The age of jazz and speakeasies, shorter hemlines, and bigger parties was also a time of gangland violence in 1920s and ’30s Chicago. As the infamous Al Capone took over as the boss of a major South Side gang, a series of violent mob disputes called the Beer Wars erupted. Hundreds of gangsters were killed as Al Capone’s mob, the North Side gang, and various other groups fought over money, territory, and control over bootlegging operations. In the end, the Chicago Outfit emerged as ... Read more
During the Prohibition-era 1920s, a young man named Al Capone succeeded his mentor, Johnny Torrio, to run the Chicago Outfit. An Italian-American crime syndicate first established by “Big Jim” Colosimo at the turn of the century, the Outfit amassed an estimated $100 million in revenue – more than $1.5 billion today – through its nearly 200 brothels, illegal alcohol production and sales, gambling, and racketeering. For several years, the mob had a chokehold on Chicago politics, influencing elections through intimidation and violence and working in cahoots with the aldermen who ran the city’s political machine. This quintessentially Chicago story traces the powerful criminal enterprise from its inception through its 1920s heyday and to its gradual demise. At the center of it all, wearing a sleek fedora and a knowing smirk, was Capone – “Public Enemy No. 1” – and one of America’s most notorious gangsters.
