CHAPTER

X 'rE'

THIE BIG SIilO]IS

noble.experiment " wererecofnized by their fellowsasgenuil-.Iig Shots-Johnny Toiio, who ,u.ce.ded Colosimo. AI Capone, who succeeied Torrlo; and Dion O'Banion antl W.eis1, peerless gunmen, and pretenders to the thronc {f.i. who revolted againstTorrio and Capone and were eventu_ ally crushed.The biggestof the Big Shots, of course, werc Torrio and Capon., uttdalthoughC"apon. achieved an inter_ natronal reputation and accumulated a great deal morc moneythan ever fell into the hands of Torrlo, the latter was themoreaccomplished criminal.Torrio buirtthemachine oI outlawry;Capone onlykept it running, replacing andadding parts. Torrio maintainedpeace in gingland fo? more thai., by strategy_und .o-proirisf, with only an occalltt..,y:.ut: dtsctphnary-murder; Capone ruled by the gun and thc :t:nut bludgeon and held his positionby incessaningnting and frc_ quent massacre of his enemies. Torrio's authorilv was so nearly absolutethat he seldomcarried a r.volver'and frcquently walkedthe streets alone;Capone burdened himsclf with two holstered pistolsunderhis armpits, wore a bullet_ proof vest, and rode in a seyen-ton armoredcar equipped with a machine-gun. He wentnowhere withouta bodyg.iu'rd. As an organizerand administrator of underwoitaof_

NLY Foun of the gangsterchieftainswho ruled, or \-/ affsppted to rule-,the Chicago underworld during thc saturnalia of crime and corruption"whichhas been callei ,, a

of Amcriin the annals Torrio is unsurpassed fairs Johnny real ma-stcr a to thing nearest the probably he was cancrime; his He conducted mind that this countryhasyet produced. In business' as if they had beenlegitimate evil enterprises and motoredto his the morninghe kissedhis wife good-by floorof the Four second on the offices furnished magnificent\ with Deic.s. There he bought and sold women'conferred in' of his brbthelsand gamblingdens,issued the managers for arranged and bootleggers' structionito his rum-runners his gun sent and officials, city and the corruptionof police who might !: itl"i' out to slaufhterrival gangsters squads his kilBut he neveraccompanied fering with his schemes. a not gunman; was himself for Torrio lers on theseforays, proudly that he had neverfired a pistol in he onceboasted hislife. When the day'swork wasdone,Torrio returnedto his and, excepton rare occasions aPartment MichiganAvenuespentthe evening the theateror a concert, whenf,eattended with his jacket, playingcards andsmoking at homein slippers records.Unlike mostof his to phonograph wife or listening to talk shop;his-favorite disliked Torrio fellow gangsteis, was music,and he frequentlyaston' topic oI co-nversation of the works of great-comby his knowledge ishedmusicians uPon them. Though his comments posersand his critical boxesbulgedwith the pr.o' and safe-deposit Lank account with the dissipation Toriio eschewed of debauchery, ceeds nor drank, holv scornof the anchorite.He neithersmoked word, and obscene or profane a to utter heard he wasnever his borfilled who the women as far as he was concerned, His of merchandise. wife, delloswerejust so manyarticles a Kentuckygirl who knew next to nothingof-his business, " and said calledhim ,ithe best and dearestof husbands unclouded long, that her married life had been" like one honevmoon.t' 32r

ii

O u c r the love-lornColosimo was no longereither an annoyance or a potentialmenace, Torrio weni aheadwith the expansion of ,his systemof suburban bordellosand road_ houses. under the iommandof capone,Mike de pike Heitler,.Harry Cusick,and CharleyCarr, his agents went into Stickney,Forest View, posen, Burr Oaki Blue Island, _ Steger, Chicago Heights,andother CookCountytownswest and southwest of Chicago, in many of which'therewere largeforeignpopulations] andsoontransformed them from peacefulsuburbsinto brothel-ridden Babylons.Footholds weregainedin thesetowns_partly by corruptingvillageand county officialsand partly by bribing propirty-6s,ner-s. Be_ fore a resortwasopined,thi neighb"orlooa was thoroughly canvassed, and if a man who owne d a home near the f rJposeddive would agreenot to cause trouble,Torrio soiu.d someof his rnostpressing financial problems.Was he carrytng a heavymortgage ? Torrio paid it. Did he needa new car' a new furnacetor a new iuite of furniture? Torrio boughtthem. Did his houseneedpaintingor a new roof ? Torrio,sent carpenters andpainters, andto6k careof thebill. Many of the resorts thusestablished weremore vicious than any of-theold Leveedives, because theywereoperated without police supervision of any description. So,ri. *.r. elaboratecabaretswith assignaiion housesattached,designed to appeal to automobile partiesfrom the city. Oihers were combination divessimilai to the Four Deuces and the Rex. Still others, catering principally to the foreignworkers in the steelmills and manufu.tuiin[ plants,were built like barracks, with bedrooms upstairs, uid on the groundfloor a large drinkilq gamblingroom whereprosiitutesmingled ""-d with and solicited the customers. In mosiof these placeJthe benches and tableswere fastened to the wafls and floor to 322

duringthe brawlswhich preventthemfrom beingdestroyed occurrence' wereof frequent from forty to diveshoused of Torrio's suburban Some The larg' shifts' workedin threeeight'hour sixtvEirls'who -di".["at,

il';ili..

which View' a community ;;;y:;iti-M"pl. Inn near For"est that in the under Capo-1e';jomination *"1 lo compietely The Stock' it was.om-only ialled Caponeville' underworld a hidealso it was ;l; *;, more than an immoralresort; dump' It was raidedby the Chica-go una a munitions wil' Attornev "*uu oi'A"i"unt state's ;;';;;.; illtl."J;

and.lh.e in Stickney' a sixty-girl"house

i#H.'M.d;;gt;

and hiddenro.oms of secretPassages' *tloUf" laby?i"nth floor and ceiling " ."".rt"".a unj., the roof andLetweinthe was chambers these of stories'One oi th. first and second comfortable with soft rugs and finJ *irn cork, furnished fitted-witha speakirtg'tY9: and .ou.t,.t and easychairs, 1-L: therecouldkeephts.own a dumbwaiter.A criminalsecreted figur;s ioof.ou..ftroughth" p'ncturedeyesof female !ill^:"-l room' the saloonand gambli.nB on the ceilings-of ,i.1 :^e-lt-t:.I built into the walls the poltceot:t"^1"1:: p-anels steel-lined rifles,shotgll)'gttn'oes' au' of dynamite, large quuniities and ammunltlon' toriatic pistols,machine'guns, view, unableto prevent Forest citizens-of Thf decent waited,for of their townby Torrio and Capone' the invasion heedtnelr to yearsfor the Cook Countyauthorities several comfinally ."-pi"iltr. and closethe Maple inn'.but were into their own hands'After the raid pelledto takematters who by that time had,suc' sio.t ua. Al Capone, I;;;; closed ;. head oi the operatingsyndicate' i;;; ;ffii as tne soon as operations to resume the resort,intending But the dive was had subsided' *uu. .f publicindig"nation on.May 3o'tg,?9:,,!::." ;;;.t ,"Jp.n.d. Afiout daybreak of Vlgtlantes droveup to the Inn and a score automobiles Over' j".p;; ;"t and quickly surroundedthe building' 323

to be found was and in ci..,o in 19z6,

poweringthe Negro watchman, they smashed in the doors and set hre to the structurein half a dozenplaces. Fire comp_anies were summoned from Berwynand other towns, but the firemenmadeno attempt to extinguisf, tfr. nrrn.r, a-lthough theylaid hose linesandprotected proo.r,u. n-ear_by yh.l representatives of Capone urged them to'savethe Inn, they repliedthat they.ouldn't sp7rethe water. 3 ArnrADy the foremost vicemonger in the United States, with an annualincomefrom prostiiutionof at least a hundredthousand dollarsayear,jolrn_ny Torrio began to ;r;;;ize the beer and liquor ir"ffic of Chicago and Cook Countv in the late summer-of r9zo. He heldl5ng confer;".;;ii. the leadersof the principalcriminalg"ng. and "and persuaded them to abandon bank robbery,burgla"ry, bariditry,for the time being at least,in fav,oroi boott.gging und'r,tr* running. He promisedthem riches beyonl-thiir wildest dreams, andmorethanmadegoodhispromises. He formed an alliance with JosephStenion, of a well-known f amily. and a wealthybrewerbefore -.rb", prohibition,and took overthe fivebreweries which,according to the Illinois crime Survey,Stenson was operatingin paitnershipwith Terrv Drugganand Franki. L1k_": co'-capiains of ^Eil.r, thi Vrii.y;;;; and trustedhenchmen of Morris trusteeof the chiDistrict and political bossof the Twentieth :lg" ,S"::,:.ry. ward. UtthztngStenson's business experience and connec_ acquired more breweries. Some were bought 1."-]|'^,1ot:: out'ght. uthers wereleased.A few remained in the haids of their-original owners,while Torrio and his gangsteis " fronted" for them-that is, assumed ownershii un-a u.. cepted responsibility in the eventof trouble. Torrio exercised general.supervision over everyphase of the liquor traffic,bul to facilitateoperations tn. Jiti."rJ 324

of in each. of influence' countywere divided into spheres with sub'chiefs whichan alliedgangchieftainwas suPreme' them' leaders thttt *orking under fris Sirection.A few of but and distilleries' selvesowned and oferated breweries and in the main they t;;.i;;t ih.i' 'uppliesfrom Torrio with ttiling, makingdeliveries' were principallyconcerned who reterrorizing saloon-keepers protectine shipments, and furnishing9","-:l--::: frr.d to buy fiom the syndicate, wno andindependents hi-iackers against expeditions punitive territory' attempted,o.n.rou.i' rp"l'io"io Tltrf::l captainof a tamous O'Banion, Dion to Sidewas allotted and safe-crackers' fotttott, burglars, gangof bandits, -earmarkedfor Terry 3 "W.r, Drugga.n Side was .a1o it. tnto suburbs the including remainder, the and Lake, Frankie with his prostttutes' whichTorrio had alreadypenetrated ot ftarry direction the under wasruledby Torrio's own men the called sometimes and FrankiePop-e, Al Capone, Cusick, in remained Millionaire N.trUov.--Part of the'SouthSide up split Torrio's hands,and'the rest of this rich areawas the many ;;";g Danny Stanton; Ralph Sheldon'one of Ra' called club lri-in-ut. proiu..a ii a notirious political honest less ontt u more or pen'sColis; Polackjoe Saltis, McErlane' whom the Frank and i' l"rilt; :;i;;*k;.. Illinois Crime Sur*y called" the most brutal goL-un Y,ho Kttter merciless savaQe' everpulleda triggei in Chicago,"-a McErlane's *itn'.-utl, pigfif.?.y.s set ii a f.at ted"'face' with slugs' loaded shotgun *ur'u sawed-off favoriteweaPon and '--- hewaswithoutfear,pity,or remorse' unbroken' Johnny A, long as th... ,iliuncesremained hundred seven between of services Torrio .orn*und.J the the mostvicioustg^gttgirtl:: ,J.ign, hundredgunmen' :f to Accordtng criminils ever broughttogetherin one city' Ben' b'Donnell the well-kno*n Ct-i?uio i?utn"tist James Olt*,,1lu foreign of were them of n.it, nin.ty'fiveper ..it rtalrans were cent Per of thi. ninlty'fivePercent'eighty-five 325

t r
I

or Sicilians. Ten per cent were Jews, and most of the rematnlng hve per cent were of Irish extraction. About forty per cent were paroled convicts,from the ranks of the nine h.undredand fifty criminals who had been released from llltnorspenalinstitutions by the state Board of pardons a'cl Paroles in less than three vears.

