Deirdre Capone will be on many TV and radio shows in Chicago this week. You can see her complete calendar at her web site, www.unclealcapone.com.
She will be speaking and signing books at the Barnes & Noble in Oakbrook on Saturday Feb. 11th from 11:00 am.
Dierdre just returned from New York where she was a guest on many TV shows including CBS This Morning and Fox & Friends. Those interviews are available online for viewing.
Her book Uncle Al Capone - The Untold Story from Inside His Family will be available in audio in the next couple of weeks. It is in the final stages of production. Dierdre has worked with a professional voice impressionist and all of the Al Capone quotes in the book will be in her uncles voice. No one has ever heard Al Capones voice before.
The book is also going into its second printing.
Showing posts with label Al Capone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Al Capone. Show all posts
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
Chicago Mob Hangouts in Wisconsin
Members of the U.S. temperance movement believed that eliminating the demon alcohol would cure society of many ills. It would solidify family life, get people back to work, and make society more respectable. Little did they suspect that Prohibition would create effects quite the opposite.
Banning the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol from 1920 to 1933 did not cure Americans' thirst for it. In effect, Prohibition forced the supply chain underground. With liquor no longer legally available, gangsters stepped in to fulfill the public's craving.
Chicago was well-known as a gangster city, with mob figures such as Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson, "Polack Joe" Saltis and others. When pressure from the law got hot in Chicago, some gangsters found remote, wooded northern Wisconsin the perfect place to hide out.
Scattered throughout the North Woods are the old haunts of the Capone brothers Al and Ralph, Saltis, Nelson and John Dillinger.
A recent road trip took me back to the remnants of that time when the Roaring '20s, followed by the Great Depression, accentuated the "sin" in Wisconsin. A tour of these historical places is a great way to see the state and learn about an era that affected the development of many small towns of the North Woods.
Among the most well-known stops along the way:
Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters: Once a resort where the FBI botched a shootout with John Dillinger's gang and Baby Face Nelson, and recently immortalized by the movie "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, it's now a restaurant still called Little Bohemia. The rooms where Dillinger stayed have been turned into a little museum and left mainly as they were, with bullet holes intact.
Dillman's Bay Resort in Lac du Flambeau: Cabin No. 5 is where Baby Face Nelson holed up after the shootout at Little Bohemia, holding an Ojibwe couple hostage for three days.
Minocqua still has several places once allegedly frequented by gangsters, including Norwood Pines Supper Club, which had gambling and a brothel upstairs. BJ's Sportshop on U.S. Highway 51 used to house "Trixies," the most famous whorehouse in the North Woods. The Belle Isle Sports Bar and Grill had a direct line to Arlington Race Track near Chicago. Bosacki's Boat House restaurant also was a popular hangout for the Chicago mob.
Couderay : Al Capone's home on Cranberry Lake was privately operated and open to the public but closed in 2009. Capone used to fly alcohol in from Canada and unload it at his dock. Not far away at Barker's Lake Lodge near Winter, Saltis built a log lodge with cabins for his friends and fellow gangsters. Saltis was a mob boss from Chicago who operated speakeasies. The resort is still open for business and has a nine-hole golf course built by Saltis.
Garmisch USA near Cable: Was built as a lodge by wealthy Chicago businessman Jacob Loeb, who hired the famous attorney Clarence Darrow to represent his teenage nephew after the youth killed another young boy for the thrill. Garmisch still has the beautiful old lodge and now has many cabins as well.
Hurley, Hayward and hell made up what locals called the Devil's Triangle: They were rough logging towns that became notorious for their speakeasies and brothels during Prohibition and were often frequented by the likes of Capone and his cronies. Brothels and bars lined Silver St. in Hurley, where many establishments had tunnels connecting each other, and one allegedly ran under the Montreal River into Michigan. One block of Silver St. still houses strip clubs.
What is now Dawn's Never Inn has the rooms of an old brothel upstairs where Al Capone used to stay.
Mercer : Located on Highway 51 between Hurley and Minocqua, Mercer was the longtime home of Al Capone's older brother Ralph, who ran a couple of taverns. Mitch Babic, now in his 90s, was a fishing and hunting guide for the rich and famous and chronicled Mercer's history over his lifetime with photographs. He knew Ralph well and claims to have been at Little Bohemia on the night of the shootout with Dillinger as a teenager.
Thanks to Gary Porter
Banning the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol from 1920 to 1933 did not cure Americans' thirst for it. In effect, Prohibition forced the supply chain underground. With liquor no longer legally available, gangsters stepped in to fulfill the public's craving.
Chicago was well-known as a gangster city, with mob figures such as Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson, "Polack Joe" Saltis and others. When pressure from the law got hot in Chicago, some gangsters found remote, wooded northern Wisconsin the perfect place to hide out.
Scattered throughout the North Woods are the old haunts of the Capone brothers Al and Ralph, Saltis, Nelson and John Dillinger.
A recent road trip took me back to the remnants of that time when the Roaring '20s, followed by the Great Depression, accentuated the "sin" in Wisconsin. A tour of these historical places is a great way to see the state and learn about an era that affected the development of many small towns of the North Woods.
Among the most well-known stops along the way:
Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters: Once a resort where the FBI botched a shootout with John Dillinger's gang and Baby Face Nelson, and recently immortalized by the movie "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, it's now a restaurant still called Little Bohemia. The rooms where Dillinger stayed have been turned into a little museum and left mainly as they were, with bullet holes intact.
Dillman's Bay Resort in Lac du Flambeau: Cabin No. 5 is where Baby Face Nelson holed up after the shootout at Little Bohemia, holding an Ojibwe couple hostage for three days.
Minocqua still has several places once allegedly frequented by gangsters, including Norwood Pines Supper Club, which had gambling and a brothel upstairs. BJ's Sportshop on U.S. Highway 51 used to house "Trixies," the most famous whorehouse in the North Woods. The Belle Isle Sports Bar and Grill had a direct line to Arlington Race Track near Chicago. Bosacki's Boat House restaurant also was a popular hangout for the Chicago mob.
Couderay : Al Capone's home on Cranberry Lake was privately operated and open to the public but closed in 2009. Capone used to fly alcohol in from Canada and unload it at his dock. Not far away at Barker's Lake Lodge near Winter, Saltis built a log lodge with cabins for his friends and fellow gangsters. Saltis was a mob boss from Chicago who operated speakeasies. The resort is still open for business and has a nine-hole golf course built by Saltis.
Garmisch USA near Cable: Was built as a lodge by wealthy Chicago businessman Jacob Loeb, who hired the famous attorney Clarence Darrow to represent his teenage nephew after the youth killed another young boy for the thrill. Garmisch still has the beautiful old lodge and now has many cabins as well.
Hurley, Hayward and hell made up what locals called the Devil's Triangle: They were rough logging towns that became notorious for their speakeasies and brothels during Prohibition and were often frequented by the likes of Capone and his cronies. Brothels and bars lined Silver St. in Hurley, where many establishments had tunnels connecting each other, and one allegedly ran under the Montreal River into Michigan. One block of Silver St. still houses strip clubs.
What is now Dawn's Never Inn has the rooms of an old brothel upstairs where Al Capone used to stay.
Mercer : Located on Highway 51 between Hurley and Minocqua, Mercer was the longtime home of Al Capone's older brother Ralph, who ran a couple of taverns. Mitch Babic, now in his 90s, was a fishing and hunting guide for the rich and famous and chronicled Mercer's history over his lifetime with photographs. He knew Ralph well and claims to have been at Little Bohemia on the night of the shootout with Dillinger as a teenager.
Thanks to Gary Porter
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Uncle Al Capone…The Untold Story From Inside His Family – By The Last Of The Capones
Deirdre Marie Capone lived in the house of the infamous Al Capone, her uncle. He taught her to swim, ride a bike, and play the mandolin. In her tell-all memoir, Uncle Al Capone - The Untold Story from Inside His Family, Deirdre, the last member of the family born with the name Capone, shares what it was really like growing up a Capone – definitely not the way most people would have imagined it to be. It is the only book ever written about America’s most notorious mobster by someone who knew him well.
Already a best-seller on Amazon, Deirdre’s fascinating memoir tells what really happened in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, what the ‘outfit’ was really all about, and what the ‘family’ were really like, especially the one person she confided in more than anyone – her Aunt Maffie (short for Mafalda – the Italian princess she was named after); a strong woman with whom she shared a close bond as one of the only two girls in the Capone family.
Uncle Al Capone is packed with absorbing stories about Al and his family, along with never-before-published photos and authentic Capone family recipes for the food that Al and his family enjoyed. Simply stated, there is no one else left who could ever share this piece of history with the world.
Deirdre relates what life was like growing up the grand niece of Public Enemy #1, Al Capone. Her own life had been saddened by the fact that her father, who had tried to live a more legitimate lifestyle than the rest of the family, couldn’t shake the shame of the Capone name and ended up taking his own life when Deirdre was just ten years-old. For most of her life she too had made every effort to hide the fact that she was a Capone and in 1972, in her early thirties, she left Chicago and her family history behind to reinvent herself in Minnesota, making sure that no one other than her husband knew her ancestry. She succeeded.
