by Owen Forsyth | Apr 14, 2019 | Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Early Characters, Gangs of New York, New Jersey, New York, Other
Sophie Lyons was called the queen of thieves but while she was under the guidance of Frederika “Marm” Mandelbaum she was known as the princess of thieves. Sophie Lyons was one of Marm’s best and brightest, almost like a daughter to her. Lyons would...
by Owen Forsyth | Mar 31, 2019 | Chicago, Early Characters, Mafia, Notorious, Politicians
Ragen’s Colts were a street gang which dominated the Chicago underworld during the early twentieth century. Made up of mainly Irish gangsters but there were also Italian, Polish and Jewish gangsters in their ranks. By the late 1920s and early ’30s, the...
by Owen Forsyth | Mar 5, 2019 | Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Colorado, Cops, Featured, Mafia, Mob Moll's, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York, Notorious, Owney Madden, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Police, Politicians, Prohibition, St. Louis
The Roaring Twenties. The Prohibition Laws, the Eighteenth Amendment & Volstead Act, had just been passed banning the sale of alcohol across the United States but it was largely ignored in the cities, New York, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis etc.Before Prohibition...
by Owen Forsyth | Feb 19, 2019 | Chicago, Colorado, Mafia, Notorious, Prohibition
Diamond Jack had a fascination and love for the Western lifestyle and made his way out to Denver, Colorado to become “a peaceful rancher with persons of culture around me,”. Hank Bosco who was a young boy at the time, would take gum and rides in the passenger seat of...
by Owen Forsyth | Feb 14, 2019 | Chicago, Cops, Mafia, Notorious, Police, Prohibition
On this day, 90 years ago one of the most famous Mob Hits of all time took place, the St. Valentines Day Massacre in Chicago, where seven men were shot to death by rival gangsters. What started with the death of Dean O’Banion in 1924 ended on St. Valentines Day...
by Owen Forsyth | Feb 12, 2019 | Chicago, Notorious, Prohibition
Dean O’Banion was born to Irish parents who lived in Maroa, Illinois where he spent his early childhood before moving to Chicago in 1901 with his father and brother after his mother’s death. They settled in Kilgubbin on the North Side of Chicago it was...
