Anselmi was a hired killer for the Chicago mob. One of his victims was
gangster
Charles Dion O'Bannion, who was murdered by Anselmi,
John Scalise and
Johnny Torrio in
1924. Anselmi and Scalise were beaten to death and shot by
Al Capone in
1929 when Capone got wind that the two were planning to kill him and
take over the Chicago mob. The scene in
The Untouchables (1987) where Capone (
Robert De Niro
suddenly beats two of his associates to death with a baseball bat at a
dinner party is based on that incident.