The Commission (mafia)
After Maranzano's murder in 1931, the Mafia families called a meeting in Chicago. The purpose of the meeting was to replace the old Sicilian Mafia regime of "boss of all bosses" and establish a rule of consensus among the crime families. Charlie Luciano established a Mafia board of directors to be known as "The Commission" to oversee all Mafia activities in the United States and serve to mediate conflicts between families. The Commission consisted of seven family bosses: the leaders of New York's Five Families: Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, Vincent Mangano, Tommy Gagliano, Joseph Bonanno, and Joe Profaci; Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone; and Buffalo family boss Stefano Magaddino. Charlie Luciano was appointed chairman of the Commission. The Commission agreed to hold meetings every five years or when they needed to discuss family problems.
Robert St. John
St. John published a series of exposés about Cicero brothels and other operations of gangster Al Capone. In response, on April 6, 1925, he was accosted by four Capone goons and beaten severely. He brashly complained to the police, and was invited back the next day to meet Capone in person. The gang leader offered St. John money—which the reporter rejected—and apologized, saying he liked newsmen and considered the exposés a form of advertising. Soon after these incidents, Capone purchased the "Cicero Tribune" in order to silence St. John. Faced with an obviously impossible situation, St. John quit and went into partnership with Archer on the Berwyn paper. In 1927, St. John left the "Berwyn Tribune" for a job as managing editor of a paper in Rutland, Vermont. At that point the two brothers' ways departed from each other, and Archer was to become the founder of St. John Publications in 1947.