That is, until her past caught up with her on the day her nine year-old son came home from school and announced they were studying Al Capone in a class project. She and her husband agreed it was time to tell the kids but she was afraid for them – she had not wanted them growing up shunned by others or not having other kids to play with once they knew her name. She need not have worried – her kids thought it was totally ‘cool.’ So, at age 34, she finally accepted herself as Deirdre Marie Capone and today her 14 grandchildren are proud to tell the story of their ancestry.
Uncle Al Capone grabs the reader’s attention right from the start with its true life dialogue of the Capone family - from their ancestral roots in Angri, Italy to Brooklyn, New York, and later to Chicago. Deirdre offers a true portrait of an American family and gives a decidedly different look at her favorite uncle, endlessly depicted as the iconic mastermind behind some of the century’s most brutal killings.
For all the dissension, for all the pain, there comes a moment in our lives where we have to stand up and say: This - the good and the bad – is who I am, says Deirdre Marie Capone.
Already a best-seller on Amazon, Deirdre’s fascinating memoir tells what really happened in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, what the ‘outfit’ was really all about, and what the ‘family’ were really like, especially the one person she confided in more than anyone – her Aunt Maffie (short for Mafalda – the Italian princess she was named after); a strong woman with whom she shared a close bond as one of the only two girls in the Capone family.
Uncle Al Capone is packed with absorbing stories about Al and his family, along with never-before-published photos and authentic Capone family recipes for the food that Al and his family enjoyed. Simply stated, there is no one else left who could ever share this piece of history with the world.
Deirdre relates what life was like growing up the grand niece of Public Enemy #1, Al Capone. Her own life had been saddened by the fact that her father, who had tried to live a more legitimate lifestyle than the rest of the family, couldn’t shake the shame of the Capone name and ended up taking his own life when Deirdre was just ten years-old. For most of her life she too had made every effort to hide the fact that she was a Capone and in 1972, in her early thirties, she left Chicago and her family history behind to reinvent herself in Minnesota, making sure that no one other than her husband knew her ancestry. She succeeded.
That is, until her past caught up with her on the day her nine year-old son came home from school and announced they were studying Al Capone in a class project. She and her husband agreed it was time to tell the kids but she was afraid for them – she had not wanted them growing up shunned by others or not having other kids to play with once they knew her name. She need not have worried – her kids thought it was totally ‘cool.’ So, at age 34, she finally accepted herself as Deirdre Marie Capone and today her 14 grandchildren are proud to tell the story of their ancestry.
Uncle Al Capone grabs the reader’s attention right from the start with its true life dialogue of the Capone family - from their ancestral roots in Angri, Italy to Brooklyn, New York, and later to Chicago. Deirdre offers a true portrait of an American family and gives a decidedly different look at her favorite uncle, endlessly depicted as the iconic mastermind behind some of the century’s most brutal killings.
For all the dissension, for all the pain, there comes a moment in our lives where we have to stand up and say: This - the good and the bad – is who I am, says Deirdre Marie Capone.
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Crime in Chicago Seminar
Join The Chicago History Museum for an exploration of Chicago crime from historical and contemporary perspectives. Programs begin at 7:00 p.m.
Lecture - The Chicago “Outfit:” Traditional Chicago Organized Crime from its Earliest Roots to Operation Family Secrets
Tuesday, November 8, 7:00 p.m.
Arthur Bilek is the Executive Director of the Chicago Crime Commission, a civilian “watchdog” agency that has monitored organized crime activity in Chicago since 1919. Art served under Cook County Sheriff Richard B. Ogilvie in a key investigative role from 1962-1966, and is the author of two books “The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee", and “St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone.” A recognized authority on the mob and its inner workings, Art will discuss the history of the Outfit from its earliest days through the defining government prosecutions of the 1990s and the recent Operation Family Secrets that has significantly crippled operations locally.
Cost: $10, $8 members
Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: North by Northwest
Saturday, November 12, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
We’ll visit famous North Side and Northwest side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members
History Pub Crawl - Booze, Bars, and Bootlegging! Prohibition Era Chicago
Sunday, November 13, 1:00 p.m.-4p.m.
Find out what makes Chicago untouchable. Get a taste of infamous speakeasies frequented by some of Chicago’s infamous gangsters like Capone, Moran, and Dillinger. On this trolley tour, learn how prohibition came to be, some fascinating facts about the era, and how it ultimately shaped the city and its image.
Cost: $30, $25 members
Film - Madness In The White City
Sunday, November 13, 1:30 p.m.
It’s 1893 and the Columbian Exposition is taking center stage in Chicago. Amidst all the new and wonderful buildings and innovations at the fair, was an evil predator that threatened the lives of many. This film takes a closer looks at the life of H.H. Holmes, one of America's first serial killers. In collaboration with Kurtis Productions. 50 Minutes.
Cost: Free with Museum admission
Lecture - Street Gangs in Chicago
Tuesday, November 15, 7:00 p.m.
John M. Hagedorn is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois and a subject matter expert on contemporary inner-city street gangs. He is the author of “A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture (Globalization and Community),” and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute. Assisted by historian and author Richard Lindberg, Professor Hagedorn’s discussion will be framed around the historical roots of gangs in Gaslight Era Chicago; contemporary gangs and who they are what they represent today.
Cost: $10, $8 members
Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: South and West
Saturday, November 19, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
We’ll visit famous South Side and West side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members
Walking Tour - Crime of the Century: Leopold & Loeb and the Murder of Bobby Franks
Saturday, November 19, 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
On May 21, 1924, in the city of Chicago, a young boy went missing. The next morning his father, Jacob Franks, received a phone call informing him that his son, Bobby, had been beaten to death. This gruesome and senseless murder has stained Chicago history and still leaves many baffled. Join us as we return to the scene of the crime and tour the Kenwood neighborhood where we will visit sites relevant to Leopold and Loeb’s murder of Bobby Franks.
Cost: $15, $10 members
Lecture - The Chicago “Outfit:” Traditional Chicago Organized Crime from its Earliest Roots to Operation Family Secrets
Tuesday, November 8, 7:00 p.m.
Arthur Bilek is the Executive Director of the Chicago Crime Commission, a civilian “watchdog” agency that has monitored organized crime activity in Chicago since 1919. Art served under Cook County Sheriff Richard B. Ogilvie in a key investigative role from 1962-1966, and is the author of two books “The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee", and “St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone.” A recognized authority on the mob and its inner workings, Art will discuss the history of the Outfit from its earliest days through the defining government prosecutions of the 1990s and the recent Operation Family Secrets that has significantly crippled operations locally.
Cost: $10, $8 members
Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: North by Northwest
Saturday, November 12, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
We’ll visit famous North Side and Northwest side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members
History Pub Crawl - Booze, Bars, and Bootlegging! Prohibition Era Chicago
Sunday, November 13, 1:00 p.m.-4p.m.
Find out what makes Chicago untouchable. Get a taste of infamous speakeasies frequented by some of Chicago’s infamous gangsters like Capone, Moran, and Dillinger. On this trolley tour, learn how prohibition came to be, some fascinating facts about the era, and how it ultimately shaped the city and its image.
Cost: $30, $25 members
Film - Madness In The White City
Sunday, November 13, 1:30 p.m.
It’s 1893 and the Columbian Exposition is taking center stage in Chicago. Amidst all the new and wonderful buildings and innovations at the fair, was an evil predator that threatened the lives of many. This film takes a closer looks at the life of H.H. Holmes, one of America's first serial killers. In collaboration with Kurtis Productions. 50 Minutes.
Cost: Free with Museum admission
Lecture - Street Gangs in Chicago
Tuesday, November 15, 7:00 p.m.
John M. Hagedorn is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois and a subject matter expert on contemporary inner-city street gangs. He is the author of “A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture (Globalization and Community),” and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute. Assisted by historian and author Richard Lindberg, Professor Hagedorn’s discussion will be framed around the historical roots of gangs in Gaslight Era Chicago; contemporary gangs and who they are what they represent today.
Cost: $10, $8 members
Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: South and West
Saturday, November 19, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
We’ll visit famous South Side and West side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members
Walking Tour - Crime of the Century: Leopold & Loeb and the Murder of Bobby Franks
Saturday, November 19, 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
On May 21, 1924, in the city of Chicago, a young boy went missing. The next morning his father, Jacob Franks, received a phone call informing him that his son, Bobby, had been beaten to death. This gruesome and senseless murder has stained Chicago history and still leaves many baffled. Join us as we return to the scene of the crime and tour the Kenwood neighborhood where we will visit sites relevant to Leopold and Loeb’s murder of Bobby Franks.
Cost: $15, $10 members
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
NCAA Compared to Al Capone's Mafia
A Democratic congressman compared the NCAA to the Mafia over how it controls the lives of student athletes.
"I think they're just one of the most vicious, most ruthless organizations ever created by mankind," Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush said of the NCAA at a congressional forum on college sports Tuesday. "I think you would compare the NCAA to Al Capone and to the Mafia."
Rush made the accusations at the forum called to look at the impact of "back-room deals, payoffs and scandals" in college sports. The congressman spoke after hearing from a couple of mothers of former student-athletes who complained of ill treatment by schools after their sons suffered injuries.
