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Al Capone — Part 7

69 pages · May 08, 2026 · Broad topic: Organized Crime · Topic: Al Capone · 68 pages OCR'd
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courtroom in a squad car in custo af three detectives. Tragically enough fer the Sck r one of these detectives was a hard-bv..ed sergeant named Daniel Healy. It was Healy who had picked up the Schemer and one of his henchmen, Henry Finkel- stein, as they stood sunning themselves on Diversey Boulevard. Picking up hoodlums was a passion with Sergeant Healy who thought that it brought him good luck. Once he had walked into a South Side saloon and helped himself to an automatic belonging to Joe Saltis. The automatic was in Joe’s coat and Joe had the coat on at the time. “Oh, youre a tough guy, with a gun, eh?” inguired Mr. Saltis. Sergeant Healy offered to return the weapon but Joe, wisely enough, flatly refused. At any rate no sooner had Sergeant Healy de- posited Drucci and Finkelstein in a jail cell, than an attorney appeared with a writ of habeas corpus. Gut came Drucci and his henchman, and into the squad car, enroute to the courtroom. Drucci occupied a rear seat, with Sergeant Healy and one other officer. Finkelstein sat with the driver. Enough different stories have been told about what hap- pened during the next five or ten min- utes to stretch from the Rienzi hote! on Diversey Boulevard to Melrose Park. However, it is not important after all these years what Mr. Drucci said to Mr. Healy and what Mr. Healy said back te Mr. Drucci, for the altercation came toa tragic end when a bullet from Mr. Healy’s revolver buried itself in Mr. Drucci’s heart. Instead of going to a courtroom the squad car turned right around on the spot and proceeded to the county morgue where Mr. Drucci’s body was propped up on a marble slab. Of course there was a great hue and cry from the family and from the surviving members of the Schemer’s gang, all of whom had become experienced in surviving by now. Crying murder, murder, murder they rushed to hire attorneys to see that justice was done, justice in this case being the prosecution of Mr, Healy. At the coroner’s inquest a few days later four prominent criminal lawyers spat many mouthfuls of choice interrogations against a simple story related from the stand by Mr. Healy. In effect it was that Mr. Drucci had called him a punk copper and had reached for Mr. Healy’s gun, but Mr. Healy having a longer reach, got there first. And Sergeant Healy went back to his job of picking up hood- lums just fer good luck, The smart big city boys bespoke themselves out of the corners of their mouths that Sergeant Healy would get his in a very short while, but at this writing he is still up and about arrest- ing hoodlums over in the tough Valley district “just for good Tuck.” The funeral of the Schemer was no shabby affair judged by upper-world standards, but, judged by the standards of Gangland it was a terrible flop. Whereas the last tributes to Messrs. Weiss, O’Banion, “Nails” Morton, Angelo Genna and Samoots Amatuna had been complete sell-outs with not even standing room, the final rites for Schemer Drucci Here is Big Tim Morphy, Chicago's premier racketeser, and author of the luscious campaiga slogan: “Vote for Big Tim Murphy—He's a cousin of mine.” Big Tim was slain in a gambling war, recently climaxed with the assassination of Alfred “Jake” Lingle, racketeer news- paper reporter. \ A A Uttle beer sometimes.” {36} (1) Balpbh Sheldon, forcea by tnberculosia to retire as leader of the Bouth Side gang. shot to death by Joe Saltis. Foley, a Sheldon gangster, was “a good boy” said his mother, “what if be did sell a (a) John “Mitters” Foley, : re played to empty seats. No politi- > s wept copious tears over him; or ; over his casket to kiss him as had ween done for Samuzzo. In the com- paratively short parade to the cemetery you couldn’t find a single automobile draped, as at the Weiss circus, with cloth signs urgin you how to cast your ballot. Already decent folk had become weary of these displays, and the police had announced that squads would be in attendance to seize gangsters. But Al Capone was there. And so was George “Bugs” Moran, and Maxie Eisen, Frank and Pete Gusenberg, Potatoes Kauffman, Dapper Dan McCarthy, Jack McGurn, “Dingbat” Oberta, nkie MacEarlane and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Saltis. Mrs. PDrucci was consoled by Mra. Dion O’Banion. The Big Fellow derived a great wallop of the fact that here was one of his enemies for whose death he would not be blamed, and he came fear- lessly, even blithely. There is no record however that Alphonse wept any tears on “Bugs” Moran’s shoulder because of their mutual loss. The Big Fellow was getting all the breaks just now, and he was sitting pretty on top of the under- world. One fine morning the Big Fellow discovered that he had become famous. His position had made him quite visible to the great naked eye of the public. For a time this attention may have tickled his vanity, but there is “heat” in the great naked eye of the public, no matter whether you’re a king prizefighter, king aviator, king movie actor, king author or just plain governmental king this “heat” grows unbearable at times and you will find yourself running everytime you see a king. You run for the sole reason that you want privacy, you want to live your own life. ankling it away from the following crowds he had two reasons. (1) To live his own life and (2) to live. When King A! found himself in the Loop District after walloping King George at the mayoralty election he looked around carefully and was amazed to see that a lot of Now when King Al began little gamblers were doing a great big business without hav- ing a king who had a standing army. This condition was ob- served simultaneously by George “Bugs” Moran and Barney Bertsche. In their de- sire to levy tribute from these little gamblers, Messrs. Capone, Bertsche, Moran and, g& little later, the nine or ten Aiello brothers of the North Side, ushered another period of war- fare into Chicago. At the same time Bertsche, Moran and the Aiello boya further developed the scope of this growing crime syndicate by hooking up with Jack Zuta, over lord of a chain of vice resorts on the West Side. Jack and his chief lieutenant, Solly Vision, had been having a rather tough time of it all by themselves owing to the close proximity of several of their = pleasure institutions to similar : dives owned and operated by “Monkey-Faced” Charlie Gen- ker, and another choice char- acter, known as Mike de Pike Heitler. Mike de Pike had definite Capone connections while Mr. “Monkey-Faced”’ Charlie, _¢ + SuNabobw 15st enteellbieees adllenmnapeaieasempamabamietited
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