Prohibition gangster John Rooney

I am wondering why is this guy never brought up in any book about the Chicago gangland when he, along with Sam Cardinelli, was the only major gangster ever convicted for murder in Chicago in the first half of the century (well, to be honest, even in the 2nd part the only one was Rocco Infelice I think)? When I browsed the newspaper archives of the 30s, his case seems to have made headlines everywhere, not just in Chicago: Rooney had the circular distributors union as a legal front and in 1933 he and accomplice Henry Berry shot night watchman Stanley Gross who guarded a fabric belonging to some guy who resisted threats and didn't pay protection money; Rooney and Berry were both drunk and even brought Rooney's girlfriend along to watch the shooting: a hit that almost beats the recent one in Philly by Nicodemo on the level of "professional planning". Rooney and Berry got life, the girlfriend Rosalie Rizzo 24 years and some other gangster 1 to 5 years for extortion.

Still, as publicized as it seems to have been, this hit isn't mentioned even in the book "A History of Violence:: An Encyclopedia of 1400 Chicago Mob Murders" which seems to cover almost all gangland killings in Chicago in the 20th century.

The only possible mention is in the book "When Capone's Mob Murdered Roger Touhy" by John W. Tuohy :



although I am not sure it's the same John Rooney.

I have no earthly idea. But Rooney is a VERY common Irish name in America.

I wonder was he associated with the North Side gang. They were still operational under Bugs Moran up until the late 30s

Its the same Rooney. He and his brother Billy were alligned with the Touhy gang. Billy was the brains and John was the muscle in the union business.Touhy's prime racket was the unions and ofcourse gambling(with his close partner Matt Kolb).Later Billy was killed by the Capone gang and the war between Capone and the Touhy/Kolb/Newberry combination escalated