Chicago, a city that has never been legit, even since its beginnings. From the moment of its incorporation as a city in 1837, Chicago has been systematically seduced by a villainous army of corrupt politicians, mercenary businessmen, and sadistic gangsters. There is no city in America that has been as maligned as Chicago when it comes to the city’s politics, corruption and organized crime. Nothing has changed in more than 150 years. Many people think that organized crime was born when the Italians came to Chicago but that’s not true. Many years before the rattle of the tommy guns and Al Capone, there were other criminal barons who ruled the streets of Chicago and invented organized crime. The story of the Capone gang and the Prohibition era is not the beginning of organized crime and the powerful criminal underworld, but there was something much bigger before those periods which was the result of the history of Chicago itself and placed the foundation for future criminals and schemes. This article is going to be about the bloody criminal roots of Chicago’s underworld that exists even today.
The BeginningDuring the early 1800’s, Chicago was a perfect city for the development of large-scale organized criminal activity. Chicago’s geographical position was the gateway to the unsettled lands of the West which is also said to have contributed to the city’s involvement in crime. Many European travelers spent their days in Chicago before heading out to make their new fortunes on the west side of the country. Some of these travelers, because of various reasons, decided to stay in Chicago as their final chance for making money, obtaining foodstuffs and other needs. Most numbered of these Europeans were the Irish people and they settled in Chicago somewhere around the late 1830’s.Later they were joined by many Germans, Slovaks, Russians, Italians, the English and Jewish people. All of these groups brought their own cultures and also their criminal activities. Saloons and bars quickly spread around the city and later the same bars and saloons became homes of many criminal activites such as gambling and prostitution. One of the most famous Chicagoans from the early days, Dwight Moody, founder of Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute, once remarked that, "If the Angel Gabriel came to Chicago, he would surely lose his character within a week".
At the beginning of the 1850’s two of the first rackets in Chicago were prostitution, which was one of the oldest criminal activities in the world, and also gambling.The history of these criminal activities in Chicago is a mix of gang warfare, murder, racketeering and political corruption. Chicago's illegal business has always been in the hands of the alliance of criminals and corrupt politicians .This means that the alliance between the criminals and the powerful political figures resulted in corruption of the law enforcement agencies upon which society necessarily must depend for its protection. Before the birth of the many vice areas in Chicago, many of the early crime operators had previously plied their trade on the Mississippi River boats.In the year of 1850 one of the most vice areas was known as the "Sands." It was located north of the Chicago River and extended to Lake Michigan. The area was filled with gambling dens, brothels, and rooming houses which first were operated by independent criminal gangs. On April 20, 1857 Chicago Mayor "Long John" Wentworth led an army of police officers and firefighters in a raid on the Sands. This was one of the first crackdowns on crime in Chicago which resulted with the eviction of numerous criminal operators, gamblers and prostitutes and also the demolition of more than ten buildings.
The Father of Chicago’s Organized CrimeDuring the same period there was another vice district which was named the “Willows." One of Chicago’s first organized crime czars was an English immigrant from Yorkshire, Roger Plant who was the boss on that district. Plant, had been convicted of a felony in England and was scheduled to be exiled to Australia when he escaped and made his way to Chicago in 1857.Roger was a small ruthless guy who was very skillful with guns and knives and also had street smarts. He’s headquarters was a saloon at Monroe and Wells known as the Barracks or Roger’s Barracks. Later the resort changed its name to “Under the Willow”, due to a willow tree that stood next to the joint. The local was a big gambling den and a whorehouse.Also the whole area was controlled by Plant and became home to the many thieves, pickpockets, and muggers who constantly frequented his saloon. Two of Rogers best associates were Mary Hodges and Mary Brennan who were very talented thieves and also were trainers of other younger thieves and pickpockets. Roger’s local was built near the Chicago River’s entrance into Lake Michigan and as a result, the streets that surrounded the local, were in muddy conditions. Because of that, Roger Plant “talked” to some of the City’s officials and they decided to raise the foundations of the buildings along the newly upgraded roadways. The end resulted with the creation of underground passages, streets, and underground rooms. Legend goes that the many underground passages and rooms that existed beneath the joint gave the birth to the term "underworld" as a description of the society that engaged in criminal activity. This situation also gave the first sign and birth of organized crime in Chicago. In the early 1860’s,with the start of the Civil War, the economy of the South was on a very low level so many people, including criminals and gamblers started moving to cities like New York and Chicago. The rich criminals and gamblers were known as “southern gentlemen” who poured money into Chicago to furnish the needs of the army forces and in return they stayed and operated their own lucrative schemes. So during the war, Roger’s joint was full of soldiers and gamblers at any time. Many of these costumers often found themselves robbed, beaten, knifed or thrown in the alleys. Roger was also known for paying off the police to keep away from Under the Willow and his other criminal activities and later the increasingly wealthy Roger Plant bought all of the police force in that area. After the civil war, Roger had stashed so much cash that allowed him to depart from his criminal life and by 1870 he allegedly retired in a country estate outside of Chicago. Roger also had many children who later continued his criminal empire.
