Bugs Moran - Prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition was established during the 1920s with the enactment of the 18th Amendment, which banned the distribution of alcoholic beverages. Subsequently, criminal enterprises sprang up to smuggle liquor. They manufactured or stole it and sold it for great profit. The popularity of alcohol and lack of legal competition ensured an endless supply of customers. This smuggling of alcohol was called bootlegging. Soon, the criminals and gangsters were enjoying profits beyond anything the basic rackets had ever provided. Among them were Dean O'Banion and his group of mostly Irish thugs, who became known as the "North Side Gang".

Johnny Torrio and his lieutenant, Al "Scarface" Capone, moved to the South side of Chicago, absorbed the territory and pushed the Southside O'Donnells (an Irish group of brothers that held a piece of the Southside and claimed it as their turf) out of the way. They gathered followers quickly and were the "Italian family" of Chicago since a majority of their group was Italian. Torrio, who did not like violence, quickly moved to establish a borderline for each gang's territory. Torrio tried to establish a partnership between himself and O'Banion, and it worked for quite some time. But the Gennas (a Sicilian group of brothers who controlled a piece of Southside territory, and were partners of Torrio and Capone) wanted to extend their interests into other territory. They moved their liquor into O'Banions territory and sold it for half as much as what O'Banion sold it for. He was being undersold in his own territory. He quickly went to Torrio and requested help. Torrio managed to talk the Gennas down in the interest of peace. But O'Banion was not pleased and decided to strike back instead. He started hijacking the Gennas shipments and selling them himself.

Two events triggered the assassination of O'Banion. The first was between O'Banion and the Gennas. Torrio was on vacation and left Al Capone in charge of the operations. O'Banion came to collect a $30,000 debt from Angelo Genna, the Genna family leader. Capone explained to O'Banion that Angelo could not pay the debt and maybe he should pass it on as good faith to keep the peace. O'Banion refused and later telephoned Genna and stated that he had better pay the debt in a week. The next event was the setting up of Torrio in a police raid. O'Banion contacted Torrio and stated he wanted to retire from the business and sell some of his profits to Torrio. Torrio, excited that there would be no more problems between them, jumped at the idea and met O'Banion at the warehouse. They started talking and shared a few jokes, but then the police burst in and arrested both men for Prohibition-related charges. O'Banion started to laugh, but Torrio panicked. He knew that this was his second offense and thus he would likely do jail time. Both men posted bail and got out. Torrio then learned O'Banion had known about the raid all along, and it was a setup. "I guess I rubbed that pimp's nose in the mud", O'Banion stated.

The Italians passed a vote to kill O'Banion. They hired independent killers to do the job and waited for Mike Merlo, the leader of the Unione Siciliana, to die because Merlo who was also a man of peace refused to allow O'Banion to be killed. The killers were Frankie Yale, along with John Scalise and Albert Anselmi (colloquially known as the "Murder Twins"). They tracked O'Banion to his flower shop and entered. O'Banion, expecting flowers for Merlo's funeral to be picked wasn't suspicious of the men or their intentions. Yale outstretched his hand for O'Banion to shake. O'Banion obliged. Scalise and Anselmi then drew their pistols and shot O'Banion to death.

The killers got away. The North Side gang members had lost their commander. Capone and Torrio thought that O'Banion's death might end their troubles. Moran and the rest of the group went to O'Banion's lavish funeral. Capone and Torrio attended as well; Moran vowed to take revenge.