Gus Winkler was a St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 mobster who, with Fred “Killer” Burke

Fred “Killer” Burke

Fred "Killer" Burke was a Midwestern armed robber and contract killer responsible for many crimes during the Prohibition era. He is considered a prime suspect in the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929-Early life:...

, was head of a criminal gang specializing in armed robbery and murder for hire.

Born August Henry Winkeler to Bernard J. Winkeler (Sept 28, 1862- Nov 23, 1928) and Mary K. (June 1, 1862- March 5, 1923). He was a brother to Clara (April 21, 1895-June 23, 1987), Jacob C. (1893-1961) and Anna C. (1890-1960) in Lemay, Missouri

Lemay, Missouri

Lemay is a census-designated place in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 16,645 at the 2010 census.-History:Lemay was named after Francois Lemai, who operated a ferry boat across the Mississippi River in the early nineteenth century.-Geography:Lemay is located at ...

. In 1916, at the age of 13, Winkler started associating himself with the Bottoms Gang

Bottoms Gang

The Bottoms Gang was an American street gang that terrorized St. Louis, Missouri in the early 20th century. Their main criminal activities included voter intimidation, armed robbery, assault, illegal lottery, and murder. The gang's members were primarily Irish-American, with a handful of German and...

, which would later evolve into The Cuckoo Gang, headed by during his teenage years. After a stint as a driver for the U.S. Army Ambulance Corps during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, at the age of 19, Winkler joined up with the Egan's Rats

Egan's Rats

Egan's Rats was an American organized crime group that exercised considerable power in St. Louis, Missouri from 1890 to 1924. Its 35 years of criminal activity included bootlegging, labor slugging, voter intimidation, armed robbery, and murder...

 gang before moving to Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 in the mid-1920s. He later moved to New Center, Detroit

New Center, Detroit

The New Center is a significant commercial and residential historic district located in Detroit, Michigan, adjacent to Midtown, one mile north of the Cultural Center, and approximately three miles north of Downtown...

 and quickly aligned himself with the Purple Gang

Purple Gang

Purple Gang can refer to:*The Purple Gang, Jewish American bootleggers and hijackers in the 1920s*The Purple Gang , British rock band active intermittently since the 1960s*East Harlem Purple Gang, Italian American gang of drug dealers and hitmen...

 that was under control of Abe Bernstein where he worked until mid-1927. Winkeler and Fred Burke were hired out for freelance work from Al Capone

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...

 and the Chicago Outfit

Chicago Outfit

The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...

 (circumstantial evidence points to Winkler who, along with Burke, Bob Carey

Robert Carey (gangster)

Robert Carey was a Midwestern armed robber and contract killer responsible for many crimes during the Prohibition era. He is considered a suspect in the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929....

 and Fred Goetz

Fred Goetz

Fred Samuel Goetz , also known as "Shotgun" George Ziegler, "George B. Seibert", George Zeigler" and was a Chicago Outfit mobster and a suspected participant in the Valentine's Day Massacre, in 1929 and Kansas City Massacre.Born in Chicago to Samuel T...

, may have been some of the gunmen involved in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre

St. Valentine's Day massacre

The Saint Valentine's Day massacre is the name given to the 1929 murder of 7 mob associates as part of a prohibition era conflict between two powerful criminal gangs in Chicago: the South Side Italian gang led by Al Capone and the North Side Irish gang led by Bugs Moran. Former members of the...

) as well as beginning a national crime spree holding up banks, armored cars, and mail trucks from New York to Los Angeles. He told people that he worked as a 'contractor' which might have played on the undertone of the word and his career as a contract killer. He married a woman named 'Georgette Bence' (1898-1962) who wrote in her unpublished memoirs that Gus, along with Bob Carey, Ray Nugent, Fred Goetz and Fred Burke as a 'special assignment squad' and was part of Jack McGurn's 'American boys'.

Winkler and Burke's organization broke up during the fallout from the Valentine's Day massacre, and Winkler was suspected of planning and later taking part in the robbery of US$2 million from a bank in Lincoln, Nebraska

Lincoln, Nebraska

The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....

 in September 1930. Soon enough, Gus was able to carve out a lucrative position in the rackets of Chicago's North Side, despite his cooperation with authorities.

Upon Capone's 1931 imprisonment, Winkler was surrounded by gangsters who he didn't trust, particularly Frank Nitti

Frank Nitti

Francesco Raffaele Nitto , also known as Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti, was an Italian American gangster. One of Al Capone's top henchmen, Nitti was in charge of all strong-arm and 'muscle' operations...

, who had always been resentful at how close Gus had been to Capone.

While entering the beer distribution office of Charles Weber, at 1414 Roscoe Street in the Roscoe Village section of North Center, Chicago

North Center, Chicago

North Center is one of the 77 community area of the Chicago, Illinois, located in the city's North Side. North Center is bordered on the north by Montrose Avenue, on the south by Diversey Parkway, on the west by the Chicago River and on the east by Ravenswood Avenue; it includes the neighborhoods...

, on October 9, 1933, Winkler was shot six times and killed by unknown assailants armed with shotguns and died a half-an-hour later after arriving at a local hospital.

External links

• Taking Care Of Winkler: The Last of the Independents by John William Tuohy
• Gus Winkler at Find-A-Grave
• http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id174.htm
• Helmer, William J, with Georgette Winkeler. Al Capone and His American Boys: Memoirs of a Mobster's Wife. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011.