The King Michael Cassius McDonald was an Irishman born in 1839 in Niagara Falls, between Canada and the United States. He lived together with his good mannered father Ed McDonald and mother Mary, two brothers and one sister. As a teenager Michael was a very naughty boy. He used to smack his father around whenever he felt like and used to steal around the shops and do pickpocketing. The train yards in Niagara Falls were located near Michaels home so as a youngster he started to run on the trains and practiced in all kinds of dishonest tricks. So with the help of these trains young Michael saw the opportunity to getaway from the poor conditions in the small town that he lived in. So in 1854 he moved to Chicago where he worked as a candy vendor on railroad cars and trains. He sold half-filled boxes of candy and fake jewelry to unsuspecting passengers.Guys like McDonald were known as “train butchers” and it is believed that McDonald was the inventor of the “prize package” swindle. He guaranteed the naïve passengers that they would be rewarded with cash prizes that can be found in every box of candy if they purchased from him. The prize was 5 cents and the box of candy costed less than 2 cents. He would tell the victim to draw a box of candy from his bag in which most of the boxes contained no prizes. Just to lure more victims, at the first grab he will let some passengers to win few times.
Since young age McDonald was a pure criminal with a total criminal mind. He knew how to play cards or poker and managed to empty the pockets of many men. He also sold hand made souvenirs to the passengers and was involved in many other gambling games. McDonald made his first small fortune and in 1860 he decided to abort his train butchering operations and left south to New Orleans. In those days New Orleans was a very corrupt city and McDonald got involved in many card games, horse race bettings and even operated many cockfights. He watched and learned new schemes and observed the underworlds structure and government corruption of the city. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1961 a lot of human lives were destroyed in the country but that wasn’t the deal for the criminal minded McDonald. During the first year of the Civil War, at the age of 22 McDonald was involved in a bounty jumping business. Bounty jumpers were men who enlisted in the Civil War only to collect a bounty and then leave.They enlisted numerous times in the army, collecting many bounties in the process. The United State Congress passed a law allowing for bounties up to $300 and than the bounty jumper would desert his unit before arriving on the front lines and after that he travelled to a new area to gain another bounty. Some bounty jumpers collected over 40 bounties in that period. So McDonald organized the jumpers in to a “ring” that became a big time war racket and provided him with a lot of money. During the war conflict McDonald remained as a war profiteer, trading paid deserters with the help of many corrupt army and government officials. In 1963 he decided to get back to Chicago as a very wealthy guy. He was only 24 years old. He bought a residence in Bridgeport, in an Irish neighborhood. In thouse days Birdgeport was named as the “Terror District”. His war time racket continued untill the end of the war in 1865 and by that time McDonald established himself as the principal supplier for dice and card games and also police connections in Chicago. With the help of his big financial earnings he also established many strong underworld and political connections. For example, one of his connections was a whiskey dealer and gambling operator Calvin Paige. Together they opened many bars and one of the most famous was the bar at the Richmond House. This local had the reputation as the real place for many gamblers, confidence men, bookies and many criminals who decided to keep a low profile at the Richmond House.
Bad luck struck when on October 8, 1871, a small fire broke out in the barn of the O’Leary family. Because of the dry wooden construction of most Chicago buildings, the fire quickly spread throughout the city.This was known as the “Great Chicago Fire” which lasted 24 hours or one day. The fire killed over 300 people, destroyed almost 18,000 homes and left 100,000 people homeless. McDonald’s Richmond house was also consumed in the flames during the fire. By now McDonald already formed a criminal syndicate that made over $800,000 a year and among his henchmen he became known as “King Mike”. He had an army of ruthless criminals such as “Appetite Bill” Langdon, Kid Miller, the Wallace brothers, poolroom owner, gambling operator and also sports manager Pat Sheedy, Chicago billiards entrepreneur Tom Foley, gambler and army recruiter "Prince" Hal Varnell and prizefight promoter, ex-con and murderer from New York, Jere Dunn.”King Mike” was involved in all kinds of criminal activities such as political corruption, gambling, booze and tons of various crminal rackets but story goes that he also lived by a strict code of honor. The split from his criminal empire was divided in three ways.40 % went to his “boys”, 20% went to the police and other government officals,and 40% went to Mike himslef. Mike’s men started to collect protection money from every bar, hotel or brothel in Chicago. Mike also had his hands in every gambling or criminal scheme in Chicago. He was arrested many times and was brought to trail but every time he got out free of charge.
After the big fire and during the rise of King Mikes criminal empire, the city of Chicago became so demoralized that public drunkenness became a major social problem. Conditions were so bad that a group of leading citizens and city officials formed the Committee of Seventy to battle crime and the liquor and gambling industry. All of these efforts were supported by Mayor Joseph Medill who won the office on November 7,1871.He pledged to rebuilt Chicago and also worked on closing the gambling houses and brothels. Meanwhile, King Mike and his gang prepared for a fight. Many historians claim that these efforts set the stage for the development of the real organized crime in Chicago and that’s because many criminals like McDonald realized that they had to corrupt the top government officials or elect their own puppet mayors so they can operate freely. By this time King Mike contributed cash to many political opponents of Mayor Medill. King Mike became so much active in politics that in an effort to overcome the reform activities of Mayor Medill, in 1873 he created the first real corrupted political machine of Chicago."Mike McDonald’s Democrats," as they were called, with the help of the many gambling and saloon operators, corrupt police and government officals, later they elected their own candidate, Harvey Colvin, as Mayor of Chicago in the elections of 1873. With Colvin in office, McDonald organized the first big time criminal syndicate in Chicago composed of gamblers, criminal thugs and corrupt politicians. In other words McDonald had Chicago in his back pocket and became one of the founding fathers of the Irish organized crime and underworld.