"Congressman Rush obviously doesn't know the NCAA," Bob Williams, a spokesman for the organization, said in an email Tuesday night. "The NCAA and its member institutions provide over $2 billion per year in scholarships, financial assistance and academic support to student-athletes ... second only to the federal government. Student-athlete success is our mission."
"I think they're just one of the most vicious, most ruthless organizations ever created by mankind," Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush said of the NCAA at a congressional forum on college sports Tuesday. "I think you would compare the NCAA to Al Capone and to the Mafia."
Rush made the accusations at the forum called to look at the impact of "back-room deals, payoffs and scandals" in college sports. The congressman spoke after hearing from a couple of mothers of former student-athletes who complained of ill treatment by schools after their sons suffered injuries.
"Congressman Rush obviously doesn't know the NCAA," Bob Williams, a spokesman for the organization, said in an email Tuesday night. "The NCAA and its member institutions provide over $2 billion per year in scholarships, financial assistance and academic support to student-athletes ... second only to the federal government. Student-athlete success is our mission."
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Al Capone and His American Boys: Memoirs of a Mobster's Wife.
In 1934, an attempt to publish Georgette Winkeler's memoir was squelched by the mob. Found buried in FBI files 50 years later, the manuscript is now the focus of a new book, "Al Capone and His American Boys: Memoirs of a Mobster's Wife."
Author William J. Helmer weaves gangster history into the pages of Winkeler's record of her life with a member of Al Capone's Chicago mob. Some of the history centers around the capture of Fred "Killer" Burke, with ties to Berrien County.
Helmer credits local historian Chriss Lyon with much of the account of Burke's capture and the events in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph leading up to it.
"I've been working with him for about three years on this," said Lyon, communications supervisor at the Berrien County 911 Dispatch Center and a local historian and author. She is credited on page 123 of Helmer's book and listed as one of the people to whom he dedicates the book. "She was a big help in picking up the details related to the car wreck and the capture of Burke. She got all kinds of details," Helmer said in a phone interview from his home in Boerne, Texas, near San Antonio.
Helmer said that while researching the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre, he learned some basic information about Burke's killing of a police officer in St. Joseph, but that Lyon filled in many details.
Burke was a member of Al Capone's gang involved in the massacre, as was August "Gus" Winkeler, Georgette Winkeler's husband. The guns used in the massacre were found at a house Burke owned in Stevensville and are now with the Berrien County Sheriff's Department. Before he was captured, Burke - believed to be one of Capone's hit men in the massacre in Chicago — shot and killed St. Joseph policeman Charles Skelley in 1929 following a traffic accident in St. Joseph. Lyon helped provide details for that section of the book.
"I got acquainted with (Helmer) through a group of people who are all working on stuff related to Al Capone," Lyon said. "He was trying to find information about Georgette, and being a genealogist, I produced information that built my credibility with him."
Helmer stumbled upon Georgette Winkeler's manuscript buried in an FBI file while doing his own research.
He said that after her husband was murdered in 1933, Georgette Winkeler attempted suicide. Then she wrote her memoirs for a book intended to expose the workings of the Chicago syndicate. Her publisher declared the book "too hot" to publish, Helmer said, probably because she names several gangsters and was threatened by the mob.
Helmer said that a frustrated Georgette Winkeler gave her manuscript to the FBI office in Chicago, where he found it buried in a file decades later.
Georgette met Gus Winkeler while she and her sister were operating a rooming house near downtown St. Louis. Despite some concerns about his behavior and his acquaintances, she soon married him. He promised to give up his old habits and companions. But Gus Winkeler soon resumed illegal activities with his old buddies, participating in a holdup with Fred "Killer" Burke, a St. Louis hoodlum. Winkeler was shot and, instead of taking him to a doctor, Burke removed the bullet from his arm with a razor blade. It was just the start of Georgette Winkeler's life with a gang member.
That life included her husband's involvement in the famous St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Orchestrated by Chicago mobster Al Capone, the plan was to eliminate north-side bootlegging rival George "Bugs" Moran, who escaped being killed. But the shooters, including Winkeler and Burke, killed five members of Moran's gang and a mechanic and optometrist who were known to hang out with gangsters.
Burke was never charged in connection with the massacre, but was convicted in Berrien County of the shooting death of the St. Joseph policeman and sentenced to life in prison. He died in Marquette Branch Prison in the Upper Peninsula in 1940.
On page 123 of his book, Helmer notes that Lyon learned, among other things, that Burke had been a model prisoner who raised canaries in his cell. Before he died, Burke wrote a note in a Christmas card to Jane Irene Cutler, widow of the late Fred J. Cutler, Berrien County sheriff at the time of Burke's arrest.
"If every boy had a chance to come in contact with a man like Fred Cutler, life would be different," Burke wrote.
Lyon said she was honored to work with Helmer, who she said has written "the gold-standard" in gangster history books.
Helmer is also the author of "The Gun That Made the Twenties Roar," ''The St. Valentine's Day Massacre," ''Dillinger," and "The Public Enemies Almanac."
Regarding his newest book, she said, "It's a great read, and there's a good amount of Berrien County reference."
In large part, that's due to Lyon.
Thanks to Julie Swidwa
Author William J. Helmer weaves gangster history into the pages of Winkeler's record of her life with a member of Al Capone's Chicago mob. Some of the history centers around the capture of Fred "Killer" Burke, with ties to Berrien County.
Helmer credits local historian Chriss Lyon with much of the account of Burke's capture and the events in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph leading up to it.
"I've been working with him for about three years on this," said Lyon, communications supervisor at the Berrien County 911 Dispatch Center and a local historian and author. She is credited on page 123 of Helmer's book and listed as one of the people to whom he dedicates the book. "She was a big help in picking up the details related to the car wreck and the capture of Burke. She got all kinds of details," Helmer said in a phone interview from his home in Boerne, Texas, near San Antonio.
Helmer said that while researching the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre, he learned some basic information about Burke's killing of a police officer in St. Joseph, but that Lyon filled in many details.
Burke was a member of Al Capone's gang involved in the massacre, as was August "Gus" Winkeler, Georgette Winkeler's husband. The guns used in the massacre were found at a house Burke owned in Stevensville and are now with the Berrien County Sheriff's Department. Before he was captured, Burke - believed to be one of Capone's hit men in the massacre in Chicago — shot and killed St. Joseph policeman Charles Skelley in 1929 following a traffic accident in St. Joseph. Lyon helped provide details for that section of the book.
"I got acquainted with (Helmer) through a group of people who are all working on stuff related to Al Capone," Lyon said. "He was trying to find information about Georgette, and being a genealogist, I produced information that built my credibility with him."
Helmer stumbled upon Georgette Winkeler's manuscript buried in an FBI file while doing his own research.
He said that after her husband was murdered in 1933, Georgette Winkeler attempted suicide. Then she wrote her memoirs for a book intended to expose the workings of the Chicago syndicate. Her publisher declared the book "too hot" to publish, Helmer said, probably because she names several gangsters and was threatened by the mob.
Helmer said that a frustrated Georgette Winkeler gave her manuscript to the FBI office in Chicago, where he found it buried in a file decades later.
Georgette met Gus Winkeler while she and her sister were operating a rooming house near downtown St. Louis. Despite some concerns about his behavior and his acquaintances, she soon married him. He promised to give up his old habits and companions. But Gus Winkeler soon resumed illegal activities with his old buddies, participating in a holdup with Fred "Killer" Burke, a St. Louis hoodlum. Winkeler was shot and, instead of taking him to a doctor, Burke removed the bullet from his arm with a razor blade. It was just the start of Georgette Winkeler's life with a gang member.
That life included her husband's involvement in the famous St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Orchestrated by Chicago mobster Al Capone, the plan was to eliminate north-side bootlegging rival George "Bugs" Moran, who escaped being killed. But the shooters, including Winkeler and Burke, killed five members of Moran's gang and a mechanic and optometrist who were known to hang out with gangsters.
Burke was never charged in connection with the massacre, but was convicted in Berrien County of the shooting death of the St. Joseph policeman and sentenced to life in prison. He died in Marquette Branch Prison in the Upper Peninsula in 1940.
On page 123 of his book, Helmer notes that Lyon learned, among other things, that Burke had been a model prisoner who raised canaries in his cell. Before he died, Burke wrote a note in a Christmas card to Jane Irene Cutler, widow of the late Fred J. Cutler, Berrien County sheriff at the time of Burke's arrest.
"If every boy had a chance to come in contact with a man like Fred Cutler, life would be different," Burke wrote.
Lyon said she was honored to work with Helmer, who she said has written "the gold-standard" in gangster history books.
Helmer is also the author of "The Gun That Made the Twenties Roar," ''The St. Valentine's Day Massacre," ''Dillinger," and "The Public Enemies Almanac."
Regarding his newest book, she said, "It's a great read, and there's a good amount of Berrien County reference."
In large part, that's due to Lyon.
Thanks to Julie Swidwa
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, July 08, 2011
Chicago & Tourists Embrace Its Mob History and Historic Sites
When Louise Leach planned her vacation, she had three priorities for her visit here: "architecture, pizza and gangsters."