t
I
t

+
T," most important of the independent gangsters for " ,tho.Johnny Torrio made no provision in the"all"ocation of territory were the four O'Donnell brothers, Edward, Steve, Walter, and Tommy, generallycalled the South SideO'Donnells to distinguishihJm frorn Myles and Klondike O'Donnell, unrelatedbut also criminals,who flourishedon the far West Side and in the suburbancity of Cicero. T.he probable reason for the exclusionof the South side o'Donnelrs was the fact that the leader and eldestof the four brothers, Ed_ ward, better known as Spike, was in prison at Joliet when the.country wenr dry, hiving_been convicted oi complicitf ,1. daylight holdup of the-Stockyards Trusr und Siuingl * 5ank. A criminal sinceboyhood,SpikeO'Donnell had beJn sneakthief, pickpocket,burglar, fobtpad, labor slugger, and bank-robber; he had shot half a dozenmen, had bien twice tried for murder, and had been accused of several other killings. Ffe was also deeply religious, and not even the prospect of good murder or a holdup coulJ keep him .1 from attending Sunday Mass at St. peter's Catholic Church. Without this devout and gifted outlaw to lead them, the O'Donnells were nothing riore than good journ"y;;; burglars and gunmen; for mo*rethan a yeai they'hung ibout the Four Deuces,grateful for whatev., .rr.b, mi"ght be thrown to them by Torrio and Capone. But the fortrires of 326

parolccl the clanbeganto improve when Governor Len Small of six state senators' SpikeO'Dinnell at the earnestrequest a and iudge.ofthe Criminal Court five staterePresentatives, return of Coot County. Within a few months after Spike's ot to Chicagothe O'Donnells hi-jackedseveraltruckloads Henry Torrio b?er, imported a crack New York gunman' conthem of most thugs, Hasmiller, and enlisted a dozen drym' beer. and victs on parole, as truck'drivers, bodyguards, u".^ngem:n::,with a ih.n Spike O'Donnell ^^d'beer into the South Srdeterrr-.r.. Joliet jury andbegan running

andFrankMc' Saltis assigo.Id.t" hadbJen i"ty #rrrJn Iit slugging andbypr...itd theshipments' Erlane.Drummers

a methodof.sales' saloon-keePers' terror'izing andotherwise coPiedby by O'donnell and immediately devised O'Donnell Spike -un.hip girngl"ud"rr, th.y soonbuilt up what ;h;; descrii'ed a " nicelittle business'" "s of the Saltisand Mc' By Torrio's ordersthe-gunmen with the speedand Erlane gangsstruck at the iiterlop-ers On the night of f..o.ity-of i corn"r"d rattlesnake' ?t:t:li McI'all headed.by^P'"."y of triggermen ber J, i9r3, ^band the SouthSidein questol una'f't"nti McErlane,pt-o*ting Walter and Tommy surprised O'Donnellbeer drummers, and Gegrge O'Donn.ll, GeorgeBucher,Jeiry O-'Connor, AII esM;gh;" in Jo" illatka's saloonbn Lincoln Street. O'Connor'.who and rear doorsexcePt capeethrouqhsicle of the saloon' out was captur.aUy NIcFall and marched ofi n. ft" lt.pp.d into the street,McErlane blew his head *irft u ,hoigun. Ten dayslater Bucherand Meegha-n 1i'er.e from an O'Donnell truck in the wilds of Cook snatched " by two.men C"t",y andforcedinto anautomobile Yl: ,'lok to whichis said have incidentally, 'cm fo'r a ride," a phrase, of Bucherand b..n .oin.d by Hymie Weiss' The-bodies their bodies and back t andsii.d b.hind their Meeghan, werefoundnextmorningin a ditch' slugs, shotgun filled'with 327

The ride murder, frst of its kind,was repeated on December r, rgz3,whenMorrieKeane pnun waskilledunaSnorW rTjg.ysly_wounded and left for dead. A f;;;,i;, .*u* Iater Philip Corrigan was blastedwith u ,t otgun";nil. driving-an O'DonnJl beertruck,andWalter O,n8nn.tt una Henry I{asmiller wereshotto deathin a gunbattre at Evergreen Park. Meanwhileten separate attemptshad been madeto kill Spike O'Donnell, ani several bullets had found temporary lodgment in his body. He foughtback,";;g;i;, but he lacked the gunsto copewith his enemies. With the score seven to two in favor of Torrio'skillers,Spike O,Donnellfinallyabandoned his " nicelittle business " andleft chicago. He returnedin a year or so, after Torri" frirnr.it had fled, resumed,his bootlegging activiti.r, ,i,orgf, ;; smallerscale than before,unJ"b.i.. interested in-r.u.rrl racketeering cnterprises. Apparently he had reached an un_ o !rstandlng with Al Capone, for he wasnot molested. FIe also went into the wholesale coalbusiness, and despite hi; long criminal record andthe fact that hrsnameappeared on the list of public enemies issuecr by the crime c;il;J;; hispoliticalfriendsobtained for hiin a contract to supply the city with coal. Most of thekillingin the war against Spike O,Donnell wasdoneby the ferocious FrankMcErlane, who included at leastfiveof o'Donne''s menin his lifetime bag of trriri*". The others probably fell before theflaming pistols of Walter Jtevens, the deanof Chicago gunmen_hl *u. fiftv_six in r923--and one of ganglindrs most picturesque f,g";;. Stevens was first heaid of in Chi.agoas a henchman of Enright,who with his gangpSrformed proa;ei..of Y":rI o.o1o,:g' sJuggrng, and murderon behalfof labtr unlons in the rndustrtal warsin theearlypartof the twentieth centurv. Enriglrtwaskille d in February'tgzoby Srr;t ji;'e;;;;;i; a Sicilian gunman and blackmuii.,*'ho was afterwarddeported,at the behest of Big Tim Murphy, best_kno*n of 328

From the Chicago

'l rtbune OF

ONE

OF

THE

SEVER AL M AD E BY

D IV IS ION S

TERRITORY

TH E

GAN GS

labor racketeers.lStevens'sname was connectedwith a dozen murders during his servicewith Enright, and he was dcfinitely implicatedin,.several, among them the killing of Peter Gentleman,a policeman,sson tu-rnedbandit und [un_ man. The murder-of a policemanin Aurora, Illinois,-put Stevensin prison, but he was soon pardoned by Goverior Len Small as a reward for servicei p..for-ei when the Governor was tried for malfeasance. Like JohnnyTorrio, Stevens kept his home life distinct from his business. He was well educated, a studentof history, and an omnivorous reader,beingespecially fond of the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, RoUert Burns, and Jack Lo'don. Ffe never drank, and didn't learn to smoke until h.ewas fifty years old. He adopted three children and gave them good educations, and caredfor an invalid wife for riore than twenty years,giving her the best medical attentionobtainable. He was extremelypuritanicalin his views; he disapproved of the theater, expungedimmoral passages from the classics before bringingth.m into his home, rJfused to perrnit his children to wear short skirts or to use rouge or lipstick, amused his- fullow gunmen by inveighing biiterly against the so-calledflaming youth of-the peiiod,"and f.e'_ qucntly made long speeches upholding old-iashioned ideals and morals. But he would kill a man for fifty dollars and crack a skull for twenty. Neither Stevens nor McErlane was ever punishedfor thinning th-eranks of Spike O'Donnell's gang. It was comm-onknowledge that McErlane had muider.d O'Connor, Meeghan, 5:u1", and Bucher,but Torrio was able to keep him out of jail f or severalmonths; the policefinally arrestei him because of the uproar raisedby the newspapers.McEr_ lane was indicted,and the Grand Jury ordered that he be
1 Cosmano was one of the many Uru.O-t"n..ffi Jim colosimo, but was ambushed by colosimo and badly wounded. I{e was in ja i l w h e n C o l o s i m o wa s m u r d cr e d .

held without bail; but he was immediatelyset free utttlt't' bonds,and in April r 92+ the State'sAttorney nolle-prossctl the case. Similar dispositionswere made of indictments and others accuscd found againstJoe Saliis,Ralph Sheldon, of comflicity in the killings. Danny McFall, an unimpo,rtant member of Torrio'. g*t squad- his value lay chiefly in the fact that he was a DeputlSheriff -was tried for the and soonthereafter murder of O'Connor,but was acquitted, also retired, aftet Stevens walter chicago. from vanished it was him. kill to an attempt had been made tn glngland but he it out dish said of Sie'ens,as of Torrio : " He could couldn't take it." 5 W n p N Johnny Torrio led his atmy of pimps and.harlots borhe rnadeno attempt to establish into chicago'ssuburbs community largest the which not only was dellos in c"icero, in Cook County outside of Chicago, but with ' PgPu.lu:t.?: of more than fi'fty thousandwas the fifth largest city in Illinois and one of the state'smost important manufacturing centers.It had long sinceoutgrown the wildnessof which in Civil War times, the Chicagon.*.pu!.rr had complained and in thf main *u* u prorp.tou. and law'abiding city' It was preyed upon, of course' by the usual assortment ot crook.d'politicians,and harbored the normal-quotaof sa' loons,most of which remainedopen after prohibition went into effect and were suppliedwith beer by the West Side O'Donnells, Klondike ,nd Myl.t. But there were no broth' els in Cicero,and the only form of gambiingpermitted was ds oi whichwere in operationunder the hundre slot machines, control of a politiciannamed Eddie Vogel In co-operation u,ith the O'Donnells and Eddie Tancl, a Bohemiansaloonvoters, who had a large following amongforeign-born keeper Mayor by headed government city the Vogel dominated Joseph Z. Klenha.

330

33r

It was probablyfear of the West Side O'Donnells rather than the opposition of the politicians that had kept Torrio out of Cicero,for the O'Donnells disapproved of prostitutionand would have nothingto do with it. But in the fall of tgz3, havinggained controlof the remainder of Cook County,JohnnyTorrio madea carefullyplanned and long expected assaultupon Cicero. Characterlstically, he employedstrategy insteadof force. Making no arrangements for protection, hesent a score of prostituaes intoCicero in October rgz3 andopened a bordellbon Roosevelt Road. The Ciceropoliceimmediately closed the dive and arrested the women. Torrio openedanotherresort at Ogden and Fifty-second Avenues.It waswrecked by the police, andthe harlots locked up. Torrio then withdiew his forces,but two dayslater deputies from the ofrceof SherifiPeterHofiman descended upon Ciceroand confiscated everyslot ma. chinein the city. notice that if hecouldn't bringpros. Having thusserved titutes into Cicerono one elsecouldoperateslot maihines, Torrlo suggested a compromise and treaty of peace " -ide which with Vogel and the O'Donnellbrothers, was sciup.tlously observed for nearly three years,to the great profit of all concerned. Under the termsof this pact Vogel\ slot machines were returnedto him, and the O'Donnellswere grantedexclusive rightsto sellbeerto the saloons on Roose. velt Road and in severalother sections of the city. The tJgatyalso confirmed their possession of that poriion of Chicago's West Sidein whichtheyhadbeenoperating.Torrio agreednot to import harlots nor attempt to eitablish brothels,but was permittedto open gamblinghouses and cabarets, to sellbeeranywhere in Ciceroe*cepiin the territory allottedto the O'Donnells, and to usethe city as a base for all of his operations exceptthoseconnected with vice. Eddie Tancl,notorious for his bad temperand fightingability, would take no part in the peaceconference; he defied 332

that he would declared Torrio from the start,andprofanely long been had He iuv lr., from whomeverhe pleased' when them with ii. o'o"nnells, but quarreled ;;l:.ci;*iit' or' beer' of real needleibeer'instead ;t;.t*;;;.ii;;"g

ji;ffiilo;

comn'which he i.-t.pfii,a that he would leaveonly in. his Myles O'Donnell did. He waskilled it'Nout-b" '9'4by over a mealcnecK' in a dispute and Jim Doherty,ostensibly of Cicerohad been As soonas termsfor tireoccupation over to AI Cacity asreedupon,JohnnyTo"io turnedthe

Cicero' andTorrioto leave tt. d'Donnells

;il",il";;'T;;il''

tour .nt.rprir.., #d departedon an extensive 5["i#1" wife and mother' He also of Europe,u..ornp"nitd by..his and lettersof took with him a million doilarsin securities in Europeanbanksagainstthe credit, which h. d;;;iJ as musthaverecognized time,which amanoi hi' inttlligence to fleeChicago' whenhe shoulJbecompelled t"""a to come, his rgz4'leaving of He returneato A*,'ica in the spring in estate ytu.t* ott a seaside *",t.t to spendher declining and a stafi of thir-ty Italv. with half a do,tn autJmobiles in the province' Meanwhile ;;;7;";',";h;-l;.;;;oman hadcaptured AiC;p";. hudb..n o'ganizingCitt'o' Tottio

in anda full pa.rtner man ;gnt'nuna

iiliy;linoui

of lawlessness' ."tq".it, in ablazeof"gunfireand a wave day,April r, a climaxon election The violen., ,eu."h.d hours twenty-four r924, whichbroughtthe--o:l disorderly com' gangsters' in Ci..ro'. historyl Bandsof heavilylrme{ *]::11.1:U f.or by Capon' andcamp.aigninf fIayol manded p"-o.ratic ticket,terrorizedthecity f rom dawnto dusK' Itr. 'I'wo otherswere A manwaskilled in Eddie Tancl'ssaloon' Street' Another man'sthroat ,t ot a.ua in Twenty'second -who Citizens was blackjacked' A policeman was slashed. were.slugged to vote Republican attempted "ttd 1-t:::1jt:with gunm"" filled the polls. " Automo6iles -l::"^o::,:1" and kid' " slugging streets,"saidthe illirroi, Crime Survey, 333

the consolidated Capone shotibut nring"u

napping election workers. Polling places were raided by armed thugs and ballots taken at the point of the gun from the handsof voterswaiting to drop them in the box. Voters and workerswerekidnapped, takento Chicagoand held prisoners until the polls closed." Late in the afternoon honest citizens appealed to Chicagofor help, and seventy policemen weresworn in asdeputysheriffs by CountyJudgeEdmund K. Jarecki and rushedto Ciceroby automobile.A policesquad commandedby Detective SergeantWilliam Cusick camc upon Al Capone, his brother Frank, Dave Hedlin, and Charley Fischetti, with pistols in their hands, standing in front of a polling place at Cicero Avenue and TwentysecondStreet. Frank Caponeshot at Patrolman McGlynn, but missed,and McGly"n kitl.d him. Fledlin was wouni.d. Fischetti was chasedinto a field and capturedafter a gun battle in which no onewas hurt. Al Caponefled down Ciciro Avenue, encountered another group oi policemen, and with a gun blazing in each hand fought them off until darkness came to his aid and he escaped.He was never arrested, though a long and fruitless investigation was made by the State'sAttorney's officeto learn where he and other gangsters had obtained their pistol permits. It developedthat most of them had been issuedby suburbanjusticesof the peace. Frank Capone was given a funeral which eclipsed that of Big Jim Colosimo,with a silver-plated casketand twenty thousanddollars' worth of flowers. As a gestureof solidarity, every saloon and gambling-house in Cicero remainedclose d, with tightly drawn blinds,for two hours. M_ayorKlenha and his ticket were, not unexpectedly, elected by tremendous majorities,and Al Caponewis mastir of Cicero. Almost overnight the city becameone of the toughestin the United States. It was said that the way to determinewhen one crossed the Chicagoline into Cicerowas simplyto sniff. " If you smellgunpor""d.r, vou're in Cicero." The one-time peaceful streets of downtown Cicero werc