The Great Chicago Fire
By now Chicago became the most important gambling center north of New Orleans and west of the Allegheny Mountains. King Mike expanded his gambling operations in Chicago that there was a stretch of two blocks on Randolph between Clark and State Streets and was known as "Hair Trigger Block". It was named because of the large number of shootings and murders that occurred from the disagreements in the gambling joints. This area was also known as the "Gamblers Row." By the mid 1870s, there were many other vice districts in Chicago and most notorious were the Little Cheyenne, Satan’s Mile, Whiskey Row, and the Levee. At one time on some of streets the gambling establishments were so numerous that all other forms of business were crowded out. After suffering a temporary setback at the polls in 1876, when the people of Chicago elected reform Mayor Monroe Heath, three years later King Mike’s Democrats elected Carter Harrison as Mayor in 1879.The alliance between the gambling interests and politicians in Chicago proved to be very powerful. Harrison, with the help of King Mike, served four consecutive terms as Mayor from 1879 to 1887.
Now bookmaking was introduced to the public and also the business of handling wagers on horse races.In 1885, King Mike formed a bookmaking syndicate which controlled gambling at the Chicago and Indiana race tracks. There are reports that in just one season Mike’s syndicate alone profited to the extent of $900,000,which was a lot of money in those days. King Mike was also very interested in sports, especially in boxing. It was Mike who, with the help of his associate and fight promoter Jere Dunn, gave the famous boxer John L. Sullivan the backing that enabled him to make his bid for the world’s heavyweight boxing championship in 1892.Later Mike’s associate Pat Sheedy became Sullivans manager. Also with help of Sheedy and Dunn, King Mike always placed the right bets on boxing matches and made a lot of money. Both of em provided Mike with a lot of tips for an upcoming fights.
In 1882 Mike was indicted for keeping a small gaming house, but everything was easily fixed by bribing the witnesses, who during the trial they suddenly had failed memories. This was one of the first examples of the infamous “Chicago amnesia”. Two years later, in 1884 King Mike built a four-story building which was placed next to Chicago’s City Hall. It was a big gambling parlor at Clark and Monroe known as the Store which reportedly was the largest liquor and gambling house in Chicago. Sotry goes that every game in it was fixed and soon became the gambling center and one of the biggest attractions in Chicago. On the first floor he had a legitimate liquor store and a bar, the gambling rooms were placed on the 2nd floor, on the 3rd floor Mike had its own private residence and on the 4th floor were rooms filled with prostitutes. Mike also had to take care of his friends in politics to look good in the eyes of the people in Chicago by arranging once in a while a police raid on the Store. The same tactics are used even by todays politicians and criminals. With all of his power over the police force, Mike like every “normal” criminal hated the cops. According to a legend, once a man came by asking for a small donation. Mike asked him ``What’s for?``, ``Well, we`re burying a policeman,`` said the man. ``Good!`` said Mike, ``Here`s 10 dollars, bury five of `em!``
By the mid 1890’s King Mike already had an army of younger and more powerful notorious thieves, forgers, gambling operators, smugglers, corrupt aldermen and other associates of every nature. The most prominent of those were big time gamblers James”Big Jim”O’Leary(member of the O’Leary family that were allegedly responsible for the Great Chicago Fire) , Jacob ”Mont” Tennes and two very powerful corrupt aldermen Michael Kenna and John Coughlin.They became Mike’s legacy and also became Chicagos most high profile criminal legends at the beginning of the 20th century.
King Mike
Back in those days every big shot criminal had a desire to win respect also as a legitimate businessman. So one day Mike purchased the Chicago Globe newspaper and also took over as manager of Chicago`s first elevated rail system, the Lake Street Line, which became known in gambling circles as ``Mike`s Upstairs Railroad``. During the late 1880’s,at the height of his prime time, King Mike controlled every form of politician, from ward committeemen and aldermen to mayors, senators and governors. If you wanted anything done, you had to go and see Mike. Every criminal gang and the entire police department were in his back pocket. Tons of cash flowed directly into his coffers and he also took his cut from every shady business deal. Almost every criminal asked for Mike’s services. He supplied them with bail bonds, fixing juries and paying off the authorities. Also during this period a lot of notorious corrupt politicians, saloon owners, gambling operators and prostitutes paid protection money to King Mike. King Mike’s criminal empire was mostly formed by the profits of an unholy trinity, and that was gambling, extortion and politics.
