In addition, here are some interesting facts regarding the Alex family's private life...
From 1920 to 1923, Gus Alex attended the Ward Public School and then he left to a Greek School and later again returned to Ward which he attended until 1928. In 1930, Alex dropped out of high school after finishing two years
In 1944, Gus Alex was drafted to join his fellow Americans in World War II, but he pulled out a medical record which said that he suffered from psycho-neurosis and was mentally unstable to serve the army. Back then many gangsters avoided the army because the money schemes were at their home country, not in Europe
After his father Nick Alex passed in 1948, later on each memorial day, Gus Alex together with his blood relatives visited the grave of his father and together with a Greek priest, conducted a lengthy ceremony in honor of their husband, father and grandpa. Gus Alex never failed to pay homage to his father for the rest of his life or until his imprisonment
In 1950, Gus Alex already shared his possessions and riches with a very beautiful blue-eyed bombshell named Marianne Ryan. They allegedly married few years earlier in a secret ceremony and some say they went to Santa Barbara, California and others to Las Vegas, Nevada. Marianne came from Schuyler, Nebraska somewhere around the mid 1940’s at the age of 19 and was employed as a Chicago’s professional fashion model. At first she worked as a top model at the Carson Pirie Scott and Company and later she transferred to the College Inn of the Sherman Hotel in Chicago where she also worked as a “model” but only during the evening hours. That’s where she met the love of her life, which was Gus. Alex also often took his wife’s maiden name and traveled as Mike Ryan. He had another nickname which was “Handsome”, obviously because of his fine looks, expensive clothes and jewelry, such as the diamond ring on his small finger. It was a large diamond that appeared to be at least 3/8” in diameter. On March 29, 1950, Alex took his lovely wife together with his 84 year old mother, his two brothers Sam and George and their families, and all of his four sisters and their families, on a two month vacation in Yeraki, Greece. In addition, Sidney Korshak's wife Bernice Korshak also worked as a model and was close friend with Marianne Alex.
During the early 1950's, Sam Alex was still staying at his huge farm in Cassopolis, Michigan; which was expanded during the years by investing huge sums of money in land and also investing in considerable amount of cattle. The farm was taken care of by two couples, one Greek and one German who also lived on the huge property. The farm even had its own private lake and Sam lived under different name known as Sam Taylor or Herbert Taylor. Sam’s neighbors did not know who he really was because he never directly engaged in any type of criminal activity and has never been arrested over there. He was highly regarded in the community and had a very good reputation. Sam Alex lived quietly with his wife and they had no children but there was no reason for them not to love the other children from around the neighborhood. With the huge desire for one day to have their own, Sam and his wife have done wonderful things for the kids in the neighborhood. For example at Christmas time the couple had a practice of leaving huge boxes of toys at the doorsteps, “anonymously”, and when there was snow, Sam had the practice of hitching a sled to his tractor and taking children for rides around the school field. In addition, both Sam and Gus Alex never had children of their own
During the mid 1950's, Gus Alex often visited his mother Christine who lived in a lavish house at 9353 South Spaulding, Evergreen Park, for more than 20 years. By now Christine Alex was an old woman, or in other words, she was 78 years old, blind on one eye and saw very poorly and so that’s why she lived with two more elderly women from Greek descent. Christine barely spoke or wrote in English but her home was without a doubt the most expensive in the immediate area and was equipped with the most modern conveniences, including an electrical eye door. She was often visited by her three sons, including her oldest one James Alex. James was generally a nice guy who operated the Paris-Munger Landry on South Indiana Avenue, and gave a share from the proceedings to his baby brother. Their other brother George lived just two doors down from their mother’s apartment with his second wife and child. George and his son from the first marriage were on the payroll of the Chicago Sanitary District. George worked as $700 a month engineer at a juvenile home in Chicago so one day he was accused by a 16-year old call girl named Judy Kramer that he has beaten and threatened her while she was an inmate of the home
In 1960, Marianne Alex informed her husband that she wants a divorce. During their relationship, Marianne always kept a blind eye on Alex’s activities outside their home. But during the last few years, Marianne was slowly loosing her patience and was in constant quarrels with her husband. She wanted for Alex to get out of the rackets but she was constantly denied. Alex always denied to his wife that there’s no such thing as organized crime. She even received few beatings after accusing her husband for cheating. Once, Alex allegedly almost killed his wife after the attempt to leave him forever. By now Alex was also having few slight heart conditions and also suffered from insomnia, but the divorce caused further deterioration of his health. He also started having blood pressure problems, nervous breakdowns and all kinds of paranoia and so he received psychiatric treatment in a sanitarium in Connecticut. Because of his run-down feelings, Alex was advised by his doctor to “take it easy” and prescribed him pills known as “Thorazine” which was a tranquilizer with an effect for more than 12 hours. Alex was forced to re-arrange his daily routines and gave orders to his underlings, not to make any phone calls to his residence prior 9 a.m. According to one conversation between Alex and Ferraro, Alex advised that “I took thirteen vitamins. I don’t go nowhere, just to cross the street to eat, and lay on the couch. I bought two dollars worth of quarter cowboy books. I just laid around like a big dirty “n*gger.” I ate, slept and just rolled over.” In reality, Alex was a worrier who was easily upset when he received unwanted publicity
