On September 25, 1925, Spike O'Donnell flattened as Frankie McErlane sped by bullets spraying wildly over the corner of 63rd and Western. O'Donnell walked away from the shooting unharmed and unaware he had survived the first Chicago gang shooting involving a Thompson submachine gun. A month later, after practicing with the novel weapon. McErlane returned. This time, he … [Read more...] about Peter Von Frantzius specialized in arming the city’s criminals
Brooklyn
Alphonse Al Capone, “Scarface”
Alphonse Capone grew up in the Brooklyn slums and was thrown out of school in the sixth grade for attacking his teacher. While working as a bouncer at the Harvard Inn for Frankie Yale, then head of the Unione Siciliane, Capone cracked many a drunk's skull and was himself cut across the cheek, thus acquiring the nickname "Scarface". By 1919, Capone was suspected of two … [Read more...] about Alphonse Al Capone, “Scarface”
Giacomo “Big Jim” Colosimo
In 1895, Giacomo "Big Jim" Colosimo moved into Chicago's Levee District, home to 2000 brothels, saloons and gambling dens. Ironically, legitimate work as a street sweeper caused his rise in the underworld, as Colosimo organized the street sweepers into a social club that came to the attention of notorious Aldermen "Bathhouse" John Coughlan and "Hinky Dink" Kenna. … [Read more...] about Giacomo “Big Jim” Colosimo
