Charles Reiser
Encyclopedia
Charles "The Ox" Reiser was a safecracker as well as a mentor to many of the organized crime leaders of the early 20th century including Dean O'Banion
, George "Bugs" Moran, Earl "Hymie" Weiss
http://hymieweiss.com/The%20Northsiders.htm, and John Mahoney.
He was born in 1878; very little is known of Reiser's early life. However, Reiser quickly started a rap sheet. In 1902, Reiser was arrested for safecracking. Released on bail, he reportedly killed the witness to this crime and case was later dropped. In 1905, Reiser was again arrested and released, the witness disappeared, and the case was dropped. In 1907, he was convicted of assault
with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 30 days in jail. In 1909, Reiser was arrested in Seattle, Washington and charged with burglary
and murder
. Yet again, the witnesses in the case were killed. The murderous safecracker soon returned to Chicago.
Around 1914, Reiser met O'Banion, the future leader of the Chicago North Side Gang
. O'Banion and several friends started accompanying Reiser on some safecracking jobs. During this time, living under the alias Charles Shopes, Reiser invested most of the stolen money in real estate. He eventually became the owner of a large apartment building in the Chicago area. Around this time, Reiser also remarried. His first wife had died of asphyxiation (although Reiser allegedly bragged to friends that he had beaten her to death when she threatened to go to police).
In 1920, one of Reiser's safecracking partners, Clarance White, told Reiser that the cops had questioned him about a job they committed. Reiser and White had stolen a Standard Oil
Co. safe and taken its contents. To protect himself, Reiser murdered White and made it look like a suicide. Around April 1921, another Reiser associate, John Mahoney, was arrested while safecracking and started talking to the police. Reiser murdered him also.
However, Reiser's luck was soon to change. In 1921, while recovering in a Chicago hospital after an attempted robbery, Reiser's wife came to visit him. A staff member soon discovered her weeping over his dead body in his hospital room. Somewhat indicative of the state of Chicago law and politics at that time, the coroner's jury declared that Reiser - whose body had ten separate bullet wounds in it - had died as a result of suicide.
Dean O'Banion
Charles Dean O'Banion was an Irish-American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s...
, George "Bugs" Moran, Earl "Hymie" Weiss
Hymie Weiss
Hymie Weiss was a Polish-American mob boss who became a leader of the Prohibition-era North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone.-Early years:...
http://hymieweiss.com/The%20Northsiders.htm, and John Mahoney.
He was born in 1878; very little is known of Reiser's early life. However, Reiser quickly started a rap sheet. In 1902, Reiser was arrested for safecracking. Released on bail, he reportedly killed the witness to this crime and case was later dropped. In 1905, Reiser was again arrested and released, the witness disappeared, and the case was dropped. In 1907, he was convicted of assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 30 days in jail. In 1909, Reiser was arrested in Seattle, Washington and charged with burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. Yet again, the witnesses in the case were killed. The murderous safecracker soon returned to Chicago.
Around 1914, Reiser met O'Banion, the future leader of the Chicago North Side Gang
North Side Gang
The North Side family Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was the dominant Irish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early to late 1920s and principal rival of the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone organization, later known as the Chicago Outfit.- Early...
. O'Banion and several friends started accompanying Reiser on some safecracking jobs. During this time, living under the alias Charles Shopes, Reiser invested most of the stolen money in real estate. He eventually became the owner of a large apartment building in the Chicago area. Around this time, Reiser also remarried. His first wife had died of asphyxiation (although Reiser allegedly bragged to friends that he had beaten her to death when she threatened to go to police).
In 1920, one of Reiser's safecracking partners, Clarance White, told Reiser that the cops had questioned him about a job they committed. Reiser and White had stolen a Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
Co. safe and taken its contents. To protect himself, Reiser murdered White and made it look like a suicide. Around April 1921, another Reiser associate, John Mahoney, was arrested while safecracking and started talking to the police. Reiser murdered him also.
However, Reiser's luck was soon to change. In 1921, while recovering in a Chicago hospital after an attempted robbery, Reiser's wife came to visit him. A staff member soon discovered her weeping over his dead body in his hospital room. Somewhat indicative of the state of Chicago law and politics at that time, the coroner's jury declared that Reiser - whose body had ten separate bullet wounds in it - had died as a result of suicide.