:rrr'l gangstcrs' filled with arrogant' roistering,swaggering lttttrtlt't'tl Onc crowded with saloonsand gambling-houses' sidewalk managedDy were the notoriousShip,owned by Caponeand by Torritr owned Toot, Nlondi ; the Hawthorne SmokeShop, htty and managedby Frankie Pope, where an avetage -oi and Lauterthousanddollars a day *u' 6tt on the races; in the back's, which operated the largest g-ambling.guTtt countrlr with a hundred thousanddollars in chips-ir-e9'"n'l{ Whisky sold risked'on a single turn of the roulette wheel' t*':-i lo, ,.rr.nty-five"cents a drink' beer for thirty-five -I.orrto and glass' stein, and *in. fot thirty cents a small

.ui full blastday""q "iUf'f places unJ.i"ty of these '.il.t]l to step in' Among tht'nt barkersuiging passers-by

"# l :"[i:! :-':xL 1i:3'i s:fi * ililJ. :-l; i:,ru $:

33+

his job was to protect the dive and seethat of the syndicate; ranged.from Torrio and Caponeieceivedtheir split, which house to fi'fty Per cent of the-gioss leceipts' The ;;;y-fi". of the agelt'. *u, ui.o compellid to Pay the sa.lary Hawthe -Caponeruled Ci.eto ftom his hladquarrersin an Street; he occupied entire thorne inn on Tvrenty-second floor, posted armed gangsters at every entrance' 3;1{ 1: orstalledbullet-proof steel shuttersat the wtndows' 'tlrs question without all law; he was obeyed ders transcended by city officials and employeesfrcli1e and by the police, Once when Muuor^ down to the lowliest street-cleaner' Capone told' been had he as M;ir;t Klenha failed to do Hall City the of knockedHis Honor (sic) down on the steps wno and kickedhim as he struggledto his feet' A policeman twirled nii night-'tick and strolled away' On saw the assault trr when thelown council seemedabout another occasion, dcfcat' to them which Caponehad ordered pass a measure the meeting'dragged9i" 9f the trttstctrs iungr,.r, broke up Arthrrrinto the street, und ,luggtd him with a blackjack' lntl kidnappctl was St. John, editor of the B?wyn Tri'bune, 335

shot because he protestedagainstthe invasionof Berwyn by Torrio's harlotsandgunmen.His brotherRobert,edittr of theCicero Tribune,was beaten because of hisanti-Capone editorials and because he interferedwith a disciplina.y ilugging whichwasbeingadministered to a Ciceropoliceman. 6 T n B fortunesof Johnny Torrio reachedtheir peak immediatelyfollowing the conquest of Cicero. In the late springof rgz4, in partnership with Al Capone, he was running twenty-five large brothelsscattered ihroughout Cook Countyrprobablytwice as manygambling-houies and immoral cabarets in the suburbs and in Chicago, and was op. erating or handlingthe output of sixty-fivJbreweries. lie alsocontrolled seve ral distilleries, andwasrunning enormous quantities of hard liquor into Chicago from Canada and the Atlantic seaboard, usingtrucksand automobiles with secret compartments built into thetop andfloors. Most of Torrio's b.rewe-ries were-in operation for nearlyten years;manycontinuedto manufacture beerevenafter ihev hadbeen officiallv padlockedby_the_.Federal government. Trucks belonging to Torrio and allied gang leaders,loaded with beer"ani whisky.and guardedby armed gunmen, rumbled day and night throughthe str !ers of Chicigo and Cook County,supplyingat leastthree-fourrhs of thelwentythousand drinking places which cameinto existence after ihe dry amendmeni had goneinto efiect on Januaryt6, rgzo. E*.:pt for an occasional attemptat hi-jacking by Spike ^._ O'Donnell and a few other independent gungrt.r{ Torrio', liquorconvoys wereseldom moleited;onih. iontrury, whenevera particularly valuable shipment wasmade,the criminal guards were frequentlysupplemented by detachments of uniformedpolicemen. For as the moneyrolled in, Torrio expanded to appalling proportionsthe system of corruption

bv which he had kept his brothelsimmunefrom interfcrfunds,and boughtpo' .i.". U" gaveliberallyto campaign judges'p.oliti.nfot..mInt agents, ii."-.r,, piohibition "nd them; he needed cians, und .ity and county officialsas p.ay.9! their bribeseachweek at,a op.iy received hundreds buildin a downtownoffice established ,tution conveniently I own boasted: " Torrio that ing. la wasnot without reason along " t9 g.9 refused * of course, poli..." Many officials, ,-h? from with the gangsteis.Morgan Collins,Chief of Police dollarsa day'.un.q:n rg23to rg27, wasofiereJa thousand a month' if he dollars a hundredthousand unoih., occasion molestation' Torrio's opera-tions would guarantee -"q"i.n:' lI' E. C. fettowley, FederalProhibitionAdministratorfor linois, refusedtwo hundredand fifty thousanddollars to a distillery' William I' ag.ainst drop padlockproceedings htty Wu"[tr, United StatesDistrict Attorney, was oftered of several thouind dollars to abandonthe prosecution Volstead the of violiting accused importantgangsters li'the dominated purposes all"praitical fo, Johnny-Torrio Bui oi Cfii.ugo and Cook County,and to. a political machines agencies Iorn.*hut lesserdegreethe-Federalenforcement adminis' second and the first tffroughout for thosedistricts, trationsof Mayor Will]am Hale Thompson,iust ut.+1 third term' " In did during most of Thompson's Capone ".it to Caione," saidthe Illinois Crime Survey, .iril., close the substantially_to waswell knownthat he had contributed d.e1on' a typical witnessed iho-pron campaign." ' Chicago Gov' compelled he power tl4,when in strationof Toriiois Cu' Alma and Harry ernorLen Smallof illinoisto pardon brothel Torrio a whileoperating of pandering sick,convicted their sentences' serve begunto even had tirey before at Posen, sumsdisbursed huge th" of Torrio's p"yroll, exclusive
I Frank Chicagl Crime Commission' was J. Loesch, president of the H' Lyle said it quoted as stying that the u-ount was $z6orooo' Judge John w as $r5orooo. X7

n6

for protection, was not lessthan thirty thousand dollars a week. The profitsfrom hisvarious criminalenterprises were n"u":accurately computed, but evidence obtained by the authorities from time io time indicated that they toialed an enormousamount. The ChicagoDaily News said,in ry24 that Torrio's arrangement with the brewerJoseph stenson put forty--eight million dollars into stenson's poctet in four ,, has ever risked years. " Nobody," the News continued, a guess at the clearings of the many-sided Torrio.', When the Stockade in Stickney was raided'in 1926,thepoliceconfiscatedrecordswhich ihowed that the weekrynet "rr.rug. earnings of the dive sinceits establishment wire five ihousanddollars. The Maple Inn at Forestview earned almost asmuch,and it wasestimated that Torrio and Capone pocketeda netincome of threethousand dollarsa weeffrom each of the other suburban resorts.This was a grand total of approximately four million dollarsa year,oiwhich ten per cent,or aboutfour hundredthousand dollrrr, was paid out for protection. Federal investigators.declaredthat from vice and gamblingcombined roriio and capone dividednet eatningsof two hundredthousanddollars a week. Ledgers seized in a raid on the gangsters'headquarters, transfeired in ry4 from the Four Deuiesto an elaborate suiteof offices on Michigan Avenue, listed profits of three million dollars a year_from wh]-sky, beeryand wine. But theseledgers formed only a_smallpart of the syndicate's bookkeeiing system;the police estimated that the total annuatpronti from the manufacture and sa-le of-liquorwere at least'thirty million dollars. Edwin A. olson,united statesDistrict Aitorney,told the newspapers that Torrio and Capone operI atedon a grossbasis o1 siventymilliondollars ^yLur.

7 and the whole and helpless Wrrn the policedemoralized in a conditionof collapse' machineryof law'rnforcement of for yearshad lurked in the dark corners criminals'who They took the underworld came brazenly into the oPen'gener' shared so and of the gangs underthe captains service the.same ouslv in the Eoldenflood of ptohibition,but at their own specialties'Banksall over ii-.'they didn''tneglect Cil.rgo'wer. robi"d in broad dayfight by b,anditswho at policestatlons scorni to wear masks.Desk sergeants - f166 one hundredto grew weary of recordingholdups .u.ty night' Burglars.marked two hundredwere repor"ted upon a of the ciiy as their ownind embarked out sections to piundering,going from house house .ou.r" of systematic night without hinirint"' Ftnces accompanied iigrti be' "n.i of merchandise stocks thievesinto storesand appraised flour' men confidence and i"t. ttt.y werestolen. Pickpockets

',**,'}::.T*"i #i3.:.11 *:'i *:u;::::x: &.',[

for the deof armoredcarsand armedguards. introduction Automobtles houses' to business f rombanks livery of money were forcedto the Motorists thousands. by the were'stolen curb on busy streetsand boldly robbed' Women who dis' or at the theaterwerefollowed plavediewefrvin night clubs unless '"..if,.ia up. W.uttly womenseldom left their homes bYarmedescorts. accompanied - gangsters to be filledwith gangstels ihi.ugo sLemed in four fifteen and one another,two hundred slaughterinlg beingkilledty. the police,onehundredand y."t? t g""g"rters th?oti1q,,:P li*ty'ii th"esameleigth of iime; gangsters bombs'.called t[rowing for amusem.nl;g"ngtters saloons on their marksmanshtp improving pineapples "; gangsters " t"ng.i in sparielysettleddistricts;gangsters machin.lgun 339

338

in big automobiles, ignoringtrafficlaws; gangsters speeding concealed; strutting in the Loop, holstered pistolsscarcely gangsters giving ordersto the police,to judges,to prosecutors,all sworn to uphold the law; gangsters calling on their friends and protectorsat City Hall and the County Court Flouse;gangsters and restaurants diningin expensive tuxedoed their caf6s; gangsters at the operaandthe theater, mink-coated, Paris.gowned on their wives or sweethearts at arms; gangsters entertaining and city officials politicians " Belshazzarfeasts," someof which cost twenty-fivethousand dollars; gangsters giving partiesat which the guests playfully dousedeach other with champagne at twenty dollars a bottle, poppinga thousand corksin a singleevening; gangsters rifles, and machinearmed with shotguns, guns, convoying beertrucks; gangsters everywhere - except jail. in And all with hugebank-rolls;a gangster with less than five thousand dollarsin his pocketwas a rarity. They had so muchmoneya new argot was invented to describe it. A thousand dollarswas a grand,abbreviated to " gran"'I hundred-dollar bills were leaves,and twenty-fivedollars wasscornfully calledtwo bits. Five-,ten-,andtwenty-dollar bills were chicken-feed; they were given to newsboys for a paper, to hat-checkgirls in restaurants,to dazed panhandlers. talk," said Big Bill Thompson, " It's all newspaper Mayor of Chicago. 8 w e re rid in g h ig h in JonNNy ToRRIo and A l Capone the springof rgz4, but great troublefor them was looming on the horizonof the underworld. and mostof it wasto be caused by Dion O'Banion.As a boy,O'Banionsangin the choir of the Holy Name Cathedraland was remarkable for piefy and obedience; as a man,he was a swashbuckling, 340

who wore ambidextrous,flower-loving, cheerful murderer' stowcd a carnation in his buttonholEand carried three pistols clothing by awav in specialpocketsbuilt into his expensive character.*oJt, tailorr. Chief of Police Morgan Collins ,, Chicago'sarch-criminal declared and " i;JJ o,t";ion as twenty-five that he had killed, or o,iertd killed, at least these men. But he was never brought to trial for any,of thalTlrimporta.nt less .ti-.., for politically he was inly the I''ortyrio or Cupon.. He was particularlypowerful in for arid Forty'third ward. on iht North Side' and ...*a in the Demo' vears he and his gunmenhad kept them safely vote'getter a as abiiity lrrti. column. So widely was his wheeze develoPeo recognized that a question-and-answer and Forty' in dtti.ugo: " Whoill carry the- Forty'second 'ir rr 613union,in his pistol pocket'" third? DemoAs the Norr.-t., ryi4 eleition aPProached'

lili:"+:':i:l; ::t!:I:iT':SffJ:$:il:111'I':"il:ff
at sucha calamity,a testimonialdinnerwas held in October gang the at which the Webster dotel on Lincoln Park West, with a platinum watch.richly.encrusted leader was Presented the dinner and with rubies and diamonds.Who sponsored among Prominent bought the watch was never divulged' George Drucci' ift"-'ju.t,. were Frank Gusenberg, .Sihemer