Leach, 63, a retiree from Manchester, England, took an architecture boat tour and by Day Three of her stay had eaten at two pizzerias. She came to the Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger was fatally shot in 1934, for a taste of the gangster life.
"Next we're going to the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, even though I know it's not there anymore," Leach says. "Someone told me the house where Al Capone once lived is still standing, so we'll go there as well. Do you know where I can find some former speakeasies?"
For Leach and her three traveling companions, Chicago's gangster past is part of its allure. "It was quite a dangerous place then, wasn't it?" muses Sally Wetherford, 61. "You see it in the movies all the time, so we simply have to sample it in person."
Las Vegas, St. Paul and Kansas City, Mo., have tours celebrating the often-violent history written by gangsters in the 1920s and '30s. New York has the Museum of the American Gangster. Chicago, though, may relish its links to gangsters more than any other American city.
Bus tours visit the secret bars where they sold alcohol during Prohibition and the places they died. At Holy Name Cathedral, bullet holes from a 1926 gangster shootout are still visible. The Renaissance Blackstone Chicago Hotel, which boasts that Capone patronized its barbershop, offers a "good to be a gangster" package.
"Hollywood got it right. These were exciting, charismatic guys who really captured the imagination of the public," says Jonathan Eig, a Chicago resident and author of the 2010 book Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster
Organized Crime Books).Chicago had a reputation for illicit activity by the 1840s, but the arrival of Capone from New York in 1919 and Prohibition's start in 1920 launched the headline-grabbing reign of criminal groups that ran gambling, alcohol and prostitution rackets. Gangsters here were and are still called the Outfit. The moniker probably originated with Western ranch hands and military buddies, says John Binder, a University of Illinois-Chicago finance professor who wrote the 2003 book The Chicago Outfit (IL) (Images of America).
Binder, who leads tours of gangsters' lavish suburban homes four times a year, says Capone's notoriety during and after his lifetime cemented Chicago's reputation as a rough-and-tumble haven for criminals. "He crossed over from being an historical figure to a legend, like Billy the Kid," he says. "As time goes by, the nasty side of it is forgotten and the fascinating side rises to the forefront. The interest doesn't go away."
One of Binder's favorite spots is the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in a garage where Capone's gang allegedly gunned down seven rivals. At Capone's grave in Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery in suburban Hillside, he says, admirers often leave whiskey bottles, coins and Valentine cards. Binder doubts Chicago's bloody history taints its current reputation. "It's history," he says. "It's not going to go away, and it's part of what Chicago is."
Jim Peters, president of the preservation group Landmarks Illinois, says the city "has been very hesitant to glorify or recognize" its gangster sites.
Capone's onetime headquarters, the Lexington Hotel, was designated a Chicago landmark by the group for its architecture but was torn down in 1995, he says. An effort to have Capone's home added to the National Register of Historic Places failed.
The Biograph has landmark status "more because of the significance of the building," Peters says.
Craig Alton, owner of the Untouchable Tours, a two-hour bus journey to Chicago gangster locales that's marking its 24th summer, says he had trouble getting city licenses for his business when it began. He believes the city's gangster era is worth commemorating.
"It's history," he says. "We get people who have found this stuff interesting for their whole life. Everybody has a relationship with Al Capone."
Interest in gangsters was one reason Tamotsu Hata and his wife, Yuki, both 29, included Chicago in their first visit to the USA from their home in Tokyo. They took a taxi to the massacre site and planned to stop next at the Biograph.
"We love this part of American history and we have seen many movies about it," says Tamotsu Hata. His wife's favorite was the 2009 movie Public Enemies and the star who portrayed Dillinger. What intrigues Yuki Hata most about Chicago's gangsters? "Johnny Depp."
Thanks to Judy Keen
Friday, July 01, 2011
$110,000 for Al Capone's Handgun
Al Capone's handgun sold for nearly $110,000 at an auction in London
The Colt .38 revolver was manufactured in 1929, the year of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, when seven people were slain during clashes in Chicago between Capone's gang and a rival mob.
Auctioneer Christie's says the gun went for 67,250 pounds ($109,080) to an anonymous online bidder. It was sold by an anonymous private collector along with a letter from Madeleine Capone Morichetti, the widow of Al Capone's brother Ralph, confirming the gun "previously belonged to and was only used by Al Capone while he was alive."
The sale price was at the upper end of the pre-sale estimate of between 50,000 pounds and 70,000 pounds. It includes a buyer's premium.
The New York-born mobster Alphonse "Al" Capone dominated the Chicago underworld during Prohibition until his 1931 arrest for tax evasion. He died in 1947.
The Colt .38 revolver was manufactured in 1929, the year of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, when seven people were slain during clashes in Chicago between Capone's gang and a rival mob.
Auctioneer Christie's says the gun went for 67,250 pounds ($109,080) to an anonymous online bidder. It was sold by an anonymous private collector along with a letter from Madeleine Capone Morichetti, the widow of Al Capone's brother Ralph, confirming the gun "previously belonged to and was only used by Al Capone while he was alive."
The sale price was at the upper end of the pre-sale estimate of between 50,000 pounds and 70,000 pounds. It includes a buyer's premium.
The New York-born mobster Alphonse "Al" Capone dominated the Chicago underworld during Prohibition until his 1931 arrest for tax evasion. He died in 1947.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Auction for Al Capone's Gun
Hoping to own a little piece of Chicago history?
A gun belonging to Al Capone, Windy City’s most infamous mob boss, is expected to sell for up to $115,000 when it is auctioned online on June 22.
The Colt .38 was made in 1929 after Capone had ordered the murder of seven of his rivals in the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. The revolver comes with a letter signed by the gangster’s sister-in-law confirming its authenticity.
Capone led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate until he was arrested in 1931 for tax evasion. He died in 1947 from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.
A gun belonging to outlaw Thomas Coleman “Cole” Younger, a member of the James gang with brothers Frank and Jesse, will also go under the hammer this month.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
"Capone Days Festival" to Honor Al Capone's Grand Niece, Deirdre Marie Capone, at Gangster Museum Grand Opening
Deirdre Marie Capone is the Guest Of Honor at the Hot Springs
, Arkansas 'Capone Days Festival' May 20, 21, 22.
She will also be signing copies of her new award winning book, Uncle Al Capone at the grand opening of The Gangster Museum.
, Arkansas 'Capone Days Festival' May 20, 21, 22.She will also be signing copies of her new award winning book, Uncle Al Capone at the grand opening of The Gangster Museum.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Crime Beat Radio Show Releases Upcoming Program Schedule
Crime Beat: Issues, Controversies and Personalities from the Darkside has been programming since January of this year and is currently averaging 50,000l listeners plus each week and the figure is growing.
Crime Beat is now pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule:
Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.
Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb. Ronald Herd 11, the popular Internet radio host and regular listener of Crime Beat, said "Crime Beatsounds like an organized crime greatest hits collection...I am loving it!"
Crime Beat is now pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule:
- April 21: Diedre Capone, ancestor of Al Capone and author of Uncle Al Capone, shares family secrets about the godfather
- April 28: Tom Ajamie and Bruce Kelley, the authors of Financial Serial Killers, give us an inside look at the world of Wall Street hustlers, swindlers and con men and provide advice on how to protect yourself against Ponzi investment schemes
- May 5: Lynda Milito, the author of Mafia Wife talks about love, murder and madness.
- May 12: Howard Campbell, the author of Drug War Zone, talks about the Mexican drug war and life on the streets today in Juarez and El Paso
- May 19: Robert Wittman, former FBI agent and the author of Priceless, reveals how he went underground to rescue the world’s art treasures.
Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.
Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb. Ronald Herd 11, the popular Internet radio host and regular listener of Crime Beat, said "Crime Beatsounds like an organized crime greatest hits collection...I am loving it!"
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Chicago's O'Hare Field Named for the Son of One of Al Capone's Associates
Times-Union readers want to know:
An e-mail I received contains two stories: one about "Easy Eddie," who was Al Capone's lawyer who lived the high life of the Chicago mob, and the other about war hero Lt. Cmdr. Butch O'Hare. They are great tales, but are they true? They are great tales and, except for a little exaggeration and some speculation, much of the information in the e-mail is true.
The stories are too lengthy to reprint in full, but here's an abridged version:
"Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well and gave him a mansion with all conveniences.
"Eddie gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him, but he did have one soft spot - a son whom he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had nice clothes, cars and a good education. Price was no object. "And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach his son right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.
"One day, Easy Eddie decided to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would testify against the mob and Capone, clean up his tarnished name and offer his son some semblance of integrity. "So he testified. In 1932, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In 1939, Easy Eddie was gunned down on a lonely Chicago street. Most people credited Capone's people for the hit.
"Police removed from Eddie's pockets a gun, a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion and a poem clipped from a magazine. "The poem read: 'The clock of life is wound but once and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour; now is the only time you own, live, love, toil with a will; place no faith in time for the clock may soon be still.'"
The second story
"World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lt. Butch O'Hare, a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.
"On Feb. 20, 1942, his entire squadron was sent on a mission but O'Hare soon realized his fuel tank was too low. He headed back to the fleet and noticed that a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the Lexington.
"Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he engaged the formation of Japanese planes. He fired at the planes until all his ammunition was spent, then dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail. Finally, the Japanese squadron took off in another direction.
"Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. He had destroyed five enemy aircraft and, for that, became the Navy's first ace of World War II and the first naval aviator to win the Medal of Honor.
"A year later, Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His memory is kept alive as Chicago's O'Hare Airport is named for him."
The kicker
So, the e-mail asks, what do these two stories have to do with each other?
Butch O'Hare was Easy Eddie's son.
Numerous historical accounts show that Edward Joseph "Easy Eddie" O'Hare was Capone's lawyer and a partner in some of the gangster's criminal activities. Easy Eddie had a hand in running Capone's horse and dog track operations; in fact, earlier in his career he was a partner with the man who invented the "rabbit" that greyhounds chase around the track. He did help the government imprison Capone on tax evasion charges but accounts differ as to whether he did that after an attack of conscience or because he saw a way to keep himself out of prison.
Eddie also might have made a deal to get his son into the Naval Academy, according to the organized crime section of the Illinois Police and Sheriff's News (IPSN) website. Eddie's son, Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare, did indeed shoot down five Japanese fighters and disable a sixth, according to the historical accounts. The shootout took place within sight of hundreds of Lexington crew members, according to IPSN. O'Hare was being fired on with machine guns and cannons from all angles, but he "just kept moving," one eyewitness report said.
Lt. Butch O'Hare received the Medal of Honor in 1942 for his actions defending the Lexington and was promoted to lieutenant commander. The medal citation calls it "... one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation. ..."
O'Hare was killed in November 1943 when his plane went down during the battle for the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific, but there's controversy over what led to his death. In the biography of O'Hare, "Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare" co-authors John Lundstrom and Steve Ewing write that he was shot down by a Japanese bomber. Other accounts say he was shot down by friendly fire during a night mission.
A 1947 Collier's magazine article about Easy Eddie O'Hare stated that his work as an informant helped win public favor for him, the fact-finding website Truthorfiction.com reports.
In 1949, Orchard Field Airport was renamed O'Hare to honor Easy Eddie's son, World War II ace Butch O'Hare.
Thanks to Carole Fader
An e-mail I received contains two stories: one about "Easy Eddie," who was Al Capone's lawyer who lived the high life of the Chicago mob, and the other about war hero Lt. Cmdr. Butch O'Hare. They are great tales, but are they true? They are great tales and, except for a little exaggeration and some speculation, much of the information in the e-mail is true.
The stories are too lengthy to reprint in full, but here's an abridged version:
"Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well and gave him a mansion with all conveniences.
"Eddie gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him, but he did have one soft spot - a son whom he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had nice clothes, cars and a good education. Price was no object. "And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach his son right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.
"One day, Easy Eddie decided to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would testify against the mob and Capone, clean up his tarnished name and offer his son some semblance of integrity. "So he testified. In 1932, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In 1939, Easy Eddie was gunned down on a lonely Chicago street. Most people credited Capone's people for the hit.
"Police removed from Eddie's pockets a gun, a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion and a poem clipped from a magazine. "The poem read: 'The clock of life is wound but once and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour; now is the only time you own, live, love, toil with a will; place no faith in time for the clock may soon be still.'"
The second story
"World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lt. Butch O'Hare, a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.
"On Feb. 20, 1942, his entire squadron was sent on a mission but O'Hare soon realized his fuel tank was too low. He headed back to the fleet and noticed that a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the Lexington.
"Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he engaged the formation of Japanese planes. He fired at the planes until all his ammunition was spent, then dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail. Finally, the Japanese squadron took off in another direction.
"Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. He had destroyed five enemy aircraft and, for that, became the Navy's first ace of World War II and the first naval aviator to win the Medal of Honor.
"A year later, Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His memory is kept alive as Chicago's O'Hare Airport is named for him."
The kicker
So, the e-mail asks, what do these two stories have to do with each other?
Butch O'Hare was Easy Eddie's son.
Numerous historical accounts show that Edward Joseph "Easy Eddie" O'Hare was Capone's lawyer and a partner in some of the gangster's criminal activities. Easy Eddie had a hand in running Capone's horse and dog track operations; in fact, earlier in his career he was a partner with the man who invented the "rabbit" that greyhounds chase around the track. He did help the government imprison Capone on tax evasion charges but accounts differ as to whether he did that after an attack of conscience or because he saw a way to keep himself out of prison.
Eddie also might have made a deal to get his son into the Naval Academy, according to the organized crime section of the Illinois Police and Sheriff's News (IPSN) website. Eddie's son, Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare, did indeed shoot down five Japanese fighters and disable a sixth, according to the historical accounts. The shootout took place within sight of hundreds of Lexington crew members, according to IPSN. O'Hare was being fired on with machine guns and cannons from all angles, but he "just kept moving," one eyewitness report said.
Lt. Butch O'Hare received the Medal of Honor in 1942 for his actions defending the Lexington and was promoted to lieutenant commander. The medal citation calls it "... one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation. ..."
O'Hare was killed in November 1943 when his plane went down during the battle for the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific, but there's controversy over what led to his death. In the biography of O'Hare, "Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare" co-authors John Lundstrom and Steve Ewing write that he was shot down by a Japanese bomber. Other accounts say he was shot down by friendly fire during a night mission.
A 1947 Collier's magazine article about Easy Eddie O'Hare stated that his work as an informant helped win public favor for him, the fact-finding website Truthorfiction.com reports.
In 1949, Orchard Field Airport was renamed O'Hare to honor Easy Eddie's son, World War II ace Butch O'Hare.
Thanks to Carole Fader
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Al Capone International Airport
Chicago's Election Board said Rahm Emmanuel can run for mayor despite the fact he leased his house two years ago and doesn't meet the one-year residency requirement. Just because something's illegal doesn't stop it in Chicago. This is the town that once came within two votes on the City Council of naming their international airport after Al Capone.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Reviewing the History Behind Famous Mob Nicknames
A colorful nickname comes with the job when you are a reputed Chicago crime boss, often whether you like it or not.
The trial of Michael "Big Mike" Sarno is getting underway in federal court in Chicago, with prosecutors arguing that the 6-foot-3-inch, 300-pound Sarno wasn't just imposing because of his size, but because he was the big man behind a violent mob jewelry theft and illegal gambling ring.
Imposing aliases have captivated the public and aggravated mobsters since the days of Al "Scarface" Capone, a fact that apparently was too much for one prospective juror. The juror, a suburban businessman, told U.S. Judge Ronald Guzman he would be biased by the repeated use of nicknames during the trial. So Guzman sent him home.
Defense attorney Michael Gillespie said he's not worried about his large client's nickname, which is pretty mild for an alleged mobster. "There's nothing nefarious about that nickname," Gillespie said. "But I do think (federal prosecutors) put the nickname in there for a reason. They could've just charged him as 'Michael Sarno.'"
A big appetite is a more benign way to get a pet name than, say, Anthony "Joe Batters" Accardo, the former reputed mob kingpin who earned his sobriquet for beating people with baseball bats. The story goes that after hearing of one such beating, Capone himself said, "That guy, (Accardo), he's a real Joe Batters." Throughout his life, everyone called Accardo "Joe," said Gus Russo, author of "The Outfit."
"They started to call (Accardo) 'Big Tuna' in the press, but no one ever called him that," said Russo. Mobsters' nicknames often were generated by the press or FBI agents eager to antagonize their targets, a favorite tactic of longtime Chicago FBI chief William Roemer. "(Roemer) was the one that referred to (Outfit Vegas boss) Anthony Spilotro as 'The Ant,'" Russo said. "That was (Roemer's) way of infuriating these guys."
Attorney Joseph Lopez said the press hung the nickname "The Breeze" on his loan-sharking client Frank Calabrese Sr. "That's a media nickname. No one ever called him that. He was 'Cheech,'" said Lopez. "Cheech is 'Frank' in Italian. It's a neighborhood thing. These guys get their nicknames like anyone else, as young kids in the neighborhood."
Of course, former Lopez client Anthony "The Hatchet" Chiaramonti was known for attacking juice-loan delinquents with a hatchet, the attorney acknowledged. "Hatchet earned that nickname," said Lopez, noting that jurors heard Chiaramonti strangle an informant — who was wearing a wire at the time — during a trial in the 1990s. "I called him Tony."
When reputed mobsters deny, or take offense to, their nicknames, it may be because they haven't heard them until someone plays them tapes of a wiretap. Wiretaps in Sarno's case will show that some of his lieutenants often called their boss "Fat Ass" behind his back. Not a good career move in most jobs, and a potentially deadly one in The Outfit.
"These are not guys you might want to call by a nickname to their face," said Markus Funk, one of the lead prosecutors in the Family Secrets trial that featured defendants Frank "the German" Schweihs; Paul "the Indian" Schiro; and Joseph Lombardo, who was listed with three nicknames: "the Clown," "Lumbo" and "Lumpy."
