Was there a gangster story in your family???

[Blackjack]

The town I grew up in ( Des Plaines IL.) was known for two things. Having the very first McDonald's restaurant, and it was the home town of Roger Touhy the Gangster. Touhy was a bootlegger in the twenties and went to prison for "supposedly" kidnapping and holding for ransom Jake "the barber" Factor, brother of Max Factor in 1933. Jake was on the run from England where he was wanted for crimes and fled before he could be imprisoned. The house where he was "held" was four houses from where I grew up, and when it was sold some years later my Grandfather, a contractor did some renovations in the home. He found at the time, seven handguns (one he kept) one shotgun, and a machine gun, all hidden in the walls and ceiling.
Interestingly enough, it's thought today that the kidnapping was staged by Factor himself along with the help of "honest" G man Melvin Purvis and Capone to extract money from brother Max and get Touhy out of the way.
Touhy was released from prison in 1959, (where he wrote a book saying how the feds along with Capone and Jake Factor framed him) and shot dead on the street 11 days later. Hmmm.... One of the first people JFK pardoned when he took office was Jake Factor. Strange days indeed.

 

[Nashoba]

I think the closest we come in our family was that my grandfather's side ran a speak easy in the 20s. From the way my grandfather tells it he remembers his father telling him the stories of bringing the booz up from the cellar and some really wild times...

 

[LizzieMaine]

My great-uncle Warren was a *very* successful bootlegger. Maine was the first state in the US to adopt Prohibition, decades before the rest of the country, so it was a long-established and honorable profession by the time the 20s rolled around.

Uncle Warren drove a taxicab as a front, but his real business was transacted after dark. He'd drive out to one of the many isolated coves along the coastline, and meet a fishing boat that had made a stop or two in Atlantic Canada along the way back to Maine, and he'd load up his taxi with cases and cases of the real stuff. He'd then retreat to a cabin in the woods, where he'd cut the imported product 50-50 with water, add a bit of food coloring to give it body, and then rebottle for resale -- doubling his investment even before the first bottle was sold.

He did this for years and years -- even after Repeal there were still a lot of dry towns in the area and he was able to keep up a healthy customer list.

He was also the tightest man anyone in town ever knew -- never spent a nickel he didn't have to, and when I was growing up there were rumors thruout the family that he was sitting on a huge stash of cash. When he died in 1971, a number of relatives converged on his house with wrecking bars and literally tore the place to pieces looking for the money -- which his sister found after slashing his mattress open with a razor. At least $20,000 in wrinkled small bills, much of it dating back to the '30s. I was standing in the room when the discovery was made -- a wide eyed eight year old who thought all families acted like this...

 

[ayerio]

I remember stories from my great grandmother telling me how on my granpa's side we had a man who participated in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre [huh] .

 

[Joie DeVive]

No gangsters here, but like many, my family was into bootlegging. The story goes that my great-grandfather ran alcohol into Kansas. The rumor is he spent some time in the pen for his troubles, but we haven't been able to locate those records yet. [huh]

On the other side of the family, they made the alcohol for their own consumption, but there is a great story of my grandfather as a boy whose job it was to bury the mash after it had been used. One day he didn't feel like going out and digging the hole, so he dumped it into the horse trough. I guess the horse got tipsy and rather silly, and my grandfather got into rather a lot of trouble. lol

 

[Fletch]

I have some cousins in Millerton, NY, which was a safehouse town for NYC mobsters in the 20s and 30s, because it was both a predominantly Italian community and far off the paths of urban emigration.

Every so often one of the Canevaris (and there still are a few Canevaris there) would be asked to put up someone's son-in-law or brother-in-law or some such for a few days or a week. The guests gave no trouble, but were very quiet and rebuffed all small talk.

 

[KObalto]

While hardly a gangster.

my grandfather made booze during Prohibition and took book during the Depression. BTW,fftopic: the first McDonald's was operated in San Bernadino by the McDonald brothers. The McDonald's in Illinois was the first one of the McDonald's opened by Ray Kroc's McDonald's Corporation.

 

[scotrace]

My great-grandfather had a still on his hilly farm. His several daughters used to hide the bottles of hooch in their petticoats when the "Revenuers" came calling. Which they did, several times, and busted up the stuff. He lived into his nineties, and I still remember him cursing them.

My grandmother's first husband was tied up with the local small-potatoes gangster somehow, and always carried a small pistol. The gangster was found one day shot up in the trunk of his car. I remember that my dad said that during The War, no servicemen could spend a cent in the gangster's bar, and dad and other guys used to run small packages for him for a hefty tip.

Not a gangster thing, but I do have a close relative doing life for committing an especially nasty murder in 1988.

 

[dr greg]

Not quite

My father told me he was a spiv after the war before he emigrated and went on the straight and narrow, and he often regaled me with stories of his suits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiv

 

[Flivver]

My story is pretty tame compared to the others, but in 1980, I visited Al Capone's grave in Frank Nitti (JR's) car.

The car belonged to a friend's dad who bought it used from Nitti Jr. It was a midnight blue 1973 Olds Ninety-Eight Holiday Coupe. Very appropriate!

 

[Viola]

My dad had some elderly cousins who were involved with bootlegging and questionable gambling/ticket practices in the '30s.

They were in court for something and they got leet off when they could prove their ticket agency was the top seller of War Bonds in Philadelphia.

In the '70s, already quite elderly, one of them stopped a robbery because he was just in the habit of packing heat all the time.

They weren't exactly gangsters but they weren't exactly the family's pride and joy either. lol

And on the other side, my aunt's cousin's whatever's (I really don't know how this goes, and its elaborate) was Dutch Schultz. That's not my family, though.