Louisot::ii:' ii;;: M;';n, MaxieEi'.1 qyTi" Weiss;

beingoneof O'Banion'scrackgulT:".*us Preslwhl besides Union' Jerry dent of the ThJater and Building Janitors' O'Connor, gambling'houseowner-andvice president ",f ,:l' Con Shea'notoriottslatror union; and ihe union'ssecretary, who had serveda term in Sing Sing ;i;gt;. and racketeer, present for'?h. attempted murder of a woman' But also Commissioner were Colonel Albert A. Sprague,Chicago's for United candidate Demo"cratic and of Public Works Chief Sweitzer; M' Robert StatesSenator; County Clerk captains police dozen Michael'Hughts, half a of Detectives 34r

and lieutenants, and many lesseroffice-holders and politiordered by Dever cians.When Mayor William E. to !xplain why he had attendedthe dinner,Chief Hughessaid he had understood that the pafty was to be in honor of O'Connor. But when I arrived," he said, " and " Jerry recognized a numberof notoriouscharacters I had thrown into the detectivebureau basementa half-dozen times, I knewI had beenframed,and withdrewalmostat once." The gang chieftainaccepted the platinumwatch with pleasure, but whoever put up the moneyfor it did so in vain. For favors expected and received,by slugging,bribery, shooting, kidnapping, and the useof floatersand repeaters, O'Baniondelivered both the Forty-second and Forty-third wards to the Republican ticket, headedby United States Senator Charles S. Deneen and RobertE. Crowe,the latter runningfor re-election as State's Attorney. Crowedefeated the Democratic nominee, MichaelI. Igoe,nearlytwo to one. 9 O'BaNIoN was a productof Little Hell, on the North Side near the Sicilianquarter and Death Corner, where tenements swarming with children were interspersed amongbrothels,disorderlysaloons, and immoral cabarets. Throughouthis formativeyearshe wassurrounded by criminal infuences, and under the pressure of environment he soonforgot the moral lessons taught by the priestsof the Cathedral.FIe became a thievingloafer and a memberof the Market Streetgang,and then a singingwaiter in McGovern'sCabaretat Clark and Erie Streets, one of Little Hell's toughestdives. Ffe sang sentimental balladswhile pickingthe pockets of maudlincustomers. At this time he was known as Gimpy O'Banion,because his left leg was a trife shorter than the right, but no one ever called him Gimpy, and lived, after he had become a Big Shot. From 3+2

rob' o'Banionturnedto highway revelers, robbinsdrunken months three tle served ,ta t"re-cracking' ;;;:'bTiltn, old'

iltil.;;il;iiil

for assault'And i"t-U"tgf"ry, and tlirei'months in rgrr in prison' he eversPent ,hu, ""-- *ui all'the time fandin r 9zo'O'Banion the upon tu-" Wh; prohibition hoodlul was well known ,o ih. policeas a dangerous "{ uhl:ago gangs criminal aschiefof oneof the mo.t tuccetsful notorrous harbored.His followersincludedsuch h". "u., and bandits as tlandsome Dan McCarthy' Bugs ;;;-.; Vincent Drucci' Ni;*i" Eisen, Frank Gusenberg; ffi;;;;

vears ifoe,*h'n fr' *t' seventeen

\: fT',::; *-ai*i*m'f,::.ff.';;; t,i::

and alter-ego d;i;;"r;t Hy-i"'W"i*, *nt waso'B.anion's SamuelJ' Morton' secondin commanJof int gan$i and *on thi Cio'ixd'eruerre in Franceand calledNails, *t o t "d world wa, a-Fitst Lieutenantin had returnedfrom-ihe Morton died as the resultof what et-y the United States treacheryil' his fellow gung.,",. ;lgarded as-despicable horsein Lin' a wasthrown andkickedio deuthwhileiiding of the O'Baniongalg' determined coln Park. e.o--iiie the horsea few dayslater' kidnapped to exactvengeance' had beenfound' and led it to the spot;i;;t M;;ton's body firing a shot into " bu.ptJ it ofi," eachgangster solemnly head. the animal's several to havecommitted Morton, knownby the police religiou:' wasburiedwith elaborate murders, {t,"tt:,1il: 1id aitend:1 was funeral t'i' military honors, Y^j[it^i"t "na Federaloffi' of trucklingcity, state,county'and assortment

saii thebaity \'y:"'q?id cials. "piu. tno.,luna'J.Js," madethe West Side

who had tributeto Morton';;ili";;" man.hehad organized-a young 'desafe for his race. nt " jt*'b'aittrs' from thJWest Side"' fensesocietyto a,i*-' wasplanned service A vearafter Morton's deatha memorial the servicc of ;;t;tt rti."a", uta the printedannouncement 343

carried the names of Rabbi Felix A. Levi, the Reverend John L. O'Donnell, General Abel Davis, and Captuio Ea Maher. It was also announced that yonnry io;il';iv#. WeissJerry Druggan, and other .ri,,,inJt, ,;;i;;;i;t;lprincipat addresswas to be delivered;y;-*;ii,f111 knownTh. lawyer, Frank Comerford. The plan was abandoned when GeneralDavis withdrew from the committee; he said it would be a mistaketo flauntMorton's record " in the f aces of decentcitizens.t' O'Banion'sincome,from the liquor traffic, though not nearly so large as that of either Torrio or Capone, *u?uum_ cient to make him a:lery rich man;it was bt;h; police after his death that he had banked"rii_"i.d armostu dollars a year from this sourcealone. He supplem."r.Jf.i, -illion booze.ea.rnings with the proceeds of frequentsafe_robberies, payroll holdups, and hijackings. At least two of his ex_ piolts were noteworthyeven for Chicago. He led his crew of gunmen into West Side railroud yuid, and stole a hundred thousand dollars' worth of Cinadian liquor f;";' ; frcight car; and in r9z4 he carried out the famous robberv of the Sibley trucking out one th";r*t;;;;i -warehouse, hundred and fifty barrels of bond"ed whisky and IeavinEin therr stead as many barrels of water. He was indicted?or thrs,together with ,.::.of four city detectives, Sungrt"rs, and officialsof the Sibley!13 Wa*rehiuseCompany, but no one was convicted.In tgzz O,Banion furthe, hi, incomeby buying a half-interestin William "rg_.ntrd E] S.hofi.ld,, loy.r-shop on North State Street, directly opposite the Cathedralwhere he had onceservedas choir'boy.'Ar;d: land's official florist o'Banion sold thousands of dolrars, worth of flowers to the friends and foes of slain gun*.n, for underworld etiquettedemandedthat a kiiler send expensivefloral tributes to the funeral of his victim. E,ven without the business of the gangsters, ownershipof the shoo would have brought great proiperity to O'Ba'nio", i; ;:

a consrtrrtittl' ability and possesscd business had considerable bloottts':trr'l of arranging knack a had He love of flowers' florirl crcrthis instructions by unlesshampered too much works of art' tions were, in muny instances, joined Torrio's leagtrc O'Banion after years three For with what he could be content to of gunmenhe appeared get out of the North Side. But after the taking o-f Cic.ercr severalof his killers had dissatisfaction; f,. b.gun to express rioting in th9 ,uppJrr.d Al'Capone during the election-day it but a brief of out nothing .uturbun city, and he had got word of thanks. To placatethe disgruntledO'Banion,Torrio turned over to him a strip of Cicero territory in which dollars was worth abouttwenty thousand the beerconcession canhe business; this a month. O'Banion soon quintupled saloonfifty the south and west sidesand persuaded vassed Saltiskeeperswho had beenbuying beer from the Sheldon, Cicero' into move to gangs McErlane, and Druggan-Lake where they competedwith saloonswhich were supplied by Torrio and Capone.Torrio demandeda share of the new revenue)and in return offered o'Banion an interest in the earningsfrom brothels. But o'Banion refused. svndicate's iik. th. O'DonnJls, he was not interestedin prostitution. O'Banion also nursed a grievanceagainstTorrio's al' lies the Genna brothers- $26, Jim, Pete, Angelo, Tony' and Mike, known as the Terrible Gennas,who were the specialpets of Diamond Joe Espositoand high in the council, of tire Unione Siciliana.Thi North Side gang chieftain complainedthat the Gennas were "mu-scling.in." on. his territory and flooding the district with bad whisky -w.hich they soid for three dollars a gallon. O'Banion had been r getiing from six to nine dollars,but deliveringa muchbe-tte irad."of liquor. He demandedthat Torrio drive the Gcnlas buck to the West Side,and when Torrio protestedtlrat such a miracle of disciplintl..lll' he could not accomplish 'l'his to do it himself' threatened angiily fiery O'Banion 345

34+

was a task which no one but the North Siderwould even haveconsidered, for of all Chicago gunmen the Gennas and their henchmen werethe mostfeared. Five of the six Gennabrotherswere typical Sicilian killers- haughty, overbearing, contemptuous,savage, treacherous, and at the sametime devoutlyreligious;they went regularlyto church, and carriedrosaries and crucifixei in th_eir-pistol pockets.The exception was Tony, known in the.Italian colony as Tony the Gentlemanand Tony the Aristocrat,who studiedarchitecture, built modeltenements for his poor countrymen, was a patron of the opera,and lived elegantly in a downtownhotel. He never liilled, but he attended all family councils at whichmurderwasplanned, and had a voicein all decisions. The qualities that Tony the Gentleman lackedwere to be found-in ample measuiein the Gennas'principalfollowers - Sam SmootsAmatuma, the dandyof gangland, accomplished musician and doublecrosser;Giuseppe Nerone, called the Cavalier,university graduate and teacher of mathematics; and thoseferocious murderersJohn Scalisiand Albert Anselmi,besidewhom Frank McErlanewasthe personification of loving-kindness. It was Scalisi and Anselmiwho taught Chicago'Jgangsters to rub their bulletswith garlic, to increase the cfiances of gangrene. The Gennas put hundreds of Sicilians and Italians to work cookingcorn sugaralcoholin West Sidetenements in the vicinity of Taylor Street,usinga process which is said to have beeninvented by their brother-in-law, Harry Spingola,a wealthylawyer. In lessthan a year the Genna cookeriesand stillswere producing thousands of gallonsof raw alcohol, whichwascut,flavored, colored, andJoldasbrandy, or whisky, whatever the customer desired in the way of fine liquor. At the peak of their prosperity, early in r925, the assets of the Gennas, includinggoodwill and a three-story warehouse on Taylor Street,were valued at five million 346

to three hundredand fifty dollars; gross salesamounted dollarsa month,of which at leasta hundredand thousand was Pro' was profit. This lucrativebusiness fifty thousand by Torrio tectedby a policeand politicalhookuparranged paid, monthly,sums by which the gangsters and Esposito, which ranged from a small amount in the beginningto dollarsin April r925. Federalagents nearlyseven thousand from their obtaineda confession investigating the Gennas were on captains five police officemanager, who said that the Gennapayroll. He also said that four hundredunimostlyfrom the Maxwell Streetstation, formedpolicemen, and from Headquarters officers besides many plain-clothes calledat the Gennawarehouse Attorney'soffice, the State's their bribes. In addition,the police eachmonth to .receive prices. largequantities of alcoholat wholesale received emphasize to Gennas and for the his contempt To show O'Banion hihis dissatisfaction with Torrio's leadership, dollars' jackeda Gennatruck loadedwith thirty thousand up their immediately polished worth of whisky. The Gennas and startedon the warpath,but were restrained armament by Torrio and by Mike Merlo, presidentof the lJnione Ward, and an importantfigurein the Nineteenth Siciliana, or Italian in Chicago.Among his the mostpowerfulSicilian Merlotsword waslaw. He wasintimatelyasso' countrymen and other Italian and Sicilian ciatedwith Torrio, Capone, but took no part in muchlawlessness, andtolerated gangsters to murder. Both he opposed gang wars and was strongly that peace with O'Banioncouldbe ar' and Torrio believed to the pistol and the shotgun.At rangedwithout recourse had not yet appeared the machine-gun that time,incidentally, of gangwarfare. as an instrument But O'Banionrefusedto listento Torrio's overtures, and relationsbetweenthe North Side chieftain and thc leaders of the Sicilian gangs were strained throughout occurred.'fhc the winter of.rgz3-4, althoughno shootings 347

