Jack McGurn
Encyclopedia
"Machine Gun" Jack McGurn (1902 – February 15, 1936) was an Italian-American mobster and key member of Al Capone
's Chicago Outfit
.
, Sicily
, the eldest son of Angelo and Giuseppa Gibaldi (née Verderame). A year later his family emigrated to the USA, arriving at Ellis Island
on November 24, 1906. Vincenzo grew up in the Chicago
slums where he later took up a career in boxing as a teenager and changed his name to "Battling" Jack McGurn because Irish boxers got the better bookings.
in late 1923. He was famous for leaving coins in his victims' hands.
A venue which still exists today, McGurn had part ownership of a speakeasy
jazz club, the infamous Green Mill, at 4802 North Broadway, in the middle of the rival "Bugs" Moran gang
's territory.http://www.weirdchicago.com/greenmill.html In November 1927, manager Danny Cohen gave McGurn the task of "persuading" comedian/singer Joe E. Lewis
not to move his act south to the New Rendezvous Café, at North Clark Street
and West Diversey Parkway
. Lewis refused, and McGurn slit Lewis's throat, cutting off a portion of his tongue and leaving him for dead. Miraculously, Lewis eventually recovered and resumed his career, but his voice never regained its lush sound.
, in 1929, though this association has not been proven. Although police charged McGurn in the case, he was never brought to trial largely due to his "blonde alibi" - girlfriend and later wife Louise Rolfe - who claimed they spent the whole day together.
, chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission
compiled his "Public Enemies
" list of the top 28 people he saw as corrupting Chicago, McGurn's name was fourth on the list, which was published nationwide.
This notoriety caused him to be shunned by the Outfit. So McGurn, who had great hand-eye coordination, attempted a career as a professional golfer. According to the July, 1996 and June, 2003 issues of Chicagoland Golf
magazine, McGurn was a silent partner in Evergreen Golf Course, at 91st Street and Western Avenue, a known mob hangout where McGurn could often be found playing, practicing, giving lessons, or drinking and playing cards in the clubhouse.
On August 25, 1933, the Western Open
golf championship began at Olympia Fields Country Club
in the far south suburb of Olympia Fields
. A reasonably skilled golfer and flashy dresser, McGurn entered the competition as Vincent Gebhardi (another version of his real name), the professional at public Evergreen Golf Course. In the opening round, McGurn carded a 13-over-par 83 on course No. 4 (today's North Course). The next morning, the name "Gebhardi" on the day's pairing sheet was observed by an alert Chicago Police chief detective
, who sent two sergeants to arrest him. "Aware of McGurn's truculent temper," the Chicago Tribune
account reported, "the sergeants enlisted the help of Lt. Frank McGillen and five policemen from the Homewood station of the county highway force."
McGurn was playing much better the second day. The group of burly officers accosted McGurn on the seventh green and told him he was under arrest under a warrant issued the day before under the "criminal reputation law". He was accompanied by his wife, the glitzy "Blonde Alibi" Louise Rolfe, who was dressed to the nines. Wearing a tight, thin white dress and sporting a three-carat diamond ring, she approached the policemen and snapped, "Whose brilliant idea was this?" McGurn politely asked to finish his round. Amused, the plainclothesmen agreed and became part of his gallery. But the police presence began to unnerve McGurn and his game suddenly went sour. He came in with a 16-over-par 86 for a 36-hole total of 169, 14 strokes above making the cut.
Less than three years later, McGurn, by then impoverished and abandoned by his fellow gangsters, was assassinated by three men using machine guns on February 15, 1936, while bowling at the second-floor Avenue Recreation Bowling Alley, at 805 N. Milwaukee Avenue (at Chicago Avenue). He was laid to rest at Mount Carmel Cemetery
in Hillside, Illinois.
The identity of McGurn's killers remains unknown, but research and speculation by criminologists suggest three possible theories: revenge by George "Bugs" Moran, whose men Jack had planned to kill almost seven years to the date before, or the South Side mob under Frank Nitti
, because McGurn (a heavy drinker and a braggart) had become a liability due to his intimate knowledge of the Outfit. There is also the notion that McGurn was killed by James Gusenberg, the brother of Frank and Pete Gusenberg who were two of the victims of the St Valentine's Day Massacre.
The killers tossed a Valentine card with this poem near to his body: "You've lost your job, you've lost your dough, Your jewels and cars and handsome houses, But things could still be worse you know... At least you haven't lost your trousers!".
On March 2, 1936, McGurn's half-brother, Anthony De Mory, was killed in a manner similar to McGurn. De Mory, who had claimed, "I know the guys who killed Jack. I'm going to get them." was shot by three masked men in a Chicago pool hall. Police linked the assassination to McGurn's slaying.
