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Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
#718454
06/03/13 09:45 AM
06/03/13 09:45 AM
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 145 Stockholm
goldhawkroad
OP
Made Member
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OP
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 145
Stockholm
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Hello from Sweden, thanks for a very entertaining and educational website. I stayed at the near northside, Chicago for six months couple years ago = old territory of The North Side Gang. Read a lot of books about the main players; O'Banion, Weiss, Moran but I have never come across any numbers regarding this gang? I know they were less organized compared to the Capone Gang and (of course) hade nothing of the future LCN structure (from 1931 and onward) but they must have had resonable numbers to control such a big area as the entire Northside? Furthermore, I visited (speeded through by car )Cabrini Green, this was before they demolished it. This area was earlier known as Little Hell and before that they called it Swede Town. The swedes were a pretty large immigrant group in Chicago back then even if they by the time of prohibition had migrated up to Andersonville and such places. But the swedes never had any influence on OC despite their large numbers, especially on the Northside. Were there any known scandinavian influence in the North Side Gang or was it entierly irish/polack as the books says (I know Bugs Moran was of french heritage)? With Chicago being the second largest Swedish city in the world at that time (only Stockholm had more swedish borns) one imagines that this should reflect on OC activity as well, but I found nothing.
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: HairyKnuckles]
#718516
06/03/13 01:16 PM
06/03/13 01:16 PM
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 145 Stockholm
goldhawkroad
OP
Made Member
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Posts: 145
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I can´t answer your questions but would like to say that the Moran gang most probably did not have a hierarchic structure. Of course there was the boss and a rigkt hand man but the structure was more horizontal compared to LCN. It´s interesting to know that the Chicago Mafia group, led by Joe Aiello at the time, actually allied themselves with the Moran gang in their struggle against the Capone gang. Yes, there is also an interesting connection between the Aiellos and the Bonnanos in NY, namely the mutual Castellamare origin. Also an interesting link to the (then) ongoing war between Maranzano and Joe The Boss. The later supporting Al Capone in the Chicago feud.
Last edited by goldhawkroad; 06/03/13 01:17 PM.
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: goldhawkroad]
#718519
06/03/13 01:31 PM
06/03/13 01:31 PM
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 572
Ivan
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 572
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James "Jimmy the Swede" Morand was an apparently Swedish-American fellow who was also a probable lookout during the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre operation along with Byron Bolton, with the shooting carried out by the rest of the American Boys. He's the only possible Swede I can think of off the top of my head.
According to Northsider expert Rose Keefe, there were about 200 members. They were a substantial mob. Like everyone has said, there isn't much in the way of evidence of a structured hierarchy. You've got a boss, his inner circle, and everyone else, and that's it. It was pretty horizontal.
You hear them called an "Irish Mob", but this isn't really accurate at all; they were a multiethnic gang, and of the identified members, it seems that there are more German-Americans than any other ethnicity, at least in the guys I can think of off the top of my head. They get the "Irish" designation from the prominence of O'Banion (who really was Irish, though he may have been Welsh if you trace his ancestry back far enough - not that that matters) and Moran (who wasn't really Irish at all).
That's off the top of my head, as I don't have my references with me at the moment. You need to read "The Man Who Got Away" and "Guns and Roses", both by Rose Keefe, and "The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre", by William Helmer and another fellow whose name escapes me.
I know quite a lot about the Northsiders really, at the risk of sounding arrogant... feel free to ask if you have any other questions. Did you go by the site of the Valentine's Day Massacre? I've been there; it's a parking lot and a retirement home now.
Coincidentally, I am going to be living on the North Side of Chicago starting later this year.
Last edited by Ivan; 06/03/13 01:33 PM.
