A 15-room mansion in River Forest that once was owned by the late Chicago mob boss Anthony J. (Big Tuna) Accardo has just gone on the market for $1.4 million.
Accardo, who died at age 86 in 1992 after a lifelong career as the reputed leader of Chicago’s organized crime syndicate, lived in the house from 1964 until 1979.
The ranch, at 1407 Ashland Ave., cost between $100,000 and $160,000 to build in 1963 and was constructed by River Forest builder Van Corbin, according to news accounts published at the time.
Accardo’s ownership of the Ashland Avenue home is steeped in gangland lore.
Back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Accardo first lived in a house a few doors away at 1431 Ashland Ave.
He then paid a reported price of $125,000 in 1951 for an historic, 22-room mansion at 915 Franklin Ave., that was built in 1930. The amount he paid at the time was considered a bargain.
He attracted headlines during his 13-year ownership of that mansion, hosting annual 4th of July parties that were attended by the top mobsters of the day. As published here last week, the mansion just sold in August for $1.9 million.
In late 1963, construction began on the ranch-style house at 1407 Ashland, distinctive with its white Roman brick and crab orchard stone walls.
Accardo moved to the house in February 1964 and sought a lower-profile existence, directing Chicago mob affairs as a chairman emeritus, according to officials, after he purportedly gave up full reins of the mob in the late 1950s.
The house at 1407 Ashland stayed in the news, however, particularly in late 1977, when it was burglarized while Accardo and his wife were wintering near Palm Springs, Calif.
Between Jan. 20 and Feb. 20, 1978, five men suspected of taking part in that burglary each turned up slain, and no charges were ever filed in those murders.
Then, on Nov. 10, 1978, Accardo’s house was thoroughly searched by FBI agents, reportedly because they were concerned about the disappearance of Accardo’s longtime friend and house man, who had been scheduled to attend a federal grand jury session two months earlier.
The search turned up $275,000 in cash that Accardo kept in a wine box in a basement safe and also revealed that Accardo kept a glass-enclosed gun case, a police scanner for monitoring law enforcement radio calls and a basement workshop measuring 30 feet by 30 feet, revealing Accardo to be a “do-it-yourself hobbyist,” according to one news account.
Accardo sold the four-bedroom ranch in 1979, and later moved to condos in River Forest at 1417 Bonnie Brae Ln. and at 1020 N. Harlem Ave.
The ranch’s other features, according to information provided by listing agent Lloyd Behrenbruch of Baird & Warner’s River Forest office, include two family rooms, a three-car garage, his and hers master suites, and a private spa lined in cedar with a Jacuzzi and windows on three sides.
The mansion is owned by a bank trust, according to public records.
Separately, Accardo’s final area residence before his death in 1992 finally sold last year for $2.2 million after languishing on the market for more than three years.
Accardo and his wife, Clarice, had lived in an in-law cottage on the 22-acre Barrington Hills property owned by his daughter and son-in-law, Ernest Kumerow. That property, known as Willowgate, had been listed back in 1996 for $2.8 million and later for $2.5 million.
The Kumerows sold Willowgate, 165 Algonquin Rd., in September 1999 for $2.2 million to Richard C. Robinson of Wheaton.
– In an update, former Channel 2 anchor Lester Holt, now with MSNBC in New York, recently sold his nine-room house in Lincoln Park to a couple from Ravenswood, according to public records.
Holt sold the house, at 2341 N. Cambridge Ave., to George and Lori Bucciero for $1.025 million. The sale, which was first reported here on June 25 and again on Sept. 3, closed on Aug. 24, according to public records.
– In another update, U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand Carol Moseley-Braun’s eight-room home in the South Kenwood area of Chicago has a new owner. As reported here on Aug. 27, the former U.S. senator sold the house, at 1239 E. Madison Park, for $675,000. Her buyer was Marie C. Winters, according to public records.
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Have a tip about a home sale or a piece of property being put on the market that involved a well-known Chicagoan or a well-known piece of Chicago real estate? Write to Upper Bracket, c/o Chicago Tribune, Real Estate section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. E-mail: rgoldsbo@enteract.com