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...
's 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...
.
Early life
Jack was born Vincenzo Antonio Gibaldi in LicataLicata
Licata is a city and comune located on the south coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Salso River , about midway between Agrigento and Gela...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, the eldest son of Angelo and Giuseppa Gibaldi (née Verderame). A year later his family emigrated to the USA, arriving at Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
on November 24, 1906. Vincenzo grew up in the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
slums where he later took up a career in boxing as a teenager and changed his name to "Battling" Jack McGurn because Irish boxers got the better bookings.
Prohibition
As a youth, McGurn did not run in gang circles. However, when his father was assassinated by gang extortionists on January 28, 1923, he methodically avenged his father's death by killing the three hitmen responsible. This ruthless efficiency provided his introduction to Al CaponeAl 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...
in late 1923. He was famous for leaving coins in his victims' hands.
A venue which still exists today, McGurn had part ownership of a speakeasy
Speakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...
jazz club, the infamous Green Mill, at 4802 North Broadway, in the middle of the rival "Bugs" Moran gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
's territory.http://www.weirdchicago.com/greenmill.html In November 1927, manager Danny Cohen gave McGurn the task of "persuading" comedian/singer Joe E. Lewis
Joe E. Lewis
Joe E. Lewis , born Joseph Klewan in New York City, was an American comedian and singer.-Biography:...
not to move his act south to the New Rendezvous Café, at North Clark Street
Clark Street (Chicago)
Clark Street is a north-south street in Chicago, Illinois that runs close to the shore of Lake Michigan from the northern city boundary with Evanston, to 2200 South in the city street numbering system...
and West Diversey Parkway
Diversey Parkway (Chicago)
Diversey Parkway is a major east-west street on the North Side of Chicago. Diversey separates the Chicago lakefront neighborhoods of Lakeview to the north and Lincoln Park to the south. West of the North Branch of the Chicago River, the street is known as Diversey Avenue, and separates the...
. Lewis refused, and McGurn slit Lewis's throat, cutting off a portion of his tongue and leaving him for dead. Miraculously, Lewis eventually recovered and resumed his career, but his voice never regained its lush sound.
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
McGurn is associated with planning the St. Valentine's Day MassacreSt. 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...
, in 1929, though this association has not been proven. Although police charged McGurn in the case, he was never brought to trial largely due to his "blonde alibi" - girlfriend and later wife Louise Rolfe - who claimed they spent the whole day together.
Later years
In April 1930, when Frank J. LoeschFrank J. Loesch
Frank Joseph Loesch was a prominent Chicago attorney, reformer and a founder of the Chicago Crime Commission which attempted to combat the widespread corruption and organized crime related violence during Prohibition....
, chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission
Chicago Crime Commission
The Chicago Crime Commission is an independent, non-partisan civic watchdog organization of business leaders dedicated to educating the public about the dangers of organized criminal activity, especially organized crime, street gangs and the tools of their trade: drugs, guns, public corruption,...
compiled his "Public Enemies
Public enemy (term)
Public enemy is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though in fact the term had been used for centuries to describe pirates and similar outlaws.The modern use of term...
" list of the top 28 people he saw as corrupting Chicago, McGurn's name was fourth on the list, which was published nationwide.
This notoriety caused him to be shunned by the Outfit. So McGurn, who had great hand-eye coordination, attempted a career as a professional golfer. According to the July, 1996 and June, 2003 issues of Chicagoland Golf
Chicagoland Golf
Chicagoland Golf is an independent regional golf newspaper serving the 1.7 million golfers in Northern Illinois, Southeast Wisconsin and Northeast Indiana since 1989. Chicagoland Golf is published in the United States 13 times per year by Chicagoland Golf Publishing Co. and covers recreational golf...
magazine, McGurn was a silent partner in Evergreen Golf Course, at 91st Street and Western Avenue, a known mob hangout where McGurn could often be found playing, practicing, giving lessons, or drinking and playing cards in the clubhouse.
On August 25, 1933, the Western Open
Western Open
The Western Open, a professional golf tournament, was first played in 1899. At the time of its 2006 playing, the Western Open was the 3rd oldest active PGA Tour tournament, after the British Open and U.S. Open...
golf championship began at Olympia Fields Country Club
Olympia Fields Country Club
Olympia Fields Country Club is a golf club in Olympia Fields, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago, about 25 miles south of The Loop. It is a private club with two eighteen-hole courses, the North and the South. The North Course is considered one of the top three courses in the Chicago area, and...
in the far south suburb of Olympia Fields
Olympia Fields, Illinois
Olympia Fields is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,732 at the 2000 census. It is the location of the prestigious Olympia Fields Country Club, and is also noteworthy as one of the wealthiest majority black communities in the United States...