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: goldhawkroad]
#718523
06/03/13 01:44 PM
06/03/13 01:44 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 2,418 Secret location (WITSEC)
HairyKnuckles
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 2,418
Secret location (WITSEC)
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I can´t answer your questions but would like to say that the Moran gang most probably did not have a hierarchic structure. Of course there was the boss and a rigkt hand man but the structure was more horizontal compared to LCN. It´s interesting to know that the Chicago Mafia group, led by Joe Aiello at the time, actually allied themselves with the Moran gang in their struggle against the Capone gang. Yes, there is also an interesting connection between the Aiellos and the Bonnanos in NY, namely the mutual Castellamare origin. Also an interesting link to the (then) ongoing war between Maranzano and Joe The Boss. The later supporting Al Capone in the Chicago feud. Absolutely. And many can argue without looking like a fool, that the trouble they were having in Chicago (the Aiello/Capone feud) was actually the starting point of the so called Castellammarese war (the Maranzano/Masseria feud). Because when Masseria tried to intercede, in his role as the boss of bosses, in the Chicago feud, Stefano Magaddino (a Buffalo Castellammarese who had close ties to Joe Aiello and who acted as Aiello´s benefactor) advised Aiello not to abide to Masseria´s and Capone´s demands. This in turn forced Masseria to turn to the Schiro Family in NY to set up a meeting with Magaddino. But Schiro (and especially Maranzano, who was a member of the Schiro Family) smelled a rat and turned Masseria down. And this lead to Masseria condemning "all Castellammarese" to death.
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: goldhawkroad]
#718524
06/03/13 01:45 PM
06/03/13 01:45 PM
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 145 Stockholm
goldhawkroad
OP
Made Member
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OP
Made Member
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 145
Stockholm
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Ivan: Great, Great stuff...this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Ive read Keefs works on Obanion and Moran, gotta check the other one out. Yeah I went there, the building across the street where Capone guys is said to been stationed for weeks is still standing, or so I was told at least. I lived at State and Division so I had pretty close to the parking lot where the old flower shop used to be. Other interesting sights were Taylor Street in little Italy and ofcourse Andersonville, because Im a Swede. Will get back to you on this topic, be sure
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: HairyKnuckles]
#718525
06/03/13 01:51 PM
06/03/13 01:51 PM
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 145 Stockholm
goldhawkroad
OP
Made Member
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OP
Made Member
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 145
Stockholm
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I can´t answer your questions but would like to say that the Moran gang most probably did not have a hierarchic structure. Of course there was the boss and a rigkt hand man but the structure was more horizontal compared to LCN. It´s interesting to know that the Chicago Mafia group, led by Joe Aiello at the time, actually allied themselves with the Moran gang in their struggle against the Capone gang. Yes, there is also an interesting connection between the Aiellos and the Bonnanos in NY, namely the mutual Castellamare origin. Also an interesting link to the (then) ongoing war between Maranzano and Joe The Boss. The later supporting Al Capone in the Chicago feud. Absolutely. And many can argue without looking like a fool, that the trouble they were having in Chicago (the Aiello/Capone feud) was actually the starting point of the so called Castellammarese war (the Maranzano/Masseria feud). Because when Masseria tried to intercede, in his role as the boss of bosses, in the Chicago feud, Stefano Magaddino (a Buffalo Castellammarese who had close ties to Joe Aiello and who acted as Aiello´s benefactor) advised Aiello not to abide to Masseria´s and Capone´s demands. This in turn forced Masseria to turn to the Schiro Family in NY to set up a meeting with Magaddino. But Schiro (and especially Maranzano, who was a member of the Schiro Family) smelled a rat and turned Masseria down. And this lead to Masseria condemning "all Castellammarese" to death. Interesting. When reading "A man of honour" one gets the impression that Maggadino was an utter...something. And not so very smart.
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: PP]
#718699
06/04/13 09:51 AM
06/04/13 09:51 AM
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,213
cookcounty
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,213
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Andersonville is a very cool area of Chicago. Great pizza up there at Great Lakes Pizza.
Cabrini Green at it's height had about 20,000 people living there and it got really bad. Gangs shooting at each other from opposite high rises, people being thrown off roof tops, girls being raped and blinded in stairwells. Bad stuff.
They are all torn down now(highrises). Putting up a target in there place now, IIRC. The row houses are there but I don't know if anyone lives in them. I think they are all abandoned. Moved away about 2 years ago- so not 100% sure.
