North Side Gang
Encyclopedia
The North Side family Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was the dominant Irish-American criminal organization (although a large number of Polish-Americans were members as well) 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
.
. As sluggers for a newspaper, the Market Street Gang would beat up newsstand owners who didn't carry that publication.
It was during the Circulation Wars that future North Side leader Dean O'Banion
, then a member of the juvenile satellite Little Hellions, who would develop valuable contacts with politicians and journalists. O'Banion and other members of the North Siders would be mentored by safecracker Charlie "The Ox" Reiser
, O'Banion was one of the many Market Streeters to become bootleggers.
. Based on the North Clark Street
restaurant McGovern's Saloon and Cafe, the North Side Gang would soon control the working class neighborhoods of the 42nd and 43rd Wards within months. In addition to bootlegging, the gang continued to burglarize local stores and warehouses and run illegal gambling operations. Unlike the rival South Side Gang however, they refused to traffic in prostitution. O'Banion strengthened his political protection by helping his politician friends commit election fraud. O'Banion also ran a publicity campaign in the North Side with large scale donations to orphanages and charities as well as food and loans to the poor and unemployed.
The old hostility between Irish and Italian gangs combined with O'Banion's refusal to sell portions of North Side distilleries to the South Siders, raised tension between the North and South Siders. During several meetings arranged by Torrio, O'Banion would often insult the Italians. O'Banion was also secretly hijacking South Side beer shipments and selling them back to their owners. However, the North Side Gang also ran into trouble with other ethnic gangs; in 1921, O'Banion shot Ragen's Colts
member Davy "Yiddles" Miller after he insulted a North Sider at a local opera.
Although O'Banion and Weiss were arrested and charged with burglary in 1922, the North Side Gang enjoyed considerable protection from the Chicago police department. At one point, O'Banion threw a lavish banquet for Chicago politicians and police officials. Attendees included Chief Detective Michael Hughes, Police Lieutenant Charles Evans, County Clerk Robert Sweitzer, Public Works commissioner Colonel Albert A. Sprague, and a host of both Democrat and Republican politicians. Dubbed the "Balshazzar Feast" by the press, it was later investigated by reform Mayor William E. Dever.
In 1924, Chicago police assisted the North Side Gang in robbing the Sibly Distillery, which had been under federal guard since the beginning of Prohibition. Escorted by Police Lieutenant Michael Grady and four detective sergeants, North Siders looted the distillery in broad daylight, taking 1,750 bottles of bonded whiskey worth approximately $100,000. Although Grady and the other police officers were later indicted for this crime, they were quickly dismissed.
Relations between the North and South Side gangs continued to fester. In early 1924, O'Banion agreed to an alliance with Torrio and Capone that was brokered by Mike Merlo
. However, the alliance began to founder when O'Banion demanded that "Bloody" Angelo Genna
pay a $30,000 gambling debt from losses at the co-owned gambling casino The Ship. This demand contravened an agreement allowing Angelo and other gang members to run up debts there. In the interest of maintaining harmony, Torrio persuaded Genna to pay his gambling debt.
However, Torrio himself would soon lose patience with O'Banion. It happened when O'Banion offered to sell Torrio the valuable Sieben Brewery. On May 19, 1924, while Torrio was inspecting the property, O'Banion arranged for the police to raid the place and arrest Torrio. After his release from custody, Torrio acceded to demands from the Gennas to whack O'Banion.
On November 10, shortly after the death of Merlo, three unidentified men entered the Schofield Flower Shop owned by O'Banion and shot him dead. This was to be the beginning of a five-year gang war between the North Side Gang against Johnny Torrio
's Chicago Outfit
that would end with the St. Valentine's Day Massacre
in 1929.
, Hymie Weiss
assumed leadership of the North Side Gang and immediately struck back at his rivals. On January 12, 1925, Weiss, Bugs Moran
, and Vincent Drucci
, attempted to kill Torrio's lieutenant, Al Capone
at a Chicago
South Side restaurant. Firing at Capone's car, the men wounded chauffeur Sylvester Barton, but missed Capone entirely. Capone, startled by the shooting, ordered his famous armoured car to be created. Moran then decided to kidnap one of Capone's trusted bodyguards, torture him for information before finally executing him and dumping the body.