breaking.point was reachedin the spring of rgz4, when O'Banion double-crossed Torrio and swindledhim out of several hundredthousand dollars. In partnership with Torrio and Capone, O'Banionownedthe Sieben Breweryon the North Side,one of the largestbreweries to operati during prohibition. About themiddleof May tgz4O'Banioncalled Torrio and Caponeinto conference and told them he had decided to wind up his afiairsand retire to Louis Alterie's ranch in Colorado. To make the story more plausible he intimatedthat he was afraid of the Gennas.Torrio and Capone boughtO'Banion's shareof the breweryfor a price said to have beenhalf a million dollars,and the property was transferredimmediately. O'Banionagreedto assist in the dispatch and protection of onemoreconvoy of beerfrom the plant and suggested May r9 as the best date for making the shipment. On thenight of May r 9 the Sieben Brewerywasraided _ by a strongforceof policemen underthe commindof Chief of Police Morgan Collins and CaptainMatthew Zimmer. Thirteentruckspiledhighwith beerbarrelswereconfiscated, and twenty-eight gangsters and beer-runners arrested,includingTorrio, Hymie Weiss,Louis Alterie, and O'Banion. Instead of taking his prisonersto a police station, Chief Collinsturnedthemover to the Federil authorities.When askedwhy he had thus taken the caseout of thb handsof the State's Attorney, Chief Collinsrepliedthat the United States District Attorney " haspromised us prompt co-operation." JohnnyTorrio dippedinto his well-lined pockets and broughtup cash bail for himselfandhis half-dozlngunmen, but declined to furnishbondsfor O'Banion, Weiss,andAlterie,noneof whomhad thenecessary money on hand. They were compelled to await the arrival of Billy Skidmore,i professional bondsman and gambler,whose name is still frequentlymentioned in connection with the Chicagounderworld. 348

at the brewery,Johnny As soonasthe policeappeared proof .that obtainedhe Later triachery. Torrio suspected political his Through O'Banion irad double-*oisedhim. of the raid andhad the North sider had learned connections to unload his shareof of the knowledge taken advantage O'Banionalsoknew Capone. the breweryuponTorrio and by-theunited States wouldbe handled that the prosecution did not exDistrict httotn.y, and that Torrio's influence he might that aware He well was court. tendto the Fedeial as one of Torrio, that himselfbe fined,but he anticipated ofiender - Torof the breweryand as a second the owners dollarsin r9z3 for operat' rio had beenfinedtwo thousand punished' severely more much be ing a brewery - would -In He expected' had th"emain, eventsoccurredas O'Banion he was deadby the time the paid no fine himselfbecause Lr"*"rv casecame into court, but Torrio, one of eleven dol' guilty, was finedfive thousand who pleaded defendants free jail. remained He to ninJmonthsin lars and sentenced for nearlYa Year. on bail, however, Among JohnnyTorrio's dominanttraits, and accountas a criminal,were for his greatness ing in large measure in check'Unu'ndtt. ability to hold his passions pa"tience he hated O'Banion as much as he had ever questionably as-if nothing hated unyonr,but he went abouthis business North Sider fierce the with that war realizing had happened, of liquor distribution,and throw wouldtisrupt his system it did. But O'Banion ganglandinio chaoi, as' eventually, by the shrewd Advised worse. matter a bad Iooi the Gennas, and -"d. Torrio with Hymie Weissto make peace " Oh, to hell with them OiBanionsaidwith hugecontempt: as a gunmen by O'Banion repeated This phrase, Sicilians." flor' the gangster really was rePartee' bit of gattgland choice and Italiansalike it was ist's death*utt"nt, for to Sicilians of rgz4 timesduringthe summet a deadlyinsult.Several Capone, Torrio, by planned was O'Banion of muider the 349

Decatledtor next morning. About noon on NovJmbcr ro threemen entered O,Ban_ sh.opand walked abreast toward th. gungst.., ::l^t l"t.,l wno was clrpplng the stems of a bunch of chrysanihrmums tn the rear of the front room. He was alone in the place except for a Negro porter, mopping the f oor in tn"'U".f.

flowers, anc said to havebeena ,..oiniruui"l*.".rrl i" cortege it was carriedin a car preceding the 11:..11".::l Iylany.of the flowers camefrom O,Banion,s Jhoo, l"ii:.., hehlteda ten-thousand_dollar orderfor Torrio, andan.iEl_,'t_ thousand-dollar orderfor AI Capone. Evenone;i,l* i;;nas,Jim, called at O'Banion's ploc. andpaid ,.lr.n hunJ*d andfifty dollarsfor a floral tribute. But, asdeveloped later, Genna'svisit was really for the purposeof faitliarizing hirnself with the interioi of the ship.'All a* S""j*,'"N"l vember andhispartneriSchofield', 9, O'Banion *"rf..l'nlra arranging floral design,uni sendingthem to tt Ulrio " That nighi, after O'Bani"on had gone, , ;;; i.:ld:T.r. called. by telephone andordered a wreath. He"said it would

and the Gennas, but each time they were stoppedby Mike Merlo, who still hopedfor a peaceful settlemeiJ. B;M;;i; died on Noyember 8, rgz4, to b. ,,,..."ded by Angelo G.nnu aspresident of the IJnione Siciliana, and t*oiayr'tu,., Dion O'Banion lay dead among his flowers. Merlo's funeral*"r in imposing ceremony.A hundred o*.r. thousanddollars' worth of flowers sent to his home by. friends;,jh-.y filled not only the house but the lawn out_ slde as well. The most impressiveof these pieceswas a statue of the dead man twelve feet high, made entirelv of

nrs' w;tt and the left, holding a pair of she was outstretched, grasltt'tl simply three the of man at his side. The center antl bcjerked forward' him O'Banion'shand and suddenly snatch and fore the gangster could recovei his equilibrium a pistol, itt. It.n on either side of him had fired five bullets inlo his'body, and a sixth-the grace shot to make death certain- into his head. The Negro porter said that two of O'Banion's mura derers were I"talians,and that the third might have been o.f description better no Greek or a Jew, but he could give never able to obtain suffith.i, upp.utrn... The police w-ere even to justify an arrest, and the crime is still cient evidence officially unsolved. Bui O'Banion's gunmenlearned,to their by o*n ,uiirfuction at least, that the killing was planned O'Banion's and that the man who seized Torrio and Capone, The death shots were fired by John GennaMike hand was ten thouscalisiand Albert Anselmi,eachof whom received sand dollars in cash and a three-thousand-dollardiamond ring. Scalisisenthis ring to his sweetheartin Sicily-' -. The funeral of O'Banion was the gaudiestof all gangland's burials. His casket cost ten thousand dollars, and was shipped from Philadelphia to Chicago in a special ex' pr.., .ur. Forty thousand persons v.iewed the body as it i'luy in state," as the Triiune Put it' in an undertaker's three yit a milelong, l-ed..by chapel. The funeral procession from Stickney,Chief.Collins ha.v' bund, and a polic. "u.ott to participatein,the ing refusedto allow Chicagopolicemen were required to cars and tiu&s c.i.moni.s. Twenty-five the hearse, followed persons carry the flowers. Ten thousand undi.n thousandmore waited al the grave. Cardinal Mundelein had refused to allow funeral servicesto be held over but at Mount Carmel Cemeterya-priest the dead gangster, who had kno*n O'Banion sincechildhood recited a litany, a Hail Mary, and the Lord's Prayer. The gangsterwas buried in untonsecratedground, but five months after his 35r

IllA,9,r..r saw u't'anron advance to meet the callers, heardhim sav: " H-ellg, boys,you want Merlo's flowers I "'oni ,u* frf .'l<_ tenda handin greeting. ", OrdinarilywhenO'Baniontalked t? anyone_, particular-ly to strangeri,he kept one hand in a pistolpocket.But thistimehe rias off grurd; his ,ight hunJ 350

thetop of a swinging rnlick.r door,the porter

deaththe bodywasdisinterred and reburiedin a plot which had beenboughtby Mrs. O'Banion. It was thus placedin consecrated ground,a circumstance whichled CaptainJohn Stege, an honestpoliceman who fought the gangsters with greatvigor,to remark: but look at him " O'Banionwasa thief anda murderer, now, buriedeightyfeet from a bishop."'
IO

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H vr uIE WEIs s, who wa sthe seco n d of t h e B ig S h o t s to die andthe third to vanishfrom the Chicago scene, wasborn in Poland. His real namewasWajciechowski, a jawbreaker whichwaschanged to Weisssoonafter his family arrivedin the United States.Chicago records police givehis firstname as Earl, but in the underworld he was known as Hymie the Polack,Little Hymie, and Hymie, most often the last. Before prohibition hewasa burglar,a safe-blower, and an automobile-thief, andoccasionally a hired sluggerand killer for laborunions.His disposition although, wasugly andsavage, as his gangsterfriends often pointedout, he was kind to his mother. Like so many gangland murderers, he was religious;he carriedcrucifixes in his pockets and rosaries and wasa regularattendant at Mass. He was a greatdealmore prudent and far-seeing than O'Banion,who was impulsive and headstrong, and the pair made an excellent criminal combination. The Chicagopolice alwayssaid that it was Weisswho reallybuilt up O'Banion's boozebusiness to such hugeproportions; he was always readyto adjustcomplaints of the saloon-keepers, and slugged them only when he was unableto keepthem in line by peaceful means. Weissassumed the leadership of the North Sidegang
1 This was true. About that distance grave is the away from O'Banionts mausoleumin which lie the bodiesof ArchbishopsFeehanand Quigley and Bishop Porter.

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352

u Do n t h e d e a t h o fo ' B a n i o n a n d i m m e d i a t e l y d e c l a l e d w a r brothers' kle strucK andthe sixGenna Torrio, Capone, u'pon

;l;'";

was parked in front of a restaurant at State

12,rg25,wttittcip-:Lt--t a"ton".'on January :il and trltty'nttn

S.h.-., Drucci,and BugsMoran drove ilJ;,'W"t*, of bullets with a fu-sillade slowlvbv and,"k.J;;;chine th".1|.'t:: Capone's pistols'. ;"J automatic ;;';i.g;

sltttng bo-dyguard' but two of the gangster's was wound"ed, hurt' not were in the rear seat' dropped to the foor and into the restaurant C"oon" wasnot in the'car;hehad stePPed appeared' beforethe assailants ; i;* moments wake'whlcn Dion O'Banion's attended Torrio Johnny couragg' requiredconsiderable lut under the circumstances endedbefore he was in flight' ih, ..r.-onies had sca,cely

morethan 'f;"tilJ;t o'grnion gun-tn, whowerenever to Springs' Hot him,Torrio wentto behind l.* iu,ri'p, ralm to " New Orleans' to Havana and the Bahamas'and

in Florida' He returned to Chi' Beachand St. f.t.itlutg Capone' casosomeeight or ninedlys after the attemPtupon shoPPrng on the ifternoon of January z+t rg21 went o'clock-they "rr? in the Loop with his wife. About half Past,four drove up to their home at No. Torr fllde,Av*t:-tlrtl' South Side' It was growrng JacksonPark sectionof the parked i"rt , *d Torrio failed to seethe automobile "t:Td goJout.ot the Torrig Mrs' Street' the cornerin Seventieth followed, car andwalkedao*"ia her front door, andToirio than half hi; ;t;t fiiled with p"r..tt. He had takenno more and ,irf, when two men' armed with a shotgun ;;;;; pistols, rushedacrossthe street' Tttty 1:1-fi.1t' the and woundlng "uio-"ti. the windshield at Torrio's car,shattering the and chaufieur.fn.n ih.v tur?ed their gunson Torrio' in his iaw' master of the Aoi"J trafrc fell witf, five bullets and chest' . right arm, abdomen, , r,_^_n--t- Lr^o, Hospi' the in lay Torrio Jackson-Park w..ks three For ot gun' tal, closelyguardedby two policemenand a band 353

men under the personalcommandof Al Capone. On FebTorrio appeared }"ly 9, t925, heavily bandaged, in the United States Court,paid theine imposed uponhim in the Brewery case, ind was sentto the I,"i. Co"rry l"if *?fwa{<!gan to serve his sentence of ninemonths.The kind3t heartedSherifiallowedthe gangste r manyprivileges.He fitted-uphis cell with rugs, ."hriir, and a.o-fortr.bte bed, installedbullet-proof steJ-mesh blinds at the windows,and nrr !d^two deputysheriffs to patrol the corridor outsidethe cell. Sometime in March t9z5 Torrio summoned Al Caponeandhislawyers andtransferred to Capone all his b;";heIs, cabarets,-ga-mbling-houses, breweries, anddistilleries and ar nght and title to his high estatein gangland, transactionswhicharesaidto havei"nvolved seveiar iriilion dollars. When he was released from jail in the fall of ,g;S, ih;; automobiles filled with gunmenwaited for him ,ri. n"r.. andhe was rushed,-l1r"rglr ", Chicagoto Garyr Irdi;;;*"h; he took atrain for NewYork. T"here he blarded for ltaly. IJnless ".1;;.; he returnedunbeknown to the police, Torneveragainin Chicago, although h. wa.'b"cklrrth. :t_o.r": Unrted Stateswithin a few years. Ai last reports he was in Brooklyn. Estimates of his wealth when he lef,t lyi."S Lnlcago ranged trom ten to thirty million dollars.
II

were broken,and gangchieftains organized.Old alliances dawn or wlio had worked amicably together since the a.lg prohibition becamedeadly'.ntilitt' Myles }lo:di\e lattts b'Donnell joined forceswith Weiss,and so dtd Joe and Frank'McErlane and various other outfits co_mposed

