Dark Chicago       Criminal    The Outfit    Chinatown    Fat Paulie      Bagels Crew

Tier III - S
The Outfit’s power base in Back of the Yards is held tight by Joe “Bagels” Testa, a slick operator with clean suits, dirty books, and an ear in every back room from the union hall to the butcher's block. While he talks like old-school mob royalty, Bagels made his real fortune in the post-Jungle era, riding the wave of neighborhood “revitalization” like a shark in city-issued wingtips.

“This ain’t the old days—but I still run it like they never ended.”
Joe “Bagels” Testa, Back of the Yards Outfit Boss

Turf

52nd Street Warehouses (logistics, drop zones)
Evan’s Community Playhouse (Bagels’ personal soft spot)

Notable Assets

Teamsters Local 710 – strongarm control of distribution and transport
Neighborhood drug market – maintained via truce with select runners
Curly’s Cat House – vice, blackmail, and whispers
Backroom poker game – run at rotating spots with Outfit oversight
“Entrails” Policy Wheel – old-school numbers racket hidden in butcher’s block

Quirks

Joe got his nickname from his dad, who ran a bagel cart during Prohibition.
He’s a huge theatre buff—never acted, but has worked tech on half the plays in Back of the Yards.
Keeps an old stage light in his office. Swears it flickers when someone’s lying.
Loves cigars but never lights them indoors—says it’s bad luck.

Situation

Through sweetheart deals with the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council (BYNC), city contracts, and silent stakes in construction firms, he funneled millions into Outfit coffers—and no small pile into his own pockets. Today, he controls much of the local construction industry and has heavy pull in several key trade unions, especially those tied to concrete, hauling, and demolition. To City Hall, he’s a community-minded businessman; to the street, he’s a carpetbagger in a silk tie—profiting off the bones of the Stock Yards while the locals scrape by. The vice and numbers games are still running, sure, but it's the building contracts, the land grabs, and the quiet gentrification that really made Bagels a king.

Map of The South Side

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