On January 24, shortly after the assassination attempt on Capone had taken place, Weiss, Moran, and Drucci ambushed Torrio as he returned from shopping with his wife. Both Torrio and his chauffeur Robert Barton were wounded several times. As Moran was about to kill Torrio, the gun misfired; the gang members were forced to flee the scene as the police arrived. After narrowly surviving this attack, Torrio decided he wanted out. Retiring to Italy
, Torrio passed leadership of the Chicago Outfit to Capone.
Weiss and the North Siders then went after the Genna Family, allies of the Chicago Outfit. First, "Bloody" Angelo Genna
was shot to death after a car chase by Moran. Next, Mike "the devil" Genna was shot down by police when he turned his gun on them after a fierce shootout with the Northsiders. Then Drucci went and killed Samuzzo "Samoots" Amatuna, a Genna family backer trying to hold the Genna's intact. Then finally Tony Genna
was murdered (although it was rumored that Capone, not Weiss, ordered this hit). At this point, the remaining Genna family fled Chicago. The North Siders and Capone took the spoils.
's death, the North Siders had formed a "governing council" with Hymie Weiss emerging as leader. Although the loss of O'Banion was a great shock, the gang had now reached its zenith of power: the Genna family was destroyed, Torrio had been scared out of the rackets, and Capone was on the run. The North Siders expanded their business and strength and plotted another attack on Capone.
The second North Side attack on Capone shocked the police, fellow gangsters and especially Capone. A fleet of North Side cars, with Moran in the lead car, drove to Capone's hotel in Cicero
. While Capone and his bodyguard were drinking downstairs, the North Siders drove by the lobby and opened fire with their Thompson submachine guns. The shooting reduced the hotel to shreds and left everybody running for cover. Capone and his bodyguard were forced to take cover on the floor. Once the attack was over, Capone, terrified and aching for a moment's peace, sent word to the North Siders that he wanted a truce. A truce was made, which did last for a while, but inevitably began to come apart.
Some time later, Capone struck back at the North Siders by gunning down Hymie Weiss and several associates. Drucci and Moran now assumed joint leadership of the North Side Gang. The two gangs traded killings and bombings for several more months until a peace conference was held.
Moran and Capone both appeared at the meeting along with many other mob bosses. During the conference, Capone complained that "they were making a shooting gallery of a great business". He also stated that "Chicago be seen as a pie and each gang gets a slice of the pie." The two gangs agreed to make peace. This peace would last for a while. It was the only time in Chicago when gunfire ceased and calmness occurred. No killings occurred that were a result of gang war. Vincent Drucci was killed during this time, but it resulted from a brawl with police. Moran now became the sole boss of the North Side Gang.
The gangland peace soon turned into a Cold War
as both sides fell victim to temptation. Moran would regularly hijack Capone's beer shipments, naturally aggravating Capone. Capone retaliated by burning down Moran's dog track. A few days later, Capone's own dog track went up in smoke. Moran was the prime suspect.
Open warfare started again between the two gangs. Moran ordered the execution of two union leaders who were powerful allies and personal friends of Capone. This act prompted Capone to order a decisive blow against Moran that would turn into the most memorable gangland killing in American history: the St. Valentine's Day Massacre
.
police officers, stormed into a North Side Street garage and ordered six members of the North Side Gang and a friend of a gang member to stand against a wall. The gunmen then pulled out machine guns and gunned them all down. The only survivor, Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg
, died hours later at a nearby Chicago hospital refusing to name his attackers. However, the primary target of the gunmen, Bugs Moran
, leader of the North Side Gang, was not at the garage and escaped harm. Strong circumstantial cases can be made for almost a dozen individuals as being one of the four gunmen, but it remains unknown to this day exactly who those four gunmen were.
Known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre
, the attack effectively left the five-year gang war between Al Capone
and Bugs Moran
in a stalemate. The brazenness of this crime resulted in a Federal crackdown on all gang activity in Chicago that eventually led to the downfall of both Moran and Al Capone.
in 1930. As the decade progressed, the power of the North Side Gang slowly declined. In 1936, Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn, mastermind of the massacre, was killed and Moran was one of the prime suspects, along with Frank Nitti of the South Side mob, as McGurn had become more trouble than he was worth to protect to the former "Capone Gang".