;;"iy

as dtd the benloyal to Capone, Dattny Stantonremained *.u: gangs.In general, Sicilian nu, und the lesser ".gTgtt:t t'We-issguy"' rerrltorlar either a "Capone guy" or a ancl claimswere ifnored] irucks were hi'iacked'breweries roar the to echoed streets robied, and Chicago's distilleries rattle-of the and pistols, autoiratic oirhotgunr, the crackof the in caught The speakeasy'o*13i: ;;i":-g"ns. 1n.1lt: terrorized by- all.factions' lrxcept ror a and slugled was

RalphSl:t1,"1ilj oi R-.ri.ans and Irishmen'

in : 9'7.',tl:*1,1: latein ryi5 andearly tti.r liEi,rtiagspell

tn tne continuedfoi five years. Includingthose who tell Spike and Torrio Gtween andinthefighting iakingof Cicero many how mtn died' Just O'DJrn.ll, morethan fivehrindred never for was of thesekittingsAl Caponewas resPonsible The Chisixty' to twinty known,but estlmat.srairg"d from were oe' who listed thirty'three persons cagoTribune once to the list this Victims,i and appended ..tit.a as " Capone's t' and many othersaboutwhom deh' statiment: sisnificant is not available'" Here are some of the ;l?; l;f*-"iion of murder: catalogue in the five-year more importantentries T h re e o f t h e G e n n a s w e r e k i l l e d . T h e f i r s t w a s A n g e l o . Weiss'Bugs 26, rgz5,threemen,saidto havebeen May On Drucci,cameuP behindhim in a tourMoran, and Schemer OgdenAvenueand blasiedhim to death with i;;;;'on t3' sa?ed-ofishoiguns.Mike Genna was next' On June vol' and Anselmi'he exchanged Scalisi rg25,'together"with hurt but who were seriously Drucci, t.yr'*itti Moran and and overtak:lby a policecar' Pursued *'unug.d to escape. openedfire with shotgunsupon Gennagangsters the th"ree 355

attacksupon Al Caponeand Johnny Torrio marked Jl "," rne Degrnnrng of the gangwars-which spreadChicago's evil renownto the far cornersof the earth. Coupled irith th" activityof Chief of police Morgan bollins under ilcre,lsed the drrectorder of Mayor Dever, the flight of Torrio and efi-og9_of Hymie Weiss to exact lr"ngJun.. for the mur_ the der of O'Banion threw ganglandinto turmoil and com" pletely disruptedthe sysiem"ofboozedistribution and control of vice and gambling which rorrio had so carefulrv 354

Detectives Michael wilriam sweeney, charlesB. f._conway, walsh, and Harold F. olson. In the battle ttLatfollowed, Mike Genna and Detectives walsh and olson were killed and Conway was wounded.Scalisiand Anselmi escaped, but werelater arrested.At their third trial for the murder of Walsh and Olson,more than two yearsafter the crime was committed,they were acquittedLpon the remarkable ground that they had only-resisted unwarrant.dpoliceag. gression. A defense fund of a hundred thousand doltur, *i"t expended on behalfof the two gunmen, and several Italians, amongthem Flenry Spingola, were murderedbecause thev refused to contribute morethanonce.The third of the Gennasto die was Tony the Gentleman; he was slainfrom ambushby Joseph Nerone,the Cavalier. Lessthan a vearlater Nerone was shot by a Caponegunman.The Juccessive deaths of Angelo, Yif-:, andTonylroke up the gang. Sam and Pete went into hiding, and Jim fled to Italyi wfrer" he remained five years. Part of that time he was in an Italian jail. Sam Smoots Amatunawas shot to death as he sat in a barber's chair,by two menwho werebelieved to havebeen Schemer Drucci and Jim Doherty, the latter one of Mvles o'Donnell's most eficientkillers. Amatuna had succeeded Angelo Gennaas president of the unione sicilianaand was trying to rally the depletedforcesof the sicilians.Before the-summer of rgzg threemore fJnionepresidents-Antonio Lombardo,Pasquale Lolordo, and joseph Guinta_ wereslainas the resultof capone's efiortsto controlthe organization.Lombardo was li[ed in a rush-hourcrowd at State and Madison Streets,one of the busiestcornersin the world. In r9z8 Frankie (Jale, national head of the LJnione, wasmurdered in Brooklyn,supposedly by Capone's orders. Dohertyand Tom Duffy,the latter alsoan O'Don_ - Jim nell gunman, werekilled on the night of Apl:il 27, r926, less 356

of Amatuna' in front 'of than two months after the death mr'trtlcr

In this ;i;; b;;t inn on noot'utr' Roadin Cicero' warfarc'

upp."'edfor the firsttimein gang themachin"-gun himselfis saidto havehandledthe weapott' Af Capoln. ".a fire wasWilliam H' McSwiggin' t"tti Slainin the same "f Attorney' JVlyles State's an Assistant .on a policeman', to "nJ themselves by throwingO'potnell escaped ;riJKlffir..

il

of suchnotorlous ilil.;, and why he was inlhe companv Attorney's State's th'e huu. n.u.,'ft"" t"pfuined; criminals, information' obtain ;il;-tttd vaguely;'; ht wui t'ying t'o killed simply because The police theory was that he'wa-s to b. *ilh the O'Donnells' At first'McSwiggin he chanced that disclosed but.investigation was regardedas a ;;;tt, an-{;{q1 he had long been iti."iri with-the.o'Donnells plavedaround " with D";;;;y"tE nrny, ,rt"iil n"a often"

;;;;;J

feath' Whv McSyisg:1-'1:: andshamming

hehadheld the'murder auv'before ;;;';;1'; ia tniiiln Caponeat the latter's headquarters with a long conterence

after the killing and remained in Cicero. Cupon. "unishe'd When he returied to Chicago in hiding for four whateverconnect' -"ttttt' had no evidence he founEthat the police him with the crime' inq "'" ^-tft. made a dozenattemptsto North Side gangsters t.9z6' 2.o'] September kill Capon., una n.utiy ;ylcleded on Streetin Cicero At noonon that auy, J'nitt Twenty-second promenaders'.eleven wasfilledwith .t,opitt' undlunch-hour drove slowly past gangsteis Weiss filled'with automobiles buildingmore than the HawthorneInn und pou"iinio the f'o- machine'guns'.automatic Uuttets a thousand 'nd Aftfr 'iug' the roar of thelttack had sub' pistols,and shotguns' automobiles iii.J,'u"rret-hoGs were found in thirty'five and doors woodwork hotel' parkedat the *,L' fntiae the from plasterripped shattered' windows splintered, hadbeen lobby' ind in theoffice 91Pon"' walls,andfurniture'wr"ck"d injury' although escaped door' next in a restaurant lunching 357

bulletssnapped abovehis headas he lay on the foor. One of his gunmen, Louis Barko,wasshotin the shoulder.Mrs. ClydeFreeman, sittingwith her infant sonin a car that was struckthirty times,washit by a bulletthat ploweda furrow across her foreheadand iniuredher eyes.Another creased the skull of her son. Capone is saidto havepaid physicians fivethousand dollarsto saveMrs. Freeman'Jsighi. Hymie Weiss lived just twenty days after his attack uponAl Capone in Cicero. At four o'clockon the afternoon of October rr, 1926,Weissdroveup to his headquarters aboye O'Banion's flowershopat No. 738 North StateStreet, accompanied by PaddyMurray, his bodyguard; SamPeller, his chauffeur; W. W. O'Brien , a lawyer;and BennyJacobs, an investigatoremployed by O'Brien. They had spentthe afternoonat the CriminalCourt Building,whereJoe Saltis and his right-hand man,Lefty Koncil,were on trial for the murderof Mitters Foleyof the Sheldon gang. Incidentally, Saltis and Koncil were acquitted. As Weiss and his four companions walkedslowlyacross the sidewalk, the two gunmen opened fire upon them with a shotgunand a machinegun from a window on the third floor of a boarding-house next door, where,as was afterward learned,they had lain in wait for three days. Weiss was killed almosi instantlv by ten machine-gun bullets. Murray, hit fifteentimes,feil deadbeside him. Peller,Jacobs, andO'Brienwerewounded, but eventually recovered. Weisswastwenty-eight yearsold when he died, and possessed a fortune conservatively estimatedat onemillion three hundredthousand dollars. Schemer Drucci,who succeeded Weiss as chief of the O'Banion gang, died ingloriously,accordingto gangland standards, at the handsof a policeman. Arrestedfor creating a disturbance at a pollingplaceon April 4, r9z7t Drucci wasbeingtakento a policestationwhenhe became enraged and tried to snatch Detective Dan Healy'srevolyer. Healy shot him four times.. Drucci left an estateappraised at five 358

dollars. with Druccigone,BugsMorrt.n hundredthousand lrrs leaderof the North Sidegangand transterrc(l became N9'.zlzz North Clark Strcct' to a garuge headquarters 1t in the famousSt' menweretiit.a in this garage Seven rg2g' (Jnc r+ of February Valentine'sDay massacre H' Reinhart -<rl the victims was a young optometrisi,Dt' oTd-ti-t f riendof Moran's and'like who was'an Schwimmer, McSwiggin, enjoyed "playi-ng around" with gangsters' gang-Frank Gusenwerememb.tt oi M-oran's The others tn a berq; his brother Peter,who had servedthreeyears p;ison for a mail-truck robbery in rgzt'J"Tt: ;';";;i realnamewasKasnelwhose Clark,Mtran's brother-in'law, Adam Flyer' exr.:[iiln" Muy, .uf"'blower and mechanic; and Alfred Weinshank'an convictand expertaccountant; and Dyers'Association,who of the central cleaners' official men'watttng joinedthe gang' All of these had only recently irt" gurug"for a truckloui ofiooze which thty,.tY3p:1:.0 L'etrort' "i by the Purple 9."."g w"s bJrngirn into Chicago 9t glngthree by the wall and linedup against were disa'rmed ln policeuniforms. Then two othermenl ptarn wearing sters machine.i"iil"g, .i.!i.a forward and rakedthe line with and Scalisi' McGurn, lohn fun.. tn. poii.. arrestedJack proved McGurn gu$.1but io..pt, Guinta,all of the Capone kill.d beforethey could w.ie Cuini, and Scalisi un "nJ had thebestalibi of all; at the mo"iiti Capone himself Ut tti.a. he wastalkingto theDistrict mentthe crimewascommitted the qolit: A.,orn.y of Miami, Florida. Nevertheless' r*:1" the planne-cl had he that to prove, certain,though unable by Scalisi wereoperated andthat themachine'guns massacre' gang Capone the and Anselmi. Bugs Moran said: " Only kills like that." and Anselmiwere found of Guinta,Scalisi, The bodies on May 8, rgz9, huddledon the floor of an automobilc Park' Eachof the rncrt putf..a'..rt Gtty;t Lake in Douglas times,anJtheir bodiesbeatenalrnost had beenshot several 3 -59