U.S. attorney's office policy is to include nicknames in an indictment only when the monikers are used in wiretaps or correspondence, said former prosecutor Chris Gair. However, modern mobsters are so paranoid about wiretaps and FBI surveillance that they seldom even risk using a nickname, Gair said. Their coded euphemisms get so vague, often it's clear the mobsters can barely carry on a conversation.
"Instead of a name or a nickname, they'll say something like 'You know that guy down by Grand and Ogden (avenues)?' 'You mean the guy who stands outside the grocery?' And the circumlocutions are so obscure, it's obvious they don't know who the other guy's talking about," Gair said. "But they're so paranoid, they still won't use a name."
Gair, for the record, said he seldom used nicknames in cases he handled.
"I would almost never put (nicknames) in an indictment. FBI agents and IRS guys have a nickname for everybody," he said. "For most guys, they use nicknames the way you or I do among friends."
Thanks to Andy Grimm
More Mob Nicknames
The trial of Michael "Big Mike" Sarno is getting underway in federal court in Chicago, with prosecutors arguing that the 6-foot-3-inch, 300-pound Sarno wasn't just imposing because of his size, but because he was the big man behind a violent mob jewelry theft and illegal gambling ring.
Imposing aliases have captivated the public and aggravated mobsters since the days of Al "Scarface" Capone, a fact that apparently was too much for one prospective juror. The juror, a suburban businessman, told U.S. Judge Ronald Guzman he would be biased by the repeated use of nicknames during the trial. So Guzman sent him home.
Defense attorney Michael Gillespie said he's not worried about his large client's nickname, which is pretty mild for an alleged mobster. "There's nothing nefarious about that nickname," Gillespie said. "But I do think (federal prosecutors) put the nickname in there for a reason. They could've just charged him as 'Michael Sarno.'"
A big appetite is a more benign way to get a pet name than, say, Anthony "Joe Batters" Accardo, the former reputed mob kingpin who earned his sobriquet for beating people with baseball bats. The story goes that after hearing of one such beating, Capone himself said, "That guy, (Accardo), he's a real Joe Batters." Throughout his life, everyone called Accardo "Joe," said Gus Russo, author of "The Outfit."
"They started to call (Accardo) 'Big Tuna' in the press, but no one ever called him that," said Russo. Mobsters' nicknames often were generated by the press or FBI agents eager to antagonize their targets, a favorite tactic of longtime Chicago FBI chief William Roemer. "(Roemer) was the one that referred to (Outfit Vegas boss) Anthony Spilotro as 'The Ant,'" Russo said. "That was (Roemer's) way of infuriating these guys."
Attorney Joseph Lopez said the press hung the nickname "The Breeze" on his loan-sharking client Frank Calabrese Sr. "That's a media nickname. No one ever called him that. He was 'Cheech,'" said Lopez. "Cheech is 'Frank' in Italian. It's a neighborhood thing. These guys get their nicknames like anyone else, as young kids in the neighborhood."
Of course, former Lopez client Anthony "The Hatchet" Chiaramonti was known for attacking juice-loan delinquents with a hatchet, the attorney acknowledged. "Hatchet earned that nickname," said Lopez, noting that jurors heard Chiaramonti strangle an informant — who was wearing a wire at the time — during a trial in the 1990s. "I called him Tony."
When reputed mobsters deny, or take offense to, their nicknames, it may be because they haven't heard them until someone plays them tapes of a wiretap. Wiretaps in Sarno's case will show that some of his lieutenants often called their boss "Fat Ass" behind his back. Not a good career move in most jobs, and a potentially deadly one in The Outfit.
"These are not guys you might want to call by a nickname to their face," said Markus Funk, one of the lead prosecutors in the Family Secrets trial that featured defendants Frank "the German" Schweihs; Paul "the Indian" Schiro; and Joseph Lombardo, who was listed with three nicknames: "the Clown," "Lumbo" and "Lumpy."
U.S. attorney's office policy is to include nicknames in an indictment only when the monikers are used in wiretaps or correspondence, said former prosecutor Chris Gair. However, modern mobsters are so paranoid about wiretaps and FBI surveillance that they seldom even risk using a nickname, Gair said. Their coded euphemisms get so vague, often it's clear the mobsters can barely carry on a conversation.
"Instead of a name or a nickname, they'll say something like 'You know that guy down by Grand and Ogden (avenues)?' 'You mean the guy who stands outside the grocery?' And the circumlocutions are so obscure, it's obvious they don't know who the other guy's talking about," Gair said. "But they're so paranoid, they still won't use a name."
Gair, for the record, said he seldom used nicknames in cases he handled.
"I would almost never put (nicknames) in an indictment. FBI agents and IRS guys have a nickname for everybody," he said. "For most guys, they use nicknames the way you or I do among friends."
Thanks to Andy Grimm
More Mob Nicknames
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
The Chicago Mob's Underground Tunnel System
It was The Roaring Twenties. Prohibition was the law of the land. But in Chicago, that didn't seem to matter.
The city was wide open and just plain wild, nowhere more so than in the notorious levee district, now Chicago's South Loop. The only surviving building from that vice-filled era now houses Blue Star Auto Parts. Back then, it was the Cullerton Hotel.
"This was a very respectable hotel early on. But by 1900, it had taken on a very unsavory character. In the basement, there were illegal gambling games going on. Upstairs, it has become a brothel. And it continued as a brothel through the 1920s," said Rich Lindberg, author and historian.
It was a very popular brothel, said Lindberg, an authority on this unseemly side of Chicago history. "It was a place where men came to consort with prostitutes, to wager. There was likely a dope den at one time," said Lindberg. "In the heyday of the 1910s, 1920s, Michigan Ave., State St. [there] were a lot of hotels that catered to high-class vice, high-class bordellos."
It was a place to visit, but you didn't want to get caught there. So the mobsters had a system.
"Usually a clerk on the first floor would ring a bell, and the patrons would make a fast escape," Lindberg said.
Deep below the hotel was a series of secret tunnels, an elaborate 25-mile system. Today, you can still see bricked-up traces of one of the numerous gangster getaways. "To gain protection from raids, they would come down here and they would escape," said Lindberg.
Nowhere was Chicago's underworld underground more evident than at the legendary Green Mill Lounge on the North Side. "Well, it was a real fancy joint years ago," said Dave Jemilo, Green Mill owner. And it was also the favorite hangout of Chicago's most infamous mobster.
"This booth here is where Al Capone used to sit. It was his favorite booth because he could see the front door and the side door without his back being to either one. So that's why he would always sit here," said Jemilo.
He could also see a trap door behind the bar. It led to the epicenter of a thriving bootleg and smuggling operation. There were miles of underground tunnels, running to the nearby Aragon Ballroom as well as the Uptown and Riviera theaters. It was a massive complex of both tunnels and private rooms, top-secret rooms where the parties were said to be out of control.
"Up here you get the liquor in a coffee cup or something. Down there, you know, anything goes! These guys wanna have stuff that you can't even do now. And you have parties down there and you got raided or something, you don't come up the trap door to get out, you go through the tunnels, and you could be on the street walking with your girl on your arm, and the coppers says 'Hey were you in the Green Mill?' 'No I was at the Riviera Theater seeing a movie with my girl. Leave us alone,'" said Jemilo.
Thanks to Hosea Sanders
The city was wide open and just plain wild, nowhere more so than in the notorious levee district, now Chicago's South Loop. The only surviving building from that vice-filled era now houses Blue Star Auto Parts. Back then, it was the Cullerton Hotel.
"This was a very respectable hotel early on. But by 1900, it had taken on a very unsavory character. In the basement, there were illegal gambling games going on. Upstairs, it has become a brothel. And it continued as a brothel through the 1920s," said Rich Lindberg, author and historian.
It was a very popular brothel, said Lindberg, an authority on this unseemly side of Chicago history. "It was a place where men came to consort with prostitutes, to wager. There was likely a dope den at one time," said Lindberg. "In the heyday of the 1910s, 1920s, Michigan Ave., State St. [there] were a lot of hotels that catered to high-class vice, high-class bordellos."
It was a place to visit, but you didn't want to get caught there. So the mobsters had a system.
"Usually a clerk on the first floor would ring a bell, and the patrons would make a fast escape," Lindberg said.
Deep below the hotel was a series of secret tunnels, an elaborate 25-mile system. Today, you can still see bricked-up traces of one of the numerous gangster getaways. "To gain protection from raids, they would come down here and they would escape," said Lindberg.
Nowhere was Chicago's underworld underground more evident than at the legendary Green Mill Lounge on the North Side. "Well, it was a real fancy joint years ago," said Dave Jemilo, Green Mill owner. And it was also the favorite hangout of Chicago's most infamous mobster.
"This booth here is where Al Capone used to sit. It was his favorite booth because he could see the front door and the side door without his back being to either one. So that's why he would always sit here," said Jemilo.
He could also see a trap door behind the bar. It led to the epicenter of a thriving bootleg and smuggling operation. There were miles of underground tunnels, running to the nearby Aragon Ballroom as well as the Uptown and Riviera theaters. It was a massive complex of both tunnels and private rooms, top-secret rooms where the parties were said to be out of control.