Moran and the North Side Gang eventually lost control of their gambling operations to the new National Crime Syndicate
. Since the repeal of Prohibition, gambling had been the main source of North Side income. The gang limped along until the end of the 1930s when Moran left the Chicago underworld. The North Side gang disappeared and the Chicago Outfit, successor to the old South Side gang, took control of the North Side territories.
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...
during the Prohibition era from the early to late 1920s and principal rival of the Johnny Torrio
Johnny Torrio
John "Papa Johnny" Torrio , also known as "The Fox", was an Italian-American mobster who helped build the criminal empire known as the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s that was later inherited by his protege, Al Capone...
-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...
organization, later known as 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...
.
Early history
Like many other Chicago-based Prohibition gangs, the North Side Gang originated from the Market Street Gang, one of many street gangs in Chicago at the turn of the century. The Market Street Gang was made up of pick pockets, sneak thieves and labor sluggers working in the 42nd and 43rd Wards. The gang especially distinguished itself during the newspaper "Circulation Wars" of the early 1910s between the Chicago Examiner and the Chicago TribuneChicago 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...
. As sluggers for a newspaper, the Market Street Gang would beat up newsstand owners who didn't carry that publication.
It was during the Circulation Wars that future North Side leader Dean O'Banion
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...
, then a member of the juvenile satellite Little Hellions, who would develop valuable contacts with politicians and journalists. O'Banion and other members of the North Siders would be mentored by safecracker Charlie "The Ox" Reiser
Charles Reiser
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 , and John Mahoney....
, O'Banion was one of the many Market Streeters to become bootleggers.
Prohibition
With the start of Prohibition, the North Siders quickly took control of the existing breweries and distilleries in the North Side of Chicago. This gave them a near monopoly on the local supply of real beer and high quality whiskey; their rivals only had supplies of rotgut liquor and moonshineMoonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
. Based on the 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...
restaurant McGovern's Saloon and Cafe, the North Side Gang would soon control the working class neighborhoods of the 42nd and 43rd Wards within months. In addition to bootlegging, the gang continued to burglarize local stores and warehouses and run illegal gambling operations. Unlike the rival South Side Gang however, they refused to traffic in prostitution. O'Banion strengthened his political protection by helping his politician friends commit election fraud. O'Banion also ran a publicity campaign in the North Side with large scale donations to orphanages and charities as well as food and loans to the poor and unemployed.
The old hostility between Irish and Italian gangs combined with O'Banion's refusal to sell portions of North Side distilleries to the South Siders, raised tension between the North and South Siders. During several meetings arranged by Torrio, O'Banion would often insult the Italians. O'Banion was also secretly hijacking South Side beer shipments and selling them back to their owners. However, the North Side Gang also ran into trouble with other ethnic gangs; in 1921, O'Banion shot Ragen's Colts
Ragen's Colts
Ragen's Colts was a chiefly Irish street gang which dominated the Chicago underworld during the early twentieth century. By the late 1920s and early '30s, the gang became part of the Chicago Outfit under Al Capone....
member Davy "Yiddles" Miller after he insulted a North Sider at a local opera.
Although O'Banion and Weiss were arrested and charged with burglary in 1922, the North Side Gang enjoyed considerable protection from the Chicago police department. At one point, O'Banion threw a lavish banquet for Chicago politicians and police officials. Attendees included Chief Detective Michael Hughes, Police Lieutenant Charles Evans, County Clerk Robert Sweitzer, Public Works commissioner Colonel Albert A. Sprague, and a host of both Democrat and Republican politicians. Dubbed the "Balshazzar Feast" by the press, it was later investigated by reform Mayor William E. Dever.
In 1924, Chicago police assisted the North Side Gang in robbing the Sibly Distillery, which had been under federal guard since the beginning of Prohibition. Escorted by Police Lieutenant Michael Grady and four detective sergeants, North Siders looted the distillery in broad daylight, taking 1,750 bottles of bonded whiskey worth approximately $100,000. Although Grady and the other police officers were later indicted for this crime, they were quickly dismissed.