Drove through Cabrini with my family around 1991, sister was going to De Paul and we made a WRONG turn. Not a good mistake. Rocks, garbage and whatever they could find was thrown at our Suburban. Place was nuts. instead of trying to sell u drugs they threw dirty drawls at you? they stopped gang warfare to throw rocks at your suv? sounds fabricated but maybe not
Last edited by cookcounty; 06/04/13 09:52 AM.
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: cookcounty]
#718823
06/04/13 06:39 PM
06/04/13 06:39 PM
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 198
PP
Made Member
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Made Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 198
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Andersonville is a very cool area of Chicago. Great pizza up there at Great Lakes Pizza.
Cabrini Green at it's height had about 20,000 people living there and it got really bad. Gangs shooting at each other from opposite high rises, people being thrown off roof tops, girls being raped and blinded in stairwells. Bad stuff.
They are all torn down now(highrises). Putting up a target in there place now, IIRC. The row houses are there but I don't know if anyone lives in them. I think they are all abandoned. Moved away about 2 years ago- so not 100% sure.
Drove through Cabrini with my family around 1991, sister was going to De Paul and we made a WRONG turn. Not a good mistake. Rocks, garbage and whatever they could find was thrown at our Suburban. Place was nuts. instead of trying to sell u drugs they threw dirty drawls at you? they stopped gang warfare to throw rocks at your suv? sounds fabricated but maybe not Why would I make it up? It was little kids (8-13) that were throwing the rocks, not gang bangers. We made a wrong turn, went down a street filled with kids and they started throwing shit at out car. I was young, 8 or 9.
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: PP]
#718974
06/05/13 02:13 PM
06/05/13 02:13 PM
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,213
cookcounty
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,213
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Andersonville is a very cool area of Chicago. Great pizza up there at Great Lakes Pizza.
Cabrini Green at it's height had about 20,000 people living there and it got really bad. Gangs shooting at each other from opposite high rises, people being thrown off roof tops, girls being raped and blinded in stairwells. Bad stuff.
They are all torn down now(highrises). Putting up a target in there place now, IIRC. The row houses are there but I don't know if anyone lives in them. I think they are all abandoned. Moved away about 2 years ago- so not 100% sure.
Drove through Cabrini with my family around 1991, sister was going to De Paul and we made a WRONG turn. Not a good mistake. Rocks, garbage and whatever they could find was thrown at our Suburban. Place was nuts. instead of trying to sell u drugs they threw dirty drawls at you? they stopped gang warfare to throw rocks at your suv? sounds fabricated but maybe not Why would I make it up? It was little kids (8-13) that were throwing the rocks, not gang bangers. We made a wrong turn, went down a street filled with kids and they started throwing shit at out car. I was young, 8 or 9. I thought u meant grown people were on bullshit with you don't feel too bad because anybody between the ages of 12-15 that were throwing rocks either got a stern lecture and never did it again. or a couple minutes of getting there asses kicked for throwing rocks at your family
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Re: Northside Gang, Chicago Prohibition era
[Re: PP]
#718983
06/05/13 03:00 PM
06/05/13 03:00 PM
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,156
jonnynonos
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,156
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Andersonville is a very cool area of Chicago. Great pizza up there at Great Lakes Pizza.
Cabrini Green at it's height had about 20,000 people living there and it got really bad. Gangs shooting at each other from opposite high rises, people being thrown off roof tops, girls being raped and blinded in stairwells. Bad stuff.
They are all torn down now(highrises). Putting up a target in there place now, IIRC. The row houses are there but I don't know if anyone lives in them. I think they are all abandoned. Moved away about 2 years ago- so not 100% sure.
Drove through Cabrini with my family around 1991, sister was going to De Paul and we made a WRONG turn. Not a good mistake. Rocks, garbage and whatever they could find was thrown at our Suburban. Place was nuts. The row houses are not abandoned. They are still about 2/5 fill, and there is still a fair amount of crime there, though nothing even close to the heyday. Although for murders in the downtown vicinity of Chicago, there are basically only two places where there has been even a moderately high concentration of homicides the last few years--the entrance to Cabrini on Chicago Ave. and the dance clubs in River North. (By downtown I mean basically what people are calling River North these days... plus Streeterville and the Gold Coast.) About three people have been killed right there over the last few years. Drug dealing.
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