"Up here you get the liquor in a coffee cup or something. Down there, you know, anything goes! These guys wanna have stuff that you can't even do now. And you have parties down there and you got raided or something, you don't come up the trap door to get out, you go through the tunnels, and you could be on the street walking with your girl on your arm, and the coppers says 'Hey were you in the Green Mill?' 'No I was at the Riviera Theater seeing a movie with my girl. Leave us alone,'" said Jemilo.
Thanks to Hosea Sanders
Saturday, November 06, 2010
Boardwalk Empire Does Not Show the Real Uncle Al Capone
Deirdre Marie Capone isn't a TV critic, but she has some strong views on Stephen Graham's take on her great uncle, Al Capone, in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire."
"I have watched it," she tells me in a phone interview from her Florida home. "I think that Stephen Graham job does a great job. I don't like the character that he is playing at all."
"They had him cooking with his mother, the other night, in New Jersey. That never happened. They have him kidnapping people in New Jersey, which never happened.
"It's one more thing where they take his name and they create a character that is not really him," she says. "There's nothing I can do about it."
Well, there is something she can do, and Capone, the granddaughter of Al's older brother, Ralph, is telling her family's story in the new book "Uncle Al Capone."
It's a family story, including her memories of her great uncle (he died when she was 7). "I had my grandfather until I was 45, and I had Al's younger sister until I was 54, and I was very very close to them."
Her goal is to tell the story of a different Al Capone. "He would get down on the floor like a big teddy bear," she recalls. "He loved children."
It even includes recipes for some of her great uncle's Italian favorites.
She's not trying to say that Capone was just misunderstood. But she's still defensive about his line of work, saying there were few opportunities for Italian immigrants when he arrived in the U.S.
"There was no opportunity to be a doctor or a lawyer or a businessman," she says. "He could make money for his family.
"At one point, he ran over 350 speakeasies in the city of Chicago and he didn't have a fax machine and a cellphone... The only thing they could get him on is tax evasion, everything else is alleged."
The self-published book came out about a week ago, and is available from on-line bookshops, like Amazon. "I went round and round and round with publishers," she said, comparing that industry to the recording industry of a few years ago, out of touch with technological change.
That's why she went the self-publishing route, she tells me, although she's open to signing a publishing deal now that the book is out.
The 70-year-old Deirdre, by the way, is publishing the book under the name she was born with. "That is the name on my baptismal certificate," she says. But she's not revealing her married name, trying to hold on to a little anonymity for a while.
"It's going to be very hard for me to keep it private," she says. "It's going to come out."
But it's worth it, she says, since she had to tell this story.
"If I don't, who's going to?" she asks.
Thanks to Tim Cuprisin
"I have watched it," she tells me in a phone interview from her Florida home. "I think that Stephen Graham job does a great job. I don't like the character that he is playing at all."
"They had him cooking with his mother, the other night, in New Jersey. That never happened. They have him kidnapping people in New Jersey, which never happened.
"It's one more thing where they take his name and they create a character that is not really him," she says. "There's nothing I can do about it."
Well, there is something she can do, and Capone, the granddaughter of Al's older brother, Ralph, is telling her family's story in the new book "Uncle Al Capone."
It's a family story, including her memories of her great uncle (he died when she was 7). "I had my grandfather until I was 45, and I had Al's younger sister until I was 54, and I was very very close to them."
Her goal is to tell the story of a different Al Capone. "He would get down on the floor like a big teddy bear," she recalls. "He loved children."
It even includes recipes for some of her great uncle's Italian favorites.
She's not trying to say that Capone was just misunderstood. But she's still defensive about his line of work, saying there were few opportunities for Italian immigrants when he arrived in the U.S.
"There was no opportunity to be a doctor or a lawyer or a businessman," she says. "He could make money for his family.
"At one point, he ran over 350 speakeasies in the city of Chicago and he didn't have a fax machine and a cellphone... The only thing they could get him on is tax evasion, everything else is alleged."
The self-published book came out about a week ago, and is available from on-line bookshops, like Amazon. "I went round and round and round with publishers," she said, comparing that industry to the recording industry of a few years ago, out of touch with technological change.
That's why she went the self-publishing route, she tells me, although she's open to signing a publishing deal now that the book is out.
The 70-year-old Deirdre, by the way, is publishing the book under the name she was born with. "That is the name on my baptismal certificate," she says. But she's not revealing her married name, trying to hold on to a little anonymity for a while.
"It's going to be very hard for me to keep it private," she says. "It's going to come out."
But it's worth it, she says, since she had to tell this story.
"If I don't, who's going to?" she asks.
Thanks to Tim Cuprisin
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Gangsters of Harlem
For the first time ever, author Ron Chepesiuk chronicles the little known history of organized crime in Harlem. African American organized crime has had as significant an impact on its constituent community as Italian, Jewish, and Irish organized crime has had on theirs. Gangsters are every bit as colorful, intriguing, and powerful as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and have a fascinating history in gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. In this riveting, vivid documentation, Chepesiuk tells the little-known story of organized crime in Harlem through in-depth profiles of the major gangs and motley gangsters whose exploits have made them legends.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Al Capone and The Chicago Outfit Cocktails Among Highlights of The Walnut Speakeasy in Elgin
There's more to a cocktail than the ingredients and preparation. Sipping a highball in an empty bar reeking of last night's party with a distracted barkeep can surely ruin any cocktail experience. At the Walnut Speakeasy, you can choose from a number of enticing cocktails (or beers from their Connoisseur's Beer List) and enjoy an engaging staff, and local blues in a cozy 1930's speakeasy atmosphere.
Premium liquors and classic suggestions. The Walnut Speakeasy is dominated by a large wrap-around bar (made from solid walnut) carrying everything from Belvedere to Louis XIII. As if the selection weren't enough, they know how to put a cocktail together. Templeton Rye is a mainstay here as it was created during the prohibition era and was one of Capone's favorites. "The Capone" is a stiff drink made with Templeton rye and a perfect combination of Grand Marnier, bitters and champagne. Other selections from the cocktail menu include "The Chicago Outfit" (a spin on a chocolate raspberry martini) and "The Cat's Meow".
Unique music and local artists. This place can swing! Owner Alex Matsas has put together a jazzy line up ranging from local blues sensations, Nick Moss & The Flop Tops, to jazz crooners John & Cassy . This is one of the only bars around you can bank on for you blues fix every weekend.
"Form, meet function." Bricks pulled from prohibition-era buildings and burled walnut wood-working invite guests to relax in the feel of an upscale 1930's Chicago bar. This is no neighborhood bar kitchen either! State of the art infrared grills and proper pizza ovens give weight to the quality of the cuisine. There are no bar smells and from the front door to the kitchen floor, this place is spotless!
General Information
Location: 214 Walnut Ave Elgin, IL 60123
Hours: Mon -Thurs 11 am -1 am, Fri & Sat 11am -2 am, Sun 11am - 11 pm
Food: breakfast, lunch, dinner
Price: Excellent value, beer & wine prices available online
Parking: free lot on west side of building, at peak times you may have to park street nearby
Music: Blues & Jazz
Thanks to the Examiner
Premium liquors and classic suggestions. The Walnut Speakeasy is dominated by a large wrap-around bar (made from solid walnut) carrying everything from Belvedere to Louis XIII. As if the selection weren't enough, they know how to put a cocktail together. Templeton Rye is a mainstay here as it was created during the prohibition era and was one of Capone's favorites. "The Capone" is a stiff drink made with Templeton rye and a perfect combination of Grand Marnier, bitters and champagne. Other selections from the cocktail menu include "The Chicago Outfit" (a spin on a chocolate raspberry martini) and "The Cat's Meow".
Unique music and local artists. This place can swing! Owner Alex Matsas has put together a jazzy line up ranging from local blues sensations, Nick Moss & The Flop Tops, to jazz crooners John & Cassy . This is one of the only bars around you can bank on for you blues fix every weekend.
"Form, meet function." Bricks pulled from prohibition-era buildings and burled walnut wood-working invite guests to relax in the feel of an upscale 1930's Chicago bar. This is no neighborhood bar kitchen either! State of the art infrared grills and proper pizza ovens give weight to the quality of the cuisine. There are no bar smells and from the front door to the kitchen floor, this place is spotless!
General Information
Location: 214 Walnut Ave Elgin, IL 60123
Hours: Mon -Thurs 11 am -1 am, Fri & Sat 11am -2 am, Sun 11am - 11 pm
Food: breakfast, lunch, dinner
Price: Excellent value, beer & wine prices available online
Parking: free lot on west side of building, at peak times you may have to park street nearby
Music: Blues & Jazz
Thanks to the Examiner
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Jonathan Eig's "Get Capone"
The fix was in.
Al Capone, the iconic Chicago gangster who in the 1920s gave a face to the American mob, got sandbagged by the legal system he had artfully abused for years.
The result: a conviction for income-tax evasion and a sentence of 11 years in prison. But that wasn’t the way it was supposed to play out.
According to Jonathan Eig, in his fascinating new book “Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster,” Big Al was supposed to get 2 1/2 years after pleading guilty in 1931 to income-tax evasion and Prohibition-violation charges.