Relations between the North and South Side gangs continued to fester. In early 1924, O'Banion agreed to an alliance with Torrio and Capone that was brokered by Mike Merlo
Mike Merlo
Mike Merlo was a Chicago political figure associated in his later years with the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone organization. As head of the Unione Siciliana fraternal group, Merlo wielded considerable influence both in Chicago's Democratic Party politics and also within Chicago's criminal underworld...
. However, the alliance began to founder when O'Banion demanded that "Bloody" Angelo Genna
Genna (crime family)
Chicago's Sicilian Mafia, also known as the Genna crime family, was a Prohibition era crime family in Chicago, United States. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the Genna brothers, known as the Terrible Gennas. The Sicilians operated from Chicago's Little Italy and maintained control over...
pay a $30,000 gambling debt from losses at the co-owned gambling casino The Ship. This demand contravened an agreement allowing Angelo and other gang members to run up debts there. In the interest of maintaining harmony, Torrio persuaded Genna to pay his gambling debt.
However, Torrio himself would soon lose patience with O'Banion. It happened when O'Banion offered to sell Torrio the valuable Sieben Brewery. On May 19, 1924, while Torrio was inspecting the property, O'Banion arranged for the police to raid the place and arrest Torrio. After his release from custody, Torrio acceded to demands from the Gennas to whack O'Banion.
On November 10, shortly after the death of Merlo, three unidentified men entered the Schofield Flower Shop owned by O'Banion and shot him dead. This was to be the beginning of a five-year gang war between the North Side Gang against Johnny Torrio
Johnny Torrio
John "Papa Johnny" Torrio , also known as "The Fox", was an Italian-American mobster who helped build the criminal empire known as the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s that was later inherited by his protege, Al Capone...
'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...
that would end with 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...
in 1929.
War with the Chicago Outfit
After the death of Dean O'BanionDean 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...
, 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:...
assumed leadership of the North Side Gang and immediately struck back at his rivals. On January 12, 1925, Weiss, Bugs Moran
Bugs Moran
George Clarence Moran , better known by the alias "Bugs" Moran, was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Moran, of Irish and Polish descent, moved to the north side of Chicago when he was 19, where he became affiliated with several gangs...
, and Vincent Drucci
Vincent Drucci
Vincent Drucci, also known as "The Schemer" , was an American mobster during Chicago's Prohibition era who served as a lieutenant under Dean O'Banion's North Side Gang and later as gang boss. Drucci was one of the few mobsters to ever be killed by a law enforcement officer...
, attempted to kill Torrio's lieutenant, 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...
at a 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...
South Side restaurant. Firing at Capone's car, the men wounded chauffeur Sylvester Barton, but missed Capone entirely. Capone, startled by the shooting, ordered his famous armoured car to be created. Moran then decided to kidnap one of Capone's trusted bodyguards, torture him for information before finally executing him and dumping the body.
On January 24, shortly after the assassination attempt on Capone had taken place, Weiss, Moran, and Drucci ambushed Torrio as he returned from shopping with his wife. Both Torrio and his chauffeur Robert Barton were wounded several times. As Moran was about to kill Torrio, the gun misfired; the gang members were forced to flee the scene as the police arrived. After narrowly surviving this attack, Torrio decided he wanted out. Retiring to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Torrio passed leadership of the Chicago Outfit to Capone.
Weiss and the North Siders then went after the Genna Family, allies of the Chicago Outfit. First, "Bloody" Angelo Genna
Genna (crime family)
Chicago's Sicilian Mafia, also known as the Genna crime family, was a Prohibition era crime family in Chicago, United States. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the Genna brothers, known as the Terrible Gennas. The Sicilians operated from Chicago's Little Italy and maintained control over...
was shot to death after a car chase by Moran. Next, Mike "the devil" Genna was shot down by police when he turned his gun on them after a fierce shootout with the Northsiders. Then Drucci went and killed Samuzzo "Samoots" Amatuna, a Genna family backer trying to hold the Genna's intact. Then finally Tony Genna
Genna (crime family)
Chicago's Sicilian Mafia, also known as the Genna crime family, was a Prohibition era crime family in Chicago, United States. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the Genna brothers, known as the Terrible Gennas. The Sicilians operated from Chicago's Little Italy and maintained control over...
was murdered (although it was rumored that Capone, not Weiss, ordered this hit). At this point, the remaining Genna family fled Chicago. The North Siders and Capone took the spoils.
