Early Organized Crime Involvement
By the time he was in his mid 30s, Jerry Horan had been heavily involved in organized crime for several years. He owned a saloon near the corner of South Wood Street and West Van Buren Street in Chicago (the site is now a parking lot opposite Malcolm X College). Horan led a gang of bombers, gunmen and "sluggers" (men who would beat others to intimidate them) which was in the employ of various organized crime outfits and labor unions. Among his clients were mobster and labor leader Timothy "Big Tim" Murphy, mobster Fred Mader, and mobster and labor leader Cornelius Shea (who was international president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters).
Horan was hired by his uncle, BSEIU President William Quesse, as an organizer in 1921. His primary job, however, was to act as Quesse's chauffeur.
On May 6, 1922, Horan, Shea, Murphy, and five other labor leaders and labor racketeers were arrested and charged with the murder of a Chicago police officer. Horan was accidentally released, and went into hiding—although the press reported that he had turned state's evidence and been freed for rendering assistance. On May 24, the state asked for nolle prosequi and the court agreed to withdraw the indictments. Horan was indicted a second time a short time later on the same charges. Although Horan was later identified by eyewitness testimony as a co-conspirator with Murphy, Shea and Mader in planning bombings, murders, and beatings, the state withdrew these charges as well.
By 1924, Horan had become a Republican and was active in GOP politics in Illinois, supporting Governor Len Small.
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