In honor of the newest Real World character of Boardwalk Empire, here is a little mini Biography of Dean O'Banion.
First an excerpt from
Paddy Whacked by
T.J EnglishDean O'Banion was the boss of all bootleggers on Chicago's North Side. A combination of gumption, brutality, foresight, and likability got him there. People liked O'Banion because he was friendly, gregarious, and always on. A stout, cheery-faced Irishman with twinkling, blue eyes, he would always doff his fedora upon meeting a lady and would greet men with a slap on the back and a jovial, "Nice to meet ya, swell fellow" (he regularly called strangers "swell fellows"). A former singing waiter in various North Side saloons in his youth, he was sentimental and, at times kindly to the point of piety. He gave away money, food, and clothing to indigent children. He was a weekly attendee and financial contributor to Holy Name Cathedral, where he had been a choir boy. Among his followers, O'Banion's generous and upright nature inspired a fierce loyalty. "He was a good man," said his wife, Viola, after he was gone. "He was fun loving, wanting his friends around him, and he never left home without telling me where he was going."
Dean O'Banion also killed people...
Raised in the Kilgubbin neighborhood in the North End, which later got the nickname Little Hell, O'Banion quickly fell into a gang fittingly named The Little Hellions (a junior branch of a larger neighborhood gang). Another notable member of that gang was George 'Bugs' Moran, who's commonly known as Al Capone's Irish arch nemesis.
O'Banion quickly established a name for himself, through his pranks, his kind demeanor but also for his skills as a street fighter. As he grew older he developed into a well connected gangster. In true Chicago fashion, he was a key figure in getting his men reelected for their wards.
A song often heard around the neighborhood went as so,
Who'll carry the 42nd and 43rd wards? Deanie O'Banion, in his pistol pocket.He often bribed cops and judges and was so successful he only served 2 stints in prison, once for being in possession of stolen postage stamps and a 3 month period for assault.
He believed in treating his employees well, he always stood up for them, always paid them well and never stiffed them. It bred a fierce loyalty that helped him retain power over a growing Italian power in the underworld.
He was also an avid Catholic, well as much of a Catholic a mob boss can be, and often judged Italian organizations for their prostitution rackets saying "I don't peddle flesh, and I never will. It goes against God and the Mother Church."
At one point Johnny Torrio (The Italian Mob Boss of Chicago at the time) fell victim to one of O'Banion's famous practical jokes. Torrio, of course, did not find the humor in it. He sent message to Torrio that he was getting out of the Bootlegging game, and wanted to sell him his remaining supply and his last delivery of booze. Torrio showed up at the warehouse, where two corrupt cops oversaw the exchange. O'Banion showed him the supply and the delivery and then was handed $500,000 f.rom Torrio. Torrio asked him what he planned to do with his life, O'Banion replied "I'm retiring to Colorado to become a gentleman farmer." As Torrio laughed, in came an army of police who stripped the two corrupt officers of their badges and arrested the two Bosses.
Torrio was scared. This was his second arrest for bootlegging charges, which meant that he could do jail time. For O'Banion however, this was his first charge, which meant he would probably only have to pay a fine. $500,000 richer and his rival in boiling water, Dean gladly paid his 7 grand bail and whistled all the way home.
He did spend a few months in Colorado however, before returning home to return to the bootlegging game, and it wasn't long until Torrio got wind of the O'Banion's joke.
Eventually though, the Italians caught up to O'Banion, when he was shot dead in his flower shop Schofield's.