The Northsiders under Weiss, Drucci and Moran
Soon after Dean O'BanionDean 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...
's death, the North Siders had formed a "governing council" with Hymie Weiss emerging as leader. Although the loss of O'Banion was a great shock, the gang had now reached its zenith of power: the Genna family was destroyed, Torrio had been scared out of the rackets, and Capone was on the run. The North Siders expanded their business and strength and plotted another attack on Capone.
The second North Side attack on Capone shocked the police, fellow gangsters and especially Capone. A fleet of North Side cars, with Moran in the lead car, drove to Capone's hotel in Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
. While Capone and his bodyguard were drinking downstairs, the North Siders drove by the lobby and opened fire with their Thompson submachine guns. The shooting reduced the hotel to shreds and left everybody running for cover. Capone and his bodyguard were forced to take cover on the floor. Once the attack was over, Capone, terrified and aching for a moment's peace, sent word to the North Siders that he wanted a truce. A truce was made, which did last for a while, but inevitably began to come apart.
Some time later, Capone struck back at the North Siders by gunning down Hymie Weiss and several associates. Drucci and Moran now assumed joint leadership of the North Side Gang. The two gangs traded killings and bombings for several more months until a peace conference was held.
Moran and Capone both appeared at the meeting along with many other mob bosses. During the conference, Capone complained that "they were making a shooting gallery of a great business". He also stated that "Chicago be seen as a pie and each gang gets a slice of the pie." The two gangs agreed to make peace. This peace would last for a while. It was the only time in Chicago when gunfire ceased and calmness occurred. No killings occurred that were a result of gang war. Vincent Drucci was killed during this time, but it resulted from a brawl with police. Moran now became the sole boss of the North Side Gang.
The gangland peace soon turned into a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
as both sides fell victim to temptation. Moran would regularly hijack Capone's beer shipments, naturally aggravating Capone. Capone retaliated by burning down Moran's dog track. A few days later, Capone's own dog track went up in smoke. Moran was the prime suspect.
Open warfare started again between the two gangs. Moran ordered the execution of two union leaders who were powerful allies and personal friends of Capone. This act prompted Capone to order a decisive blow against Moran that would turn into the most memorable gangland killing in American history: 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...
.
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
On February 14, 1929 four unidentified men, two of them dressed as ChicagoChicago
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...
police officers, stormed into a North Side Street garage and ordered six members of the North Side Gang and a friend of a gang member to stand against a wall. The gunmen then pulled out machine guns and gunned them all down. The only survivor, Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg
Frank Gusenberg
Frank Gusenberg was a German-American contract killer and a victim of the Saint Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago, Illinois.-Early life:...
, died hours later at a nearby Chicago hospital refusing to name his attackers. However, the primary target of the gunmen, Bugs Moran
Bugs Moran
George Clarence Moran , better known by the alias "Bugs" Moran, was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Moran, of Irish and Polish descent, moved to the north side of Chicago when he was 19, where he became affiliated with several gangs...
, leader of the North Side Gang, was not at the garage and escaped harm. Strong circumstantial cases can be made for almost a dozen individuals as being one of the four gunmen, but it remains unknown to this day exactly who those four gunmen were.
Known as 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...
, the attack effectively left the five-year gang war between 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 Bugs Moran
Bugs Moran
George Clarence Moran , better known by the alias "Bugs" Moran, was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Moran, of Irish and Polish descent, moved to the north side of Chicago when he was 19, where he became affiliated with several gangs...
in a stalemate. The brazenness of this crime resulted in a Federal crackdown on all gang activity in Chicago that eventually led to the downfall of both Moran and Al Capone.