Slip a MickeyFor example, in 1896 one of the most notorious and infamous saloon-keeper in the First Ward was Mickey Finn, an Irishman who paid his protection money to King Mike and the Aldermen/Vice lords Michael Kenna and John Coughlin. Finn operated two saloons, the Lone Star and the Palm Garden, at the southern end of Whiskey Row. His bars, especially The Lone Star, were populated by resident prostitutes or as they called them in those days, "house girls".These girls jobs were to encourage the costumers to drink Mickey’s booze as much as possible, and to offer any other services that might be requested of them for a price. Finn always served the strongest and most expensive drinks. He was famous for one of the drinks that he offered in his saloon, the "Mickey Finn Special." Finn was one of the first criminals involved in narcotics but not for distribution…he used the narcotics for other purposes. His drinks were allegedly mixed with a “secret powder” that Finn had obtained from a "voodoo witch doctor" named Dr. Hall. Hall provided Finn with all kinds of “love potions” and also opium and cocaine. A “Mickey Finn Special” would put the drinker in a unconscious state thus giving Finn’s house girls the opportunity to empty the costumers pockets. As a result of his activities, Mickey Finn’s tactics can today be found in some books stating that "any of several powerful drugs, especially chloral hydrate, that are secretly put into alcoholic drinks to produce unconsciousness". When the victims awoke the next day, they usually had little memory of what had happened and how they ended up in a dirty levee alley. But not all of Finn’s victims ended up like this…once Finn drugged a trainman and later robbed him. When the trainman recovered he demanded his money back, but Finn had been gone. Later the trainman was found along the railroad tracks with his head cut off. But in 1903, the deal was off. There were persistent reports of dopings at the Lone Star which led the police to investigate the saloon more closely. King Mike did not tolerate drugs because it was a dirty business and it was also bad for his public image. Also many of the house girls began to fear that one day, Finn would take their hard-earned savings so one of Finn’s house girls later decided to testify before an aldermanic committee about the effects of his drinks. So on December 16, 1903, Mayor Carter Harrison ordered the closure of the Lone Star Saloon, and Mickey Finn wisely left town shortly thereafter. But not before he sold the formula for his famous drink to a number of other Southside saloons, who marketed it as a "Mickey Finn," or even just a "Mickey". The name eventually came into use as a generic term for any knockout drink, and to "slip a mickey" into someone's drink now means to secretly drug an unsuspecting victim.
Political Crime BossesCorruption had run rampant through Chicago politics, being traced back as far as the city remembers. Chicago’s mayors have always been men of importance, capable of causing riots and firing the entire police force. Occasionally, good men would be elected to office and each would try valiantly to clean up the town. They would start reform movements to purge the city of corrupt officials, to close down saloons on Sunday and brothels on weeknights and to raid all of the gambling dens within spitting distance of City Hall. But in most cases, these good men were not supported by an honest administration and soon, the people of Chicago would be drawn to another man, who spoke louder and made more promises than the rest. So it has never been the mayors of Chicago who have had the most power in the city. You see, the real control over politics in the city of Chicago is held by those who control the jobs. He who controls the jobs has the loyalty of the people and the votes on election day. It’s no wonder that such men are so well remembered in the city today, for better or for worse.
Back in the mid 1890’s King Mike’s army recruiter "Prince" Hal Varnell placed John Coughlin as alderman of the 1st Ward and in turn recruited Michael Kenna to fill the second aldermanic seat. In those days there were two aldermen in each Chicago Ward. Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna and "Bathhouse" John Coughlin, as they were called, controlled politics and vice in Chicago’s downtown area and Near South Side, which was commonly referred to as the Levee. The first ward was the most strategic, containing the Loop, named for the encirclement of elevated railway tracks of the Chicago Transit Authority, the Near West Side, and the Near South Side. Not only were there brothels, and gambling houses, but also fine department stores, restaurants, skyscrapers, the best hotels, and the largest banks. These CTA trains brought thousands of workers and shoppers downtown, contributing to the large financial and economic growth of the city. This was Hinky Dink and Bathhouse John's empire.
Kenna and Coughlin were born in the same shack at Polk and Sholto Sts. at the western edge of Connelly’s Patch. Kenna was born in 1858 and Coughlin was born in 1860. Both grew up in the same Irish Slum District .They went to the first Jones School at Harrison and Plymouth Court and to get to school they would have passed the Custom House Place Levee in the " Cheyenne " District every day, in those times perhaps the wickedest place in America. South Clark St. or " The Chute " was comprised of Concert Saloons, Panel Houses, Gambling Joints and Dives. They also witnessed many scenes of shootings and murders in this area. John Coughlin at the age of 15 left school and began working in a Turkish bathhouse at Clark street, rubbing down politicians and underworld figures. It was here he made some of the connections that would later propel him upward in First Ward Politics. The bathhouse was often visited by " Prince Hal " Varnell and King Mike McDonald. They would usually came over to his side as he was so likeable, easy going, and somewhat naive character. These two men became his mentors. Later Coughlin opened a bathhouse himself, where he gained the nickname ‘Bathhouse” John.
