The 'North Side Gang', also known as the '''North Side Mob''', was the dominant
Irish-American criminal organization (although a large number of Polish and German-Americans were members as well) within
Chicago during the
Prohibition from the early to late
1920s and principal rival of the
Johnny Torrio-
Al Capone organization, later known as the
Chicago Outfit.
Impact of the North Side Gang
The North Side Gang was established by
Dion "Deanie" O'Banion,
George "Bugs" Moran,
Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci, and
Earl "Hymie" Weiss. The foursome then collected various henchmen and notorious gunman to keep control of their territory. The gang was mostly made up of Irishmen, although some Germans were members as well. The Northsiders practically owned the whole
North Side of Chicago, the largest territory without a doubt next to
John "Johnny The Fox" Torrio's southside territory of Chicago. The North Siders and Torrio's
Chicago Outfit would always be at odds. The bootlegging wars of Chicago put the North Siders in their prime and had Torrio, Capone and many of the outfit gang members constantly looking over their shoulders and in constant fear. The North Siders were probably one of the strongest mafia families of their time and were matched only by Torrio and Capone's gang. The two sides were equally matched in power as well as skill and both lost gang members as well as friends because of their rivalty.
History of the North Side Gang
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 Tribune''. 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
Dion 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. Upon the passage of the
Volstead Act (
Prohibition) in 1919, which banned the sale of alcoholic beverages, 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
moonshine. 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. O'Banion strengthened his political protection by helping his politician friends commit election fraud. O'Banion also ran a publicity campaign in the
Depression Era North Side with large scale donations to orphanages and charities as well as food and loans to the poor and unemployed.
The North Siders soon faced powerful Sicilian and Italian gangs on Chicago's South Side. These gangsters included the
Genna family and later
John "Johnny The Fox" Torrio and
Al Capone. 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 $1 million. 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 19th 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.
War with the Chicago Outfit
After the death of
Dion O'Banion,
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, 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.
The Northsiders under Weiss, Drucci and Moran
Soon after Dion O'Banion'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 started shooting. The shooting reduced the hotel to shreds and left everybody running for cover. Capone and his bodyguard were left cowering on the floor for dear life. 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, but it turned out to be temporary.
Several weeks 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 awhile. 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. He also started bombing Capone's restraunts regularly. 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
On
February 14,
1929 four unidentified men, two of them dressed as
Chicago 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.
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 the Chicago gangs 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 McErlane 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 the main suspect.
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 1930's 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 of the North Side Gang
★ 1919–1924 —
Dion "Deanie" O'Banion (1892–1924)
★ 1924–1925 —
Earl "Hymie" Weiss (1898 –1925)
★ 1925–1926 —
Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci (1898–1926)
★ 1926–1935? —
George "Bugs" Moran (1891–1959)
Members of the North Side Gang
★
Louis "Two Gun" Alterie (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 gunbelt and owned ranch in Colorado that was frequented by other gang members. After publicly challenging O'Banion's killers to a gunfight, the mayor of Chicago publically 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 Capone 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. Feburay 25, 1887
[[ http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id29.htm Caponemuseum.com]] d. February 14, 1929)
:Born Albert Kachellek in
Krojoencke, Germany,
[ Clark was a bodyguard and brother-in-law of George "Bugsy" Moran. One of the seven victims of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. ]
★ John Duffy (d. 1924)
★ Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg (b. October 11, 1892 in Chicago, Illinois[ d. February 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois) and Peter Gusenberg (b. September 28, 1888 in Chicago, Illinois][ d. February 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois)]
★ 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)
:Northside mechanic and driver. One of the seven victims of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
★ William "Willie" Marks
:Labor racketeer and a lieutenant under George Moran and, as a bodyguard, was present with Moran at the time of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
★ Dan McCarthy
★ Samuel "Nails" Morton (d. 1922)
:A veteran of World War I, Samuel Morton was an early lieutenant of Dion O'Banion 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 Nitti 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, Illinios[ d. February 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinios)]
★ Jack Zuta
See also
★ Irish Mob
★ Antonio Lombardo, Unione Siciliane leader and Chicago Outfit consigliere
★ James M. Ragen, Founder of the south side Ragen's Colts street gang and Chicago gangster.
Further reading
★ 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
References
★ English, T.J. ''Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster''. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 0-06-059002-5
★ Enright, Laura L. ''Chicago's Most Wanted: The Top Ten Book of Murderous Mobsters, Midway Monsters, and Windy City Oddities''. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books Inc., 2005. ISBN 978-1-57488-785-3
★ Zorbaugh, Harvey Warren. ''The Gold Coast and the Slum: Sociological Study of Chicago's Near North Side''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929. ISBN 978-0-226-98945-7
External links
★ My Al Capone Museum: The Northsiders
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