Aftermath
Although Bugs Moran survived the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, several experienced North Side gunmen had been lost. The North Side Gang continued to control the 42nd and 43rd Wards and managed to thwart a takeover attempt by Frank McErlaneFrank McErlane
Frank McErlane was a Prohibition-era gangster. He led the Saltis-McErlane Gang, allied with the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone Gang, against rival bootleggers, the Southside O'Donnell Brothers. He is credited with introducing the Thompson submachine gun to Chicago's underworld...
in 1930. As the decade progressed, the power of the North Side Gang slowly declined. In 1936, Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn, mastermind of the massacre, was killed and Moran was one of the prime suspects, along with Frank Nitti of the South Side mob, as McGurn had become more trouble than he was worth to protect to the former "Capone Gang".
Moran and the North Side Gang eventually lost control of their gambling operations to the new National Crime Syndicate
National Crime Syndicate
The National Crime Syndicate was the name given by the press to a loosely-organized multi-ethnic organized crime syndicate. Its origins are uncertain....
. Since the repeal of Prohibition, gambling had been the main source of North Side income. The gang limped along until the end of the 1930s when Moran left the Chicago underworld. The North Side gang disappeared and the Chicago Outfit, successor to the old South Side gang, took control of the North Side territories.
Bosses
- 1919–1924 — Dion O'Banion (1892–1924)
- 1924–1926 — Henry Earl "Hymie" WeissHymie WeissHymie 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:...
(1898 –1926) - 1926–1927 — Vincent "The Schemer" DrucciVincent DrucciVincent Drucci, also known as "The Schemer" , was an American mobster during Chicago's Prohibition era who served as a lieutenant under Dean O'Banion's North Side Gang and later as gang boss. Drucci was one of the few mobsters to ever be killed by a law enforcement officer...
(1898–1927) - 1927–1935 — George "Bugs" Moran (1896–1957)
Other Members
- Jack "Two Gun" AlterieLouis AlterieLouis "Two Gun" Alterie , born Leland A. Varain, and aka "Diamond Jack Alterie", was a Californian who became a notorious hitman for the Chicago North Side Gang during the early years of Prohibition.-Early years:...
(d. 1935)
- A leading gunman during Chicago's bootleg wars, Louis Alterie was one of the more colorful figures in the Northsiders. A western enthusiast, Alterie reportedly carried two Colt. 45 revolvers on a gun belt and owned a ranch in Colorado that was frequented by other gang members. After publicly challenging O'Banion's killers to a gunfight, the mayor of Chicago publicly slapped Alterie. To cool things off, Alterie left Chicago at the request of Bugs Moran. After several years in exile, Alterie returned to testify against Ralph CaponeRalph CaponeRalph "Bottles" Capone, Sr., was a Chicago mobster and an older brother of Al Capone. Ralph Capone got the nickname "Bottles" from the fact that he lobbied the Illinois Legislature to put into law that milk bottling companies had to stamp the date that the milk was bottled on the...
in 1935. Alterie was murdered soon after his return.- Barney Bertsche
- A later member of the Northsiders, Christian "Barney" Bertsche ran prostitution and gambling dens in Chicago's North Side. Following the syndicate takeover of his operations by Capone after the truce agreement at the Hotel Sherman conference in 1926, Bertshe allied with Moran in the hopes of regaining control over his criminal operations.
- James Clark (b. February 25, 1887 d. February 14, 1929)
- Born Albert Kachellek in Krojoencke, Germany, Clark was a bodyguard and brother-in-law of George "Bugs" Moran. One of the seven victims of the St. Valentine's Day MassacreSt. Valentine's Day massacreThe 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...
.- John Duffy (d. 1924)
- Frank "Tight Lips" GusenbergFrank GusenbergFrank Gusenberg was a German-American contract killer and a victim of the Saint Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago, Illinois.-Early life:...
(b. October 11, 1892 in Chicago, Illinois d. February 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois) and Peter GusenbergPeter GusenbergPeter Gusenberg a.k.a. "Goosey" , and his brother Frank were German-American contract killers and members of Chicago's North Side Gang, the main rival to the Chicago Outfit. Peter Gusenberg participated in an infamous attack on Al Capone during a vicious gang war.-Early life:Peter Gusenberg Jr...