Kenna left school at the age of ten and became a gopher for many saloon keepers at the district. As a teenager he became a very quiet boy but very aggressive in his business sense, thus making connections with many madams, prostitutes and anyone who might come in handy. In his late teens he also owned his own newsstand but later decided to leave Chicago and went to Colorado. Over there he worked as a circulation manager at Lake County Reville in Leadville. After few years Kenna came back to Chicago and opened his own saloon, which was visited by many politicians and with that Kenna got mixed in the world of politics. The hooking up with Coughlin made them the most infamous duo in Chicago’s politics. Coughlin was the more colourful one of the duo. He used to wear silk bowlers and colourful frock coats and was a real loud mouth. Kenna was the quiet one who took his job very seriously and was also a deep thinker and could say a lot in a few words. In other words he was " The Brain ". They hang around at a saloon at 120 East Van Buren which was called the "Workingman’s Exchange" .It was a sort of a home to many Chicago criminals who formed a well disciplined army of voters on every election day. Kenna and Coughlin allegedly spent their campaign money on feeding their hungry army and satisfying their thirst. When asked “Why?” by a French writer, Hinky Dink replied that politics is business and that is how he made votes. Kenna and Couglin formed an organization by selling protection to gambling house and brothel operators in the First Ward. There was also a defense fund by two lawyers who were always placed on retainer to immediately appear in court anytime if some of Kenna’s and Coughlin’s associates were arrested.
Michael Kenna
In the late 1890’s Kenna and Coughlin associated with another corrupt alderman from the 19th Ward named Johnny Powers. The trio had an idea to form an organization of many other corrupt aldermen that controlled Chicagos politics and they were named by the public as “The Grey Wolves”. These Chicago officials were not only skilled in trading votes for favors, but they also made profits from many criminal enterprises and other financial schemes. For example if a businessmen wanted to build a public service such as electricity, gas and telephones he simply had to bribe the aldermen and take the franchise award.The group also invented many other criminal schemes like awarding a non-existent companies and forcing the existing franchise holders to buy the rights of the non-existent companies. With that the profits from the purchase found their way into the pockets of the various aldermen.Such actions led the outraged Chicagos business men to form the Municipal Voters League which had small success, but it did help to elect a number of more honest aldermen.
John Coughlin
Their territory, the Levee, occupied the blocks between Harrison and Polk, from Dearborn to Clark street. This area was also referred to as the "Customs House Levee." Kenna’s and Coughlin’s most lucrative businesses at the Levee were prostitution and the protection rackets. The growth of the Levee or the “Red Light District” as it was called, and their business in particular , can be attributed to the fact that four of Chicago’s six railroad depots were centered in the area. The area was named "Red Light District" because of the red lanterns that were customarily hung in front of each brothel. The Levee became so much of a notorious area that a lot of christian Chicagoans started to feel revolt over the whole situation.Because of that revolt and the growth of Chicago’s downtown business district, the pressure came over Kenna, Coughlin and also Mayor Carter Harrison. Carter ordered the Levee to be relocated to the area between 19th and 22nd Streets. The fashionable Prairie Avenue district was bound by 16th Street, Calumet, Indiana, and Michigan Avenues, which immediately adjected the Levee. The Prairie Avenue was permanently destroyed by the coming of the vice district and after years of resistance, most of its residents eventually abandoned their community. In the early 1900’s the Levee was now in the Second Ward and this troubled the two crooked aldermen and in order to regain control of the Levee, Kenna and Coughlin, with the help of their supporters and the resistance from the unsatisfied residents, they proposed a redistricting ordinance that would return the Levee to the First Ward. Kenna and Coughlin also reached for help from the other aldermen or as they were called ‘The Grey Wolves”. They won the support of the Second Ward Alderman William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson. With Thompson’s help the area was relocated to the First Ward but also contained a part of the Second Ward. This alliance was the beginning of a long relationship between Kenna, Coughlin, and Thompson. The "New Levee," as it was called, now consisted over two hundred houses of prostitution or brothels. Most famous were The House of All Nations, The Little Green House, Bed Bug Row, the Bucket of Blood, Ed Weiss’ Capitol, Freidberg’s Dance Hall, and the Everleigh Club. Kenna’s and Coughlin’s headquarters was the Frieberg’s Dance Hall which was a big prostitution house.
The Gambling CombinationGambling is an example of a business that was run and regulated by gangsters and often appeared in the forms of roulette, poker, craps, various card games and also the betting on horse races. The mobsters managed their gambling operations, which were often disguised as pool halls, because many of the poor and rich people, had the feeling of being released from their everyday troubles by beating the odds and winning a big bet. These pool rooms or gambling joints were very successful because the gangsters united in a very powerful crime groups and they relied on the influence from the government and corrupt police forces. The big gambling business could not exist without the bribery of many government officials. The gangsters also made influence over elections through contributions to campaign funds, collecting votes or doing any kind of dirty work for the government, including robbery, hijacking, and contract killing. In return many of the high profile criminals oversaw their gambling joints with out any problems. During the old days there was nothing more profitable than gambling, everything else was a “side product”.
James “Big Jim” O’Leary and Jacob ”Mont” Tennes literally inherited all of King Mike’s gambling operations and with the protection of the two crooked aldermen Michael Kenna and John Coughlin, they took King Mike’s illegal gambling operations on a higher level.
