John Duffy (mobster) - O'Banion and The Tommy Gun

O'Banion and The Tommy Gun

During the summer of 1924, O'Banion and his wife Viola took a long vacation at the Colorado dude ranch of his henchman Louis Alterie. On his way back to Chicago, O'Banion purchased a large supply of weapons in Denver that included three Thompson submachine guns, or "baby machine guns", as they were referred to in a local newspaper. O'Banion was murdered soon after his return to Chicago, before he had a chance to use his new Thompsons on any of his enemies. (It is believed that one of O'Banion's machine guns eventually found it way to South Side gunman Frank McErlane, who along with his boss Joe Saltis had formed a secret alliance with the North Side Gang. McErlane would use this Thompson in an unsuccessful attempt to kill Spike O'Donnell in September 1925 in what is believed to be the first recorded use of a "Tommy Gun" in Chicago's history.)