(b. September 28, 1888 in Chicago, Illinois d. February 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois)
- Peter was the older brother of Frank Gusenberg. Both were top gunmen for the Moran gang. Both died in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
- Adam Heyer (1889–1929)
- Also known under the alias Frank Meyer, Adam Hayes, John Snyder, Frank Snyder, Heyer was a North Side Mob accountant and business manager. One of the seven victims of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
- John May (b. September 28, 1893 in Chicago, Illinois d. February 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois).
- May is not considered by most researchers to have been a gang member in the conventional sense of the word - he was disassociated with the gang sometimes for months on end, only accepting jobs from them when he desperately needed money (he had a wife and seven children). May was an occasional strongarm for the Moran gang (though it is believed he never carried a gun) but was, most frequently, simply a car mechanic working on a per diem basis. He had the misfortune to be working on a North Side Gang vehicle on Thursday, February 14th, and was one of the victims of the massacre.
- William "Willie" Marks
- Labor racketeer and a lieutenant under George Moran and, as a bodyguard, was with Moran at the time of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Marks, Moran and Ted Newbury avoided the massacre, either by seeing the "police" car pull up to the garage as they approached it themselves, or simply by being a few minutes late.
- Dan McCarthy
- Samuel "Nails" MortonSamuel MortonSamuel J. "Nails" Morton was a high ranking member of Dean O'Banion's Northside gang.-Early life:As a young man in the West Side Chicago, Morton won the admiration of the Jewish community for allegedly creating a self-defense society against Anti-Semites...
(d. 1922)
- A veteran of World War IWorld War IWorld 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...
, Samuel Morton was an early lieutenant of Dean O'BanionDean O'BanionCharles 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...
and served as his right hand man during the early years of Prohibition. Following Morton's death in a riding accident, several gang members took the offending horse from its stables, led it to a field, and killed it.- Ted Newbury (d. 1933)
- Longtime Chicago rumrunner and lieutenant under George Moran during the final years of Prohibition. Defected to the Chicago Outfit following the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Newbury was later killed by Capone successor Frank NittiFrank NittiFrancesco 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...
for conspiring to murder Nitti. Newbury's body was found in a roadside ditch in Indiana on January 7, 1933.- Billy Skidmore
- Albert "Gorilla Al" Weinshank a.k.a Weinshenker (b. December 23, 1893 in Chicago, Illinois d. February 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois)
- Weinshank had worked as a speakeasy operator for Moran, and later ran a string of cleaning and dyeing stores for the North Side Gang. His build, choice of clothing, and even vague physical resemblance to Moran is theorized to be the reason that the St. Valentine's Day Massacre began with his arrival at the Clark Street Garage ahead of Moran himself.
- Jack ZutaJack ZutaJohn U. "Jack" Zuta was an accountant and political "fixer" for the Chicago Outfit.-Early life:Zuta was born on February 18, 1888, to a Polish-Jewish peasant family in Russian Empire. He immigrated to the United States around 1913...
- Jack Zuta
See also
- Irish MobIrish MobThe Irish Mob is one of the oldest organized crime groups in the United States, in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish American street gangs of the 19th century — depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1928 book The Gangs of New York — the Irish Mob has appeared in most...
- Antonio LombardoAntonio LombardoAntonio "The Scourge" Lombardo was an American mobster. He was advisor, or consigliere, to Al Capone and later President of the Unione Siciliana.-Biography:...
, Unione Siciliane leader and Chicago Outfit consigliere - James M. RagenJames M. RagenJames Maxwell Ragen, Sr. was an Irish mobster and co-founder of the Chicago-based street gang and political club Ragen's Colts.-Biography:...
, Founder of the south sideSouth Side IrishSouth Side Irish is the term that refers to the large Irish-American community on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois.-South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade:...
Ragen's ColtsRagen's ColtsRagen's Colts was a chiefly Irish street gang which dominated the Chicago underworld during the early twentieth century. By the late 1920s and early '30s, the gang became part of the Chicago Outfit under Al Capone....
street gang and Chicago gangster.
Further reading
- Keefe, Rose. Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot before Al Capone. Cumberland House, 336 pgs, ISBN 1-58182-378-9
- O'Kane, James M. Crooked Ladder: Gangsters, Ethnicity and the American Dream. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2004. ISBN 978-0-7658-0994-0