James “Big Jim” O'Leary was an Irishman born in 1869 in Chicago. His childhood was filled with shame because of the blame that his family carried over the Great Chicago Fire. Since young age O’Leary was a troubled young hood that was constantly involved in fights and petty crimes.He grew up on the among the South Sides slaughterhouses. With the curse of his surname, he had a ruff time in finding any legitimate work but he managed to work at the Union Stock Yards, where he acquired the nickname "Big Jim." He was a decent worker but the money was no good so he decided to try his luck in Chicago’s South Side underworld. He began working for many gambling and saloon operators and made many connections. He also learned how to gamble and became very good at it. With the help of new connection he caught the eye of one of King Mike’s associates "Prince" Hal Varnell. Varnell saw that O’Leary had a thing for gambling and also had the brains for business. The only problem was that since young age he became a degenerate gambler. He bet on everything and I really mean on everything. If he saw two ants on the ground he would bet which ant would arrive at its nest first. During the mid 1880’s because of the threat of reforms, King Mike decided to expand his gambling operations in Indiana and so he instructed Varnell to send O’Leary to act as their scout.
During his stay in Indiana O’Leary made a lot of underworld connections and with King Mike’s financial backup he opened a off-track betting resort. Indiana’s government officials tried to shut down his gambling joint so O’Leary decided to surround the local with a stockade of logs and recruited armed men and ordered them to shoot anyone who will try to forcibly enter his property. Either way, because of the pressure the resort later closed due to bankruptcy. By the early 1890s O’Leary decided to go back to Chicago and to try his luck again. In 1892 O’Leary bet everything he had on “Gentleman” James Corbett in his fight with John L. Sullivan, and in the end James O'Leary won big. Also with the money that he made in Indiana he had an idea to open his own saloon in Chicago. He opened his own saloon on Halsted Street, which he designed to include a Turkish bath, a restaurant, billiard room and a bowling alley and later he also added a handbook parlor with a detailed race track results and other betting informations. O’Leary really hated the government “spies” so his bookie joint was protected with spiked fences and few packs of watchdogs. O’Leary was the first one that recognized the important changes that were taking place in the gambling world. The traditional games like poker, faro or craps, had been replaced by betting on horse races. The thing was that betting at the horse tracks was legal and in addition, new advances in communications, such as the telegraphs and wire services allowed bettors to place bets from local saloons, bars and pool rooms. The wire services were connected to all of the major race tracks around the country so the bettors easily placed their bets at the gambling parlors that contained central switchboards, usually placed in some “secretive” back rooms.
In 1899 O’Leary was connected to the Western Union wire service because it offered more competitive rates for providing the hookup to his gambling parlor. By this time there were few racing tracks in Chicago and they were mostly owned by King Mike. With Mike’s connections to City Hall the race tracks were protected from the hand of the law. The presence of bookmakers was encouraged by King Mike because they were his only source for his illegal income. So gambling operators like O’Leary depended on their alliance with King Mike and the local ward organization and also their connections with corrupt police officials.
Big Jim O'Leary
The big cash started falling in to O’Leary’s hands when he made a connection with the Santa Fe Railway which ran three “Gamblers Special” trains out to O’Leary’s gambling joint while the Western Union provided the wire services and with the protection of police officials like Nicholas Hunt, O’Leary became the rising star of illegal gambling in Chicago. In the early 1900’s Big Jim O’Leary became the most prominent gambling boss in Chicago so the government started to take notice. But in 1904 a furious attorney general an future Mayor Carter Harrison, Jr, together with Helen Gould one of Westerns Union biggest stock holders. demanded that the Santa Fe Railway and the Western Union had cut their ties with O’Leary on moral grounds and they did. The loss of business caused O’Leary to close his gambling joint.
With the profits from his previous enterprise, O’Leary opened another joint which became Chicago’s most prominent two-story gambling local at 4183 S. Halsted, which included a billiards room, several bowling alleys, a saloon, a barbershop, and a sauna. The name "O'Leary" was written in giant electric letters on the front door as a sign of Big Jim's pride. But now his joint also had false partitions, tunnels, hidden passageways and reinforced doors. Thanks to the tips that he received from corrupt police officials, O’Leary was always able to clear the joint before the raids were conducted. But soon every gambler in the city knew that he(I say “he” because by this time women did not gamble) could get down a bet at Big Jim’s place. Finally O’Leary prospered. He also opened a branch of suburban shopping malls in Du Page County.Big Jim was making millions and he also had his hands in many illegal operations and also made a lot of new contacts. During his prime time O’Leary made partnership with another of King Mike’s underlings and gambling boss of Chicago’s North Side Jacob “Mont” Tennes.
Jacob “Mont” Tennes was born in 1873 on Chicago’s North Side to a poor German family with five brothers and two sisters. Even as a youngster, he was known to be an expert at dice and other games. In his late teenage years he began running his first handbook operation. In the early 1890’s he and his two brothers William and Edward ran many handbook operations in King Mike’s locals around Chicago and became very good. At his 20th birthday Tennes, together with his two brothers and with the bless of King Mike, provided the start-up capital to open their first Billiard Hall on Lincoln Ave., near Wrightwood Ave. At the gambling joint Tennes also sponsored pool tournaments, in which he himself was frequently the victor. Tennes started stashing his big amounts of cash and by the late 1890’s slowly became the most prominent gambling operator on Chicago’s North Side.