 

[cookie]

Tilly Devine

This woman was the most famous female ganster of the 1920s-40s in Sydney.

My late Grandmother claimed that when she was living in the inner city in the 1920s that Tilly Devine for some reason threw a piece of brick at her, clunking her in the head...she survived ...obviously!

 

[Legal Concepts]

We have some distant relation to the Shelton gang

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelton_Brothers_Gang

 

[Foofoogal]

In his article "Bonnie and Clyde: Romeo and Juliet in a Getaway Car," the noted writer Joseph Geringer explained part of their appeal to the public then, and their enduring legend now, by saying "Americans thrilled to their 'Robin Hood' adventures. The presence of a female, Bonnie, escalated the sincerity of their intentions to make them something unique and individual — even at times heroic."[

My father came from the same area as Bonnie and Clyde and as a young man who went into the CCC during the depression he always spoke of them in the Robin Hood sympathetic way.

My aunt who was a flaming redhead interior decorator who was married about as many times as Liz Taylor was once married to a very successful man named Parker. Mystery? Noone left to ask so who knows?

This is her in my new avatar.

 

[Foofoogal]

a wide eyed eight year old who thought all families acted like this...

Lord LizzieMaine. That is hilarious!:eusa_clap

 

[Badluck Brody]

I'll add my 2 bits!!

First of all Black Jack, thanks for starting this thread... I've also been doing some searches in the area and also my families past for good stories and lore!

The town I grew up in ( Des Plaines IL.) was known for two things. Having the very first McDonald's restaurant, and it was the home town of Roger Touhy the Gangster. Touhy was a bootlegger in the twenties

The Terrible Touhy!!!

There are stories all over Wisconsin about bootlegger hideouts and such that occurred in the area. However one of my personal favorites and one I have included in our group's presentations, include a short bit based on a true event involving Rodger Touhy!!

The Misadventure of Rodger Touhy

It seems he was passing through an area called Elkhorn when his car swerved off the road and struck a post or a tree.... While Touhy and his two thugs stood around trying to figure out what to do, a young patrolman pulled up to help the stranded motorists...

As he peered under the hood and started to offer assistance, the two thugs started to exit stage-right.....As the officer noticed the two passengers were gone, he happened to look inside the car and see what looked like a couple shotguns and such....he eventually returned to his car and radioed for more information and somehow realized he had Rodger Touhy on his hands!!!

The two thugs were eventually picked up in different areas between Elkhorn and Lake Geneva. One of which was almost comically trying to hide along the side of the road from officers who were in a partolcar staring right at him...


Just thought I'd share!!


Give me a bit and I'll add the story about my great uncle who just passed away....

 

[Badluck Brody]

Sharp John Dougherty

My Uncle John just passed away about two weeks back...he was my grandmother's only brother and they grew up in the Irish neighborhood (3rd Ward I believe) in Milwaukee.

Now Uncle John died a bachelor and somewhat well-to-do. And though he kinda lived like a hermit in a small town called Reedsburg (near Baraboo WI) he was never at a shortage of money.

You see... Uncle John was an accountant who somehow managed to retire when he was in his very early forties. He also commonly referred to himself in the 3rd person as "Sharp Johnny" or "Pompadour John"....

Now I remember Uncle John never had a phone and I was also told by my Grandma (Who also died earlier this year. God bless her!) "He even stopped carrying his pocket pistol when you were born, because he didn't want you to accidentally get a hold of it when he would visit."

I remember Uncle John warning me about my buddies and even my girlfriends... Saying, "Hey Jefferson... untill you know you can trust em, make sure you play your cards close to the chest."

I also remember my Grandpa saying how when he was 1st dating my Grandma, he (my grandpa) would have to run through the neighborhood and dodge "Your Uncle John and his Irish boys"... My Grandpa was 100% Polish and Grandma and Uncle were 100% Irish.



Well, that's all I got.... I'm really gonna miss him and God rest his soul.

 

[BigSleep]

My Grandpa ran a speak-easy in Cleveland.

He used to tell me how he would go and pick up the booze in two suitcases. He would take a streetcar to within a couple blocks of the boarding house where the speak-easy was, then transfer to a cab for the last couple blocks because you could tell he had liquid in the cases when he walked with them.

He said the neighborhood cop on the beat would stop in every afternoon to have a beer. Ha.

When I was a kid I would sit with him for hours asking him about the old days.

From what I've been told he could be a rough character but he was also known to be extremely good to children. He worked for Ford Motor company during the depression. My family tells how he would lead a big crowd of neighborhood kids down the block to the candy store. Must have been great in those times.

He was born in 1903 and died in 1982.
He was a fine man and I miss him every day.

Here is a great shot of him and my grandmother sometime in the 1940s.

 

[Chas]

>>Here is a great shot of him and my grandmother sometime in the 1940s.

BigSleep, I see what you mean. I don't think that I would want to piss this man off.

My mum's neighbours sold hooch to the American gangsters who would drive up from Washington State during the prohibition and load up their trucks.

I won't mention the family name, because the dad was a BIG WW I hero. Any student of that war would recognize the name.

 

[GeniusInTheLamp]

Some of my grandfather's cousins were also reportedly related to the Shelton brothers.

Also: Just after they married, my grandparents went into the farm implement business. One of their regular customers was noted Mob boss Paul "The Waiter" Ricca. Ricca owned a farm several miles outside of Chicago, and he used to visit my grandparents' store to buy tires for his tractors. According to my grandmother, Ricca always brought his bodyguards with him. At least one would be stationed by the front door of the store, while another would be stationed at the back door.

Finally, my grandmother's brother delivered beer during Prohibition. Considering that the family lived in Joliet, it's obvious that this was a very high-risk job.