During the early 1960's, Gus Alex was single, but during his visits at the Playboy Club, he and his old friend and business associate Eddie Vogel met their new ladies. Arnold Morton, who was the general manager of the Playboy Club, was a very close friend of Alex so he always provided the gangsters with his best “products.” Alex’s new girlfriend was a hot blond German known as Suzanne Fueger, who was one of Playboy’s bunnies and Vogel also had a girlfriend from the same place, known as Peggy Strak. In fact, Vogel often gave Peggy to Alex for his own entertainment. As for Suzanne Fueger, she came from Munich, Germany, and was married with one Helmut Fueger. But the thing was that Helmut was just a regular guy, and Alex was something else. Alex was something which many young, wild and foolish beautiful girls always dreamed of. He bought Suzanne many expensive gifts, such as new model cars, jewelry and fur coats and also introduced her to Chicago’s crime elite. Suzanne was not like his ex-wife, because she loved the excitement and the adrenalin and also enjoyed in the spoils. She was extremely good looking and Alex was very proud of that. So in December, 1962, Alex, together with his new paramour, began travelling extensively to Europe. The lovely pair usually first took an airplane to Zurich, Switzerland, and rented an apartment and from there they went skiing in St. Moritz for three weeks. After that, the pair rented a car and rode off to Italy. There they visited Rome, Milan and Naples and stayed for another three weeks. From Italy they took a boat and went to Greece and stayed in Athens for two weeks. On their way back, they took a flight from Athens to Genoa, Italy, where they rented another car and drove to Munich, Germany, where Suzanne visited her mother Elrose Fueger. After a week in Munich, they returned to the U.S. In addition, Alex and Vogel became so close that they both lived in the same apartment building at 4300 North Marine Drive together with their beautiful female models under their arms
By the mid 1960's Gus Alex still looked handsome because he was always careful about his body weight and his lovely girlfriend Suzanne always took care of his meals and diet. He was the Outfit’s jet setter. Alex always wore expensive clothes such as the $1,200 mink lined Vicuna coat which he mostly used it for his trips to Europe and he was driving a blue 1965 Thunderbird with Suzanne right by his side. Besides their travels to Europe, during the winter period the pair also visited the Doral Beach Hotel in Miami Beach and stayed in a $100 a day suite. Even with that Alex was still a nervous wreck and always worried about everything. Suzanne always told Alex that there was no need to be worried about anything but he always replied in the same manner that it was in his nature to be worried. One night Alex and Suzanne had a conversation regarding the government heat and what would’ve happened if Alex went to jail. Suzanne comforted her man that the government had nothing on him and that he was safe, but Alex told her that “If they really want you, they’ll set you up.” Because of his current situation, Alex went for a week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and was advised by the doctor to watch out or he might develop another nervous breakdown
In the evening hours Gus Alex was known for often visiting the clubs, sometimes with his lady but sometimes with numerous other ladies, probably when Suzanne was out of town. According to some FBI surveillance reports, Alex always had those beautiful high class models for his own entertainment, and if he made a mistake like to impregnate some of the girls, he always relied on the services from his old friend Dr. William Nestos, a known abortionist among mob circles. Alex and Suzanne lived in huge apartment or as the Chicago Tribune put it “Looking down from his elite 10th floor suite in the sweeping curve of 1150 Lake Shore dr., playboy Gus Alex, sports car buff, and horse bet czar, finds the work-a-day world beneath his notice.” When he was not doing tours around Europe, in Chicago Alex regularly met with his tax lawyer Eugene Bernstein and lawyer Mike Brodkin at the Randolph Town Barber Shop. He also regularly held court with Kruse and Pierce in some of the city’s restaurants such as the Stouffer’s Restaurant on Wabash and Randolph St. or the Trader Vic’s Restaurant in the Palmer House Hotel, but one of the most visited joints by Alex was the Pete Fish’s Restaurant at St, Clair and Ontario St
In October, 1968, Gus and Suzanne were about to be married. They previously organized everything in the Chapel of the Bells in Reno, Nevada. That faithful day, the organist played "O, Promise Me" while Alex nervously adjusted his cummerbund, squared his chubby chin, and then walked into the chapel with a measured step that reminded some observers of a mourner at a gangland funeral. He was about to take the plunge for the second time after a whirlwind, six-year courtship that spanned several continents and plunked the Loop vice and gambling boss right smack in the middle of the international jet set. In the chapel, Alex was joined by his beautiful bride Suzanne, who had a special light in her eyes as she recalled those wild nights with Alex on the Riviera in a bikini and those wild afternoons on the ski slopes of the Swiss Alps. Yes, it had been worth it all. In the end the couple exchanged vows and then embraced. The thing was that Alex in fact never took the marriage thing very seriously and continued to have fun with numerous other lady models or high class prostitutes. For example, he, old man Eddie Vogel and one Ben Stein, a labor racketeer, spent good times at the Riviera health club which was located at the Outer Drive East Apartments building. The three gangsters had lavish parties by the pool with high class female escorts in bikinis. Also most of the cabanas were furnished with only a few chairs and a table but their cabana had carpets, fancy drapes, rich wall hangings, and constantly ordered exotic drinks from the nearby bar
During the mid 1970's, Gus Alex still had the swagger and lavishly enjoyed his life. On daily basis, he visited Eli’s Place for Steaks Restaurant at lunch hour or in the evenings he visited the Buttery, a plush discotheque which was located at the Ambassador Hotel and he still often had fine escorts under his arm