Mont Tennes
By this period Tennes also gained interest in many handbook operating locals on the Northside, and in 1900 he began opening a big number of saloons, cigar stores and many other gambling parlors. He controlled all of the saloons on N. Clark St. in River North. The residents of the neighbour hood said that the district was slowly becoming similar to Kenna’s and Couhglins Levee, the city's biggest red light district. But the thing was that Tennes wasn’t so much involved in prostitution as the two corrupt aldermen, but instead he loved gambling so by 1901 Tennes' name was already well known among anti-gambling advocates. At his gambling locals there was usually a cigar stands in front of the main rooms were they posted a racing form, which was studied by those who enter. The ticker was behind a thin partition and the bookmaker got information of track and odds over the telephone. The results were announced at the bar where many men used to gather. One of the most remarkable things was that, many women were among the major clients of Tennes' gambling houses, because by now they rarely entered the saloons or cigar shops that fronted the gambling operations. Most prominent gambling local for women was a poolroom named Lang’s Saloon at 4522 State Street. By now Tennes became big in betting at the horse tracks and made a partnership with Big Jim O’Leary and in 1904, together began operating bookie joint which was a little cottage in Dunning at Irving Park Rd. and Narragansett, just outside Chicago city limits. They used to take wagers in the morning at homes and stores on the races that took place in the afternoon, and also settled accounts from the previous day's races.
The Black BeltChicago’s African-Americans were involved and organized in syndicated vice even before the arrival of traditional Italian organized crime groups. These sophisticated African-American organized crime groups operated independently and also played an important role in the activities of the future Chicago mobs. African-American criminal syndicates ran speakeasies and nightclubs, and participated in illegal policy gambling and prostitution even before the 20th century. African-American organized crime differed from other criminal groups only in the fact that they continued to run things independently. Chicago’s South Side was a “black metropolis” that had its own elected officials, business community and underworld that had little interaction with “white” Chicago. In 1840 a large number of runaway slaves began arriving in the “Windy City.” By the end of the Civil War in the mid 1860s, there were approximately 2,000 African-Americans living in Chicago. The first blacks to settle in Chicago were concentrated in the center of the city along the banks of the Chicago River. The majority of Chicago’s black population moved south where rents were cheapest, near the railroad terminals and Chicago’s vice districts.
Chicago’s South Side “Black Belt” grew to be the second largest Negro city in the world; only New York’s Harlem exceeded it in size. This black metropolis was a city within a city, seven miles in length and one and one-half miles wide, where more than 300,000 African-Americans lived. Here were colored policemen, firemen, aldermen and precinct captains, state representatives, doctors, lawyers and teachers. Chicago’s highly organized “machine” politicians were willing to work with anyone who could deliver the vote and contribute financially to their political organization. Chicago probably boasted a greater degree of black participation in politics than any other city in the nation. In the early days of machine politics, the reward for supporting a successful candidate was jobs and graft. During the 1880’s Chicago blacks were incorporated into both the First Ward political machine of “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Mike Kenna and the Second Ward organization of Republican Alderman William Hale Thompson. Later, the expanding African-American community on Chicago’s South Side developed into an independent political force whose endorsement was sought by Republicans and Democrats alike. Chicago blacks learned early that the political life of the community was powerfully allied with the world of the saloon and the gambling house.
Most Black Criminals in Chicago were brothel owners, gambling operators, pimps, burglars, and policy runners. The policy gambling was a homegrown and very simple game which was played exclusively in the black neighborhoods. The white people reffered to it as the “N*gger game”. The policy game, besides providing millions of dollars for its operators, but it also provided jobs and expectations for many poor people. Policy was illegal, but it was played freely on the streets, storefronts, private homes and social establishments. One of the games main attractions for the low income and working class bettors was the small amount of money which was required to play. Even the poorest bettors could win $50 with just a nickel or dime. In fact Policy Wheels originated in Chicago and 40 years before it arrived in New York or Philadelphia. Black gangsters in New York didn't have the legit business fronts, police cooperation, and political influence as the black gangsters of Chicago.
The black community’s earliest vice lord was John “Mushmouth” Johnson and was born in St. Louis to a woman who had been a nurse for Mary Todd Lincoln. At the age of 30, Johnson migrated to Chicago in 1875 and started working as a waiter in the Palmer House Hotel and as a “floor man” in a downtown gambling hall. In 1882, he got his first taste of vice as a employee in one of the gambling houses on Gamblers' Row. Johnson enforced the rules physically when gamblers who lost money demanded it back or tried to take it back by force. So besides being a tuff guy he also learned how to operate many various card games and other gambling games, although Johnson never gambled. By 1890 Johnson operated many gambling games on South Clark Street together with many white people, such as Andy Scott, a known vice operator.
Mushmouth Johnson
At the same time, another white Mississippi riverboat gambling operator known as Patsy King came to Chicago. Even though the policy game was a black mans racket, legend goes that King was the one that devised the game. Story goes that he devised a game of chance were the bettor would pick three numbers out of 100. Than the bettor would place a nickel to a dollar with a payout of 10 to 1, but the odds against winning were 1 in 1000. Than the bettor would handpick three numbers out of King’s hat which was filled with 100 paper clips that contained the numbers from 1-100. If the bettor’s three numbers were drawn, he won. But the truth was that rarely happened so King became very rich with his game. King met a black man on one of the riverboats, named Sam Young that worked as a porter. Allegedly King has taught Sam on how the game works and they started operating together. Policy Sam, as he was known, came to Chicago’s South Side in 1885 and explained the rules to the black people and used the same tactics as Patsy King, by taking bets and pulling numbers out of his hat. With the financial backing of Patsy King, Sam Young took the policy game on a higher level.
