When Nick Bosa was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers with the second overall pick of the draft, he became the seventh member of his family to make it to the NFL. But as Bro Bible points out, it’s his mobster great-grandfather, Tony Accardo, who is getting a feature in Sports Illustrated.
Accardo was a member of Al Capone’s crime organization and was notoriously ruthless. It was a reputation that was still with him in his 70s:
Tony Accardo didn’t get the mob handle Joey Batters for his proficiency at baking muffins. And the same ruthlessness that earned Accardo his nickname and a place on Al Capone’s org chart was on full display a half-century later. In early 1978, Accardo was in California to escape the Midwest’s biting cold when robbers broke into his suburban Chicago home. The 71-year-old Accardo seethed, less for rage over property lost than over the breach of respect.
At the time, he passed his days playing with his grandkids, including his daughter Marie’s thick-shouldered son, Eric, then 12. Still, Accardo wasn’t beyond demonstrating who was boss. Using his connections to identify the thieves, he betrayed no mercy. Within the year, 10 men were dead. According to the Chicago Tribune, “Each was found with his throat cut; one was castrated and disemboweled, his face removed with a blow torch, a punishment imposed, presumably, because he was Italian and should have known better.” As another account in The Guardian put it, Accardo “avenged insult with interest.” (via SI)
That’s quite the Bosa family history. The rookie can probably expect a few questions about his great-grandfather after this feature makes the rounds.
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