The deal was worked about by his lawyers and federal prosecutor George Johnson, head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Johnson knew he had a weak case built on circumstantial evidence and less-than-credible witnesses. He agreed to the deal, figuring any conviction involving Capone — who epitomized a criminal underworld out of control — was worth taking. But the federal judge in the case, after what Eig implies was pressure from President Herbert Hoover, nixed the deal. Hoover, Eig writes, used to start each day with an exercise routine, but before he began, he would ask his Cabinet members, “Have you got Capone yet?” Not only did Judge James H. Wilkerson sandbag the lawyers and prosecutors, Eig writes, but he also may have rigged the jury pool for the subsequent trial, making sure it was stacked with middle-aged or older white males from the suburbs.
Capone’s lawyers had hoped for at least some ethnic, working-class Chicagoans as potential jurors. But there were none.
Eig’s book is a sweeping account of Capone’s life set against the backdrop of a city where corruption was the norm and a country dealing with the hypocrisy of Prohibition and the devastation of the Great Depression.
Federal court was the only place authorities had a shot at convicting Capone, Eig wrote, noting that city courts were a place where “crooked lawyers bribed crooked cops to testify the right way before crooked judges.”
Capone had quickly established himself in the bootlegging business after moving from New York to Chicago.
He also generated income from gambling, extortion, narcotics and prostitution and was a suspect in more than a few murders. But he was never convicted of any of those crimes.
Eig has built his book around extensive research in court records and in newspaper accounts from the day — Capone was an unbelievably loquacious mob boss who was constantly granting interviews.
Some samples of his bons mots to reporters:
“You can get a lot farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.”
“Ninety-nine percent of the people in Chicago drink and gamble. I’ve tried to serve them decent liquor and square games.”
“If I were guilty of all the newspapers accuse me of, I would be afraid of myself.”
In addition to positing that the judicial system was manipulated to send Capone to jail, the book also puts the lie to the theory that Capone was behind one of Chicago’s more infamous mob hits — the St. Valentine’s Day massacre.
More probable, Eig writes, is that the shootings, in which seven gangsters were killed, were carried out by police to avenge the murder of the son of a law enforcement figure.
Eig also says it was a bookish accountant with the Internal Revenue Bureau named Frank Wilson who built the tax case used to convict Capone.
In a short chapter titled “The So-Called Untouchables,” Eig notes that Eliot Ness “gave terrific interviews” and that he came up with a “catchy nickname for his squad of gangbusters” that had newspaper reporters “dashing for their typewriters.” But while Ness’ squad busted up some breweries, it did little to bust up the mob.
The book also provides an interesting account of Capone’s arrest in Philadelphia and his one-year stay at Eastern State Prison. Capone was pinched on a gun-possession charge as he exited the old Stanley Theater after watching a movie.
Big Al and three associates had stopped there while traveling home by train from Atlantic City, where a big mob confab had been held.
Capone, who was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1930 in an article that described him as the “John D. Rockefeller of the underworld,” is presented by Eig as a multifaceted and charismatic crime titan.
He could be violent and short-tempered, yet was also caring and sympathetic. A loving father and husband, he also ran and frequented brothels. He counseled peace during a turbulent period of underworld unrest, yet was suspected of orchestrating some of gangland’s most violent murders. And all the while, he and other members of the Chicago Outfit made millions.
The estimates: $50 million a year from bootlegging; $25 million from gambling; and $10 million each from prostitution and narcotics. That came to $95 million annually, or, Eig noted, “about $1.2 billion by today’s dollars.”
Capone never denied he was a bootlegger, but said he was just giving the public what it wanted. In an interview with the New York Times just days before his aborted sentencing, he asked how his crimes stacked up against the pirates in the banking business and on Wall Street who had stolen from the public.
“Why don’t they go after those bankers who took the savings of thousands of poor people and lost them in bank failures?” asked Capone, who was sitting behind his desk in a suite of rooms he kept at the Lexington Hotel, “his hulking frame clad in black, silk pajamas.” But those bankers, Eig seems to argue, were part of the system.
Capone was not. His lavish lifestyle — a home in Florida, another in Chicago, fancy clothes, big cigars, and days of leisure at the racetrack, on the golf course, or in some brothel — did not sit well with Hoover and those in his administration.
While the feds were never able to prove many of the things they believed Capone had done, “Get Capone” argues that they were determined to put him behind bars because of who he was — a quick-talking, larger-than-life outlaw who had become America’s first celebrity gangster.
Thanks to George Anastasia
Al Capone, the iconic Chicago gangster who in the 1920s gave a face to the American mob, got sandbagged by the legal system he had artfully abused for years.
The result: a conviction for income-tax evasion and a sentence of 11 years in prison. But that wasn’t the way it was supposed to play out.
According to Jonathan Eig, in his fascinating new book “Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster,” Big Al was supposed to get 2 1/2 years after pleading guilty in 1931 to income-tax evasion and Prohibition-violation charges.
The deal was worked about by his lawyers and federal prosecutor George Johnson, head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Johnson knew he had a weak case built on circumstantial evidence and less-than-credible witnesses. He agreed to the deal, figuring any conviction involving Capone — who epitomized a criminal underworld out of control — was worth taking. But the federal judge in the case, after what Eig implies was pressure from President Herbert Hoover, nixed the deal. Hoover, Eig writes, used to start each day with an exercise routine, but before he began, he would ask his Cabinet members, “Have you got Capone yet?” Not only did Judge James H. Wilkerson sandbag the lawyers and prosecutors, Eig writes, but he also may have rigged the jury pool for the subsequent trial, making sure it was stacked with middle-aged or older white males from the suburbs.
Capone’s lawyers had hoped for at least some ethnic, working-class Chicagoans as potential jurors. But there were none.
Eig’s book is a sweeping account of Capone’s life set against the backdrop of a city where corruption was the norm and a country dealing with the hypocrisy of Prohibition and the devastation of the Great Depression.
Federal court was the only place authorities had a shot at convicting Capone, Eig wrote, noting that city courts were a place where “crooked lawyers bribed crooked cops to testify the right way before crooked judges.”
Capone had quickly established himself in the bootlegging business after moving from New York to Chicago.
He also generated income from gambling, extortion, narcotics and prostitution and was a suspect in more than a few murders. But he was never convicted of any of those crimes.
Eig has built his book around extensive research in court records and in newspaper accounts from the day — Capone was an unbelievably loquacious mob boss who was constantly granting interviews.
Some samples of his bons mots to reporters:
“You can get a lot farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.”
“Ninety-nine percent of the people in Chicago drink and gamble. I’ve tried to serve them decent liquor and square games.”
“If I were guilty of all the newspapers accuse me of, I would be afraid of myself.”
In addition to positing that the judicial system was manipulated to send Capone to jail, the book also puts the lie to the theory that Capone was behind one of Chicago’s more infamous mob hits — the St. Valentine’s Day massacre.
More probable, Eig writes, is that the shootings, in which seven gangsters were killed, were carried out by police to avenge the murder of the son of a law enforcement figure.
Eig also says it was a bookish accountant with the Internal Revenue Bureau named Frank Wilson who built the tax case used to convict Capone.
In a short chapter titled “The So-Called Untouchables,” Eig notes that Eliot Ness “gave terrific interviews” and that he came up with a “catchy nickname for his squad of gangbusters” that had newspaper reporters “dashing for their typewriters.” But while Ness’ squad busted up some breweries, it did little to bust up the mob.
The book also provides an interesting account of Capone’s arrest in Philadelphia and his one-year stay at Eastern State Prison. Capone was pinched on a gun-possession charge as he exited the old Stanley Theater after watching a movie.
Big Al and three associates had stopped there while traveling home by train from Atlantic City, where a big mob confab had been held.
Capone, who was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1930 in an article that described him as the “John D. Rockefeller of the underworld,” is presented by Eig as a multifaceted and charismatic crime titan.
He could be violent and short-tempered, yet was also caring and sympathetic. A loving father and husband, he also ran and frequented brothels. He counseled peace during a turbulent period of underworld unrest, yet was suspected of orchestrating some of gangland’s most violent murders. And all the while, he and other members of the Chicago Outfit made millions.
The estimates: $50 million a year from bootlegging; $25 million from gambling; and $10 million each from prostitution and narcotics. That came to $95 million annually, or, Eig noted, “about $1.2 billion by today’s dollars.”
Capone never denied he was a bootlegger, but said he was just giving the public what it wanted. In an interview with the New York Times just days before his aborted sentencing, he asked how his crimes stacked up against the pirates in the banking business and on Wall Street who had stolen from the public.
“Why don’t they go after those bankers who took the savings of thousands of poor people and lost them in bank failures?” asked Capone, who was sitting behind his desk in a suite of rooms he kept at the Lexington Hotel, “his hulking frame clad in black, silk pajamas.” But those bankers, Eig seems to argue, were part of the system.
Capone was not. His lavish lifestyle — a home in Florida, another in Chicago, fancy clothes, big cigars, and days of leisure at the racetrack, on the golf course, or in some brothel — did not sit well with Hoover and those in his administration.
While the feds were never able to prove many of the things they believed Capone had done, “Get Capone” argues that they were determined to put him behind bars because of who he was — a quick-talking, larger-than-life outlaw who had become America’s first celebrity gangster.
Thanks to George Anastasia
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