They also caught the eye of Mushmouth Johnson and the trio made a partnership by opening their own saloon in 1890, which was located in the heart of “Whiskey Row”. Their gambling place was said to be unique because the players did not gamble against the house. They gambled against one another, with the gamekeeper taking a part of every “pot.” In the late 1890’s their saloon, which was named the “Mushmouth Saloon”, became very popular among waiters, railroad men, porters and also professional gamblers who were served by very attractive barmaids. Than in 1900 Johnson renamed the saloon into “The Emporium” and besides craps, poker and billiards, the main game was "policy". There was a roper on the street who called out, "Come on gents, any game you like upstairs" until the early hours of the morning. As Mushmouth, Policy Sam and King grew rich in gaming, they also grew politically powerful. Johnson as the head of this small gambling syndicate, was referred as the "head henchman" or "lieutenant" of first ward alderman "Hinky Dink" Kenna and “Bathhouse” Coughlin. Johnson could consistently garner the vote of the ward's black population for the two aldermen, and in return, the corrupt aldermen put Mushmouth in charge of collecting protection money from the gambling dens in the city's growing Chinatown district on Clark Street . Johnson also held control of the chinese community with the help of a oriental criminal named “King Foo”. They collected graft from more than 20 chinese opium dens and gambling halls where Fan Tan and Bung Loo card games were played very often. Johnson also contributed money donations to blacks in need, setup soup kitchens for the homeless, helped black immigrants from the south and also provided jobs. Also Johnson’s mother reportedly contributed money on his behalf to the Baptist Church.
In 1903 Mushmouth Johnson, King Patsy, Sam Young, King Foo and one of Mike Kenna’s underlings and gambling operator, Tom McGinnis, they all controlled the policy wheel companies called the ''The Union and the Phoenix'', which were headquartered at The Emporium.
The year of 1903 was a bad year for Mushmouth Johnson. First Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison revoked the license of Johnson’s Saloon in Whiskey Row. Evidence collected by the city council’s “graft committee” described Johnson as a “card cheat” who robbed patrons “stone blind” at his craps, hand faro and draw poker tables. Witnesses told the committee that it was impossible to win at Johnson’s gambling hall. Even when a patron did win a pot, every effort was made to “skin” him of his winnings at another game before he left the resort. Next, the city of Chicago had declared an all-out war on the old Custom House Place vice district, and all of the major brothels and gambling houses were shut down. Johnson, with his substantial political influence, was one of the last to go. It didn't help that in that year, Ernest Naoroji, a Ceylonese bank teller, embezzled $3,000 from his employer and gambled it all away at the Emporium before committing suicide. Publicity got even worse when Johnson was sued by the mother of a boy who had reportedly gambled away $60 of the family's subsistence, and when an angry gambler, who had physically attacked Johnson in front of the Emporium, turned up dead a few days later, shot by the bartender at the club. Also citizens' graft investigation indicated Johnson on gambling charges and on top of that Reverend Reverdy Cassias Ransom, pastor of Chicago’s Institutional AME Church and Settlement House, which was located at 3825 South Dearborn Street began to attack what he called “The evils of policy gambling”. But in very short time “someone” bombed his church. The following year, Johnson was again sued by another gambler for $15,000 supposedly lost on rigged games. Later in 1905 Johnson earned the disfavour of a notorious gambler Bob Motts by refusing to cut Motts in the policy operations. In retaliation Motts used his connections with Illinois congressman Edward Green to press anti-policy legislation.
Back in 1890, Bob Motts had been a porter in Mushmouth’s saloon and later opened a tavern and gambling hall further south on State Street in the Second Ward. Bob Motts not only became known as a good “pay-off” for the police, but also worked to organize the black vote. Motts reportedly paid saloon patrons and local women $5.00 a day to assist in political canvassing.In return for his political activities, Motts was able to obtain jobs for Chicago blacks and helped elect his protégé Edward Green to the Illinois legislature.
So the anti-policy legislation law became very drastic that targeted all person involved in the racket, including the caretaker of the building in which the gambling was conducted. This big time pressure on the policy racket forced the policy syndicate to temporarily withdraw from the game and went underground.
Finally, in 1906, tired of the continuing assaults from the press, police and unhappy gamblers, Mushmouth Johnson closed The Emporium and went down to the new Levee centered around 22nd and Dearborn. Over there he opened the Frontenac Club together with Tom McGinnis and Bill Lewis. This gambling hall catered only white men and there was no policy wheels. The stress may have been too much for old Mushmouth Johnson, and so he died on Friday, September 13, 1907. A huge crowd attended his funeral at the Institutional AME Church, including many police inspectors. Some accounts indicate that Johnson’s money may have helped establish Binga State Bank, the nation’s first black-owned bank, in 1908. Later one of his daughters, Eudora Johnson had married Jesse Binga, the bank’s founder.
