Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on March 21, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Front page flashback: March 22, 1980
1980: A 22-year-old woman was killed when convicted marijuana smuggler Robert Steinberg landed a single-engine aircraft on 65th Street near Chicago’s Midway International Airport.
Carey Fleming was a passenger in the plane, which lost power on approach to the airport.
The Timm family was driving down 65th Street when they saw the Cessna 210 coming directly for them.
“I thought I was dead,” Mrs. Timm told the Tribune. “I said, ‘Holy God, stop the car, that plane’s coming down. Let’s get out, the hell with the car.'”
The aircraft landed 25 feet away.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 87 degrees (2012)
- Low temperature: 9 degrees (1888)
- Precipitation: 1.07 inches (2007)
- Snowfall: 8.5 inches (1992)
1928: “Diamond Joe” Esposito, 19th Ward boss, was slain near his home on South Oakley Boulevard in Chicago. His death reportedly was the result of a dispute with a bootlegger.
The Tribune reported Esposito had been warned earlier in the day by a telephone call to leave town, but said he couldn’t go — his son Joseph had scarlet fever.
The day he died, U.S. Sen. Charles Deneen publicly praised Esposito as a loyal and generous friend. The snowy day of the funeral — which an estimated 8,000 people attended or followed in a procession to Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Hillside — the senator’s house was bombed. It was the most high-profile event from the infamous Pineapple Primary — named for the grenade-like devices thrown around — that pitted Deneen’s camp against corrupt Mayor William “Big Bill” Hale Thompson.
1982: The Tribune reported nearly 80 federal, state, county and local agents staged simultaneous raids in Palatine, Schaumburg, Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights to crack down on an estimated $1.5 million-a-month sports betting operation in the northwest suburbs that was believed to be controlled by the Chicago crime syndicate.
The raids were timed to coincide with one of the heaviest sports betting periods of the year — the NCAA basketball tournament. No arrests were made, but the agents seized cash, records detailing wagers, and ledgers and diaries with betting information. The bets supposedly involved basketball games and horse races.
1985: The Loyola Ramblers fashioned a 27-6 record, won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference regular-season title and tournament, and then knocked off Iona and Southern Methodist to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.
Loyola led defending NCAA champ Georgetown and Patrick Ewing at halftime before losing 65-53 to finish the school’s most successful season since the 1963 NCAA title.
2012: Off-duty Chicago police Officer Dante Servin got into an argument over noise with a group of young people near his West Side home and fired his unregistered Glock at them. Rekia Boyd, 22, was struck in the head and died. Servin wasn’t charged until Nov. 25, 2013, with involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct.
A judge acquitted Servin on the grounds that his conduct was voluntary and purposeful, therefore only a murder charge was appropriate.
Days before he faced a hearing to determine if he should be fired from the department, Servin abruptly resigned — ensuring his pension wouldn’t be threatened. In 2016, Servin sought to collect disability pay from the city, arguing he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Three years later, he sought to eliminate any public record of the criminal charges he once faced. A judge declined his request.
Want more vintage Chicago?
Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.
Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com
