Jack McGurn

@Toodoped.

In April 1930, when Frank J. Loesch, chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission compiled his "Public Enemies" list of the top 28 people he saw as corrupting Chicago, McGurn's name was fourth on the list, which was published nationwide.

Do you have this list of 28?

Loesch reportedly held considerable influence among Chicago's underworld and was apparently able to warn Capone and other Italian mobsters against further gang warfare, especially following the violence surrounding the 1928 Republican "pineapple primary."

Here you go bud....

Vincenzo DeMora

Thanks Toodoped interesting list.



Yes born in Licata , in the province of Agrigento. Grew up in Red Hook, Brooklyn. McGurn moved to Chicago when he was 14 where he later took up a career in boxing as a teenager and changed his name to "Battling" Jack McGurn because boxers with Irish names got the better bookings. He lost his father and later stepfather (murdered) very young.

I recognized those names because they appeared in John Kobler's "Capone," still the best Snorky bio, in large part because Kobler did a thorough job of documenting the entire Chicago crime scene. Underscores that, while the Outfit was the biggest player in Chicago's rackets, they weren't the only players. They had more competition than many other dominant mobs in other big cities during Prohibition.

So many books about Scarface I liked Robert Schoenberg's Mr Capone.

McGurn was assassinated by three men with pistols on February 15, 1936, one day after the seventh anniversary of the St. Valentine's Day massacre. He was bowling at the second-floor Avenue Recreation Bowling Alley, at 805 N.

Intriguing character but he didn't live in Red Hook. He lived in Carroll Gardens not far from the Gallo's tenement near the Brooklyn waterfront. Red Hook is separated from Carroll Gardens by Hamilton Avenu and after 1940, the Gowanus PkWy. His father was murdered by Wild Bill Lovett's White Hand Gang who ran the waterfront until, first he, and then, PegLeg Lonergan were taken out by Frankie Ioele and Capone.
It's a possibility he received the moniker Machine Gun because of windmill punches as a boxer rather than a preference for the tommy gun. After his father was murdered, his mother moved to Chicago but I haven't been able to determine whether he and Capone were connected in Brookyn and he followed Capone out to ChiTown, or did he connect with Capone in Chicago and return with him in order to square the bill with Lovett over the murder of his father.

Very cool list TD!

McGurn was killed by Claude Maddox and William White during a bowling game, while three other persons acted as robbers just so they can scare all witnesses and also to turn their sights from the target. The joint where the murder occurred was owned by Smokes Aloisio.





I think that McGurn officially joined Capone while in Chicago and later was possibly one of the first ten original members which were made by Capone himself. Capone probably knew McGurn's tragic history and used his vendetta against their mutual enemies.

I look at McGurn's career as one of the "saddest" stories in the Outfit, meaning his father was killed and later besides being completely loyal to the Outfit, in the end McGurn lost everything and became a bum. By 1933 McGurn was allegedly a heavy drinker, narcotics user and above all a degenerate gambler. During that same time period he gave an interview regarding the kidnapping of Jake the Barber's son, in which he allegedly stated "Boys I ain’t made a payment on my house, the roof over my head, in 11 months, so I guess I’m gonna lose the place to foreclosure. So if I snatched Jake’s kid, believe me, I would have collected the dough long before this”.

As most of us already know, McGurn's name was all over the newspapers after the St Valentines Day massacre, same as Capone, Rio, Maddox, Capezio etc., a situation which brought a lot of attention to the organization and some high level members like Ricca decided that some of those guys had to go. So they killed Rocco Belcastro, Ray Nugent, Bob Carey, Fred Goetz, Gus Winkler and the "obviously" McGurn.

The only Capone member who allegedly felt "sorry" for McGurn was one of Capones Cicero reps and also a hitman Willie Heeney. Sources say that Heeney was also a narcotics user and so he allegedly gave McGurn the job for running numbers and also selling dope around Black neighborhoods from the South Side. Later McGurn was transferred to the Melrose Park area but it is possible that his debts and addictions forced Ricca to order his murder, obviously because he knew a lot of "dirty" stuff and so they couldnt trust him. Meaning, why take a chance?!



Thanks bud.

....in addition, speaking about public enemies, old time Outfit capo "Dago" Mangano gave one of the best statements to the media lol....

Al and Sonny at a Cubs game with an alert McGurn behind Al. McGurn reaching inside his jacket as he is alarmed by perhaps an overzealous fan or the approaching peanut vendor. The end for Jack McGurn came exactly seven years and a day after the St. Valentines Day massacre. He was gunned down in a bowling alley and the killers left a calling card at the alleys front desk, reading.

“You’ve lost your job, you’ve lost your dough,

Your jewels and cars and handsome houses.

But things could still be worse you know…

At least you haven’t lost your trousers!”

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

Heres one interesting info from 1927 regarding McGurn's mental state...

Good one TD I read Capone's favorite alias was "Al Brown,", funny the media also used it in 1927.

The Cubbie in the photo is Gabby Hartnett, one of the best catchers of that era. He caught hell from the baseball commissioner, Judge Landis, who in a telegram warned him never again to pose for photos with Capone. Hartnett's reply: "OK, but you tell him."

Why did the new regime turn on him?

Degenerate gambler, junkie, alcoholic and possible made guy who knew a lot the Outfits dark secrets, mixed with the fact that he had a traditional boss, Paul Ricca, who in turn was a immigrant and was also tired of all the publicity that was already brought by his predecessor Capone and his associates such as McGurn. Dont get me wrong since there were also other guys whose names were constantly in the newspapers because of their deep involvement with the previous administration, such as Maddox and Capezio, but these guys still made a lot of money and continued killing important targets for the organization.

On the other hand, there is another story in which allegedly MCGurn "stepped on the toes" of some bosses who were already involved in the dope trade and thats why he was allegedly killed for. This story somehow fits with the info regarding Henney allegedly introducing McGurn to the dope trade, a deal which was probably made only between the two and later Heeney probably "sold out" McGurn. Besides being non-Italians, both Heeney and Maddox were quite respected and probably held higher stature than some of the made guys.

If Capone was still around and healthy maybe he would have protected McGurn, Nitti was probably to weak as leader.

Thats why Nitto was never the real official leader. When Capone went to jail, one states attorney mentioned Nittos name to the media as Capones possible successor and from that point on, Nittos name exploded around the newspapers, while the reality was different. Even some of the other gangsters and corrupt politicians thought that Nitto was the boss lol

I think you guys probably remember the story when McGurn slashed the face and throat of famous comedian and singer Joe Lewis who in turn miraculously survived the murder attempt....

McGurn’s wife died at age 88 in 1995, maintaining to the end that her late husband wasn’t part of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. All she’d say was, “When you’re with Jack, you’re never bored.”

Heres some info regarding McGurn's boxing days....this is from 1921 which means that even though Capone was already in Chicago at the time, still young McGurn was making his way in the world of boxing and was probably still an outsider...

The 1923 murder of McGurn's father....

His stepfather TD, but thanks, his father was murdered in NYC.

Thats right and thanks for the correction.

McGurn's half-brother Anthony Gibaldi was also killed the same year in 1936...

Anyone knows more details about McGurn's father's murder? Was it really the Irish who killed him?

Tommaso Gibaldi was born in 1882, in Licata, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. He had at least 4 sons and 1 daughter with Josephine Verderame. He died in 1911, at the age of 29.

It was also said he contracted a virus and died. Who knows what happened. There is no record in any of the Brooklyn cemeteries it is likely that he was cremated.

McGurn and his daughters were once almost ran over by high speed chase between cops and robbers....this is from 1923...

From 1928....