Related Research Articles
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang that occurred on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago garage on the morning of February 14, 1929. They were lined up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants, two dressed as police officers.
Bethel Park is a borough with home rule status in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a suburb within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, located approximately 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 33,577 as of the 2020 census.
Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid, was an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch in the American Old West. He likely met Butch Cassidy during a hunting trip in 1883 or earlier. The "Wild Bunch" gang performed the longest string of successful train and bank robberies in American history. Longabaugh fled the United States along with his consort Etta Place and Butch Cassidy to escape the dogged pursuit of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The trio fled first to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where most historians believe Parker (Cassidy) and Longabaugh were killed in a shootout in November 1908.
Kate Barker, better known as Ma Barker, was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker–Karpis Gang during the "public enemy era" when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwestern United States gripped the American people and press. She traveled with her sons during their criminal careers.
A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a combat situation between armed parties using guns. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to describe combat situations primarily using firearms.
The Irish Mob is a collective of organized crime syndicates composed of ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and have been in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish-American street gangs – famously first depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1927 book, The Gangs of New York – the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, especially in the Northeast and the urban industrial, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago.
The Cleveland crime family or Cleveland Mafia is the collective name given to a succession of Italian-American organized crime gangs based in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. A part of the Italian-American Mafia phenomenon, it operates in the Greater Cleveland area. Founded about 1920, leadership turned over frequently due to a series of power grabs and assassinations. Stability emerged in 1930 after Frank Milano became boss. The organization underwent significant decline in the last years of boss John T. Scalish. During the late 1970s, violent gang war erupted in the streets of Cleveland after Irish mobster Danny Greene attempted to take over the city. The war drew significant law enforcement attention reducing membership and influence of the Cleveland family. The crime family nearly ceased to exist in the 1990s, after many high-ranking members were imprisoned. The organization is believed by law enforcement to be extremely small in the 21st century, although attempting to rebuild.
William Ellsworth "Elzy" Lay was an outlaw of the Old West in the United States. He was a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, gang, operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Johnson County, Wyoming. Lay was Cassidy's best friend and assisted Cassidy in leading the Wild Bunch gang.
Thomas "Yonnie" Licavoli was an American gangster and bootlegger during Prohibition. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Licavoli, along with brother Peter Joseph Licavoli and cousin James Licavoli, worked with Jewish gangsters to take over illegal gambling in St. Louis. The Licavolis soon moved on to Detroit, Michigan and would control criminal operations in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, throughout the Prohibition era.
Egan's Rats was an American organized crime gang that exercised considerable power in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1890 to 1924. Its 35 years of criminal activity included bootlegging, labor slugging, voter intimidation, armed robbery, and murder. Although predominantly Irish-American, Egan's Rats did include a few Italian-Americans and some Jewish immigrants, most notably Max "Big Maxie" Greenberg.
The East Harlem Purple Gang was a gang or organized crime group consisting of Italian-American hit-men and heroin dealers who were semi-independent from the Italian-American Mafia and, according to federal prosecutors, dominated heroin distribution in East Harlem, Italian Harlem, and the Bronx during the 1970s and early 1980s in New York City. Though mostly independent of the Italian-American Mafia and not an official Mafia crew, the gang was originally affiliated with and worked with the Lucchese crime family and later with the Bonanno crime family and Genovese crime family. It developed its "closest ties" with the Genovese family, and its remnants or former members are now part of the Genovese family's 116th Street Crew.
Angelo Meli was an Italian-American mobster who became a consigliere and then leading Chairman of the Detroit Partnership criminal organization of La Cosa Nostra.
Fred "Killer" Burke was an American armed robber and contract killer responsible for many crimes during the Prohibition era. He was considered a prime suspect in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929.
The Whittemore Gang was a group of bank robbers active in the Mid-Atlantic and Eastern United States during the mid-1920s. Led by Richard Reese Whittemore, the gang, including his wife Margaret, went on a year-long crime spree committing payroll, bank and jewelry robberies in Maryland and New York before their capture in 1926.
The following events occurred in March 1927:
The Collingwood Manor Massacre is the name of an infamous hit on three Chicago gunmen by the notorious Purple Gang on September 16, 1931, after the men had betrayed the trust of the others in the gang.
The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, was a criminal mob of bootleggers and hijackers comprised predominantly of Jewish gangsters. They operated in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1920s of the Prohibition era and came to be Detroit's dominant criminal gang. Excessive violence and infighting caused the gang to destroy itself in the 1930s.
The Barker–Karpis Gang was one of the longest-lived criminal gangs during the Depression Era, spanning from 1931 to 1935. The gang was founded by Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis, and later joined by Fred's brother Arthur "Doc" Barker. Along with the three core members, the gang's network spanned up to 25 members at one point.
Paul Jaworski was a Polish-American gangster born in Poland. He immigrated to the United States in 1905. Although born to Catholic parents, when offered the services of a chaplain before his execution Jaworski said:
"I preached atheism since the day I quit singing the choir. A man is yellow if he spends his life believing in nothing and then comes crawling to the church because he is afraid his death is near."
Joseph D. Massei, or Joe Massey, was an American gangster of Italian-Irish origins. He was involved in the Detroit bootleg liquor trade in the Prohibition era and was arrested many times, but was only imprisoned once. In 1936 he moved to Miami Beach, Florida, and became a central figure in illegal gambling. He was a consiglieri of the mob, and helped resolve disputes between the gangsters. He acted as the Detroit mob's money man, funneling illegal earnings into legitimate businesses in Miami. He died at home in Miami Beach at the age of 71.
References
- ↑ Detroit's Infamous Purple gang Paul R. Kavieff (pg. 62)
- ↑ See Reference: "Welcome to nginx". Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2006-01-17.
- ↑ Pittsburgh Press December 23, 1922
- ↑ Killing Jawarski
- ↑ Pittsburgh Press December 26, 1925
- ↑ Washington Evening Star September 14, 1928, Page 41, Image 41
- ↑ Pittsburgh Press August 18, 1927
- ↑ ODMP Memorial Barstad; Wieczorek; Effinger
- ↑ Washington Evening Star September 14, 1928, Page 41, Image 41
1. Paul Kavieff, The Violent Years: Prohibition and the Detroit Mobs (Gangsters and Rum Runners) Barricade Books (2001). ISBN 1-56980-210-6