"Factor was an exceptionally smart and practical man.
He knew no matter how many shrewd lawyers he could buy with his illegal wealth,
that he was going to lose his case before the court and be deported.
Perhaps while discussing his limited options
with his attorneys, Factor may have mentioned the delay in the hearing brought
about by Jerome's kidnapping. If he, Jake, were kidnapped and then returned
safely and his kidnappers were captured, then the ensuing trial would delay his
hearings long enough for the statute of limitations against him to run out. It
wasn't a sure thing but unless drastic measures were taken his deportation to a
jail cell in England, was.
Factor probably brought the idea to Murray
Humpreys first, who brought the idea to his boss, Frank Nitti, who liked it.
Humpreys and Nitti, and probably Paul Ricca, Nitti's lead counsel in the mob,
may have already had information that Jerome's kidnapping had been pulled off
by independents who were employed by Roger Touhy.
The shrewd and calculating Ricca was probably
the one who decided they would blame Roger for Jake's kidnapping. After all,
the mob wasn't having any luck shooting Touhy, or blowing him up, which they
had tried several times in the past year. But framing Roger for a kidnapping
might work, so Nitti gave his approval with the understanding that none of the
syndicate's own people were to be involved. Kidnapping without a long-term
purpose wasn't what the mob did; they were racketeers. Kidnapping was a
separate profession, a high profile crime that brought in the headline-loving
FBI.
The underworld is a small place where news
travels quickly. Humpreys learned-probably through Sam Hare, owner of The Dells
casino out in the country near Des Plains-that two of Roger's men, Henrichsen
and Wilke, not only were behind the Jerome Factor kidnapping, but had pulled it
off without Touhy's permission or knowledge.
After that, Humprey, may have approached
Henrichsen himself or he may have had him brought to Chicago at gun point.
Whichever way he got there, Humpreys threatened to tell Roger Touhy that
Henrichsen was behind Jerome Factor's kidnapping. The alternative was for
Humpreys to arrange for the Cook County State Attorney's Office to indict
Henrichsen and Touhy for kidnapping.
One way or the other, the Touhys would seek
revenge and if they didn't, the mob would. It was mandatory. Jake the Barber
and his family were under Humpreys' protection, when Henrichsen snatched
Jerome. He made Humpreys lose face, so Humpreys had, in the underworld anyway,
a legitimate claim to eliminate him. Those were the rules and Henrichsen knew
it.
However, always the master deal maker, Humpreys
offered Henrichsen another choice; Jake the Barber wanted to kidnap himself and
the syndicate wanted Roger Touhy to take the fall for the kidnapping. If
Henrichsen helped them arrange for Jake's disappearance and make it look like a
kidnapping pulled off by Roger Touhy, not only would Henrichsen get to live: He
could earn some easy money for himself.
Of course Henrichsen agreed to go along with the
scheme. It was agreed that Factor would pay $70,000 to fake his kidnapping.
With that money, Henrichsen would hire at least nine of Roger's men to work on
the scam.
They would fake the kidnapping, hold Factor in a
safe house for two weeks, cater to his needs, and then release him safely back
to the streets of Chicago where he would accuse Roger Touhy of kidnapping
him."