Landesco, John

Criminologist.

From the description of Papers, 1923-1946 (inclusive). (University of Chicago Library). WorldCat record id: 52247461

John Landesco, born June 15, 1890, in Piatra, Rumania, came to the United States in 1900 and was naturalized five years later. Educated in Chicago public schools and at the Universities of Wisconsin and Cincinnati, he later received a Ph. B. in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 1923.

As research assistant for the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, Landesco began his study of organized crime, which was financed jointly by the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations. Soon he developed a related interest in boys' gangs and the importance of proper crime prevention. Landesco worked under the direction of E. W. Burgess, Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, and Andrew Bruce of Northwestern University, under the auspices of the Social Science Research Committee and the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. He was paid by them to "live with" the gangsters, enabling him to gather a vast amount of first-hand material on organized crime in Chicago during the Prohibition era.

The results of Landesco's first two years of intensive study were published as part of the Illinois Crime Survey in 1929, titled Organized Crime in Chicago. The results of the last three years of the study were supposed to be published by the University of Chicago Press as a two-volume book whose main sections would concentrate on "Eddie Jackson-The Immune, Pickpocket," and "The Story of the 42 Gang." This book was never published although various chapters appeared in the Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology.

John Landesco died in 1954.

From the guide to the Landesco, John. Papers, 1923-1946, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)