waited. By this time, Harry knew that Billy Logan stayed at his sister’s house and left for a second job at 11:00 Pm every evening. Lou Almeida drives the get-away car Billy Logan, then 37 years old, had grown up on Chicago’s Near West Side, an area known as “Little Italy.” He lived on the second floor at 5916 W. Walton St. with his sister, Betty, who was divorced. His sister, Joanna, and her children lived on the first floor. Logan, a part-time cab driver, awoke for his second job on the night shift at Interstate trucking, dressed, and stopped to say good night to his sister.  Logan’s nephew William Dietrich was on the front porch and watched his uncle walk across the street to his parked car and then heard a voice say, “Hey, Bill, come here.” Almost simultaneously, three gunshots rang out: two from a shotgun, a third from a pistol. He heard his uncle yell out “Oh, my God,” Logan’s sister Betty raced out the street where he lay dying. “He was still alive. He mumbled something. His keys fell.