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O\u2019Banion\u2019s Early Life \u2013 The Intimidator<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
After O\u2019Banion\u2019s mother passed away at just eight years old, he was taken in by his family and moved to Chicago\u2019s North Side. The neighborhood, mostly occupied by Irish Americans, was notorious for being low-class and high in crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Banion got involved with trouble early in life, forming a street gang with guys nicknamed \u201cBugs,\u201d \u201cThe Schemer,\u201d and \u201cHymie.\u201d By the time O\u2019Banion was 20 years old, Chicago was brimming with all kinds of crime and violence, and the neighborhood where O\u2019Banion lived fit right into that activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first kind of work that O\u2019Banion and his gang got into was called \u201cslugging.\u201d Newspaper wars were common in the early 1900s, with newspapers hiring gang groups to intimidate sellers and buyers of rival newspapers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They would use all kinds of tactics to harm a rival paper and damage their name. Sometimes these newspaper wars would become violent, with streetfights and crime being a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Banion\u2019s job was to intimidate<\/a>, something he was good at given his size and tough nature. He would go to newspaper stand vendors and use intimidation tactics and make threats if they weren\u2019t selling the newspaper he was hired by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At times, he had to use force. For a while, he worked for the Chicago Tribune but also spent some time working for their rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n O\u2019Banion\u2019s success with the newspaper wars opened up more jobs for him in other professions. Politicians would hire him to try and influence votes, and Wall Street traders used him to try and influence people to buy or sell a stock. His gang soon became known as the \u201cMarket Street Gang.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n O\u2019Banion found himself in trouble in 1909, when he was first arrested and convicted of robbery and assault. But his name with gangs grew, especially given his bouldering size and his reputation of being able to beat the living daylights out of someone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As 1920 arrived, Prohibition <\/a>was on the rise. It was an opportunity for aspiring criminals to turn into a new kind of gang activity. As a result, O\u2019Banion saw dollar signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bootlegging <\/a>was big in Chicago, given that there were a lot of Irish and German immigrants living there, and they loved their alcohol. By 1920, O\u2019Banion was ready to get in on the action and broke through big in the Chicago bootlegging business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He quickly rose in power, becoming head of the biggest gang on the North Side and commanding some of the best breweries and distilleries. He successfully cut deals with whiskey and gin distributors and stole alcohol from other bootleggers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By 1921, he was reportedly making $1 million a year in alcohol sales alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He became rivals with Johnny Torrio, who was the South Side\u2019s notorious bootlegger and gang leader. He also clashed with Al Capone<\/a>, who at the time was an underboss of Torrio and was building his own bootlegging business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n O\u2019Banion tried to work out peace deals with Torrio and Capone on the property and businesses he worked with, not wanting to interfere. As part of the agreement, O\u2019Banion distributed with the Gold Coast, the wealthiest area along Lake Michigan. He raked in huge money as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n O\u2019Banion also got a piece of Cicero, which was part of the territory on the South Side that Capone and Torrio shared. O\u2019Banion established and did business with several big nightclubs and restaurants. All three men were also invested in a popular Chicago lakefront casino, The Ship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1921, O\u2019Banion bought a flower shop that he used as his business headquarters. The floral shop did good business for mob funerals. Any time a popular figure died, they were referred to O\u2019Banion\u2019s flower shop to purchase florals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The truce between O\u2019Banion, Torrio, and Capone eventually broke down. In 2024, the Genna Brothers, a rising gang on the West Side, expanded its bootlegging into O\u2019Banion\u2019s territory. O\u2019Banion soon discovered that the Genna Brothers were tied in with Torrio\u2019s South Side gang. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When O\u2019Banion asked Torrio to take action against the Genna Brothers, Torrio did nothing. When the Genna\u2019s racked up a gambling debt, O\u2019Banion refused to forgive it, and tension began to reach an all-time high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things got to a boiling point after the Sieben Brewers raid. O\u2019Banion and Torrio both had shares in the brewery. But after O\u2019Banion found out an inside tip that a raid was imminent at the brewery, he sold his shares, putting Torrio in charge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after, the police came in, busting Torrio, O\u2019Banion, and their gangs. O\u2019Banion wasn\u2019t punished that severely since he had no previous prohibition-related arrests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he had already sold his shares and received his payments for the brewery sale. When Corrio asked for the money back, O\u2019Banion refused it. Torrio lost the brewery along with his money, which for him was the last straw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While he was at one of his local flower shops, O\u2019Banion met with a close associate of Torrio\u2019s. After the associate shook hands with O\u2019Banion, offering a temporary truce, he pulled him in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two gunmen from presumably the Genna organization opened fire on O\u2019Banion. He was found dead with six gunshot wounds. An investigation ensued, but police never solved the murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was one of the biggest funerals Chicago had ever seen. Capone and Torrio attended the funeral along with the Genna Brothers and South Side Gang members. The funeral, held in Mount Carmel, had a mile-long procession with 26 cars and trucks used for the flowers alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This was just the start, however, of violence in Chicago. At the head of it was Capone, who became one of the biggest crime bosses in the U.S., especially when Torrio, who was facing assassination attempts after O\u2019Banion\u2019s death, handed over all his operations to Capone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Capone\u2019s power grew immensely after that. O\u2019Banion\u2019s murder started a massive war between the two territories in Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murders and violence continued to gain steam in the late 1920s. Bugs Moran, who took over the North Side Gang after O\u2019Banion\u2019s death, sent seven North Side mobsters to engage with the South Siders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But they were all killed in the St. Valentine\u2019s Day Massacre<\/a> of 1929. Moran, however, would survive through the end of Prohibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDean O\u2019Banion.\u201d The Mob Museum. <\/em>Nd. https:\/\/themobmuseum.org\/notable_names\/dean-obanion\/.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.historydefined.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Dean_OBanion_1921.jpg\")
The Prohibition Era<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Peace Breaks Down<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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References<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n