. A reasonably skilled golfer and flashy dresser, McGurn entered the competition as Vincent Gebhardi (another version of his real name), the professional at public Evergreen Golf Course. In the opening round, McGurn carded a 13-over-par 83 on course No. 4 (today's North Course). The next morning, the name "Gebhardi" on the day's pairing sheet was observed by an alert Chicago Police chief detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
, who sent two sergeants to arrest him. "Aware of McGurn's truculent temper," the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
account reported, "the sergeants enlisted the help of Lt. Frank McGillen and five policemen from the Homewood station of the county highway force."
McGurn was playing much better the second day. The group of burly officers accosted McGurn on the seventh green and told him he was under arrest under a warrant issued the day before under the "criminal reputation law". He was accompanied by his wife, the glitzy "Blonde Alibi" Louise Rolfe, who was dressed to the nines. Wearing a tight, thin white dress and sporting a three-carat diamond ring, she approached the policemen and snapped, "Whose brilliant idea was this?" McGurn politely asked to finish his round. Amused, the plainclothesmen agreed and became part of his gallery. But the police presence began to unnerve McGurn and his game suddenly went sour. He came in with a 16-over-par 86 for a 36-hole total of 169, 14 strokes above making the cut.
Less than three years later, McGurn, by then impoverished and abandoned by his fellow gangsters, was assassinated by three men using machine guns on February 15, 1936, while bowling at the second-floor Avenue Recreation Bowling Alley, at 805 N. Milwaukee Avenue (at Chicago Avenue). He was laid to rest at Mount Carmel Cemetery
Mount Carmel Cemetery
Mount Carmel Cemetery is a popular name for Catholic cemeteries in many areas. A few with this name are:* Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hamden, Connecticut...
in Hillside, Illinois.
The identity of McGurn's killers remains unknown, but research and speculation by criminologists suggest three possible theories: revenge by George "Bugs" Moran, whose men Jack had planned to kill almost seven years to the date before, or the South Side mob under 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...
, because McGurn (a heavy drinker and a braggart) had become a liability due to his intimate knowledge of the Outfit. There is also the notion that McGurn was killed by James Gusenberg, the brother of Frank and Pete Gusenberg who were two of the victims of the St Valentine's Day Massacre.
The killers tossed a Valentine card with this poem near to his body: "You've lost your job, you've lost your dough, Your jewels and cars and handsome houses, But things could still be worse you know... At least you haven't lost your trousers!".
On March 2, 1936, McGurn's half-brother, Anthony De Mory, was killed in a manner similar to McGurn. De Mory, who had claimed, "I know the guys who killed Jack. I'm going to get them." was shot by three masked men in a Chicago pool hall. Police linked the assassination to McGurn's slaying.
In popular culture
- McGurn has been portrayed in several movies including The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) by Clint RitchieClint RitchieClinton Charles Augustus Ritchie was an American actor.-Early life:Ritchie was born on a farm in Grafton, North Dakota to J. C. and Charlotte Ritchie, and his family moved to Washington state when he was seven...
, CaponeCapone (film)Capone is an American crime film directed by Steve Carver and stars Ben Gazzara, Harry Guardino, Susan Blakely and Sylvester Stallone in an early film appearance. The movie is a biography of the infamous Al Capone, although much of it is supposedly fiction.The film was released on DVD in the U.S...
(1975) by Carmen ArgenzianoCarmen ArgenzianoCarmen Antimo Argenziano is an American actor who has appeared in over 50 movies and around 100 television movies or episodes....
and The Verne Miller Story (1987) by Frank CostaFrank CostaFrank Costa OAM is an entrepreneur, 1997 Order of Australia Medal recipient, and philanthropist. The Geelong native has been a prominent figure in the region for more than four decades, after inheriting the family's produce business in the late 1950s...
. He was also played by K.L. Smith in the original The UntouchablesThe Untouchables (1959 TV series)The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
television series and by Paul StevensPaul Stevens (actor)Paul Stevens was an American film and television actor.Stevens played Colonel Charles R. Codman in the 1970 film Patton. He appeared in the 1960 film Exodus and the 1969 film Marlowe...
in the Playhouse 90Playhouse 90Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
episode "Seven Against the Wall", depicting his role in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
- McGurn's attempted killing of Joe E. Lewis was later immortalized in the movie The Joker Is WildThe Joker Is WildThe Joker Is Wild is a film starring Frank Sinatra, Jeanne Crain, and Mitzi Gaynor, and Eddie Albert which tells the story of Joe E. Lewis, the popular singer and comedian who was a major attraction in nightclubs during 1920s to early 1950s....
(1957), with Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
as Lewis.