Accuracy
"The Night Chicago Died" is a work of fiction. Although it references the notorious Chicago mobster Al Capone and his gang by name, no such massive police shootout took place during Capone's reign as the head of the city's organized crime syndicate. In fact, police often worked with the gangsters, soliciting and accepting bribes, and sometimes even standing guard during liquor deliveries. Capone's criminal career ended quietly in 1931, when he was convicted of income-tax evasion and weapons possession.
The song's events supposedly take place "on the East Side of Chicago." Chicago has three commonly referred-to regions; the North Side, the West Side, and the South Side. The East Side is not one of these "sides" of town, but in reality is a neighborhood located on the South Side, just several miles away from where Al Capone lived (at 7244 South Prairie Avenue).
While the song is entirely fictional, probably the most notable contemporary real-life event in Chicago resembling a massive shoot-out involving Capone's forces as depicted by the lyrics would be the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929, an encounter between Capone's men and a rival Chicago gang rather than the police, and it took place on the city's North Side in February instead of "in the heat of a summer night."
The songwriters said in interviews—most notably on Beat Club shortly after the song's smash success—that they had never been to Chicago before that time, and that their knowledge of the city and that period of its history had been based on gangster films.
Paper Lace did send the song to Mayor Richard J. Daley, who was not impressed with the song and greatly disliked it.
Read more about this topic: The Night Chicago Died
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