 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(November 2021) |
The Gustin Gang was one of the earliest Irish-American gangs to emerge during the Prohibition era and dominate Boston's underworld during the 1920s. The name "Gustin Gang" came from a street in South Boston ("Southie"), which was off of Old Colony Avenue, not from the name of any "members."
Originally formed by Frank Wallace with his brother Steve during the mid-1910s, the gang first came to prominence in Southie as the "Tailboard Thieves," often looting and hijacking delivery trucks while stopped at intersections. Although largely organized by Frank, the gang was enforced by ex Olympic boxer Stevie Wallace. They were later joined by younger brother Jim. The brothers committed hijackings and armed robbery throughout the rest of the decade.
During the 1920s, Frank Wallace and his brothers would frequently be arrested on charges including larceny, trespassing, gaming, assault and battery, and breaking and entering. However, due to their local political influence (one of their attorneys was John W. McCormack, who was then a state senator, and later Speaker of the United States House of Representatives), they were rarely convicted and spent relatively little time in prison. Frank is reported to have been arrested more than 25 times, but only served time twice, at Deer Island House of Correction in 1919 and 1928. Steve served two years at Deer Island in 1934 for conspiring to kill a police officer. (Sweeney, Emily, 2012). Compared to other bootleggers such as Dan Carroll, the Gustins held fewer resources upon their entry into bootlegging. They eventually owned a few boats (known as rumrunners) that they ran into international waters to pick up alcohol, and then landed the shipments at various points around the Southie shore. They often delivered it themselves to customers, possibly including older brother Billy Wallace's speakeasy, at 232 Old Colony Ave. known as The Sportlight (later, Kelley's Cork N Bull and later Stadium, it is now the site of housing).
Eventually, they turned to hijacking. Using false badges similar to those used by Prohibition agents, they easily confiscated alcohol shipments from rival bootleggers which they themselves later sold off.
On 22 December 1931, after several trucks had been hijacked by members of the Gustins, Frank Wallace and his lieutenant Bernard "Dodo" Walsh were killed in an ambush, after agreeing to a sit-down with Italian-American gangsters, Joe Lombardo (Lombardi) of the North End, at the C.K. Importing Company, 317 Hanover St. Although the gang retained its power within the city under Stephen Wallace, infighting between the various factions of Irish gangs would eventually see the Italian-American gangsters establish themselves as a dominant criminal organization.
John Donato Torrio was an Italian born-American mobster who helped build the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s later inherited by his protégé Al Capone. Torrio proposed a National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s and later became an adviser to Lucky Luciano and his Luciano crime family.
Earl J. "Hymie" Weiss, was a Polish-American mob boss who became a leader of the Prohibition-era North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone. He was known as "the only man Al Capone feared".
Charles "Vannie" Higgins was a New York mobster and one of the most prominent bootleggers during the Prohibition era. Known as "Brooklyn's Last Irish Boss", Higgins was notorious for his escapes from law enforcement.
The Genna crime family, was a crime family that operated in Prohibition-era Chicago. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the six Genna brothers, known as the Terrible Gennas. The brothers were Sicilians from the town of Marsala and operated from Chicago's Little Italy and maintained control over the Unione Siciliana. They were allies with fellow Italian gang the Chicago Outfit. After a bloody war led to their demise in the 1920s, the gang was eventually absorbed by the Chicago Outfit.
The Irish Mob is a usually crime family-based ethnic collective of organized crime syndicates composed of primarily 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, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago.
Frank Wallace was an Irish-American gangster from South Boston, who ran the Gustin Gang in Boston during the Prohibition in the United States.
The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was an Irish-Polish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s. It was the principal rival of the South Side Gang, also known as the Chicago Outfit, the crime syndicate of Italian-Americans Johnny Torrio and Al Capone.
The Atlantic City Conference held between 13–16 May 1929 was a historic summit of leaders of organized crime in the United States. It is considered by most crime historians to be the earliest organized crime summit held in the US. The conference had a major impact on the future direction of the criminal underworld and it held more importance and significance than the Havana Conference of 1946 and the Apalachin meeting of 1957. It also represented the first concrete move toward a National Crime Syndicate.
The Broadway Mob was a New York bootlegging gang during Prohibition. Although headed by Joe Adonis, the gangs day-to-day operations were handled by Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello as well as financially backed by Arnold Rothstein. During Manhattan's bootleg wars, Rothstein would bring in the Bugs and Meyer Mob, led by Meyer Lansky and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, to protect alcohol shipments.
Abe Bernstein was a Detroit-based Jewish-American organized crime figure and leader of the infamous Prohibition-era Purple Gang.
The Shelton Brothers Gang was an early Prohibition-era bootlegging gang based in southern Illinois. They were the main rivals of the famous bootlegger Charles Birger and his gang. In 1950, the Saturday Evening Post described the Sheltons as "America's Bloodiest Gang". Ancestors of the Shelton Brothers Gang trace their roots back to Ireland, under the surname "Hunter". There are still some descendants living in the St. Louis, Fairfield, IL and Bloomington IL area today.
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 Sheldon Gang was a Chicago criminal gang during the early years of Prohibition known for being the main rivals of the Saltis-McErlane Gang and the Southside O'Donnell Brothers. The gang's primary activities included bootlegging and hijacking of trucks and alcohol shipments.
William Egan was a St. Louis politician and organized crime figure involved in bootlegging and illegal gambling. His brother was the namesake of the infamous Egan's Rats.
Charles Dean O'Banion was an American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day made him better known as Dion O'Banion, although he never went by that first name. He led the North Side Gang until 1924, when he was shot and killed, reportedly by Frankie Yale, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi.
Johnny Jack Nounes, also known as the "Beau Brummell of Galveston", was a mob boss in Galveston, Texas, United States, during the 1920s and 1930s. He, with one-armed George Musey, led the Downtown Gang, one of the two gangs which controlled most of the Galveston Crime Syndicate until the early 1930s. They fought for control of the island against the rival Beach Gang led by Ollie Quinn and Dutch Voight, and later their successors, the Maceo Crime Syndicate. As the prohibition era began, his gang came to be one of the dominant forces in the Galveston Crime Syndicate. Galveston became the main port of entry for liquor supply in Texas and many parts of the Midwest. Nounes' flamboyance attracted the attention of federal authorities, leading to his conviction in 1924 and sentencing to Leavenworth Penitentiary. His prison term was short but only two years after being released he was again sentenced to prison after being caught with a shipment of liquor in Seabrook. Frank Nitti, a business partner of Nounes, was the "enforcer" for Al Capone's crime organization in Chicago as well as the future boss of the Chicago Outfit.
The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, was a criminal mob of bootleggers and hijackers composed 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 Downtown Gang was one of the two gangs that dominated the organized crime world in Galveston, Texas, United States, mainly during prohibition. The gang was founded by Johnny Jack Nounes around 1920. The gang became a large profiteer and leader in the Galveston's crime syndicate while fighting for control of the island. The gang operated many night clubs, gambling establishments, and speakeasies along the island.