to a pulp. The crime was never solved,but the policeadvancedthree theories,all plausible.One was that Moran andhis ganghad killed the fearsome Sicilians. Anotherwas that Capone had put themon the spotin order to makepeace with Moran. The third, whichthe police believed to be most likely, was that Caponehad ordered them killed because they were becoming too important,especially Scalisi.That brutalthug had become chiefbodyguard to Capone after the collapse of the Gennagang,and had amassed a fortune of two hundredand fifty thousand dollars. He had also been appointedassistant to Guinta as presidentof the {Jnione Siciliana andhad quicklyrelegated Guintato the background and himself takenover the conduct of the organization's affairs. Moreover, he had beenheardto remark,soonafter t' I am the mostpowthe slaughter of the Moran gangsters: erful manin Chicago." Evidence gathered by thepolice indicatedthat Capone believed Scalisi, Anselmi,and Guintato be plotting against him, and that the threewerebludgeoned and shot while attendinga ganglandbanquetgiven to celebrate the victorv over the Morans. JakeLingll waskilled on June9, r93o, in a pedestrian underpass at RandolphStreet and Michigan Avenue. Ostensibly Lingle wasa policereporteron the Trtbuneearning sixty-five dollarsa week,but deathrevealed him as possessing an incomeof more than sixty thousand dollars a year. F{edrovea big car,ownedan eighteen-thousand-dollar summer home,plungedin the stockmarket,bet heavilyon the races, and maintained an elaborate suiteof roomsat oneof Chicago's most expensive hotels. He was also disclosed as an intimatefriend of Al Capone, as an occasional visitor at Capone's estate in Florida,astheproudownerof a diamondstudded belt givento him by Capone, as the friend of other gangleaders, as a fixerfor gambling-houses andother shady enterprises, asthe " unofrcialchiefof police,"andastheman who, by his own admission, " fixed the price of beer in Chi36o

connections' caso." But the full extent of his underworld divulgctl' never hit politicalPower'were of "r?"rrtti..t;;;i gt"rn"rs, a St.Lduis gu"-un, wasconvicted the kill' l-"" of whichhe trg ;d ;;;tencedto pii.o? for fourteenyears' ten. *''-i^ri served t' t9!91"Jjl' of JakeLingle,waskilled on.August murd'er Wis' Delafield' niar Nemahbin l-"ft" iuf." Vi"* Hotel "? feed' pavilion dance consin.As Zuta stood in the hotel's rilalK' entered' inE nickelsinto an electricpiano, five men a rifle' two machin'-gy' a fii. and carrving ffi i;;;;l; Zuta' and when .n?,g"tl?ta pirtot.. They liied up.behind his ridd.led they he turnedto facethem,a Jmileon itit face, tne slugsand bullets' Zuta had occuPled body with sixteen and Mike ;;;'. ;;;i,i.n in lvtoiun's gang as Harry Cusick mlnager general was he de Pike Heitler did in Capone's as As far Prostltutlon of brothels and immoral cabarets. eye seen not had Moran and Weiss, *u. .on..rned,Drucci, boxesowned to evewith Dion O'g'nion' in safety'deposit andmemo' checks' canceled bu duathe policef oundledgers,

to have by+-t police believed Zuta, l1ll"t1 ll:

;ffi;;'hi;f,i"on^a

years.They showedihat Moran'l g:9s: income' **"f had left him' as st. ValentineDav massacre ;;;;,;;;; to with few followers' amount-ed was popularlysupposed, zuta's thou'"nd dollars a week' f,il;.d ;;;.";t;f;"; of more thana hundredthou' payment ,..ora, alsoshoweJ i' by the p.olice,as sanddollarsa weekio M' K'," identified Mait Kolb, potiti.i"n und gambler,wh.oappattntll-l1n*d money' They also showedtnat Luta the gang'sprotection statesenators' or loanedmoneyto many.judges' traa'givJn But nothing life' and other *.r, nigh in pudfit and private disclosures' of these came -"'---t;r.ph hc fire-as Aiello died in a burst of machine-gun houseon North ,t"pp.a irito the streetfrom an aPartment was struck by FIe Kolmar Avenueon October 23, rg3o' 36r

of overa period preserved careFully

fifty-nine bullets,weighingall togethermore than a pound. Aiello was the leaderof an Italian gang which had-arisen after the downfall of the Gennas, and wis alliedwith Bugs Moran. He had beenfightingAl Capone for controlof the Unione Sicilianaand had tried severaltimes to have the gangsterking killed, onceby bribing a restaurantchef to put prussic acidin Capone's soup,and againby ofieringa reward of fifty thousand dollars. Al Capone attempted to arrangea trucewith the embattledNorth Siders after Hymie Wiiss andhis cohorts had invaded CiceroandbombardidttreFfawthorne Inn, andlate in September 19z6 representatives of both gangsmet in conference at the Hotel Sherman. They discussedtheir differences for several hours, but all pto.pict of peace vanished when Weiss insistedthat Scalisiand Anselmi be ,,put on the spot" for the murderof Dion O'Banion. When Cupon" was told of this ultimatum,he sent word to Moran: ,, I wouldn'tdo that to a yellowdog," a statement which,when repeated in the newspapers, drew this comment from Police Captain John Stege: " There is no one on earth Capone wouldn't sendto deathif he thoughthis interests would be served." Another meetingof gangsterswas held at the Hotel Morrison on October zr, t916, which was attended by delegations from all of the principalgangs, with Maxie Eisen,who had embarked upona privateiari"" as a racketeerlevyi-ng tributefrom pushcart peddlers, present aspeacemaker. New territorial allotments were agreedupon, and peace of a sort arranged, but it lastedonly a few months. Moran and Capone finally composed their differences after Scalisi and Anselmihad beenslain,and the agreement was ratifiedby somethirty Chicago gangleaders who met in Atlantic City, New Jersey. " We agreedto forget the past andbeginall over again,"saidCapone, " and we drew up a writtenagreement, andeachmansigned on the dottedlinl." 362

There were many gang killings in Chicagoafter that, but or protectivein character. most of them were disciplinary andthe O'Donnells Moian, Bugt as Caponi, old-timers Such last realizedthe th.y fought eachother no hd. ", t' -ot.. a trutl of Maxie Eisen'sremarkt We're bunchof saps, killing eachother this way and giving the copsa laugh'"
T2

A n o v B the carnageof the gang wars waved the bloody By thJ late winter of 1927,despite bannerof Al Capo-ne. the fierceenmityof Bugt Motun and the frequentoutbreaks the one-time in thi ranksof the Sicilians, of dissatisfaction lowly hoodlumfrom Brooklyn qas by far the dominantfig' underworid.Moreover,sowell had pub' ur. of the Chicago armoredcar, with seven-ton licity doneits w;k, the famous in its darkened lolling on silkencushions the pudgygangster ,..rr..i'r"big" cigar in f,is fat face, and a fifty-thousand' blazingfrom his left hand,was one of dollar diamonhri-ng the sightsof the city; the avlragetourist felt that his trip to out a viewof-Capone it included wasa failureunless Chicago Al," was suffi' for a spin. The merewhisper:" Flere comes citizens curious of thousands cientto stop trafficand to set the alongthe curbing.fn Cicero conduc' their necks craning buseipointedout the HawthorneInn as tors oisightseeing tt Capone Castle." buring the three or four yearsin which he was the f amespread city,Capone's second of America's boJs criminal travof the earth. Europeanjournalists to the far corners re' he him; interview and see to miles eled four thousand Aus' from Africa, ceivedfan mail from the Orient, from tralia, and from virtually everycountryin Europe; oncea to womanwrote from London ofieringto Pay his passage with neighbors some kill and over Englandif he would run

s6s

whomshehad quarreled.He wasprobablythe mosttalkedof and most written-about man in the world, and was certainly the most shot-at.He was the subjectof a greater literature,muchof it maudlinand mostof it untrustworthy, than any other criminal who ever lived, with the possible exception of JesseJames.Novels, biographies, historical and psychological studies,magazine and newspaper articles, even poems,all dealingwith various phases of Capone's career, pouredfrom the presses; playsand movingpictures acquainted millionswith his talk andmannerisms. There were storiesof his prodigalspending - he had sunkhalf a million dollarsin his palatialestate near Miami, Florida; his armoredcar had costtwentythousand dollars; he never gavea hat-check girl lessthan ten dollars,nor a newsboy Iessthan five, and a hundredwas his minimumtip to a waiter; he carrieda roll of fiftv thousand dollarsin his pocket and threw it awayon whatevercaughthis fancy. There were storiesof his unparalleled generosity - his annual expenditure for Christmasgifts exceeded a hundred thousand dollars; to his intimates, at all timesof the year, he presented diamond-studded beltsand solid-gold cigarette cases encrusted with precious stones; he entertained his political henchmen at elaborate banquets and kept their cellars filled with the finestchampagne; he was an iasy mark for any one with a hardJuckstory; and everywinter the bighearted crookgaveCicerocoalyardsanddepartment stores carte-blanche ordersto supplyall of the city'spoor families with coal,clothing, andgroceries. There werestoriesof his love of gambling and a - he shot crapsfor fifty thousand hundred thousand a throw, andneverfor lessthan onethousand unlesshe was playing with friends not " up in the bucks dollarsat a crackon a "; he bet a hundredthousand horse-race; at Hawthorne he won three hundredand fiftv thousand dollars in two days,but at New Orleanshe losi six hundredthousand in a singleafternoon.In l9z8 he said

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himself that sincehis arrival in Chicagoin rgzo he had million dollars' " fooled away" seven But Caponecould afiord his extravagunl"t:for hispri' vate fortun. *", estimatedat forty million dollars, and he on a gross whichoperated wasoverlordof a criminalempire incomeof more than a hundred million dollars a yearsixty millions from beer, liquor, and alky'cookin$itwenty' and dog'tracks;and ten five'millionsfrom gambling-fiouses and other tm' cabarets' roadhouses, millionsfrom brothels, from racketeering' came moral resorts.Anothertenmillions menhave business American a form of extortionwith which and years' twenty past all too familiar during the become Survey by the Illinois crime described whichwas succinctly of violence by means for personal'profit, as" the exploitation Pt-t' organizatiol.'' or empl-oyees' association of a business that was " of " racketeer Pub' hapsthe bestof all definitions r7 er Decemb on Commerce of go lournal Chica in the lisired ' t927 ? may be the bossof a supposedly " A racketeer union he maybe a.labor assotiation; business legitimate or other' the or one be oigunirer; he may pretend to Whether a iourneymlnthyg' bJth; or he may be^just himself uPonsome imposed has who a gunman he is associa' a business is he l.rd"r, or whethir union "Jits throwing by same; are the his methods tion organizer, and perhaps and incidental bricksi-ntoa few windows, a groupot in organizing murder,he succeeds accidental as' a protective calls he what meninto business smaller and fees what to collect sociation.He then proceeds what finessuit him, regula-tes dueshe likes,to impose waysunder' pricesand hoursofwork, and in various. merchant Any profit' own his the outfitto iakesto boss stay doesntt and in comein, or who comes who doesntt or slugged to Pay tribute, is bombed, in and continue intimidated." otherwise 365

Racketeering in oneform or another hasbeen practiced in the large citiesin the world for more than two thousand to years,but nowhereelsewas the systemever developed suchperfection as in Chicago duringthe overlordship of Al of Chicago Capone.The Employers' Association published linesof a report late in r9z7 listing twenty-three separate business whichracketeers eithercontrolled or were attempting to control- window-cleaning, machinery-moving, paper stock,cleaning and dyeing,laundries, candyjobbers,dental laboratories, ash-and rubbish-hauling, groceryand delicatessen stores, milk-dealers, garages, physicians, drug stores, florists, boot-blacks, restaurarits, glaziers,photographers, shoe-repairers, fish and poultry markets,butchers, bakers, This list was admittedlyincomplete, and window-shades. and probablyincluded no more than half of the businesses of the racketwhichhad beenbroughtunderthe domination eers. Within anothertwo yearsthe numberhad beenmore men had than tripled, and hundredsof Chicagobusiness learned that the reporthad spoken truth whenit said:" Conditionsarebecoming suchthat anymanwho daresto oppose certainkindsof racketeers or refuses to pay tribute to them is in actualphysical danger." big gangsmaintained All of the leadersof Chicago's departments, and there were also their own racketeering too small numerous independents uponindustries who preyed to interesta Big Shot. But at leastseventy per cent of the by Al Capone, racketsftom 19z6 to r93r were controlled racketeers closely alliedto him andworking or by subsidiary a scoreof labor underhis generaldirection.He controlled of and as many most them officered by ex-convicts, unions, To buildup thisphase of the Capone associations. protective already syndicate operations, and to hold in line thebusiness and debandsof gunmen and sluggers hi-jacked conquered, bombed stores andmanustroyed truckloads of merchandise, facturingplantsor wreckedthem with axesand crowbars,

onto clothing put acid into laundryvats' pouredcorrosives both blackjacked ir"nging in cleaningand dyeing shops, to enforce andkilledwhennecessary *or["ti andemployirs, instances In some opposition. down bieak or their demands enterprise business legitimate a partner in a caponebecame in order to protectit from the inroadsof rival racketeers. duringthe occurred of this description One notableincident -dyeing industry' Morris fight to control the cleaningand a cleantng operate.d which of a company Becker,president wasunableto obtainprotection plant ani a chainof stores, so he reor' Employcrs'Association, the or irom the police and to Capone, partnership fuil gavea ganizedhilbusiness, this announcement: thenissued no needof the policeor of the Employers' I have " Association.I now have the bist protectionin the world."

