by Owen Forsyth | Mar 15, 2020 | Chicago, Other
After the brutal and bloody battles that took places between rival taxicab companies, Yellow Cabs and Checker Cabs on the streets on Chicago, battles that were reminiscent of tank warfare, shootings, bombings and hand to hand fighting in 1920 & 1921, there was a...
by Owen Forsyth | Mar 3, 2020 | Chicago, Notorious, Other
Chicago’s Taxicab Wars took place throughout the 1920’s when rival taxi company’s went to war with each other to gain business and to put the other out of business. The Taxicab Wars seen kidnappings, shootings, bombings and murders in open warfare on...
by Owen Forsyth | Jan 14, 2020 | Chicago, Cops, Early Characters, Mafia, Neighborhoods, Notorious
For about a hundred years, the Maxwell Street District or better known as Bloody Maxwell on the Near West Side of Chicago, was the toughest neighborhood in town from the 1850s through the 1950s. Named after Dr. Philip Maxwell, who had served in the military, was the...
by Owen Forsyth | Dec 8, 2019 | Chicago, Mafia, Notorious, Prohibition
The Fox Lake Massacre was an event when Prohibition Era violence spilled over into Lake County, northeastern Illinois on June 1, 1930. Gangsters from Terry “Machine Gun” Druggan & Frankie Lake’s gang were gunned down at Manning’s Hotel in...
by Owen Forsyth | Aug 25, 2019 | Chicago, Notorious, Prohibition
Frankie Lake and Terry Druggan were leaders of The Valley Gang from Chicago, the were one of the most successful bootleggers of their time, amassing a fortune from bootlegging and rum-running. Its said they were making so much money that even the lowest gang member...
by Owen Forsyth | Jul 25, 2019 | Chicago, Notorious, Prohibition
The Sheltons were once described as Americas bloodiest gang and for good reason, they were locked in a war with their main rival who was once an ally, Charlie Birger. The Agnes & Ben Shelton raised 10 children on a farm near Fairfield, in Wayne County, Illinois....