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yearsthe for more than seven Ar, CAPoNB maintained Hawthorne at the which he had established headquarters of Ciceroin r9z4,but after the deparInn uponthe capture principallyfor quiet ture of Johnnytorrio the Inn wasused city, andcounty police, with and with politicians conferences at the remained syndicate of the ofrcials. The geniral offices Mayor of by order rintil that dive was closed Four Deuces to the Hotel transferred then were and Dever, William E. When the Avenue' Michigan Metropoleat No. z3oo South Dever s Mayor by the policeduring Metropolewasinvaded the powerof g.angland' .n.rg"ii. but futile attemptto smash State Lexington-Hotel.at the to movid Cupin. and his staff South the.old of fringe the on Streets, and Twenty-second side Levee. In th" raid on the Metropole the policeseized a part of the.syndiwhichcomprised and documents ledgers Dever said with Mayor and system, catis bookkeeping time"' From this got the goods great satisfaction:a'fre've 367

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the Mayor's ofice it was announced that damningproof of wholesale corruption hadbeen obtained, andthat the records would be turned over to the Federal authorities.Before this couldbe donethey were impounded by JudgeHoward Hayesof the MunicipalCourt,andwerereturned to Capone after a special hearingof whichthe city received no foimal notification.Edwin A. Olson,United States District Attorney, denounced JudgeHayes'sactionas a direct refusalto co-operate with the government. At both the Metropoleandthe LexingtonCapone's or. ganizationoccupied betweenfifty and sixty rooms on two floors,the hallwaysof which were patrolled constantly by heavilyarmedgunmen." They operated their own private elevators andmaintained their own service bars," saida contemporarydescription of the gangster stronghold." Gambling went on openly and women visited the floors at all hours of the day and night. Nearly every hotel rule and regulationwere violateddaily. On Sunday morningsespeciallythe lobbywas a beehive of activity. Prominentcriminal lawyers andhigh officials of the policedepartment, along with politicians and dive-keepers, waited their turn to consult with the Big Shot. Policemen in uniform streamed in and out. A blind pig operated in the lobbyby a semi-public officialdid a land office business. In an underground vault, especially constructed, werestored$ r 5o,oooworth of wines and liquors. The stockwas constantly replenished. It was for the gang'sprivateuse." Capone himselfoccupied two rooms. In one,sitting at the headof a long mahogany table under the framed portraits of GeorgeWashington, Abraham Lincoln, and Big Bill Thompson, thegangster king helddailyconferences with his subordinates, planning sluggings andmurders, arranging hi-jacking forays, formulatinginstructions for rum-runners and smugglers, and transacting the manifold detailsof his extraordinary business. The gunsof BugsMoran andother 368

of Cain the personnel frequentchanges caused enemies but Jmongthosewho were active boardof directors, pone's Frank Nitti' sechuring the greaterpart of his regime.wcre money; mostof theprotection who handled ondin-comriand, of manager. alsocalledGuzik, the business Cusick, .the Jack "syndicate, prostitution' of in charge Harry, brother and his *i,tr Vit . de PikeHeitler; JimmyMondi, Mops Volp'r'and Frankie Pope, head of the gimbling interests;.Hymie Levine,chiei collector;JohnnyGenaroand Jim Belcastro' brotherRalph,also Capone's squads; of thebombing leaders known as Bottles; Dugo Lawrenle Mangano and Cha-rley Jack oF b..t and liquor distribution; managers Fischetti, ma' the of head Demora, name was real McGurn, whose Frankie and Rio Frankie andchiefhi'jacker; squad chine-gun of the bodyguard;and Johnny-Patton' Diamlnd, captains and politicaifi*.t, who as the Mayor of opeiator brewery brothelsin had invitedJohnnyTorrio to establish Burnham village. suburban that pleasant r4 T n B most importantof the many factorswhich combined and disruptthe workingof .his of Al Capone to rid Chicago it has evil machin. *ut the ChicagoCrime Commission; of administration in the improvJmentsbroughtaboutmore in the organization justicethan any other reform crimi'nal of the newspapers' historyof thecity. With the co-operation at $alg' ceasing away without hammered the Cbmmission possible. gangland made had which land and the conditions body with no authorityto a fact'finding Though essentially the nor power to enforci its recommendations, prosecute 'commission inmake prosecutions, initiate did and could accomthe of Some in crusades. and engage vestigations, plishirentsof the Clmmissionsinceit was organizedon r, r9 r9 ar e : J a n u a ry 369

It helped eliminate the ringsof crooked bondsmen, and compelled the establishment of a bonddepartment in the State's Attorney's office. It procured a special appropriation for a thousand additionalpatrolmen,and caused the virtual drafting of elevenof Chicago's best lawyersas specialprosecutors. It madea thoroughand carefulsurveyof the Police Department, on the basisof which the force was reorganized. It was principallyresponsible for the anri-crime massmeetingof the Illinois Manufacturers' Association,the formationof the Evanston CrimeCommission, and the decision of the Industrial Club of Chicagoto finance a statewide surveyof crime and the administra. tion of justice. It madepublicthe records of judges, with regard to.timespent on thebench, disposition of cases, andJury trials. As a resultthe average of time on the bench iosl from two and a half to four hours a day,with a corre, sponding increase in the numberof jury trials and dispositions. It sponsored a drasticconcealed-weapons and vagrancyact. It crusaded againstautomobile thievesand handlers of stolencars, and theft-insurance rates in Illinois droppedtwenty-six per cent. Under themanagement of ColonelHenry Barrett Chamberlin, OperatingDirector for the past twenty years, the CrimeCommission hasbecome oneof America's principalclearinghouses for information about crime. Its filescontaincomplete recordsof more than sixty thousandcriminals. It keepsa docket on which is recordedthe progress of everycaseon trial in the criminalcourts. Everyparoleasked for in CookCounty

for a rePort. It receives to the Commission is submitted on the previ' daily reportsfrom the PoliceDepartment court and in every ousday'scrimes.In the automobile branchof the criminalcourt is stationedan observer on the evidence who reportsdaily to the Commission and pojudges, bailifis,Prosecutors of and the conduct licemen. struckdirectly at the In r93o the Crime Commission makinga publiclist of twenty' principal figuresof gangland, andbranding by Al Capone, headed gangsters, iight ieading Copiesof this list were sent to them as public enemies. judges, Attorney,the Sherifiof Cook County, to the State's with a letter from together of Police, andlhe Commissioner recommend' of the Commission, president Frank J. Loesch, in everylegal pursued relentlessly be the gangJters ing that of gamblingand-disor' inmates tax-evaders, *ay us aliens, deily houses,and vagrants." The purpose," said Mr. Loeich, " is to keep the light of publicity shining on Chigangsters most prominentwell known and notorious cago's by observation tolhe end tliat they may be underconstant and law'abidingcitizensapprised the enforcingauthorities in dealingwith thosewho encountered to be of the hazards in conflict with the law." are constantly attemptto keep" the to the Commission's The response ex' light of publicityshiningon notoriousgangsters",was the popucaught enemies The public phrase " traordiniry. " all ovet lar fancy at once;editorialwriters in newspapers took columnists its implications, discussed the Uniied States it up, books and moving picturesbearing the two simple and into print and on the screen, *otds astitleswererushed country. the throughout a catch-phrase it quicklybecame Probably no other single action ever undertakenagainst publicity.And it was criminalsreceivedsuchwidespread As bad publicityfor the gangsters. a Crime Commission 37r

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report put it, " this move stirred the entire nation to action, and gangdombeganto feel the lash of an aroused citizenry." Even Chicago madebig talk about policeofficials what they woulddo to the gangsters, andwhat'smore,actually did it I By thebeginningofry34 the Crime Commission that since r93o fifteen public enewas able to announce mieshad been convicted, ninehad died,onewasawaitingdeof eightwereawaitingdisposition portation,the cases in the courts,and the rest were " on the run and in hideouts because of the existence of variouswarrants againstthem." r5 A r. C A p o N p and his chiefbodyguard, Frankie Rio, went to Philadelphia after the peace conference with other Chicagogangsters at Atlantic City in 1929,, andon the night of May r6 they werepickedup by the Philadelphia policeon a chargeof carryingconcealed In lessthan sevenweapons. teen hours they had been arraignedin court, found guilty, and sentenced to one year's imprisonment in the Holmesburg County Jail. Later they were transferredto the Eastern Penitentiary.There has alwaysbeenconsiderable mysin Philadelphia tery attachedto Capone's presence at this particulartime. One theory was that he had gonethere to confer with Maxie Boo-BooHofi, the boss of the Philadelphia underworld.Another was that he was seekinga hide-away as far aspossible from Chicago, and had courted imprisonment through fear arrestand of gangsters who had not attended the Atlantic City meetingand with whom he had not beenableto makepeace.On the night of his arrest Philadelphia's Capone told Major LemuelB. Schofield, Directorof PublicSafety, that he had beenrying to retire for two years. tt But onceiri the racket," he said, " youtrealways in. I haven't had peaceof mind for years. I never know when I'm going to get it. Even when I'm on a peace 372

on the light goingsuddenly^out' errandI must take achance boy I idolize' at Palm I have a wife and an eleven-year'old l Island,Florida- If I couldgo thereand forgetit all' loy.to be the happiestman in the world' I want peace'i"! 1-T and willing to'live and let live. I'm tired of gangmurders shootings." gang o "Nevertlieless his business to transact continued Capone he was givena.private.cell' from the EasternPeriitentiary; andto usethe W arden's calls, to makelong-distance allowed andwith Frank Nitti' for conf.r.nc.i with his lawyers office Ralph, who made frequent lril C"ti.k, and his brother monthsofi for g:o.d.!th"Y; two With itiot," ehitaaetptria. on March r7' I93o' to hndhlmserr wasreleased ion Capone Captain brund.h asPublicEnemyNumberOne' In Chicag-o of.twtnty'fiut Ptli:,:-:l ]onn St.g. had postedL guard 11 Avenue'oncethe ilnest Prairie homeon ?rontof tl" Capone with ordersto arrest thoroughfarein Chicago, residential slipped the gangste, .oln as he appeaied'But Capone ", Hawthorne Inn at ;;i.;lt ?nto the city and *tni to the his mail iTd,"!' tl;;;;, *h.r. he spentfour daysanswering 'lvlth hrs tending to busineisafiairs' Then, in company Attorney' the State's la*v.i he calledupon CaptainStege, to find that none Attorney, Diitrict *i in. United States whatever charges no that held a warrant for his arrest'and which under law him' There wasno fr"i U..n madeagainst Cap' he couldbe held,lut alsotherewasno law to prevent as tain Stegefrom keepinghim under.surveillance 1 .111s' assigned were policemen p..,"a .?"ok. So t*i ,iifotmed footsteps his 'to follow Capone, they dogged and for weeks dav -- J andnieht. t,t*' by,these The fiangchieftainwas visiblyannoyed have easily could He h. madeno complaint' tions,alth6ugf, r.ealize to killed,but he wassmartenough nua in" policimen ar' a crime,with publicopinionnow so generally that suc'h sendhim to the ;;;;J d"i"st him, *ouid in all^likelihood 373

gallows. After a few months in ChicagoCaponebeganto travel about the country,apparently seeking a placewhere he couldretire and re-establish himselfas a private citizen. But he wasnot wantedanywhere.FIe went to Los Angeles, andthepolice ordered him to leave hours. within twenty-four He tried the BlackHills of SouthDakota.but the Governor of thestatesaidthat the NationalGuardwouldbe called out if necessary to chase him away. He was barred from the BahamaIslands,and warnednot to tarry in Flavana. He startedfor Florida, and the Governorof that statenotified the sixty-seven Florida sherifisto arrest the gangsterand escorthim to the border. But there Caponefought back; his lawyersobtainedan injunctionrestrainingthe Florida authoritiesfrom molestinghim, and he was finally able to reachhis estate nearMiami. In the late summerof r93r Caponereturnedto Chicago,and on October6 was arrested by Federalagents who had beeninvestigating the sources of his income.He was indicted,and on October 17, r93r, in Federal court, he was found guilty on five counts, three of evadingpaymentof taxesfrom rg2S to r9z8 on an income of six hundredand seventythousand dollars, and two of failing to make tax returnsfor r9z8 and tgz9. He wassentenced to serveeight years in Alcatraz Prison in San FranciscoBay. Severalof his mostfaithful henchmen, including his brother Ralph and of similar ofienses. Jack Cusick,had alreadybeenconvicted Chicagowas through with Caponewhen he went to Alcaffaz, but it was not through with the conditionsthat Caponehad fostered.The city is still strugglingto erase the imprint of his firteItalian hand. Curiously in which Chicago enough, during the decade and was a synonymfor crime and was overrun by gangsters corruptioneverywhere in the world, the populationof the city increased by nearlyseven hundredthousand.

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